Crap Nobody Ever Tells You When You Go To College To Get Your Equine Science Degree

I always knew what I wanted to do as a child. I bounced around from several different career choices but all of them revolved around horses. As my senior year went by, I spent countless hours researching equine science degrees at four-year colleges and applying to schools all over the country that had programs that fascinated me. I ended up at Colorado State University, after debating between West Texas A&M, Tarleton State University, and Texas A&M. I graduated from Colorado State University with my degree in equine science and promptly attempted to enter the work force searching for my place in the equine world. What a learning experience!

If you are about to graduate high school or maybe you have a son or daughter who is about to graduate high school and they are determined to go to school for equine science. On one hand, it is an awesome thing that they know what they want to do, especially considering the astounding numbers of undeclared majors in state universities these days. On the other hand, the reality is, equine science is almost a worthless major in the eyes of most employers. It is also a degree that requires a lot of entrepreneur spirit in order to succeed in the equine world. If you are a follower and not a leader, this may not be the correct degree choice to work towards.

This is a tough place as every parent wants to support their children's dreams. You can make a living at anything if you are truly determined to do it and you love what you do. The problem is after visiting college campuses and having a ton of smoke blown up your butt about how wonderful each school is, there is a lot to an equine science degree that nobody ever tells you until you get into the thick of it all and waste a ton of money on the degree.

Equine science is a popular pre-vet degree. Most four-year schools that offer the degree also have a veterinary program. What this means is, if you are not interested in becoming a vet, you still are going to class with pre-vet students who must get an A in every class. What this means for the average equine science student who is there to further their knowledge of the horse industry is, there are no curve grades, and the competition to get into classes with limited seats is tough. First preferences often times go to the pre vet students leaving the average equine science student to get pushed back anther year before they can take that required class that is only offered in the spring once a year.

Another feat perhaps more difficult than getting into your required classes when competing with vet students and pre-vet students is getting a job in the field so you can get experience most employers' want you to have while you are still in college. Once an employer learns that you are not pre-vet often, times you, get bumped all together from those equine employers employee choices. Best way to avoid this is to inquire if the school's internship program is actually hands on about placing students with employers, which allows a more fair opportunity for those who are going to school just to get their equine science degree to actually get a job around horses. Most schools that have placement programs do this, as internships are required in order to graduate from their equine science program. Employers will usually choose vet students and pre-vet students for positions within a barn or equine facility because they like the thought of having someone with veterinary knowledge around the horses for a minimal investment. 9 times out of 10, the equine science student will not even be called in for an interview when they are competing with vet students. This is why having a school placement program is crucial for avoiding this problem all together.

One of the other interesting little tidbits you learn while trying to get an equine related job while in college is that the equine industry in notorious for expecting you to work your butt off for free. This means you better be the master of the shovel, willing to work every spare minute you have for little compensation, and do it with a smile and maybe, just maybe you will get the opportunity to ride a horse, or work with an incredible trainer, or get some responsibilities that are not the bottom of the barrel work. I have to admit that the equine employers that think they are doing the educational system a favor by offering these internships are truly looking out for their own best interest and trying to find cheap labor. It surely is not for the students benefit in most cases. They assume every equine science student is a kept pony princess or prince whose bills are paid by their rich parents and that the college credit they are giving you in exchange for your hard work is equal to the compensation they would be paying a non-student. The other problem is most of these jobs, as I mentioned before you are stuck not really learning anything, but doing all the chores and work, that nobody else will do on the farm other than migrant workers. Which guess what, as an intern your even lower than that because they have to pay the migrant workers! It is a pretty sad and discouraging system. I do agree that scooping poop does build character, but there's a limit to how much character building a college student needs while trying to learn the ropes in the equine industry while in school. There are also a fair share of equine employers who severely abuse this system and only participate to get their free slave college labor.

The reality is once you graduate with your equine science degree, what you do with it is up to you. It's a degree best suited for those of you who want to start your own equine related business as employers look at it as a worthless degree otherwise. Most equine science graduates end up making their living in an industry outside the horse industry and often times run into roadblocks because of the validity of the degree itself. This is why I would encourage those of you pursuing this degree who are not vet students to minor in a degree or attain a second bachelor's degree in a field that will help you get employment in the instance you are not working in the equine industry after graduation. I would recommend business, marketing, computer science, legal, or anything related to the energy field. All of these choices will complement your equine science degree and ensure you have plenty of career choices after graduation.

