Today I endorsed Alex Putnam on Linkedin as follows:

“A rustle in the leaves, a water cup stirs circled waves – it is a prelude to what mighty force is fast approaching …. and with force it did and with impact – for I am describing the arrival of teh Social_T-Rex that is Alex Putman.

I was fortunate enough to have Alex as one of my featured interviewees on my blog, sixdegreesfromdave.com and it is still one of the most read of interviews to date. I was flattered to know my blog inspired his goal to be the most networked in Atlanta but that was nearly three years ago and his outreach far exceeds those boundaries.

When I asked Alex what was the most impactful memory in his staffing career, on your sourcing/recruiting career – he answered in a manner much like my own sentiments: “going through a company closure (Panasonic) and a layoff from the very next job. I incorporated myself, built a home office and began my journey of becoming highly networked”

Alex has done it in his own style, with his own witty and thoughtful approach to what he writes and how he engages others. That featured article is the reason this series exists – it allows the unsung heroes to have the light shine on them for their own individual contributions. Alex’s ambitions match his successes. Once decided he proceeds and never fails. I admire Alex and I strongly recommend someone who has done so much to fuel blogging and best practice sharing., I salute him!” September 28, 2011″

When I completed my recommendation, I smiled and decided we needed to share Alex with the Audience again to remind the recruitosphere of someone special:

“Never quit. It is the easiest cop-out in the world. Set a goal and don’t quit until you attain it. When you do attain it, set another goal, and don’t quit until you reach it. Never quit”
Paul “Bear” Bryant

• RecruitingBlogs Profile
• Linkedin Profile
• Facebook Profile
• Twitter Profile
• Personal Blog
• Community Volunteering: Habitat for Humanity of Atlanta (3 consecutive build years), Sentinels of Freedom (Gwinnett County, Georgia), Susan B Komen Breast Cancer Walk
• Personal Causes: Angel Tree Program, March of Dimes, Toys for Tots, and Church Outreach
• Phone: 770-346-7216 (o) | 678-557-0469 (c)
• Email Alex alex@alexputman.com, or aputman@eusebeia.com

Alex Putman is the first of a series on the most active members of the RecruitingBlogs.com community. He has contributed recent blog posts that have attracted attention such as “Dirty Words Recruiters Use“, “Be a Social T-Rex“, “Do Your Prospects Know“, and “Big Shoes Leave A Lasting Impression.”

Alex enjoys consulting & coaching other recruiters in techniques that enhance their marketability and capabilities. He has lead workshops for new and seasoned recruiting professionals via a managed training program focused on goals, objective and time management. In the past decade, Alex’s teams have been responsible for the fulfillment of 3,200+ requisitions and job orders.

Alex has a driven passion for utilizing social networking/social media, to benefit human resource services, talent acquisition, career coaching and assisting people in their search for career fulfillment.

Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world.

ALEX: I have been married for 7 wonderful year to my wife Tifany. We have 4 children including our beautiful twin daughters Alexis & Kathryn (6 yrs old), Gabrielle (3 yrs old) and son Corban (18 months).

I am extremely active in the lives of our children; participating in their many church and school events. I believe one of the greatest gifts given to us is the ability to see the world through the eyes of our children. This blessing has changed my entire outlook on life.

My personal hobbies include home renovation projects, working outside, getting together for cookouts with friends (especially during football season) and reading the Bible. I also enjoy Golf, College Football (Roll Tide), Basketball, pretty much a sports enthusiast. I am a strong family person; I do everything with my wife and children! We have a strong commitment to giving back within our community. I have had the honor of working with The Habitat for Humanity – Atlanta in partnership with 13 other local technology organizations. As a deacon at Shadowbrook Baptist Church, I am embedded in a multitude of activities offered at our church. My wife and I are invested in the College & Career class, Awana, and Children’s Worship.

Warm and fuzzy: Every month I take one of our daughters out for a date night! They enjoy going to the mall, having dinner at McDonalds and getting a giant pretzel. I hope this never changes!

Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry?

ALEX: I have been in the industry for 13+ years. I started in executive recruiting and then made the change to the corporate side (Panasonic). Once I made this change my career rapidly progressed from an individual contributor to the HR Manager for Employment, Immigration and Employee Relations. We grew form 88 people to 450 with a Canadian office. After 6.5 wonderful years, we closed the facility.

I then went to work for a DoD contractor in the satellite communications (VOIP) field and found myself in the growth mode again (375 employees to 600 in 1 year!!!!). Too fast, we began to experience the pains of layoffs. I then incorporated myself (Eusebeia Consulting Group LLC www.webstarts.com/eusebeia. I quickly picked up 2 contracts as a consultant, one with Danger (www.danger.com) – they make the Sidekick for T-Mobile and another with Synergis (my current employer). I then decided to go to work growing a staffing firm, and what an adventure it has been! Recruiting has provided for my family over the years and I am grateful to this business and the many wonderful people I have met along the way.

Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter?

Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career?

