It could have been the the fact that I found a guy at FAO Schwartz that was so corporate (I didn’t even ask for the shot!), great dinner Saturday night with a small group of people I admire in this industry, the Monster Social/Tweetup Sunday Night (see below),  the onslaught of  social recruiting discussion at the summit on Monday, the the 6 hours of business planning meetings that followed Monday night or the fact that I did most of it not realizing I had pneumonia, but I am exhausted and am glad I have an excuse to stay in bed the rest of this week and relax.  Will this post ramble.  Yes.  Sorry.

To start, I have to say a huge thank you to the ERE crew for putting on such an amazing event and a huge congratulations to Laurie Ruettimann for being a gracious and entertaining chairwoman.   I also have to say a HUGE thank you to HRMDirect for encouraging us to attend and to Elaine Orler with Talent Function for letting me test out her laptop mini (just one more time) so I could live tweet.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the morning keynote and am pretty disappointed about it, but here is what I did see live and some thoughts on in…

Overall lessons learned from my Tweets

Failing via social media because you are doing the same old style of work makes YOU suck, not the technology

Sometimes you have to be common sense smart

If you want to have a solid social media strategy – drive transparency & enable conversation

Most companies aren’t social media recruiting they are social media sourcing

Social Recruiting is a “boatload” more than posting jobs per @johnsumser

Resisting social media in 2010 is like resisting a website in 1997  (Which I saw was actually used in another conference this week)

Not everything is about today’s hire people!!! Think pipeline!!!

Content should be relevant to the jobseeker not just what the “pros” think we should do

#monstersocial – WOW!  Seriously, WOW!  From finding a uber cool location in the meat packing district to the DJ, the Vin Diesel look alike bouncer, free pac-man, the bartenders who made custom drinks to match your outfit (or mood) or the chocolate covered bacon. Again, Wow.  And it gave me a chance to wear a little sparkly dress.

While it was quite the social, there was a lot of shop talk going on still, people were talking about how they were using social media in their own lives – both professionally and personally and how the line between them had really evolved.  I stumbled upon conversations on the evolutions of job boards/applicant tracking/performance management/software, conversations about how to engage candidates more effectively (and if you should care to) and discussions about the droid vs iphone.

In back rooms ( the back rooms were very cool) the mood was more mellow, the setting was more intimate and the noise levels were low – it was where conversations turned into discussions.  Topics floated around other conferences and the rapid evolution of the conference world in the last 18 months thanks to social media and New York itsself.  There was one lengthy and passionate debate about the value of recruiting CRM, their place in this industry and who was leading the way and why. It was really interesting to hear peoples thoughts sans filters

All in all, it was an amazing event – lots of great conversation, tons of laughs and some fantabulous dancing with Maren Hogan, Jenny DeVaughn (once most everyone else had gone home).

On to the main event – #socialrecruiting

Social Recruiting Panel -  The social recruiting panel was filled with big name people (Kelly Dingee, Ben Gotkin, Kerry Noone, Heather Tinguely) from big name companies talking about what they were doing with social media.  IT was a neat concept – I wish it would have been a little more interactive and got down into the how’s more than the should’s.   I would also love to see a similar panel that included some smaller/mid sized companies that were doing social media the right way.   I love hearing about what Microsoft, Sodexo, etc are doing but the reality is developing a social media strategy with an well known, established corporate brand is different and in some ways a lot easier than doing it from XCY Widget Maker with 500 ee’s.

SRS Quick Hit’s – Carmen Hudson (Tweetajob) got up in her typically, funny style and got things rolling before her breakout discussion and John Sumser (of everything and everywhere)- I think we all loved what he said, but the real winner (at our nerdy crew table) was the presentation software he was using.  Prezi.com  It was awesome and was a great lead into his unconference session

Social Recruiting from 30,000 Feet – This was by Master Burnett who rivals our own Afton Funk for coolest name ever and took a lot deeper look than I would have anticipated from the title.    It was really a quite enjoyable session

Then we got a look at what Talent Camp would have been like if there would have been 300 people at it and it was held in a comedy club.   There was some doubt on how it would work out, but as usual, Susan Burns (who happens to have been last SRS’s chairwoman)  pulled it off and IMHO was the session that got  a ton of involvement.   I know of one major company who had a few, um, non believers there – who told me later that it was that session that drove their non-recruiting people that required buy in, to get the buy in.

