From Chuck Hudgins' Blog: $ apropos

Over the course of the last few posts, I have fleshed out what I take to be the important aspects/core concepts of cloud recruiting. Two of the main points were:

Making use of social networking technology (using the same technology that makes up the cloud to connect others to the cloud)

Understanding that, in order to harness the power of free and apply Google's model, recruiters need to provide a service to candidates and clients alike: effective and productive professional networking

I can (and eventually will) break both of these down into several stages/parts. But basically I take these two concepts to be at the heart of what cloud recruiting should be. I will start with a focus on the technological side of things. Which social networking tools should we be using and how should we use them?

I think the best place to start is with a tool that helps individuals organize and stay on top of their social networking efforts: Asurion Mobile Applications' AddressBook. While the product is not out yet (you can sign up for the beta here), it should be available fairly soon, and for a number of different platforms although I am guessing that the iPhone is up first.

What it does: AddressBook essentially tracks all of the social networking activity between you and the people in the address book in your smart phone. For each individual, you decide which service that you would like to track (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and AddressBook will show you every interaction that you have had with that individual when he/she is selected in your AddressBook. The initial benefit should be pretty obvious here. Staying on top of interactions with candidates and clients can be a fairly intensive process when those interactions are spread out over a dozen or so social networking services. This application allows you to respond "directly from your address book with a call, email, IM or status update." The app also allows you to set up "Smart Contacts" which allows easier access to services such as plane and hotel reservations.


what are we going to do with this aside from keeping track of who said what and when? Without a hands on evaluation, it is hard to talk about exactly what the app will what it won't. However, there are a few things to be said about the convenience and efficiency that this app would offer. First, it is one thing to have mobile access to Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.; but it is another thing entirely to have access to everything that an important contact has said on several different services with just a few clicks (maybe just two...). What's more, having easy access to this information from a mobile device for several individuals affords networking opportunities that might have been harder to notice without a more thorough and time consuming search.

Think about it this way. Professional networking is largely a matter of knowing who needs what (and/or who) and when. Typically this information takes a while to round up when it is coming from a number of different sources whoe are using a number of different services. This app affords you the ability to determine more easily and more quickly the flow of talent needs in your professional network. Of course it also offers you the ability to respond to issues (read: put out fires) more quickly.

More on Monday...

Chuck