“Recruiting leadership allowed me to bring together many things from my background: people management, process improvement, project management and vendor management, and make a significant bottom line impact to my organization. After years of enjoying my work, I somewhat stumbled backwards into what I was supposed to be doing: providing leadership to a recruiting function. After 3+ years in that role, I had a chance to move to a smaller bank and take over the recruiting director role, by far my favorite corporate role, which I did for the last 4+ years.”

“I left my 27 year corporate career to pursue a long time dream of starting my own HR consulting firm, the Bower Consulting Group.”

• Ron Bower, Strongville, Ohio
• President, Bower Consulting Group
• Alum Director of Recruiting and Employee Relations, AmTrust Bank
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• Ron’s Website: http://www.bowercg.com
• Personal Causes: Our church
• Office number: 440-846-6274
• Email Ron

Ron Bower is an accomplished Corporate Staffing executive. Prior to establishing his own firm, he served as
Director of Recruiting and Employee Relations at AmTrust Bank in Cleveland, Ohio and as a Recruiting Manager at Key Bank. Cleveland, Ohio. Ron has led a team of HR professionals accountable for recruiting, employee relations and employee records; supporting an organization of 1700+. He established a record of dramatic change effort within recruiting. Improved: quality of hire, staff and client satisfaction and reduced overall recruiting expenses by 40+%. He established his activities as “Best in Class” by improving employee referrals as source of hire from 29 to 78% and reduced search firm utilization from 27 to 2%. As a result, Ron Bower earned one of the industry’s highest honors, the 2008 “ERE Recruiting Excellence Award Winner for Most Innovative Employee Referral Program” and in 2007 ERC NorthCoast 99 Recruitment and Selection Award Winner. Afterwards he was selected as a judge for the 2009 ERE Recruiting Excellence Award competition.

Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world:

RON: My wife, Wendy, and I met when we were juniors in college at Ohio University and I fell for her very quickly She was (and still is) smart, funny, full of energy, and beautiful! A few weeks after we met, she went home for the weekend and when she returned with the most amazing batch of homemade cookies, I asked her to marry me. She thought I was kidding. I wasn’, and we were married a year after we graduated from college. We have now been married for nearly 27 years and are the proud parents of two boys, a 21 year old senior in college and an 18 year old freshman in college (both attending Ohio University) and an increasingly better behaved dog, Misty, a boxer mix that we rescued eight years ago.

We have had a blast watching…and helping… our boys grow and develop into amazing (yet very different) young men. Our oldest will graduate with degrees in Finance and Economics with a minor in Political Science and is on a mission to attend law school. Our youngest is a great drummer (pop-punk/rock)and has had the tremendous opportunity to play publicly with a band on a regular basis and he hopes to pursue a career in music management/promotion (plan B)…unless he can make a living as a drummer in a rock band (plan A). Professionally, my wife is a college professor and owns her own communications consulting business. For what seems to be most of our adult life, we have been attending our boys sporting events. Our oldest played baseball and football throughout high school and our youngest is a runner, competing in cross country and track. We are, with mixed emotions, in the first week of experiencing life with an empty nest. So far, so good!

We love to travel, camp, hike, canoe, and kayak….just about anything that gets us outside. When I slow down long enough, I really enjoy reading. I have always been a little crazed by collecting and listening to music and making mixes of music for friends, parties, road trips…and one wedding reception. It’s all much easier today with digital music…when I started doing this I was making mixes by manually recording one track at a time from albums on a turntable to cassette tapes (my apologies to all of your readers that have no idea what I just said!). I grew up on 70’s rock and my favorite artist is still Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. If you picked up my i-pod today you would find a crazy mix of nearly 6000 songs, with the likes of Pink Floyd, Johnny Cash, Counting Crows, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eminem, Aerosmith, Doors, Neil Young, Genesis, and Santana among my favorites. My wife and I are both qualified facilitators of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) which we have both used for years in our work. Recently we began co-facilitating MBTI workshops for couples for one of her corporate clients. Our goal is to use our knowledge of MBTI (we are nearly complete opposite types ourselves – I am an INTJ and she is an ESTP) to help others gain insight into their personalities as a means to further improve their relationships. This has been an amazingly enjoyable and rewarding experience for us to work together and help others in an educational and fun way.

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

Ron: After 10 years in predominately operations and technology jobs in banking, I was given an opportunity to go to work on a “special project” in HR. My one month project turned into a three month project, which then evolved into a 17 year stint in HR jobs in three banks in Cleveland. The first 8+ years of my HR career were focused on generalist work; primarily OD, employee relations, executive coaching, and team development, along with a big dose of vendor management and process improvement work. I took on a recruiting leadership role about 8 years ago.

Ron Bower earned the 2008 ERE Recruiting Excellence Award Winner for Most Innovative Employee Referral Program and in 2007 ERC NorthCoast 99 Recruitment and Selection Award Winner. Afterwards he was selected as a judge for the 2009 ERE Recruiting Excellence Award competition.

