They know the ins and outs of recruiting great candidates, but does your organization know the best processes for hiring a full-time talent acquisition professional?

Business growth starts and ends with hiring the right people, and as your organization continues to add employees, issues around people management, workflow processes, and legal regulations become more complex. A solid HR foundation is critical to business success, and the bricklayers of people operations are Human Resources professionals. You know this, and so do the candidates applying to your organization’s nascent, or nonexistent, TA team.

Hiring for these roles is difficult for startups that are busy focusing on developing product and honing business objectives, but beware waiting too long. According to renowned Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen, “The number of companies in the Valley that put HR off to the side and decided it wasn’t important and are now dealing with some level of catastrophe—either a public catastrophe or one that’s in the making … and it’s totally unnecessary. If they had taken HR seriously at an earlier point, they probably would have been able to fight a lot of their issues.”

Establishing an effective HR department is critical to growing your business, building company culture, and managing employees. Here’s how to hire a top-quality HR professional at the right time for your company, from crafting a solid job description to what to ask during an interview.

At What Stage Does Your Business Need a Full-Time HR Hire?

The short answer is: the earlier the better. From a legal perspective, organizations with 50 or more employee begin encountering state and federal regulations like the Family and Medical Leave Act. Hiring a HR professional is an absolute must after crossing this threshold.

For smaller startups, tight finances may be the biggest hurdle when launching a Human Resources department, but the greatest success happens when HR is considered early in the process, even before the recognized need for an HR function. For startups with limited financial resources, hiring a full-time HR professional may not be an option, which is why outsourcing the job to a consultant can be a cost-saving alternative. Seasoned advisors bring value and impact to organizations by leveraging strategic TA to drive business growth at any company size.

“It’s about asking what would you like to achieve from the business side—what are the business objectives,” said Anna Brandt, HR Advisor at Backbase and N26. “Then, it’s about asking how do we make sure that the recruitment plan or TA strategy will support the delivery of those objectives?”

Business objectives should also be a consideration when developing a profile for what kind of HR professional your organization needs. For example, if data privacy and compliance are important to your industry, then it’s crucial your HR hire is knowledgeable and experienced in the legal regulations affecting your organization.

Likewise, fast-moving startups will need someone who can multi-task, has high-energy, and is able to switch gears quickly. The ideal candidate for an e-commerce corporation might look very different, so aligning your organization’s HR goals with the ideal candidate profile can help refine the search when it’s time to hire.

Job Descriptions for HR Managers and Recruiters

As with any job posting, you will want to outline the core functions of the role. Key responsibilities for an HR professional may include:

• Organizing departmental planning, including hiring and termination policies
• Overseeing employment and compliance with federal and state regulations
• Implementing performance management and improvement systems
• Managing employee salary, bonus incentives, and other compensation programs
• Managing employee safety, welfare, wellness, and health
• Organizing employee training programs
• Managing employee relations, including fielding complaints, concerns, and feedback
• Offering employee services and counseling

Depending on the size of your organization, it may be important to emphasize how the role could evolve over time as the HR department expands, bringing changes to the role and its responsibilities. But, be careful to avoid clichés like “ad hoc responsibilities”, which can deter great candidates.

Tech Proficiency Matters

Technological innovation like artificial intelligence is advancing exponentially, and the HR industry invests billions of dollars in new tools for recruitment, performance management, engagement, training, inclusion, and analytics. “Recruiting has really been transformed these past years,” said Hessam Lavi, Director of Product at SmartRecruiters. “We’ve seen a shift from HR and recruiting coming from an admin function, or merely a cost center, to much more of a strategic function.”

Today’s HR professionals need a strong understanding of modern HR technology, like automated sourcing tools, talent acquisition suites, and candidate relationship management integrations. That’s why strong HR candidates know how to implement technology to reduce the amount of time spent on administrative tasks, improve data quality, and free up more time for value-added tasks. This requires an understanding of the HR tech tools available in the market and an ability to pitch business leaders and stakeholders on investments that will yield a high potential return.

Interview Questions for HR Professionals

HR managers and recruiters are expected to be on the front lines of hiring new talent for your organization, which means you need to understand their ability to assess and interview potential candidates. Sample questions for HR professionals may include:

• How will you drive results in your role?
• How do you conduct job terminations?
• What kinds of interview questions do you typically ask?
• Describe a difficult encounter with an employer/manager/colleague and how you handled it.
• Describe a time when you didn’t follow policy or had to deviate from policy.
• How would you deal with an unethical situation? Any examples?
• What kinds of trends do you think will shape the future of HR departments in the coming years?

