Human Resource Executive® lists what it considers to be the leading Web sites and blogs for HR professionals today.
By
Twenty years ago, the idea of a human resource professional going online to get information, check out a product or service, or commiserate with a colleague was, well, not much of an option. "Going online" had yet to enter the lexicon.
And while development of the World Wide Web has been ongoing since the 1960s, it wasn't until 1990 that that the term Internet was officially coined. In 1987, for the most part, HR professionals who needed information or resources had to get them the old-fashioned way -- either by reading, attending seminars and trade shows, welcoming salespersons into their offices or picking up the phone.
Today, going online to get information, products and services has become a "How'd we ever do this before?" phenomenon. (Remember life before desktop computers or your BlackBerry?) As much as it can be overwhelming at times, the online experience is now a critical productivity tool in any HR professional's virtual briefcase.
With that in mind, we considered it fitting to present in this anniversary issue 10 of the best HR Web sites and 10 of the best HR blogs for your browser's Favorites/Bookmarks list. You probably already have a solid collection. However, in perusing our list below, if you find one you haven't visited yet, we encourage you to do so.
In today's world of fast-moving technology and ever-changing information, HR professionals who can arm themselves with the best online haunts will have a leg up on others in getting what they want and need, and getting it quickly.
From learning about or discussing the latest HR technology trends to securing the company's next applicant tracking system, we trust you'll find what you're looking for below. Though we purposely did not list our own Web site, HREOnline.com, for propriety's sake, we believe you'll find it's one of the best sources out there for HR news and features, analyses, expert commentaries and exclusive story enhancements.
HR Sites
General HR
Society for Human Resource Management
When it comes to large, information-filled HR places online, you have to include SHRM's URL. It's loaded with valuable information, such as news, SHRM highlights, books, articles, global news, legislative updates and recent enactments, conference dates, Webcasts and all sorts of goodies that members can use in their everyday work or career plans. Of course, you have to be a SHRM member to get inside, but with more than 300,000 members worldwide, odds are you already fit the bill. Design-wise, the site is easy to use. Be sure to stop by the SHRM Knowledge Center, or check out the HR Focus area.
While About.com isn't an official Web site for any specific HR organization, it is well-stocked with good ideas, information, links, tools, standard HR forms and other HR-related material. Best of all, it's managed by a 35-year veteran of HR, Susan Healthfield, who also has an HR consulting business. If you don't know, About.com (owned by the New York Times Co.) is one of those virtual places that offer "guides" on any number of topics and pursuits, the HR space being one of about 570 guided topics. Healthfield's work on the site shows she's keeping it fresh and worth a visit.
HR.com is a fine spot to network with the more than 135,000 HR professionals who are members (membership is free). HR.com is broken down by "communities," which include benefits, compensation, legal, training and development -- all the key functions that make HR what it is today. The site is clean, with a straightforward, easy-to-navigate design structure. It touts itself as the "largest" social network and online community of HR executives. Founder and HR entrepreneur Debbie McGrath has been at the helm of this Canadian site (based in Aurora, Ontario) since 1999, when it first went online.
hrVillage also is a "portal" community, akin to HR.com, but it's not exactly the same. At hrVillage, you can find many of the same types of offerings as other HR portals, but the site also gives you its hrWebsearch feature, a way to locate providers of all stripes via Google ads. Like many of the similar sites, hrVillage not only delivers useful free information, but also connects you with an array of top vendors and providers. The left-hand navigation bar has more than a dozen subtopics, ranging from human resource links to a list of frequently asked questions on pretty much any HR subject you can think of, including employee handbook ideas, HR education and HR news.
HR News
This is all human resource news, all the time. Topix.net, founded in 2002, gives you the ability to quickly and easily find targeted news on the Internet. It taps into thousands of news sources that are continually releasing stories 24 hours a day. For HR professionals, finding relevant news can be time-consuming, but Topix.net makes it easy, as it sifts through a variety of stories and delivers the relevant issues.