Do not be surprised that the low pay continues after graduation with your equine science degree. Most equine employers think they are being generous by offering you housing along with a huge monthly salary of 1500.00 a month in exchange for 60 hour a week worth of hard labor. This labor almost always includes scooping more crap, yes even after all the experience you gained in your internships doing this equine employers still feel you need more practice at it for little pay! What they usually do not tell you is the housing they are offering is nasty, rat hole, and you will have to share that housing with the other farm help, and you get to pay the utilities. Oh yes, the equine industry is tough. This is why if this is your direction you are choosing I would highly recommend that you minor in business. As the most successful in the equine industry are self employed small business owners that set off and started their own businesses to make a living. You really have no other choice unless earning a $1500 a month salary and living in a rat hole with no free time is your ideal career choice.

If you are lucky enough to find an equine job that is not on a horse ranch, breeding facility, or training facility the pay usually is not great, and you are expected to work hard! My example comes from personal experience. April of my senior year in college I got a position at The Arabian Horse Association as a Member Services Representative. I was so excited to actually get a horse job, I did not mind the 82-mile one-way drive to Denver, or the crappy pay which at the time was less than 10.50/hour. I thought the job was perfect for me as I focused a lot of my effort in learning about equine event management, and was stoked that I might actually get the experience and chance to help the AHA put on their breed shows. It also put my family at bay for not giving me a hard time not working in the horse industry, as up until that point I could not afford to go work for the equine slave drivers in college for free as I was not a pony princess, I had to pay my way through school which meant paying bills not just paying for alcohol. I was responsible for paying for a truck, my housing, my food, and my horse. Spending the time I was not in class working for free was not an option for me. I spent a year and a half working at the AHA, only to discover they kept wanting more data entry work, I rarely got to leave my cubicle hell, and the biggest raises they gave hourly employee's was.05 an hour and in the year and a half I got one.05 raise. In that same year and half fuel prices increased over.30 a gallon. During that time several salaried higher paying positions came available within the AHA, but what you do not know is that the positions I applied for that were in the breed association development department, they wanted people with marketing, and business degrees, not equine science. The other problem with my job was the long commute. I could not afford to move closer to my job because it was in the middle of the city and I would have to board my horse an hour plus away from where I would be living and spending more money to have a horse, while being able to see my horse less just so I could get an extra hour of sleep, and avoid an 82 mile 1 way drive. I was living on a 5-acre horse property with my horse for less money than what is would have cost me to move closer to my work. Yeah, screw that. I quit and started my own business in the oil and gas industry after a bunch of prodding from my future husband that I was sitting on the road to nowhere. He was right.

I was regretful that I did not spend more time learning more about business and marketing in while I was in school. It is hard to even think about going to school since I went for 5 years paying out of state tuition only to discover the degree was worthless. Every successful equine business owner I know will tell you that they know dozens of people with my degree that do not use it. Therefore, my advice to those of you still determined to do this:

• You had better be thick skinned and prepared for a lot of rejection. Competition with vet students is cut throat.


• You will need to make a living until you can find a job, so find other talents that you have that will allow you to make a living until you can secure that dream job in the horse world.


• Be prepared for the equine scum employers, it will never matter how much crap you scoop, many of these positions are dead end and they are just out to look for cheap labor. They have absolutely no interest in giving you what you want, they will work you until you quit or give up for as little money as possible.


• Do not take any more than one job in your college career that entails scooping horse crap, seriously, it is not doing you any good and you will be wasting your time. You will learn more by getting work from other businesses that can help you become a successful business owner in the future. I worked one tax season for an accountant, it was one of the best experiences I ever had in college, and it taught me so much about being a business owner the experience was incredible!


• If you have a truck, do not let an equine employer talk you into using your personal vehicle for their benefit unless they intend on fairly compensating you for it. I had one job in college at an Andalusion farm where the owner seemed to think that not paying me very much included free use of my truck to haul hay was included.


• Narrow down you career choices while you are in school than contact future potential employers to find out what they are looking for when they hire for those positions. Why, because you don't want to find yourself in an entry level job in the horse industry to only find out that the better jobs they offer require a completely different degree like I found out at The Arabian Horse Association. This will allow you to be working towards the best degree for your chosen career path, and not end up with a worthless, useless degree that will make it more difficult for you to attain employment with in the future.


• 2 year degree programs are good for getting a lot of hands on experience but they do not allow you to get participate in a backup major such as business.