ALEX: Wow, huge question! I would have to say going through a company closure (Panasonic) and a layoff from the very next job. I incorporated myself, built a home office and began my journey of becoming highly networked. This is about the time I discovered people like Dave Mendoza existed. Prior to this I was in my corporate shell and let people come to me. I established a goal, “be the most networked person in Atlanta!”, Still working on this one, but the point is, I was able to quickly transition to perm placement from home and contract recruiting. I never missed a beat (or paycheck) and learned that having a strong network means everything (the 400 people from Panasonic all went to other companies, many of which I still do business with to this day!)

Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after?

ALEX: Many! Dan Bell from my first role was a recruiting machine. This man billed $1.5 million per year by himself! Many would not call Dan the “easiest” person in the world, however he instilled a sense of urgency in me early on. He once told me that he was scared to go to the bathroom during the day because he may miss a call that would lead to a placement!

I do plan to meet several “on-line” mentors at Recruitfest this year! This may come as a surprise to these people, but Jenny DeVaughn (whom I have met recently), Maren Hagen, Scott Love, Bill Radin (first person I heard speak) and you Dave are people I see on-line and love your stuff! The Recruiting Animal has some great stuff as well! I really try to find the best in their field and learn as much as possible!

Six Degrees: Tell us about your position as Director of Recruiting at Synergis:

ALEX: I am the manager of recruiting and currently have 4 direct reports (have had more prior to this year). I am part of our leadership team and have indirect responsibility for sales. Our total staff (Atlanta HQ) is 15 people. I have introduced a lot of social networking techniques and each team member has a personal branding plan. We boast a national client base with 300+ clients serviced. In conjunction with my recruiting, I maintain a few clients with whom we do a good portion of business (one client was $300k in sales last year — goes back to my Panasonic network). I am also a member of the leadership function and involved in the corporate growth and planning of the company.

Six Degrees: (A) What other companies’ recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples?

ALEX: TekSystems comes to mind, they are huge (12% market share), but what a success story. I respect them for their model, not their size. Apex Systems is a prime example, look at how fast they have reached the $360 million mark (10 years). Many other successful companies have utilized their model and are among the top in our industry.

(B) In what aspects are they superior?

ALEX: These companies have unbelievable training programs! I was fortunate to go through a strong training program, but TekSystems sets the standards. They really invest in the success of their employees.

Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why?

ALEX: I know everyone is still buzzing about social networking / social media, but it is a trend that is here to stay! People are so busy and we are use to getting our information in “bits”. I recently read an article on vlogs (video blogs), I believe the industry and technology are merging and we will see this more the norm!

Six Degrees: Tell us about your broader involvement within the staffing industry:

ALEX: Conferences are great! I am extremely excited to attend Recruitfest this year (booked and ready to go)! I regularly attend the Technology Association of Georgia conferences, The Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce meetings and the High Tech Career Ministries. Our company is a member of TechAlliance (formerly NACCB) www.techservealliance.org and we attend their annual conference in November. Last year I attended a “Lead Like Jesus” conference where Patrick Lencioni presented (great speaker).

This year I will be attending RecruitFest and possibly ERE (potential schedule conflict). I have worked closely with the Georgia Institute of Technology’s career center and participated in roundtable presentations. I am actively seeking opportunities to speak and be published. I am currently working on my first book and my goal is to speak at a major conference or forum in the near future.

Six Degrees: Can you detail how the recession has affected your particular industry niche? Has it effected your job or that of your fellow team members within the organization? strong>

ALEX: We are in the IT industry and although we have not been hit significantly, we have experienced some down time. In January of this year we (the leadership team) scrubbed our budget to the bare bones. We were able to plan for the year accordingly and to date have had a small increase in sales over last year, added to our sales and marketing functions and remained in the black for 2009.

Six Degrees: Aside from simply the generic term “Networking” what specific efforts have you made on your own behalf, or on behalf of colleagues to broaden your opportunities.

ALEX: So many! For two years I have aggressively encourage my team to develop their personal brand. We developed plans and events for them to attend. I created my own Yahoo user group (ConnectHiTech) as my initial platform into the social networking world. Recruitingblogs.com has been a real catalyst for blogging. This is something I always wanted to do, so I took the chance and my first blog written was a feature. After this boost of confidence, I have become a blogging machine ? I created my moniker “The Social T-Rex™” and have been running with this brand! I am currently developing a logo, website and many other features around this brand!

All of these have proven to be fruitful in extending my personal brand. My on-line brand has widened tremendously and has actually led to referrals, contacts and placements!

Six Degrees: Given your own Trial and Error experiences as a Networker, what advice do you have for your peers on what NOT to do?

ALEX: Don’t be scared! I know talented people, writers, speakers etc that are just scared of what people will think. I have learned, some people will like me, some will not…part of life! But by all means, put yourself out there and see what happens! In conjunction, be yourself, don’t be something you are not. If your personality can come out in writing or interviews then you will gain respect of peers and others (even if they don’t like you personally).

Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there?