As with any strong candidate, responses should drive positive conversations, demonstrate thorough research of the company, and reinforce the importance of HR’s role in the company’s overall business growth strategy.

The End Goal

At the end of the day, hiring a HR professional will allow your company to develop better employees and hit your company growth goals. According to Marjorie Adams, President and CEO of Fourlane, “An internal HR person will improve internal processes and development, including tracking vacation time, improving performance review process, helping employees set goals and managing benefits. After all, a business owner doesn’t have the time or talent to take these tasks on, let alone do a good job administering them.”

You’ve put it off as long as you can, but now you have to hire. Until now your team has handled it all, with a little help here and there, but it’s just too much to manage by yourself. You have too many fires to put out; you need more people, good people, to handle some internal conflicts brewing, benefit and/or compensation requests, compliance (and you could use some help with strategic planning as well).

Maybe, you have to hire a human resource professional to help you with your growing company. Or maybe, you need to replace an HR professional that has left.

How to Interview Someone in the HR Industry

Ideally you want the person that is going to come in, read your mind, make your life easier and can be trusted. Anyone that you interview should be minimally qualified, so let’s assume you’ve jumped that hurdle. Now unless you’re clairvoyant, you’re going to need some help asking the right questions to determine who has the passion, the desire, and the guts to be the best candidate.

Here are a few of my favorite interview questions and why.

1. What do you like about human resources? Why do you want to be an human resource professional?

We’re looking for passion, people! We want someone who loves the profession and is not just doing it for a pay check. We don’t want anyone mailing it in and getting complacent. We want HR innovators that want to use the latest trends to help achieve our goals.

2. Tell me about a time you made a mistake and what was the resolution and outcome?

I love this question because it’s really about accountability. You need someone that is not afraid to be honest about past mistakes and the corrective actions that they took to ensure it does happen again, the lesson learned. We know that everyone makes mistakes at work. No one’s perfect; so if the candidate says, “ I don’t make mistakes, or I can’t think of any, or I have so much experience that I don’t make mistakes” –  that’s a FAIL. What I’m hearing is, “I am too stubborn and self-conscious to admit that I’ve made mistakes.” So there’s your mistake, pretending as if you don’t make them! If they do give a specific example, listen very closely to how the interviewee overcame the example mistake; this will tell you a lot about their resilience and problem solving ability.

3. What are some of your weaknesses? What are your strengths?

Again, I’m looking for introspection and self-evaluation. This is a very standard interview questions across all positions. I don’t want to hear that you have no weaknesses because that’s a lie. How an interviewee talks about their own weaknesses will give you an idea about how he or she will talk about company weaknesses. The same idea applies when you listen to his or her strengths. You want someone that can inspire pride but be wary of a long unrealistic list of feats that makes one wonder why this person is even in the job market. He or she may be giving you the run around. Look for someone level-headed.

4. What do you look for in an organization and team dynamic?

Personally I like this question because the answer helps me to know what kind of employee you’re going to be. No one wants to be micromanaged but there must be a level of accountability. You must be able to work alone or under the pressure of a deadline without flaking out. You want someone that can be trusted to complete tasks and make decisions without too much coddling.

See also:

• 10 Most Common Illegal Interview Questions
• Identifying the 10 Soft Skills of a Great Intern
• Most Important Job Interview Question – “When Have You Failed?”

So now I got to tell you my least favorite HR interview questions. And these have actually been asked of me or I’ve heard someone ask them. Don’t be a victim to this kind of interview bias.

1. What person living or dead would you most like to have dinner with?

How about yo momma (don’t say that candidates)!  Nevertheless, this question bothers me because it leads the candidate to a place where they could be discriminated against. You want to stay away from entertainment icons, religious leaders and athletes. For instance you may think of Jesus Christ or Elvis Presley or Michael Jordan, but it just so could happen that the interviewer doesn’t like any of those leaders. Now you don’t “fit.” Candidates, if you get this question, I recommend going with a family member.

2. Tell me something that you probably shouldn’t tell me. 

Uh nothing! Just don’t see the point to this question. Again it leads the interviewee to talk about something inappropriate like, “There are some primo chicks in here.” Candidates, consider steering the conversation back to something work related, such as, “I’m huge fan of Macs. What type of computers / operating systems does the office use?”

