Talent Talk Cafe, July 1st

Having difficulty with the Chat feed - Jason is calling widgetlaboratories to speak to the evil genius and hopefully it will be back up soon.

Here was the discussion for today and we would enjoy hearing your feedback about the RecruitingBlogs.com community. Please add to this take away from it but help contribute to describing what the RB.com community is, what you want to contribute to it and what you want from it.

Welcome to RecruitingBlogs.com. We are a global community of people passionate about the art and craft of recruiting. Our currency is trust, respect, inclusiveness, and sharing to ensure our community thrives. We are committed to sharing our wisdom and knowledge to further the craft of recruiting.

Actively participating in our community includes giving as well as receiving – and, the more you give the more you receive. Being intentional when reaching out to people helps to ensure mutual respect permeates our community. Take the time to browse around, observe, listen and then engage. Think about what you want to contribute, where you can add value and what you want to gain from the RecruitingBlogs.com community - there's a lot of value for each of us to gain. Through intentionality and awareness we can foster incredible growth and connectedness.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on July 1, 2008 at 4:37pm

Susan, I'll check Rolph out and appreciate the heads up to his book. I'll be honest with you that Yoga is normally not synonymous with an Airborne Ranger background, so it's cool that he's shattering the stereotype. Plus, he's bald like me so we have a bond already :) I definitely need flexibility work as that's my weakness.

P.S. I have to warn you about Aikido real fast, though - I would really think about before getting into it as it's a lot of throws . . . and although learning how to fall without injury is paramount (the art of Ukemi), I see a great deal of soft tissue injuries. I imagine it's a result of being thrown so much as Aikido is all about performing a throw in a way that transfers your opponent's energy. The harm is normally done because people don't know how to fall properly, so you'll learn that . . . but it is truly tough on the soft tissues so I don't want to see your love for Yoga impacted by any kind of lagging injury. I'm sure you'd be superb in learning it, but what the instructors might not tell you is the high degree of nagging soft injuries they fight through because of their love for the art.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on July 1, 2008 at 4:52pm

I'm not a fan of overt selling to people you don't know, either (and personally, I don't do it) . . . but to a degree, that's what salespeople are paid to do. They receive hundreds of "No's" before they hit a "Yes", so most take a volume approach in which they treat social networks as a huge funnel. They join up and have access to thousands of members . . . and then they hit a 30-day burn to 'touch' each member (well, those that meet their ideal customer profile, anyway).

Talent Acquisition is a sales-centric world (we sell candidates, internal recruiters sell companies and jobs, vendors sell technology and services, etc. - you know what I'm saying). Most of us (being from different geographies) meet at Trade Shows where there is selling all around us . . . it's tough to get away from it!

My vote would be to create a rule (term of agreement) against it so that people can weigh a potential sale against losing their privileges to come here. As RBC grows, sales problems will surely increase -- frankly, I wish companies would just pay for the advertising, but they've gotten smart that banner ads are largely inneffective.

It looks like the more 'open' a network is, the higher the probability of crazy sales behavior :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Javier O'Neil on July 1, 2008 at 5:03pm

What third party software do you use, if you don't mind me asking? Because, in the meantime, as you mentioned, connections are kind of locked into Ning. Unlike some of the other social media sites (which only recently introduced these features), you can't make lists of, or tag, contacts by industry, location, etc. so there's this disappearing effect. I almost have no idea who I'm connected to, who I've even exchanged with, unless I literally browse my friends and look through my feed. This is obviously a problem not exclusive to Ning but it would be great to hear of some temporary solutions you or someone else has come up with. Are there any desktop Ning managers out there?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lance Haun on July 1, 2008 at 5:06pm

I told Jason this in Portland but it bears repeating:

Coming from an HR background, I knew very little coming in about recruiting. The community of recruiting bloggers has really taught me a ton about the craft. I have received a ton from recruiters without giving a ton of information back. It has been extremely generous.

