The HR Journey

I just returned from maternity leave so I’ve had some time away from the office. While out of the office, I leveraged LinkedIn as a tool to keep in touch and network with my business contacts. I then began to receive multiple “friend requests” from LinkedIn’s more casual counterpart, Facebook. I’ve been hesitant of more personal online social networking sites due to identity theft concerns and simply the idea of putting your personal life online. However, my friends, whom you would have thought worked for Facebook by the way they were pushing it, finally convinced me to jump on the bandwagon simply because “everyone is doing it.” And to answer your question, “no, I wouldn’t jump off a bridge if my friends did!”

I decided to embrace it because it’s the future….it’s what high school and college students, everyone in my age bracket and beyond, and recruiters are using. Did you know that Talent Management suite applications, such as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), are now supporting sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn (The New Networking, October 2, 2008, Human Resource Executive Online)?

The implications of online social networking for human resources are vast and we’ve just started the journey. Recruiting is definitely on the right path…at least technology wise, but what about recruiters’ skill sets? Are they prepared for online social networking? I’ve seen it in the past – IT implements an Applicant Tracking System and recruiters are slow to adopt. Now, add in integration to sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Are they ready to move from the traditional networking and recruiting world to online social networking?

I believe there is an increasing skill gap seen in HR. The skills needed 15 years ago look quite different than the skills needed today or even those needed for tomorrow. I think many HR organizations that are on the HR Journey need to closely examine and assess their team and ramp up so that they don’t stall along the way. What is your organization doing to prepare for this HR Journey?