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

RON: Much to most people’s surprise, none of my early HR experience included recruiting. I moved into recruiting in a leadership role, where I was managing a group of 40+ recruiters across 20+ cities for a large regional bank. When I first raised my hand to take on that first role, I was admittedly looking at it from a leadership perspective and to broader my experiences. My full expectation was to take on the job, learn it, improve the function and then go back to the “sexy” work of being a generalist. Quickly, and very unexpectedly, I absolutely fell in love with recruiting. Recruiting leadership allowed me to bring together many things from my background: people management, process improvement, project management and vendor management, and make a significant bottom line impact to my organization. After years of enjoying my work, I somewhat stumbled backwards into what I was supposed to be doing: providing leadership to a recruiting function. After 3+ years in that role, I had a chance to move to a smaller bank and take over the recruiting director role, by far my favorite corporate role, which I did for the last 4+ years.

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

RON: Easy question. Very early in my first recruiting leadership role, I convinced my manager to send me to a two-day workshop In Chicago facilitated by Dr. John Sullivan. I knew I had a lot to learn about recruiting and the workshop seemed like a great place to kick-start my education. At that point in time (sorry John) I had not heard of John, but the agenda was packed with concepts that really resonated with me. Two days with John and Master Burnett (and about a dozen really smart recruiting leaders from around the country) gave me the insight, focus, and motivation I needed to go make a difference in recruiting. No-nonsense, aggressive, creative recruiting with a never-ending focus on the bottom line became my mission.

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

RON: As I mentioned, John and Master have been a significant influence for me from the very beginning. Additionally, because I don’t believe that anyone has all the answers, I have surrounded myself with a network of really smart recruiting leaders that educate, inspire and challenge me every day. I have a clear bias for those that are trying new things, willing to stumble periodically for the cause, are able to put quantifiable business results on the table. In lieu of a formal mentor, I have consistently used a “personal board of directors” approach by keeping a small group of trusted advisors that are always there to guide, teach, slap me around when I need it and re-direct me as necessary.

Six Degrees: Tell us about your firm, the Bower Consulting Group:

RON: In February of this year I left my 27 year corporate career to pursue a long time dream of starting my own HR consulting firm, the Bower Consulting Group. I am focusing my efforts on recruiting effectiveness. I am passionate about working with companies that want to build or rebuild their recruiting functions to be more strategic, efficient and cost effective. I have a special interest in working with companies that want to build a world-class employee referral program as part of their strategy. I have already had the opportunity to help companies make significant changes in their recruiting strategy and results, have filled several HR jobs locally, have completed some interviewing training for managers. Additionally, I have several executive coaching clients and am doing some outplacement coaching for a locally based company, CareerCurve. My most recent corporate job was with AmTrust Bank in Cleveland where I was the director of recruiting and employee relations. At AmTrust I had an amazing opportunity to transform a recruiting function into the type of strategic business partner that I had always believed could be done. I was able to lead the efforts to upgrade strategy, staff, processes, and vendor relationships which drove significant expense out of the organization, improved hiring manager satisfaction and increased employee retention.

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

RON: While I admire the great work and impact in some of the better known companies like Starbucks, Intuit, E&Y and Sodexo, I continue to pay attention to smaller growing companies that have been able to implement creative and leading edge practices. I think we should all pay attention to the small and mid-size companies that are aggressively trying to grow, are less likely to have bureaucracy slowing down their progress, and have cracked the code on creating bottom line impact with their recruiting functions.

(B) In what aspects are they superior?

RON: My view of “superior” is one where companies are willing to take the risk and go for leading edge strategies…not waiting around to see what everyone else is going to do and not bogged down by internal bureaucracy and politics. Right now, the people I admire have a meaningful recruiting strategy aligned with their corporate goals, have a recruiting leader and team that are creative and are able to consistently measure and deliver bottom line results. The companies that understand how to use social media, how to leverage technology, how to identify and attract the micro-segments of talent they need, and have creative business savvy recruiters are going to win the game.

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

RON: For recruiting functions in general, clearly the advancements in CRM technology and social media are changing the core of successful recruiting strategies. That’s the easy part of the answer. I really believe what is going to change us the most is what we just went through with the economic challenges of the last few years. I have not talked to a single recruiting leader that believes that they can lead their functions the same way tomorrow as we did three years ago. None of us ever want to go through the staff reductions in recruiting again; which means we need to get really smart, really fast, and create much more flexible recruiting staffing models. What worked three years ago will not work going forward. We all need to take a moment to rethink how to approach the improving economy and the increasing requisition loads…and the answer is not to rebuild our teams to look like they did before the recession. Flexibility and cost control should be at the top of everyone’s list of priorities right now.

