Sebastian is Freelance HR Manager, Consultant and Blogger

What movie title best describes 2017 for you?

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Because you have to grab life by the horns and make the best of it. The only way to not go crazy in this world is being crazily optimistic about the future – and staying true to yourself.

Your person of the year?

Everyone who is holding racists, sexists, bigots accountable.

Your favorite album from 2017?

I haven’t bought an album in ages. But the soundtrack to Netflix’s Stranger Things took me on a trip back to the nice part of the 80s.

What are you most proud of this year?

Too many small things to mention separately. I’d like to believe to have helped a lot of people in my organization do an even better job and be happier about it than they would have without me.

What HR tool or trend disappointment you the most in 2017?

I don’t put much hope in tools or trends but I really hope the whole Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment things fails miserably. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and first try to get more human intelligence into HR.

And what tool or trend really did live up to the hype?

The power of agile methodologies really has impressed me.

Your favorite HR blog in 2017?

Sneaky question, but I’m not going to fall for it! Obviously, my own blog is my favorite – but there is more inspirational sources out there than I could list. You should read my blog about it 😉

And the best HR event this year?

I really enjoy DisruptHR Berlin. A very concise and tight format where a few presentations basically just provides conversation starters for the networking part afterwards. No hour-long cases and details but ideas how to do things differently. Very refreshing between all the slideshow events.

Which GIF best describes your vision of HR 20 years from now?

I have no idea what HR looks like even next year. But I’d hope we’re getting to HR being awesome and helpful

What should HR professionals do differently next year?

Leave your office, take your computer and sit with the people who earn your salary. You’ll learn more about your organization than in any meeting, slideshow, or report.

What will be the “next big thing” in Recruiting?

People talking to people. Once AI and AR and whatnot have freed up recruiters’ time, they’ll be able to go back to basic and speak to candidates, get to know them and their skills and decide whether it’s a match or not. Crazy idea, right?