By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, an Affiliate Partner, JobMachine Inc. (720) 733-2022

ERE held its third annual Global Staffing Expo in Amsterdam, the Netherlands from November 14th to 16th.

Global ERE Expo 2007 explored a broad range of hiring and workforce management issues, including workforce projections, employer branding, metrics, sourcing, recruitment technology, and other topics that are affecting the global recruiting industry.

I had the pleasure of attending given my passion for sharing global perspectives among fellow colleagues in the staffing industry. As part of my continuing effort to research perspectives and identify fundamental patterns among recruiters, multi-media marketing, and the role of demographics, I had a direct opportunity to evaluate diverse methods of recruitment, job boards, blogging, and both regional and country-specific social networking platforms with attendees from 28 countries. The War for Talent is truly global as suspected, and the gathering of global industry leaders was impressive and thought provoking in navigating the conference through issues both familiar and new. Thanks to David Manaster, Kate, and Amy at ERE, I was exceptionally gratified to have joined such a gathering of elite staffing leaders with a steller conference agenda.

I arrived Sunday, 11th of November after a 14 hour flight and pitched tent at the Grand Krasnapolsky Hotel in the center of Amsterdam and ventured the next two days breathing in the sights, sounds and culture of this international city - the most diverse in the world. By Tuesday I relocated to the Hilton Amsterdam Hotel and enjoyed a rich, strategic dialogue with my good friends, Jorrit Blok, Blogger at RecruitingFacts.nl and CEO & Founder of Otys Recruiting Technology and Keith Robinson, former COO of TotalJobs.com, and Founder & CEO of Kangarooster on the future development of European Recruitment Industry associations. Jorrit was in fact, a superb host throughout my stay and a pivotal contributor in developing my contacts within Holland, whereas Keith was essential in introducing me to a broad delegation from the UK.

During my business trip, I had the pleasure of getting to spend substantial quality time with thought leaders Susan Burns and Kevin Wheeler, two of the most engaging personalities I have come to know within the industry. They made the closing nights of the event memorable - from the halls of the conference to the streets of Amsterdam long past midnight. Two friends of noteworthy presentation caliber, I should mention were Frank Mulligan, fellow Blogger, Owner at Accetis International, Recruit China & Talent Software and Sanjay Singh, Vice President, Human Resources at Whirlpool of India. I have spoken to Frank via Skype and long held him in admiration for his expertise in APAC, China specifically - but he should truly spread his wings further and share his knowledge given the breadth of detail and context he gave on the Chinese talent market. Likewise can be said of Sanjay, who has overseen staffing/HR at several India branches of Fortune 500 companies. He has a thirst for input, able to dissect the cultural and infrastructure issues pertinent to the Indian market and a warm soul I am fortunate to have befriended.

Thank You to Teresa Toller for appreciating the value of the trip. I look forward to sharing more with all of you

More to follow…