HR Society Meeting Minutes: 10/23/09

Introductions were made to new club member
Discussion about the SHRM conference:
Conference Topics:
-Generations class
-About how the generations do not match the stereotypes that people place on
them.
-Aging Workforce class:
-About the challenges that older employees face with care for the elderly in
their homes.
-Reduced Productivity, distraction, sick call ins.
-Suggestions about simple things that can be done to connect with the community
and have them as a resource.
-Legislation class:
-Changes in legislation. HR will use more outsourcing to legal aide and will
not be expected to know all of the laws because of the significance of the
legal costs that are involved.
-Genetic testing: Washington Law extends our EEOC to genetic testing.

-General meetings:
-Speculation where HR will go in the future. The competitive market requires
more flexibility and is tied to the strategic goals of the organization.
Performance reviews will be eliminated, focusing more on results rather than
specific goals.
Legislative Conference:
-Downsizing: Talked about how the company treats the employees while it is
happening. When the employees are not treated well during the downsizing, then
when opportunities start to open back up they will not be there for you. Let
the employees know you care
- Rick Howell-Surviving the Challenge: America is not leading us out of the
recession and base pay but should switch to flexible pay so that they can get
bonuses etc..can cut costs but keep people around. Use the recession as a way
to restructure your company so that things are fixed once everything is better.
Use temporary employees, flex time. China and how they fluctuates their
salaries, gives more flexibility, they are out of the recession right now. Best
companies are hanging on to their resources.
-Natalie Miller- Cultural Differences: The US is an individualistic society and
it is a downside because of the willingness to share the burden that our
companies are dealing with right now. Keep everyone informed and the
receptionists should know what is going on because they are the first person
that others speak to. Have a courageous agenda. Open the books and have
employees know where you are coming from because if they don’t know they will
waste money and will not know the policies and procedures.

Local Job Search-jobs before they are posted so you have first chance Jennifer Johnson contact to be placed on the list Natalie Miller-NatalieMiller@LHH.com to sign up.

Guest Speaker:

SHWARMA: SPEAKER: Angela Shiperdo-Hart

In HR there is a variety of opportunities. Staffing, compensation benefits, the SWARMA meetings give you a opportunity to hear about different areas from the different speakers and it gives you the opportunity to see what it looks like in the actual HR world. It is good to actually hear the professionals who know what it looks like to live that world every day. HR is about networking and if you have gotten to know people so that when you go out to know people so that when you go out to look for a job then you will already know those people. It helps then because they will look to the people who they have met already.

Executives are starting to expect HR to become strategic partners in the business setting rather than paper pushers.

PERMA meetings-will tell if you they are strategic or other credits or not look for those to help. Historically they have been hard to find. That will help you out when you are sitting with a potential employer. Will make you look less entry level when you are looking for a job. It used to be that hr was not invited to strategic meetings. It is really important to know your employees because they trust you when they have a need and it helps you to be a strategic partner. What on resumes do you look for ?

Tips for applying for HR Jobs:

-Take you top bullet items really powerful.
-Show how you have worked as a team member
-If the top of the resume is engaging, HR will read on
-Highlight what you want to do at the beginning and the least interested at the end.
-Say what you have to say quickly, HR professionals do not want to read wordy resumes.

Questions:

From a strategic perspective how well do you need to know all of the departments?

Understand where the money is going by department and what the impact of it is for the business. You want to know what the role is in the department and how it helps the business. What are the impacts of each individual? What is their expected production? What is their value per hour? Etc. You cant understand every piece of it but you can understand the overall vision of the business. Make sure employees are aware of the financials, if everyone is involved, then everyone is invested in the strategy of the business.

Trends in HR-Growing areas:

Having a broader skill set will help you because they are no longer having just one person do one type of job. HR is expected to be more generalists except in some positions like HRIS but even those are starting to become combined.

SHRM Auction:

The auction helps the national chapter of SHRM and SWARMA does some events. The money is spread out to help students to go to different events and scholarships. HR professionals and local companies donate baskets etc. The items are bid on and the money is sent back to SHRM. To help with the auction there will be some cold calling-you will be given a list of about 10 people to contact to get donations. They may need some help putting the baskets together and setting up on the day of the auction. There is a speaking event and there is someone who speaks for about 30-40 minutes. The auction is at the November luncheon.

SHRM Website:
The SHRM members all use the website because there is a ton of information on it. It is a free resource once you pay the membership fee. Sometimes someone form NERMA etc as a resource.

