Over the Canada Day weekend, I made some hard-boiled eggs for eating as part of a light lunch. I almost never make hard-boiled eggs but I had a craving and that was that.

In the past, I have not been happy with the quality of my hard-boiled eggs. Sometimes the yolks were green or the shells were difficult to remove. Both these are signs of overcooking. So, I decided to pay attention to what I was doing and heeded the advice of a chef on a cooking show. The secret to hard-boiled eggs is cooking them long enough, but not too long. I followed this instruction, and they turned out great:

Place the eggs in tap water so that they are completely covered. Turn on the burner and monitor until it starts to boil. Once it is boiling, set your timer for 11 minutes and let them boil away. Remove from stove and drain in cold water. Peel immediately.

These eggs were light and fluffy and perfect. The shells came right off. It was so simple to get it right.

So why am I mentioning hard-boiled eggs in an HR blog?

Well, sometimes you need advice. In the case of my eggs, I’m sure my mother did it properly but I didn’t listen and just went along doing it as I thought it should, running fear of some sort of disease if I didn’t cook them long enough, and not realizing the harm of overcooking. I have found that following advice and instructions in the kitchen from people who actually know what they are doing has really improved the quality of my outcomes. I make really good cakes and breads now but that’s because I stir or knead them exactly as the instructions and pictures show.

Sometimes you need advice in HR. Perhaps it is that difficult employee situation or the regression calculation in your spreadsheet or a new clause for your HR policies, but there is no sense spending many hours on finding or inventing the answer when someone in the know has the answer. HR is not like experimental cooking.

If you’re looking for advice, here are some ideas for places to look:

• Post a question on any LinkedIn Groups that are for HR Professionals.
• Reconnect with your old colleagues by sending a message with questions to some of your LinkedIn connections who are in HR.
• Post a question on the Watercooler on HRPA (secure within the Association).
• Ask a question at the HRPA Resource Centre or at SHRM’s HR Answers Service (both are member benefits).
• Use Twitter (try asking the question to hashtags like #eolist, #tchat, #TEPHR, #HRPA).

Good luck with your queries, and your eggs.