The employee life cycle is something that is a hot topic for management gurus.  Google it and you’ll see.  There are articles upon articles out there that tell you the steps of the employee life cycle (the 4 steps, the 12 phases, and so on, and so on).  I don’t want to discuss or debate that.  What interests me is how social media can potentially affect an employee all the way through the employee’s life cycle.

Recruiting

Of all the professions using social media for work purposes,  recruiters are ten steps ahead of the rest of the world in terms of their effectiveness.  They have mastered sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, FaceBook, and blogs to be able to creatively source candidates.  They have found ways to search large amounts of information to identify candidates for hard-to-fill positions.  They are still posting positions on the traditional job boards and on company websites, but they are using the social media sites to get position information to go viral.  For more information on what top recruiters are doing in the social media space, check out RecruitingBlogs.com.

From a candidate perspective, they have more sites than ever in which to find jobs.  They are using key word searches, just like the recruiters, to find positions that may not be readily available anywhere else.  Candidates are getting to know recruiters directly on Twitter and LinkedIn for example, where they can actually establish a relationship before a position is necessarily even open.  The networking opportunities for both the recruiter and the potential candidates are abundant.

Onboarding

In many organizations, onboarding is not given much thought.  New employees are given an employee manual, their new stapler and tape dispenser, and shown where the bathroom is.  End of onboarding.  Ok, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration.  But, I don’t think I’m far off base when I say that companies could use social media as a way to bolster the onboarding process.

One way is to point out the company’s stance on social media during the onboarding process.  This could involve encouraging new employees to check out any social media site the company uses.  If the company has a FaceBook fan page, tell the new employee to consider becoming a fan.  Maybe you have a special page for training, tell them about that.  Does the company use Twitter?  Share the information with employees.  Does your company have videos on You Tube?  Point the new employees there as well.  This will position the company as forward-thinking because they are embracing a form of communication that is becoming more popular with all generations in the workforce.

Training and Development

This is an area where there is certainly opportunity.  You will need to be mindful of  how much you share about your internal training with the outside world.  However, it can really create a buzz online and be a strategic way to position your company to potential candidates and employees as a company that uses the tools creatively.  Having a training session?  Create a Twitter hashtag and have participants tweet during the session.  Use FaceBook to create a group after the training event to keep people who attended connected.

Communication and Collaboration

One great way to collaborate with colleagues is to use online tools to do so.  Again, being mindful of what information is truly going public vs. being held in a way that is only viewed by employees.  Sites like Yammer are a great way for companies to use social media type skills and tools to communicate internally.  I wrote about it here and here. Need to collaborate or communicate during the life-cycle of a project?  Why not set up a Wiki or use GoogleWave?  Tired of sending documents back and forth through e-mail with multiple edits being tracked?  Set the documents up in GoogleDocs so everyone on the team can contribute and share.  Make sure to check with your IT pros first though and make sure that using the tools is acceptable under their guidelines.

Performance Feedback

There are sites popping up every day it seems that use online sites to give feedback.  It can be daunting to know which to turn to.  One I love is MeritBuilder.  This is a site that allows you to give and receive feedback that can be posted publicly or held privately and it actually follows the individual employee through their career….even if they leave your company.  Be sure to check them out on their site, or via Lance Haun.

Exiting the Company

Even when an employee chooses to leave your company, make sure to encourage them to continue to stay connected via social media.  Consider setting up an alumni group on LinkedIn for them.  Maybe even a FaceBook page dedicated to alumni.  HP, Yahoo, and AG Edwards are all companies that are using FaceBook alumni pages to stay in contact.  Who knows, by doing this, you just may get people to return to the company.

So, what have I missed?  How are you using social media during your employee’s life cycle?  Share it with us in the comments.

As we head into the home stretch leading up to HRevolution, I’m continuing to highlight some of the HR bloggers we all know and love (or should know and love).  Today I am fortunate to be able to share an interview with one of my favorite bloggers.  He is someone I have looked to for HR guidance because of his approach to the profession.  He’s a great writer, a talented business man, and a good friend.

Lance Haun spent several years blogging as “YourHRGuy.com” and just recently updated his blog.  You can find him now over at Rehaul.  He’s the VP of Outreach at Meritbuilder.  He’s also active in social media and you can follow him on twitter (@thelance) or on LinkedIn.  So, are you ready to learn more about our blogging friend from Portland?  Here’s Lance……

What time do you start your day?  Are you a morning person or more of a late-nighter?  I am a night person. It is just brutal when you live on the west coast and have people to meet with on the east coast in the morning. I used to be a morning person but that has long since gone.

It’s time to head to work, how do you get there (car, train, bike)?  I work from home most days or I’ll go to a Starbucks and pump out some work.  I have driven, biked and walked to work at previous jobs.

What is one thing you have to do every day to start your day right?  Get dressed. I know that seems funny but when you work from home, it isn’t a necessity. When I worked from home at a previous gig, I started off in pajamas but I just wasn’t in the state of mind. Not that I get very dressed up (for example, today I am wearing a rugby shirt, jeans and flip flops).

Where do you work?  How do you provide HR greatness there?  I work for MeritBuilder, a company that focuses in on employee engagement and recognition. I push other organizations to be great by recognizing their employees positive contributions to their business on a frequent basis.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing HR professionals in today’s market?  Relevance. I’ve talked with quite a few people and the gap between transformative HR practices that are relevant and the same old is becoming huge. Change is tough but it is the only way to become relevant. You don’t see too many marketing execs that are unfamiliar with new technologies yet you still see many in HR in the boat of not knowing what’s coming up.

Answer the question “If I hadn’t ended up in HR, I’d be ____________”.  At my dad’s meat shop or my wife’s winery. I love working with a product hands on and having a tangible result of that work. I wish my work had a more physical nature to it.

What is your favorite HR and non-HR reading?  I don’t know if this is strictly HR but “Good to Great” by Jim Collins is really fantastic. As for non-HR reading, I typically stay in non-fiction with books about history or travel. How old am I again?

What are your thoughts on how HR professionals should get involved in using technology?  It is easy to make excuses. I know non-degreed HR pros past retirement age that know as much as I do about the technology out there so it isn’t a question about age, education or any of that other crap. It is about desire. Do you want to be adopting technology at the same rate as others? If that’s a “Yes”, then go.

Afternoon slump?  What do you do to re-energize during the workday?  I go for a walk, bike ride or exercise mid day. Coffee can help too but exercise helps more.

It’s quitting time.  What is your life like after your day job?  If it is nice outside, we’ll usually go hang outdoors at the Oregon coast or in the mountains. When it becomes crappy though, going to Portland Trail Blazer games, finding new beer pubs and wineries is not a bad life.

Bonus Question:  What is the best piece of HR or business advice you’ve received?  Execute your business with integrity. That’s always the final check on any decision I make.

Thanks to Lance for the interview.  There are only a few more before we all meet up at HRevolution.  Stay tuned.