Posts Tagged ‘SourceCon’

Margo Rose, Social Networker Of The Year

Ok, let’s face it, we all love it when we win awards.  Moments ago, I just won an Ammy awarded to me by my peer, the Recruiting Animal on his BlogTalkRadio show.  This meant the world to me because last year I won an award by this man that was nice, but it didn’t make me beam with pride.  This award however, it really boosted my spirit.  It was such an honor.  In fact, I had a  ”Sally Fields Academy Award Moment.”  Do you remember when she received the Academy Award?  Filled with an ebullient spirit, she trembled at the podium, and with a poignant tear running down her cheek, she exclaimed, “You like me, you really like me.”

That is how I felt, liked.  That felt, really good.  The second level of Abraham Maslow’s heirarchy of needs suggests that a sense of belonging is critical to our psyche.  Feeling a “sense of place,” in our professional community is equally important to our emotional well-being.  The world of blogtalkradio is very niche’ and segmented according to one’s interest.  If you are good at what you do in your industry, and you have a compelling voice, you will garner quite a following.  My colleagues in the recruiting community are perhaps the most important of all.  The are my people, and I welcomed among them.

Even though I am not a recruiter, they have welcomed me among them as a job search candidate advocate.  They also acknowledge my savvy networking skills, and ability to identify partners, and bring the right people around the table for a project.  When ERE and SourceCon gave me a blogging pass last year, I was able to learn, and renew my skills in recruiting, and sourcing.  It had been more years than I could count since I swam in that pond.  My knowledge base was rusty.

With that said, whenever I put myself to task to renew my knowledge, or learn something new I forge ahead with such a fire in my belly that I do not stop until I have mastered the information, and position myself in that arena as a thought leader.  I am a masterful social networker.  In all fairness, I’ve been networking my entire life.  I was born and bred to do so.  It runs in the family.

The reason why this award meant something to me is that it was an acknowledgement of my greatest skill-set.  When your boss praises you for a job well done, and you know in your heart that indeed you did do that job well, it just feels right, and in encourages peak performance.  That is how I feel today.  Now, The #Ammys are a joke on Twitter, and BlogTalkRadio.  Anyone can nominate themselves for an award given by the recruiting animal.  However, I did not nominate myself for this one.  Nor, did I nominate myself for The Twitterbug of The Year Award in 2009.  Ironically, the award I submitted myself for was for the compassionate human resources award, which I did not receive.  Looking back, the recruiting animal knows better than me.  He always has, and his advice to me professionally has been spot on accurate.

Are you following @Animal? Do you listen to his Blogtalkradio show?  Number 1, add him as a contact.  Number 2, go to the website on his twitter page.  Number 3, follow his blogtalkradioshow.  It’s on every Wednesday at Noon eastern standard time.  That is my call to action.  Be a call to action person.

I am a community driven activist.  I believe not just in social networking, I believe in social action, hence my launch of The #HireFriday movement.  It was, and continues to be my passion piece.  Will I ever actually monetize it?  That remains to be seen.  My hands are so busy with my work in Social Media Community Management that it is hard to see the forest from the trees.  I love my work, both volunteer, and professional.  I love my social network community.  I love the people in my life whom I hold dear.  You know who you are.  It is in the spirit of love that I end this post.  I am grateful for your presence in my professional and personal life.

Sincerely,

Margo Rose, M.Ed., Human Resource Development

Founder of #HireFriday

Social Media Community Manager for ICUC Moderation Services, and AMC Theatres

http://linkedin.com/in/margorose

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First, I will give you an overview.  Second, I will introduce you to our conference speakers, and Third, I will give an editorial of what I learned. By the end of this post, the learner will have a taste of what was discussed at SourceCon today, and be able to experiment with at least one of the tools presented. I want to begin by saying everything I know about sourcing can be stuffed in a thimble.  I realize I only a little, but my appetite for learning is unrivaled.  The fact my sourcecon community is so generous with their teachings, we can all learn, practice new skills, and grow with the best of them.  You see, even the best of the best realize their own humanity, and limitations.  Perhaps, that’s why I love them so, genuinely.   The sourcer community is Margo’s muse.