ALEX: My ultimate goal is to be a motivational speaker! I want to write a book (professionally and personal ideas) to incorporate my life experiences to help others maximize their potential. I want to be the guy that is sought after for speaking engagements works hard from home and creates a socially big personal brand….maybe as big as a T-Rex!

What do I need to get there? Advice and assistance from people already there! Jenny DeVaughn has a “pay it forward” concept and I firmly believe in this. If those who are already there can pull us up and then we become the ones pulling others up, everyone wins!

Vice President of Workforce Solutions
Synergis

“Alex is a great manager and very results-driven. He is fair and always willing to take time and discuss anything that you feel is important. Alex has many years as a successful recruiter himself which makes him a more understanding manager over recruiters. He’s open and honest and most trustworthy. Alex is a great family man and a very devoted father as well as an effective manager…always has a smile.” August 24, 2007

Sharon Greco Spangler, CPC, Sr. Technical Recruiter, Synergis

“I have been working for Alex for about 2 years and he has been a great manager, mentor and leader for our recruiting team. Alex is constantly trying to find ways to improve our recruiting processes to make us more efficient in our jobs and is always willing to jump in and help out when needed. He truly cares about the success of every member of our team and will do whatever it takes to ensure that we achieve our goals and satisfy the needs of our clients. I have a lot of respect for Alex because he is very honest, ethical, diligent, and hardworking, and doesn’t believe in the word “can’t!” He has also been instrumental in getting the sales and recruiting teams to work more cohesively and effectively together to produce greater results.” September 10, 2009

Denise Wicks, Principal Recruiter, Synergis

“Alex is one of the most well networked, ethical individuals I have ever met. He has made a huge impact in transforming Synergis into an organization with efficient policies and procedures, and he has a knack for recruiting and training amazing people. I have enjoyed working with Alex not only on a professional level, but also a personal one. His positive enthusiam for the industry is contagious. I am honored that I have had the opportunity to work with him for the past 2 1/2 years.” September 25, 2009

Shanna Bradley, Account Executive, Synergis

“Alex is an excellent manager with outstanding leadership skills and work ethic. Alex leads by example and has made me a better professional through his mentoring. I would highly recommend Alex!” October 7, 2009

Rob Larson, Senior IT Recruiter, Synergis

“I’ved had the pleasure to work with Alex Putman on many occasions. He is very professional and always provide excellent service. I would definitely recommend anyone considering him to utilize his services.” July 12, 2010

Darius Hunter, MBA, Owner, 1st Class Resources

“Alex is an individual who takes his profession very seriously. If he tells you something, believe it. Alex is also “just one of the guys” with great communication skills, and a high level of integrity.” July 13, 2010

Ben Kirkland, Sr. Forensic Investigator, Fiserv

“Alex brought the best of all worlds to HR at Panasonic. He not only had a unique ability to locate and acquire the talent we needed in the company–he also had his finger on the pulse of the employee population. His keen insights and advice kept us from getting off track more than once. I would welcome the opportunity to work with Alex again.” July 14, 2010

Dr. Jim Marion, PMP, President, Panasonic Mobile Communications

“Alex is a dedicated and skillful recruiting professional. I had the pleasure of reporting directly to Alex. He is a strong leader that is constantly working to move his team forward. He takes a genuine interest in the professional growth of the individuals on his team. He was very open and listened to what his team had to say at all times and valued our expertise. Alex is a top-notch recruiting executive that has the ability to create, restructure and improve recruiting functions in any type of organization. It was truly a delight to work for Alex.” December 8, 2010

Annellie Holmes, HR/Recruiting, Rockwell Collins

“A wonderful person with an exceptional attitude. He is very professional and easy to work with.” January 10, 2011

Diane Hosch, Senior Documentation Specialist, Panasonic

“When Alex served in the Reruiting Manager role at Synergis he hired me right out of school to be an Associate Recruiter. Alex was instrumental in providing me with the training and knowledge I needed to be successful as a new recruiter. Within five months I accomplished the necessary milestones to move into a Technical Recruiter role and I attribute much of that success to Alex and his ability to be a servant leader and take a vested interest in my recruiting goals. I’ve now known Alex for almost four years and I can truly say that he has all the values that you would want in a manager/leader. He knows how to hold others accountable, how to encourage and motivate, how to lead by example, and how to be solution focused. He’s also an excellent writer and is very creative and innovative!! I have a huge amount of respect for Alex and can’t say enough good things about him!!” May 13, 2011

Janna Tucker, Technical Recruiter, Synergis

“I worked directly for Alex when he functioned as Recruiting Manager at Synergis. Alex is forward thinking, detail oriented and really cares about the growth and development of his employees. Alex excels at building teams and he grew and built an fantastic team of recruiters here at Synergis.” August 16, 2011

Christy Cifreo, Sr. IT Recruiter, Synergis

“I have worked with Alex at Panasonic as well as at Danger and found him to be a great recruiter. He is one of the best out there when it comes to finding the right talent for you. On his most recent assignment at Danger, Alex was able to produce outstanding results in extremely challenging circumstances. I have no hesitation in recommending Alex’s services to anyone looking to recruit top talent!” January 2, 2007

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, High Integrity
Joseph Mathew

“The most valuable relationships in business are built on trust. Alex places a high priority on the success of those he works with. His combination of knowledge and personal character provides a refreshingly positive business atmosphere. Truly, he is a great guy to work with.” November 22, 2007

Tim T., Financial Advisor, Strategic Financial Management, LLC

“If you ever need someone to speak to your group about integrating social media in you marketing plan, Alex is your man.
I learned more in 30 minutes by listening to Alex than from all the articles and “how-to’s” I reviewed.
He clearly lives and breathes social media – let him show you how to use it in your organization.

