Amitai Givertz’s Recruitomatic Blog

Some books are simply indispensable. One such classic is How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff. I have had one of the over million copies sold on my desk since I first acquired a tatty secondhand paperback  in 1978. Of course, that’s when content was king and influence was measured in royalties, reprints and guest appearances on the Russell Harty Show.

I was reminded of what a useful reference that book is when I happened on Social Media Saturday: Who Are The HR Bloggers? posted by Laurie Ruettimann on her blog,  The Cylindrical Girl.

Social Media Saturday: Who Are The HR Bloggers? features an infographic that visualizes a survey of HR bloggers, presumably those listed in the day’s prior post  Ultimate HR/Career Blog List for 2011: V3.0.

Credit goes to Ms. Ruettimann’s lucky intern, comrades in marketing at Starr Tincup, for an otherwise delightfully decorative piece. And full props to Ms. Ruettimann for filing both posts under General Nonsense, even if it is, as seems to be the case, her popular site’s default category.

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Recruitopian Footnotes [May 11, 2010]

1. Token blacks, Hispanic women and cross-dressing vicars hardly make the case for diversity in the workplace, not in the Supreme Court of the United States anyway. I think the appointment of a an every-man or two would suffice, provided they are Calvinists of course.
2. I always wondered who the real Kris Dunn was.  Will the real Kris Dunn please stand up? Thank you!
   
3. Laurie Ruettimann thinks about power and influence on a “regular basis”  seemingly unaware of the nasty side affects of over-exposure to testosterone. [For the uninitiated, power is to the right, influence is to the left. Yeah, I'm an elitist jerk too]

Recruitopian Footnotes [October 26, 2009]

1. U.K. blogger Katharine Robinson [aka The Sourceress] posts Performing Sourcery at The Recruiting Unconference. Hmmm…Nothwithstanding timezones, recruiting unconferences are so yesterday, don’t you know: Jeff Hunter’s Talent Unconference [2007]; John Sumser’s Recruiting Roadshow [2008]; Jason Davis’s RecruitFest [2008/09]; Susan Burns’ Talent Camp [2009] and some I’ve missed, I’m sure. Now, Bill Boorman’s The Recruitment Unconference taking place in London on 19th November…a sign of the times, no doubt.




2. In Feel Sorry for the Recruiter… Lisa Kaye laments that recruiters “worry if they will wind up on the other side of the desk, interviewing for jobs that well frankly are no longer in high demand.” Look on the bright side: if they ever make it back into recruiting they’ll have a better grasp of what “candidate experience” really means. That should make them better recruiters, don’t you think? [Counterpoint: My Future in Recruiting]




3. In his post It’s all about the message Michael Specht rightly notes: “…that clearly communicating the employment deal up front is a critical first step in having an engaged employee,” going on to say, “Employees who blog openly and honestly will allow prospective employees to see what it is really like in your workplace.”I guess shooting the messenger is out of the question then, eh, Michael?

Recruitopian Footnotes [September 22, 2009]

1. One would hope that tutoring in the Stanislavski method could improve the chances of every job seeker…fake it ’til you make it, buddy!
2. The firing will continue until morale improves…makes perfect sense to me.
3. “Some are born to be waiters on Broadway and others have waiting in the wings thrust upon them…” Chad Sowash waxes lyrical, seeks drama award…what can I tell you?

Recruitopian Footnotes [September 21, 2009]

1. Is it distracted driving, one too many potholes, or both? Putting it bluntly…your manager is a dope.
2. You take the high road, I’ll take the low road but remember…You Can’t Have it Both Ways
3. Tut-tut. Mr. Hunter throws poor Jim under the bus. Well, better than “threw the windscreen,” no?

Recruitopian Footnotes [July 10, 2009]

1. Who said: “A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart” - John Sullivan, John Sumser or Jonathan Swift? Such studious fellows all…Rub-a-Dub-Dub
2. Erecting the new recruiting edifyce…Bob the Builder meets Smiling Bob
3. “When we win, we all win.” So, what happens when we’re counting the rations?…Man overboard!

Recruitopian Footnotes [July 9, 2009]

1. 30-seconds in blogging is all it takes, to post that is. Like the author says: “It’s not what you say but how you present it.” So true.
2. What is the difference between an essay and a blog post? Well, it ain’t thirty seconds, ducky!
3. And I quote: “A recruiter is a consultant…To get in bed with your client put on your consultative head.” Whatever happened to nurses in suspenders?

Recruitopian Footnotes [July 8, 2009]

1. John Sumser under the influence?…Shocking but true
   
2. Has Glen Cathey gone native? OMG, we’ve lost him…Dancing with wolves
   
3. This blogger gets the pink Caddie for raising the bar…Lisa Kaye, we salute you!
   
4. To SEO or not to SEO? That is the question.

Over recent weeks it would seem that RecruitingBloggers.com has fallen by the wayside. Based on the original “by-the-sweat-of-your-brow-vested-in-me” model for cross-posting it looks like Maureen Sharib might be nearing complete saturation. 

On the other hand, the brains behind the group blog – the Recruiting Animal — has picked himself up and dusted himself off, posting on his name-sake blog like the truthiest renaissance man he really is.

Ah, life in the Recruitosphere — where every post counts for something. What perspective!

I believe Recruiting.com has fulfilled its purpose for me and is about to give up the ghost.  The so-called recruiting community portal serves no strategic purpose and drives all but no traffic. There is no interesting content that I couldn’t get somewhere else. There are no pictures of Filipino hot babes after all and, quite frankly, the site has turned into a useless waste of blogroll, more irritation than anything else.

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Okay, call me old-fashioned, a stickler if you like, but I happen to think publishing in the recruiting space comes with some social and corporate responsbilities. Don’t you?

While Jobster still has employees on the payroll it would serve their brand — not to mention Recruitopians and the community at large – if someone took a moment to monitor who is submitting what on Recruiting.com. Today, Filipino Hot Babes, tomorrow what – incest, donkey-love?

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I learned yesterday that John Sumser will be vacating the Editor’s desk at Recruiting.com. His going — timed for early May — will mark the closing of  another chapter in this seminal site’s interesting history, perhaps the closing of the book.

At this point I have to ask: “Who cares?” John’s throw-away remark at the end of the Recruiting Animals’ Morning After Show referencing his exit suggests he may feel the same way. Who knows? For sure, for those who look within the Recruitosphere’s publishing clique for amusement it will be amusing in the coming weeks, no doubt.

To my own pathethic contribution…hmmm. Recruiting.com has been an interesting place for me to experiment with a number of ideas some of which fizzled out, some of which sputtered along and some of which remain open-ended.

Moving forward, I shall simply plug my Bunsen into the new mixture of gas and hot air on RecruitingBlogs.com, the combustible bloggy-ning thing where I now spend my early mornings. Like you perhaps?

Ah, Recruitopia…doesn’t it just make you sick?