SHRM Should Be Ashamed

What happens when an analytical HR professional decides to break down every session at a state SHRM conference? The results are both hilarious and disheartening. Warren meticulously categorized all 64 breakout sessions and discovered that a staggering two-thirds could only be classified as "whimsical" - filled with motivational speaking and feel-good content but lacking substantive professional development.

Taking his analysis further, Warren compared this HR conference with professional gatherings across other fields - from accountants and lawyers to scientists and physicians. The contrast couldn't be more striking: while HR professionals were being told "the hardest journey is the 18 inches between your brain and your heart," other professions were engaging with rigorous, substantive content directly applicable to their work. This disparity helps explain why HR sometimes struggles to be taken seriously in the business world.

The conversation takes an unexpected turn when Warren admits that despite his past criticism, SHRM President Johnny C. Taylor delivered an impressively substantive keynote about the future of work and AI in HR - proving that meaningful content is possible when organizers prioritize it. Meanwhile, CeeCee shares her experience starting a new remote position with exemplary onboarding, highlighting how thoughtful processes can make all the difference in employee experience.

This episode poses important questions about professional development in HR: Are we setting ourselves up for failure by accepting low-quality content at our professional conferences? How can we demand better? And most importantly, what would truly valuable professional development look like for modern HR practitioners? Whether you're planning your next conference experience or evaluating your own professional development path, this candid discussion will make you rethink what you should expect from HR education.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Jaded HR
• 1:31 Breaking Down the SHRM Conference
• 8:14 Analyzing Conference Content: Fluff vs Substance
• 14:53 The Problem with HR Professional Development
• 25:35 Johnny C Taylor: Surprising Substance
• 31:23 CeCe's New Remote Job Experience
• 42:11 Wrapping Up and Future Episodes

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Had you actually read the email, you would know that the podcast you are about to listen to could contain explicit language and offensive content. These HR experts' views are not representative of their past, present or future employers. If you have ever heard my manager is unfair to me. I need you to reset my HR portal password, or Can I write up my employee for crying too much? Welcome to our little safe zone. Welcome to Jaded HR.

Speaker 2: 0:51

So, anyways, welcome to Jaded HR, the podcast by two HR professionals who want to help you survive the workday by saying everything you're thinking.

Speaker 3: 0:55

But say it out loud I'm Warren, I'm Cece, she's back, I'm back and I'm sick with something different. So you know, just keeping it spicy.

Speaker 2: 1:04

It's been a rough year. It's only April, come on.

Speaker 3: 1:10

It's only April. It's ridiculous. I don't know what happened to my immune system after I had a kid, but I think that has something to do with it, because I'm catching everything that's coming at me.

Speaker 2: 1:20

I would just wait until they get to kindergarten and stuff and they start bringing home all the school cuties.

Speaker 2: 1:25

I, I would just wait until they get to kindergarten and stuff, and they start bringing home all the school cooties. I think kindergarten year I don't think I'd been my first kid, I don't think I'd been sicker because they bring home all the cooties and new cooties you haven't been exposed to and yeah, it always seemed to be something I'm so excited. Yeah, so I mentioned I'm going to this Virginia State SHRM conference. We're in the middle of it. Today's a Tuesday, tomorrow the conference wraps up and okay, I'm going to be shitting on it a lot, but I have had some good experiences too.

Speaker 2: 2:02

But yeah, and this is the first state conference I've been to, normally in in virginia they rotate the state conference among the five major metropolitan areas and so the hampton roads, virginia beach area gets it like every fifth year. And the last year, surprise, surprise was covid I'd would. I was registered and obviously couldn't go. They canceled it that one. So so here it is. They they're doing it again, but next year it looks like for the next three years they're going to be in virginia beach, but I, at this point I don't think I will be going to going to those. So it's, it's interesting.

Speaker 2: 2:42

Uh, let's see here because it's been since I've been, I since it's. There wasn't one in covet. It's been at least 10 years, then, since I've been to a state conference and it's.

