Having spent 11 days, plus the intervening weekends online working, either as part of #myjobhunt or on activities for The FIRM, my wife convinced me to take a day off and to be honest I was ready for it. So what did I do? I got up at 5am logged on and spent the next 5 hours working! I got Day 11 written up and posted; I replied to a number of important emails and had general chatter in Soc Med world. The good thing about getting up and online at that time of day is that we are all there; USA, Europe and Australia – one big community sharing the same discussions. The down side is that I needed much much more sleep and probably a good job I decided I needed a day off.


That was the plan anyway. I only had one thing in my calendar for today; a coffee with Peter Gold of Hire Strategies. I’ve only known Peter for just over a year and always found him to be very good company and very knowledgeable on technology in the recruiting space, especially the evaluation and section of ATS offerings and the adaptation of Social Media platforms for talent attraction and pooling purposes.

On the way to meet Peter I had a very interesting conversation by phone with Mervyn Dinnen of CourtenayHR. Mervyn is someone who I got to know as a direct result of Tweeting about music, Rush in particular at the start of this year and then found out he worked for an agency. Oh well too late, could’ve been more careful. Only kidding! Mervyn is one of the good guys and has become a pretty good friend. Not only do I find his council and conversation entertaining on all levels but he has been in the recruiting business for over 20 years and has a wealth of valuable experience that he is generous in sharing.

Whilst I was online first thing this morning I noticed that Mervyn and I had both read a tweet from Greg Savage in Australia, writer of The Savage Truth. Greg had put up a video blog in which he discussed how and why the phone should not be neglected in favour of Tweeting, IM, email and texting as the primary source of interaction for recruiters. In the subsequent late morning conversation with Mervyn we touched upon this and whilst we both agreed with Greg, Mervyn despite his years (sorry, depth of experience) was able to see it from the perspective of Gen Y, insofar that if that is what they are used and how they as a social community communicated, then perhaps evolution tells us that we need to adapt and change rather than force the old and established practices onto the new bread. Let’s face it there is a big convenience to it. Mervyn conveyed an example to me that he’d experienced today – he may blog about it himself so I won’t steel his thunder, but it might be said that there is limited loyalty or obligation attached to anonymous and remote interaction and thus many Gen Y feel more comfortable as a result. Just a thought.

I can see the point and obviously from my experiences over the last few months, in particular the last couple of weeks there has to be something in the power of online or remote interaction. But, and it is a big but, as a recruiter I believe and know I cannot do my job without speaking to people. I would rather phone someone for conversation just as Greg explains in the video, using the convenience of email or other online communications to confirm details of that conversation, such as appointments or agreed upon action items. I would also rather get off my butt and visit someone’s desk to speak with them face to face than rely on IM, DM or the phone. They appreciate it and I need the exercise! You can only truly build trust and a working relationship with face to face high-touch interaction. His is as true as a job seeker or as a recruiter or hiring manager.

So how does this fit into #myjobhunt – easy. I have spoken with so many people in the last two weeks. – I hate to think what my phone bill will be like! - Yes I’ve used Twitter DM, IM, email and text but the majority of each day, even a day off like today has been spent on the phone or in the company of others. I never pass up the chance to speak with people. Not only might they be able to help me but I might be able to help them.

So a day off from my job of finding a job and yet I applied for two new jobs directly with the hiring managers, had an interesting conversation with another trying to arrange an interview and sowed some seeds for further discussion over the next week or two. Not bad for a day off.

I am back on the hunt tomorrow. Although I have a social in the morning I will be able to make calls on the way to and coming back from that. I have an interview early afternoon and another call in the evening to further investigate an opportunity mentioned in Day 8.

Music of the Day – Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull yes all 43 mins of it