When interviewing a person for an HR position you want to make sure you are looking someone who has a passion for HR because that minimizes the risk of them getting frustrated and quitting. You want someone who is knowledgeable and resourceful. You want someone who relies on skills just as much as experience, because things change quickly and you need someone who can adopt and is open-minded. Sometimes people with a lot of experience become entitled know-it-alls unwilling to learn new concepts or strategies (think social media, HR). Hiring decisions are costly, especially for a small growing business you want to be certain that you make the best choice available.

Hope this helps, what questions would you ask – or not ask – when hiring someone for your HR department?

For more information on how to interview.

Chris Fields is an HR professional and leadership guy who blogs and dispenses great (not just good) advice at Cost of Work. Connect with Chris via email at chris@costofwork.com.

Arriving on the scene in 1979, Expeditors has firmly established itself as one of the world’s leading logistics and customs brokerage companies, specializing in haulage and supply chain management in a diverse range of industries. After starting out as a single office in Seattle, Expeditors can now boast over 250 branches and a staff of around 15,000.

However, when it comes to recruitment, Expeditors does things a little differently than most Fortune 500s, as it actually lacks any kind of dedicated HR support.

Instead, Expeditors operates within an ultra-decentralized model with local department managers changing hats to become temporary hiring managers as and when required. This approach provides the managers with the autonomy and flexibility they need to fulfil staffing requirements across their global branches. However, it also presents troublesome organizational and administrative pain points.

Burdened With A Brand Damaging ATS

Expeditors were all too aware of these problems, and they are also aware that their home-grown Lotus Notes database was not up to the task of solving them. In fact, it might have been irreversibly damaging their brand in regards to candidates.

In particular, the chaotic system of emails and spreadsheets meant there was no standardized or efficient method of communicating with potential employees, resulting in a poor candidate experience. As Morgan Wilson, Senior Manager of Training & Personal Development at Expeditors, explained:

“I am sure we did not have a great reputation in the past among job applicants. Many who applied to Expeditors would never hear a thing.”

This approach could have been potentially costing Expeditors their next great candidate.

Luckily, the first step in solving a problem is actually recognizing one exists, the next is finding the right tools to fix it. With this in mind, Expeditors created a set of criteria which any newly adopted talent acquisition suite would have to match up to.

Firstly, since Expeditors has no dedicated HR staff, they needed something department managers could pick up easily and with only minimal training. Secondly, they needed a platform acting hiring managers could own locally. Thirdly, they wanted to create an excellent candidate experience, and finally, the solution needed to be able to deal with the large influx of paper applications typically handed into Expeditors at industry shows and events.

Putting Expeditors Back In Charge Of Its Brand

Despite having no experience of SmartRecruiters prior to their search, Expeditors quickly found a partner which satisfied all their specific criteria. Here’s how:

• SmartRecruiters’ communication tools, including automated responses, are built-in to the platform, meaning candidates are no longer left in the dark about their applications. With little effort, Expeditors can keep in touch in all applicants, increasing their chances of finding the best talent and improving the candidate experience as they go.
• All of this was achieved without any need for major organizational restructuring. In the end, Expeditors only needed to hire one administrator to handle the entire SmartRecruiters platform.
• The collaborative nature of SmartRecruiters allows for candidates to be passed between jobs, departments and hiring managers with ease. This way, if a candidate was unsuccessful for one position, but could be ideal for another, this can be easily communicated to the team and their profile reassigned.
• The easy configurability of SmartRecruiters means the information from paper applications could be uploaded and shared with the entire hiring staff.

The Results Are Plain To See

After a short pilot period, Expeditors immediately chose SmartRecruiters as their new ATS platform. It wasn’t long until they saw improvements, with Expeditors predicting to receive around 27,000 applications for 900 positions in their first year of using SmartRecruiters.

However, the SmartRecruiters platform doesn’t simply provide short-term solutions to immediate needs, the data it provides can also aid long-term organizational and strategic decision-making. Expeditors, in particular, used the vast amounts of data and key metrics they received to alter their internal practices, increasing cooperation and overall efficiency.

To go into more detail about how SmartRecruiters helped Expeditors achieve their hiring goals without compromising on their preferred model, read the full case study, Expeditors: Lean Resources. Global Footprint. Robust Results.

