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Why the @huffpostbiz Top 100 Social #HR Experts on Twitter Should Be a Wake-Up Call to #SHRM

by Matthew Stollak on Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Congrats to the 100 individuals who made the Huffington Post Top 100 Most Social HR Experts on Twitter this week.  Lots of worthy individuals on the list, including 14-15 people I had never heard of before, so it provides the opportunity for new connections.

 However, if I am the Society for Human Resource Management, I'd be very worried about this list.  

Why?

I went through the LinkedIn profiles of all 100 individuals and found:
  • Only 21 individuals had listed they had earned PHR or SPHR certification (none listed GPHR).  This number could be higher, but some either chose not to list it, or they may have let certification lapse.
  • Less than 60 had a formal business education (i.e., a BBA or post-graduate degree in a business-related field).  Some only listed their college, but did not list their educational background.  Others did not have education as part of their LinkedIn profile. 
  • Of that 60 or so, less than 25 concentrated in human resources as part of their undergraduate or graduate education.
So, why should this bother SHRM?
  1. Is pursuit of certification perceived as valuable?  If a significant portion of those who are perceived as being knowledgeable on the field of HR (or at least a major subset of the field) do not possess certification from SHRM, will some choose not to pursue it as well, as they do not see it as necessary to succeed in the industry?
  2. Barriers to entry in the field of HR continue to be low.  Again, many of the individuals on this list have demonstrated through on-the-job experience and success that they deserve to be lauded.  But, it should concern SHRM that many apparently do not need a HR education to be successful in HR.
  3. The need to embrace social and its impact on membership.  SHRM has done a wonderful job over the past couple of years of working with many on this list.  Over 50 on the list served on the social media team at the 2013 SHRM Annual Conference in Chicago.  However, with many on the list having little to no affiliation with SHRM, will some HR professionals wonder why they should join SHRM when others are possibly providing valuable information for free?