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

RON: I have had the great opportunity to attend multiple ERE conferences over the last several years, which have been amazing networking, learning, and inspirational forums. In 2008, I was honored to accept the ERE Recruiting Excellence Award for Most Innovative Employee Referral Program for AmTrust Bank. Of equal honor for me was the opportunity in 2009 and 2010 to be a judge for the ERE Recruiting Excellence Awards..and I will be participating as a judge again in 2011. An article I authored “Creating Business Results Through Employee Referrals” appeared in the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership in March of 2008. In 2007 AmTrust Bank was recognized in the northeastern Ohio area as the top recruiting department as part of the NorthCoast99 awards. On a local level I have been an active speaker where I have presented on employee referrals, on-boarding, Recruiting for Retention, Adapting your Recruiting Skills in the New Economy, and social media in recruiting; and will be presenting on Proactive Networking in May. I regularly speak to college classes on topics ranging from: careers in HR, trends in recruiting, resume preparation, networking skills, how to handle illegal interview questions, and social media in recruiting. I have had the opportunity to be quoted in local newspapers and business magazines and have been a guest blogger for a number of friends in the business. I have recently written another article for the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership, which is scheduled to be published in the October issue.

Six Degrees: Can you detail how the recession has affected your particular industry niche?

RON: First let me answer this from my corporate guy perspective. As exciting and energizing as it was to rebuild a recruiting team starting four years ago, it was equally painful to then have to slowly dismantle a phenomenal team of recruiting professionals. I had to reduce my staff by nearly 70% over an 18-month period as banking took an unusually hard hit. If I answer from my consulting guy perspective, I believe the timing is good for me to provide my expertise to other companies to build sustainable cost effective recruiting strategies and tactics to weather whatever the future sends our way.

Six Degrees: In terms of Networking, Are there groups, both online and in-person that have proved fruitful in extending your personal brand and job seeking prospects?

RON: Most of my “volunteer” time right now is focused on helping people build their networks and connecting people for open jobs. Working with a local non-profit to provide executive coaching and consulting for creating a performance based culture. I regularly speak to college classes on a variety of topics. I have participated in formal and informal groups of recruiting leaders on a local level that get together on a regular basis to share ideas, learn from each other, and share our unique views and experiences. Currently I facilitate the Cleveland Recruiting Leadership Group and co-facilitate The Talent Spot, a private LinkedIn community for talent leaders. I was also instrumental in starting a LinkedIn group for HR Professionals that are Ohio University alumni. From a personal branding perspective, I think my efforts with ERE and my consistent efforts to speak to groups and make myself available to the press have been most impactful.

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?

RON: Do not make networking a “just-in-time” activity. I find nothing more disappointing in networking than those that only show up when the need/want something. Networking is for life. Build and maintain relationships with meaningful two-way benefits. I do my best to offer help to people in nearly every situation I am in, whether someone is directly asking for help or not. Also, don’t have a hidden agenda…if you have built a meaningful networking relationship, then just lay the cards on the table; we all need help at some point. Personally, my struggle is not over-extending myself. In an effort to help people, especially those in-between jobs, sometimes I find myself a bit overwhelmed trying to keep up with the work that is paying me.

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

RON: My career goal is to build the Bower Consulting Group into a respected firm that makes a positive impact, allows me to do the work that I love, and creates the long-term work-life balance that I aspire to. To get there, I need to continue to build my brand, continue to leverage my website and blog, identify the organizations that are ready to change the way they approach recruiting, and continue to deliver great results for my clients.

Six Degrees:What song reflects “thee Ron Bower”?

RON: I would pick “Mr. Jones” by the Counting Crows…because I’ve always related to the line: “Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky.” That’s me…

Six Degrees: Perhaps Ron your not funky, but I dare say what you have accomplished in your long career as a Corporate Staffing Leader is, well … “groovy”!

“I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Ron Bower’s contribution to the field of human resources and talent development. Ron has always been the consummate professional and has a passion for developing talent that is seldom seen in corporate America of late. With the ever-increasing drive to reduce costs and increase productivity, Ron has been at the forefront of developing and implementing innovative recruitment and staff retention programs. I salute you, Ron, for your dedication, drive and passion and for being an inspiring professional coach and mentor. Personally, I am a better manager thanks to your coaching and tutelage.” January 6, 2010
Junaid Ward, EMBA, CAMS, LSSGB, Assistant Vice President – Compliance Operations, AmTrust Bank

“Ron is a true business partner in every sense of the word. Ron’s knowledge of his profession, passion for his work and dedication to his craft are unparalleled. His ability to draw on past experience coupled with his desire to embrace new methods is a tremendous asset. Ron is not only a valued business partner, but a friend and mentor.” November 4, 2008
Nick Fishman, Chief Marketing Officer, EVP, employeescreenIQ

“Ron is the consummate “pro”. He knows how to get things done while treating people with respect at all levels. Ron is well grounded and keeps his eye on the goals he has set out for himself and the company. He has demonstrated that he knows how to make the tough decisions. In addition to all of the above, on a personal level, he is really a great guy.” February 12, 2007
Norman Benke, Managing Partner, N.L.Benke & Associates, Inc.

