Personal Development Through Free Education

Because I was a Keynote presenter at the Utah Hiring Summit last week and had a great time connecting with local HR folks (not to mention the fact that I’m still recovering from some residual nostalgia after Monday’s post), I figure it would be fun to talk you through a newly discovered (and by “newly” I mean within the last couple years) passion of mine – HR Professional education and development.

To be honest, this is something I kind of “fell” into after I was asked a few times to share my unique Internet Marketing background with the folks at local SHRM chapter meetings and conferences to help their members become more productive hirers. I have to admit that my knowledge base seems to touch a wide range of people in the business world and I’ve always enjoyed the ability to help people do what they enjoy doing a little more efficiently. It also affords me the opportunity to network with a variety of individuals and develop my own skills as both an educator and business owner.

So, what began as small requests here and there developed into a full-fledged passion that involves weekly webinars and frequent travel around the country presenting at Society for Human Resources events. One of the predominant reasons I decided to offer HR education was because it was extremely difficult (nearly impossible) to find E-Learning and Seminars that offered FREE HRCI Approved education opportunities for those of you with PHR, SPHR, and GPHR credentials (yes, strategic credit included).

Perhaps one of my primary purposes for conducting these sessions for free is that they provide the foundation for bridging the gap between my Internet Marketing background and HR expertise. I’ve found that we come from two completely different worlds (in terms of our thinking processes) and it’s always been a challenge for me to explain to HR professionals that what I know about marketing in today’s virtual world can solve the majority of their pain points relative to hiring thus webinars were born. Instead of attempting to describe the process, I decided to demonstrate it using presentations and walking my attendees through some really cool online tools like Optimize my Job to help write a killer job ad. If memory serves, we’re right around 20 pre-approved HRCI topics currently, and that number will only continue to increase over time.

I have to admit that I’m pretty proud of the success we’ve had with these topics. They’ve enabled me to connect with thousands of people in the hiring, recruiting, and employee management space; and I’m pretty certain that we’re the ONLY company out there that offers such a wide range (and number) of topics without enrollment costs (no membership fees either).

I personally feel that educating yourself is one of the most fundamental pieces to personal success. Not only that, but it keeps you engaged and ensures that your job stays “fun” since you’re always learning and trying new things to improve yourself and make you better at what you do. It also creates job security by increasing your personal worth/value. As a CEO, I appreciate the unique and ever-changing perspectives of my employees because it makes my employees more satisfied in their positions and helps propel my company forward.

If you’ve been searching for a new way to hire that makes sense and that is more aligned with today’s Internet dominated approach, but have no idea where to start then attend one of my sessions. They’re only an hour of your time, they’re free, and they’re approved for HRCI credit. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.