• 2-year programs typically are better suited for those looking to go into horse training, riding instruction, and coaching. These programs are also cheaper, and typically, they are a much easier degree academically to complete. Just remember many careers require a 4-year degree unless you are in a job that is primarily a technical position such as an electrician, plumber, or other specialized career that requires special training.


• 4 year University Equine Science programs typically will have programs in equine reproduction, where you can learn the art of Artificial Insemination and semen collecting, as well as the skills required to work in a reproduction lab or breeding facility.


• 4-year equine science degrees typically are less hands on than a two-year equine science degree. You spend a solid 2 years at least working on core requirements that every major the school offers requires students to take. These include classes such as algebra, speech, English, statistics, chemistry, biology, foreign language, and public speaking. Of course, most of these classes are completely useless and will not make or break you in the real world.


• There are some 4-year equine science programs out there where you never even handle a horse. Be cautious of this, after all there really is not much point to getting an equine science degree if you never handle a horse. If all you want to do is handle & work directly with horses a 2-year program may be the better choice.

Personally, I can attest to the fact that I regret getting my degree in equine science. I also wish that the career advisors at my school had been more honest with me. I paid a lot of money for that degree only to find out after graduation its true value. Your best defense in this world if you want to work in the horse industry is to be prepared to start your own business as that's really the best way for you to make a decent living. It is a tough world and if you graduate with that degree and are expecting to get a high paying job, you are going to be searching for a long time because very few of them exist. In fact, there are very few equine science positions that even pay $35,000 a year. Many higher paying positions in the equine world also have other degree preferences for their job candidates that are not equine science degrees and only require that you have hands on knowledge of the equine world, not an equine science degree.

Finally, if you are looking for any job to just pay your bills, often time's equine science degrees will not count, thus making it more difficult to attain employment outside the equine world. Your best defense in this world is to round out your education, do not get tunnel vision thinking horses and only horses. Attain a second bachelors, or get a minor in a degree program that can not only help your equine career but help you secure a job outside the equine industry if need be at a later time. Most importantly, do not let your college baffle you with bullshit, they only want your money and truly do not care what happens to you after graduation. Supporting yourself after graduation falls on you not the school, you graduated from, and there is no degree that has a guarantee you will be able to find employment after graduation, especially in today's job market.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7509642

Considering a Job in Science? - 4 Important Paths to Explore

What a huge range of jobs that fall underneath this career umbrella of science jobs, if you are interested in science and have the relevant qualifications to suit the job being offered then there is certainly a huge choice of jobs currently available for you.

If you have looked into the career paths in the science industry then you will be well aware that to get to the top you could well be in full time study until your mid -twenties. Whatever type of scientific category you decide to follow you will find that the jobs are very rewarding and well worth the study.

Below is information about four of the different science jobs available;

Forensic Science Jobs

The area of forensic science covers a broad spectrum of sciences related to the legal system of a country. This could be when a crime has occurred and a forensic scientist is looking for any evidence to prove who the perpetrator was. Forensic science is an investigative method of science. You will find there are openings for forensic scientists within police forces throughout the world to help with on-going investigations. There are also jobs for Archaeology forensic scientists whose work involves the study and investigation of historical objects and scenes of crime.

Environmental Science Jobs

Jobs in environmental science usually involve the work on subjects of the earth, pollution control and energy saving systems. Environmental science includes three aspects of the interaction of chemical, biological and physical processes rolled into one to give an environmental scientific opinion. There are lots of different subjects that an environmental scientist can study and they usually consider one specialist subject such as environmental monitoring, environmental planning, and environmental health.

Life Science Jobs

Many of the job opportunities in the life sciences are in the research and developments roles in many industries including the marine and fisheries industry, vaccinology, Stem cell technologies. With such a diverse range of subjects within the life sciences the opportunities are endless for jobs in this sector of science from entry level roles to the more advanced experienced roles for scientists.

Science Research Jobs

Jobs within science research could mean any type of science, so if you are looking for a job in research and development then you will have a huge choice of diverse jobs. Many scientists prefer the academia side of science and do nothing other than research and development in science it all depends on the individual. There are many highly paid positions available in the pharmaceutical industry for research scientists researching and developing the next wonder drug. There are jobs for research and development scientists in the food industry too. Where ever your interests lie in research and development you will find many openings.

Overall if you are looking for a job in any science field you will find that there are opportunities for both newly qualified candidates and experienced scientists.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7289709

Do Boards Need a Technology Audit Committee?

