by Alan Collins

I used to deliver training sessions for our managers who were new to their HR job. This was a two-day training session we did at Quaker Oats and it included our best up-and coming HR leaders.

There were 56 things that we’d tell them they needed to do in order to be successful. It included how you interview job candidates, coach and counsel, hold career discussions and do performance reviews.

As I would get up to conclude the training, I knew from past experience that it wasn’t possible for these people to remember everything. So I would wrap up by saying that there are three things that matter in any HR job.

The first is competence. Focus on being the best in your HR job — whether you’re a generalist or in compensation or labor relations. Reach for the higher standard. This means focusing on the job you have, not on the job you want, and committing to grow your skills to become great at what you do.

The second is confidence. While it’s great to ask questions to gather data in an employee investigation, your clients want to know what you think. Leadership is about having a point a view and sharing it. So you have to have enough confidence in yourself to regularly and unabashedly put your own perspectives and ideas on the table in tough situations.

The third is caring. No one individual can accomplish great things in large, complex organizations. Success requires collaboration. And at the end of the day, it’s giving a darn and partnering with your clients and your colleagues and recognizing that it’s the people around you are the ones who make you look good in your HR job.

I’ve tried to adhere to these three simple rules in every HR job I’ve held. And, I’ve found over the years that they are as true for those new in their HR job as it is for the senior vice president in HR.

Want to discover more ways to succeed in your HR job? Then download two Free Chapters of UNWRITTEN HR RULES: 21 Secrets For Attaining Awesome Career Success in Human Resources, which you can find at http://UnwrittenHRRules.com.

About the author: Alan Collins was Vice President – Human Resources at PepsiCo where he led HR initiatives for their Quaker Oats, Gatorade and Tropicana businesses. He is now President of Success in HR, Inc. and the author of UNWRITTEN HR RULES . His new book, BEST KEPT HR SECRETS now available on Amazon.

by Kevin Donlin

Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are getting a lot of press these days as job search tools.

However, as an HR professional, have you considered adding Craigslist to that list of online employment destinations?

You might want to.

Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) is a vast network of online classified ads that includes job listings. Founded by Craig Newmark in 1995, Craigslist now serves all U.S. states and major cities, as well as countries from Argentina to Vietnam.

And it just might help you find your next job. If you use it right.  Here’s how:

Start by visiting Craigslist.org to find your city or state. Then click on Jobs, where you’ll find listings for Human Resources.

“You can browse job postings by headlines, but searching is more effective, especially in the busier communities. And it’s best to search for skills rather than job titles,” according to Jenna Lloyd author of the forthcoming book, “Craiglist 4 Everyone” (Que Publishing).

Example: If you want an human resources manager position, you could search for HR Manager, Human Resources, Talent Manager, etc., and still miss out on listings. But almost all HR job postings mention recruitment or staffing, so searching for core skills like these can uncover a large number of relevant results, according to Lloyd.

Mark Chatham, from Ridgefield, NJ, found his current job on Craigslist in October 2006, when he was hired for online retailer Big Joys Distribution.

“I found their job posting on newjersey.craigslist.org, emailed my resume and was asked to interview a few days later,” says Chatham.

Chatham must be doing something right — he’s landed four jobs on Craigslist. His advice is to position yourself as both qualified and memorable. His resume included the facts that he held a patent at age 18 and once appeared on the TV show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? “Employers remembered me,” he says.

Because employers receive an average of 51 replies for each job ad, according to Craigslist’s own data (www.craigslist.org/about/job.boards.html) you must work hard to stand out.

Do this by writing a resume that connects with hiring managers, one that proves you understand their business and that you have the skills they want. “I tweaked my resume each time to make it relevant to the job I was applying for,” says Chatham.

One thing to keep in mind when using Craigslist is time management. You only have about 960 minutes per day to spend on a job search. So make sure you limit your time using online tools like Craigslist. Otherwise, you may find yourself wondering where another day went, and why you’re no closer to finding a job.

Another issue is trust. A quick look through the job postings will turn up dozens of potential work-at-home scams and get-rich-quick schemes. “In larger cities, there’s a fee to post jobs on Craigslist, which weeds out most scammers, but this is not the case in smaller cities. So listen to your instincts — if a job sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” says Lloyd.

If you’re unsure about submitting personal information to an employer on Craigslist, don’t. Simply send them a resume that masks your home address, names of your employers and other identifying data.

