Amitai Givertz’s Recruitomatic Blog

First bowler-hatted gentleman I can say was worth listening to. Interesting…

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No doubt, the organizers of the Society of Human Resources [SHRM] 63rd Annual Conference will tell you that their shindigs take a lot of advance planning. One assumes that includes their choice of venue, this year in Las Vegas.

Unable to substantiate my suspicions that the decision to congregate in the Mecca of smoke and mirrors had something to do with “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” I shall refrain from speculating that, if not that, perhaps some polyester PR plonker persuaded SHRM’s leadership that there is no better place to engage the dissenting voices going ga-ga for transparency than on the Vegas Strip. Where better to make a show of it!

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In the hopes that it may give pause for thought, a selection of notes taken from phone conversations with John Sumser. The social web was our topic de jour.

1. Data? What data?

It can be difficult to make sense of the data that gets reported under “Social Media.” Harder still, accepting it could be useless in the context of traditional HR metrics, or under any circumstances, come to think it. Teasing intelligence from a new data set can leave one befuddled. Correlating things like “authority,” “increased awareness” “mentions,” and “sentiment” to the traditional metrics like time-to-fill and cost-per-hire may not only be a challenge of Rubik proportions, but ultimately an exercise in futility.

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Dear Mr. Hoffman,

Thanks for your letter of recognition you so kindly sent me today.

The body is below.

My response is below that.

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Recruitopian Footnotes [March 24, 2011]

1. Is “social recruiting” really such a new idea? I think not. After all, affiliate marketers [read: MLM] have been at it for years. Taking self-reference and self-fulfilling prophecy to the next multi-level…Black Belt Recruiting. Some lessons for us all.
2. So, you think “Sourcing Samurai” Glen Cathey can slice through the data on LinkedIn, huh? Think twice, no, three times: Understanding Web 3.0 as Data: Reid Hoffman, Founder LinkedIn.

   Conclusion: If Glen Cathey is an authority on LinkedIn it might just be question of semantics…if you know what I mean.

3. And now for something completely different…Cited in a social recruiting editorial, Florida is, indeed, among the best places to live and work:

   “We have all kinds of corruption, violence and scumbaggery. The 9/11 terrorists trained here. Bush read My Pet Goat here. Our elections are colossal cluster#@!*$s”

   And to think, I came from missing TruLondon to living in paradise…mind the gap! Personality matters more than platforms

I came across a rather curious feed today, all the more intriguing to find the post ResuWe Employer charges applicants $25 to apply for jobs had, apparently, been removed. I wondered if the author and vested interest, Dan Boersma, had second thoughts about posting dubiously self-serving drivel, or if this was an indulgence of a different kind.

Before a comment of my own, and in fairness to Mr. Boersma who I don’t know from Adam, here is the departed post in its entirety

“In an effort to cut down on the significant increase in unqualified candidate traffic, ResuWe Employer companies can charge job seekers $25 to apply to a job.  ResuWe Employer clients have been asking for this feature to reduce the time required to sift through countless resumes and to ensure each job applicant is pre-qualified.

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Industry patriarch and beloved Dumbledorian John Sumser posts on HRExaminer another in his series on branding: Traffic Development. What follows will make more sense if you begin by reading John’s post and our exchange of comments. You may also want to use the restroom first.

I spent a good amount of time trying to post what follows to the original post in reply to a rebuff from John.  To no avail. Apparently a plug-in on John’s site may have become unplugged. Feel free to post your comments here or there, at this point it may not matter.

Anyway, reluctant to break the thread, or retire for the night with this undone, here is my closing argument…

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It seems the politicos at The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) have teamed up with JobTarget marketeers and are set to publish a 2009 Job Board Savings Book.

Apparently, you can use the coupons at over 1,000 niche, diversity and regional job boards that are slashing up to half the price on their job postings, all to help make the world go round. Think of it as cross between an economic stimulus package and a licked-to-go Green Shield Stamps program.

In times of economic collapse it is only natural that the industry’s leadership should bandy together and step up to the plate. Rewarding good behavior [buying postings] and facilitating commerce [direct marketing] is not a bad thing. To the contrary, it is a good thing. And programs like this are quintessentially American, aren’t they?

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And another in the series, Food for Thought

I remember many years ago when subliminal advertising was being used for the first time, at least that we knew of, there was a hullabaloo about it in the U.K. when I was growing up. The concern was this Kremlin-inspired technique was nothing more than a cynical attempt to take over the minds of Coronation Street’s already gullible audience. Right, as if.

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Well, its Christmas Eve. It seems everyone is at home googling this and googling that.

A larger number of visitors than usual are flocking to this ever so ‘umble blog today. To read my learned works? Nah, its that Kingsbury fellow!

Being a contrarian has historically been a mixed career move. On one hand, it may get a statue put up in your honor. On the other hand, it will likely be erected on the spot where you were hanged, drawn, and quartered before a cheering crowd of thousands.

Bah, humbug!

Incoming Chief Executive Officer Jeff Seely on Monster.com:

I like an industry that is defined by some really great class A players

Outgoing Chief Jobster Jason Goldberg on the same subject:

Crap product!

In the final analysis, money talks.

Hat tip:  Jason Davis, RecruitingBlogs.com

Joel Cheesman posts monster.com hates free speech following up on his previous and rather provocative monster is a crap product video starring Jobster chief Jason Goldberg. Joel Cheesman quotes Monster.com’s very own Rich Teplitsky who is the Director, Global Corporate Communications and who is seeking to have the video suppressed. Golly, isn’t that kind of gulaggy?

I called Rich Teplitsky but he wasn’t there. I called the covering extension and left a message for a delightful sounding Katheryn Burns. I’m sure she’ll call me back, I do hope so. She sounds very professional.

I want to ask whether Monster.com has accounted for the possibility that if some people take to posting/linking to the video they may have inadvertently created the potential for an altogether different kind of monster to raise its ugly head among the recruiting bloggers, and who knows where?  I mean, what if a lot of people started to post the video, or for neophytes like me, linked to it instead? This thing could get really big, you know, like really horrible. After all, we bloggers are very influential you know, we know crap when we see it. Some of us are well connected too.

Now, many would argue that Monster.com is not a totally crap product at all. Further reading of the blogs will attest to that, as would millions of satisfied users. But, as Mother used to say, “Handsome is as handsome does” and I’m sure we could say the same about crap behavior too, don’t you?

Anyway, in protest at this heavy-handed nonsense, as soon as I can find it, I am taking my resume down off Monster.com and posting it up on Joel Cheesman’s answer to every jobseekers prayer – Blogs With Jobs – as soon as I work out how to get it up there.