Joshua Letourneau's Blog (71)

Recruiting Tool for Knockout Candidate Presentations (ComF5)

Good morning, Fellow Recruiters - as of late, I've seen more and more 3rd-Party Recruiters (and Contract, as well as Internal Recruiters as well) really trying to up their game with the usage of the Social Web and quicker, more effective, more efficient conversation, etc. These are all great things and the needle is definitely moving forward.

At the same time, however, I worry that the majority of us are focusing more and more and more on Candidate Identification and Attraction that… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on July 29, 2010 at 9:32am — 4 Comments

Where "Math" Intersects with Recruiting/Sourcing & Weapons Systems, Talent Pools & Terror Cells

Originally posted at my blog here.

Earlier this morning, I stumbled upon an extremely interesting overview of a "Mathematics Event" presentation offered at the 2010 AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science).…

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Added by Joshua Letourneau on March 3, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Would ROI Have Been Enough to Predict This? ("Vitamin Water’s Newest Flavour Created by Facebook Fans")

As ROI = (Gain - Cost)/(Cost), would ROI have been the right metric to present the following possibility? Consider the following example of the power of "Collective Intelligence" --

"Great Example of "Collective Intelligence" - Vitamin Water’s Newest Flavour Created by Facebook… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on January 20, 2010 at 2:50pm — No Comments

The ROI Monster Is So Because He Often Leads Us Down a Path of Futility . . .

A few days ago, I wrote a post titled, "Social Media Strategy: Let's Stop Talking ROI Already". This is a delicate subject and I may not have been as direct as I should have been. Let me cut to the chase as I'm not suggesting we come to the table with no financial justification. It's bigger than that. Let me explain:

1. ROI is a weak metric. It's the laughing stock metric of the Finance… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on January 19, 2010 at 4:27pm — No Comments

Social Media Strategy: Let's Stop Talking ROI Already

Social Media Strategy: Let's Stop Talking ROI Already

There's been a lot of talk lately about ROI as it pertains to Social Media Strategy with regard to recruiting efforts. Most notable is a… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on January 16, 2010 at 10:23am — 15 Comments

Irrecoverable Knowledge within Irrecoverable Social Networks?

Ok, so being a novice, I am unsure whether I should repost a post from my original blog . . . or just transpose it here. I'm a newbie with this, so please forgive my stumblings before I figure it out :)

A good friend and National Defense recruiting guru, Christopher Young (@chrismarkyoung), forwarded me an NYT article today, "… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on January 8, 2010 at 11:30am — No Comments

Quality-of-Hire Quandary Follow-Up (Charlie Weis, Brian Kelly, and Notre Dame)

Good afternoon, Everyone! Recently, I wrote a post over at FistfulofTalent.com (FOT) about Charlie Weis and his QOH debacle with Notre Dame. You can see the original article… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on December 18, 2009 at 12:12pm — 2 Comments

What Makes Me A Smart Recruiter

Ok, so I'm a little late to the 'Smart Recruiter' party, but I'll take a shot at this (at the risk of sounding pompous, of course). Here are the top 5 reasons I'm a 'Smart Recruiter':

1. Because I help Internal Recruiting Leaders with 'financial speak' when it comes to increasing their budgets and justifying an investment philosophy toward their critical/pivotal talent pools. This sounds cliche, but it isn't - I know of no other Executive Recruiter that helps their Clients get a… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on January 15, 2009 at 3:02pm — No Comments

My New Candidate: Mucky, Guitar Legend (C'Mon, It's Friday!!!)

Have you met my candidate, Mr. Mucky, Guitar Legend?

I'm open to splits :)

Added by Joshua Letourneau on November 7, 2008 at 1:55pm — No Comments

Firefox Mkt Share Grows to 20% . . . Why, You ask? Could it be . . . "Porn Mode"???

Firefox Mkt Share Grows to 20% . . . Why, You ask? Could it be . . . "Porn Mode"??? :)

Added by Joshua Letourneau on November 7, 2008 at 8:50am — No Comments

Blogs Influence Consumer Purchases More Than Social Networks?

Yep, apparently so . . . at least per the referenced Jupiter Research / Buzzlogic Consumer Survey of 4/2008.