SourceCon brings together the braintrust of knowledge brokers.  World Class recruiters proved that the gold standard for recruitment and the art of candidate sourcing is alive and well.  Today I learned that sourcing, one of the most admirable professions in the industry, is both a science, and an art.  It encompasses true intellectual capital, and competitive–internet intelligence–and interpersonal contact both by phone & the open sourced web.  Semantic machine learning was discussed, (I’m obsessed with artificial intelligence) as were boolean search strings.

 In fact secrets sprang forth from the vault to offer the participant the ability to practice, and master new skills. (Lots of backchannel fun with @Jer425 of Starbucks.) Part of the fun is engaging and interacting with participants via twitter. I first met Jeremy Langhans when I covered The ERE Foundation during SourceCon in San Diego. The ERE Poker Game funds charities around the world. Turns out Jeremy likes starbucks pumpkin spiced lattes (we share that passion). Gerry Crispin, Jer, and the gang and I became fast friends.

When Shally gave away his super sleuth secrets, he didn’t spoon feed us, rather he gave us examples, and the sweet smell & taste of what is possible.  Go and experiment, he said.  He empowered us to search, learn be humble, and never, ever fall asleep at the wheel.  You see regardless how powerful and advanced semantic search capacity on the “open web,” people program machines.  Before I get too carried away with my unbridled enthusiasm for the “sport” of sourcing (yes, I said it’s like a competitive sport) let me introduce the speakers.  They are as follows:

Led by our chairperson Eric Jaquith, (click to read my interview with Eric) this year’s speaker lineup includes sourcing experts such as:

• Glen Cathey
• Gary Conway
• Jeff Eveler
• Chris Gould
• Kristin Kalscheur
• Earl Mann
• Shannon Myers
• Michael Notaro
• Tim O’Connor
• Maureen Sharib
• Shally Steckerl

Our first Key Note Speaker was Glen Cathey.   I have a soft spot in my heart for him because he works behind the scenes with egoless aplomb.  Glen allowed me to interview him for my blog.  He didn’t judge me for being a reporter, rather he was gracious, and kind. Glen is, in my opinion, a man shrouded in mystery.  You see, his clients pay him to be low key, and in so doing, he can find the candidates that most people miss.  He is a world-wide consultant, and one of the most sought after professionals in our space?  Why?  I think it’s because he’s humble, and could care less about the spot light.  He can monitor intelligence, and human capital like few others because he’s not just using the technology he’s creating it.  That’s right he’s an inventor, and an innovator.  While he’d probably blush, and disagree, I’d argue he is the smartest man in the room today.  I don’t know much about sourcing, but I do know how to spot a genius when I see one.  I was watching him present…with my eyes glued to the computer…it was as if I were watching a gripping mystery on the silver screen.  His animated presentation had the audience oooo-ing, and ahhhhhhhh-ing, and virtually sitting on the edge of their chairs.

Here’s a sample tweet:
#sourcecon @GlenCathey faceoff data mining vs. Cold calling–Like I’ve always said, you’ll never get the sale you don’t ask for, so why not go for the call of action before you leave the room?  Glen is my favorite because, like me, he’s interested in machine learning.  Now, people program machines, but the day of semantic machine learning becoming status quo is not to far into the future.  In fact the CIA thinks boolean is passe’.  Glen broke it down for us.  Anyone that can articulately describe semantic search, the open web, and universal intelligence is aces in my book.  Ok enough gushing.  Read the post I wrote about him this year.

Via AmyBeth Hale, blogged live-and as a gifted writer, broke it down for the participants, for example she defined the term “cryptology” the study of obscure and obfuscated information:

Cryptology, by definition, is the practice and study of hiding information. A good cryptologist is not only good at hiding information, he/she is also good at uncovering it. It is imperative to pay close attention to details when sniffing out hidden data; it can be a tiring task and is not for the faint of heart. Eveler mentioned the word “vigilance” when referring to what makes a good sourcer. This means watchfulness, the process of paying close and continuous attention. As a way of being vigilant in sourcing, he shared with the room a way to map out talent intelligence, broken down into eight categories.  Thanks AmyBeth. Great live blogging.

