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

I think he may have some street cred issues, do you agree?

By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, JobMachine Inc.

Shally was kind enough to outline an effort among blogging colleagues to reflect upon our own personal initiative when it comes to “Why We Blog” – and a timely question I might add and well designed by our friends Steven Levy and Dennis Smith. On May 9th I will be moderating a Blogging Panel which will address the general assembly at the Kennedy Conference and Expo on the topic of “Blogging from “Guerrilla” Marketing to Mainstream Recruiting“

1. Why do you blog?

To provide a personalized public forum for the voices we have heard, those would should be listening to more closely and to those yet to be heard, – and always a student to new ideas and the technology vehicles to take us to the next horizon. My blog is my personal space to evangelize cutting edge advanced sourcing methodologies, to sing praises for my family and colleagues I admire, and above all, share a piece of myself as a person – to vent, to think, and to laugh outloud

2. What do you prefer to blog about?

My blog has evolved into a social networking, fan site per se, vocalizing and formenting a grass roots observance of unsung Rock Stars within our industry, who by action and ideas inspire new modes of process, strategy, and advocacy – recruiters for recruiters who set trends and didn’t even know it.

3. Where do you receive your inspiration from?

I was inspired by Gerry Crispin and Shally Steckerl about the importance of mentoring, and by Jason Davis and Dennis Smith, the living breathing way of life of blogging your way into something much bigger; the greatest value proposition thus far in our changing industry – one of community building within our industry.

4. Who do you write your blog for?

First and foremost my audience is the rank and file in the staffing industry, – those who have yet to be introduced to, but of open mind to develop the desire for knowledge of new tools, methods, and people who are leading our industry from the bottom up. It’s kinda like a place where everyone who drank Folger’s coffee learns about how many flavors they have yet to taste and savor. My friends serve great coffee, I only hope to make the introduction.

5. How much blogging has impacted your business/company’s recruiting brand?

It has been an enormous branding evolution creating career opportunities and associations with colleagues for whom I have the greatest of esteem. Blogging has changed my life and given me perspective, and it has developed friendships with individual brands I am honored to learn from. I wanted to be known as the “recruiter who promotes other recruiters,” and in some small way I have achieved that simple goal, to give credit where it’s due.

6. When do you find the time to blog?

Between the 1st and 3rd post midnight feeding run caring for my infant daughter and after my second red bull in the morning.

LinkedIn | Bio | MSN | Skype

Voices from the Recruitment Blogosphere

By Matt Martone, Recruitment Media Sales Executive at Yahoo!
Send LinkedIn Invites For Matt Here

1) What substantive examples exist where blogs have influenced the products vendors develop, or the way products are marketed?

Blogs have influenced and will continue to influence product development in the recruitment space. Here are 3 examples:

• SimplyHired releases Jobs-O-Matic. It’s a means for adding a job board to your site. Press Release | Site
• Indeed, SimplyHired and Jobster have released blog widgets for distribution of job content to blogs.
• Every major job board distributes job content via RSS.
• JobThread exists. It’s an easy to way add a job site to blogs or corporate sites.

Blogs have influenced and will continue to influence the way products are marketed.
Cheesman lit a fire under the SEO and paid search engine marketing conversation but pushed Google AdWords when discussing paid search. I started my blog, Job|SearchMarketing, to provide Yahoo! with a voice in this conversation and share knowledge with influential people in our industry.

Job|SearchMarketing is not a marketing initiative. It’s just my blog, but by participating in this discussion and providing influential people with some valuable information on the industry, I am awarded opportunities to build awareness of our paid search engine marketing product, Yahoo! Sponsored Search.

2) What instances would you suggest are instructive in terms of the power of viral marketing where recruitment blogs have played a major role?

We haven’t seen much yet. Companies in our space are still too self-promoting. The best viral marketing campaign to date was CareerBuilder’s Monk-E-Mail campaign. It was good but the sole benefactor was CareerBuilder. It offered no substantive value to the marketplace and was therefore not supported by the blogs.

Moving forward expect to see more authentic viral marketing from companies that truly have something provocative to offer or at least discuss i.e., Jobster, LinkedIn, Yahoo! Hotjobs and Google.

These companies benefit from the sharing of knowledge. That means their message is the sort that gets awarded with viral distribution, rather than promotional sales speak which no one ever cares to distribute.

3) What we are looking to highlight is the transition from journal to industry partner, and any perspectives you can share would be helpful.