Diversity conference in the spring that will be another way to volunteer to do booklets etc and there are speakers who come in to talk about some diversity topics.

HR Club Events: Fall 2009

Upcoming Events:

12/2/09-Charity drive with the Salvation Army

12/2/09-No guest speaker-SBO club day 4:15-5:30

11/28/09-November 18^th -Tom Tripp

Past Events:

10/21/09-Angela Spirando-Hart

10/7/09 -Tahara Probst

9/23/09- Connie Thompson

09/09/09-Club Introduction

Next HR Club Meeting Scheduled on October 21, 2009

The next HR Club meeting will be held on October 21, 2009 from 4:30-5:30 pm.

Angela Sperino-Hart, the SHRM College Relations Director, will be speaking about new possibilities of networking and working directly with members of SHRM.

We hope to see everyone there!

HR Society Meeting Minutes: 10/7/09

Meeting Start: 4:30pm-5:35pm

Speaker: Tahira Probst-Internships

What are internship programs?

-Internships are required if you want to find work after graduation.

-Small piece of getting a job. Need to have education but also need experience

-Internships provide practical experience.

-Helps employers to find out if you are a good fit for the company and if the company is a good fit for you.

-Most HR jobs requires 1-2 years of experience. Internships can provide that previous experience.

Benefits:

Industry exposure: Companies want skills but they don’t just want you to know about HR but also about the industry. If you are interviewing for healthcare you should also know about health care.

What internship experience provides:

-Networking

-Mentoring

-References

-Academic credit

-Compensation

-Real life application of HR coursework

-Professionalism

-Communication

-Teamwork

-Project ownership

-Initiative

-Content skills

Internships through WSU provides an opportunity for your needs to be voiced to the employer.

How do you get academic credit?

Take Psych 495. This is the first class that you need to take. Psych 495 contains a classroom component and a practical component.

Classroom component:

You get to meet with other students and get to hear about their experiences not just your own.

Topics for discussion:

-Salaries in HR

-HR Generalists vs specialists

-Employee motivation and Labor Relations

-Workplace diversity

-Resume development

-Finding a job in HR

-Monthly reports detailing hours worked and journal reflections.

For each credit, students are required to complete 45 hours of field work during the 17 week semester. --Students can enroll in 2-6 credits

-90-270 hours of field work total

-Between 6-18 hours per week

-Mid-semester site visit is done by instructor to review student progress and activities

-Counts as one of your choose 3 electives.

What have HR interns done?

-Update create job descriptions

-Update employee manuals

-Conduct and analyze employee satisfaction surveys

-Create and maintain employee/volunteer databases

-Event planning

-Screen applicants and conduct phone interviews

-Open and close position files

-Recruitment at job fairs

-Research pros cons of pre employment testing

-Revise performance appraisal forms

Frequently asked questions:

How does Psych 495 differ from an internship:

495 is a supervised internship and 496 is unsupervised. There is no difference in work just there is no classroom component

When do I start looking?

Now, registration is right around the corner and to get your line number you must have your internship lined up.

How do I find an internship?

-HR listserv

-HR society blog

-Psych 495 handbook (shows the past internships)

-Individual research

-Job fairs

-Networking

Should I prepare a resume?

Yes, when you are networking you may be asked for a resume

What if you have more questions?

Contact Tahara Probst or Armando Estrada

You don’t have to sign up for credit to get an internship. You can do an independent internship. You can also do it through the Business department. A list is available with companies that want to have internship students that you can call if you are looking for an internship.

Social media can find internships through that. Start going to the SHWRMA luncheons. Attending the meetings helps you to know the people who work in HR.

nLIght: Kelly Kidd

nLight is looking for interns. HR has been a strategic partner still in growth…especially in recruiting and staffing. HR is evolving as recruiting evolves. They are looking at new ways to design new projects for the HR system. Their company is growing and they are implementing an HRIS system. They will be working on creating an affirmative action plan, applicant tracking system and Harassment training soon. nLight is a manufacturer and HR needs to be able to speak business talk, e.g. accounting. HR also needs to be able to do statistics so that they can read the results of surveys. nLight makes lasers in the medical, industrial, defense systems and space systems. They use lean manufacturing and HR tries to help the departments. Networking is really important in HR. Internships allow you to have time to be creative and be wrong.