Speaker 2: 2:56

It's a little different than I remember, but maybe that's, maybe that's just my old foggy memory or anything like that, but yeah, so, um, I've already titled this episode and you know, sherm, you should be ashamed that that's what. Uh, oh, no, that's, that's what this, this conference, is. I broke down. I go to, as all of know, I go down deep rabbit holes when I get my mind like hyper-focused on something. So there are 64 breakout sessions in the three-day conference and I went down the list and I was classifying them by the speakers, what their bio says about them. I classified the topics, so here's some stats, anyways that I came together. So, of the speakers going through their bios 38 of the speakers and there's only 64 breakout sessions 38 identified themselves as a consultant or a coach, which brought me to perfect timing.

Speaker 2: 4:00

Suzanne Lucas, on LinkedIn, posted this on April 4th. She says I have a controversial thought today Getting laid off does not qualify you to be a coach, and it is so perfect because every HR person who loses their job, they're a coach, they're a consultant, they are something else, and I thought that that fit very, very perfectly for this. But, anyways, I classified six people as an industry expert, somebody who they're in the weeds, they practice it, they know what they're talking about. Only six of them. I could do that. There were 10 attorneys speaking, three salespeople, only five people who are like practitioners not to the level of industry expert, but they're practitioners and then speakers were made up the rest. Then I further broke down the topics and there are 18 functional topics and I know these numbers don't add up, it's 47. I put whimsical topics, and whimsical is like the pie in the sky rainbows and unicorns hanging their kitty cat memes and posters and things like that. But we're talking three quarters of the. I can't do math, I'm an HR. Two thirds of them are there's no there there with them.

Speaker 2: 5:27

And then I looked at the titles of the breakout sessions. The word resilience is used six times. Empowering was used twice. Navigating was used 15 times, but they were trying to have a nautical theme. It's at the beach, they're trying to have a nautical theme. Four of them had the words play or games in them. Several had storytelling stories. Future was in five of them, but this is something I'd never seen at a conference before.

Speaker 2: 5:58

In the schedule that tells you where the breakout session is and the time and all that, the schedule that tells you where the breakout session is in the time, and all that. Nine of them have books for sale listed in the in the front of the schedule and yeah. So, anyways, there was, in their bios, 14 people listed themselves as authors. But of those 14 authors, only one listed themselves, listed their publisher, which is something I you know. Listed themselves, listed their publisher, which is something I, you know. I'm really keen on, because self-published books are a dime less, they're free a dozen, they're not even a dime a dozen, they're free. And if there's no publisher willing to say and in the self-help arena that a lot of these people are operating in, there's so much bullshit, stupid books out there if you can't get a publisher and you, you go the self-help boat route. Yeah, you're not, you're not.

Speaker 3: 6:53

Yeah, that's not yeah, it's so easy to self-publish right now, like you could.

Speaker 2: 6:57

Just I'm thinking like I'm going to, when I'm finished with my, my grad school, and I actually have time to get my head above water and breathe again, I'll have some more letters behind my name. I'm going to find I've got. The only thing I put on my signature is term SCP and I don't put it on my LinkedIn anymore, but I use it my email signature. But I'm going to find all my little certificates and all my little letters behind my name. Get all my little bona fides looking really nice. And AI and I are going to self-publish like 100 books a year so I can be this incredible author. Nobody's read one Hell. I haven't even read them. Chat TPT wrote it. I haven't read it. One of my favorite lines Lou Holtz. He said once I saw him speak he's a great speaker, he's talking about a book he wrote. He goes and that makes me the only person in the world to have written more books I've read Awesome.

Speaker 2: 7:51

I like that. But anyways, I'll follow his footsteps. But more things they put in their bios that they say they're a professional keynote speaker. Four of them have been on TED Talks and then coaches and things like that.

Speaker 3: 8:03

So it was just yeah, I've told some by the way, that was a very impressive analysis that you just said. Oh, I went down.

Speaker 2: 8:10

ADD is great when you can hyper-focus, and I just decided this is my target today and that's what I'm going to do.

Speaker 3: 8:19

But yeah, when you can focus in on the right thing, ADHD is a blessing.

Speaker 2: 8:22

Oh yeah, when it's the right thing, when you're supposed to be doing something else and you're deciding to Google these speakers, bios, things like that, not so much. But Sunday night, well, I'll be going back. So, whatever day, the schedule came out, the official final schedule came out. My assistant and I are both going and I deferred to her. I gave her the schedule, I hadn't even looked at it and I said you pick the sessions you want to do and I'll go and I'll do different breakout sessions from you so that we can cover more ground and meet later and discuss and have good conversations about it Smart.

