The Mile High SHRM Conference is an annual full day of learning in Denver, CO! This year it was February 27th at the Colorado Convention Center.
I was so grateful to be accepted as a speaker to share my Recruiting Best Practices (Play the Long Game!) presentation. More on that in a bit….
This was my first time attending the conference and it was so well done. The volunteer / planning team was so helpful and engaged. They planned for some fun touches such as a free coffee cart provided by a Sponsor, a head shot station, and a SHRM staff member present to share relevant updates and be a resource for chapter leaders and members.
One of my favorite things about being a speaker at a conference is that you get to attend the day you speak for free! I love being able to attend other sessions and learn from other talented and energetic pros committed to their topics. Not only do I learn more about public speaking skills, but I make new friends, connections, and expand my perspective with their take-a-ways.
The first session I addended was with Courtney Murphy, where she shared her powerful story of burn out while working in her last HR role. Identifying the signs and symptoms, and how it impacted her mental and physical health. She now has her own consulting company, does fractional CHRO work, and has written a book called Life After Burnout. Always a powerful reminder to protect your time, your boundaries and your health. Without your health you don’t have anything else. In HR we can be so committed to our companies and employees that we keep moving faster and faster, putting others’ needs before our own. This reminded me of a couple of my blog posts I haven’t shared in a while:
Both of these posts help me stay grounded, positive, and my best self so I can show up for everyone else in my life and work.
Next, I attended the lunch Keynote who was Dr. Rick Perea. Dr P was fabulous – fun, engaging, and talking about the work he does as an organizational psychologist working with teams to unlock peak performance. I learned a lot from Dr P and he shared some great football analogies. One thing that really stuck with me was that the best performers he worked with learned to not focus on irrelevant cues. For example, good quarterbacks focus on throwing the ball downfield to a receiver, not on the rushers swarming around them. Strong performers focus on their process and desired outcomes/goals, not on the problems around them (such as the rushers). You have to be so mindful of where you are putting your focus and energy if you want to continue to get better and grow.
He had other powerful stories about not getting distracted and not focusing on irrelevant cues. He shared when he was younger in his football career, there were times when he was not present and where his feet were, not focused on his process and goals. He was worried about what if he gets cut, what is he going to tell people when he gets cut, etc. He had to learn to focus on what was important and it takes practice to cultivate a positive and optimistic mindset. He shared that having a positive personality is a choice, and is something you can rewire your brain to be if you want it, and how important this can be to unlocking your full potential and performance.
Especially in HR – we are pulled in a million directions. Stay focused on your process and your goals. For me being a Senior Talent Acquisition Business Partner, each day I stay committed to my process of communication and behavior which provides a positive hiring manager and candidate experience. I could let problems derail my mood and work performance, but I choose not to because I’m focused on looking down the field! Focus on yourself and what you can control. For me, that’s focusing on helping the business grow and developing my skills as an HR partner and leader. I choose to bring positivity to all my interactions and educate and consult hiring managers and candidates the best that I can.
Now it was time for Recruiting Best Practices (Play the Long Game!) Over the years I have honed my process for candidate and hiring manager interaction and communication and I love to share it with other HR pros! In summary, this presentation focuses on:
- Recruiting process – mapping it out from the time a need is identified through offer, including creating a RACI chart, and having all stakeholders involved aware of their important role and SLA
- Best utilizing technology – What do we have and could use better? What do we need? What aren’t we using and can cut to free up budget space for other initiatives?
- Play the Long Game – think consistent, efficient, repeatable processes to make your recruiting work easier. Especially if you are an HR Department of One, or an HR Generalist where recruiting is a piece of your role – it can easily become the most time consuming piece! So set yourself up for success by eliminating friction and having to think about administrative tasks such as follow up to hiring managers and candidates.
- Candidate experience – your employer brand and personal brand as a human/recruiter/HR pro can be impacted by the communication and behavior you chose to use (or not use…) with your candidates.
I focus on consistency, efficiency, and repeatable processes – best utilizing the tools I do have such as an ATS, Microsoft Planner / To Do, Outlook Templates and Quickparts, etc. This way I can use my time meaningfully on building relationships with candidates and hiring managers, consulting and educating, rather than on administrative tasks. A large focus of my presentation is on candidate experience. I’ve built myself templates to let candidates know if I haven’t heard back from the hiring manager yet after I’ve submitted them, that our talent acquisition coordinator will be reaching out to schedule an interview and what to expect next, interview prep tips, etc. I could choose to not send any of this because I’m “too busy” or not making it a priority. But it is a huge priority to me because my candidates are more engaged, more prepared for their interviews, and easily/quickly accept their offers because they have all the information they need and have received a great experience up until that point. My reputation also follows me throughout my entire career, and it’s important to me to treat people well. I love the responsibility I have as a recruiter to guide people to their next career move and help managers be better hiring managers.
My strengths lie in recruiter enablement, recruiting technology optimization and employer/personal branding. If this session could benefit your chapter members or organization, please reach out to me! I’m available to do virtual sessions as well as travel.
Thank you to everyone who attended my session. There was great discussion in the room and questions around: Do we call or email candidates to reject them? What types of interview guides or interview scorecards do we use to help hiring managers and interview teams? What actually are Outlook templates and quick parts and how can they help us be more efficient? What capability and functionality does my current ATS likely have that I’m not using and could be helpful?
I’m excited for the other conferences I have planned this year to continue learning and growing. Thank you Mile High SHRM and I’ll see you at the next one!
Claire is Coaching 