Statement on Internships: Wendy Hendersenn

It is important to network and join groups like SHWRMA. Interns should not work split shifts and should work a minimum of 4 hour shift on consecutive days to see how the work begins and the outcome of what they have done. It is good to think of three things that you want to learn and then search for an internship that will help you to meet those goals.

Intern: Shanon

Works with management group as an intern. Has learned quite abit about recruiting. She gets to do things from the beginning participating interviews reviewing apps, learning about the compensation and benefits piece. Wendy Hendersenn is looking for someone who can commit to 20 hours per week starting in January. Strong excel or at least basic excel knowledge and needs to be somewhat extraverted to do the recruiting piece. The hours 8-5 and best to come in within a specific block of time because you want to be able to do the follow up. The internship is about 6 months. Intern starts in January.

HR Society Meeting Minutes: 9/23/09

Meeting: 4:30pm - 5:30pm

SHRM is offering scholarships to student members. This includes a $2500 academic scholarship and a $500 scholarship for the PHR exam.

SHWRMA luncheon:

Last meeting was about the interaction between HR and the business leadership teams.

Jamie and MItzi attended and relayed what they thought were important parts of the meeting to the club.

-Communication between departments is important. Its not about HR being in the office but getting out there and talking to all of the different departments. This helps with the communication strategy because people talk about things that they are afraid to address with management.

-There is value added for HR because they serve as a neutral party. They advocate for the employee, understand labor laws, drive success through positive attitudes, outsourcing and communication. They also link business objectives. Companies want people who are flexible and who are creative in what we suggest rather than being reactive .

Mitzi noted that it is worthwhile to supplement our HR degree with a Business degree (minor) The majority of the members thought that a few classes in business would help us to be able to talk to the people who are making business decisions. People in Hr tend to work closely with people in other business departments. HR can help the executives to become more engaged in the company because they know what is going on with the employees throughout the company.

Angie Schipro is working on getting us a role as a greeter at the SHRM meetings.

Internships available at nLight. Need to start open enrolment for benefits and 18-20 hours any times available and willing to college credits. They are located next to Costco. Three month minimum time commitment but longer is preferred.

There will be an all day conference for shrm and the price is $90 in October but want a couple of us to go for free in exchange for us to set up some binders and to serve as a runner. Will help to get networking with the people at SHRM. Willing to let a couple of us go to it in exchange to doing this. Conference is Tuesday October 13^th.

Guest Speaker: Connie Thompson

Reasons to join SHRM-They have the basic guidelines about what to do when questions come up on the job.

Locally, it is a good idea to join SHWRMA. Membership is free if you are part of SHRM with the local branch for students.

Interviews:

Know what you want to go into even if it is for that day. Don’t say that it sounded like fun. Have to have an interest with the company.

Working in compensation and benefits: The job entails crunching numbers and because of this Connie suggests that you take some business classes to help you know what the numbers are about and business terminology.

Recruiting: Must be able to work with the applicants, be able to pull answers to questions that you want.

Columbia Willamette compensation group: For people who are interested in working in compensation. Affiliated with world at work. Has programs for compensation and benefits programs. 9-10 courses are required to join the group and it costs $15. They have a scholarship for $500 to be used towards school. Also have free meetings for members such as luncheons for networking opportunities.

Testing:

SPHR/PHR-geared toward generalists. There are books that you can purchase to prepare for the exam. Next exam is in December or January.

CCP-is geared toward compensation

Internship Resource

Business Education Compact (BEC) places qualified students into intership positions in a variety of career fields and business setting. If you are currently looking for an internship or know someone who is, please go to www.becpdx.com for more information. You will need to apply on-line for internships.

Best regards,
Maria Mason

WSUV Career Fair 2009

Dear Members:

WSUV Career Fair 2009 will be held on February 24 from 3:30pm – 6:30pm in the Firstenburg Student Commons and Engineering/Life Sciences Lounge. At this event you will be able to network with over 45 employers for employment and internship opportunities. To find out more about this event and to register for attendance please go to www.vancouver.wsu.edu/career .

If you are interested in volunteer opportunities at this event please contact Kristen Juhnke at kjuhnke@vancouver.wsu.edu. Volunteering is a great way to get noticed by employers for your dedication to your fellow students and community!!!

Thank you,
Maria Mason

We have a new room this semester. VMMC 217, right next to the old room. Times are the same, Tuesdays @ 4:30. Please come if your able so we can go over new things comming up in the near furture. Troy