Speaker 3: 8:59

Yeah, only if I could.

Speaker 2: 9:00

Smart? Yeah, only if I could. After she picked hers and I looked through, there was only one time that we could break up and do different things because I was not going to do any of this touchy-feely bullshit sessions. Actually, I have two holes in my session where I decided I'll check emails, I'll do it, because there was just nothing of absolute interest in there. So I have two holes in my my schedule. But I was like, and so the only and the reason we could break up, one of the touchy feely speakers had to cancel, and when the attorney stepped in and filled that slot and so she went to the one she was going to already go to and I went to the other one. So we got to separate, separate and you know what, this episode is going to get jaded.

Speaker 2: 9:49

But those were some great professional conversations. Discussing she's fresh out of college, she went to this what did you think about that? What did they say? What did you think? Getting her thoughts and insight. I mean those are great conversations. Too bad, we could only have one of them, but so far. Well, tomorrow's the last day and there's nothing else there. But anyways, that was my plan, but it couldn't be done Because, like I said, I was not going to sit through and I did sit through the keynote speaker today and one of them 30 seconds in she just completely lost me. She's I don't know what this, this pose is. You see all over Instagram, or I don't know what you call it. You put your hands under your chin and yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:37

Under your chin, yeah, and I don't know what that is. And she's like really sucking up to the crowd and I love HR. And like 30 seconds in, I'm grabbing my phone, I'm starting to place the dukes. I'm like, oh gosh, I'm in for it. And then she starts going on and this was like three minutes into the conversation.

Speaker 2: 10:58

The hardest, the toughest, longest journey you'll ever have to take is the 18 inches between your brain and your heart. And I just I said jesus, fucking christ, and I said it probably about that loud and, yeah, I, I was just like, oh, I, I'm not even paying attention to what you're saying. I'm trying not to pay attention because I didn't want to do things like that. And the toughest journey is the 18 inches between your head and your heart. Okay, and that tough journey is going to help me in my HR career. How so. And that's where I'm going with the whole title of this of where. Why Sherm should be ashamed Because A, with two thirds of the speakers being nothing that you're going to be, you might leave feeling good. You know I've made my opinion before that I'm not the target for those type of things, but in the long run, you leave those type of sessions. You feel good, you feel energized, you feel positive. What are you going to actually take back to work and improve your work? From Nothing, yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:05

You feel good for that.

Speaker 2: 12:06

It's hard Until the next session when you go to an employment law section. And then they're saying, oh, the sky is falling and you know everything, the shit's all hitting the fan. And yeah, maybe that was their plan. Maybe I'm just not giving them enough credit. We have so much bad news and bullshit that we're going to have to cover. Let's give them some rainbows and unicorns and, you know, fluffy little ponies and things like that.

Speaker 3: 12:28

So to at least let them leave feeling okay. I'm sorry I cut you off it's hard.

Speaker 3: 12:35

I was just gonna say it's so hard because I think a lot of these, a lot of these conferences, they know they have X amount of days to fill and some of those things are filler and I wish it was more substance, I wish it was more like I would rather sit through a two days, a two day conference and have nothing but substantial things, rather than having a three or four day conference and then having these experiences of I don't know, just these inspirational quotes on a wall, personified.

Speaker 2: 13:11

Exactly. And walking through the corridors I hear these people this was so great, this is so great, and I can understand it, but what are you going to do with it? And you're not going to get anything out. I've told any number of people, including you. If my COO read the agenda and the topic titles for what I'm going to be doing, what I've been doing the last three days, he would just say look, what the fuck are you doing, warren? He goes what are you wasting our money on? I can just picture him. What are you wasting our money on? Why do you need to know about IK? I don't have the actual titles in front of me right now of these things. But why, oh, gamify your workplace? Yeah, that's going to. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 13:56

Gamification is big in learning, but how is it in the workplace? I don't know, you're like I don't know.