Jobster’s ownership of Recruiting.com is an example of a corporation/blogger partnership. Jobster supports the bloggers by providing a means for distributing blog content and attracting visibility. In return, Jobster is often top of mind to industry bloggers and its news is often discussed.

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

Jeff Hunter serves as “Director, Global Talent Technologies” which includes all global strategies and oversight of Central Sourcing Business on behalf of Electronic Arts efforts to find, connect to and hire the world’s best talent. Winner of Recruiting.com’s 2005 Best Blog of the Year Award.

“Jeff is a visionary who leads teams with tremendous integrity through change and chaos. He works through complex business relationships and paradigms to bring people together focused on solving problems. Jeff is a delight to work with, and is simply the best technology visionary that I’ve met!”

Nancy Gray-Starkebaum, Principal, NGS Talent

“By having the ability to turn “big ideas” into “business process,” Jeff Hunter is a person that turns philosophy into practicality. Perhaps the best thing about Jeff, is how he can take his personal experiences and “deliver a message” in a way that all of those around him get to learn.”

Sean Rehder, Talent Ecology

“Jeff is a visionary staffing professional – one of the true leaders in the recruiting industry. His enthusiasm for using technology in more meaningful and effective ways is infectious – as evidenced by his coworkers, who speak with him with admiration as “a breath of fresh air.” But he’s not just a technologist – he’s also one of the sharpest recruitment strategists in the business.”

Dave Lefkow, VP, Professional Services, Jobster

by Jennifer Jones | December 17th, 2006 6:08 pm

“You can’t buy attention. And if you want to be big, you first must think small. Those are some of the beliefs held by marketing guru Seth Godin. He helped to illuminate and define the power of the individual in business and society. Thinking small may be the single biggest shift in marketing today, and impressing four people (not four thousand) is how the best companies practice their craft. For many reasons, Godin believes that marketers now have the greatest moment of opportunity since the invention of the television, but taking advantage of the moment requires courage.”

His mantra applies perfectly to the recruitment industry. What is your company’s value proposition to attract talent? Be incredible!

By Glenn Gutmacher, Master Cybersleuth

Zoe’s post on JobSyntax about whether job postings on blogs distract Job Seekers, especially given that most of these postings are generic feeds (at best filtered by “category,” whatever that means). It inspired my following take on the issue of what a recruiting blog should be.

If you want to stand out from the crowd and develop a loyal following, I think you have to go as close as possible to one or the other of the following extremes:

1) Pure, clean blog: Just your postings, and ideally, just your own original thoughts, not repostings/links which is what Shally accurately described as the noise that turns most thinking people off to the blogosphere. Stick with it, and people who matter will come to find and appreciate you.

Conversely, bloggers who add any content other than their own probably secretly wish to have a portal, not just a blog. That would potentially attract more visitors (jobseekers and otherwise), so I understand the motivation. But if you’re leaning that way, then do it right as a…

2) Blog-portal: If you’re an employer, you’re already investing in a career website. If you’re independent, I understand you may want to make money (or even a living!) from blogging. It’s possible, but I couldn’t sleep at night if I were doing it the way some are (i.e., backroom entrepreneurs who hire SEO gurus to create hundreds of vanity sites with autogenerated, repurposed content into some semblance of a targeted category and everything links to contextual ads and products sold with affiliate codes). I think the recruiting blog-portal (I didn’t make up this term) is a term not properly used – currently refers to any amalgamation of blogs related to employment – and needs to go much deeper than what I’ve seen.

How it can be done well is to craft a truly useful portal that contains:

Anything else that’s relevant: If your target audience is technical, then give them technical content to help them earn the certifications they need, or to learn about the latest tools (ok to include links to other sites in these cases, but have your own employees – ideally experts in the space / people in the hiring group who know this stuff first-hand, provide annotated links – it’s unique and compelling because it’s more personal and authoritative). You get the idea.

When you provide a greater range of content of interest, you increase the chance you can touch someone, then you have the potential to draw them in further to other parts of your blog-portal, and ultimately apply to and/or refer opportunities.

Ultimately, blogs, jobs and anything else that supports the desired employer brand will become integrated with corporate websites. Third party sites trying to get a share of the job market will do the same.

Do you know any companies doing portals this way? Did I miss anything? Am open to your suggestions.

–Glenn Gutmacher

P.S. On the last bullet about your own employees in the target group providing content, you can use pseudonyms to discourage poaching (e.g., anyone asking for columnist “Clyde Jones” immediately gets transferred to HR/Legal) but this does go a bit against the genuine feel you should be striving for. I’m ambivalent on this one.

