O Canada

This week has been crazy, first getting accosted in a mall parking lot on the way to RecruitFest, and then the fantastic RecruitFest event itself (and an even better party afterword), and followed on Thursday a chance to meet the team at Rypple and Halogen.

If you don't know about Rypple, you really should take some time and check out their service.

Designed to enable individuals to solicit anonymous feedback from trusted advisors, colleagues, friends, customers, or students, it is a fantastically simple, yet powerful solution.  Users craft a simple and concise question, and get feedback that they can use to improve their performance.  The feedback is stored by Rypple, so users can track their performance over time.

Rypple was selected to present as the Cool New Technologies session at next week's HR Technology Conference, and I recommend you check out what is happening at Rypple, the team is constantly improving and innovating and some really interesting new features are in the works.

I left the team at Rypple to head to Ottawa, home of Halogen Software, a provider of strategic talent management solutions and a long time supporter of my HR Technology class.  Halogen continues to innovate in the talent management space, with the recent release of next generation Talent Profiles and and a new Activity Tracker, that collects all activity related to performance and development and presents the information in a consolidated feed.

And most fun of all, today Friday September 26 at 6PM EDT the folks from Halogen will be my guests on the HR Happy Hour show - 'Talent and Technology'.  We will be talking about the role technology can play in helping organizations manage, assess, and optimize talent to help the organization meet its strategic objectives.  Since we are in Canada, I imagine we will also talk a little hockey and perhaps enjoy a few Tim Horton's donuts.

Thanks again to Connie, Maggie, Brent, Donna, Sean and the entire Halogen team for welcoming me to Halogen and letting me broadcast the show from Halogen HQ.

The Hard Sell on the Road to RecruitFest

The hard sell
Originally uploaded by steveboese

On the way to RecruitFest 2009, at about 10PM while I was waiting in the parking lot of the Galleria Mall in Buffalo (a longer story), I got approached by three guys in really cheap suits that handed my this DVD. They wanted my e-mail address, asked if I had a job, etc.b

These guys apparently run some kind of multi-level marketing program or something.

My question to them was, is your target market really random dudes (me) hanging out in mall parking lots at 10PM on a Tuesday?

It reminds me of the old Groucho Marx line, 'I would not want to be a member of a club that would have me'.

Weird and random I know.

Social Networking vs. CB Radio

I am hitting the road later today traveling to Toronto for RecruitFest, meeting with the great folks at Rypple, then on to Ottawa to visit my friends at Halogen Software (and do a live HR Happy Hour show).

I am driving so there will be lots of time in the car, and that pretty much means lots of time 'off the grid' and disconnected from social media and networks.

Too bad I don't have my old CB Radio.I could do some 'old-school' social networking in the car.

For those who don't remember CB's check out the lengthy article on Wiikipedia.

CB Radio culture was celebrated in movies, television, and music.

In many ways the CB Radio was the early form of technology-enabled social networking.  The band served many of the same purposes that social networks like Twitter do today, news, ('the bridge is out on I-77'), inside information, ('Kojak with a Kodak on US46'), and pure socializing, ('Breaker one-two, this is Greasemonkey, anyone have their ears on, come back?').

But are today's social networks, like Facebook and Twitter superior to the classic CB Radio? 

The Tale of the Tape:

Feature	Social Networks	CB Radio	Advantage
Primary users	Pretty much everyone	Long haul truckers	CB Radio
Iconic figures	Robert Scoble, Ev, Jack	Betty Ford, Jackie Gleason	CB Radio
Star power	Hammer, Ashton Kutcher	Burt Reynolds	Push
Theme song	'United Breaks Guitars'	'Convoy'	Social Networks
Business Benefits	Connect with customers, prospects, candidates	Find cheap gas	Social Networks
Signature vehicles	Mini Cooper, Smart Car	Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am, Kenworth 18 Wheeler	CB Radio
'Anti-social' features	Multi-level-marketing	Disregard for traffic regulations	CB Radio
Networks fostered by	Friending, The 'ReTweet', 'Follow Friday'	Keeping each other out of jail, Truck Stop parties	CB Radio
Signal the end was near	Grandma is on Facebook	Cell phone technology	Social Networks

Well, it is clear- CB Radio tops Social Networks!

Time to figure out a new handle, I hope it doesn't wreck my personal brand.

Thanks to Jerry Albright for the original idea to write this post.

RecruitFest 2009

This week I am heading to RecruitFest 2009 in Toronto, Canada.

RecruitFest is a non-traditional event that is about building relationships and with a priority on face-to-face networking. It is focused on about taking your online relationships offline, which is certainly a good thing.

Technology plays such a key role in corporate recruiting today, and one of the main goals I have at RecruitFest is to try and get some insights on what the future holds in recruiting and especially in recruiting technology in these areas:

Candidate Experience

How can technology improve the candidate experience while also serving to support corporate initiatives? Most candidates revile the entire application process.  From arcane and lengthy online application processes, to lack of feedback, to a feeling that there are two different 'expert' answers to every job search question; candidates really are having a terrible time.

Corporate Data Analysis

What should companies be measuring when evaluating their recruiting efforts?  And what are the best technologies and strategies to make these measurements possible? Once you decide that 'Quality of Hire' is what you want to focus on, just what does a 'high quality' hire look like anyway? How much of little responsibility does recruiting have when a new hire does not work out?  And how do you pull all of this information together in a timely and understandable manner.

Impact of Social Recruiting

We all know that social networks and social media are influencing, altering, and perhaps fundamentally changing candidate job search and corporate job marketing. But to what extent is this really true? And is it really true only for the largest organizations with significant resources and massive budgets?  Can these tools and approaches really be utilized by small organizations and one or two person HR shops to try and level the playing field in the competition for the best talent.

While I expect to learn quite a bit at RecruitFest, the main reason I am attending is to meet in person so many great people I have interacted with online this year.  I think that is the real value of attending almost any event, and in particular one like RecruitFest.

I plan on posting from RecruitFest when I can and be sure to follow all the fun on Twitter under the #RecruitFest tag.

The HRevolution - November 6-7, 2009

Registration for the HRevolution, the first HR Blog/Social Media 'Unconference' is open and can be found here:

HREvolution Event page

The event will be held on November 6-7, 2009 in Louisville, Kentucky at the beautiful Seelbach Hilton.

I have been honored to be a part of the planning for the event, and am really excited to attend. I highly recommend anyone currently involved in or considering jumping in to the HR blogging and social media space to consider coming to the HRevolution. I think you will learn more in one day at the HRevoluton than in many months trying to sort this stuff out on your own.

We'll talk blogging, social media for HR, technology, and (maybe) even barbecue. To learn more about the HRevolution and to contribute your ideas check out the HRevolution wiki.

Costs are being kept low and a special rate of $119/night has been arranged for attendees of the HRevolution, be sure to mention 'HRevolution' when calling the Seelbach.

I hope to see you in Louisville!