I recently had the pleasure of talking to the members of the Mobile, AL chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management. Prior to my presentation, during the networking opportunity I walked the room stopping at each table and asking whether they were ready to go back to work and empower change in their organization. At one of the tables I stopped at, I received the response “sure as long as I don’t have to resign.”

We can’t remove the organizational inefficiencies unless we…

When have you been most confident at work, in any job? 

I strongly suspect it was when you had a high level of competence in that job. 

I recently had reason to recall the start of my recruitment agency career, in London twenty five years ago. I was twenty two years old. I was working in an office for the first time. I was living out of home for the first time. I was resident in a country that was not my own. I was in a job that I had zero previous experience in…

I was talking with a friend the other day who, was lamenting that she had too much work and not enough time to get it all done. Her manager contended the reason was that she and her teammate did not understand how to manage their time. This is an age-old argument that I hear often in the workplace.

It is a tendency for many in management roles to immediately assume…

1 Possibility PRO- Taking cue from @AlliPolin, here’s what she said; Answers are over-rated. If you're so sure you're right, you stop looking for new possibilities. Leaders always hunt down and epitomize possibilities. They are known for this demeanor. You got to kept optimism and positivism alive with…

Do you remember those days from your elementary school days? Or better yet do you remember that from your kid’s elementary school days? (Sorry, I do not mean to put the getting older trap on you)? Well we have show and tell days in the workplace too. The purpose of the assignment was to have each child come to class to tell his/her fellow students about something that was…

On April 14 the Wall Street Journal ran an article about companies eliminating their HR departments. If you poll large enough population of corporate executives about the role of HR, a majority will tell you that HR is an obstacle to getting things done.

A couple of weeks ago Robin Schooling, fellow HR blogger at HR Schoolhouse, stated she had asked a group of HR…

New Haven, CT –  January 30, 2014: RecruitingDaily, LLC announced today that it has hired Anna Brekka as a key addition to its global leadership team.  Noel Cocca, CEO and Partner of Recruiting Daily, made the announcement.

 “Anna’s accomplishments in the industry are well noted and her vision matches ours. Anna provides a unique skill set that’s really a perfect fit for our…

You read that real quick didn’t you? But go back and really consider the implications of the words themselves to the human resource professional in the daily exercise of their responsibilities.



Yesterday is History



There is no organization that is free from having made really bad human resource decisions. We have all fed into the corporate mantra, even though we may believe differently. We have been fed the Kool-Aid that the corporate organization is…

The NBC News reported on Sunday that the Washington State Department of Transportation reported that a construction project to construct a tunnel in Seattle had been halted because the world’s largest boring machine had been stopped by an 8 inch diameter steel pipe. When I stopped for a moment to consider this I asked myself in our HR functions what is our 8” diameter steel pipe?

The majority of HR professionals will tell you that they meet that 8” pipe every day. We are told by a…

Recognize these words and do they have any meaning in today's marketplace?

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that…

As I do most mornings I was watching Good Morning America and across the bottom of the screen in their news scroll was an item which stated that Target had announced that they were removing from their employment application all questions pertaining to criminal records or offenses. Which poses the question above—is this a sign of the times or a bad move?

There is much that can be said for either response. In a letter dated August 29, 2013 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in…

I live, eat, and breathe recruiting. I came into the industry in an entry level role and tried to learn as much as possible through asking endless amounts of questions and watching/listening to recruiters around me. I have done pretty well and have been fortunate to be successful in this world of mine. I am now a Partner and the …

Interview by John Scorza, SHRM, Danielle Monaghan, HR director at Cisco Systems Inc., learns from cross-cultural HR experiences. "as HR director for Cisco Systems in North Asia, she delivered a range of HR services to more than 7,000 employees in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.

Back in the U.S. since last year, Monaghan is director of human resources overseeing leadership…

Almost every college career services department in the country pushes to area employers the benefits of using their internship program. On the first look it is a no brainer for the corporation. They get added manpower during heavy workload times and they can usually get it without any financial impact on the corporation. For the student it provides them with some work experience in the real world and exposure to varying industries from which they can plan out their…

The Houston Gulf Coast Symposium on HR Issues was this Wednesday and Thursday.  The sessions that I attended were excellent.  Thank you to the exhibitors for their financial support!  A couple of the presenters mentioned that in a recent survey, more CEOs interviewed sited Human Capital as their top challenge than any other concern.  HR expertise is more important now than ever and it is finally being recognized.  Recruiting, engagement, and retention are now key concerns on the minds in the…

I am fortunate to have a warm and receptive boss that cares about my future and goes above and beyond to provide me with the tools and resources to gain the necessary skills to grow and work in a very satisfying environment.

With her cheerleader persona, focus on rewards and recognition and balanced workflow, she is a role model for the qualities that we look for in a “cool” boss.  On a daily basis, I witness a leader that:

• Fosters innovation
• Promotes strong…

Interesting pronouncement but I assure you you that it did not come from my mouth to heaven's ears. Several years ago when I thought about trying to return to the full time corporate side of HR a seasoned recruiter made the comment after looking at my resume. He was basing this on the fact that since graduating from college I have been in a number of positions within a number of industries. But the statement is more telling of the state of the recruiting industry then it is of my skill…

Next time you hire a CEO. …

I recently attended the #TonyRobbins Business Mastery course at the Excel in London.  It consisted of 4 days packed with information, tools and techniques on building and growing a business that is continually innovating and performing at its peak, and the best ways to create an exit plan for yourself; be this through creating a leadership team that will enable you to step away from the day to day running of the business, or the…