Category Archives: HR Influencers

Measuring Influence

By John Sumser | Published: December 11, 2009

Measuring Influence

Next week, as a part of the launch of the HRExaminer, we’re going to release a ranked list of the Top 25 Online Influencers in HR. This list is completely generated by algorithm (think Google). The list ranks the Top 25 voices in HR based on their online footprint.

In the larger Top 100 project, we’ve been looking at the question of whether and how someone is influential in the HR Industry. As we’ve worked through the question of who is influential and who isn’t, some interesting things came to light.

  • It’s not really possible to remove all of the subjectivity from a human generated list. The Top 100 methodology requires that each influencer be referenced in by five other people in the interview pool. That winnows down the subjectivity but doesn’t eradicate it.
  • People who are influential tend to work in industry jobs (vendors, consultants, trade shows, publications, online communities, associations).
  • People who do the real work of HR and Recruiting are generally too busy and focused to have broad industry impact (there are some who can transcend the limitation but they are exceptions)
  • People who have great influence online are rarely seen as influential offline.

So, we figured out how to measure the influence of people whose work is online.

The process involves spidering a huge segment of HR related content on the web and then sifting and sorting until it’s clear whose material is most influential.

There are three elements of the ranking which are combined to make a final score.

  • Reach: This score (a percentile) is an estimate of the number of people who see the material. It’s a measure of the eyeballs or audience size.
  • Resonance: This is a measure of the number of inbound links, mentions, blogroll listings, community participation
  • Relevance: This score describes the fit of the persons work with a cloud of keywords

The three scores are combined to make the final ranking.

We are going to do a similar analysis every other month. Here are the categories:

  • December: Top 25 Digital Influencers in HR
  • February: Top 25 Digital Influencers in Recruiting
  • April: Top 25 Digital Influencers in Talent MAnagement
  • June: Top 25 Digital Influencers In Learning and OD
  • August: Top 25 Digital Influencers in Comp and Benefits
  • October: Top 25 Digital Influencers in Third Party Recruiting

HRExaminer is in a partnership with a company that does this sort of analysis for a living. The tool is especially useful for identifying influential members of tightly defined communities (power engineers in Pittsburgh). Once you have the list, you can start to think about building community and communications around the people whose voice is most likely to be heard.

One thing is worth mentioning.

Social media is full of early adopters. The community of early adopters is really distinct from mainstream culture. As the rest of the world gets the hang of the new communications tools, the list will change rapidly. We’re going to update each of the six segments once a year (and maybe a little more often).

The Top 25 Digital HR Influencers list will be released on Thursday the 17th at Noon Eastern.

Also posted in Employment Branding, Futures, HR Technology, HR Trends, Industry Analysis, Online Community, Social Recruiting, Social Software, Sourcing, Top 100 Influencers in HR - Recruiting, Top 25 | Leave a comment

091104 Five Must Reads

By John Sumser | Published: November 4, 2009

091104 Five Must Reads

  • Using Technology To Improve Workforce Collaboration
    As the workforce changes, there are real questions about how you specify roles and performance when results come from teams. There are wide variations in the productivity of knowledge workers. Here are some points of departure for thinking about the coming world of work.
  • What’s the Value of Your Job?
    Hank Stringer offers some interesting advice. Ask the CFO what the value of the job is. Understanding exactly how the slot contributes to the company bottom line is the key to credibility. Asking the question wins you points.
  • 3.5% Growth in Context
    If the economy grew at 3.5% for the next 8 years, unemployment would be under 7%.
    And, that’s only if there isn’t another trough in the interim.
  • Brain Drain Report: The Null Hypothesis
    The article is a gateway to a number of interesting pieces on the out-migration problems in east coast cities. Notably, Philadelphia seems to have solved the brain dran problem. As Demographic growth slows, regional talent retention is becoming a competitive issue. There is every reason to believe that the coming economic recovery is going to be drivemn by regional demographics.
  • Steve Boese’s HR Tech
    One of the great success stories in the emergence of social sftware is Steve Boese’s rise to influence. Rooted in his work as a graduate instructor in HR Technology, Boese infects the HR-ati with his sense of humor and willingness to experiment.

Also posted in All, Daily Links, HR Technology, HR Trends, Industry Analysis | Leave a comment

091029 5 Must Reads

By John Sumser | Published: October 28, 2009

091028 5 Must Reads

  • Friedman on Education
    “Our education failure is the largest contributing factor to the decline of the American worker’s global competitiveness, particularly at the middle and bottom ranges,” argued Martin, a former global executive with PepsiCo and Kraft Europe and now an international investor. “This loss of competitiveness has weakened the American worker’s production of wealth, precisely when technology brought global competition much closer to home. So over a decade, American workers have maintained their standard of living by borrowing and overconsuming vis-à-vis their real income. When the Great Recession wiped out all the credit and asset bubbles that made that overconsumption possible, it left too many American workers not only deeper in debt than ever, but out of a job and lacking the skills to compete globally.”
  • Jeff Hunter on HR Systems Problems
    “Business tends to look at work in vertically integrated slices. A job title and level covers an increasing scope of capabilities. A Vice President of HR may be expected to have a great eye for talent, the capability to negotiate complex contracts, the analytical ability to assemble complex compensation structures and the knack for coaching CEOs to greatness. Everyone takes for granted that as one climbs the ladder that they have demonstrated proficiencies in an ever greater number of areas. HR writes job descriptions, selects talent, manages performance and compensates people based on this deeply held assumption. But this vertical integration means that we never get someone who is great at just one or two things. And this is preventing us from developing agile, competitive and productive organizations. “
  • Wes Wu on Turnover
    “Let’s say that the average turnover rate in the U.S. is 15% per year and that it sits at 5% today. That means a full 10% of the workforce is fairly disgruntled and is in your employee population right this minute. That is a pretty big number, and it’s a lot of unhappiness. The number is probably a lot bigger than 10%. While this is a global economic problem and most companies are proportionally impacted, negative economies tend to decrease employee engagement. The real problem is that this year you have 10% of the population that is not leaving. That does not exempt you from the additional 10% that is going to get pissed off next year and want to leave. While you might be basking in a disengaged workforce with low turnover this year, next year’s situation might change drastically.”
  • Self Promotion for Introverts
    “Introverts. The world needs us, can’t live without us, and often doesn’t quite get us. However, we persist, mostly behind the scenes, quietly contributing to society—writing, creating, designing, researching, solving problems, and digging for treasures ancient and new. Are you one of us? If you’re more of a Warren Buffett than a Donald Trump, and more of a Greta Garbo than a Madonna, you’ve come to the right place. It’s time for you to stop hiding from the spotlight. Time to get recognized and compensated for your gifts.”
  • Is Corporate Recruiting Broken?
    Great start a a debate featuring Rusty Rueff, Liz Ryan, Jeff Hunter, Hank Stringer and John Sumser.

Have you read something that you think merits attention? Let us know.

Also posted in Daily Links, Futures | Leave a comment