We all have natural biases, and we don’t always know when they’re affecting us. Things get trickier when you’re a recruiter, monitoring your own thought process to hire without discrimination. With the advent of AI Applicant Tracking, are we looking at a future where machines can help us with that?

First, some context. I recently attended a recruiting event, focused on diversity in hiring. Barring the usual dreaded group activities, forced corporate roleplay and all, I did learn something about bias in recruiting: it’s more common than we think.

But it’s not malicious. More often than not it’s perpetrated unconsciously by well-meaning folks who enthusiastically attend meetings about non-bias hiring, who believe and champion the idea that diversity within a company is important.

One recruiter faced the group and described an experiment he conducted, himself as the guinea pig. He would cover applicant details on a CV like name, age and gender with post-it notes, not thinking it would make a difference in his hiring process. His conclusion?

“I use a lot of post-it notes in my hiring process now.”

This man had attended diversity seminars and conferences on non-bias hiring before. He thought it was enough to be aware of the issue, but as it turns out, you have to do something proactive.

HIs sticky-note approach, rudimentary though it may be, is what’s at the heart of most HR technology addressing negative bias. It’s as simple as asking ourselves what data we need in order to make the best decision.

Ok not quite so simple. Because recruiting, at its core, is itself a process of bias. Selecting few from many based on candidates’ most useful qualities for a particular job. A positive bias.

The problem is when lists include qualities that aren’t about the probability of success, like age, gender, sexual orientation, race, etc. Recruiters and hiring managers have to untangle their positive and negative biases, which is harder than it sounds. These are viewpoints they’ve been using their whole lives. And rather than address it, and take time, effort and introspection, it’s tempting to push blame down the line.

A common excuse from recruiters is that no women, POCs, etc, even apply to certain roles, so it’s not their fault if their choices are seen as less than ideally diverse. It’s true that training and outreach can help promote under-represented peoples in a particular trade, but it’s important to take steps at every stage in the candidate pipeline, because people need jobs now, and recruiters are the gatekeepers.

So beyond purposely withholding certain details like our friend at the event, recruiters and hiring managers can also reduce bias by creating a system of checks, which could include writing out a list of qualities a candidate should have for the job, and making sure that those are actually the qualities on which they are judged.

While this simple method of self-accountability can be quite effective, the list itself could be flawed and that’s where we need technology.

Up until now we’ve used algorithms that often adopt the bias of an institution, or the people doing the hiring, because the calculations are based on that institution’s single data source. What makes our technology different is the vast amount of data we collect from a variety of industries, which allows us to find appropriate candidates from unexpected places, candidates you never may have known existed, or have considered before.

The AI sources and selects top candidates to interview far faster than any human could, and with less bias. The idea of machines doing a job better than people is always off-putting at first, but think of what you could do with all that saved time: actual face time with candidates. Time to nurture connections. Build a network your company can draw from in the future.

SmartRecruiters AI aims to address the problem of human bias, and let the machine take care of that part of the process. And when the hiring manager is shown their shortlist, our product will then hold humans accountable. Our collaborative approach adds community checks and balances to the recruitment process, which means platform administrators will be able to see the work of their hiring team, which means if a particular manager hires a white male over a black female who scored higher, they will have to justify this to their coworkers, their superiors, and themselves.

By now we’ve all seen the 2013 Gallup report on employee engagement, The State of the American Workplace. Words that come to mind when I re-read the report:  bummer, disheartening, bad news.  But I also wonder: what exactly did we expect? Look around you, managers, and you’ll see disengaged employees with the Zombie stare, some with the sour look of the disappointed, a few with the overly positive, can-do smile, trying desperately to make things work. A lot of this is the fault of a poor connection between managers and line-of-business employees and it inevitably trickles into a broken recruitment and communication process with potential candidates. The good news? We can change these statistics. It’s in your power to take control of your recruiting process and employer brand. The truth is most job seekers are looking for more than salary when they decide to apply to work at your company.

Can employee disengagement and bad branding be prevented? Can HR and Leaders learn to bring people back to productivity? Absolutely. Will it be tough? You know it. Will it be worth it? Yes, a thousand times. How do you start? Let’s take a closer look at employer brand.  Are you true to it in your hiring and recruiting process? How your employees represent the company’s mission and brand is as important as anything Leaders or HR says in the hiring process. Make sure the stories align well and is accurately reflecting your current brand and the overall mission.