What does FedEx, Pfizer, Wachovia, 3Com, Mellon Financial, Shurgard Storage, Sempra Energy and Proctor & Gamble have in common? What board committee exists for only 10% of publicly traded companies but generates 6.5% greater returns for those companies? What is the single largest budget item after salaries and manufacturing equipment?

Technology decisions will outlive the tenure of the management team making those decisions. While the current fast pace of technological change means that corporate technology decisions are frequent and far-reaching, the consequences of the decisions-both good and bad-will stay with the firm for a long time. Usually technology decisions are made unilaterally within the Information Technology (IT) group, over which senior management chose to have no input or oversight. For the Board of a business to perform its duty to exercise business judgment over key decisions, the Board must have a mechanism for reviewing and guiding technology decisions.

A recent example where this sort of oversight would have helped was the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) mania of the mid-1990's. At the time, many companies were investing tens of millions of dollars (and sometimes hundreds of millions) on ERP systems from SAP and Oracle. Often these purchases were justified by executives in Finance, HR, or Operations strongly advocating their purchase as a way of keeping up with their competitors, who were also installing such systems. CIO's and line executives often did not give enough thought to the problem of how to make a successful transition to these very complex systems. Alignment of corporate resources and management of organizational change brought by these new systems was overlooked, often resulting in a crisis. Many billions of dollars were spent on systems that either should not have been bought at all or were bought before the client companies were prepared.

Certainly, no successful medium or large business can be run today without computers and the software that makes them useful. Technology also represents one of the single largest capital and operating line item for business expenditures, outside of labor and manufacturing equipment. For both of these reasons, Board-level oversight of technology is appropriate at some level.

Can the Board of Directors continue to leave these fundamental decisions solely to the current management team? Most large technology decisions are inherently risky (studies have shown less than half deliver on promises), while poor decisions take years to be repaired or replaced. Over half of the technology investments are not returning anticipated gains in business performance; Boards are consequently becoming involved in technology decisions. It is surprising that only ten percent of the publicly traded corporations have IT Audit Committees as part of their boards. However, those companies enjoy a clear competitive advantage in the form of a compounded annual return 6.5% greater than their competitors.

Tectonic shifts are under way in how technology is being supplied, which the Board needs to understand. IT industry consolidation seriously decreases strategic flexibility by undercutting management's ability to consider competitive options, and it creates potentially dangerous reliance on only a few key suppliers.

The core asset of flourishing and lasting business is the ability to respond or even anticipate the impact of outside forces. Technology has become a barrier to organizational agility for a number of reasons:

o Core legacy systems have calcified
o IT infrastructure has failed to keep pace with changes in the business
o Inflexible IT architecture results in a high percentage of IT expenditure on maintenance of existing systems and not enough on new capabilities
o Short term operational decisions infringe on business's long term capability to remain competitive

Traditional Boards lack the skills to ask the right questions to ensure that technology is considered in the context of regulatory requirements, risk and agility. This is because technology is a relatively new and fast-growing profession. CEOs have been around since the beginning of time, and financial counselors have been evolving over the past century. But technology is so new, and its cost to deploy changes dramatically, that the technology profession is still maturing. Technologists have worked on how the systems are designed and used to solve problems facing the business. Recently, they recognized a need to understand and be involved in the business strategy. The business leader and the financial leader neither have history nor experience utilizing technology and making key technology decisions. The Board needs to be involved with the executives making technology decisions, just as the technology leader needs Board support and guidance in making those decisions.

Recent regulatory mandates such as Sarbanes-Oxley have changed the relationship of the business leader and financial leader. They in turn are asking for similar assurances from the technology leader. The business leader and financial leader have professional advisors to guide their decisions, such as lawyers, accountants and investment bankers. The technologist has relied upon the vendor community or consultants who have their own perspective, and who might not always be able to provide recommendations in the best interests of the company. The IT Audit Committee of the Board can and should fill this gap.

What role should the IT Audit Committee play in the organization? The IT Audit function in the Board should contribute toward:

1. Bringing technology strategy into alignment with business strategy.
2. Ensuring that technology decisions are in the best interests of shareholders.
3. Fostering organizational development and alignment between business units.
4. Increasing the Board's overall understanding of technological issues and consequences within the company. This type of understanding cannot come from financial analysis alone.
5. Effective communication between the technologist and the Committee members.

