Written on June 30, 2010 by Charlie in #TrenchHR, HR Profession 
Dear Lon (if I may),
Thanks so much for inviting me to blog from the 2010 SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition. It is a privilege I’ve not taken lightly. You and your team of more than 350 SHRM employees and irrefutably one of the best volunteer organizations around provided great content at a great venue…and you pulled it all together with 11,000 great HR pros. I know many of us leave with a renewed sense of energy and faith in our beloved profession.
I was lucky to have met you the other night at SHRM’s Partner Reception (I was the one who complimented you on your hair). Again, a privilege I’ve not taken lightly. I’ve learned in my long association with SHRM that its leadership team is crucial not only to its own success, but more importantly to the profession’s growing prominence as the people expert. One of the ways we build that prominence is through the HRCI certification process…and resulting designation that the business community is increasingly recognizing as an important qualifier to our value. As I understand it – and I may be wrong here – you don’t have a PHR, or an SPHR, or GPHR…nothing…nada. What is up with that?!?!? I mean, seriously. You are the CEO of SHRM, right? You were the Chief Human Resources Officer with Kaiser Permanente for goodness sakes. We all know four letters behind your name isn’t necessarily what it’s all about. But I bet it says a lot to your 250,000 members in over 140 countries. And that should matter to you.
So here’s my personal challenge: take and pass a qualified HRCI test by the end of 2010. It’s really not that bad and there are lots of great resources out there to help you along. I’d be happy to coach you myself. In the meantime, thanks for all that you do for our profession – HRCI designation or not. We all look forward to seeing those four little letters popping up sometime in the next six months.
Warmest regards,
Charlie Judy, SPHR
HR Executive, Talent Management Blogger
p.s. I’d love to interview you for the “Not -So-Back-Office” Series. Let me know if you’re interested.
Photo Credit: SHRM
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