Finally, we come to the last sessions – I had to choose between Gerry Crispin and Jessica Lee – considering my laptop was almost out of juice, I stayed near the plug and sat in on Jessica Lee’s session on bashing monster social media for smaller companies.  It was an interesting session to say the least, I feel like I know Jessica know (even though I don’t) and think we have way to much in common to ever actually speak to one another.  It would be a dangerous mix.   Anyway, the most entertaining portion was when she happened to mention they were stopping the monster contracts and then it kinda went downhill from there.  I was proud of the restraint held at the table full of monster people behind me when comment after slide bashed them (although Eric Winegardner did retort quite nicely and professionally in a way that only he can) and felt a little bad at the comparison of free skype to Hirevue (Not even close to the same thing – its like saying I don’t need to have dinner, they give me free crackers while I wait).   But seriously people – not all jobs are right for all job boards – I get it.  Those of you that don’t have likely never worked in a small company before.   We’re cheap.  Seriously, like priceline cheap.  All in all – her message was awesome – you don’t need a huge budget to move mountains (or sumo wrestlers) in this space.  You just need innovation and engagement.

#SimplyHiredNetworkingReception

Very, very nice wrap up to the event – huge turn out, lots of ongoing discussions from the day and a bit of a feel of the last day of school for a lot of us who “conference” regularly and have grown accustomed to seeing the same people every few weeks.

Also, just have to say that it was so great to finally meet the Redhead.  I was confident that @therecruiterguy had been making her up and photo shopping her into pictures.

Admittedly, I am a fan of social media.  I like to see what the mean girls from high school ended up like.  From a business perspective – I love that I have developed some great relationships with people online.  It is quick and easy to “meet” someone – often it is something as simple as a RT or @ reply on twitter.  But, as much as I enjoy learning about people through social media – there is nothing like actually meeting someone in person and creating a *true* connection with them.  In fact – one of the main reasons I go to conferences is because of the amazing conversations I have with REALLY smart people.  I can honestly say that I have never been to a single conference where I didn’t walk out smarter than when I walked in – not even including any of the actual conference sessions. (If you get really lucky – you even get to have dinner with a legend…)

So – As you look toward fall – Here are the conferences that are coming up in September and some tips to save $$ -

9/9-9/11 ERE Fall Expo 2009 Hollywood, Fl

• Conference $ Saver – Register by Friday and save an additional $200 – On twitter?  DM or @ reply to scottbaxt for addt’l discount!
• Travel Tip – Travelocity has Flight/Hotel deals for the Westin Diplomat at a savings of around $60/night over the conference discount

9/23-24 Recruitfest Toronto, CA

• Conference $ Saver – Use “MAREN” To get a ticket for $150!!!  Also, The prices are all in Canadian.  Most of us going are not.  That $150 bargain price (After the discount) is really closer to $125 for the rest of us!
• Travel Tip – Get your passport like TODAY.  There are 2 airports in Toronto that you can check flight prices on as well.  Make sure you call the hotel and get the recruitingblogs.com rate – roughly $175/night – much better than the $350 on the web site.

9/30-10/2 HR Technology Conference

• Conference $ Saver – Register by 9/18  for an additional $300 savings.  To be honest – the expo area is HUGE and if you are looking or a geek like me – you can spend 2 FULL days just in the expo space (Trust me, I have done it the last 4 years).  If you are someone wanting to JUST go to the expo – Add a comment or email me I have FREE passes.
• Travel Tip – Chicago has 2 airports – MDW & ORD – both would work for the conference.  The expo is a bit out of the way, so they have shuttle buses that drive you back and forth from downtown airports.  Want to save money – Priceline (Name your own price) a hotel in the Millennium Park, Loop & Grant Park Area of downtown in the 4 star range.  Last 2 years I have been at the “official conference hotel” at a rate of $90 per night including taxes.  Even if you don’t end up at the “official” hotel – you walk a block or two and still take the shuttle bus

I will be at all 3 of these shows – not speaking this year, but enjoying the knowledge gathering – come September and hope to see you there!