“Ron is a visionary. He comes to work everyday with his A game energized and ready to do something no one else is doing or thought about doing. What sets him apart from others is his ability to turn his ideas into reality. Ron has a talent of finding ways to get his top people to continue to challenge and stretch themselves because he believes in them. Anyone who has worked for Ron or with him knows he is a true professional, an amazing leader, and someone who sees the best in people or situations when others would throw in the towel. I highly recommend Ron and hope to have the good fortune to work for him again as I learn something new everytime.” November 7, 2008
Alexandria Hayden Fontecchio, Senior Recruiter, KeyCorp

“Ron is a colleague and friend with whom I hope to always keep connected. He is an accomplished HR professional and business leader. Ron’s candor and vision coupled with his functional expertise and incredible coaching skills have led me to count him as trusted advisor. I would value the opportunity to work with Ron again.” November 5, 2008
Geri Ann Frisone, SPHR, Senior HR Generalist, KeyCorp

“Ron provided the HR support to my area when I first joined KeyCorp. Over the next several years I was often responsible for reorganizing groups, processes and functions. Ron’s teamwork and insight were essential to the successful creation of the new teams, and our successful efforts to improve productivity and quality. A true professional and exceptional HR manager with a good focus on business process.” May 5, 2007
Robert Dutile, EVP, KeyCorp

“Ron and I were colleagues at Key and have continued to network since continuing our careers elsewhere. Ron is focused on developing and maintaining relationships with his clients, colleagues and teammates. He is an HR professional who strives deliver state of the art programs to his clients, and share what he has learned and accomplished with his network of other professionals. He has a passion for developing people and celebrating in their successes. He has been a great contributor to the bottom lines of the organizations he has supported.” April 13, 2009
Karen Moyer, HR Project Manager, Recruiting Manager, Sr. Generalist (Vice President), KeyBank

Today I am taking a lesson from public figure, Irina Shamaeva’s playbook and hijacking someone’ else blog post to shine light on her online and public behavior in the same fashion … in public.

Irina I’m calling you out this time and today. You have the audacity to insult an informative piece that benefits everyone to make yourself seem all knowing and yet incorrect just the same. You hijack Shally’s post to promote your own blog post nonetheless. This self promotion at another’s expense reminds me of the time you took the microphone (LITERALLY) at sourcecon from Russ Moon during HIS presentation with John Turnberg – to then grandstand with a completely irrelevant mention of chrome when the event was concerning Firefox app – just so you could promote your own business. Everyone gasped but no one called you on it. Esp shameful since Russ was kind enough to assist you when you had issues at your own presentation a few months prior. You also undermined my effort to assist you when you used my interview series to promote your business without my permission when you understand my relationships as they are and you took advantage of a kindness. It was the FIRST time I ever took an interview down which is what makes you distinguished but for no other reason out of 200 interviews I have conducted in “Six Degrees from Dave”. Moreover, I know firsthand You misstated that you never took classes from Shally to upgrade your skills. Everyone learns from everyone else – hence the term community. You have not once acknowledged the benefits of sharing from Shally or other thought leaders and yet your mimic them as your own for your business. This is a public setting and as a Public figure Irina you should be cognizant that such grandstanding will be perceived with the opposite effect. I repeatedly give credit to my sources and to my mentors in every presentation I have made and yet rather than show humility you attack and, furthermore, link to your sites for publicity’s sake than earnest disagreement.

I have seen this behavior from Irina as have many others in the sourcing community and its shameful and it makes me feel sincerely embarrassed for you. It appears to be a genuine self confidence issue.

Use your talents to benefit others and you can start by making a pledge not to pick up microphones to toot your own horn virtually or in-person.

You have talents – use them for positive contributions rather than to assume we are unable to distinguish a debate from an attempt to undermine for self promotion’s sake

NOTE: I vowed never again to spotlight negativity, in the one instance in 4 years of this blog I regretted it and apologized for it. This instance the level of behavior was so audacious and for such a prolonged period of time, I am confident that I will stand by it to my deathbed. This is a public figure whose misbehavior and abuse of the podium virtually and in-person has risen to the level where i can no longer in good faith stand idly by. This is not about my relationship with Shally Steckerl – it is about Irina’s relationship with her public standing, or lack thereof.

I can always count on seeing Jason Buss at any of the assortment of staffing industry events as a speaker or as an attendee. He has an unblemished record for passion on behalf of sharing with his peers and building substantive discussions on how to improve talent attraction. I can sincerely state I have been a fan of his for a number of years for what he has accomplished and it is an honor to have him agree to be featured on “Six Degrees from Dave” today. Jason Buss is a Talent Management & Diversity Executive with over 10 years of global Human Resources Experience. He was the creator of the Recruiting News site – The Talent Buzz, – which has been regularly recognized as a leading industry blof and has built a reputation for designing and leading recruiting organizations as an internal competitive capability for companies.