Then look at the employee experience – What employees do everyday, the actions they take, and how they perceive the actions of their managers and top management.  As Blue Ocean Strategy Institute co-directors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne suggest in this month’s Harvard Business Review, focusing on the acts and activities of management and employees is critical to understanding how a company operates. Actions, as our moms have told us, do speak louder than words, and in the world of work they separate good managers, and great companies and truthful branding, from the mediocre. My latest piece on Dice.com provides more information on just how much technology is changing in the world of work for leaders and hiring practitioners around the globe.

Then look at how you’re hiring: think candidate experience.  Do you force job seekers through a maze-like microsite for career opportunities, then fail to acknowledge their applications with an email or letter (spoiler alert: approximately 70% of hiring companies are in this camp)?  Do you put people through tests and five phone screens, then never follow up? If so, you’re doing damage to your brand. Smart companies know better: they’ve begun to adopt new technologies to streamline the hiring process: video, digital interviews, social recruiting and more.

A few more things can make or break employer brand and candidate experience:

Communicate throughout the process. If you do a phone screen, give feedback.  If a candidate comes to your career site, acknowledge the visit with an email explaining your hiring process. Technology is available now to make these steps easy; there’s no reason not to do it, unless you want to damage your brand.

Think like a candidate. Another timeless reminder: treat others as you’d like to be treated. This Golden Rule is especially important if you want to ensure good candidate experience. And why wouldn’t you?

Be a person first, an HR manager second. People want to deal with people. Make your hiring process as personal as you can. You’re not dealing with robots (just yet at least).

Set expectations. This is part of the communications process but it deserves a call-out. Don’t leave people hanging; let them know what your process is, when they can expect to hear back, how quickly you’re planning to make a decision.

Candidate experience is a two way street. Make sure yours is good and true to your brand, or you are setting the brand up for damage both upfront in the recruiting process and to your internal employees and stakeholders. It’s easier to maintain a good reputation than it is to rebuild it. Employer brand and candidate experience are linked, and they matter greatly to recruit and retain your talent.

This article was written by Meghan M. Biro from Forbes and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Learn more about SmartRecruiters, the only platform managers and candidates love.

I’ve been using social media for three years now and when I got started there were already several HR professionals who had been using it for years. One of them was Charlie Judy (@HRFishbowl). He’s an excellent HR professional, Emcee with SHRM, and exceptional writer as well. I’m proud to say he’s a friend of mine. We collaborated on an article titled “The Audacity of HR” at the time it was my most viewed article ever.  I’m mentioning this because to my knowledge the very 1^ST time I saw/read the term “TrenchHR” was from Charlie. It was even a popular hashtag at one point #TrenchHR.

TrenchHR was developed to distinguish the HR professionals working in the corporate world from those consulting. It’s to recognize those that were practicing HR from those who one step removed from working inside the machine, if you will. Surely, you’ve heard the old term “Those that can, do; those that can’t, consult.”

Some people think it’s a divisive term and it has ruffled some feathers. For instance, I am a HR consultant and very proud it. Most consultants are former HR practitioners and for one reason or another decided to make a living using their expertise, knowledge and skills independently. Some current practitioners feel that having the corporate tagline behind their name makes them more relevant. The topic is debatable; depending upon who you ask relevancy is not so much about what you do but how you do it – not who you do it for.

One of my favorite pieces of advice came from my professor while earning my Master’s Degree in HR from Ohio State University. He said:

“We teach you what should be done from a procedural standpoint, but you will quickly learn that what is practiced unfortunately is not the same thing.”

He’s right. The Trenches of HR is littered with people who can’t perform simple mundane HR tasks. There’s plenty of incompetency in the Trenches which is why EEO claims are high, employee engagement is low, and 70% of all employees are looking for new jobs.

There are some dynamic – super intelligent – uber fantastic – and extremely relevant HR professionals in the Trenches of HR – working everyday fighting the good fight. They take care of the employees; protect the company from liability, manage the processes, deal with the frustrations and headaches that come along with employee relations. They deserve all respect due for tirelessly pushing human resources forward. The frontlines of the war for talent management and organization development is TrenchHR.

Chris Fields is an HR professional and leadership guy who also helps job seekers write great resumes. 

When you are hiring in the trenches, use SmartRecruiters, the hiring platform with everything you need to source talent, manage candidates, and make the right hires.

