Federal HR Labor Relations Pro Wanted

Does FLRA, FMCS, arbitration, demand to bargain, negotiation and anything and everything about the Federal Labor Management Statute catch your attention?

In a good way?

Have I got a deal for you! I am looking for a federal labor relations professional to join my human resources staff.

Take a look at the vacancy announcement, apply and we have a chance of working together.

The USAJobs vacancy announcement and how to apply information is linked below. 

Lead HR Specialist (Labor Relations), St. Cloud VA Health Care System

We're taking applications from May 14 to May 29, 2012 from status candidates.

What does "status candidate" mean? 

It means this position is only open to current career or career-conditional federal employees with competitive status. Reinstatement eligibles, Veterans Recruitment Authority (VRA) eligibles, Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) eligibles, certain military spouses, persons with disabilities, disabled veterans with a 30% or more disability, former Peace Corps and VISTA volunteers may be considered under special hiring authorities.

A public vacancy announcement will be opened to all applicants shortly.

We have fun. You'd like it.

Human Resources, Complacency and Making Mistakes

There's no room for complacency in my HR.

In a recent Fast Company article, Why RIM Lost Its Crew, Its Groove, the author writes that complacency was one of the factors killing RIM. That's big. {If you weren't aware, RIM makes Blackberry. No worries, I own a Blackberry and didn't always know that either.}

A complacent satisfaction with present knowledge is the chief bar to the pursuit of knowledge.                                                                                     B.H. Lindell Hart

Complacent HR is content with the status quo and (did I say this already. . .?) there is no room for complacency in my HR. It threatens progress, it threatens growth and for HR leaders, it could threaten your very existence.

Let's take a look at an employee relations action you worked on and lost. You actually didn't lose it, you pulled it back before it was decided upon. You actions are good. Your odds are better than good on appeal.

Why would you do such a thing? You missed things. Things that, on appeal, could be problematic. More than that, you could not let your boss decide on an action that was anything less than complete.

Replace an employee relations action with a strategic workforce plan, a new recruitment initiative or an incentive award program proposal that misses the boat and it comes down to one thing: you got complacent.

Are these signs of complacency familiar to you?

• You utter,"good enough" in the face of unanswered questions.
• Your meetings on key issues end with without commitment or decision.
• Your candor is lacking and your support goes to the loudest bidder.
• You stick to what you've always done even when it stops working.

What else? You base your decisions solely on past actions, you begin to believe your own press, and you do not stay current on the legal landscape.

The good news about complacency is that it can be killed easily and the first step is admitting you have a problem. Then, you collaborate.

You speak with others. You seek feedback. You listen. Signs of complacency are more obvious to outsiders than insiders. You don't hold back. You do whatever it is you do to exit your funk. You get back in the game with both feet and even though it sounds counterintuitive, you make mistakes.

Mistakes cure complacency. Trust me, I know.

Photo credit: Jessica Hagy, Indexed

Primula, Présumé and Tactile Learning: A Day in the Life Sunday

Nothing like a shot of Baileys and coffee made in my Primula Coffee Press to start off a lazy Sunday morning.

We have the requisite coffee maker for guests but the husband and I don't use it. Grinding, scooping, smelling, brewing, and pressing our way to the perfect cup of coffee is so . . . tactile.

Sharing my love for Moleskine, my friend Trish McFarlane wondered in a recent post, "Miss Being Tactile? Is There an App for That? 

I have Evernote at home, on the Blackberry and on the iPad (complete with wireless keyboard) but given the choice, I reach for the kid's 24-pack of ultrathin Sharpies and a blank sheet of paper and mind map my ideas. Circles here, arrows there and a splash of color to draw the eye into the main points - does it get any better than that?

I struggled with my Nook 1st Edition, barely used my Kindle and am now just getting ok reading with the Nook for iPad. If I could only dog-ear a virtual page or two, I'd be golden.

You see, I am in my element when I can see if, feel it, and touch it.

Although I am the first in line to want to make a good first impression when visitors come knocking, I am also the first to blow past the gloss to see what's really behind the curtain. This may be why I question the wisdom of job seekers who put the shine before the substance with creative resume displays like  Présumé.

Take a look at this Présumé. I hate it. Actually, I love it (what I hate is that I lack the creativity to do this.) This was the absolute perfect approach for the job she was seeking but it would not work for everyone in every situation, like applying for a position with me.

This very cool presentation would lose it's appeal when I printed it off so I could hold it in my hot little tactile hands and mark it up with my yellow highlighter as I read for evidence of proven #trenchhr experiences.

