So in 10 short days I’ll be on a plane to Boston to participate in RecruitFest! 2010 and yes, I’m really excited about the opportunity to attend and share some views with the participants. I’ve been diligently reading and making notes in an effort to sound semi-literate and prepared for our conversation.
Now I know that the first part of my session has been billed as a debate (hell even CBS Sunday Morning this week made reference to the Kennedy-Nixon debate) but I’d like to think that this will be a spirited conversation about employment branding and personal branding. However, I think Recruiters should be mindful of both in the social space. Why? Glad you asked.
I think that we as HR or recruitment professionals are at the crossroads of a revolution that will eventually increase the divide between the haves and the have not’s. In fact, we may think we’re only bit players, but we’re not. We’re characters shaping the landscape in the background. Recruiters that understand, embrace, and promote branding (employment and personal) in the new social landscape will have the advantage. They’ll be on the forefront of the talent attraction and recruitment space. The have not’s will be playing catch-up, trying to understand the trend and integrate it into their long term corporate strategy.
My 10th grade honors biology teacher Mr. Basnett once shared something with the class that resonates with me to this day. He told us that we were absolutely not going to use several of the concepts that he was teaching us unless we were going into the sciences as a career. What he was doing was teaching us how to think and express our thoughts critically. That has stayed with me for the past 22 years since I suffered though his class. Mr. Basnett was the high school equivalent of John Houseman’s character in “The Paper Chase”. For an entire year, I was asked “Mr. Nykolaiszyn what was the reading assignment?” and one day when I couldn’t answer he called me up to the dais to witness the big fat “F” he wrote in his grade book next to my name.
So that’s what I want people to come away with from my session. Let’s look at the concept and try to think critically. How will a greater understanding of this concept make me a better recruiter or HR professional? More importantly, how can I use this to make more money or beat my competition?
I know at the end of the conference we won’t be graded on our performance, but I don’t want to leave anything to chance.
See you all in Boston, it’s going to be a great time and you’ll absolutely come away better for attending or watching.
