Our HR Site

Monday, August 5, 2013

Silicon Valley Women in HR...& Friends Mailing and Event Announcement

Dear Friends,

I hope you're well and that you can attend our next event with our speaker, Jeffrey D. Sanders M.Ed., SPHR. His topic is "Strategic Thinking as a Discipline." Please note that our event time has changed.

If you strictly want information about this event, please look at the links to the right and go to Event Registration. Before you go, please check out the book links at the bottom of this page.

Last month, Jenny Vonderwerth and Lisset Nevarez planned our event and showed the movie, "Moneyball." I understand there were some technical issues so the group had some informal conversation and enjoyed the evening. Thank you, Jenny and Lisset!

We recently lost a long-time member, Vickie Hornbeck. I didn't know her well but appreciated it when she attended and even when she didn't.

At a time when she was looking for work, she contributed many job leads to our forum, even those jobs she was looking into for herself. She was very kind, decent, and it was amazing to share these leads hoping some of our group would find work as a result. I was going through some old emails and found several notes where she mentioned our speakers and how much she had enjoyed them, and she wrote to the speakers and volunteers, as well.

When you meet a person like that, you know you've found someone very special. She will be missed, and in her honor, please go out and do something nice. You're also welcome to post comments on this blog if there is something you'd like to share.

I wrote a book about recruiters and William Uranga was one of the people I interviewed. Here's a link to a PDF of his interview and I hope you enjoy it. (The book is "Recruiters on Recruiting" and, like most writers, copies are usually in my car and available online. More information is on my website.)

You can subscribe to the blog, share it on Facebook or Tweet it. Join us on LinkedIn.

Because of my commitments I can’t mentor you, and please don’t send me unsolicited resumes. Come to an event and meet someone who can help. I receive a lot of unsolicited resumes (from our group and strangers) and I refer people to the forum at www.ourhrsite.com/forum. See the blog post for more thoughts. http://marciastein.blogspot.com/2009/02/setting-boundaries-and-professionalism.html

We have a page on our site for advertising with links to Amazon products. Our site also has Google ads, and you're welcome to click on relevant links. These links provide a small amount of money to help pay for our domain.

1. HR Women and Friends Community Event: Wednesday, August 21, 2013 6:00-8:30 p.m.
2. Discounts
3. Using our Forum
4. Spam Filter Alert
5. To change you email address
6. Unsubscribe
7. Potential Speakers/Topics
8. Notifying us of upcoming events and discounts.

1. HR Women and Friends Community Event: Wednesday, August 21, 2013 6:00-8:30 p.m. Jeffrey D. Sanders M.Ed., SPHR will present "Strategic Thinking as a Discipline." Please click on the registration tab for details and note our NEW TIME.

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2. Discounts and Offers – view them online. Thanks for extending the discounts to our group!

3. Using our Forum at www.ourhrsite.com/forum. You can view messages without registering, but you must register to reply or post a message. You are not automatically registered because you receive this email. Please review the Terms and Conditions available under any topic on the forum. It’s your responsibility to keep track of your user name and password, and if you change email addresses, please log in and update your profile. If privacy is an issue, please be careful when you post anything: use a separate email if necessary and you can skip your street address if you’d like.

4. SPAM Filter Alert: please add mstein@ourhrsite.com to your address book.

5. To change your email address, click
4. SPAM Filter Alert: please add mstein@ourhrsite.com to your address book.

5. To change your email address, click here and go to the correct form.

6. Unsubscribe To discontinue mailings please respond with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line or go to the form. If you receive mail at more than one email address, please note all addresses to delete.

7. Potential Speakers/Topics. Please see http://ourhrsite.blogspot.com/p/potential-speakers.html for details and a form to submit your information. This will be reviewed during the January 2014 meeting.

8. Notifying us of upcoming events and discounts. If you email me right after I’ve sent a mailing, I can update the website, but I can’t send a separate mailing to the group. It will be in the next mailing.

I hope to see you soon.

All the best,

Marcia

Marcia Stein, PHR - www.linkedin.com/in/marciastein

Author: "Strained Relations: Help for Struggling Parents of Troubled Teens" and "Recruiters on Recruiting"
Blog: http://helpingparentsofteens.blogspot.com/

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Monday, July 8, 2013

Silicon Valley Women in HR...& Friends Mailing and Event Announcement

Dear Friends,

Did you enjoy the Fourth of July and ensuing weekend? I did!