The IT Audit Committee does not require additional board members. Existing board members can be assigned the responsibility, and use consultants to help them understand the issues sufficiently to provide guidance to the technology leader. A review of existing IT Audit Committee Charters shows the following common characteristics:

1. Review, evaluate and make recommendations on technology-based issues of importance to the business.
o Appraise and critically review the financial, tactical and strategic benefits of proposed major technology related projects and technology architecture alternatives.
o Oversee and critically review the progress of major technology related projects and technology architecture decisions.
2. Advise the senior technology management team at the firm
3. Monitor the quality and effectiveness of technology systems and processes that relate to or affect the firm's internal control systems.

Fundamentally, the Board's role in IT Governance is to ensure alignment between IT initiatives and business objectives, monitor actions taken by the technology steering committee, and validate that technology processes and practices are delivering value to the business. Strategic alignment between IT and the business is fundamental to building a technology architectural foundation that creates agile organizations. Boards should be aware of technological risk exposures, management's assessment of those risks, and mitigation strategies considered and adopted.

There are no new principles here-only affirmation of existing governance charters. The execution of technology decisions falls upon the management of the organization. The oversight of management is the responsibility of the Board. The Board needs to take appropriate ownership and become proactive in governance of the technology.

Do Boards need a Technology Audit committee? Yes, a Technology Audit Committee within the Board is warranted because it will lead to technology/business alignment. It is more than simply the right thing to do; it is a best practice with real bottom-line benefits.

MICHAEL SIERSEMA is a Managing Partner/CEO of Phoenix2000 Group LLC focusing on technology advisory services.

Phoenix2000 Group is a new breed professional services partnership of senior technologists that fit a niche at the senior executive support systems. Like the CEO looks to lawyers for advice, the CFO leans on CPA and audit firm for counsel, the technologist needs an organization to find true independent guidance. We don't sell solutions, we sell answers. [http://www.phoenix2000group.com]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/165925

Leveraging Technology for Organisational Excellence

Technology & HR-Leverage one for the other: "Technology and HR are enablers of business. Integration of the two would mean not only harmonious co-existence but also leveraging one for the other. Leveraging of technology for HR would mean digitizing the mundane HR activities and automating the back office and transactional activities related to recruitment, performance management, career planning, and succession planning, training and knowledge management. Leveraging HR for technology implies managing change associated with technology by way of communication, training, hiring, retraining, stakeholder analysis and conscious keeping. Thus they can play complementary roles."

Technology and HR both have one thing common i.e., both these are enablers of business.

In recent times, technology has become synonymous with information technology, as hardly any other technological development of the past would have impacted all spectrum of business as information technology has impacted. Irrespective of the kind of business you are in i.e., services or goods, commodity or branded, trading or manufacturing, contemporary or traditional deployment of information technology in one form or the other is a foregone conclusion. To manage and deploy technology in an effective way, all business Organizations would need knowledge workers. Managing of these knowledge workers is the responsibility of HR function. Hence the integration of technology and HR is an absolute must.

Having understood technology and HR in the present context we must understand integration in this context. Integration would not only mean harmonious co-existing but would also mean one enhancing and complementing the other i.e., technology is used to enhance effectiveness of HR and HR functions helps in adopting and managing change which technology deployment brings in.

Leveraging technology for HR

HR management as a function is responsible for deliverables like business strategy execution, administrative efficiency, employee contribution and capacity for change. All these are accomplished through what HR people do i.e., staffing, development, compensation, benefits, communicate organization design, high performing teams and so on. In majority of these areas technology is being deployed.

e-Recruitment

Recruitment is one area where all the companies worth their name leverage IT. There are two different models of e-recruitment, which are in vogue. One is recruitment through company's own sites and the other is hosting your requirement on the other sites e.g., monster .com, jobsdb.com, jobsahead.com, naukri.com, and jobstreet.com and so on so forth. The first models is more popular with the larger companies who have a brand pull for potential employees e.g., G.E., IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, HCL, ICICI, Reliance, Mindtree consulting etc. Other companies prefer to go to the job sites. Some are adopting both.

E-recruitment has gone a long way since its start. Now these sites have gone global. Sites like jobsahead.com and monster.com have established global network, which encompasses separate sites for jobs in Australia, Denmark, Belgium, and Canada etc. Job seekers are able to search job by region or country and employers target potential employees in specific countries. For example, 3 Com recently posted a company profile on the Ireland site that highlights the contributions of 3 com's Irish design team in its global projects.