Speaker 2: 14:03

I don't know, I didn't want to go to that session and then, whatever session was, I don't know. I've meant to look up. I'll have to go back to the schedule. I was in a session with an employment attorney. Actually, my employment attorney was giving the presentation and in the conference room they're playing like family feud music and dings and people getting all loud and stuff like that and I'm like, okay, they're having more fun than I'm having, probably, but what are they going to walk out the door with, and things like that.

Speaker 2: 14:35

So, anyways, the next rabbit hole I went down after being very disappointed in this offering. I just put into Google my search term was Virginia Professional Annual Conferences and I went down the list and I started just clicking on them, not in regard to what profession or anything, it was just search result 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and going down. Then I would look and see if they had an agenda. So it took me a couple of pages to go through this many. But so the first one, the Virginia Society of CPAs. Oh, here's the criteria If I was going to count them on this list, it had to be a professional organization, it had to be a multi-day conference, not just a one-day thing, and they had to have a detailed agenda that could read the topics and make a judgment call whether it was substantial or fluff. So first one Virginia Society of CPAs. Zero fluff topics, zero Virginia Commissioners of Revenue.

Speaker 3: 15:36

Yeah, it's accountants.

Speaker 2: 15:37

Yeah, virginia Commissioners of Revenue zero fluff. The Virginia Bar Association zero fluff. The Virginia Bar Association zero fluff. The Virginia Academy of Sciences no fluff. Virginia Society of Toxicology zero fluff. Association of School Programs of Public Health no fluff. The Virginia Funders Association I don't know what half these things are no fluff. Wildlife Society no fluff. College of Physicians no fluff. Rheumatoid Society no fluff. Association of Museums no fluff.

Speaker 2: 16:07

Not until I got my 12th one that actually had an agenda did I start seeing fluffy things, and it was the Virginia Apartment Management Association. That goes probably on Google results page three. Like I said, not everybody had their agenda still published, or they had their. 2025 is saying coming soon on the agenda, so I couldn't see what 2024 was. But on day one they had a fluffy keynote and two fluffy breakout sessions. Day two, three breakout sessions and day three their closing was I think it's I put a quote is energetic and funny keynote speaker, but I think the whole quote that I didn't write down was you'll be enthralled by our closing. They weren't even trying to hide that. It was fluff.

Speaker 3: 16:52

Yeah, that's interesting. So, like as you're going through this, all I'm thinking is that sometimes hr has this reputation of being the people people and we're there as emotional support, or we're just there for the business and like it's. It's two different. There's two different sides. People either think that we're like too people-y and too feeling-y, or people just think that we're out for the business and you should never trust us. Those are the two sides of the coin and this stuff it's discouraging to hear. It feels like we have the most fluff in our conferences when, if you think about it, the things that we do have tangible business results. However, it's not as obvious as accountants or lawyers or this or that, but the work that we do.

Speaker 3: 17:50

I mean I could pull up the projects I've done in the past and I could pull up ROI and I could talk about how we impacted the business. It's serious work that we do, but then you go to a conference and you get discouraged with the fluffy feelings. It makes me a little sad.

Speaker 2: 18:06

It is sad because everybody HR needs a place at the table. Hr, you need your seat at the table and all this. Well, this is exactly why if it's our own professional organization, the only one out there for us that says this is what we think is important for your professional organization, the only one out there for us that says this is what we think is important for your professional development, then no, it's an epic fail in terms of that. And yeah, if it's where they're in San Diego this year for the National SHRM Conference, they've only hyped it up a couple dozen times over to conference, which I will not be going to the National SHRM conference. But when you have 300 exhibitors and things like that and multi-day, I'm sure I could find all the substantive things I want, but in a three-day state conference, yeah, it's just. This is exactly what is wrong with HR right now. If you want to, you can come up with some.

Speaker 2: 19:01

Like I said, there were about 10 breakout sessions with lawyers and I'm doing every single one of them overall and it's just such a shame is I, beside all the jadedness, I'm passionate about my career. I'm passionate about my profession, I love what I do, but to see that the local chapter or the state chapter or whomever it is, thinks that this is what's going to be important to us? Yeah, it's. And on top of all that, the fact that you had to pay and register as it sold out. They only allowed like 650, I don't remember the number. It's a really low number of people this year, but it's really not any space in the place. They've gone and I'm thinking it's been 10 years since I've been to one, but in the past I was thinking there was like a thousand people or more in them. But but yeah, there was, there's just there's no there there and I'm I'm just really highly disappointed. They, they need to have some more substantive topics and get us out of that mind.