Chris Harlow, Sr Executive Advisor, Career Concepts Inc

“Alex delivered relevant information in a format that was fun and easy to understand and implement. I see Alex as an expert in social media and will look to him for help again in the future.” August 9, 2011

Rebecca Bowen, Employer Relations Specialist in Career Services

“I had the opportunity to meet Alex through Birmingham Recruiter’s Network. As a referral from one of our members, we invited Alex to speak on Social Media at one of our monthly luncheons. His presentation and knowledge of the topic was spot on! Since then, I have had the opportunity to network with him on another front, using social media to assist me in a personal job search. Through his guidance, I was able to market myself and open other doors of opportunity that would have otherwise been closed. Not to mention, Alex is down to earth and easy to talk with and always willing to lend a guiding hand. I would recommend Alex Putman for any opportunity he is challenged with.” August 16, 2011

Wade Roley, 2011 President, Birmingham Recruiter’s Network

“A rustle in the leaves, a water cup stirs circled waves – it is a prelude to what mighty force is fast approaching …. and with force it did and with impact – for I am describing the arrival of teh Social_T-Rex that is Alex Putman.

I was fortunate enough to have Alex as one of my featured interviewees on my blog, sixdegreesfromdave.com and it is still one of the most read of interviews to date. I was flattered to know my blog inspired his goal to be the most networked in Atlanta but that was nearly three years ago and his outreach far exceeds those boundaries.

When I asked Alex what was the most impactful memory in his staffing career, on your sourcing/recruiting career – he answered in a manner much like my own sentiments: “going through a company closure (Panasonic) and a layoff from the very next job. I incorporated myself, built a home office and began my journey of becoming highly networked”

Alex has done it in his own style, with his own witty and thoughtful approach to what he writes and how he engages others. That featured article is the reason this series exists – it allows the unsung heroes to have the light shine on them for their own individual contributions. Alex’s ambitions match his successes. Once decided he proceeds and never fails. I admire Alex and I strongly recommend someone who has done so much to fuel blogging and best practice sharing., I salute him!” September 28, 2011

YOU Dave Mendoza, Talent Acquisition Strategies | Social Media Architect | Blogger | Consultant | Sourcer | Recruiter, Six Degrees from Dave

Training Webinar on 3/13 – Dave Mendoza on Sourcing with Blogs

Where: HireAbility’s Online Recruiter Training Center
Cost:$119 for non-HireAbility Recruiter Network members
$99 for HireAbility Recruiter Network members (join now at no-charge for discounts off every HireAbility training event!)
CEUs: 1.5 CEU credits awarded – NAPS

Don’t miss it online at HireAbility’s Recruiter Training Center on March 13th at 1:30 PM EST!

Dave Mendoza, the winner of the Best Recruiting Blog 2007 award, will share insightful tips and techniques to demonstrate how blogs can be used as a sourcing and recruitment tool to locate top candidates. As a bonus, a special ‘Blogging for Candidates’ cheat-sheet will be provided to all attendees.

Additionally, we’ll discuss how to create and manage your own blog in order to enhance your brand and attract the candidates you want. We’ll discuss the types of content which will attract passive candidates in your target industry and how to optimize the appeal of your blog. We’ll even explain how to generate fresh, relevant internal and external content on an automated basis without spending a dime!

In this exclusive presentation, We’ll will teach you:

Tips on blog search strategies as a powerful passive sourcing tool To apply the most advanced search techniques and shortcuts

When: Thursday, March 13th – 1:30 – 3 PM EST

View my profile on RecruitingBlogs.com

LinkedIn | Bio | MSN | Skype

By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, Affiliate Partner, JobMachine Inc.
(720) 733-2022

Does your corporate staffing organization have a team of specially trained recruitment blogging Ninjas? If not do you know of any who do?

I know I know you are probably laughing thinking, “Dave even if we had Ninjas we wouldn’t know about them because of their stealth like capabilities akin to wind off the wings of butterflies.” or “Dave, we can’t tell you that, we like you and if we told you our ninjas would have to come to Castle Rock and silence you indefinitely.”

All good points to be considered, that said however, – I actually do need to know, here’s why:

A friend asked me a provocative question I haven’t explored in nearly a year, and its relevance then is as pertinent now given the high level of enthusiasm I have for corporate-side blogging for talent as a best practice.