In the early days e-recruitment was plagued with flooding the employers with low-quality bio-data's. Again technology has come as a savior. Now pre-employment testing like the one introduced by Capital One, a US based financial company, help in filtering the applicants. These tools test online e.g., applicants for call centers. 'Profile International' a Texas based provider of employment assessments, has developed tools that allow instant translation of assessment tests between languages. Further developments like video- conference specialized sites, online executives recruitments and combining online and offline methods are leading to more and more companies adopting e-recruitment at least as a secondary recruitment method. Arena Knights Bridge, a US based IT company conducts video based interview of its prospective employees and only short listed employees are met in person. Even Cisco was to launch the same.

Employee Self Service

Employee self-service is perhaps one utility of IT, which has relieved HR of most of mundane tasks and helped it to improve employee satisfaction. Employee self services is a plethora of small activities, which were earlier carried out by employee through administration wing of HR. These are travel bookings, travel rules information, travel bills, leave rules, leave administration, perk administration, etc. Earlier all these rules and information were in the custody of HR. Every user employee was expected to reach out to HR and get it done. Now with deployment of ESS in most of the companies, employee can request for travel related booking online, fill his/her T.E. bills, apply for leave, log time sheet and see his perks value disbursed and due etc. E.g., in Ballarpur Industries Ltd. leave administration is completely digitized in its corporate office. It is working towards digitizing travel related activities, perks and even compensation management and performance management administration. 'Digitize or outsource all the mundane and routine focus only on core and value add' - Vineet Chhabra V.P. -PDC BILT.

Communication

Communication which is most talked about management tool has always been a gray area in HR management. In large companies with vast geographical spread communicating with all employees had really posed formidable challenge to HR professionals. Technology has again come for rescue. Starting with telephones, faxes, e-mails and maturing into video conferencing, net cast, web cast etc. communication is one area of HR, which has been greatly benefited by technology. Mouse & click companies like Oracle, IBM has an intranet which caters to most of the information needs of its employees. Brick & Morter companies like BILT also have made a foray into deploying intranet for internal communication, which has corporate notice board, media coverage, and knowledge corners.

Knowledge Management

Another area of HR, which is leveraging technology, is employee development. Programmed learning (PL) i.e. learning at its own pace is one of the most effective ways of adult learning. Use of technology for this purpose can't be over emphasized. Aptech Online University and 'The Manage mentor' are some of the Indian sites, which are in this business knowledge management, which is an integral part of any learning organization, which cannot become a reality without technology. Companies can harness the knowledge of its employees by cataloging and hosting it on the intranet. Talk to 'Big-5' or not 'so big' consulting companies you will find that main stay of their business is the knowledge repository. Technology has enabled them to retrieve it swiftly. In the competitive environment where speed is the name of game technology driven Knowledge Management constantly provides a strategic advantage.

If you look at HR module of ERP solutions like people soft, SAP, Oracle and Ramco they provide you with a comprehensive package which helps in man-power planning, recruitment, performance management, training and development, career planning, succession planning, separation and grievance handling. A transaction happening in all these areas are digitized and form a closed loop ensuring employee database is always updated. E.g. a joining letter of a new employee is system generated. It will be printed only when all mandatory fields of information are entered. Similarly a transfer order or a separation letter is issued from the system only if that transaction has been carried out in the system.

For career planning, success planning, skill and competencies matrix methods are used by most of these systems. They search an employee with the required skills first in the in-house database of employees. Once put in practice in letter & spirit, this system not only enhances business results by matching the right candidate for right job but also improves retention of employees.

Processing payroll, churning out time office reports, providing HR-MIS are some other routine activities of HR which have been off-loaded to technology.

Leveraging HR for Technology

All HR professionals, preaching or practicing, learning or experimenting, teaching or studying have experienced leveraging technology for HR. But most of us come across a situation where we need to leverage HR for technology. Let us understand what do we mean by this.

Whenever technology is deployed afresh or upgraded it involves a change. The change may be at the activity level e.g., applying for leave through the intranet or at the mental model level e.g., digitizing the process succession planning which have been HR professionals forte. The people have always registered adopting change. This is one area where HR professionals are to deliver i.e., become change agents and lead the process of technology and change adoption. The resistance to change is directly proportional to speed of change. Now speed of change has increased and hence resistance.

Just to take an example, most of ERP implementation in the world have not been able to deliver all the expectations. Some of these have failed to deliver at all. While analyzing the cause of failure it has been observed that 96% of failures are because of people related issues and only 4% are because of technology.

It is the people who make the difference; hence HR should exploit its expertise to facilitate the adoption of technology. I would like to put together some of the thoughts on what HR should do for this.