The Industry Radar offers one of the richest experiences for finding comprehensive, timely news sources for HR, employee benefits and health care. Since May 2006, The Industry Radar (named after the seemingly prescient M*A*S*H character Radar O'Reilly, believe it or not) has served up more than 13 million article views. The main page, the Industry Radar Express, is easy on the eyes and cleanly laid out. It offers user-friendly navigation and access and, best of all, delivers a wide selection of articles on HR topics. You can also use an RSS feed, or choose the site's e-mail updates service. (RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, content uses programs called feed "readers." An RSS user "subscribes" to a feed by supplying his or her reader with a link to the RSS feed. The reader can then check the user's subscribed feeds to see if any of those feeds have new content since the last time it checked, and if so, the reader can then retrieve that content.)
Recruiting
ERE began its online life in 1998 as an e-mail discussion list for recruiting professionals. Today, it's become a major source of information and networking for recruiters and HR professionals. It also offers services such as the ER (Electronic Recruiting) Marketplace, a comprehensive list of products and services for recruiters. Part of that effort is a massive nationwide database of recruiting seminars. ERE's parts are ERE Daily (a new article every day), ERE Forum (a place to share ideas and questions via email), ERE Research, ERE News (www.ere.net/inside-recruiting) and a Recruiters' Job board (for recruiting professionals). Nice, easy-to-use design and navigation. Best of all, it's free.
HR Technology
Most HR professionals know about the International Association for Human Resource Information Management, or IHRIM. If you haven't visited its Web site, you should. The site offers a great wealth of information about HR and technology. Among the benefits of membership is the Online Buyer's Guide, access to IHRIM's publications (IHRIM.link, IHRIM Journal, e-Journal, IHRIM books and others) and a calendar of IHRIM events and online seminars during the year. If you want to boost your technology IQ, make IHRIM's site part of that education. (One caveat: For a technology association, the site is probably due for a redesign.) Materials are available to IHRIM members only ($295 for a one-year U.S. membership).
Benefits
A holdover from the 1997 HRE Top 10, Benefitslink isn't going to win any design beauty pageants either, but in this case, you once again can't judge a book by its cover. Benefitslink is full of information, providers and more. In short, if it's about benefits, you'll find something about it on benefitslink. Just a cruise down its left side navigation/links bar, and you quickly get the idea how they chose the site's name back in 1995.
Learning/Training
Elliot Masie, one of the leading learning gurus online (or anywhere else, for that matter), may promote fee-based products and services via his Web site, but he and the Masieweb staff also provide plenty of free information, links and other potentially valuable bits and bytes. For example, Masie's 2004 book, 701 eLearning Tips, is available gratis via PDF download. There also is a free "Learning Trends" newsletter and scads of podcasts available at the site. You can also take advantage of RSS. Also, Masieweb offers a "Learning Links" page that connects you to a serious number of learning-related Web sites.
BLOGS
General HR
With talent management the hot HR issue these days, a smart place to visit would be the Human Capital Institute's blogosphere. HCI's blog site offers a well-designed, easily navigated framework that works for HR executives and professionals. HCI's blogosphere is really a place to link up with dozens of HR-related blogs, so it's not a specific blog from an individual. Rather, it's a collection of posts from a wide variety of HR bloggers, individuals and vendors. All in all, a good place to gather information or catch up on the latest human capital trends.
Your HR Guy is an anonymous HR blog focused on job seekers, employees, management, recruiters and other HR professionals. As Your HR Guy says, anonymity allows him some candor about all things HR, but not much (since he does have a day job as well). He says he "represents the ideals, the dreams, the hopes and (most frequently) the rants" of HR professionals. Most of all, Your HR Guy believes in balance. This isn't a blog for constant complaining, but it also isn't all about toeing the company line. Your HR Guy covers a wide range of topics and issues, and writes in an easy, fun style. Design-wise, the site is just about perfect.
KnowHR Blog's self-described mission is to serve as a place to focus on "simplicity, form and function in human resources." Poking around the KnowHR site, you'll find some great examples of those objectives -- most in a fun way. For example, a recent post talked about the "Old BlackBerry-and-Chain" (about how BlackBerry owners work longer hours than non-owners). Another item from the archives posts a Saturday Night Live skit about cost-cutting ("Cut HR" is among the ideas bandied about). Funny stuff. Just so you know, KnowHR is a product of Philadelphia-based iFractal LLC, which provides organizational communications consulting.
