SHRM Blog

The highlight of this year’s Recruiting Innovation Summit, for me, was the Recruiting Tech Startup Competition. Of nearly 50 initial applicants, six innovative recruiting tech startups were invited to compete the grand prize of $10,000 (and some serious bragging rights). Here's how it worked: Presenters gave a live demo their product, took questions from the audience, and then answered questions from the panel of judges--Jason Warner, Steve Boese and Ethel Chen. Each startup was rated based on business model, viability, potential impact on the industry, and other factors.

The winner--Mystery Applicant--is a sophisticated data and analytics tool for...

Who could possibly be opposed to paycheck fairness? That’s the question some may ask as the Senate likely will consider the “Paycheck Fairness Act” in early June to further highlight the election year pursuit of the women’s vote. The legislation is the best idea some in Congress have to address the gap between men’s and women’s earnings.

Then again, what is paycheck “fairness?” Fairness is in the eye of the beholder. When I worked on Capitol Hill and a politician used the word “fairness”, my colleagues and I were confident that it meant someone’s interests were going to...

We Know Next conducted an eye-opening #NextChat discussion on May 23 about "What’s Holding Women Back" with special guest Laurie Ruettimann.

The conversation took many turns as participants exchanged opinions about generational attitudes toward women in the C-suite. They questioned whether organizations with women at the helm had greater workplace flexibility and agreed that moving the needle forward would require more companies to learn how to think outside the “manbox.” Would more senior men sponsor talented women in their organizations if their bonuses depended on it? Or have all the training videos on sexual harassment caused men to...

Eighty percent of learning in the workplace is informal, according to Jay Cross and a number of other researchers. That means that 20 percent of the learning is formal, structured training, organized, funded and required by employers.

Think about it. When your boss gives you a new task with no instruction or direction, you will likely turn to a coworker or search engine to guide you. In certain environments, particularly professional services (consulting), you are likely to be challenged in this manner several times a week, if not daily.

Also, when it comes to cross-functional groups within the workplace,...