I wanted to reach out to the audience of “SixDegrees…” readers to share their reviews and identify corporate recruiters who work inside organizations like Starbucks, Microsoft, etc. (the more Fortune 500 the better)

I would appreciate your help in identifying Non-Third party, corporate-specific blogs aimed directly at attracting or retaining candidates. I know there are many corporate side recruiters who have recruitment blogs, including yours truly, – but the lesson to be shared are whether we can identify new and existing corporate recruiters who blog beyond personal branding perspectives in favor of a corporate branding for talent strategy.

Send me an email and educate me. Blogging is a two-way university.

Let me know of a corporate recruitment team, or recruiter, at companies including, but not exclusively ….Whirlpool, Microsoft, Starbucks, or Apple (AND OTHERS) which uses blogging to attract hires among key talent groups.

Also, please provide blogsite url

If so, I’ll mention your name as the source and a virtual high five. I know, I know, I need schwag, someday.

View my profile on RecruitingBlogs.com

LinkedIn | Bio | MSN | Skype

By Mike Tiffany, General Manager. Chameleon Integrated Services, Inc.
314.773.7200
blog: http://stl-it-recruiter.squarespace.com/journal/

Two Points:

1) Recruiting today has really morphed into multiple positions: Sourcer, relationship builder and maintainer. Sourcing and maintenance have been greatly assisted by good Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).

2) In recruiting, it’s not who you know but who knows you (or can find you), in order to build a large pipeline of candidates.

I believe, a true recruiter’s strength needs to be as a relationship builder with candidates. This is the skill that is your biggest asset and will be difficult to ship overseas. This means a recruiter has to be approachable by candidates, and viewed as a subject matter expert in finding the best job for the job seeker. Blogging fit this bill for me. I’ve only been blogging for 3 months but have put real billable dollars to the bottom line for my company, Chameleon Integrated Services in three ways. Candidates will look up my blog when I send introduction emails, clients have been referred to me from the blog as someone knowing the industry, and other recruiters have contacted me to exchange best practices and splits.

In discussing my experiences and beliefs in recruiting, I am able to communicate how to treat candidates and be more productive as a recruiter. I have been able to build credibility and trust before I am even approached by candidates and clients. Last week, I had lunch with a potential client that later sent me an email and had remembered my name because she had read my blog before.

Friend and mentor Jim Durbin of Durbin Media Group has been a real help in getting me going and suggestions for improvement. I have a bad habit of typing faster then the mind can keep up and my proofing skills have a lot of room for improvement.

My suggestion for any recruiter thinking about starting a blog is just to close your eyes and jump. You will goof it up! Don’t worry about it and learn from your mistakes. Recruiting is going to change greatly in the next 3-5 years as the new era of Web 2.0 grows and your candidates will be there. If you don’t, I’d be glad to discuss my jobs with your candidates!

About Mike Tiffany

Mr. Tiffany takes a keen interest in developing and implementing efficiencies into the sales and recruiting processes in a structured and documented manner. Thus, allowing employees to reach their full potential and address any deficiencies or training issues early in their careers. Has a strong ability to address major problems in a manner that breaks down issues and builds plans to return operations to a profitable situation. Has a very field oriented and hands on style of in the daily management of recruiting and sales.
Specialties:

- Strategies for excellence in IT staffing.
- Building recruiting organizations for special clients and projects.
-Recruiter/Sales Training
-staffing industry blogger
-Hands on Field Management in IT Services in staffing and project business.
-Heavy recruiting and sales management.
-Metrics and process orientation.
-Technical background.

Mike has developed organizations and processes for regional, individual customer and offshore needs. Mike has been in the Information Technology industry for over 22 years and the technology staffing side for 19 years. Held positions such as field consultant, salesperson, recruiter, branch/sales manager and district manager.

Earning a B.S. in Data Processing and having been in programming and project management roles prior to coming into the staffing side has giving Mr. Tiffany as special understanding of customer needs. This understanding has been maximized to earn successes in operating exceeding quota branches/regions, opening new offices (both domestic and international) and merging sales and recruiting teams after company mergers.

Chameleon Integrated Services provides innovative IT services and quality consultants to federal agencies, prime government contractors, commercial business and non-profit organizations.

These services fall into two categories: Staffing and Solutions.

By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth & Partner, JobMachine Inc.

I had the honor of being invited by the New Jersey Metro EMA, on behalf of JobMachine, to present on the strategic and tactical advantages of Blogs as a Sourcing Tool for Passive Talent and as an employment branding vehicle.

The NJ Metro EMA, founded by Gerry Crispin and chartered March 30, 2004, is a local, non-profit affiliate and staffing-focused specialty chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management, the world’s largest Human Resources association with more than 200,000 members and 550 chapters.As an influential voice, the SHRM’s mission is to advance the Human Resource profession to ensure that it is recognized as an essential partner in developing and executing organizational, financial and operational strategy. NJ Metro EMA’s mission is to serve as New Jersey’s premier connection for talent acquisition professionals.

