The HR Gazette is lucky to have lots of well known columnists from across the HR world. One of new guest experts is HR and Social Media guru Hayley Jenkins. Our Editor asks the questions..
Editor: Tell us about your personal career history and what brought you to your current company.
HJ: Passionate about business, I started my career within the recruitment industry as a resource consultant within the IT and Banking industry. I absolutely loved (and still do love) talking to candidates on a daily basis and finding out more about them and suiting them to the perfect position. As I was doing a lot of resourcing for the consultants, I had to think outside of the box and find new candidates through social platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter and even Facebook… I was also working the German market, so Xing was also important.
As time went on, so did my progression within the business and before I knew it I was working at a 360 consultant. After a while, I had decided that this side of the business wasn’t for me… I didn’t enjoy cold-calling 9 – 12 on a daily basis and my passion slowly began to fade. I decided to leave and then work on a freelance basis for many different companies on the development of their social media. I purely work alongside recruitment companies on helping them to develop their online presence and find new talent and clients through the social media channels.
Editor: Can you tell us a bit about what your company does for HR professionals and Managers?
HJ: I work with HR professionals on many different levels, depending on what they’re looking for within their business. Sometimes, a company already has a high level of followers, so I will help them to project their online branding by providing their platforms with high level content that is engaging to their audience. Otherwise, I help HR Managers to find new candidates through social media for their businesses.
Editor: What is your target market? Please tell us a bit about typical companies which use your services?
HJ: My target market is the mass recruitment industry, whether it includes single consultants, large companies or HR departments.
Editor: How does The HR Gazette fit with your brand’s objectives?
HJ: The HR Gazette fits with my brand objectives as I love to help people within the industry with tips and advice, which is what I will be sharing with everybody during my HR Gazette journey!
Editor: What’s your role at your company?
HJ: There are only two of us, so I do a little bit of everything from filing to accounting to working directly with clients. In general, my partner does a lot of the behind the scenes work, and I do more of the direct work with clients.
Editor: Do you prefer team work or going solo?
HJ: When I’m working on content I prefer to work solo, however I do enjoy working in teams when it comes to brainstorming and coming up with new ideas (which is one of my favourite things to do in business). Depending on the project will depend on whether I enjoy to work in a team or solo. When creating content, I much prefer to get my head down and work solo, however when I’m working on generating ideas I love to work in a team to bounce back and forth between each other, coming up with great ideas.
Editor: What are the top three things you think make for a happy and productive work environment?
HJ: My top three things to secure a happy and productive work environment are passion, determination and drive to succeed. As long as everybody has these same ethics, and a mismatch of skills, then a team will work very well together.
Editor: What are the top 3 things you’re working on/developing in 2015?
HJ: During 2015, the three things I will be developing is my general presence as a new business, more press awareness and to also grow a team internally.
Editor: How can people learn more about your services?
HJ: My top three things to secure a happy and productive work environment are passion, determination and drive to succeed. As long as everybody has these same ethics, and a mismatch of skills, then a team will work very well together.
Editor: What’s your favorite book?
HJ: I tend not to read as much as I should in terms of fiction. I enjoy reading “teach yourself” type books. One book that sticks in mind is “Get up to speed with online marketing” by Jon Reed as it taught me a lot and also was what sparked my interest in social media so much.
Editor: What’s your favorite movie?
HJ: Without a doubt, I love the sequel of Hunger Games. The Hunger Games keeps me on the edge of my seat and it is extremely controversial which intrigues me.
Other than the HR Gazette.. Which trade publications do you read?
HJ: I keep up to date with The REC, HR Weekly and RecruitmentBuzz. The reason I like to read these is because although they’re insightful and interesting, they are all very good reads and offer the information my target audience are be interested in.
Editor: If you could be a super hero who would you be and why?
HJ: If I could be a superhero I would be Spiderman. The reason I would choose to be Spiderman is because he always has so much tragedy in his life but has so much courage to carry on and fight. He shows he is human by making a few mistakes, and he is definitely somebody that a lot of people can relate to.
Editor: Finally, got anything else to say to our readers?
HJ: I think it is very easy to get bogged down in staying current with ever-changing employment laws, sorting out employee drama and balancing the needs of the company with the needs of employees. HR gets involved in some heavy stuff like terminations, disciplinary action, layoffs and messy investigations.
It’s important for HR people to remember to have fun and to not take our jobs so seriously that we forget what we love about this field. This means finding ways to laugh, recognizing that we are human and may sometimes make mistakes and working silly references into trainings in order to keep people engaged (I’m the HR trainer who managed to work a Doctor Who reference into reviewing the company’s shoplifting policy at new employee orientation). There are times to be serious in HR, but there are also times to have fun, and it’s important to remember that.