As mid-year approaches, it’s the ideal time to step back and reflect on some of the most profound Human Resources trends, patterns, and challenges… and, more importantly, identify what organizations could/should do to respond to them.

Some of the best thinkers in the field share their observations and recommendations that HR – and all leaders in all functions – may want to seriously consider as they build plans to bring home strong results this year and beyond.

You’ll be informed by authors, practitioners, and experts who are grappling with these challenges everyday.  And you just might be inspired to respond by sharing a few trends you’re seeing emerge.  Enjoy!

A Bird’s Eye View

• Amit Bhagria’s post is a great starting point, as it offers an overview of his take on the top five trends in human resource management – from recruitment to outsourcing.

Recruiting

• James Ellis discusses social media recruiting and tracking trends, and highlights the most important key to successful interaction with candidates. Follow James at @thewarfortalent.
• Danielle Weinblatt interviews Will Thomson, Global Sales & Marketing Recruiter at Rosetta Stone, on some of the latest recruiting trends he’s seeing, and the ways in which he uses them to find and hire top sales and marketing talent in a challenging market. Follow Danielle at @dweinblatt.
• Stephanie Hammerwold addresses the growing use of mobile devices in the application process to meet applicants where they are and make the process engaging.
• Janine Woodworth outlines some of the challenges associated with having multiple recruiting teams and multiple workflows. Her post helps employers understand ways in which they can realign recruiting organizations so that they can better leverage their existing technology and improve processes.  Follow Janine at @janinewoodworth.

Engagement

• Douglas Arnold reminds us of a seasonal pattern that can negatively affect creativity and business results: summertime. He offers cool advice that savvy organizations use to beat the heat.
• Will Thomson points out the  importance of engagement in this new era of technology, and finds old-fashioned methods of communication are not to dismissed.

Workplace

• Dorothy Dalton recognizes a problem that you likely have personal as well as professional experience with: the overwhelmed employee. And she examines the question: Does excessive after hours contact need legislation? in her insightful post.  Follow Dorothy at @DorothyDalton.
• Leena Thampam comments on the workplace reality that geography doesn’t matter anymore. Remote workers are the way of the future. Follow Leena at @Wagepoint.
• Stuart Rudner observes that HR professionals and HR lawyers spend much of their time dealing with the potential for and the handling and assessment of investigations and corresponding reports. In his post, he shares his in-the-trenches perspective on this trend. Follow Stuart at @CanadianHRLaw.

Leveraging/Optimizing Content

• Mary Wright highlights the time and expense associated with creating a strong internet prescence and details 6 ways that HR can protect the return on their social media investment.
• Shannon Smedstad show us how creating good content up front and reusing it in multiple places can become a major employer brand asset.

A Closing Note

• Ian Welsh suggests that despite emerging trends and patterns in the field, there are some core HR activities that absolutely require immediate attention and improvement. Follow Ian at @ianclive.