Their eyes met across the room – he was everything she had been looking for:  Organized, Responsive to Candidate Needs, Interactive with Her Hiring Managers, Great at managing the recruiting process – even tracked her metrics.   She was everything he had been looking for: Someone to give his product a chance.

The time was 2001 – the location was any company in America that was evaluating software.  You see, at that time – the “who are your other clients” question was paramount to getting your foot in the door.  It didn’t matter what your product looked like – just how popular you are.  Because as we all know – more clients must mean better service/product/responsiveness… right?

Fast forward to November 2008 – a Number of people from our industry attended the Kennedy Recruiting Conference in Orlando.  Politics were still fresh on everyone’s mind and the topic of unemployment rate was brought up in more than one conversation I was involved in.  If you recall, at the time we were right around 6.5% unemployment nationally and the debate that was occuring was about just how I it would go.  The more tenured people in the conversations remembered the mid 70′s and early 80′s when the numbers were in the 8-9.5% range.  The rest of us – weren’t in the work force to experience it and found the numbers staggering.    In one of those conversations at Kennedy was the first time I ever heard someone say that we would have 10%+ unemployment rate by the end of 2009.  (Numbers for July will be released Friday 8/7)

In fact, to many of us young X’ers and old Gen Y’ers (Iran Revolution Babies for @Animal) – the largest unemployment numbers we had ever actually experienced came after 9-11.  In 2002 I was working for a company HQ’d in Chicago that was amazingly still growing by leaps and bounds.  I was brought in to evaluate their processes/systems and help with some of the high level searches in New York and New Jersey.  I can assure you that hiring in that area just a few months after 9-11 was challenging to say the least.  Not because there weren’t any candidates available, but because of the number of applications we saw (often 1500+ per opening in a single weekend) were overwhelming to say the least.

Flashback to 2002 – The small to mid size companies are still being overlooked by the popular kids in the ATS space, but the A/V club kids have something to share.  An new type of ATS – completely online – no hosting, no in house support team needed.  In fact, you can access it anywhere with internet access.

The high unemployment of 2002-2003 allowed some of the smaller players to have a shot and opened the doors for a whole new level of ATS.  Did we still pay A LOT of money for what we actually got – compared to today – ABSOLUTELY!  But at the time – it was worth it and opened the doors to innovation and competition that 10 years ago didn’t seem possible.  In fact – I remember at the time we watched demo’s of some of today’s major players via powerpoint screenshots because there wasn’t a product actually built yet.

So, here we are again – Unemployment rates are even higher, technology is even faster/better/cheaper than before –  what ATS innovations will we see come out this time?  Will the global companies start looking at new, innovative solutions instead of the 4 standards?  Will an ATS finally become less of an ATS and more of a true Recruiting tool? Will we FINALLY get mobile? Will companies again be able to tell their vendor what they want and be able to get custom solutions that WORK?

While most people don’t see it – it is all happening – and I am sooo excited to be along for the ride.

I am about to expose you to my inner geek/mensa nerd side – I love palindromes – words like tattarrattat, Anna, Racecar, Madam, Wow – well, they just intrigue me.   No matter how you read it – you get the same result – same outcome – same word.  (ERE is another example of a  palindrome which is why this is relevant).  Poker on the other hand is the complete opposite – while it is all about reading someone – the reading is not so easy – it’s a challenge to know when someone you just met is bluffing or not…its more like the sister of a Palindrome – A Semordnilap which does the same thing – but read backwards creates an entirely new word (like -stressed / desserts  or god / dog) but that is just getting off topic.

So – when I got offered a chance to help out and sponsor this years ERE Poker Classic – how could I say no?  We have added a page onto the hrtechnologyblog.com home page to function as the ‘official’ site for this year’s game and should have all the details you desire as well as a way to RSVP.  The game this year is open to everyone at all skill levels and the buy in is low – so lets get all of the attendee’s playing poker Wednesday night – It all goes for a great cause!

