"We Become What We Think About"

I just found this quote on a blog by Amanda Linehan that I follow.

"The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment." - Earl Nightingale

The article explains her style of goal setting and is worthy of a read.

This quote in particular struck me because it reinforces the idea that we are doing exactly where our minds, dreams, and wishes from five to ten years ago took us. I am sure that there are those out there who do make this a conscious process, but I fear for many that it is more of a stumbling process, or subconscious as Earl Nightingale says. Click here to read more about Earl's fascinating life.

I feel like I am where I am supposed to be and perhaps my earlier statement of five to ten years may be off. Perhaps, that time period can go back all the way back to when I was a child.

My dream job when I was a kid, of all things, was to be a bus driver. I rode the city transit everywhere as a kid / pre-teen / teen. Back then there wasn't the fear, or at least as crippling, of allowing all of us kids to be on our own and take the bus to the Everett Mall way in the south of town or anywhere that the Everett Transit would go. I can't think of anything bad ever happening on these adventures and it sure helped all of us gain our independence. But I digress...back to being a bus driver. The bus drivers I knew always seemed to be happy, they knew many of their passengers by name, and they got out and about all day long. And guess what? I became a bus driver. I prefer the terms driver/guide or motorcoach commander, but I did it and I was good at it. I smiled at people. I got to see the sights as it were and it was great job. However, I always knew that I wanted to do more and human resources was always on my radar.

So, I moved up the chain, and early on, I think it was even the first time I ever met the Human Resources Manager who oversaw our region, I asked her how she got her job. Back in those days, early 1990s, she had started as an Administrative Assistant and her role grew as the need for personnel management grew. I always kept her in mind throughout my career and eventually applied for that job after she left. I didn't get it, but at least I tried.

At the time I applied for that HR Manager job, I was working in a safety department where I was responsible for DOT compliance, recruiting, safety and training. In other words, I was doing HR type work, but not in an HR department. Before I left that company, I wrote the Director of HR a letter which said a bunch of things, but most importantly, I said that I wanted to be a human resources contact for the seasonal employees, about 1500 of them, who worked for the company in Alaska. Simply put, I wanted to be their liaison, because they needed a voice representing their interests in the corporate office, which was located 1500 miles, on average, away from where they were working. In reality, that's what I was, but it certainly wasn't official. Back then, corporate HR was really corporate HR and those of us responsible for finding and training staff were on our own. The reality of that situation is a major reason for my long standing relationship with Cool Works. We needed a way to electronically advertise our job openings, and Cool Works could not only create a branded website for us, mind you that this was 1999, but they could also advertise those summer jobs. It was a dream come true.

So why am I rambling on tonight? Well, I guess I just wanted to share that looking back on those goals / dreams, I can honestly say that I not only achieved working in an HR department, I did so for 5 years, but I also I feel like I've been and continue to be an HR representative for job seekers on our social network, My CoolWorks. I am glad that I am able to utilize those skills and I am really looking forward to my second SHRM conference next month in New Orleans. I'll be blogging from there so I hope to share some gold nuggets from that conference here on our Seasonal Human Resources Blog. Be sure to check back in June.

Finally, I believe that every person has something to give, something to achieve, something to contribute to their fellow man, their family, their friends, this world. Dig deep within yourself and I bet if you really think about it, what you are doing today is directly related to what you thought about doing a while back. And, if you're not doing what you wanted to do, why not? There is no time like the present as they say.

A Festive Season? It Depends On Your Perspective

Each month, an HR Carnival is hosted by a blogger / thought leader in the Human Resources / Talent Management / Employment field. Each HR Carnival highlights some of the great minds in this industry and captures the trends at this particular moment in time. Guess what the focus of this one was? You got it - The Recession. All of us had different takes and pieces to the puzzle and I am happy that my post called "Your Employees Are Talking About You" was included.

You can read and get the full Carnevale experience here on Jon Ingham's Strategic HCM Blog.



More so, I'm quite happy that I had the opportunity to meet Jon in person at the Kennedy Recruiting Conference last fall.

I hope you enjoy the Carnival and thanks again to Jon!

Another SHRA for the record books

The 20th annual SHRA (Seasonal Human Resources Association) conference has come and gone and what a time we had! About 35 HR folks and International Sponsoring Agency folks gathered at the McMenamins Edgefield property in Troutdale, Oregon, just east of Portland from October 26 - 30. As always, this conference is a chance to make new friends and catch up with the old ones. Some have been to every conference and for some it's their first of hopefully many.



The conference topics ranged from succession planning, to the greening of HR, an International hiring update, social media and web 2.0, taught by yours truly, an update from ACMNP (A Christian Ministry in the National Parks) and the always important legal update.

Like any conference though, the seminars are only a part of the equation. Getting to know human resource professionals at other properties to share success stories and failures is priceless.

And, being that we were at McMenamins Edgefield, famous for its beer, wine and spirits (and not just the kind you can drink!), we had much fun strolling the grounds, imbibing their fine elixirs and soaking in their heated, salt water pool.

The conference ended on a free afternoon so many of the crew ventured east along the Columbia River Gorge for a little hike and a stop at the beautiful Multnomah Falls. Almost like the ghost tales of Edgefield, we were all spooked again by a passing train. But like true HR professionals, we were able to shake it off and keep on going.



If you are interested in connecting with the attendees of the 2008 conference, please consider joining our social network, created at the conference for effect and purpose.

SHRA 08 Social Network

If you want to learn more about SHRA and possibly attend a future conference sometime in the fall of 2009, please visit the SHRA website.