At the time of recruitment, stop hiring for skills rather hire for attitude and a learning mind. Skills of today are no longer valid tomorrow. Managing ever changing change is the only criteria for success.

Functional or technical skills can be acquired during the job. Hence recruitment in the technology era needs to undergo a paradigm shift i.e., from a skill/competency based it needs to be attitude and learning mind/ ability based interview. That would translate into hiring for skills for future. In IBM every employee has to fill in his/her individual development plan where the employee commits its learning one/two new skills every year thus remaining competitive every time.

If we look at the chemistry of resistance to change it is either a skill issue or a will issue. To address the will issue we need to work at a comprehensive solution starting from recruitment (as discussed earlier), reward, compensation and leading to organization culture which promotes change. A living example is 3M, a US based company, where innovation is way of life, where 10% of revenue must come from new products every year. For them change becomes way of life.

To address the will issue further organization need to prepare a communication strategy which creates a 'pull' for the technology. For example, in Ranbaxy, when they went for SAP implementation they anticipated resistance. To address this they started a house journal, which was aimed at educating the employees on the benefits, which will result from adoption of ERP, SAP. This created a need rather a potential need or a latent need was brought out. Adoption of ERP did not become much of a problem.

At times adoption of technologies is perceived as a threat by the employees e.g., automation leading to reduction in workers, office automation leading to retrenchment of clerks etc. HR needs to be associated with the technical adoption right from the beginning till the end. At the selection of technical stage if HR is associated, it can map the skills required and create a pull during implementation and adoption. Post adoption it can release the excess non-re-allocatable employees.

To understand this process more clearly we can take example of ERP implementation. ERP is taken as an example as this is one technology adoption which effects employees across the org. irrespective of function and position. Any other automation may have affected only a segment of organisation. ERP implementation in any organization goes through the following stages.

1. Selection of package

2. Business analysis

3. Solution design

4. Configuration and customization

5. Conference room piloting (CRP)

6. Go-live and production

At each stage HR has to play a role, which will help in mitigating resistance to change.

During selection process, the change agent can understand the business benefit ERP would bring. This would help him to draw a comprehensive communication plant aimed at creating a 'pull' for the change. The communication plan may use its various weapons from the armory. The obvious examples are Newsletters, Newsflash. In-house journal, addressing by the top management, web cast, open house sessions, meetings formal and informal.

During the business analysis phase implementation team is supposed to analyse the existing business processes. At times this leads to surfacing of some data which is not very desirable by the process owners, leading to resistance at this stage, HR has to be again proactive and carry out a detailed stake-holder analysis. Such an analysis should give a lead to potential areas of problem and potential champions of change.

Solution design involves defining 'To-be processes' i.e., the way business would be carried out in future. At this stage HR has to play the role of catalyst to turn the heat on. The idea is to ensure to make maximum out of an opportunity of package enabled business transformation. HR can play a role by arranging to educate and train the right people on best business practices, just before this phase.

During the configuration and customization HR has to keep on beating the drum, the customization of a standard package is a big no-no. Similarly, during the conference room plotting (CRP) it should help in identifying the right persons to be involved in CRP. A thorough testing at this stage would result in lesser pain at the time of going live. This is also time to focus on training of end users, the employees who are going to use the system once implemented. Training- retraining -training to ensure all the prospective users are comfortable with usage of software before the system goes live.

During the go-live stage HR has to work over time to keep the motivation levels high. This is the time when management starts losing patience as one glitch after the other keeps appearing and virtually bringing the business to halt. At this stage, HR has to play 'conscious keeper' for the top management once into product relocating the surplus is a challenge for which it has to be prepared before it.

This examples makes it clear that involvement of HR during the entire life cycle of technology is valuable. ERP is not an isolated case. It is true for any other technology adoption only finer details may vary. Hence HR must play a proactive role rather than being just a silent spectator or mere executers of the wishes of business or chief technology officer in case of technological changes.

Having set the case in different perspective, it seems only logical to leverage technology for HR and vice-versa.

Mr. Amarendra B. Dhiraj is a frequent speaker at internationally renowned global events, CEO/CTO/CIO Roundtables, Technology Conferences and Symposiums. He hosted and organized the Executive Technology Leadership Forum. He specializes in strategy, innovation, and leadership for change. His strategic and practical insights have guided leaders of large and small organizations worldwide.

