I think it’s intriguing to learn about what recruiters talk, and learn, about. Understanding what they are paying money for and what they are trying to incorporate into their business can help you understand how to better position yourself, whether you are in an active or passive job search.
Here’s parts of an agenda (full agenda here) from a recruiter conference… do you see a consistent theme? Browse through these and then I’ll make a conclusion at the end of the post:
Kristin Graham, VP Global Recruiting & Engagement, Expedia is going to talk about the new candidate… how the talent pool has changed since the recession. This sounds really, really interesting. She’ll talk about how to maintain credibility with different generations (including the high-tech high-touch candidates).
Stephen A. Lowisz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualigence will talk about a role the recruiter plays in helping the hiring manager realize what they want vs. what they can get. Interesting role I never really thought about.
Eric Winegardner, Vice President, Client Adoption, Monster.com and Marie Artim, Assistant VP of Recruiting, Enterprise Rent-A-Car will talk about the power of social media.
Shally Steckerl, EVP Arbita and Founder of JobMachine will talk about “key social media sourcing initiatives for 2010 and beyond.”
Rusty Rueff, Glassdoor.com Board Director will talk about the employment brand: Your employment brand is transparent! Yes, Really!” I hope he helps these people understand that when they treat candidates with disrespect that has a negative impact on the company.
Simon Conroy, CEO, Madgex will do a presentation called “Social Media Dreams and Digitally-enabled Fantasies.”
Traci Scovel, Sr. Program Manager, Genentech and Kasey Sixt, VP of Branding, CKR Interactive will give a presentation on getting started with social media by committing 15 minutes a day.
Gautam Godhwani, CEO and Co-Founder Simply Hired will talk about how to “prepare for the future of job search.” I bet he’ll talk a lot about Twitter and Facebook (it’s in the description).
Social Media is over 1/2 of the agenda!
This is what recruiters are scrambling to learn!
Where are you in your personal social media strategy? Are you “there?” Do you have a plan? Will these recruiters FIND YOU?
When they find you, will they be impressed and think that perhaps you are the exact person they were looking for?
Or… is it all just crickets? (that is, you aren’t there, you don’t exist)
Whether you are in a serious job search now, planning for one in the next couple of years, wanting to get promotions at your work or have your own business, I think it is time to SERIOUSLY figure out what your social marketing strategy means.
Another thing for job seekers to realize is that they also have more control in their search than they might realize. The same way that recruiters “find” them can be used for job seekers to identify the “right” internal recruiter for the job opening. Using these same tactics for locating candidates can be used to find the right gate keeper into a target company. It’s just a nice way to get control back in an active job hunt 😉
Jason, a great way for job hunters to see how their online identity looks to a recruiter is to “bing” yourself. This will give a great little snapshot of what someone looks like. Personal branding has never been so important!
Oh, and you ROCK btw with all your posts!
great points Heather, thanks for weighing in… as a recruiter, and one who genuinely cares about your candidates, I think you have excellent perspective.
When you say “bing” yourself I assume you mean do a search on http://www.bing.com (as opposed to google yourself, right?)?
Yes, I mean http://www.bing.com…. we “bing” it in our house 😉