“What about Gen X?  Why does everyone forget about us?  How come its all about gen y and boomers? We matter too!”    A gen x’er asked while we were out and about in Chicago after my generational panel last weekend at #HREvolution.

“Because you aren’t loud enough” was my response.

The truth of the matter is that people sell and talk about things that other people listen to and are willing to pay for.  Advertisers pay more for certain shows because people watch them.  Certain colleges charge more than others because they have created a demand and people will pay for it.  You look at the agenda before you register for a conference – why?  because you want to see if you have an interest in what is going on.

Lets face it Gen Y is loud.  We tweet, blog, write, speak a lot.  We have a lot of names, faces, websites and everything else to keep us in the mix.  A lot of what we do isn’t self serving – its about helping other Gen Y’er move forward in the world.   Its about sticking up for ourselves in the “gen y sucks” world.  Its about a group of people that have always been social and public and just using their technology to enhance those relationships.

The truth is that Gen Y wouldn’t be that big of a deal and we wouldn’t talk about it so much if the boomers wouldn’t have started talking about them and then developing experts (who weren’t even gen y) to go out and talk to companies about this “crazy” new group of youngin’s coming.  So, quite honestly we wouldn’t be the way we were if it weren’t for the boomers.

So, to wrap it up – yes we talk about Gen Y alot – Its all the boomers fault – and oh, shoot – I totally forgot to talk about Gen X again.

You have seen the tweets, heard the rumors and now, it’s really happening:

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.

If the ERE was “the” event of the industry this fall with the big boys (adidas, walmart)  leading sessions that made us start thinking about our branding, the basics and the impact on corporate america we can have – the “unconference” known as Recruitfest is where we are expanding on in more of an open format.  We are taking the topics and pulling them apart, challenging them, redesigning them and making people question the way their view their industry in the process….

This one is also filled with heavy hitters – Gerry Crispin, Dave Manaster, Jason Davis, John Sumser and more…

I would love to share so much – but the challenge of doing that with this conference is that the learning that is done is what you make of it.  It is the internal dialog you have with your self as much as with others that really helps you develop into a better person.  It isn’t comfortable discussions and the pretty presentations that ERE offered (nor the highly organized and structured environment I love) – rather groups gathering on the grass telling people they are wrong.

Did I really just say that?  I did and it’s true.  There was an amazing beach, a wonderful pool, fantastic networking, a great steakhouse, a few surprises and some REALLY knowledgeable and fun speakers along the way.  To top it off, the ERE team was WAY more fun in person than I could have ever imagined. I will have a full week of blogs dedicated to the conference next week along with lots of photos, but before I forget – I wanted to mention some of my highlights of the week that likely weren’t tweeted about during the sessions…Given the bulk of that time was a BFZ (Blog Free Zone) everyone is referred to as a generic “somone” – and truly it doesn’t mean me.

Tuesday

• 2, yes 2 people jumped into the Intercoastal for $250 each at dinner fully clothed
• At the same dinner “someone” laid on a picnic table playing with the leaves on a tree and forgot others were around
• Had a impromptu pool party with recruitingblogs.com and ere.com folks

Wednesday

• Slept at the pool until someone yelled my twitter handle and scared me.
• “Someone” fell backwards (heels over head) at the ERE Poker Game while at the final table.  Needless to say he didn’t win.
• Learned that the golf courses have 4 foot iguanas that like the tee boxes – the boys were scared and tee’d off the girls tee
• Someone almost stepped on my head when I was looking under a table for Maren’s room key
• Raised more than $10k for the EREFoundation Charity at EREPoker

Thursday

• The Steve’s of Adidas kicked off the formal Conference with a standing room only (and some floor sitting) session
• I learned that when I tweet conference sessions my iPhone has HORRIBLE battery life
• Was interviewed by a guy that gets paid to wear tshirts and was a part of a live feed internet show for a few hours
• Had a contest to see who could lean a blow up chair back the farthest.  Hirevue lost when his attempt completely flipped the chair over.
• NAS cocktail hour hosted by the lovely Miss Tara – BEST FOOD!!
• Indeed.com Party – Had a blast with the Gen Y’ers of ERE – Including Ryan’s party trick and a super hero shirt wearer.
• Accidentally ignored a competitive vendor until they finally threw a giant pillow at me in the hotel lobby
• Recruitingblogs.com wine tasting party with the recruiting “elite.”  Seriously, that room was full of really, really smart people.  And me.
• Jumped a fence to sit on beach and watch a cool lightning storm after the beach was closed
• Made friends with a vendor who always “forgets” to call me back
• Took way too many photo’s

Friday

• Got to sit with my favorite Dallas Recruiters (except Tweetless) and watch Mike Grennier from Walmart’s presentation amongst others
• Was cold and borrowed a sweatshirt that smelled like CK1
• Won an inflatable chair
• Did a video interview with Jason Davis for Recruitingblogs.com
• Had a brilliant tweet during a session
• Had a really awkward goodbye hug when someone didn’t go to the right
• Finally ate a proper meal – Pizza at airport
• Got nominated for Conference Rockstar on Twitter
• Taught someone to use Tweetdeck
• Headed home

Believe it or not – there was a TON more that I could have brought up – but let me assure you – we all had a great time.  AND to top all of that off, I got a ton of work done, met with a number of potential partners and clients and a learned a lot along the way.   That is the difference between a conference and watching the virtual stream – I can not understate the value of person to person networking.

A special thanks to all of the people who really helped make it a blast for my first ERE conference   @therecruiterguy @jennydevaughn @marenhogan @lruettimann @tararepucci @mgrennier @jrl2002 @kevinplantan @jobing @cheezhead @callmeslouch @davemendoza @gerrycrispin @stephaniealloyd @devoted2HR @leanneclc @iwearyourshirt  @dmanaster and the rest of you that I don’t know twitter accounts for off the top of my head – Brendan Shields, Ryan Frazier, Hasbro Guy, The Hirevue Team, Don Ramer of Arbita, Chris Dominguez from SilkRoad, John Sumsner and so many many more!!!

Want to see some of the fun pics?

Last year, I didn’t go to recruitfest.  But I heard about it. A lot.  Still do a year later.  In the words of Barney Stinson, it was Legend (wait for it) dary.

This year – more legends are sure to be made with an amazing lineup of recruiting leaders guiding us on the journey that is an unconference.  No stuffy conference rooms, no hiding in back, no boring powerpoints – just actual learning and interaction  While I am excited for everyone – when I heard Gerry Crispin was going – I knew it was a must go.  If you have never had the pleasure of sitting down and having a conversation with Gerry – then this is a must go conference.  I will admit I am biased – it is because of a chance meeting with Gerry a year out of college that I even ended up in the HR Technology world – but each and every time I see him – I am challenged to think about something a little deeper, questions reality differently and just learn from someone who has forgotten more than I will ever know.  The best part – he tolerates my quirkyness and is still willing to help me learn everything I still need to learn.

In addition – you will have the chance to hang out and learn from social media legend nominees themselves – Jerry Albright, Maren Hogan, The Animal, Slouch and many many more…even if you don’t know them (or anyone else that is going) you will be fine.  In this group – even I feel totally normal.

With that said – If you want a free ticket for Recruitfest – add a comment below or @ me on twitter with what legendary thing you will be wanting to do/say/learn/discover at Recruitfest  - I will be drawing (at random) for the ticket next Wednesday so you still have time to get a flight, passport, take time off work, etc.

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!

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!)