Personally I loved our third speaker.  His candor and nod to our fallen Heroes from 911 brought tears to my eyes.  I wept as he spoke.  You see, I want to start an off shoot of HireFriday.  HireAHero & HireAVet are the perfect companion to the grass roots movement and community that is #HireFriday.  Let’s give our first responders and military vets a second chance.  They rescued us, NOW let’s extend our helping hands to them.

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PunkATL Eric with two great women of HR Laurie Ruettimann and Chris Havrilla

Eric Jaquith

Eric Jacquith is ubiquitous, he’s an enigma, and  he wants to keep it that way.  He’s so successful exactly because he lurks in the shadows sourcing,  providing recruiting strategy, and executive project management for global talent management initiatives.  He’s a consultant extraordinaire.  Just ask anyone in Atlanta.  Just ask anyone in the sourcing & recruiting communities.  He’s a back channel ninja, in search of the candidates that don’t want to found.  He finds candidates that other recruiters miss because he looks in places others don’t.  Because of his low profile, his clients can trust that he can keep their secrets in confidence.  Eric is a man of integrity and loyalty, that’s what his clients appreciate.

Last week, I interviewed him on the phone.  He spoke candidly about his background off the records.  As a blogger of integrity, when someone tells me “this is off the record,” I respect their confidence, and that is why I’m able to interview the best HR/Recruiting professionals.  What I can and will do is review his session from SourceCon and ERE.

SourceCon was by far the most valuable conference I’ve attended in the past 5 years. One session stands out heads above the rest.  Eric Jaquith’s presentation was brilliant.  I loved how he described his method of internet competitive strategy.  While I can’t share everything in one post, I can tell you this much.

His session detailed the importance of having the competitive advantage without becoming a “target.”

According to Jaquith, sourcing is about GETTING Coverage, and finding people.  Finding the right person for a position is a science, and an art. 

He asked, “how many people in the room were just sourcers, and how many were recruiters” Less than half the attendees were sourcers and the other half were full life cycle recruiters.   Then he asked how many of you have more than one profile on linkedin to attract a wide range of candidates. Let’s see a show of hands?  If you don’t have more than one linkedin profile; you don’t belong here.  Jaws dropped, controversy stirred, I smiled with glee.  In the back of my mind I was thinking, “I really like this guy.”  He knows how to break things down. 

For instance, he suggests that sourcing can be broken down 3 ways.

3 sections of sourcing/recruiting are as follows:

1. The Find
2. The Engage
3. The Share

Some people are better at finding information better than others. People are better suited to different areas of recruiting based on their temperament. Sourcers are specialists. One of the more interesting points Jaquith made is “ how NOT to use social media.”   With a plethora of people discussing how to use social media, it was refreshing hear how not to use it.  He described the strategy.

He stated, “The opposite of recruiting is privacy and confidentiality.” Some clients want do not want to advertise a position, but they want to know who is the best candidates might be.  That’s where good sourcers come into play.  Many candidates that fit the description don’t have linkedin profiles, or resumes.

Interestingly, Eric doesn’t tweet, blog, nor connect with professionas on facebook.  He said it’s because his clients don’t want him to, and he doesn’t want to found.  He does NOT give away his competitive advantage.  That’s why he’s so good at what he does.  Here’s his strategy in a nutshell—in order to be really competitive, working privately, and confidentially is very important.

The next critical point he made gels with my knowledge of personality typology.   For the past decade I have led seminars and led groups to interpret their MBTI and DiSc profiles.  People have individual temperaments.  Based on their temperament, they are going to excel some skills, and not at others.  For example, Jaquith said there are two primary types of sourcers:

1. Typers
2. Talkers

Recruiting is a team sport.  Typers are the research people.  Researchers (internet sourcers) are typers.  The talkers are the phone sourcers.  Sourcers are the people who get the leads.  Most “typers” would rather lie on a bed of nails than talk on the phone.  They want get off the phone, and give what they find to the “talker.”   Then there are logistic experts.   According to Jacquith that is his specialty.

In order to be a good sourcer, one has to be innovative, curious and have the mindset of a hacker.  I liken it to being like a scent hound.  You catch the scent, and follow it until you find it!  Eric introduced us to lots of tips and tools.   Some of the tips were simple, for instance, when speaking with a candidate, always ask for a number where s/he can receive texts, and where he can send secure email.  Most candidates can’t, and should receive recruiter correspondence at work.  So he makes sure he compiles his candidate’s information in a safe and effective manner.

