In the spirit of pushing the boundaries of an unconference for the recruiting community, the first Recruitfest was a small, grass roots event in Toronto. It was a funky gig by all accounts but it was transformative.  As a session leader I had the joy of engaging three groups in free flowing dialogue around talent acquisition practices to build a compilation of the trends, influencers and desired outcomes that were shaping the talent landscape.  As only Jason Davis could do, the event wrapped with a drum circle and party at Jason’s home.  Imagine that!  Jason and Michelle, his wife, opening up their home to everyone that attended.

Having just wrapped my second Recruitfest experience I feel like this was another first.  Two years and the maturing of RecruitingBlogs has made a tremendous difference to the scope and format but the spirit was the same.  Perhaps two years ago Recruitfest was like a rebellious teenager and this year it was more like a spunky, young adult not content with the status quo and still pulsing with the persistent determination to make a difference and carve a new, experiential path to learning.  Jason’s team has grown to include Miles Jennings and Ashley Saddul – the genius behind the quality live stream.  Personally, I like events that push the talent agenda and serve as a format for discussion and learning, and Recruitfest 2010 certainly delivered.  In partnership with Monster and through the support of a number of sponsors, the Recruitfest live stream reached thousands of people globally – 38 countries, and every state in the U.S.

Eric Weingardner was invaluable as coordinator and host.  His passion and wit delivered engaging commentary throughout the day.  Eric’s and Jason’s onsite teams delivered a flawlessly executed event.  Is there room for more, sure!  Enhancing the virtual experience by making it more interactive or hosting simultaneous live stream events that bounce from geo to geo will come.  But, the value and meaning of Recruitfest cannot be underestimated.

Three areas that made a difference:

The people and the conversation. The mix of presenters brought a diverse, progressive and dynamic dialogue to life.  The panel discussions were some of the best I’ve seen and participated in.  They were unscripted, candid, authentic and dynamic.  Real and raw.  It was the fishbowl concept and it worked beautifully.

The reach. We are part of a global community.  Talent is increasingly a global marketplace.  Pushing the conversation globally to challenge the state of talent acquisition to share, learn and advance the practice is not only timely but necessary.  After all, our work is about people and business.  Its about the passion and ability to enable both to accomplish more together than is possibly otherwise.

Purpose. What was perhaps most energizing for me about Recruitfest 2010 was the raw authenticity.  There was a common thread of people and purpose, something that all too often gets lost in the crazy, day-to-day pressure of recruiting.  And, that is also the problem.  We cannot lose sight of people and the power of connecting people to purpose and business to people.  Yes, we have the persistent emergence of new tools and technology to manage.  But, when the focus on people is lost we dilute the value of our profession and dilute the value of our brand, whether it be the individuals or organizations.

The dialogue:
The event kicked off with Chris Hoyt of PepsiCo speaking about their glocal brand strategy and the power of a simple question – “Why do you do what you do?  The Candidate’s Bill of Rights Panel with Gerry Crispin, Chris Hoyt, Charlie Judy, Jason Lauritsen and Mike Ramer could have continued for days, which demonstrated the critical importance of getting refocused on the candidate experience.  I think too often the importance of the candidate experience gets overcomplicated.  My question – what’s getting in the way?  Is it the very essence of the talent philosophy, the technology and embedded functionality, or how the function is resourced?  If you want to get to the heart of what gets in the way start with these three areas.

Sarah White and John Nykolaiszyn led a discussion on the importance of blending and articulating personal and organizational brand, which has quickly become a topic worthy of more time, understanding and intention.  Tim Dineen’s quick hit preso on SEO to enable better search results demonstrated the continued importance of a topic and technique the industry has room to leverage further.

I was honored to participate in a discussion with Joe Gerstandt, China Gorman and Jason Lauritsen on the true value of social recruiting.  If you didn’t catch us live I’ll give you a hint – its not just about the technology.  In fact, the over emphasis on technology has resulted in minimizing the power of social recruiting to just another tactical tool – watch for the video archive to be released.  I also had the pleasure of presenting with Master Burnett on the future of the talent acquisition function.  Apparently my comment on just-in-time (JIT) recruiting too resulting in just-behind recruiting caused a few sparks.  I suppose that’s the risk of a 20 minute teaser conversation. With respect and admiration to Glenn, he is one of the few who frames JIT with specifics and intention so I can understand his response, although we definitely need to have a conversation on the value of talent communities! Well, let me clarify again the context of JIT during my preso.  When recruiting functions operate with an “in the moment” on demand philosophy or approach it has been called  JIT, absent of course a complete reference to the full significance of the model.  When recruiting operates as a reactive function JIT becomes just-behind  because its just that – reactive, and your behind by the time you begin given the process time and absence of an anticipatory approach and alignment with the business strategy and a workforce plan.  A proactive approach can also be framed as an adaptive strategy.