Thanks to all of the sponsors (will be posted on the site soon) as well as the real team doing all the work to put this together!

Maybe it is only because he wasn’t hugged enough as a kid or because I pimp whitepapers out better than Jane Adams on Hung or he wanted to make sure I show up to his mobile recruiting panel at OnRec/Kennedy in November, it doesn’t really matter – I appreciate the mention on the mjob blog all the same.

If you want to read the blog posting that Joel actually was intrigued by enough to quote here it is: What Happens In Vegas Doesn’t always Stay in Vegas posting.  If you read that and wonder “wow, she’s weird” – Its true.  I am.  But I can honestly say I was completely enamoured leaving Vegas this year.  There are only about 10 people in this industry that I have met and found to be true innovators and really passionate about what they do.   Joel Cheesman is one of the few that have actually intrigued me when I met in person and I been following (not in a stalkerific way) for years.   So – if you want to know my thoughts on mobile recruiting check out my Vegas blog post & then download mjob’s white paper for some expert details.

Ok, so you are like – What is Recruitfest?

Recruitfest is an “Unconference” type of Conference – Only 100 recruiting, branding & social media pros will even be able to get a ticket to attend.  You may be thinking to yourself, “That’s Dumb”  - but it really isn’t.  Recruitfest wants everyone to learn in an interactive, dynamic fashion and if you have too large of a group – the interaction is not taking place.  No boring powerpoints, no 10 minutes at the end of the session to try to squeeze in a few questions, no wishing you really understood how this could relate to your role, no need to not challenge the presenter….do I really need to explain further?

Recruitfest is a Recruitingblogs.com production and will be sponsored in part by HRMDirect Applicant Tracking System (other sponsors will be announced soon!)  For anyone who has been to one – it is an event not to be missed!!!

The conference will be September 23-24 in Toronto, Canada – so make sure you get your passport in line, like yesterday

Now you are like – “Why should I go to Recruitfest?”

1.  See what Recruitfest is above….

2.  Recruitfest is only $300!!  Well, that is if you are a Canadian.  For the rest of us –  our cost is around $250!!  Seriously, a conference for $250!!  The hotel has some great rates for attendee – around $160 or so a night

3.  There are GREAT track leaders that are going to be there – Jerry Albright, Julia Stone, Recruiting Animal……more to be announced soon

4.  You can meet me – or totally avoid me – you choose (of course, if you can’t come, I will blog the event on this site and tweet it from @hrtechblog)

Check out the site for RecruitFest – more details will follow

It’s official!  After some early afternoon tweeting about the subject this afternoon http://www.therecruitingconference.com OnRec & Kennedy Information has official posted the following PR:

Onrec and Kennedy Information will join forces this fall to host a recruiting conference of unprecedented high-caliber.

Each industry-acclaimed company will bring to this combined event their distinctive areas of expertise, making it the richest, most high-value, recruiting conference experience possible. World-famous Onrec will bring strong recruiting technological acumen and analytical savvy. Kennedy Information will deliver the tactical recruiting expertise and industry insight that has been trusted by the industry’s foremost practitioners for over 35 years.
Together, these industry champions will provide recruiters and talent management professionals with ALL of the tools and insights they need to be unstoppable – no matter what the challenge!
For more information orIf you have any questions about OnRec and Kennedy’s Recruiting Conference & Expo, please call 800.531.0007 or Register Now!

My take on this is that they didn’t want me to have to travel ALL the way to Florida in November and thought how nice it would be to come to Chi-Town (well, Rosemont) instead.   Florida is always a lot of fun and this was going to be my first year at onRec so I am sure together it will be a blast.  Personally, My vote would still be somewhere warm, but I will take it and can see some great opportunity for attendees of both.

All in all it is a smart move when the economy is tight and has hit all of the conferences this year a little hard to work together for a successful show!

So – come and join me in Chicago at The Recruiting Conference in November!

Since leaving Vegas there has been something on my mind and I just can’t stop thinking about it. It was new and exciting and different – it made my heart pound, my thoughts race and now, when I am in webinars or reading a newspaper or when I was on vacation last weekend – it doesn’t go away. 