Practitioners – These are the folks that do it every day in a workplace environment. They go into the office and the ones who are actually pushing the HR functions that we all write about. They are also called “Trench HR” because they are actively in the trenches, resolving conflict, administering policy and keeping the company out of the courtroom.

Consultants – Consultants are usually former or ex-practitioners who have decided to leave the corporate ranks and pursue a career in HR by writing, speaking and lecturing. They remain current by reading, connecting and networking within the HR community just as practitioners should.

Bloggers – An HR blogger could be a practitioner, an ex-practitioner, a consultant, a former consultant or influencer; basically anyone can be a blogger. Bloggers set themselves apart by being extremely skilled, talented and knowledgeable, however the only way to do that is to have some sort of background or credibility in your field.

Influencers – This one is tricky. HR Influencers are those that have an impact on the HR profession but have never practiced human resources professionally. There are several authors and thought leaders who fit into this category. For instance, Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook is very popular right now and her book “Lean In” is a best seller that is getting plenty of play in the HR circles. Sheryl is not in HR but currently she is influencing HR through her writing. Malcolm Galdwell the author of “The Tipping Point” and “Outliers” is another HR influencer; however he is not an HR practitioner, consultant or blogger.

Content Writers/Vendors  – Content writers research topics, gather information and present it to the audience. Usually the content writer does not necessary have a background in that particular field, they simply report on it.  Content writers rarely provide insight based on their own experiences, it’s just the fact based on the accounts of others or previously reported material.

Hybrid – Everyone loves a hybrid right? So a hybrid would be any combination of the above. For instance, I’m a former practitioner, who is now a consultant and a blogger. I use my experiences from my days in the trenches, along with the latest advances in HR to create great articles. There are other hybrid writers, who combine their past experiences, with their research and their influence to create content.

It’s important to note that when you read anything on the internet that you treat it just as you would a book from your favorite book store or library  – you read about the author; you know the back flap of the book – the about me page. There is so much content available now a days which means you have to know who you are reading and why they have a platform. What are they bringing to the discussion and why you should even read their material? Each point of view has a different angle to consider.

HR is a very subjective profession, while there are compliance laws that govern our actions; company size, industry needs, technology, labor force, compensation, skill level, consumer share as well as the local and global economy all have an impact on way HR manages human capital. That’s a lot of information to consider and a lot of POVs.

Chris Fields is an HR professional and leadership guy who blogs and dispenses great (not just good) advice at Cost of Work.

Talent Acquisition and Retention

1. With the war for talented workers heavily touted, quality workers are increasingly harder to come by, which means employers have to have the type of environment in which employees want to work. Employees want to be trained, compensated, receive excellent benefits and have opportunities to grow their careers. HR must wonder, how do we find, recruit, train, onboard and retain the best of the best?

Legislation/Politics

2. The rules of engagement change quickly and the laws used to govern HR are also changing swiftly. For instance, the Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has many costs associated with healthcare coverage which could possibly cause price increases for certain goods and services. Also by mandating coverage and accessing penalties and fines, the costs could hinder your employer’s profits. HR must ask how are these changes to the laws going to affect our business operations and the way we employ our people?

Performance Management/Development

3. The average tenure for workers in America is getting shorter and shorter; at last I read it was roughly 3.5 years.  That means employees – all employees – are looking for new opportunities and moving around quite a bit. This makes performance management and employee development very difficult and here’s why; the manager can’t develop and nurture the employees if he/she is looking elsewhere themselves. There’s no consistency or accountability in the process. With all this movement how can HR ensure performance management and leadership development are working properly?

Compliance

4. Similar to Legislation by slightly different, with compliance issues, HR has to ensure that managing employee relations regarding sexual harassment, race discrimination, workplace bullying, cyber bullying, social media interaction, conflict resolution and sexual orientation/preference (which is different from sexual harassment). There are also new rules from the National Labor Relations Board. HR has to ask, what’s the latest in compliance? And how can we be sure we are following the guidelines appropriately?

Increasing Our Value

5. If you know anything about HR, we have been pining for a “Seat at the Table” and by “table” we mean the executive table in the boardroom of the C-SUITE. We want the Chief HR Officer title, influence and respect.  It’s been proven time and time again that companies that use HR to help create and implement business strategies outperform those that do not, yet it’s still a struggle. Many business owners want to relegate HR to an administrative function. HR saves money but many companies are willing to take chances and gamble that they can get away with bending and breaking the rules without getting caught. That’s a bad plan of action. How does HR increase its value to the corporation and create a strategic partnership?

