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!

In the weeks leading up to this year’s swarm I became quite bored with the unfolding drama surrounding the Machiavellian goings-on at SHRM. I’m sure I am not alone among the uncertifiable HR wannabes who now find themselves turned off by SHRM’s reported bully-boy tactics.

If it ever crossed my mind to give my eye-teeth to cover the cost of a few years membership, re-certification dues and and whatever else it takes to get me a GPHR, suffice it to say I’ve started flossing again. Now, if I could only get that interminable “Anything you can do ICANN do better,” tune out of my head, I might find something to celebrate in SHRM’s nearing retirement age.

Small comfort then that the only thing I have is to sit at my computer and wonder as the SHRM conference streams in, captured live in 140 character soundbites.

As I anticipate each new #SHRM11 tagged tweet it occurs to me, maybe SHRM’s politburo are behaving like any establishment icon does when faced with the inevitable flattening of hierarchy that Things 2.0 herald. Words with newly minted meaning come to mind: democratization, crowds, transparency, conversation, collaboration, and trust. The very things it appears SHRM’s leadership are missing. And so it seems they are out of sync with the rank and file, disconnected from the so-called “community” they are charged to represent.

However, It seems to me that if we dig a little deeper than the detestable tabloid commentary that sensationalizes the otherwise mundane, what we might observe is far from ho-hum after all.

I see something of great significance going on. Not so much a changing of the guard among the SHRM powers-that-be but a redefining of who the powers-that-be are, including those who are outside of SHRM’s membership. A hard pill for a once proud champion to swallow.

The transformation of an organization that is by it’s very nature cautious, conservative, elitist and power-centric is never easy when it is being forced by modernity to change its ways. And when the reasoned arguments of the body it claims to represent call for change too internal strife is sure to follow.

Yes, take a closer look.The fascinating stuff happens, not in the headlines of industry screeds but in between the lines of carefully orchestrated propaganda. For example, when the language changes from talk of advocacy [acting on what the membership thinks] to a an Orwellian mantra of “thought leadership” [this is what the membership should be doing] it’s a tell-tale sign of something going on. I’m just not sure what. Do you?

Alternatively, maybe the decision to whoop-it up in Vegas was a test of sorts to see how members react to a behemoth’s emergence into today’s changed world. How much more authentic could you get than having your leadership’s outlook on life reflected in the glitz and glamor of flying first class, living the high-life, and playing games where the odds always favor the house. It’s disarmingly honest reminding me of something I read on SHRM’s site once:

“The first step in creating a culture is the behavior of the leaders…Culture is expressed through behavioral norms, rituals, and symbols that have meaning to those in an organization.”

So could it be, the choice of Vegas for this year’s conflab is another way of saying, “C’mon fellas, get on[the]board?” Who knows? I’m told that some people who get too smitten by Vegas eventuallly end up on skid row with nothing to eat but dog food. Perhaps that’s it.

Don’t get me wrong, I know millions of delegates from all walks of life pass through Nevada’s convention centers, casinos, and nicely appointed brothels every year. And I concede the possibility that SHRM’s choice of Vegas could have been as an innocuous as the rolling of the dice, an easy way to decide between two shortlisted cities, a Mormon Tabernacle Choir / Cirque du Soleil tiebreaker if you will.

Either way, in the final analysis, the choice of venue is a reflection on SHRM’s leadership, like it or not.

What a contrast from earlier years, the choice of venue and message too. For example, in Washington D.C. members were given an esteemed Secretary of State for leadership insight. Fitting I’d say for the industry’s advocate body, expected to navigate the cloistered corridors of power, making friends in high places, and finding themselves a seat at somebody else’s table. 

But in Vegas, what were SHRM’s delegates treated to? A knight with a Virgin. Need I say more than…fitting?

So, the big tent is coming down and the delegates are returning to the familiar comforts of home. All that remains now is for us to observe if the long-term effects of the membership’s exposure to the brilliance of choosing Vegas for this years conference has any lasting effect. If history is to be our guide, it could be years before we know.