Here’s a laundry list of tools Jacquith suggested we add to our sourcing tool kit.

1. Get a Jigsaw account-data base of business call data.  1 million people have accounts. It has information other sources don’t have.
2. Ixcitable for I Phone is a great app. “Ix” will give you valuable information to compile data.
3. Zip-code.com can search jobs in a zip radius

Google’s navi-guide, takes in zip code and the center where the loc is Circle radius center

Microsoft users:  He suggested sourcers set up separate profiles to compile information from each tool.  He even suggested using the names of family members to keep them separate.  Set up another user for different accounts e.g.: Microsoft 2010 is in beta, Firefox.

He also recommends investigating the following tools:

1. Outlook Social Connector
2. TOKBOx
3. OOVOO 6 way party calling with web cam conference call. Candidates don’t have to have soft ware.  Use it cheap and easy with colleagues.  This allows you to do one to one
4. Gist.com It allows you to bring information in about your contacts from twitter, facebook, and LinkedIn.  He recommend that you don’t load all the contact information at the beginning of the set up.
5. LinkedIn Connector: this is a tool he believes every sourcer ought to use.

Jaquith is like a breath of fresh air.  If you have more questions, I suggest you contact him.  This was by far the highlight of my ERE/Sourcecon experience

Eric Jaquith is on linkedin http://linkedin.com/in/jaquith

Email: Eric@dailyresumes.com
Calls preferred +1 (770) 598-2751

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Today, I spoke with the brilliant, Recruiting/Social Media Consultant, Eric Jacquith.  My next post will feature my review of his session at Sourcecon, and a few professional insights as well.

Later, I will review Glen Cathey‘s session about Sematic Search and Artificial Intelligence.

In addition, I will write an informational post about my guests on Monday 4/5 Compassionate HR blogtalkradio program.  The “Monster” show promises to be quite the eye opening experience.  The show will be expanded from the 30 minutes to 1 hour to accommodate the extraordinary information that my guests will share about corporate philanthropy, and the joy of volunteer work in the community.  My guests include Lew Karabatsos the Vice President, Corporate Philanthropy and Workplace Communications for Monster Worldwide; John Kofi Sanful is the Executive Director of Career Gear, and Suzanne Elliot, Executive Vice President of Resource Development and Strategic Marketing at Dress for Success.

I have so many exciting things in the works and I look forward to sharing all of them with you, so stay tuned.

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You can’t go anywhere in the recruiting industry without hearing two names uttered: Gerry Crispin and Glenn Gutmacher. Master consultants, they lead our industry with the vision of leadership. Glen and Gerry equally impressed me because of their commitment to developing our future leaders. Not just in our industry, but in many industries, Crispin and Gutmacher wave the flag of corporate responsibility.
Compassionate HR is committed to shining a light on great leaders doing great things. In the words of Gerry Crispin, Board member of ERE: “World Class Recruiters are not just people who are good at what they do, they are individuals who are doing great things in their communities.”

Tune in this evening and hear their stories. Glen was kind enough to post the following paragraph on Arbita’s website:

Beyond Job Boards on CompassionateHR Blog Talk Radio

Glenn Gutmacher
Arbita’s Glenn Gutmacher and recruiting industry guru Gerry Crispin are the guests on the next edition of the popular online radio show, Compassionate HR, hosted by Margo Rose (also known as HRMargo). The topic will be “Beyond Job Boards”, the methods behind the popular webinar developed by Glenn and Shally that help job-seekers expand their methods for finding full-time or project work by using completely free online methods. Gerry is involved because he invited Glenn to present the webinar for the alumni association of his alma mater, Stevens Institute of Technology (one of several universities whose alumni associations have raved about Glenn and this webinar). Together, they will talk about this innovative example of how world-class recruiting research / sourcing methods can be flipped to benefit the job-seeker community — techniques that are 100% free to job-seekers to implement — in a way that scales better than 1-on-1 career counseling (though that’s very important work, too!) and open the discussion to other ways that recruiters can give back as well.

Login on Monday, March 22 at 7:30pm US Eastern Daylight Time / 4:30pm US Pacific to listen and/or ask your questions at

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/comphr

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