Jason is also a frequent presenter at both local and national industry events and conferences and has been interviewed for and published hundreds of HR and recruiting related articles online and in several publications. You can connect with Jason through any of the following links / sites:

• LinkedIn
• twitter
• facebook
• foursquare
• The Talent Buzz
• Specialties: Workforce Planning, Employee Referral Programs, Applicant Tracking Systems, Blogs, Web 2.0, Executive Recruiting, Talent Management, Employment Law, Employment Branding, College Recruiting, Internships, Talent Acquisition, Recruiting Strategy, Succession Planning, Competency Development, Assessment and Selection, Collective Bargaining, Six Sigma, Blue Belt, Green Belt, Black Belt, Project Management Office, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Process Design, Candidate Experience, Metrics, Diversity

Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world.

Jason: I am single, with 3 amazing kids. Jake is 13, Kaitlin is 11, and Josh is 7. There are also a couple of pets running around… Buddy (dog) and his arch rival Lewis (cat). My hobbies include a variety of sports, games, reading, technology, and outdoor activities with my kids. I also look forward to warm-weather vacation getaways (give me a break, I live in Minnesota). Additionally, I enjoy volunteering and giving to “Feed My Starving Children” and the “Children’s Miracle Network”

Six Degrees: How many years of experience in recruiting?

Jason: Time flies by when your having fun! It’s been 13 years. Before job boards… Remember, back in the day when a big display ad in the Sunday paper meant something and when career fairs were like social media is today?

Six Degrees: How do you find time to manage an Executive Career at a Fortune 500 company, your social presence, your blog, and your family?

Jason: For starters, these are all things I enjoy. My kids are my number one priority, that’s non-negotiable. Beyond that, all of these areas take a strong commitment, prioritization, a passion for the work, doing whatever it takes, and a few late nights along the way. While there is synergy between my career, social presence and my blog – a majority of the time I spend online is primarily after hours.

Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your staffing career?

Jason: It is hard to think of one single event, however, I can think several individuals that have had a strong impact on my career. I have been very fortunate to work with some very talented professionals. I have also had great mentors and coaches throughout my life

Six Degrees: Leveraging social media for recruiting continues to be hot topic. What are your thoughts?

Jason: Let me start my answer to this question by stating that there are some great opportunities for HR professionals and Recruiters to leverage social media personally and or professionally. However, I do think that many are falling for the hype and are being sold worthless goods.

If you filter through all of the noise, most of what I see and hear is just that – noise and hype. Consider for a minute how recruiting (tools) have evolved over the past 2 decades – from newspapers and job boards – to the almost endless possibilities today (in comparison). The biggest difference between then and now is that now we can leverage all of these tools to brand our organization and get our messages in front of people world-wide whether or not they are looking for work. And more importantly, we can now do this faster than ever thought possible.

YET, part of the problem with the current focus is most are primarily talking about using social media for posting jobs (advertising) and finding people (sourcing). These are activities. They can be important, yet they are not fixing the issues at hand. These activities are not advancing our cause.
There is no reason to over-complicate “trends” and “best practices”. We don’t need to continue creating and leveraging more job posting tools and web sites. This isn’t about posting your job on twitter or creating a RSS feed of your jobs for your facebook fan page. It’s also not about a really cool expensive tool that will post your job instantly all over the place at once. Big deal.

Do we really think candidates understand the mess being created online with over 40,000 job sites? Are we that naive to think 99% of the job sites even matter – at all? It’s unnecessary clutter, it’s confusing to candidates, and the online experience can be an embarrassment. And people ask how HR and/or recruiting get bad labels.

From my viewpoint, I would argue we need to think broader than job postings, and start thinking about total distribution models, meaningful delivery of content and mechanisms, and true communities of influence that provide a mutually beneficial relationship for both parties – the candidate and the company.

Six Degrees: What motivates and inspires you about the recruiting industry?

Jason: Everyday, we are building the future of the companies we work and recruit for. We have an amazing opportunity to create such a competitive advantage – whether we are focusing on workforce planning, succession management, or filling a req. From these activities all the way to the candidate experience – they all matter and add to the returns on our hiring investments.

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

Jason: Stay tuned…

Six Degrees: How do you personally expect to facilitate change within our industry?

Jason: Great question. I think we all have an opportunity to facilitate change and shape the future of recruiting. For me, I will continue focus on being an advocate for the importance – and competitive advantage recruiting plays in any organization. I’ll also continue publishing articles and content from an objective point of view – and by creating dialogue mechanisms for other HR and recruiting professionals.

Six Degrees: Anything you want to plug?

Jason: Sure – for your readers interested in networking with HR professionals and Recruiters, please check out the following groups on LinkedIn and facebook.

For those interested is getting a fill for industry news in one place, check out the re-designed HR News site – HRbloggers.com.

For twitter novices, pro’s and cynics – get a flavor of hot topics being talked about in the HR and recruiting community – via twitter on HRtweeps.com.