Speaker 2: 20:00

Space of this is what HR is important Because, like I said, you take a functional person, you take your CEO, your COO, and you show them this agenda. They're going to laugh at you. You go to your CFO and they go to one of these society of CPAs where they have a four-day conference and it's like all hard-hitting stuff and here we are, we're going to learn the second verse, the kumbaya, that nobody knows, or something like that. I have no freaking clue, but this is what is absolutely wrong with HR right now, and I know some of the people on the local board and I haven't talked to them about this, but I think it's just so disappointing and I don't know how much control they had over this. My other thing, where I was going before I diverted myself again is you had to pay before you know what the and register before you knew what the topics were. And if I'd known, if I'd seen the agenda, I would have said, oh, I'll pass, I'd rather go to work and do things, but some of these ones that I listed, they're future conferences.

Speaker 2: 21:04

Now, one thing I didn't do which I wanted to do I just ran out of time and motivation was I wanted to go and look at other state SHRM councils and see if they have. I know there's going to be a fluff, but if it's going to be, two thirds of it is fluff, or if it's it's, they have more substantial stuff. Because I I don't want to just the one deal with it. I want to, I want to go, I want to learn, I want to improve myself and I want to get back to work and say, hey, I think we can do this, I think this is a good idea. That's why I want to go when I get back to work Thursday. That's what I want to be doing. And what'd you do?

Speaker 3: 21:49

I learned about the hardest journey that we will ever take.

Speaker 2: 21:55

Yeah, I go back to telling that to my COO. Yeah, the hardest journey I'm going to take is the 18 inches between my mind and my heart. Yeah, I think my bags would be packed and thrown out me as I'm getting booted out the door. Yeah, it's hard.

Speaker 3: 22:14

And I will say, because I used to be on a board where we did plan an annual conference and it was difficult, not difficult but you have a call to action or a call out for individuals who would like to be a presenter, and there's a whole moment like a picking process and a vetting process, but at the end of the day, like if we have x amount of sessions to fill and we're a couple short, we'll take someone from the bottom of a pile to put them in there to fill that up. And I hate to say it like that but that's kind of like how it was.

Speaker 3: 22:52

So yeah, like you just have the sessions and the time slots to fill, you just have to fill them.

Speaker 2: 22:56

And I was giving us a little bit of thought what would I, what other topics would I want to see addressed that substantively? But that's the thing about when these conferences too. You go to some of these conferences, you don't know, hey, that that topic I didn't know was going to hit me and be as important to me, and as it ends up being, until you go there and you say, oh, wow, this is, this is something that's, that's good, so but yeah, it's been going going well. I don't know if I hit this on on the speech. So the keynote, the closing keynote speaker for Monday, was Johnny C Taylor, himself JCT, and I tell you I've I've been very hard on the man. You can listen to any dozens of episodes. I've been very hard on him. He is a phenomenal speaker and I was expecting him to be more fluff and pie in the sky. He was not. He was actually kind of direct in all politics or whatever side you think of JCT, because I know he carries a lot of baggage because he was in Trump's or he advised Trump or something like that in his first administration and he was the lead. He was the head of the Department of Labor. This time was supposed to be the person. Everything I heard until this other person from Oregon was going to be him came up. So you know, you know what, which side of the political aisle he lines with, which is not what I think the general HR population lines up with. But he was. He talked about the future of SHRM. He talked about the future work. He talked about the future of AI and HR. I mean, it was a substantial topic and he was engaging and lively and I will actually say that I would give him a 10 out of 10 on both presentation and content. That's awesome. I was not expecting it to like it that much. I went in, I went in jaded and he converted me and one of the things he said he said I will misquote him here, so don't say this is exactly it but his people, his handlers, whoever told him not to talk about the, the diversity, removing the diversity from DEI, and he talked about it in. Now his spiel on it is whatever the court decision was, that was really impact, negatively impacting diversity. They saw the writing on the wall and they're getting ahead of it now.