Oh, and my take on the future of the talent acquisition function? The Function is positioned to be the talent broker for the organization but only if its pursued with intention, strategic action and alignment with the business strategy – more to come!

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The second Social Recruiting Summit will take place in New York on Monday, Nov. 16th.  If you missed the sold-out  Summit at the Googleplex this summer don’t wait too long to check out the agenda and register.  The Summit topics and conversations will challenge your thinking about recruiting, give you an opportunity to network, learn from recruiting leaders and take away ideas that will help shape your thinking about the future of recruiting…..social recruiting.  Follow Summit happenings on Twitter @socrecruiting and track the conversations through #socialrecruiting.

Here’s a preview of my session and I hope to see you there!
Is social recruiting just another sourcing tool—a way to promote job postings and find potential candidates? Or is it a pathway to building a sustainable talent community and another tipping point in the evolution in recruiting?

The tools we have access to today deliver benefits that you won’t find through other sourcing vehicles. Harnessing the true power of social networking is about active talent communities. Talent communities provide a forum that enhances the relationship between candidates and your brand by inviting talent to engage in conversation rather than transactional activities and messaging.

In this interactive session, we’ll take all 200+ of you and create a massive brainstorming community of our own. We’ll look at community development through the eyes of talent and the organization. By organizing into sub-groups we’ll leverage our collective intellect to tackle key questions and begin shaping a sustainable recruiting strategy.

Some of the questions we’ll address include:

• How can you attract talent to your community, engage them, and give them a reason to keep returning?

• How can talent be inspired to help you grow the network?

• How will you convert a community member to a hire?

• How can your company approach social recruiting to build a sustainable strategy?

• How can the recruiting function create greater value for the organization?

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Adaptive Talent Strategies:

Designing an Approach to Excellence in Talent Attraction, Planning and Management

How effective is your talent strategy in supporting the business needs of your company?

Are you aligned with your company’s business strategy?

Do you have the information you need to anticipate the key skills and competencies that will competitively position your company?

Read on to learn about the workshop and how to register. I hope to see you there! Susan

The Workshop:

Excellence in recruitment and talent leadership is a critical business function for leading companies regardless of industry, size or geography. Alignment, agility, speed and creativity are essential for building and executing an adaptive talent strategy. Here’s what your workshop experience will look like:

• We’ll begin by exploring top-line trends and influencers affecting talent acquisition and management strategies.
• You’ll be introduced to a flexible model that serves as a roadmap to developing a holistic and adaptive framework.
• We’ll actively discuss key steps and decisions to develop and apply a roadmap from which you can approach broad-sweeping or more targeted components to support a successful and adaptive strategy.
• And, we’ll delve in to a situational planning exercise to leverage our collective insight and your learning experience.

Expect to be an active participant in small and large group discussions. Through collective learning and expanding the boundaries of our minds and capabilities we’ll define and redefine excellence in recruiting leadership.

Key takeaways include:

• Balancing the needs presented by today’s business environment while simultaneously building a future focused strategy;
• Delivering enhanced value through the recruitment function;
• Leveraging your employment brand to attract and retain top talent; and,
• Incorporating CRM, workforce planning, community and social media tools to enhance results.

When: July 8^th from 2:30 to 6:00 with networking reception to follow. Snacks and refreshments provided by Avature.

Where: Hosted at the Intel Campus (exact details shared with confirmed registration)

Who Should Attend: The workshop is designed for recruiting function leaders, senior recruiters and talent strategists working within a corporate environment.

RSVP: To register for the event contact Susan Burns directly via email or phone 503.381.9292.

Note: The workshop is designed to be a small event to maximize learning and is limited to 50 people. Initially we will confirm only two people per company but if space is available will add accordingly.

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