I hope you're well and that you can attend our next event ... movie night! Please note that our event time has changed. For more information and the response form, please click here.

Last month, Christine Renninger and Patricia Murphy planned our event, "The NLRB's New Focus on Non-Union Employers" with Marlene Muraco. Many thanks to our planners and Marlene. It's so important to at least have basic information about developments in HR law, even when you think it doesn't directly impact you. Turns out, in many cases, it really does impact your work life.

Last month, I wrote about people looking for jobs and I shared a letter from a writer who explained how difficult her search had been and how hard it was on her financially.

There have been many reports and articles about people in the United States and our levels of savings. It's an important topic, especially given how difficult the past decade has been for so many people. Many have used their savings and even dipped into their retirement funds. They had no choice.

You can find some fascinating retirement statistics online and a CNN Money report from last year indicating 28% of Americans do not have emergency savings. You can see how difficult it is when you consider how small our financial cushions are. One layoff or medical emergency and many people face dire consequences.

Do you have enough savings? What's enough? I like to cover at least a year of unemployment using money in my bank accounts and liquid investments. It used to be that a 3 month cushion would be enough, but considering the ups and downs of our economy, more is better.

So what can you do? It's easy to think we can just keep in mind how much we're spending, but it really doesn't work that way. There are some forms and tips on wikiHOW to help you create a budget. You have to create a simple budget and stick to it.

I know this works, and I learned this lesson as a young teen. My dad died when I was almost 13 leaving my mom with my sisters (ages 18 and 16) and me. Mama had not worked for a year as she was taking care of my father. When he died, she took a job as a teacher in Head Start, the educational program for preschoolers whose families live in poverty. Now that was a very fulfilling job for Mama, but it didn't bring in the big bucks!

Our insurance broker had become a family friend, and he helped her create a simple budget. She deposited her paycheck and, keeping most of it in the bank, she took home cash and distributed it into envelopes for different categories: rent, electricity, food, car maintenance, insurance, etc. She even had a "fun" envelope so we could go to the theater, movies, vacation. It took a lot of discipline and saving. We didn't have a lot but we took care of each other. My sisters and I worked while in school and I babysat whenever I could. During the next few years, Mama earned her Masters in Education and my sisters and I all earned our Bachelors degrees. Was it hard? Absolutely. Did we do it? Absolutely.

Mama was a remarkable woman who died only 8 years after my dad. She was my role model for stepping up and being an adult, for making sacrifices to stay afloat and for having a vision for our futures and helping us reach those goals. I wish the same kind of role model for you, but if you don't have one in your life, please keep Mama in mind and imagine that she is encouraging you. That's what I do.

You can subscribe to the blog, share it on Facebook or Tweet it. Join us on LinkedIn.

Because of my commitments I can’t mentor you, and please don’t send me unsolicited resumes. Come to an event and meet someone who can help. I receive a lot of unsolicited resumes (from our group and strangers) and I refer people to the forum at www.ourhrsite.com/forum. See the blog post for more thoughts. http://marciastein.blogspot.com/2009/02/setting-boundaries-and-professionalism.html

We have a page on our site for advertising with links to Amazon products. Our site also has Google ads, and you're welcome to click on relevant links. These links provide a small amount of money to help pay for our domain.

1. HR Women and Friends Community Event: Wednesday, July 19, 2013 6:00-8:30 p.m.
2. Discounts
3. Using our Forum
4. Spam Filter Alert
5. To join, change your email address, unsubscribe or provide feedback
6. Potential Speakers/Topics
7. Notifying us of upcoming events and discounts.

1. HR Women and Friends Community Event: Wednesday, July 19, 2013 6:00-8:30 p.m. It's movie night! Please click on the registration tab for details and note our NEW TIME.

