SPHR Certificate

Yeah - I received my SPHR Certificate yesterday. That was much faster than I was expecting. I'm so happy to have it. They sent a cool SPHR lapel pin as well. I'm wearing it today. : ) It was cool to take the test electronically and know the resuts right away. I took the PHR when they were scantron exams, and it was torture waiting to hear if I had passed or not. Now I just have to make sure to get all my recertification credits over the next few years. The Gulf Coast Symposium certainly helped with that. Good luck to all of you who are taking the test in June.

The ABC Expo last night was interesting. It's the first time that I've seen that type of thing done in reverse. The people who were trying to sell things went around to the booths and the people in the booths represented potential clients. In the past, I've only seen events where the people selling things were the ones in the booths. Our Purchasing Manager was very popular at the event, as you can imagine. One interesting thing that happened - the previous manager of one of my new hires stopped by and was jokingly giving me a hard time about recruiting his employee away from him. Small world. Of course, I told him about our great benefits and that he should consider a career with us as well. : )

ABC General Contractor Expo

Austin Industrial will have a booth at the ABC (Associated Builders and Contractors) Expo this afternoon in Stafford, Texas. So, if you're curious about the company, stop by and say "Hi" to us. It should be a fun networking event. To learn more, visit the ABC Houston Chapter website:
http://www.abchouston.org/Hot_Links/Get_Involved/GC_Expo.aspx

Gulf Coast HR Symposium

I attended the Gulf Coast HR Symposium at Reliant Center last week. I thought the seminars were good. I hope I am able to go again next year. I also hope I am able to institute some of the things that were brought to my attention at the symposium. It's very exciting stuff. I can't believe the price of parking though - $8 each day - OUCH. That's ridiculous.

NPRA

The NPRA 2008 Reliability & Maintenance Conference and Exhibition is going on now in San Antonio. Several members of our company are attending the conference. I am not able to attend this year, but maybe next year. I can't wait to hear about it from my collegues that are attending.

SPHR

Well I did it. The test was tough, but I passed the SPHR. I can't wait to get my certificate. It will probably take about 6 weeks. That's a huge relief to have that out of the way. I can tell you that from now on I'll be obsessive about getting my certification credits, because I never want to do that again.

Construction Expo

I volunteered at the Construction Expo yesterday at the Pasadena Fairgrounds. It's a neat program. High school students who have an interest in working in the construction field come and see some demonstrations of what the work is like. The construction industry is a great field for people who want a great career path without having to go to college. The skilled trades pay very well and it's exciting to build something and get to see the finished product. There's a lot of satisfaction in that.

HR Carnival

The most recent HR Carnival is up at The Rainmaker Group.