Christina Seargeant, CPHR
HR business partner,
Workday, Victoria

Christina Sergeant, CPHR is passionate about start-up communities, helping young companies grow and empowering others to start careers in technology. She is the founder of PeopleOps—a network of people operations and HR professionals, Chapter Lead for Ladies Learning Code in Victoria, and the HR Business Partner for Workday Canada. Christina also sits on the board of directors for VIATEC and sits on the steering committee for the HR Tech Group, representing Vancouver Island.

Social media is all about connection and community. Businesses are given a unique opportunity to reach a broad and diverse talent pool, all the while building a community around that engagement. In doing so, companies express their employer brand in a hands on, social and creative way – a critical opportunity.

Job applicants want to understand what a company’s culture looks and feels like, and what better way than to showcase that through a medium that people already use on a daily basis (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.). It helps people really begin to imagine what ‘life would be like’ at Company X, and connect with the organization on a much more personal level.

Social media also gives candidates an opportunity to demonstrate a more intimate knowledge of an organization in an interview setting, beyond having just read the standard .com marketing site. Take the opportunity to make a powerful impression.

Shannon Elgert, CPHR
HR professional,
Vancouver Island

Shannon Elgert, CPHR has a diverse background in human resources management with over a decade of experience. With a business degree and an HRM diploma, Shannon started out her professional career in the construction and then O&G industries. She moved to the not-for-profit sector, and was most recently the HR manager for a Vancouver Island forestry company. Shannon is active in her community, mom to an energetic baby boy, and passionate about outdoor activities on the island.

The greatest benefit of social media to an HR professional in today’s organization is the vast amount of resources and research opportunities it simultaneously provides. An HR Professional can never know the answer to every question or solution to every problem that makes its way to our desk, but having access to a broader network and diverse communities gives us an added edge.

Social media networking has become the new way to find answers and build bodies of professional support. Virtual information is affecting Human Resources Management in that it is connecting people with each other and with the HR data they need. HR professionals can build relationships from the comfort of their very own office.

The modern organization with a good social media strategy can also enjoy a different perspective, enhanced opportunities to learn, increased internal awareness and reduced communication and marketing costs.

Denise L. Norman, CPHR
leadership consultant,
Summit Vision Communication, Whitehorse

Denise L. Norman, BA, CPHR has been an HR professional for over 30 years. As the principal consultant for Summit Vision Communication in Whitehorse ,Yukon, she employs a broad range of skills in leadership, communications, training, psychology, and outdoor adventure. Acknowledging the unique nature of individuals within their unique organizations, and supporting communication of all kinds is how she assists organizations to overcome challenges and move forward to success.

Social media has launched the exploding industry of information marketing. We find out about whatever we want by searching the internet. We find it, because it is there. It exists.

Most organizations that struggle from a people point of view do so because information that employees need, or want, is either non-existent, or it exists only at management tables.

Aspects of an organization’s mission, vision, new initiatives, and products, should be communicated on a weekly basis by leadership, not only to its customers and shareholders, but to employees as well. Feedback needs to be shared as it happens, not monthly in a financial statement or annually in a report.

Social media – Facebook, Instagram, Periscope, etc, as well as internal systems like Sharepoint, Basecamp, and Taskworld, allow leaders to communicate quickly with their employees, building relationships, enlisting them in the company vision, and celebrating accomplishments. Let’s get up to speed.

Yana S. Grokhalskaya
HR student,
Thompson Rivers University

Yana Grokhalskaya is currently completing her Post-Baccalaureate Degree in Human Resource Management. She is passionate and result oriented HR professional with international experience in recruitment processes, conducting interviews, delivering training, analyzing effective compensation systems and applying employment law. Yana is active in the HR community member and is administrator of the CPHR Central Interior Advisory Council.

Social media offers access to current and potential employees. Moreover, this channel does not demand high financial investments, save lots of time and build strong connections from a distance. Let’s analyze some examples. Recruiters are those HR professionals who use social media websites more often. Social networks offer many opportunities for searching new candidates, posting job positions and building employer brand.

Moreover, e-Learning tools for personal and professional development let HR specialists deliver training to every employee (anywhere and anytime). Performance management applications make the evaluation process easier and quicker. Frequent feedback from the employees helps to decrease turnover, improve performance and save time. Payroll systems makes compensation systems clear for both sides: managers and staff.

Nowadays information is the most valuable and expensive resource. However, social media tools let HR professionals use this resource and get all benefits.

Christina Stewart, CPHR
managing partner,
Praxis Performance Group, Gibsons

Christina Stewart, CPHR brings her passion for inclusion and diversity in the workplace to her role as managing partner of Praxis Performance Group, a recruitment and HR firm located on the Sunshine Coast.  Her specialization within human resources is facilitated learning, training & development, recruitment and team relations. As a facilitator, trainer and HR professional Christina is delighted to be able to help business leaders grow and develop their teams through progressive HR practices.

I find social media to be undeniably helpful in the creation of attraction programs.  Employers looking to build a robust attraction plan have unlimited reach to potential future employees through their social media sites.

By sharing current employees engagement activities through photos, videos and updates, employers have the opportunity to shape their employer brand like never before.  If you want the world to know that you and your team care about your community, then post about local volunteering efforts by your employees. If you want potential employees to know that your current team members love their work, then post a video of an employee saying just that. Posting pictures of employees finishing their education, in team building activities or of getting promoted: all tell a story to prospective employees.

Social media makes it easy for you to share why and how your company is an employer of choice.

(PeopleTalk Summer 2017)