Riding the Bus: SHRM Conference 2009

By Ian Alexander

Cytiva is happy to have attended the 61st annual SHRM Conference and Expo last week. We posted updates to our Twitter and Facebook followers throughout the conference and now, after a few days of reflection, it’s time to blog.

The conference itself was well managed as usual. SHRM puts on a great event and makes the entire affair seem easy. From roaming information clerks to convenient and on time busses, SHRM does it right. On the downside, attendance was half of what it was last year, and there were significantly fewer HR vendors in the expo.

That’s fine with us. As a vendor, we appreciate a distilled attendee base and fewer booths to compete with. Ironically, there was a direct competitor to us right across the aisle. This is something that has never happened to me in almost 15 years of exhibiting at SHRM. I don’t know if it was our booth, our staff or our products, but it was good to see that we outdrew our competition in booth traffic by an unscientific three to one.

SHRM has always been a conference that tends to draw smaller companies and (relatively) lower level practitioners. I believe that the lower attendance was good in that it, a) provided a universe of practitioners from companies that are spending money (many travel budgets are frozen these days) and, b) weeded out some of the practitioners who are too early in their careers to have much influence or participation in the purchasing process.

Cytiva made contact with a record number of people at the conference, including several happy customers. And, as always, SHRM is the ultimate voice of reality in the realm of HR technology. As HR technologists, we can tend to get wrapped up in the value and glory of our cool solutions and lose touch with reality. We are, almost by definition, ahead of the curve and SHRM is a great way of slapping us back down to earth and letting us know just how far behind us the curve actually is.

So you think Twitter, Ning, Facebook, SaaS (I’m sorry “Cloud Computing”), bloggers, et al, are changing the face of business/HR?

Ride the SHRM bus.

The SHRM bus to and from the hotel is my personal reality check. Every year I ride the SHRM bus and start talking to people about what matters to them. Invariably, it’s not leveraging the cloud to create a living network of connections that they can use to harness internal knowledge, align employees and source the highest levels of talent.

Of course not. This stuff is only immediately compelling to those of us that bathe in it daily and see the potential for its benefit. Today’s HR has a wide range of issues to deal with, not the least of which is its own place at the strategy table. Cytiva announced several new web 2.0 features for our products and while these things are cool and appreciated by the membership, they will take time to take hold and prove their value.

Some people complain that the conference is too broad, including comp, benefits, legal, incentives, recruiting, and the like. But I say SHRM is a great place to take the real pulse of HR and gauge what you’re up against as a technology product company. Things move slowly on the SHRM bus. And it’s usually full up with a lot of stuff that your technology doesn’t deal with. That’s what HR is: too much stuff that has to be done, not enough stuff that actually innovates and/or transforms.

That said, the conference was upbeat and hopeful in the midst of a lot of turmoil and economic uncertainty. In that sense, it was a great conference to attend and I thank all the people who stopped by our booth.

A Perfect Fit - Cytiva Helps Wardrobe for Opportunity

By Laurie Tanner
Cytiva Account Manager

It all started with a question
SonicRecruit by Cytiva, is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). We provide a service to companies so that they can more effectively post jobs on the internet and hire employees. Loosely translated that means we help people get jobs. ‘Helping people get jobs’ sounds much better than ‘applicant tracking’ and it makes us feel good to think that we’re impacting real people. Sure, we make recruiting easier and more automated; but there are lots of people, our friends and family included, struggling to find employment in this recovering economy. We had to ask ourselves, are we really helping these people?

The Answer
To make sure the answer to that question is a resounding yes! Our VP Jennifer Fray went on a quest. She set out to find a cause that would impact both our local community and our industry. She found Wardrobe for Opportunity (WFO) in Oakland, California.

Wardrobe for Opportunity is a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization that provides professional clothing and career support to low-income jobseekers in the Bay Area so they can become economically self-sufficient. Founded in 1995 to address often overlooked, yet critical barriers to finding and retaining employment, WFO has served over 14,000 low-income jobseekers. Through our Professional Dressing Program for Women and Men, Pathways to Opportunity Career Advancement, and Days of Pride programs, we provide our clients with the tools they need to project the positive image, self-confidence, and self-esteem necessary to find and maintain employment and achieve economic self sufficiency. http://www.wardrobe.org/about.html

WFO gave us a chance to donate our resources and time to make a difference. What an opportunity and what an organization! WFO opened our eyes and showed us the impact we could have with a little time and effort. We were lucky to find them and lucky to have the kind of boss who thinks about these things at night before falling asleep.

The Clothing Drive
The clothes started pouring into the office; men’s and women’s suits, belts, jackets, shoes, bags and jewelry. Soon the coat racks were over flowing and every flat surface was covered with mountains of clothing. One staff member had delivered an entire carload full of designer clothes. This was no easy feat. All of the clothing that is donated needs to be in perfect condition, on hangers and ready to wear. In some cases that means dry cleaning and even mending. For her extraordinary effort, Veronika took home the prize for the largest contribution; a pie and a half day off. Let it be known that SonicRecruit likes to reward employees for their altruistic efforts and nothing says ‘thank you’ like pie.

It felt good to load up the clothes and take them downtown. The clothes that were taking up space in our closets were now going to help transform people; people who are working hard to lift themselves up and start again. Clothes really do have the power to make you into a new person. You stand taller, you speak more clearly. You can dress for success if you have the opportunity and the access and we were helping to provide both.

The Interview Clinic
Giving away our old/unused stuff was a win-win situation. Now we were ready to contribute more. Not everyone had appropriate clothes to give, but we all have experience to share. It was time to meet the WFO clients and help them overcome the next obstacle in getting a job – the interview. After all, great looking clothes can’t answer tough interview questions. Some of us had worked in recruiting before coming to SR and we have all learned a lot about hiring and interviewing from our clients. We know the questions they ask and we know the difference between a good response and a deal breaker. Our clients have shown us the methods they use in the selection process, and now we get to coach the WFO clients and help them navigate the road to being hired. It’s the HR form of ‘paying it forward!’

The Cytiva team was dressed to impress. We felt a little taller and a little happier; proof that clothes can change your outlook on life. As a bonus, we got to leave the office on a beautiful day! We took two cars and met in a parking lot downtown. It was like a field trip. You could feel the excitement in the air. We got there a little early so we took a walk in downtown Oakland. At a small local sundries shop, we got mints, gum, water and soda. We sat in the sun and talked about anything but work. Someone noticed the time and we started back toward the WFO offices. As we entered the 'store' some of us glanced around to see if we could find our donated items. There was so much to choose from. What a gift! Job seekers were instructed to shop here and find items that made them feel like the person they wanted to become. They found clothes that made them proud and comfortable; a new combination of emotions for some. Once outfitted, they were ready to meet us in the Interview Clinic.

Our group was led into a room with three rows of tables, chairs on both sides. There were nervous, eager job seekers seated at the tables, dressed to impress and ready to stand up and shake our hands in greeting. The interviews were quick. We only had time for a few questions and some quick advice. The applicants rotated around us as we sat and made notes for them to take home and study. They were courageous with their answers and we were gracious with our advice. Everyone was uplifted by the exchange. It was a whirlwind of positive energy and courage building.

When we retuned to the office we were still buzzing with energy. It's amazing how good you feel when you've stepped out of your normal daily activities to help another person. Within a few days we had collected a number of thank you emails and cards. They really appreciated our time and insights. We learned later that within a week, three of our 'practice applicants' had secured real jobs. Cytiva and Wardrobe for Opportunity, it was a perfect fit!