Last, for those professionals looking for work, check out postings directly from the source on the free HR Jobs site.: http://www.HRjobscenter.com

VP, Talent Acquisition & Diversity
Ameriprise Financial
“Jason is a true builder, a prime mover, an authentic leader. Ideation alone does not ensure success. Building, planning, organizing, and designing processes that dovetail into an organization is both science and art. Combine that with Jason’s ability to bring together a diverse team capable of thinking at many different levels and with various approaches, and you have the makings of a true talent acquisition battlefield commander.”
Shally Steckerl, VP Arbita ACES

“Jason is one of the most strategic and innovative Recruiting Executives I have had the pleasure of working with and for. Jason is a respected thought leader in the industry and quickly builds credibility and relationships with colleagues, staff, and clients.”
Jackie Moes, Business Development / Consulting, Ameriprise Financial

“Jason stands out as a true leader not only for his organization, but also with his talent acquisition peers across the globe. I have had the privilege to work with Jason on several projects over the last couple of years. Jason is an innovator and highly authentic in his approach to solve large scale strategic challenges. Jason has the innate ability to design and implement complex processes and solutions seemingly with ease. Make sure to follow Jason where you can as he readily shares his tremendous wealth of knowledge!”
Craig Butas, Sr Account Executive – Enterprise Solutions, LinkedIn

“Jason is by far the best executive leader I have worked with in my career. Though we work from different locations (read countries), he always makes me and the team members in India feel that he is very close to us. He is a very caring leader and always ensures the team members are motivated, engaged and happy with the work and challenges. Jason always leads from front when it comes to guiding the team to implement latest technologies and innovations in the field of recruiting. It’s a pleasure to work with a leader like him.”
Amit Babbar (Open Networker), Team Lead – Talent Acquisition, Ameriprise Financial

“Jason is a true visionary. I have worked for him at Allianz and Ameriprise and it has been a pleasure. Jason is always on the cutting edge of what is new in recruiting. I look forward to the opportunity to work with him again.”
Chris Wedum, Senior Recruiting Manager Talent Acquisition and Diversity, Ameriprise Financial

Director, Talent Acquisition
Russell Investment Group

“In the short time that I have worked with Jason, I have experienced his pragmatic and focused approach to evolving Russell’s talent acquisition model. Jason is steady in his approach, highly ratioanle, and customer-centric. I appreciate his attention to details and follow through. He is a Can Do guy.”
Rick Len, Director, Contract Consulting Services, Russell Investment Company

“I have had the opportunity to work with Jason twice over the last few years and can say with confidence that he is a true leader in talent acquisition. Jason has a remarkable ability to gain trust and respect and does this with a calm and assertive manner. He understands how to position his recruiting team to create a collaborative partnership with business lines. Jason highly values his staff members and operates with determination, conviction and the fortitude to see his vision through.”
Emily Sell, Recruitment Consultant, Russell Investment Group

“Jason is a thoughtful, creative and fair manager who allows his team to bring new ideas to the table and act on them. He is able to gather and allocate resources to enable his staff to focus on their core roles.”
Beth Arrisi, Senior Talent Acquisition Partner, Russell Investments

“As a mentor and manager, Jason stands out as an innovative leader. He provides great vision, is down to earth and really listens to his people.”
Lisa Ingle Buttitta, Sr. Recruiter, Russell Investments

“Jason is an outstanding leader to the recruiting team within Russell Investments. He fosters a highly professional and mature work environment based on mutual respect for all people within the group.”
Rob Payne, Talent Aqcuisition Partner – East Coast, Russell Investments

“Since coming to Russell, Jason has brought a ton of great ideas and processes to the recruiting function. Under his leadership, he has redefined the recruiting function and has dramatically changed Russell’s presence in the recruitment market. Jason has a love of technology and isn’t afraid to try new things.”
Rebecca Carlson, HR Project Manager, Russell Investments

“Jason is very effective in managing a Talent Acquisition team and comes highly respected by all executive levels within Russell Investments. He is very knowledgeable and has had great success in developing and implementing a “Best in Class” proactive recruiting organization. Jason offers a broad perspective both tactically and strategically in all aspects in Talent Acquisition/ Management and has been successful in providing direction to meet Russell’s business needs. He is an outstanding manager to work under!”
Marybeth Maino, Recruitment Consultant, Russell Investments

“In working with Jason on website projects for Russell, I found him to always have clarity around his priorities and vision. He provides strong leadership and direction around fundamental aspects of the project while remaining flexible enough to allow the creativity and expertise of others to inform and improve the final outcome. He combines graceful professionalism with an upbeat, lighthearted way of communicating and building relationships. It is a treat to work with Jason.”
Kathryn Wachs, Senior Project Manager – Marketing, The Lux Group, Inc

“Jason was a client during his tenure at CUNA as well as at his current position with Russell Investment Group. It was a pleasure having Jason as a client as he is a strategic thinker and understands how to incorporate technology with his company’s vision resulting in measurable value to his organization. He is very knowledgeable about the space and was a great advocate for us. I would love to have Jason as a client again.”
Nicola Medeira, Sr. Account Manager, Kenexa, Inc (formerly Webhire)