Brendon Connelly, the guy behind Slacker Manager, is a self-described Fortune 500 "refugee" who is now happily entrenched as a university administrator somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. For the most part, Slacker Manager is Connelly's musing on things HR and being a manager, and sometimes things completely outside both realms. Most of all, Slacker Manager is a fun, yet useful, respite from the heavy-duty blogs and Web sites out there. For example, a cruise through the Slacker Manager archives might dig up Connelly's take on what he calls "vertical" days (days in which you do only one thing all day long), or his personal take on fostering collegiality among co-workers (something we can always use more of these days). Slacker Manager is full of tidbits that any HR manager (or any manager, for that matter) can use.
HR Web Café delivers a workplace Web log about "employment issues, people matters and work trends." And soaking up the site, you can see that this place is worth the time. Sponsored by the ESI Employee Assistance Group, the HR Web Café is that firm's way of sharing some of what it and a few of its colleagues have learned over the years through employee assistance progHR Web Café delivers a workplace Web log about "employment issues, people matters and work trends." And soaking up the site, you can see that this place is worth the time. Sponsored by the ESI Employee Assistance Group, the HR Web Café is that firm's way of sharing some of what it and a few of its colleagues have learned over the years through employee assistance programs. This blog covers a variety of topics in areas such as benefits, best practices, HR humor, wellness and workforce management, to name a few. A nice place to visit, and also a very modern, easy-to-navigate design.
Recruiting
While the title may, on the surface, sound like the online gathering spot for Green Bay Packer fans, cheezhead.com is the domain of Joel Cheesman, arguably the most recognized and widely read bloggers who reports on emerging recruiting issues. Reading Cheesman's blog gives you the sense of being on the inside, as his observations and ruminations are a great filter for the data overload that dominates the recruiting space these days. Cheesman posts daily missives, and his work earned his blog Recruiting.com's Best Technology Recruitment Blog for 2005 and Best Recruiting Blog in 2007. With talent acquisition a top-of-mind issue for HR executives these days, checking in with Cheesman could pay some dividends.
e-learning
The guru behind e-learning guru is Kevin Kruse, the e-learning columnist for CLO (Chief Learning Officer) magazine and president of AXIOM Professional Health Learning. This blogsite is comprehensive, with links to plenty of articles. For example, Kruse posted a link to a new free virtual Web conferencing service. Most of all, the "e-learning Blogroll" along the left side is a tremendous gateway to several dozen e-learning blogs. And there are up-to-date e-learning news and e-learning jobs sections on the right side of the home page. The only downside here is that the material in the middle, which Kruse posts, is not all that fresh. But on balance, there is enough material to make visiting worthwhile.
Technology
Systematic HR is one of the more mysterious HR technology blogs/sites out there. Mostly, it's a collection of articles and commentaries that, as the main page says, sit at "the intersection of HR strategy and HR technology." Double Dubs is the pseudonym of the person behind Systematic HR, and Dubs makes no secret about the fact that he/she works for one of the large HR consulting firms (there is a form for contacting that firm, if you need consulting services, that is). Systematic HR is a gold mine of interesting ideas, articles, commentaries and discussions, as well as being an extremely, fresh, well-designed, easy-on-the-eyeballs site.
Jason Corsello, the man behind The Human Capitalist blog, is Yankee Group's research director for enterprise software and service delivery strategies. Of course, that gives him some powerful insight into HR technology, services and outsourcing trends. Most of all, Corsello's blog, while it is one man's opinion, is fun to read, and his comments on some of the vendors operating out in the HR tech space can be very enlightening. Like any effective blog, it's almost like having access to his conversations, which is, of course, the idea. The site also offers guest bloggers and an RSS option.
HR Law
As it says at this informative (and smartly named) blog, managed by employer advocate and attorney Jay Shepherd, the idea is to reduce employee lawsuits, which require employers to focus on keeping the workforce "gruntled." Shepherd covers a variety of great topics. Example: A recent post addresses how employers can deal with, what else, employees' personal blogs. The site also includes a very good Blogroll, featuring links to all sorts of HR and business-related places (HR Web Cafe, Guerilla HR) and thinkers (Guy Kawasaki, Tom Peters, Malcolm Gladwell).
April 1, 2007
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