(And before your mind goes racing – I was well behaved and spent most of my spare time at the Poker and Craps tables – leaving vegas with $500 of their money)

The IT is Mobile Recruiting.  I know it isn’t a totally new concept – but it was like for the first time the bigger scope of what could/will be slapped me across the face.  It was like my freshman year of college when I realized that had to be a recruiter because of the impact it has on an organization, or 2002 when I went through CareerXRoads ATS Evaluation & Selection training at Cornell and fell in love with the business impact of ATS and KNEW it was an industry I wanted to be a part of.

But you probably are a little lost so let me back up a bit…

Last month the team at Kennedy Information‘s Recruiting 2009 Conference was held at the gorgeous Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.  Even though I didn’t speak this year, I had a great time with the somewhat smaller crowd learning how different organizations were overcoming the challenges of the economy and reconnecting with and learning from the great minds that shared their insights.  I am probably one of the few people that REALLY loves conferences.  I love meeting new people, and hearing different ideas and perspectives on both the industry and the world.  I love knowing that I am smarter when I walk out then when I walked in.  There is just something so mentally fulfilling about learning.

As usual, the first day I dabbled between conversations with facinating people, general sessions, breakout sessions and walked around the vendor space to see what was exciting a new with everyone this year.  Dinner was amazing (I tried something new!) and the Fremont Street experience was twice as nice since they were testing out a new show and we got to see both.  All in all it was a great day with informative events.

On the second day, I knew I had to leave early after lunch so I made sure to hit a few of the sessions that had really seemed interesting to me and I am glad I did.  By far the best session of the event was Joel Cheesman’s breakout session on mobile recruiting.  Not because it was particularly showy, but because I appreciate the laid back presentation style and loved the topic.

Mobile recruiting is a totally new world that we have not even started to grasp here in the US – yet is a world that seems so obvious to anyone that knows anyone that is under the age of 35.  (I used to say 30, but I turn 30 in a few weeks and now must say 35)  I tried as hard as I could and can not think of anyone I know that doesn’t have a cell phone.  In fact, I don’t know anyone that doesn’t have a smart phone.  As he talked, my mind started racing about all of the potential that is untapped and quickly trying to come up with strategy’s that could be easily integrated with out ATS.  I honestly felt stupid for not getting it before this point although that was not his intention at all.  

There are those of you who are going to totally disagree with this and that is fine.  To you I ask you to read Maren Hogan’s great blog posting this morning on why social media use isn’t really about today at all, rather it is about knowing what we are doing and being on the cutting edge when the time comes. I can’t help think that mobile recruiting is any different.

I can see a day where there really are no longer job boards – peoples matching jobs are simply texted/messaged to their phones instead of the email and they can automatically submit their interest – no online job search needed.  I can see marketing and recruiting in consumer product organizations finally actually getting together on something instead of just talking about it. I can see…. 

There are so many more things I could say and go on and on about my ideas of the future and where this could lead – but I invite you to check out the free (no registration needed) whitepaper by mjob and see if your mind goes through the same crazy process mine is going through after about this.  (The odds are no – but you will likely still find it really interesting, I promise!)

Wow – believe it or not – I am still alive – I just well, haven’t done a blog in like a year or so.  I wish I could say that I had some good excuse like winning the lottery and traveling the world or that I had a baby and was sleep deprived but honestly, I was just busy.  I know, everyone is busy – so, like I said – no excuse….

ANYWAY… So much has happened in the last year and I have all sorts of new stories and ideas so I will be back to blogging and posting on a regular basis next week – I need to head to not so sunny California for a weekend of inspriation first.

BTW – check out a free webinar Tuesday June 9th at 2:00 Eastern Time on Becoming a Strategic Partner hosted by RecruitingTrends.com and sponsored by the good folks at Qualigence.  It should be a good one with a great panel including Russ Moon of Wells Fargo, Steve Lowisz of Qualigence and myself.  Lots of opportunity for questions and discussion – so come and join us!

http://www.recruitingtrends.com/webinars/index3.html

Hope to see you at Kennedy – I am speaking at 2:00…  follow this blog postposted by Sarah White on Nov. 11, 2007