Also, it’s important follow directions when replying to a job posting on Craigslist (or anywhere). “Pay close attention to what the employer asks for — do they want you to email your resume as an attachment or paste it into the body of the email, for example,” says Lloyd. Because companies can afford to be picky, they may drop you from consideration if you botch instructions.

And don’t forget the cover letter, even if it is only emailed. “Take the time to write a message in your email that tells employers which ad on Craiglist you’re responding to and where you saw it. Don’t skip this last part!” advises Lloyd.

A final note on Craigslist: To me, it’s a throwback to the days of Usenet bulletin boards in the 1990s. You won’t find any fancy graphics, audio or video here. But you will find the sort of DIY community spirit that helped build the Internet into what it’s become. And that makes Craigslist worth a look if you’re looking for work.

Kevin Donlin, an expert on job search, has been interviewed by USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, CBS Radio and others.  For more information that can help you get your next HR job quickly, check out Kevin’s Instant Job Search System, which you can learn more about by CLICKING HERE!

by Kevin Donlin
Executive Search Consultant

You already know that most employers will use Google to research your HR background before hiring you, right?

If hiring managers find nothing online about you, you won’t stand out from the crowd. That’s bad.

If they find photos on MySpace of you table dancing in a fur bikini or videos of you on YouTube doing keg stands … that’s worse.

But, what if, during their Google search, the HR or the hiring manager finds that you’ve written several industry-related articles and you’ve been published all over the Internet? You’ll look like an expert in their eyes — and be much more likely to get a job offer.

Sound farfetched? Actually, it can be easy to do, according to Alan Collins, CEO of SuccessInHR and former vice-president of human resources at PepsiCo and Quaker Oats.

“By writing and submitting industry-related articles to a few key Web sites, you can get your name all over the first pages of Google search results. When employers search for you, they will find content written by you that’s related to your area of specialty within HR, which will definitely impress them,” says Collins.

Best of all, this won’t cost you a penny.

Now, don’t worry about the writing part. If you’ve ever written a book report or a coherent email, you can write an article that positions you as knowledgeable in your field — and makes you more attractive to employers.

You can do it by following these five steps …

1) Go back through your past HR jobs and the files you’ve kept…and dig up any reports, memos and papers you wrote over the years. “Basically, you’re looking for anything you have written that’s related to your field,” says Collins.

2) If you’ve already written 450-550 words on a human resources-related topic, great! That’s enough for an article. If not, combine or break apart your writings until you get roughly 500 words. Then, edit and clean up the language so that it reads well.

3) Still can’t find anything relevant you’ve written? No problem. You can write something now.

Visit Google, Wikipedia, industry Web sites, online magazines, etc., until you’ve gathered enough raw data for an article. Write fast and don’t censor yourself. Put your draft article away for at least 24 hours. Then come back and revise slowly. For extra editing, show it to two or three friends for input.

4) Write a short bio, also called a resource box, to insert at the end of your article. “Obviously, you want to write this with an eye toward the job you’re seeking,” says Collins.

Example bio: “Janine Smith is a senior HR manager at Exelon in Chicago, IL.  Janine has a BS and MS in Industrial & Labor Relations from University of Illinois and has a passion for helping leaders build high performing teams. ”

Note: If your name happens to be Barack Obama, Bill Gates, or something else that’s already “taken” on Google, be sure to use your middle name or initial to create a unique moniker for the search engines.

5) Now, the fun part. Get published by uploading your article(s) to free online article directories that share your work with multiple Web sites — this is how Google finds you.

Collins recommends you submit to three directories: EzineArticles.com, GoArticles.com and SearchWarp.com. “You can send the same article to all three, but definitely be sure to use EzineArticles.com — it’s well-liked by Google and will get you found the fastest,” says Collins.

Bonus: While you’re waiting for Web sites to find your articles, why not set up a free blog and self-publish immediately? Blogger.com is an especially useful blogging tool, because it’s owned by Google, which means your writing — and your name — are likely to be found by employers faster.

If you’ve never been published before, you’ll get a kick out of seeing your name in print. And your job search will get a kick, too, when employers find your name in Google — for all the right reasons.

Remember: Everyone wants to hire an expert. That expert could be you, if you write and publish articles about what you’ve done in human resources.

Kevin Donlin, an expert on job search, has been interviewed by USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, CBS Radio and others.  For more information that can help you get your next HR job quickly, check out Kevin’s Instant Job Search System, which you can learn more about by CLICKING HERE!