RecruitingBlogs.com definitely takes the claws out of what I think is perceived as a cut throat, hyper-competitive industry and gives it a broader perspective of cooperation and mutually assured benefit. I think that is great and I hope HR follow suit.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Slouch on July 1, 2008 at 5:13pm

It would be nice if there was a desktop ning manager but I don;t think there is. the software I use to run the membership is provided by Widget Laboratory.com Ning is growing quickly and one thing I can say about them is that they are always releasing new stuff.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on July 1, 2008 at 5:14pm

I often wind up telling fellow recruiters that our greatest ideas often come from 2 major places:

a. Those in the trenches recruiting every day. (According to Colin Powell, "The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.")
b. People completely unrelated (meaning directly) to Talent Acquisition.

If only I could share all the conversations I've had with people about talent . . . meaning people that are able to stand outside the bubble we operate within. I've had some pretty cool conversations with salespeople, marketers, finance people . . . even 'candidates'. My personal challenge is having the time to share many of these things because my real day job is bringing talent and companies together :)

My point is that we are writing history to a degree. We are the experimental scientists of the new talent world - John Sumser even called RBC itself a "series of experiments". In today's world of not only attracting talent, but also developing and retaining it, the "little people" are actually the "big people". If there are "big people", then their strength in this nebulous time of rethinking talent is to help guide the discussion, offering their insights and drawing correlations to the time of 'talent's past'.

Although there were many great minds before them, this did not prevent Copernicus, Descartes, Kepler, Da Vinci, Einstein, etc. from seeing new realities (or at least looking at the same phenomena through a different set of lenses) :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Susan Burns on July 1, 2008 at 8:17pm

NMarie - thanks for sharing your thoughts. I love the metaphor of intellectual muscle! Individually we gain strength and through community we gain collective muscle and grow further. Welcome to the RB.com community and I look forward to hearing more from you. Cheers!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Susan Burns on July 1, 2008 at 8:18pm

Thanks Lance! Appreciate the contribution. There is a lot to learn from this community. The craft of recruitment is evolving and much of it is playing out right here for us all to appreciate.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Susan Burns on July 1, 2008 at 8:22pm

Thanks for the heads-up on Aikido and injury. With two herniated discs I think I'll pass.

Rolf is AMAZING! He is a great example of someone who has transformed his life and gives out an amazing amount of energy. His book is really good if you like daily reflections. He weaves a wonderful story together through a lens of yoga philosophy. If you've visited the site you've also seen the flexibility and what he's able to do with his body - pure beauty and art.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on July 1, 2008 at 8:46pm

Hi, Lance - wow, your comment struck me as interesting. Can you elaborate on what you mean in the HR world? I don't know too much about HR except when I assist with searches, so I value your input. I'll be honest that I don't understand many actions, so I admit needing to enhance my understanding. One thing I will say is that I'm empathetic to the HR situation and want to see things from more than just a TPR perspective.

P.S. The macro-perception of hyper-competition is accurate . . . although on a micro-scale such as those members that populate RBC, you can certainly see the good. There is a lot of it without a doubt . . . and it's cool that it's here.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Susan Kang Nam on July 2, 2008 at 6:22am

Well, it's "true" Jason... and it's someone like with your leadership, smarts and humble "heart" that draws people (just my little analysis so far lol).. Anyways, thank "you" for your compliments re my family pictures Jason.. and look forward to more to come.. as we draw this RB community together.

All I can say !~ Joie de vivre!~ et "Merci beaucoup"

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Susan Kang Nam on July 2, 2008 at 6:26am

Maren,

I am so humbled by your comment... I am learning so much.. and it's all because of a platform like this among others. I definitely feel the inclusiveness of this RB community and it's meeting someone like yourself Maren that really makes me "want" to come back and continue the dialogue. lol.. and yes.. It is like a free education.. So thankful, appreciative and.. loving the ride!~

Thanks Maren!~