“Jason is dedicated to successfully developing and implementing Talent Acquisition initiatives globally. He is customer focused, and has built a solid foundation for executing strategic hiring goals.”
Amod Damle, College Recruiting Leader, Russell Investment Group

“Jason has elevated our talent acquisition function to a new level of effectiveness and professionalism by implementing best practices and forward-thinking process development. Jason’s customer-focused leadership abilities have contributed significantly to the continued evolution of our HR team.”
Pam Johnson, Manager, Global Mobility, Russell Investment Group

Chrissy McKenzie, Sourcing Partner
Commercial Non-Sales, Operations & Enabling at AstraZeneca
• Linkedin
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Corporate Website
• Community Volunteering: Habitat for Humanity, Haiti Relief, Big Brother Big Sister – Harrisburg PA
• Office: 302-885-4227
• Cell: 610-952-2974
• Personal Email

Six Degrees: How many applicants at your present employer do you estimate are hired from your corporate website as compared to how many are hired through referrals?

Chrissy: This is a dynamic figure, but the range for employee referrals is 28% to 35% and 32% to 38% for corporate website.

Six Degrees: What is the source of the “Most Hires” collected from at your present employer? (In terms of Quantity #)

Chrissy: We are unable to accurately measure given the limitation of our ATS. We currently track to the number of landings to our career site. Internet Boards currently have driven the most traffic to our career site.

Six Degrees: What is the source of your “LOWEST COST OF HIRES” – (least amount of invested resources for the easiest hires, regardless of quality) at your present employer?

Chrissy: We are unable to accurately measure given the limitation of our ATS. We currently track to the number of landings to our career site. Postings to key niche sites and search engines have resulted in a lower than average cost per landing.

Six Degrees: What talent niche groups do you target and are these particular talent areas specialized under your review?

Chrissy: We see key talent targets in Operations/Supply Chain/Engineering, Corporate Functions, Finance, IS architects and project managers, Legal, Intellectual Property, and pharmacists with business acumen.

Six Degrees: What types of training in sourcing/recruitment are available to you and have you taken advantage of?

• We currently use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques which serve as effective tools to improve the volume and quality of traffic to a web site. This also improves AZs search relevancy (organic search results).
• A tool effective in building pipelines and keeping potential candidates engaged is the use of a Candidate Relationship Database (CRM). Through segmentation and targeting, AZ employs a communication matrix to connect with key talent targets and potentials.
• MicroSite or Landing Page has been an effective tool to target potentials with critical, niche and difficult to find skill sets. Thus allowing us to appeal to and attract key talent targets with relevant and engaging information specifically for them.
Six Degrees: What recruitment software tools do you use in your day to day recruitment activities & do they translate effectively within all of the different countries where you recruit?

Chrissy: At AstraZeneca, we use a variety of tools globally to build online networks and communities of candidates. Looking at the team as a whole, I feel we have most successfully utilized LinkedIn. LinkedIn has been a great tool that Recruitment Partners and Sourcers have used globally. It’s a tool that we can use to help meet each other half way around the world. I have introduced my peers to great candidates local to their geography and they have done the same for me. Outside of sharing candidates, LinkedIn has been a great source for conversation between each country’s recruitment team based on its searchabilty from google. Sharing search strings and ways to find candidates outside of our networks has been a fun journey. We even have a few shared case studies to show our success and partnerships in working collaboratively with the tool.

(“What’s mine is yours to leave or take..What’s mine is yours to make your own” – The Fray, Look After You)

Six Degrees: What tools did you first encounter early in your recruitment career?

Chrissy: This is a great question. As for tools, when I first started out, my only tool was my “attitude”. Let me explain what I mean. When I first began recruiting, we didn’t have much in the way of technology. It might have been out there, but the company that I was working for was old school and didn’t purchase much. LinkedIn was new and the company that I was working for couldn’t afford AIRS certifications for everyone. Sure we had Zoom and Hovers but really that was only to kick start the process. Basically, I listened to the guy at the desk next to me make a few calls on my first day as an official Recruiter. I became bored just listening and picked up the phone. Yes, the first few calls were brutal, but I found a balance between polite and direct and it worked. I watched what others were doing online and copied it. I read articles on sourcing and asked a ton of questions. It was my goal to learn something, anything, new each day. Believe it or not, I think this was a great way to start out in the industry. Was it difficult to find people? Yes, at times, however it taught me to be resourceful with very little available information. It also taught me how to have great verbal conversations with candidates. In today’s times, it can be so easy to communicate through email and text messages without even picking up the phone. Picking up the phone and making the exchange past an internet conversation personal is really what I believe recruiting is all about. I can type until I am blue in the face…I can use CAPS and exclamation points to show passion in my writing but you are still missing the tone and reflection in my voice. These are things that I look for in conversations with candidates. Voice tone, a pause, even rambling can say a lot without having to be specific. Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely grateful for all of the technology we have today. Our “upgraded” way of recruiting has allowed me to reach my time to fill goals much faster than ever before. It has also allowed me to have great telephone and face to face conversations with many more candidates. I believe it was my genuine interest in recruiting and my attitude that I was going to make it happen that helped me to find the foundation of being a recruiter.