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California Schools Educators Retirement System and Lionstone Group Create Investment Fund

The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CSTRS) is the second largest public pension fund in the nation, providing retirement, disability and survivor benefits to California educators. Over 776,000 kindergarten through community college educators are members of the CSTRS, which currently has an investment portfolio of $142 billion.

Keeping quality educators in the California school system is of primary concern to everyone in the state. Without well-educated California youth, the city, businesses and economy of the state will suffer. Thus, when Lionstone Group, a research-based real estate investment firm, announced last month they and CSTRS had formed a discretionary $100 million real estate investment fund, the news was well received by everyone. As with any organization, good benefits will attract and keep quality educators in California.

What makes the announcement so exciting is Lionstone's track record with another fund it created with the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund (OPERF). Called the Cash Flow Office One, the fund has consistently exceeded expectations since its inception in December 2002. At that time, OPERF committed $75 million to the fund, expecting Lionstone to invest the capital within 24 months. Lionstone invested over 80 percent of OPERF's capital within 12 months with excellent returns. OPERF expanded its funding commitment in 2004 and now has over $200 million of equity and owns 20 office buildings around the country that are valued at $550 million.

Like OPERF's fund, the California school educators' fund, known as the Cash Flow Office Two, will target high occupancy office buildings in permanent locations across the United States.

CSTRS has committed $100 million to the fund, which can grow to over $500 million over time. Lionstone contributes one percent of the fund's total equity. With the combined equity added to debt of up to 50 percent loan-to-value (LTV), the total buying power of the fund is approximately $1 billion.

The Lionstone Group was formed in 2001. It creates national investment strategies using primary research. Dedicated teams execute each investment strategy, including the fund for the California school educators. Before creating the fund with the educators' retirement system, Lionstone refined their investment process to target locations that produce buildings with lower risk factors, according to Lionstone Principal Dan Dubrowski.

The California schools CSTRS Portfolio Manager Michael Thompson stated that the Lionstone management team over the Cash Flow Office Two fund is very entrepreneurial. He added that their skill set will enable CSTRS to continue to grow their core real estate portfolio.

This news gives all California schools educators hope for a better future, knowing they have an excellent resource during their tenure with the California schools and in retirement.

Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. Patricia has a nose for research and writes stimulating news and views on school issues. For more information on California schools visit California School Rankings and Private School Rankings

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Cincinnati Schools Educate Gifted Students

There are all kinds of students attending Cincinnati Schools. There are students who are average, high-achievers, struggle with reading, math or simply getting by, and students with physical, emotional or mental challenges. There are also students who often get overlooked, simply because traditional school may be too easy for them. The gifted Cincinnati Schools student, defined as children who perform (or have the potential to do so) at higher levels of accomplishment when compared to their peers, have been provided with different options by Cincinnati Schools to get the kind of education they deserve.

Cincinnati Schools screen children for gifted ability in four different areas; cognitive and academic ability, creative thinking, and superior ability in visual and/or performing arts. They are looking for the Cincinnati Schools' student who is a cut above his or her peers. It is of benefit for Cincinnati Schools to identify these students, as they will receive additional funding to help give these students the educational services they require.

Why Should Cincinnati Schools Focus on the Gifted?

Why is it important to serve this particular group of Cincinnati Schools' learners? It's mostly because our society needs them when they grow up. We need them to invent new and exciting technologies. We need them to come up with innovative as well as practical ideas on how to improve life in general. We need them to pore their hearts and souls into the creative process in order to give everyone a chance to experience a little bit of the magic that they hold within them - and which we may connect with on a personal level.

Left alone, these Cincinnati Schools' gifted students may not succeed in school or in life. The gifted Cincinnati Schools' student who is neglected will most likely become bored and will either fail or drop out of school altogether. Kids who aren't in school have a tendency to get themselves into trouble - not a desired outcome for anyone. Kids in the Cincinnati Schools who aren't getting the education they deserve are wasting themselves, and cheating their own futures.

Over the years, many people who have been later acknowledged to be gifted and valued contributors to society struggled in school. For example, Thomas Edison was told by teachers that he was too stupid to learn anything. A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had, "No good ideas," and Orville Wright was expelled from sixth grade. Who knows how much more these great minds would have achieved if they had only been recognized while they were in school.

Of course, one can argue that the most gifted among us will achieve in spite of their Cincinnati Schools' education. That's probably true for a few, but isn't the case for all. Why not give these most unique learners an educational experience that they can look back on and say, "Because of my education in Cincinnati Schools, I have done more than I ever dreamed of!"

Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit Cincinnati Public Schools

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