2. Discounts and Offers – view them online. Thanks for extending the discounts to our group!
3. Using our Forum at www.ourhrsite.com/forum. You can view messages without registering, but you must register to reply or post a message. You are not automatically registered because you receive this email. Please review the Terms and Conditions available under any topic on the forum. It’s your responsibility to keep track of your user name and password, and if you change email addresses, please log in and update your profile. If privacy is an issue, please be careful when you post anything: use a separate email if necessary and you can skip your street address if you’d like.
4. SPAM Filter Alert: please add mstein@ourhrsite.com to your address book.
5. To join, change your email address, unsubscribe or provide feedback, click here. You can also unsubscribe by responding to email with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. If you receive mail at more than one email address, please note all addresses to delete.
6. Potential Speakers/Topics. Please see http://ourhrsite.blogspot.com/p/potential-speakers.html for details and a form to submit your information. This will be reviewed during the January 2014 meeting.
7. Notifying us of upcoming events and discounts. If you email me right after I’ve sent a mailing, I can update the website, but I can’t send a separate mailing to the group. It will be in the next mailing.

I hope to see you soon.

All the best,

Marcia

Marcia Stein, PHR - www.linkedin.com/in/marciastein
Author: "Strained Relations: Help for Struggling Parents of Troubled Teens" and "Recruiters on Recruiting"
Blog: http://helpingparentsofteens.blogspot.com/

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Silicon Valley Women in HR...& Friends Mailing and Event Announcement

Dear Friends,

I hope you're well and that you can attend our next event with our speaker and topic: "The NLRB's New Focus on Non-Union Employers" with Marlene Muraco, an Employment Lawyer Defending Companies in Class Action Litigation & Advising on HR Compliance at Littler Mendelson.

Please note that our event time has changed. For more information and the response form, please click here.

Last month, Christine Young and Belina Pignataro planned our event with William Uranga. William's topic was "Hot Trends in Talent Acquisition." Many thanks to our planners and speakers, Susan Hailey, Director of Talent Acquisition at eBay, Michael Cox, VP, HR & Talent Acquisition at Walmart Global eCommerce, and Gracia Huntington, Talent Acquisition Manager at Lab 126.

It was a very interesting evening and if you're a job seeker, one of the most important pieces of advice is that recruiters like to hunt for you and they are heavily using LinkedIn. You must have a presence, complete your profile, include your contact information, and join groups.

We've seen a year of tremendous growth in the Silicon Valley. A lot of companies are hiring, a lot of housing is being built, money is spent at stores and restaurants. The nightmare must be over, right? I don't think so. People who have been busy working during the downturn may not be aware of how many of their family and friends have been struggling and what that really means to them. One one of my mailing lists, a woman who just landed a new job wrote a wrenching letter to a group detailing the hardship she has faced over the past few years. I've edited her letter a bit and am including the core of her message.

"I've signed up for various job boards and followed up on any lead that looked close to what I was looking for. During the worst of the economy, there were few postings and I rarely heard back when I sent in resumes or had contacts submit them. Two years ago, I got a part-time job. That helped, but didn't pay the mortgage so I continued to look."

She configured job alerts on relevant job boards, had several interviews but no offers. She noticed that her interviewers had checked her LinkedIn profile.

"This hasn't been as easy time. When I was downsized ...I didn't get unemployment. For 18 months I had little or no income. For the 2 years at XYZ, I had to try to make up the difference each month between my income and my mortgage. I lived on my retirement and still had to file for bankruptcy just to survive. No matter how hard it got, I never gave up trying to find something better. I've finally succeeded."

How did she get through this time? With the support of family and friends.

It's so important to look at the people around you and see if you can help, encourage hiring managers to give people a chance - it is often not their fault if they were one of millions who were laid off over the past few years. Many people have a patchwork of companies who would hire them as contractors and then let them go. It's a terrible pattern and it is not an ethical way of dealing with people. That's my editorial statement and I'm sticking with it.

You can subscribe to the blog, share it on Facebook or Tweet it. Join us on LinkedIn.

Because of my commitments I can’t mentor you, and please don’t send me unsolicited resumes. Come to an event and meet someone who can help. I receive a lot of unsolicited resumes (from our group and strangers) and I refer people to the forum at www.ourhrsite.com/forum. See the blog post for more thoughts. http://marciastein.blogspot.com/2009/02/setting-boundaries-and-professionalism.html

We have a page on our site for advertising with links to Amazon products. Our site also has Google ads, and you're welcome to click on relevant links. These links provide a small amount of money to help pay for our domain.