Chris Fields is an HR professional and leadership guy who blogs and dispenses great (not just good) advice at Cost of Work. Connect with Chris via email at chris@costofwork.com.  

SmartRecruiters is the hiring platform that makes hiring easy. Use smart sourcing, collaborate with your hiring team to manage candidates, and make the right hire.

Human Resources is a great profession – I’ll be the first to admit that, but I’m bias. We have a tough job to do; find and recruit new talent, train and develop workers, engage employees, resolve conflict, keep the company out of court, and keep an eye on productivity. There are millions of HR professionals doing a great job every day and others that aren’t. We wanted to give you a list of awesome HR professionals at awesome companies which are performing well and setting trends. These are the types of people and places that you want to work with.

Here are the 10 Most Influential HR Practitioners:

Felicia Fields – Group VP HR Ford Motor Company

What’s great about Felicia? Well her story really began when the previous VP of HR decided to leave Ford during the big bail out and recession. New CEO Alan Mulally had a plan and didn’t want to use federal funds, one of the first people he partnered with to turn Ford around was Felicia Fields. Together they created and executed an effective plan to turn the auto company around, mostly by talking to the employees to figure out what worked and what didn’t.

Hollie Delaney – Director of HR at Zappos!

We all love Zappos! Right? They have excellent customer service and they know how to use social media recruiting to engage their audience, build relationships and grow the company image. They don’t believe in working from home because they want to have a close team dynamic. Hollie is tasked with keeping an eye on the social interaction and employee engagement – not so easy when your business model is fun and service.

Henry “Hank” Jackson – President and CEO of SHRM

Hank Jackson leads the largest professional association for HR – the Society of Human Resource Management. Although I love HR, it’s not the sexiest profession and thousands of us together can be a bit uninspiring but Hank is turning things around. He’s encouraging SHRM members and HR professional to be social and use technology to make HR more appealing to the new generation. From the HR Magazine to State and National Conferences, Jackson is making HR fun again – you may say he’s bringing sexy back.

[Editor’s Note: These two men of HR (above Hank & below Dave) – while not traditional practitioners – have such global influence on HR that they snuck into a list for practitioners.]

Dave Ulrich – Global HR Leader

Dave Ulrich is a professor, consultant, author and Global HR thought leader, he’s written several books on the strategic alignment of HR to corporate business process. He may not be on Twitter or actively practicing HR today, but he keeps his finger on the pulse of HR activities. Many HR curriculums use his works as the basis for their coursework. As a HR professional I’ve benefited greatly from his work. He writes, “HR must give value or give notice.”

Dianne Mills – Global Head of HR at Paypal

When I think about things that make life better, PayPal comes to  mind. It’s the online currency and banking website. You can send money, receive money, transfer money to and from your bank account and even get a credit card. Paypal has helped to make currency virtual and even mobile, pretty soon we’ll be able to use our Paypal accounts in traditional stores and restaurants. A company like this has to have a strong HR presence and Diane Mills is that presence.

Alice Harmon – VP of HR and Administration Evernote

Evernote is the one stop shop app to collect, store, share and organize your life. It’s a great app. The company is one of the fastest growing and one of the best places to work for employee benefits. A place like that has to take HR seriously, and with Alice Harmon at the helm of HR she has to adapt to ever changing demands of mobile app customers. Alice understands to stay competitive with top talent you have to offer top benefits and she stays very busy with internal and external customer engagement.

Kris Dunn – CHRO at Kinetix. Founder of of HR Capitalist & Fistful of Talent

Of course we had to add a social presence to this group. In addition to creating Fistfull of Talent (FOT) a multi-contributor website with a team of great HR and Marketing professionals, he also blogs at HR Capitalist. Kris is always creating new content, such as webinars and eBooks to help drive the message of process improvement and talent management. He’s also part of the “Candidate Experience Council”.

Kalen Holmes – Executive VP Partner Resources (HR) Starbucks

Coffee is huge! We love to go get coffee and have meetings at Starbucks. Since the 90’s Starbucks have done things a little differently to engage customers and create a niche. Kalen joined in 2009, reporting directly to the CEO. She manages all the generalists and partner resource functions; which means HR – keeping Starbucks in aligned with Schultz’ mission and vision won’t be easy but it’s exciting to watch.

