As posted on the MN Headhunter blog:

Over the past four weeks, the two preceding the Minnesota Recruiters (un)Conference | Winter 2008 and the two since, the number of Recruiters and HR professionals in this informal group has grown significantly.

Leading up to the event there were around 340 members and now 485+.

Most of the growth is due to our friends and colleagues who have attended the events telling their friends, co workers, and colleagues about them.

I started a Minnesota Recruiters LinkedIn Group which combined with the Minnesota Recruiters web site has created networking opportunities for the group. This has helped keep the momentum going while we are between events.

What is below is a FAQ to introduce new people to the group:

Minnesota Recruiters FAQ’s (March 2008)

Web site:
www.minnesotarecruiters.com

LinkedIn group (Minnesota Recruiter and HR professionals):
http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/58696/58BAB676B50F

Newsletter:
1^st and 3^rd week of the month

Dues or fees?
This in an informal group so there are no dues and no fees for events. This is possible through sponsors who are committed to supporting the local Recruiter and HR community.

How many members and what is the make up of the group?
“Members” is a loose term. As of March 14, 2008 when combining those who have registered on the Minnesota Recruiters web site, joined the Minnesota Recruiters LinkedIn Group, attended an event, and/or asked to be added to the email list the number is 485+.

60% corporate
25% consulting/contracting firms
15% search firms/independent recruiters

How the group started:
The group started as an attempt to get the 11 local bloggers who write on career, HR, recruiter related topics together for lunch and through many conversations and some planning turned into an event at Best Buy corporate headquarters in July 2007 with 135 of our Recruiter and HR colleagues.

What is an (un)Conference, how often are they, how many attend, and why have them?
(un)Conferences are an informal get together of peers who listen to presenters and share their own experiences. We are very fortunate to have in our area national speakers and local experts on Recruiter and HR topics and they lead the conversations.

We will also be bringing in experts from around the country to present.

Topics are decided by those who are attending the events.

(un)Conferences are held quarterly (seasonally) and were held July 2007, November 2007, and February of 2008.

The main idea is less than 5% of the attendees have ever taken a trip to Orlando, Las Vegas, or where ever the big conferences are being held to spend 2-5 days and $3,000. In most cases there is not a budget or time to do so.

We are bringing that kind of information to these free events that take half a day.

The number of attendees has ranged from 125 to 135.

While doing these events and learning new recruiting techniques is an important part of what we are doing equally important is creating networking opportunities for everyone.

What topics have been presented?

July 2007:

• Intergenerational Recruiting
• MySpace, Facebook, and Other Social Network Sites: Best Practices for Recruiters
• Blogging as a Recruiting and Employer Branding Tool
• "Bringing Sexy Back" To Your Career Website

November 2007:

• Talent Acquisition "How NOT to put a Square Peg in a Round Hole"
• Top 10 SEO Tips For Company Job Boards
• Web Recruiting: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

February 2008:

• -A legal perspective on privacy issues in the work place, Googling candidates, use of blogs and social networking sites
• Changing labor market, demographics, statistics from the State of Minnesota
• The current state of the Twin Cities IT marketplace

When is the next event scheduled?
The Minnesota (un)Conference | Spring 2008 is set for May 16^th, 8 am – Noon, Noon – 2 pm Lunch and Networking at Best Buy Corporate Headquarters. We will be using the Best Buy Theater, a change from the previous conference room seating, and able to increase seating to around 200 attendees.

The Minnesota (un)Conference | Summer 2008 is tentatively scheduled for July 18^th with location TBD.

What is coming next for the group?
There have been many requests for a single topic session in a small group setting and for some sort of social activity, like a Happy Hour.

More will be announced on these ideas soon.

Group Sponsor and Co-Founder:

• Don Ramer, CEO of Arbita

Volunteers and Co-Founders:

• Paul DeBettignies, Coordinator of Minnesota Recruiters, Managing Partner of Nerd Search, blog writer MN Headhunter
• Nicole St. Martin, SEO expert, blog writer HR Search Marketing
• Josh Kahn, Sr Pipeline Generation Expert, Best Buy/Accenture HR Services
• Steven Rothberg, CEO and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com

How do I join?
In order “join” the Minnesota Recruiters group, do any (or all) of the following: create a profile on the Minnesota Recruiters web site; join the Minnesota Recruiters LinkedIn Group; send an email with "Add me to your list" in the subject line to paul@mnheadhunter.com

To request more information or ask a question not covered above, please contact:

Paul DeBettignies
Minnesota Recruiters
Co-Founder and Coordinator
paul@mnheadhunter.com