Here's the image here.…

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Added by Joshua Letourneau on November 4, 2008 at 3:55pm — No Comments

One Person CAN Make A Difference! (And Kudos To OnRec!)

I've had quite a few conversations over the last several years how it often appears that the same organizations seem to win recruiting awards year after year after year. Frankly, I think this is rightfully so - if you're better than the competition, you should win out. At the same time, I think that there should be a "Lifetime Achievement Award" for the consistently usual suspects :)

So this year, I noticed that OnRec was… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on September 25, 2008 at 5:10pm — 1 Comment

Who Says Talent Acquisition Can't Be As Strategic As This???????

You know, I'm a huge fan of strategy. Scratch that - I absolutely love strategy. Frankly, I can't get enough of it. If I'm not reading a new business book, I'm probably checking out a new magazine looking for strategy cues . . . then linking them back mentally to Talent Acquisition.

In a space dominated by discussions that always focus on the tactical ("What new technology apps can further automate our recruiting process?", "What tools can help me get more names?", "What incremental… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on September 22, 2008 at 3:29pm — No Comments

"Relative to When this Major Competitive Move [Recruiting/Talent Acq] Hit the Market, When Did You Learn About It?"

I thought it might be worthwhile to share the following chart with everyone at RBC. If you think about this chart, it's more about game theory and competitive response than anything else . . . so my question is, what if you focused purely on the 'innovation' element relative to recruiting or talent acquisition?

How would that change the responses here? My take is that most competitors are not keeping tabs on competitors relative to their 'plays' or 'moves' to improve their relative… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on September 18, 2008 at 6:03pm — No Comments

Honesty and Social Media: Is It Just Me? Or Does Anyone Else Consider These Things?

Funny question for all of you . . . because this very situation here shows me what can be so refereshing about social media: Honesty.

At the same time, I will admit that providing an honest response to John's question makes me consider that it may upset some people . . . and let's keep it real - doing so can impact our personal brand. A quick cost-benefit… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on September 18, 2008 at 12:30pm — 3 Comments

LinkedIn Unplugged - Patrick Crane (VP Mktg, LI) on the Connections Show

The VP of Marketing at LinkedIn, Patrick Crane, was the guest of the Connections Show this week (with Stan Relihan).

Here's what Patrick Crane had to say about what's coming in the near future:

"Much Better Group Capability

Create more of a private discussion area where you can connect with like minded people that you may or may not know and uncover new… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on September 9, 2008 at 5:22pm — No Comments

"NFIB Index Points to Higher Increase in Jobless Rate"

I don't like to repost articles unless the original is worth a true investment of your time - I think this is one of those times:

Optimism Components Net % Change

Plan to increase employment 2 -3

Plan to increase capital outlays* 25 -1

Plan to increase inventories -4 -3

Expect economy to improve -12 0

Expect higher real sales -11 -8

Current inventory satisfaction -3 -2

Current job openings* 15 -6

Expected credit conditions -10 +1

Now a… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on September 9, 2008 at 10:09am — No Comments

I Want To Come Back To Life As Wowee the Chimpanzee

I've been thinking about one of my posts of old regarding how recruiters who ask you want kind of animal you'd like to return to life as rival the IQ of a prairie dog . . .

And today, I've determined the answer:

Wowee the Chimpanzee

Added by Joshua Letourneau on August 27, 2008 at 4:15pm — No Comments

Social Media’s REAL Value: “Consumer Generated Insights”

In reading a report from Aberdeen Research on “Customer 2.0: The Business Implications of Social Media”, I learned that of their data set, Best-in-Class organizations demonstrated the following:

a. 100% improved year-over-year performance in Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI). The avg increase was an aggregate 11% ROMI.

b. 82% improved year-over-year performance in customer retention. The avg increase was an… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on August 27, 2008 at 1:20pm — 4 Comments

"Making Talent a Strategic Priority": Thoughts From the Fringe (Part 1)

The new McKinsey Quarterly came out today, and thus, it is a good day. Of particular interest is the article titled, "Making Talent A Strategic Priority", by Guthridge, Komm, and Lawson. For those of you who, much like me, have trouble digesting 3,000 any later than 2 hours post-coffee (or Green Tea for the caffeniatically-challenged), I'm going to translate and focus on those elements to… Continue

Added by Joshua Letourneau on August 21, 2008 at 2:30pm — 3 Comments