Next year, we’ll be hip-hopping in Atlanta. Well, that should be a rap!

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?

To the cynics who might postulate the alliance between SHRM and JobTarget has more to do with monopolistic price fixing than affinity programming, I say this: Phooey!

And to the preposterous argument that this scheme has more to do with deflationary pricing to offset falling demand and the no-cost alternatives that may be even more effective than traditional job postings — double phooey!

SHRM-sponsored programs like this one have always been about reducing the cost-per-hire and getting the best return on regular HR folk’s advertising dollars. I think its wonderful that the nice people at JobTarget would help out this way.

Every responsible job board owner should be buying into this historic blow-in. And to the blasted cynic who would say that the only thing being cached here are job postings and commission checks — phooey, phooey, phooey!

To balance this considered opinion, I should present an alternate point of view: “It’s Simple. It’s Affordable. It’s Brilliant.” At least that is what Sue Meisinger, the top SHRMer says.  For anyone not in the know you could be forgiven for thinking the venerated Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is about to diversify into a new line of cosmetic dentistry. The CEO’s sloganeering hardly fits a top-level domain for HR, now does it? Well, I say either way, Ms. Meisinger may be wearing a plastic smile with this one.

Clearly, we should leave the more foundational whys and wherefores to the real experts. You can – and should – read Shannon Seery of EXCELER8ion’s Happy Birthday Dot Jobs .jobs dot-jobs dotjobs… whatever you call it, or study Cheezhead’s comments in google (and msn) smile down on .jobs domain. For an international perspective, a nuts-and-bolts read, see Michael Specht’s posts: dot jobs is available and Fitting .JOBS Into The Marketplace and Movement in Job Search.  I’m sure there are other works we should all be reading, but who knows? Researching this post has led me to conclude that in the final analysis, this is, to be sure, all hype – a wedding with no bride.

For me, the most important thing in this debate is to revisit the original intent behind the dot jobs initiative which was to enhance the candidate experience. But, again, I’m left wondering if this is possible.  I couldn’t find very much online or in the archives about this either. How can this be? This is such a big deal isn’t it?

Bear with me as I take off my dunce’s cap and put my ill-fitting marketing hat on:

1.  Adoption of the dot jobs domain by rank-and-file employers is one thing – if it ever happens. Getting the consumers – job seekers – to use it is another. I remember long before there was an information superhighway, in an effort to improve safety on UK roads, a public service campaign was launched with the tagline: “Clunck Click, Every Trip.”  Like here in the States, thirty-five years later, how far have we come – to the point of mandating seatbelt use by law? The point is that people don’t change their behavior because some know-it-all tells them it’s good for them – even when it is. And, when job seeking is hardly a day-in day-out activity, behavior modification becomes even more unlikely.

2. Accelerated change in consumer behavior is driven by responding to what the consumer wants and asks for or by persuading them to change their behavior in return for a big fat payoff, not by what the marketer thinks they should have shoved down their throat – if we could even get to that point with the dot jobs campaign, which I seriously doubt. Come on – look at who’s marketing the dot jobs domain, and to whom. I don’t find anything in the research that suggests there was an overwhelming demand from the legions of active job seekers for a dot jobs domain or that employers are lobbying to have this thing taken care of as a recruiting imperative. So whose clever idea was this then? Whose agenda? 

3. I’m sure the job boards are absolutely enamored with this brilliant idea. I imagine the top executives at Monster, CareerBuilder, and HotJobs are convening at secret locations right now busily strategizing how to protect their dot com brand equity and business model from an internet revolution, an onslaught lead by SHRM and a few compliant followers with IT departments and willing webmasters. Are the big boards readying themselves for the consequences of another land-grab for dot job domains which, unlike the dot biz domain, they will be totally excluded from?  Or will they end up renting back the office space they once owned just to keep ahead of the pack? Like the yahoos at www.CareerBuilder.jobs perhaps? (Hey, is that “Return to CareerBuilder.com” link in the top right-hand corner legal?)