Speaker 2: 25:30

I've also said is is you know, did he get lucky? Did Sherm and Johnny C Taylor get lucky. And now, yep, because that was September, before the election or anything, and nobody knew the direction things were going to change in. And is he now just getting in front of the band with his baton? Look what we said. Was he lucky? Was he right? Was he predicted? I? I don't know how it, how it came about, but the fact is that's where we are right now. Regardless, the fact is that's where we are. How you feel about it's a whole different ballgame, but I I went in very cynical and jaded and I'm not gonna say I'm a a thousand percent jct fan now, but I have a new level of respect for him that I did not have before Monday evening.

Speaker 3: 26:17

So I know that's going to be a very unpopular opinion. No, what I was thinking was maybe he no longer has that carrot dangling in front of him for a shiny political position.

Speaker 3: 26:29

So now he's being a little more direct and a little more himself, like he has nothing on the line yeah I will say that I did hear him speak at a sherm convention and he is very charismatic and he's a great public speaker and honestly, you do leave feeling good about the work you do. And it's not fluff, it's like you said, it's very direct and very state. It's almost like state of the union of hr exactly perfect analogy, but see, that's what I want yes what if I'm going to a conference?

Speaker 3: 27:00

I want a state of the union of the industry, a state of the industry. I want best practices. I want to see how other companies, like best in class companies are doing things and what I can learn from them. I'm okay on the other stuff. I'm okay with the fluffy feely stuff.

Speaker 2: 27:20

And it's not that I want zero fluff, like some of these other ones, but two thirds of it being wide categorized as fluff is a bit too much and because, like I said, some of it's been quite depressing. When you're doing an employment law seminar one, you're doing like I said I've done I don't know how many law ones have been done thus far and it's a little scary, it's a little depressing and maybe you want to. Okay, I've had enough of this. Let's talk about gamifying your workplace or whatever One of these BSE topics they had out there were. And, yeah, I can see me going to my CEO and COO and say, hey, let's gamify our place. Yeah, let's gamify your resume and see how.

Speaker 3: 28:08

Make it into a fun puzzle piece so people can put it together when you mail it to them.

Speaker 2: 28:13

Yeah, so, but anyways, that's my take on it. I'm having a good time. I just wish I could have done more substantial work, get more. I. I wanted my assistant this is our first, you know. She just graduated from college. She I wanted her to get a little more experience. She's getting a good experience out of it, but I wanted her to to expose, and I'm I'm. I even told her. Look, I said I feel I feel bad because I think I'm corrupting you with my mindset. And then she goes well, I'm thinking a lot of these things, I'm just not always saying them. I'm like okay, well, because I do feel bad, I don't want to create another mini me or something like that. I actually respect her so much. I don't want her to feel that she has to agree with me or say that I'm right or anything like that.

Speaker 3: 29:02

So yeah, I will say I do love I mean I'm I've said before I love a conference, even with the fluffy stuff and everything, because I love it energizes me to be around people in the same industry. I love to network, I love to meet people who are doing similar things to me because I feel like that ups my game.

Speaker 2: 29:23

You're in a very specialized area so there's not you know other than you, maybe two other people that that is their full-time position, maybe. Yeah, I know that, do that. You know it's not like recruiting or generalist role or anything like that. You're doing very specialized work and if I were much more specialized I'd be very much hunting down my other cohorts because I know I'm a generalist overall. I know people I can call and contact if I have a question and bounce ideas off of or vent to or whatever. If I were in your boat I wouldn't. I mean, I'm sure you have more networking, a broader network in that arena than I do, but wow, that must be own island a lot of times.

Speaker 3: 30:16

A lot of times. Yeah, and that's a lot of places. This is new. Oh yeah, I started a new job. Like a lot of places I worked at, I was kind of a team of one, or maybe one or two, and it was always difficult to try to keep ahead of what's going on and trying to see how the best places are doing things, and that's why I've always had to go to conferences and network and go outside of my office, so to speak. Now, starting a new job, I'm on a team of us, so this is exciting. This is a whole new game and I'm very excited. Good, but yeah.

Speaker 2: 31:01

You've started a new job. Feathers recently started a new job. Patrick still where he was when we worked together, and I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to become a lifer where I'm at. If the decision were mine, I'd be a lifer, but the decision's not always going to. I hope If the decision were mine, I'd be a lifer, but the decision's not always going to. I know that's not my decision all the time. Nice, do you want to talk about your new job? You've told me how it came up or anything. Anything you want to and we can edit.

