The Evolution of HR

It's not often that you get to see the practice of Human Resources evolve before your very eyes. That is what I have been seeing with the many HR folks dabbling (and more!) in social media. Of particular interest is an upcoming "unconference" called HRevolution which is bringing together 150 forward thinking HR consultants, bloggers, practitioners, vendors and more.

The group was pulled together in the way that only social media can. It started with an initial throw-away Tweet about getting together, evolved into last year's informal unconference (which Nobscot sponsored) to this year's impressive, well organized and forward thinking program.

You can tell that something interesting is afoot with session titles like:

• Teamwork in the Age of Social Media: What Happens When The Employee Gets Bigger Than the Brand?
• The HR Apprentice: Bring your A-game or 'You're fired'
• Breaking Out of the Echo Chamber: Expanding the HR Social Media Community
• HR: Where Brand meets Culture – A discussion about HR’s role in Corporate Brand Building

They say that evolution is about "survival of the fittest." The professionals involved with HRevolution are those who stay one step ahead of the game, network with other forward thinkers and jump right into the future. These are the people who are going to be best prepared to move the HR profession forward.

With this in mind, Nobscot had to get involved.

To show our support for these HR visionaries, we created the Nobscot HRevolution Scholarship to help defray travel costs to HRevolution. This years recipients were selected by the HRevolution planning committee based on their experience, background and insights brought to the table, as well as travel challenges that may preclude their attendance without the aid of the scholarship.

Recipients Mervyn Dinnen and Shennee Rutt will both receive stipends to aid in covering travel expenses to attend the conference.

Dinnen is professional recruiter, well-known UK blogger and an active member of the online recruiting and HR community in both the U.S. and Europe who will bring a global perspective to the mix of conversation at the HRevolution event.

Rutt is an HR professional with more than 15 years of experience in recruitment, sourcing and HR generalist roles spanning retail, transportation and human services. She is an active member of the online HR community, a newcomer to the HR blogosphere and previously served as co-host of the Compassionate HR Show on Blog Talk Radio

Please join me in congratulating Mervyn and Shennee and thanking the planners of this event: Trish McFarlane Ben Eubanks, Jason Seiden, Crystal Peterson, Joan Ginsberg, Steve Boese, Mark Stelzner.

Welcome to the evolution of HR!