Last week I took a quiz and the results told me I should leave the HR profession.
What!?
Here’s the background
One of my favorite HR pro’s, William Tincup, wrote a blog post called HR Laggard Quiz. Basically, a laggard is a person who “makes slow progress and falls behind others.” The post also comes with a handy quiz you can use to determine if you are an HR laggard. Based on the number of “Yes” (correct) answers you fall into these categories:
“0-5 Correct answers – You’re a dinosaur, please help us all out and get out of the HR profession. You might not even have a pulse.
6-8 Correct answers – We’re not giving up on you but you are clearly a laggard. Get help.
9-10 Correct answers – Congrats you are NOT a laggard. Now, for the love of all that is holy, please go help your peers.”
So did you take the quiz? What was your score? You want to know mine? I scored a 2.
That’s right, I’m an HR blogger, active in social media but I’m a dinosaur. You could even call me a hypocrite. I’m on here every day trying to push HR into the future, advocating for HR pro’s to be tech geeks and yet I’m a 2! I should leave the profession!
Where philosophy and reality collide
I don’t think many HR pros could score 9-10 on that quiz. Many of the questions are about social media and mobile technology, two important trends in HR right now, but not always on your average HR pro’s mind. After a brutal recession that left many HR departments minus a number of bodies, most are just trying to keep the wheels on the car.
For many companies outside of Silicon Valley, the idea of giving their employee’s tablets or paying for their data plans sounds ludicrous when the company is trying to figure out if they will be making their quarterly goals. When your company is facing problems like that, its tough to walk in and push for more money or for more time from employee’s.
But there is no excuse for not having mobile and social on your radar. To be honest with you, that is where I’m at. It’s on my radar. I’m an advocate within my company and I hope to change some hearts and minds this year.
Stay tuned! That sounds like some blogging goodness!
Hi Melissa – a nice response to William’s article. Please stick around – I reckon HR needs ‘laggards’ like you 🙂
No worries! I\’m not going anywhere. Thanks for the comment Doug!
I scored a 4 🙂
Not bad!