The event was a first class affair held Tuesday night at the Newark Airport DoubleTree Hotel, with catering and good company among distinguished staffing professionals. I was impressed with the inquisitive exchange on the developing strength of Blogging as a multi-task platform, and we shared an opportunity to work on strings tailor fit to the needs of members in the audience, in addition to examples developing within the staffing industry that added to the growing influence of blogs as a powerful tool to optimize both personal and corporate branding potential.

The organization has been a leader in supporting local community activities for colleagues interested in networking, benchmarking and professional development related to workforce planning, sourcing, screening, selection, assessment, metrics, systems, career management and other related staffing issues. Contact Communications Director, Steve Levy, to learn how you can positively impact your company’s business goals and your career aspirations through membership in NJ Metro EMA. The group is dynamic, well attended, and I encourage local recruiters to get involved!

I enjoyed the opportunity to make new friends and lasting contacts Tuesday night. JobMachine’s Founder, Shally Steckerl and I look forward to each opportunity to exchange Best Practices and to provoke discussion on the cutting edge of Cybersleuth Sourcing for Passive Talent.

If you are interested in having us present at your next Staffing industry event, or to train your agency or corporate team, send me an email directly at dave @ jobmachine.net

By Carl Chapman, Principle, CEC Search, Author, “Confessions of a Restaurant Recruiter”

Funny thing happened this morning; it’s a long an involved story so it may take some time for me to weave the tale and have it make sense for you;. but here goes.

There is an ongoing buzz in the recruiting blogopshere which I think was started by Dave Mendoza with his series of articles on the Influence of Bloggers on the Recruitment Industry;. Quite a few folks have commented on the premise both on their own blogs and on recruiting.com:  Harry Joiner, who write Marketing Headhunter.com, says that no blog equals no sale. Matt Martone of Job | Searchmarketing writes The night the lights went out; an experiment in blogger influence, Martin Snyder of Main Sequence dukes it out with Animal, Jim Durbin of Stlrecruiting.com has give and take on a number of blogs on this topic, Recruiting Animal who has blogs Recruiting Animal and Recruiting Bloggers, seems to make the claim that our community is too small to have much influence. Seems like there is an argument about how our 300 (plus or minus) recruiting focused blogs don’t have much influence in the industry. Heck, there is some question about whether or not my blog even counts as a blog in the recruiting industry, as Recruiting Animal and I have had some tongue-in-cheek dialogue about that in comments on recruiting.com.

Now here is where it gets somewhat interesting. I got an email from one of my readers, we’ll call him "Mike." Mike sent me a note complimenting me on my blog and asking if I knew of any restaurant chains for sale. Mike just happens to be a big wheel at a group that invests in and buys restaurants and restaurant chains [among other things.] In fact their main office is in New York near Wall St. and they have hundreds of restaurant properties world wide.

After sending him an initial email response and getting a note back from him detailing sort of what his group is looking for, I had an idea. In between my first note and his return email I had read an article on Jason Alba’s (no relation to Jessica) JibberJobber Blog about "Chicken Lists" and it got me to thinking. See I don’t really have a chicken list. After starting in my very first recruiting role with MRI, I had spoken to and recruited about 20 CEO’s of various sized companies. In fact when we added up potential fees for their placement, my boss got the idea that restaurant recruiting might just be lucrative; but I digress. Anyway, I decided that since I wasn’t afraid to call Mike that I might just as well do it; now! So I did just that. Mike and I had a great conversation and I gave him an idea for investment into a chain of restaurant properties not far from his office. Both Mike and I were happy to make the other’s acquaintance and I’m sure that we will be doing business in the future.

Now, if that isn’t influence, then I’m not sure what is. How would I measure it? Well that’s a different matter altogether. But It would say it is significant just from a relationship standpoint.

Often when discussing the issue with staffing executives, the issue of Blogging comes up, and it’s a topic of curiosity. The principle question among them being, the “Value Proposition” – “Why do Recruitment Blogs Matter?” As an effort to answer that question, from as broad a perspective as possible, I enlisted industry voices throughout the Recruitment Blogosphere to consider the following questions:

1) What substantive examples exist where blogs have influenced the products vendors develop, or the way products are marketed?
2) What instances would you suggest are instructive in terms of the power of viral marketing where recruitment blogs have played a major role?
3) Can you highlight the transition of the blogosphere from journal to its rise as a formative industry partner?

I am grateful to everyone who took time from their busy schedules to share their passion and insight on a question begging to be answered in unequivocal terms.

By John Sumser, CEO, Interbiznet
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A look at the comments on Kevin Wheeler’s latest ERE article is instructive. A fellow who was once a visionary in the field is outdated and appears so. Critics have jumped right up to tell him so. Blogs reduce the distance between “experts” and non-experts. Just check out the increased level of flack that I take each day.

Blogs have accelerated the speed at which information flows in the early adopter front end of the industry. The disconnect is pretty profound. Those who read and participate in blogs are light years ahead of the rest of the industry in terms of technique and results generation. Vendors and analysts alike are struggling to catch up. The gap between early adopters and the rest of the pack has never been so extreme. Most recruiters have no idea what RSS is or how to use it, for example.

