Hands on Talent Management - Masters Students Use Halogen in the Classroom February 3rd, 2009

Heather McCulligh

Back in the Fall, we met Steve Boese from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) after reading one of his great blog posts. He teaches the Leveraging Technology course in the Human Resource Development Masters Program at RIT and was looking for a vendor to work with him to provide his students with the opportunity to use a real talent management system. It’s a few months later and now the graduate students in Steve’s class are up and running using the Halogen system in their coursework this quarter.

I love this story on a couple levels. Too often, we learn theories in our programs, and I think it’s amazing that there’s even a course focusing on technology for HR professionals. Even better is that Steve wanted to take this course to the next level so that they weren’t just discussing best practices but actually giving students hands-on experience. It’s one thing to talk about doing something, and it’s another to actually do it, especially when it comes to technology. These HR pros are definitely going to have a leg up when it comes to applying technology in their organizations in the future.

One of the students in the course, Teri Odom from Reflexite, commented that “using the software in a real-world scenario provides a more well-rounded approach to HR and a strong understanding of how technology is a key enabler for our profession.” I couldn’t agree more - it just makes sense. I hope we see more HR technology classes of this sort in the future.

The other thing that’s great about this story is how we actually connected with Steve. It says a lot about the HR community as a whole and reinforces the value of all the discussion boards, blogs (and possibly tweets) you read in a day. Sometimes it seems like a lot of extra chatter, but there are real relationships and amazing information being shared, so well worth the time it takes in a day to read and digest this type of online communication. In fact, Steve has a great story you can read here on how using Twitter, he and one of his students have been asked to do a Webinar with HCI. Just think of these social media platforms as your new networking tools and even possibly, a way to build your career.

If you want to read more about RIT’s use of Halogen in the classroom, the press release is available here, and you can read comments from Steve about his experience here.

Tags: talent management, Web 2.0

What’s Happening at Halogen – Some Good News to Report! February 2nd, 2009

Donna Ronayne

Happy Monday! We were so pleased to have announced such great news to kick off  2009. Last week we shared that we ended 2008 with our 25th consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth, and an impressive 40% revenue growth over 2007.

We feel that this good news is a testament to the value many organizations are placing on strategic talent management. Although there’s no escape from the fiscal realities of the “new” economy, smart companies realize that focusing on retaining and developing their best talent will help ensure their organizations are prepared when the markets begin to return.

Even in a downturn, top performers will choose to work at employers of choice. Companies that focus on talent management best practices are ensuring they are providing a workplace that is fair, accountable, and consistent and demonstrate that employee growth is important. Those organizations who are including succession planning with their processes are making doubly sure that they have the strong talent in place to support the organization as it enters what is sure to be new and wavy waters in 2009 and beyond…

So, look for more good news from us this year. I know I’ve talked about the corporate Kool-Aid in other posts, but now, more than ever, I’m convinced that our solutions deliver real, valuable results that stand the test of time.

Tags: talent management