Speaker 3: 31:30

Yeah, so this is the I'm going to say, this is the power of networking. I had connected with the hiring manager about five years ago because I was interviewing for a role under her at a different company and I was one of the final two and I just got edged out and I didn't get the role and she basically called me and she said usually you get some kind of just email or something. But she had called me and she said it was a very hard decision and I do want to keep in touch because I feel like one day we're meant to work with each other. And I was like, oh, and I thought that was fantastic and sure enough. Like, over the course of five years, different opportunities kind of popped up, but they were never the right one. And then finally this one popped up and I said I was leaving.

Speaker 3: 32:20

So I had a really good conversation with my old manager, the, from the company I was leaving and I was telling him how this time it's the. This is one of the hardest times. Only two times in my life leaving a company Did I say oh, like this is a hard leave because I love the people I work with, I love what I'm doing, I love all that, but this it just, it's just hard to leave. And again, twice in my life and my last company being one of them and he said something that was kind of it resonated with me in a way, because he said it's different, it's a different feeling when you're running away from something than when you're running towards something.

Speaker 3: 33:01

That's cool, I was like, oh, like that is. And he just basically said if you can manage to run towards something every time, and every time you leave, towards something to elevate yourself or for a better position, you're going to have it in your heart like leaving your past company to be like, oh, I'm gonna miss them, but the time is right, versus times where I've left companies running away from them with my middle fingers in the air, being like f you guys, yeah, screw you, screw you, you're cool, but I like that. I was like, yeah, so this is the first like. I feel like I'm really like running towards something bigger, something better. And the other thing I wanted to say was sorry, I am in a remote position again and I love being 100% remote.

Speaker 3: 33:51

And the one thing about remote roles is the onboarding is sometimes tricky, like it's hit or miss, because your first day you're at your home, you're in your office. It's not like your first day in an office where you're like meeting people and this kind of stuff, and it's a different energy. And this is the first time where I started a remote role and the onboarding is like perfection, perfection. I got like this PowerPoint, like a deck that basically had like 20 some slides saying exactly what my role was going to be, exactly the org structure, exactly like what we do as a company, and then it went down to like okay, here's your first two week plan. Here's your 30 day plan, here's your 60 day, 90 day Like.

Speaker 3: 34:38

It was so in depth that I feel like, so well prepared and, additionally, everyone at the company, just the culture of the company, is very welcoming. Everyone is just let me know if you need anything. I'm already setting up touch bases. It's much more casual in the way people speak to each other than what I'm like it's. I've. I've had that kind of culture in the past and I've always tried to find a place that recreates it and this place seemingly does. It's very like we love that. You here, we can't wait to see what you're going to do. It's very positive. They trust me and it's just such a feeling.

Speaker 2: 35:24

And now I'm like gosh, don't let me fuck it up. Oh no, you'll do excellent. A good onboarding experience really said you know, this is dating myself. But when I joined the law firm, I go into you know I do you go into a conference room I think a couple other people started the same day as I did and you get this, you get that. And then they sent me to.

Speaker 2: 35:47

I got to see my office after after a while and you know I talked to my boss real briefly, but she actually had to go to another meeting or something. So she said, just get yourself set up in your office. And I walk into my office and I have my computer set up there and I have several reams of letterhead with my name on it, notepads with my name on it, my name and title, and then I'm sitting there organizing, getting stuff and somebody comes in and now this is getting spoiled by a law firm and they gave me this like a sheet I could just sort of check out. I want this, I want sticky notes, I want and they would say law firms go through the amazon raven floors like there's no other business. They actually had their own print shop, like I think was this I was on the 21st floor and they were on the 17th floor. It was like their own Kinko's that they could do any sort of printing and things and if I'd wanted anything I could just put in a request and I would have it.

