Comment by Michael Johnson on November 28, 2008 at 4:19pm

i think i'll stay away....wow!

Comment by Steve Fogarty on November 29, 2008 at 3:06pm

Laurie, that may be the case, and if so we should find out why and how they build this sense of community and replicate it in the recruiting world. When I went in there people were buying like crazy.

Comment by John Sumser on November 29, 2008 at 4:00pm

That's a really interesting insight, Steve. I wonder what you'd have to dd to instill that sense of community in a "talent Pool"? Probably it would involve getting them together both online and in public. Obviously, apple could do it as an outgrowth of the retail experience. Google already asks prospective employees to become a part of the Labs beta process. There must be a ton of ways to get potential employees engagegd in a community.

Comment by Steve Fogarty on November 29, 2008 at 5:12pm

Hey John...long time no talk. Like your groovy pic by the way.

I think it can easily be done if we just focus on it. I mean look at what Jason built here. It's an amazing community and we come here because we get to recharge our minds with information from other people in the industry, and we can gauge what we are doing against what others are doing. We also get to reconnect with people that we have met along the way within our industry. The same can be done with our candidates. The problem is most recruiting teams can't afford to hire a person like Jason to keep a site alive like this. It would mean convincing management that you need someone almost full time focussed on community building. Now some may say that this shouldn't be hard but I can tell you that my resources are very finite and this would most likely be considered a luxury. I would be interested to know if anybody has cracked the code on this though.

Also...while I agree with Laurie I think there is something bigger going on with Apple. They have created an amazing emotional connection with their product. I'm working on my iMac right now and this thing is just sexy. It's the first thing you see when you walk into my house. I have it in the center of my space. Watch people in airports playing with their iPhones. It may as well be their second wife or girlfriend. It's the equivalent of lifting a 95 lb. dumbell as the hottest girl in the gym walks by. I think you get the point I'm trying to make. And if you dispute that think about the guy sitting next the guy with the Apple who has the HP sitting on his lap. I kind of imagine this guy wearing Dockers, a shirt tucked in so far it's touching his knees and he is thinking about how to merge cell A and cell B for his presentation. I'm obviously exaggerating to make a point. Apple is just fantastic at making people feel hot when they own their product. I think this is what drives people in flocks to their stores. Now how do we make people feel the same when they come work for our companies or take on a new job?

Comment by Michael Hanson on December 3, 2008 at 1:02pm

The sense of community that Apple builds with its customer base is unparalleled. It can be replicated - but a company needs to understand that what Apple has devised is an "all or nothing" strategy. Everyone, and I mean everyone, who works for Apple makes the Mac community their number one priority which in turn leads to loyalty. Throw in some fantastic design and add a little maverick attitude and it's a win, win, win scenario. Other companies have tried to do this but their failure comes from executing the strategy whole heartedly from the top down. This is something you can't "piecemeal" ... you gotta own it, live it and breathe it.

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