You can’t underestimate the impact that Joel Cheesman has had on the industry. He has single-handedly made SEO a common thread (again, in the early adopter set). Both Martin Snyder and Colin Kingsbury have shifted boatloads of their marketing energy into the blog universe. By positioning themselves as thought leaders and participating heavily and effectively in a variety of conversations, they have reengineered their approach to marketing and made their companies vastly more accessible to market input. Martin tends to take the low road and Colin takes the high. This is solid positioning given their market segments. Martin’s tools are for nitty gritty recruiting while Colin serves a more organizational customer.

The give and take between Jason Goldberg and his market is really interesting. While he has taken a bunch of heat on the subject, Jason continues to innovate his product based on blog feedback. He relentlessly demonstrates the tough realities of being a blogger…you fail in public with an audience. But, that’s the essence of increased transparency and intimacy. It’s a vastly different game when you work in front of an audience. It’s even tougher when the hurdle is your level of honesty and authenticity.

Steven Rothberg’smarketing of CollegeRecruiter.com has become solely centered on the blogosphere and his inputs as well as the “BlogSwap”. So far, the history of the Recruitosphere is that good ideas are spawned in one place and then settle somewhere else. Rothberg is doing great things with the Blogswap and simultaneously making a great name for his company.

That’s really the trick here. You have to do something clever that delivers a strong benefit and then tag your aspirations to the back end. Each of the real leaders in the field demonstrate the “give first, take second (if at all)” method of marketing. They are not busy calculating the return on each incremental investment. Rather, they are giving freely with limited expectation of return. These folks will prosper.

Check the work being done by Matt Martone at http://www.jobsearchmarketing.com. He thoroughly utilizes his soapbox to publicly wrestle with his competitors. It’s pretty jazzy for a staid player like Yahoo (Note that in this universe, Yahoo is a staid player) He pokes at the enemy while educating his customers about Yahoo’s very interesting Recruitment offerings. It’s a great model.

Itzbig, the not so secret next offering from Hank Stringer and his band of Austinites has built a stealth brand awareness model through its blog http://www.itzbigblog.com>

Hans Gieskes, CEO of H3 has pioneered the art of influencing key bloggers to deliver his message.

A host of Bloggers have become key industry leaders in startups and well known firms. Their blogs reflect the transitions and demonstrate that professionalism is possible in the blog universe.

The rest of the story involves the (much slower) migration of actual recruiting into the blogs. Part if the issue here is helping people understand how to reach the audience that they need. Very little useful material exists on the subject of building the right traffic to your blog. It’s not really an SEO play. Rather, it involves the sort of traffic development pioneered by Kevin Strange at RecruitmentJobs.com

Ultimately, the competitive value to be gained from a blog will level out and diminish. That always happens. It’s important to remember that this is really about the bloggers, not the blogs. Blogs are tools. Bloggers are where the value comes from.

NOTE: This is the first in a series of perspectives from throughout the Recruitment blogging community to voice their opinions on the substantive value propositions that Recruitment blogs have offered as a stakeholder with influence within the industry.

Speakers: Dave Mendoza, Gretchen Ledgard & Joel Cheesman

ONLY $275 – To Sign Up for Tomorrow’s Audio Conference CLICK HERE:

What are your employees already saying about your company on the internet, and how can properly highlighting their voices attract more qualified applicants to your open jobs? As blogging grows in popularity, more and more employees are sharing their personal stories about corporate life, and these open conversations can both help and hurt your company’s employment brand.

In Part 2 of this 3-part series, you’ll join Gretchen Ledgard, the first corporate recruiting blogger, and Joel Cheesman, recipient of Recruiting.com’s 2006 Best Blog Award, as they share blogging experiences from across the employment industry and show you how to leverage employee blogs to attract top talent to your company. In this session you will learn how to –

• Develop proper oversight of employee blogs (not recruiter blogs) to enhance (not hurt) a company’s reputation as a sought-after employer.
• Develop a corporate Blog to effectively attract passive candidates, and increase your company’s search rankings with heightened corporate brand awareness through search engine optimization strategies.
• Promote the candidate experience: educate prospective candidates on the application process (what to expect in an interview), and develop and identify your cultural brand.
• Enhance the employment brand of your business groups, market corporate events such as job fairs, Corporate Technology Forums, conferences, trade shows.
• Obtain better search engine rankings and attract passive candidates.

What are your employees already saying about your company on the internet, and how can properly highlighting their voices attract more qualified applicants to your open jobs? As blogging grows in popularity, more and more employees are sharing their personal stories about corporate life, and these open conversations can both help and hurt your company’s employment brand.

In Part 2 of this 3-part series, you’ll join Gretchen Ledgard, the first corporate recruiting blogger, and Joel Cheesman, recipient of Recruiting.com’s 2006 Best Blog Award, as they share blogging experiences from across the employment industry and show you how to leverage employee blogs to attract top talent to your company. You’ll learn how employee blogs (as opposed to recruiter blogs) can enhance — or hurt — a company’s reputation as a sought-after employer, how to obtain better search engine rankings and how to attract passive candidates.