1. HR Women and Friends Community Event: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 6:00-8:30 p.m.
2. Discounts
3. Using our Forum
4. Spam Filter Alert
5. To join, change your email address, unsubscribe or provide feedback
6. Potential Speakers/Topics
7. Notifying us of upcoming events and discounts.

1. HR Women and Friends Community Event: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 6:00-8:30 p.m. Our topic is "The NLRB's New Focus on Non-Union Employers" with Marlene Muraco. Please click on the registration tab for details and note our NEW TIME.

2. Discounts and Offers – view them online. Thanks for extending the discounts to our group!
3. Using our Forum at www.ourhrsite.com/forum. You can view messages without registering, but you must register to reply or post a message. You are not automatically registered because you receive this email. Please review the Terms and Conditions available under any topic on the forum. It’s your responsibility to keep track of your user name and password, and if you change email addresses, please log in and update your profile. If privacy is an issue, please be careful when you post anything: use a separate email if necessary and you can skip your street address if you’d like.
4. SPAM Filter Alert: please add mstein@ourhrsite.com to your address book.
5. To join, change your email address, unsubscribe or provide feedback, click here. You can also unsubscribe by responding to email with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. If you receive mail at more than one email address, please note all addresses to delete.
6. Potential Speakers/Topics. Please see http://ourhrsite.blogspot.com/p/potential-speakers.html for details and a form to submit your information. This will be reviewed during the January 2014 meeting.
7. Notifying us of upcoming events and discounts. If you email me right after I’ve sent a mailing, I can update the website, but I can’t send a separate mailing to the group. It will be in the next mailing.

I hope to see you soon.

All the best,

Marcia

Marcia Stein, PHR - www.linkedin.com/in/marciastein
Author: "Strained Relations: Help for Struggling Parents of Troubled Teens" and "Recruiters on Recruiting"
Blog: http://helpingparentsofteens.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Silicon Valley Women in HR...& Friends Mailing and Event Announcement

Dear Friends,

I hope you're well and that you can attend our next event with a stellar panel and topic: "Hot Trends in Talent Acquisition." Please note that our event time has changed.

This topic should be of interest to recruiters, HR professionals and everyday people seeking new jobs, and it is open to the community. If you strictly want information about this event, please look at the links to the right and go to Event Registration. Before you go, please see the book links at the bottom of this page.

Trends in recruiting is a huge topic. There are so many options, everything from networking to tweeting to using extensions browsers and all kinds of apps. What's most effective for recruiters and job seekers? Many studies and personal experience in recruiting and job seeking indicates networking works best, but there are still those positions filled by many other methods. It'll be fascinating to learn from our panelists.

Last month, Idit Stefanson, Lisset Nevarez and Patrice Lindo planned our event with William Uranga. William's topic was "Dumped: When Employees Lose That Loving Feeling" and there is a handout from the event on the Previous Speakers' Page. Many thanks to our volunteers and speaker. I wrote a book about recruiters and William was one of the people I interviewed. I’ve uploaded a PDF of his interview and hope you enjoy it. (The book is "Recruiters on Recruiting" and, like most writers, copies are usually in my car and available online. More information is on my website.)

There has been a huge change in my personal life and I wrote about it on another blog. It's interesting that when you share your own story, you hear from a lot of people with similar experiences.

You can subscribe to the blog, share it on Facebook or Tweet it. Join us on LinkedIn.

Because of my commitments I can’t mentor you, and please don’t send me unsolicited resumes. Come to an event and meet someone who can help. I receive a lot of unsolicited resumes (from our group and strangers) and I refer people to the forum at www.ourhrsite.com/forum. See the blog post for more thoughts. http://marciastein.blogspot.com/2009/02/setting-boundaries-and-professionalism.html

We have a page on our site for advertising with links to Amazon products. Our site also has Google ads, and you're welcome to click on relevant links. These links provide a small amount of money to help pay for our domain.

1. HR Women and Friends Community Event: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 6:00-8:30 p.m.
2. Discounts
3. Using our Forum
4. Spam Filter Alert
5. To change you email address
6. Unsubscribe
7. Potential Speakers/Topics
8. Notifying us of upcoming events and discounts.

1. HR Women and Friends Community Event: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 6:00-8:30 p.m. Our panel's topic is "Hot Trends in Talent Acquisition." Please click on the registration tab for details and note our NEW TIME.