4. The whole concept of a top-level domain is so five-minutes-ago. The rate at which internet-for-job-search is changing will far outpace the institutional efforts to adopt the domain for any practical application. Just like air bags sold more cars on safety than seat belts ever could, search engine relevancy, tagging and pushing content will drive candidate flow to the right landing page long before my search auto complete is smart enough to know I meant www.microsoft.jobs and not www.microsoft.com.

5. No doubt I am too quick to judge. After all, a year in this business is no time at all.  But you have to admit, when you google “accenture+jobs” it is curious that the sponsored link goes to a careers page which is branded – in my opinion – correctly and with the consumer’s preference and behavior in mind: http://www.careers.accenture.com/.  It’s got to be easier to market that URL than http://www.accenture.jobs/, especially when the original is much clearer in its purpose than the pretender is.

6. So, what is all this optimization fuss about? I mean, what is it really, really about? Why can’t SEO work equally well for www.careers.accenture.com as purportedly it will do for www.accenture.jobs?  There’s 74% of me that just doesn’t get it and I’m sure I’m not alone. Maybe I’ve just shot my online persona in the foot along with any chance of ever landing a job with the Think Partnership or one of their ilk, but I’m sorry – I just don’t get it. Will someone pleeze help me? I’m dyin’ on the vine here!

Anyway, as I said at the outset, and as you now realize for yourself, what do I know? I can’t tell you why this “simple”,  “affordable” or “brilliant” dot jobs domain is key to an enhanced candidate experience any more than I could tell you how any of these top level domains will change the world of job search either:  dot info,  dot us,  dot tv,  dot ws,  dot name,  dot cc,  dot de, dot jp,  dot be,  dot at,  dot uk,  dot nz,  dot cn,  dot tw,  dot am,  dot fm,  dot ms,  dot nu,  dot tc, dot tk, or even dot vg.  If you can’t connect the dots either, don’t worry. I know a man who can – you go daddy!

I know there will be a lot said, reported, written and blogged about the SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition in Washington, D.C. this week and next. No doubt, much of it will be useful, as will the actual event for those who are surviving the rain. Some of it, no doubt, will be crushingly boring and trivial. I suggest that anyone who wants to make an impact with their commentaries on SHRM, and be heard above the inevitable din, should inject a little of what we all secretly want to know about: sex and scandal.

Your HR Guy writes an interesting take on the SHRM conference, but I fear, misses the point. The SHRM conference is, in the final analysis, about people. When people come together representing economic and political interests, in other words, vying for power, there will always be sex, lies and/or politics involved. It’s human nature. For many who are ambitious in Washington, sex, lies and politics are par for the course.

I hope that someone who is at SHRM this week and who will be reporting back will be able to peel back the layers of professional civility and expose the seedier side of what is going on there. Not for sensationalism, but to help us understand what actually happens behind the closed doors and in the smoke-filled rooms: sex, lies and politics. This isn’t Woodstock, baby – it’s Washington.

If I could have justified the outrageous amount of money that SHRM was demanding for the privilege of hobnobbing with the well-to-do’s and industry bigwigs, networking for new salespeople, reconnecting with old friends and updating my intelligence on the competition, I would have happily stroked them a check. But, to the extent that all this can be done – and more effectively – at my desk, I agree with a dry HR guy who is somewhere close, but not quite there. For me, the pressing of flesh at SHRM is not worth the money. I would rather read all about it – behind closed doors.

I unreservedly apologize to Joel and to anyone who took me too seriously.

I suspect the T-shirts which Joel will be wearing at SHRM will – upon his triumphant return – be auctioned on eBay, further delaying the unfolding of the future of online recruiting.

Joel: I know that you are busy, busy, busy. I got your email. But in the overall scheme of things, do you believe that hobnobbing at SHRM is more important than enlightening us on what your vision of the future of online recruiting will look like?

If you cannot reply, I understand. I am already resigned to an absurdly long wait. Perhaps there are some pretenders out there who feel sufficiently powerful to answer in your stead.

Nah. Impossible.