There will also be time for your questions!

Join us for one or all!

Gretchen Ledgard, Partner, JobSyntax, Inc



Gretchen Ledgard is a Partner with JobSyntax, Inc, an employment marketing firm based in Redmond, WA. An alumnae of Microsoft’s recruiting organization, Gretchen co-founded, authored, and managed the first corporate recruiting blog, JobsBlog. In her current role, she advises corporations on how best to utilize blogs and other social media channels to enhance employment branding and recruiting efforts. Along with her business partner, Zoë Goldring, Gretchen also writes the JobSyntax blog and studies the effects of social media technology on the employment industry.

Joel Cheesman, President, HRSEO



Joel Cheesman, president of HRSEO and author of award-winning blog, Cheezhead, is one of the most widely-read bloggers on emerging recruitment issues in the world. He was the recipient of Recruiting.com’s Best Technology Recruitment Blog for 2005 and received Best Recruiting Blog in 2007. He has been featured in Fast Company magazine and its blog under FC Reads, as well as NewsNow, Workforce Management, AIRS and Crain’s Business.

Joel’s blog is a daily chronicle of how the Internet and technology are shaping human resources and how organizations can attract the talent needed to thrive in tomorrow’s economy. As an employee and insider of some of America’s biggest online job sites since 1997, Joel founded HRSEO to help employers and companies in the recruitment space move to a world where search engines deliver high quality and cost-effective traffic.

One session: ONLY $275
Two sessions: $468 – Save 15%!
Three sessions: $659 – Save 20%!

For more information, to register, or order CD recordings please contact Karen Bison at 1-800-531-0007 ext. 631, or email kbison@kennedyinfo.com

REGISTER HERE!

Overview  |  Introduction to Blogging  |  Employee Blogs  |  Evolution of Blogs  |  Price & Registation

Speakers: Dave Mendoza, Shally Steckerl & Glenn Gutmacher

Part 1 presents an overview of the blogosphere, discussing the nuts and bolts of navigating blogs from a sourcing Guru’s persepctive with insightful tips and techniques to successfully use blogging as a recruitment tool. A special blog search cheatsheet will be provided to attendees.

Beyond a typical corporate website, what kinds of content would attract passive talent in your target industry with inherent appeal? In this session you will answer that question as you discover how to surround your blog with editorial context that adds another dimension to reinforce that your company is “in the know” in this field. Through your blog, you’ll be able to –

• Demonstrate that your company has a genuine interest in the ongoing professional development of people in the field, whether or not they’re considering a job change.
• Learn how to enlist your key employees to write topical blog posts on a rotating basis, with the ability to generate fresh content every weekday.
• Develop additional content that’s completely automated, with content feeds related to your industry in addition to targeted job posting feeds that you can generate and post for free on your site.

There will also be time for your questions!

Join us for one or all!

Shally Steckerl, Founder, JobMachine, Inc.

Shally Steckerl is a talent acquisition strategist, speaker and recruitment consultant originally from South America, now residing in Atlanta, GA. Most recently Mr. Steckerl managed the Research Arm of Microsoft’s Sourcing team. Prior to joining Microsoft he has consulted with leading organizations such as Google, Genentech, Disney, Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Cisco Systems, and Motorola where he has been instrumental in architecting centralized recruitment models. Because of his passion for the Internet as a recruitment tool and his continually innovative methods, Mr. Steckerl has developed a reputation as an authority in Internet search, and a pioneer in recruitment research. An accomplished author, consultant, and trainer, Mr. Steckerl is a frequent contributor to many industry forums and speaker at leading conferences. He is the founder or JobMachine, Inc. and www.jobmachine.net. He is the 2005 Recruiting.com Winner of the Best Recruiting Research Blog Award for his blog, Cybersleuthing.

Glenn Gutmacher, Senior Recruiting Researcher, Microsoft

Glenn has been a lead Internet sourcer for Microsoft since 2005, and previously for Getronics North America. In 1997, he created one of the first Internet sourcing seminars also available in a 100% online-delivered format, continuously updated through today at Recruiting-Online.com. The official Internet recruiting certification instructor in 2000 for the SHRM chapter’s Northeast Human Resources Association (NEHRA), in 2001 for the Boston Herald’s Jobfind.com and in 2002 for the Boston Globe’s BostonWorks, he remains a leading innovator in online sourcing methods and application of Internet tools to recruiting. In 1996, Glenn founded one of the newspaper industry’s first regional job boards, JobSmart, for Community Newspaper Company’s TownOnline.com portal. The job board won the international newspaper industry’s two most prestigious awards in 1998: the EPpy Award (Editor & Publisher) and the Digital Edge Award (Newspaper Assn. of America).

He has trained recruiters from hundreds of corporations from the Fortune 500 to small staffing firms. Glenn has penned numerous articles for recruiting trade publications and portals. He currently writes the well-regarded blog, Advanced Online Recruiting Techniques, and contributes regularly to RecruitingBloggers.com. He is a 1987 graduate of Yale University.