It's me, not you. Sometimes a traditional dry, black and white, no more than 2 page resume with no life but a ton of hand-on organizational human resource practitioner experiences it just what this HR Director ordered.

Now, who's going to bottle up a touch of that creativity for me?

Photo credit weevermedia.com/services/app-marketing

Top 20 HR Mentors for Students

It all started with a conference and some construction.

There I was, making my way through Minneapolis construction to the 1st ever MN Bloggers Conference and I met Josh Braaten holding up a sign directing attendees to the parking lot.

One thing lead to another and Josh unofficially became my official Big Picture Web Squarespace connection.

Josh introduced me to Grant Tilus via an offer to guest post and Grant developed this list of Top 20 Mentors for Students to Learn from on Twitter.

It starts off like this:

"As a student studying to become a human resources professional it is important to realize that not everything can be learned within a classroom.  In order to help you bridge experience gap prior to graduation we’ve put together a list of the top 20 HR mentors for students to learn from on Twitter. This list of human resource professionals will help you learn and understand current HR related issues while further preparing you for a successful career within the human resources field."

Got your interest? It should. There is a ton of experience on that list. Check out the entire list here.

Not any one list can capture the greatness so who would you like to add as a resource for students aka the future of HR? I'll start with Steve Brown, @sbrownehr.

Your turn!

Employee Relations, Communication and Precision

Researching federal employee relations case law can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. And communicating findings effectively can sometimes be even more challenging for human resource professionals.

When I am developing an action that is new or has a twist we had not encountered before, you can find me combing cases.

Yet, I drew a complete blank when I was recently asked about decisions I encountered that changed my recommendations.

A complete blank. What's that all about? Could it be that I am not as diligent as I could be? That I don't know the case law? Say it isn't so.

It isn't so.

What is so is that I realized I may not be on the lookout for changes in the "routine" landscape as often as I should be and my speaking around case law is not always all that it could be.

Knowing the decisions of third parties like the federal Merit Systems Protection Board and understanding the rationale for those decisions is absolutely necessary for expert advice and informed decision making.

Did you know that:

• For the first time, the Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that the prohibition against imposing discipline more than once for the same misconduct may be waived in the context of a last chance agreement.

• Although we (I) may use the term freely, the prohibition against "double jeopardy" applies only to criminal charges and not administrative disciplinary cases.

• Disciplining an employee more than once for the same misconduct is different than imposing more than one penalty as in compound or unified penalties.

Ok, you know it. Do you really? Ok, you do. But let me ask you this, how did you speak it? The complexities, the contradictions, the conditions . . . oh my.

The one word that comes to mind for me right now when I consider employee relations, human resources professionals and our day to day communication is precision.

I know I could use a little more precision in my HR speak, how about you?

Photo credit iStockphoto

Girls and Math: A Day in the Life Sunday

"'Math is hard,' a talking Barbie infamously whined.

And math is tough for many people, but a new study from the Girl Scout Research Institute finds encouraging news about girls' interest in (and confidence about) science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Actually, the widely-repeated Barbie quote above is incorrect; she really said "Math class is tough." And like the Barbie quote, the perception that girls don't feel smart enough to do math (or aren't interested in it) isn't quite true either: The study finds that 74 percent of teen girls are interested in STEM subjects."

Until this morning, I had not read these words in the Discovery News article, Girls Confident in Science and Math. I wasn't aware of the article and the findings until I Googled "girls math 2012 news."

Why in the world did I Google this? It's all about the kid.

The kid was in her first Math Masters competition last weekend. 24 teams of 4 students from 12 schools participated in individual and team events. Typically, one team from our middle school makes the top 3 - which one would it be?

Individual events, team events, kids huddled over papers and calculator keys clicking away every student in the gym that morning gave it their all.

In the minority, our girls made a strong showing. I wasn't at the event but when I heard that one of her teammates won the Fact Quiz I was psyched, go girls! When the kid and her team placed 3rd place out of 24 teams I said, "That's my girl!"

I was thinking "go girls" but the very cool thing about kids at this age, is that they were not. They were thinking and encouraging each other with, "Go Tarah!" "Go Elizabeth!" "Go Eli!" "Go Ethan!" They don't see gender stereotypes or they don't see societal pressures. They see confidence, competence and challenge. They see friends.

I am so thrilled that the schools offer these opportunities for our children and want to acknowledge the the educators who devote their time beyond the school day, the community of parents who support our children and the students themselves for being better to each other than we as a society can be to ourselves.

The article notes that while there are still bumps in the road for women in STEM careers, the future has never been brighter.

I agree.

Photo credit: Piscataways Schools