Laszlo Bock – SVP, People Operations Google

You can’t have a “Top HR” or “Top Company” list without Google. Naturally we hear about their work life benefits. We use their products and we assume it must be the greatest place on earth. Well we might be right. Google does things differently. Even the HR department is called “People Operations” and Laszlo Bock oversees it all. He has to manage productivity and ensure that Google is competitive in the quest for finding and recruiting top talent. Don’t believe, just Google it!

Steve Browne – Executive Director of HR at LaRosa’s, Inc.

LaRosa’s is a pizza company in the greater Cincinnati, OH area and Steve is awesome. Steve Browne is the model example of what an HR professional should be. He performs his HR duties with smile, and he takes time to leave his office and interact with the people – yes the human capital that we are hired to manage. He makes tough decisions when he has to, but he never embarrasses or belittles any of his employees – past or present. ” His favorite word is “geeked”; now tell me that’s not awesome!

These HR professionals know what makes HR tick. Smaller companies everywhere are following their leads. Learn from these great HR pros.

About the Author: Chris Fields is an HR professional and leadership guy who blogs and dispenses great (not just good) advice at Cost of Work.  Image Credit Ely Tran.

SmartRecruiters is hiring platform that makes it easy to source talent, manage candidates (collaborate with your team), and make the right hires.

Today is your first day at a startup! You have been hired as the Office Manager at the company, but were told there is currently no one doing Human Resources and the CEO would like you to take that over since you have some experience on your resume. Now is the tough part, you have to set up a whole HR department complete with policies, files, benefits, etc. (oh the paper cuts to come!).  With a daunting task like this it is mission critical to start with the five most important tasks and get those done first…

1.  Startups are fun and young, and handbooks are boring and outdated and so corporate right?! NO! From a Human Resources point of view, a handbook is necessary regardless of company size. A handbook lets a company lay out what they expect of the employee and what benefits are offered.  This is important to have as a reference for any situations that may arise down the line and offers protection for both the employer and the employee. And they are easily changed as the company evolves.

2. Culture! Culture! Culture! This is extremely important in startups and probably a reason I have no intention of leaving the startup environment.  As an Office Manager and Human Resources Manager I sometimes think of my self as the Chief of Culture or Minister of the People. It is my job to make sure that the company stays fun and innovative by maintaing a great culture. It is important that even though I am in Human Resources, people know that they can come and talk to me about anything – an open door policy. Make sure people know that they can make suggestions about improvements or new benefits.

3. Recruiting the Right People is one of the most important things for any company, no matter the size. At a startup when you have only a few employees, hiring the right people is especially critical. They need to have the right experience, the right mentality and be a culture fit based on what you are trying to build. This is the time to find and implement great talent management practices and software.  While the most common names here are companies like Taleo, they are not always practical for a startup due to scalability and price. However something like SmartRecruiters is a great choice to scale your startup. It is free, easy, and collaborative (my favorite!).

4. Once you start hiring people you’re going to quickly notice paperwork, everywhere! Its time to create some personnel files!! Lots of companies are cutting down on paper and trying to go paperless, I agree that HR should also do this. Get everything online in a secure place such as DropBox, a secure password protected laptop or USB that is also encrypted. If you have questions about what goes where or how long you have to keep what, sign up with SHRM and start reading and organizing!

5.  How do you compete with other startups to get the best employees? Providing awesome benefits is a good way to start! Employees aren’t just looking for money, they want to know about your worklife balance, and this is where it is time to think outside of the box.  Benefits in the standard sense are great, for example medical benefits – this, of course, is an important thing to provide – but if you really want to draw people to work for you offer other things like gym memberships, lunches, company happy hours, versatile working environment (ex. I <3 my standing desk!), fully stocked kitchen, etc. The list goes on and on! If you need suggestions check out what other companies are doing, ask your friends, and stop and think what YOU would want and the best way to get ideas, ask your employees for suggestions and listen!

It can be intimidating to come into any company and have to build a HR Department where there was none before.  But if you start with the five most important tasks above, before you know it your HR Department will be functioning and everything will be running smoothly.

Joanna Savio is Office Manager / Executive Assistant / Human Resources (i.e. MacGyver) at SmartRecruiters. Photo Credit Ely Tran.

SmartRecruiters is the hiring platform with everything you need to source talent, manage candidates and make the right hires.