Speaker 2: 36:44

And I was like what? And then it was just such a amazing onboarding experience. You know, it wasn't high tech or cool like what you have, but was like this they have their act together in doing this. I was just like this was really, really cool. And then getting to be an hr and be the one who works with facilities and works with the all the other departments to get make that happen for other people. I was like this you know you can't do that everywhere, but it was. It was such a really, really good experience there. And they also had a housekeeping, the internal housekeeping crew and I remember one day you know I was doing with a hole puncher and I I picked it up wrong. You know what happens we put a couple of these damn hole punchers wrong. The little holes go everywhere and I'm in yeah, I'm in there cleaning it up and someone says, oh, we'll send housekeeping. I'm like, no, I, I cannot have someone else come in and clean my mess up.

Speaker 2: 37:40

I just no, no, I created this. I'm not going to do it and you know, I'm sure I didn't get them all, but I got them overnight or what have you. But that was just such a really good onboarding experience, a really good onboarding experience. And that. That, when you have those really good memories, even thinking back and like, wow, you know, yeah, there's going to be crappy days and stuff, but when the table is set right, you know, it's just like yeah it's so like even I got to choose my computer, Like I never got to choose a computer.

Speaker 3: 38:12

They're like oh, you're just going to get whatever we send you. But they let me choose what kind of computer I wanted, which. I'm on a Mac now because I'm a Mac girlie, so thank you. And then the IT person was like please let me know what else you need, like, and do you need dual monitors? Do you need this? Do you need that? And I was like this is nice, just being a, because you don't know what you don't know and you don't want to ask for too much if it's. You know not the standard and you don't know what the standard is. So you don't know what to ask for. And yeah, they were just like yeah, let us know what you need to make work better. And you know my manager. She's amazing. My new peers are fantastic. I'm on like the. What is it? The meet and greet show right now or the meet and greet tour right now? Where?

Speaker 3: 39:01

I'm trying to meet all the business partners and getting to know exactly what they do, and it's just great, it's just fun, I feel welcomed, it feels good.

Speaker 2: 39:10

Awesome, happy for you.

Speaker 3: 39:14

Thank you, and some of them know about the podcast. So now I'm like, please don't judge me. I say stupid things sometimes, but don't hold it against me, thank you oh yeah, welcome aboard all you cc co-workers.

Speaker 2: 39:32

You can support us on patreon like hallie, the original jaded hr, rock star bill and michael. You can support us on patreon. Buy us a beer, yeah, so yeah, anyways had to. That's a good way to segue that one in. So, oh man, so we've been promising this office episode for has it been two months since?

Speaker 3: 39:54

Probably it's been two months yeah.

Speaker 2: 39:57

And it's only episode two it is coming. We're doing great.

Speaker 3: 40:01

We're doing great.

Speaker 2: 40:03

It is. It will be released before the end of April. So it is coming because we're going to re-record it tonight. I'm just tired of the editing, so we're re-recording right after this. So, anyways, yeah, what else is going on in the HR world? Is there anything that left to cover?

Speaker 3: 40:25

Yeah, I'm just trying to survive with a new sickness, so you know.

Speaker 2: 40:30

Well, you're working remote, so you're not getting your co-workers sick and things like that and you don't have to. You know, I I felt bad a few months ago. I felt I didn't have a fever, I just didn't feel very well and I think I might have been patient zero, you know, having minimal symptoms and a couple other people. You know, maybe it's just coincidence someone's going around at the same time or something like the death, or well, people are going on like maybe I should actually work from home that day or stay at home, but you don't have to worry about that and worry about no, take your sick or pto time or anything like that.

Speaker 3: 41:02

So yeah, no, I am wearing a mask around the baby because, oh like I don't want to get her sick. I can handle being sick myself, but I can't handle taking care of a sick baby. It is a nightmare so I'm trying so hard, just hand-washing Purell and a face mask. I feel like it's COVID all over, wow.

Speaker 2: 41:21

So well, I think this is a good place to end it, but yeah, I do have a couple more episode ideas that are coming to me from this SHRM conference. Like I said, tomorrow's the last day, so maybe something wild or crazy will come up and happen the next two days, or I don't know. Who knows what it is. But yeah, SHRM, you need to be ashamed if this is what you think is important. So, as all oh that guy's like Do our thank yous. Andrew Kolpa is the voice artist who does the intro and then the intro. Outro music is the Underschool Orchestra. The song is Devil with the Devil. So now I'll say, as always I'm Warren, I'm Cece and we're here helping you survive. Hr one. What the fuck moment at a time. Thank you.