NOTE: Visit Glenn’s site, Recruiting Online for the latest Internet sourcing methods & other recruiting insights

Another fantastic post by Julian & Shannon at Exceler8ion, the premier blog covering marketing/advertising issues effecting the recruitment industry.

Published by Shannon, September 26th, 2006 in Interactive Recruitment Marketing, Blogs, employer brand, Social Media

I have been following Easton Ellsworth’s review of the 10 largest Fortune 500 companies. He has posted a list of his reviews of their ‘business blogging’ efforts so far:

1. ExxonMobil – Yawn
2. Wal-Mart – Ugly
3. General Motors Part 1 and Part 2 – Otay
4. Chevron – Mysterious
5. Ford – Iffy
6. ConocoPhillips – Nonexistent
7. General Electric – Aha!
8. Citigroup – Who?
9. AIG – Barf
10. IBM – Hallelujah!

Of Easton’s list:

* I only know of 2 that are using real blogs (very indirectly) to recruit talent: 1- Wal-mart (Life at Wal-Mart Blog – and there are some fishy things going on here that we will get into later) AND 2- GM (FYI Blog).

* While we know that IBM encourages its employees to blog (within company guidelines) – are there any recruiting focused / Heather Hamilton / JobsBlog equivalents out there for IBM? Maybe I’ve missed it?

* There are some that are blogging pretty well – but are clearly missing out on the opportunity to directly recruit talent from the blog – GE’s Global Research Blog, From Edison’s Desk, is one that needs to add a link to their job search and apply at the very least today.

According to the Fortune 500 Blogging Wiki, thirty, or 6%, of Fortune 500 companies have official corporate blogs (nearly double the number in December 2005)

Few company blogs are from the CEOs (which may be a good thing depending on the chief) and few seem to overtly use their corporate blogs to recruit talented people to join their team. Why are so many Fortune 500 companies failing to take advantage of this medium to engage in online conversations with potential candidates and applicants?

In the coming days I will begin reviewing the spectrum of F500 recruitment blogging efforts – from those that are just dipping their toes into the ‘recruitosphere’ to those that are doing cannonballs into recruitment blogging.

NOTE: Fortune 500 Blogger Wiki is planning to add share price data to create a Business Blogging Index, comparing the stock performance of companies that blog with those that don’t. Here’s why. A spreadsheet version of that with a snapshot of this list from 12/30/05 is here.

OTHER BUSINESS BLOG RESOURCES:

* The NewPR wiki: Corporate Blog List, | CEO Blog List | Product Blogs List
* CorporateBlogging.info: European Corporate Blogs list
* BlogsCorporativos.com: Corporate bloggging list and related blogs used for corporate internal and external communications.
* The NewPR Wiki: Business Blogging Policies | Blogging: Legal Challenges
* Charlene Li from Forrester’s Wiki : List of marketers using blogs, Blogger Code of Ethics and Corporate Blogging Policies
* BlogWriteForCEOs: Debbie Weil’s blog about CEO and corporate blogging, with a link to her forthcoming book, The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get It Right (Penguin Portfolio Aug. 2006)
* Publish and Prosper: Blogging for Your Business, a practical guide to business blogging (New Riders June 2006)
* BusinessBlogConsulting: Rick Bruner group blog on all things related to business blogging.
* BlogHer: A network of women bloggers and a daily surfing guide to blogging across a variety of topics, including business, technology and social media.
* Society For New Communications Research: Research society exploring corporate blogging and other forms of Internet related corporate communications.

Checkout accounting jobs, UK at AccountantCareers.co.uk.

Featured in Zoom Info’s October 2006 Newsletter
By Dave Mendoza, Strategic Tools & Sourcing Management Consultant
and JobMachine, Inc. Partner.

Sales Skills are Essential

Recruiters are challenged on many fronts, from narrow job specs to the reality of a decreasing labor pool. It’s now commonplace for recruiters to seek alternatives to their tired resume database. One way to enhance your talent pipeline is by broadening your outreach efforts. A warm referral is good, but an even better referral is from a contact you know and trust. What if you could replicate that result with an audience of potentially hundreds, if not thousands of new prospects as opposed to a limited rolodex of exhausted leads? What if you could improve both the volume and the quality of leads – would you agree in this value proposition – dedicating greater resources, your time and research efforts, to grow your networking efforts on behalf of your talent needs?

My blog, ” Six Degrees from Dave,” is an extension of my life-long pursuit of networking. One of the early characteristics of the recruitment blogosphere was the openness displayed by fellow recruiters with whom I networked. Gaining trust was accomplished by sharing personal details about yourself, what you thought and how you could contribute towards the needs of others. It’s easy for recruiters to communicate with others about their jobs, but they are not accustomed nor is it easy for them to communicate about themselves and who they are as people. Blogging is networking writ large, which is perhaps why I have taken so well to the medium. I can address my peers and contribute to discussions, sharing details about the latest techniques and software tools, always staying focused, evangelical in nature, promoting ‘relationships’ as the engine which powers my community building efforts.

The phrase, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” is a mantra we learn early in life. We are most keenly aware of it when we submit our college applications and as we enter the workforce. Today, after nearly a decade of recruiting, I have learned that the emphasis of one’s effort in effective networking is commonly misplaced. Meaningful and sustainable networking relies on an emphasis of “knowledge transfer” – what you learn – in your associations and likewise highlights the strength of your own personal branding – who knows you. I promote community with my peers contributing to discussions about the latest techniques and software tools.

Social networking used to be defined largely by power calls to foster candidate generation. Peer search techniques provide a wider audience via a “multiplier effect.” You can reference trade shows, trade organizations, periodicals, and patents into search engines to identify renowned experts in their discipline to locate colleagues. A variety of online social networks significantly advance networking techniques and reach, due to the broad menu of additional search capabilities with the ability to sort by industry, company, discipline, and organizations. A ZoomInfo result, for example, has the ability to cross reference and aggregate online profiles with contact information. A recruiter can create lists of peers instantaneously and in volume, with the added time-saving capability of exporting sorted data. It is a valuable tool you can leverage with other techniques and tools.

Why stop there? As a ‘CyberSleuth’, I proceed further, pursuing a viral marketing approach; pushing data to other online venues to make an introduction. Using OpenBC, Linkedin, MySpace or classmates.com, and others, I connect with relevant leads to broaden and further my pipeline of niche talent by increasing degrees of contact.

Why stop there? With online tools like H3, we can create rewards-based incentives and broadcast the power of referral networking for hires instantaneously using ZoomInfo’s JobCast campaigns and leverage search results with an even longer shelf-life.

Above all, provide functionality to the talent streams in your network. Create one for working professionals who are happily employed but are interested in a private, professional, and very personal way to keep an eye out for alternative opportunities (just in case they need one). And establish another for active candidates, featuring those capabilities, in addition to significant improvements in abilities to interact with recruiters through their dynamic network.

My colleague, Shally Steckerl, Founder of JobMachine, Inc., was kind enough to outline four essential networking rules:

1) Never demand or expect reciprocation.

2) Contribute value to your peers and to your talent audience and maintain cordial relations throughout. Don’t be shy about follow-through or follow-up.

3) Don’t burden your friends or your referral network unless the request has merit and always pass-it-forward when you have the means to assist your colleagues.

4) Look beyond the numerical strength of your network and emphasize the substance of your relationships

It is not uncommon to attract a wide response when you’re marketing a job description, and in the process, you create a perception of being known and worth knowing within talent communities. The manner of the introduction, the first impression, often dictates the fate of the next referral. It’s a viral marketing approach that extends the visibility of your job openings, and the rate in which referrals are forwarded and jobs filled. The concept is simple, yet the impact of online social networking, using these alternative approaches, not only extends the shelf life of our sourcing efforts to broaden talent pipeline, but it establishes the unforeseen benefit of highlighting our personal brand.

Social networking is my passion and it has broadened my personal brand, the results of which have extended my reach to a truly global audience, giving me a dynamic and synergistic outreaching presence. If you want to be found, electronic media makes the possibilities limitless. It sounds cliché, but relationships with a personal touch have been the common denominator to all that I have done to build my talent base, they have broadened my scope of knowledge in diverse industries and built a self generating cycle of new friendships. It’s important to care enough to apply sincerity in your relationships to ensure that your networking persona never loses its humanity. It’s simply people connecting to people. Remember, you are only six degrees away.

Feel free to reach Dave Mendoza at dave@jobmachine.net for On-Site and Webinar Training on Advanced Sourcing Techniques with JobMachine, Inc.

Dave Mendoza is a Strategic Tools & Sourcing, Management Consultant. Author of the recruitment blog, “Six Degrees From Dave,” An authority in advanced sourcing methods for passive talent, and partner on behalf of JobMachine, Inc.

Checkout accounting jobs, UK at AccountantCareers.co.uk.