(“I’m feelin’ good from my head to my shoes…Know where I’m goin’ and I know what to do..I tidied up my point of view…I got a new attitude” – Patty LaBelle, New Attitude)

Six Degrees: How did your expectations of being a recruiter compare to the actual, first time you got on the phone or in the cubicle? In your opinion, how do people’s assumptions about our vocation differ from reality?

Chrissy: The first time I picked up the phone I dialed with confidence. There was no script available (who needs one anyway, this is easy!) I had everything I needed: a list of names and telephone numbers that were previously sourced and the job description. When the person on the other line answered, all of my confidence went right out the window. As I mentioned, I had listened to a few calls and thought it seemed “easy”. Luckily, I was listening to a talented recruiter that had a lot to share. The call went something like this:

Candidate: Hello?
Me: Hello?
Candidate: Who is this?
Me: Ummmm, My name is Chrissy and I have an opportunity to share with you. Do you have a few minutes to spend with me to learn more?
Candidate: Thanks but I am not interested
Me: Ummmm
Candidate: *click*

I actually sat holding the phone in place so long that the dial tone began to beep in my ear. What had just happened? That’s not what happens to the guy at the desk next to me that was now laughing hysterically at me! So I hung up and asked him to show me again. This time, I really paid attention. I took notes. The next call went something like this:

Candidate: Hello?
Me: Hello, My name is Chrissy, I am calling from ABC on behalf of DEF. Are you licensed with your Series 6 and 63?
Candidate: Yes I am, why do you ask?
Me: Great, I am working on an opportunity that you could be a match for.
Candidate: Thanks but I am not interested in making a change.
Me: How do you know what you are saying no to until you hear me out? If no next steps are gained from this call, at the very least, you will know a bit more about your role at a competitor.
Candidate: Okay, what is it….

I looked up and saw the nod of approval from my new mentor and knew I had found my groove. That first year I placed over 150 people for my client.

(“Shake your groove thing, shake your groove thing, yeah, yeah..Show ‘em how we do it now” Peaches and Herb, Shake Your Groove Thing)

Six Degrees: Worst mistake, biggest goof, lousiest practice you thought would fly but didn’t — and how that was a learning experience?

Chrissy McKenzie: A lousy practice where I was a victim comes to mind. It’s actually really funny. Well, it was for me at least. Before joining AstraZeneca, I interviewed with a large well known staffing firm for a Recruiter /Business Development role. The interview process was quite intense. There was a multiple choice test, a panel interview, a one on one interview, a 30-60-90 day paper due and a case study type situation. I made it through the first 4 levels of the process leaving the final case study to complete. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in the case study but at that point I wasn’t about to give up and let the process win. I was taken to the bull pen and introduced to the guy that drove the yellow Ferrari parked out front. I guess that was supposed to be inspiring? The office manager sat me down at the next desk and placed a phone in-front of me. It became clear that the case study was about making live calls while the manager listened in. Fine – whatever. I was given a list of names in my right hand and told to call the first person and pitch them the job description that I was now holding in my left hand. You could have heard a pin drop it was so quiet. The hiring manager had smirk on his face showing his complete happiness in making others uncomfortable. I picked up the phone and dialed the first number. Long story short, the “candidate” had just resigned and joined another organization. Instead of hanging up as instructed, I put the job description down and started talking to the guy. Where are you going? What type of business is it? Where is it located? I could tell the hiring manager was getting irritated because “time was money” as he had already mentioned a few times. By the time I hung up, I had the candidates new information, including his new managers name and contact information. The company he was going to was local, and they were hiring. Based on the relationship I was able to quickly build with the candidate, he asked for my name so he could recommend that his new boss reach out to me for their hiring needs. Seeing as I didn’t have a desk or my own line, I gave him the hiring managers information. He also provided a few referrals that were keeping their options open. I added them to the name list. When I hung up, the hiring manager quickly said: “That Never Happens!” to which I responded: “Apparently it does.” He offered me the job and I declined it on the spot. It felt great to know that I could still perform well in a high pressure situation, but I knew that negative environment wasn’t for me. As I walked out, I kinda felt bad for the guy with the Ferrari. Sometimes, it just not worth it.

(“Can call all you want but there’s no one home, you’re not gonna reach my telephone” – Lady Gaga, Telephone)

Six Degrees: How do you personally expect to facilitate change within our industry, and/or at your place of work? If you started that process, outline the problem, your solutions, and the vision.

Chrissy: I think the best way to facilitate change is to lead by example. Successful results are hard to argue with. No one is perfect. No one recruiter will have the perfect candidate for every role given to them every single time. Which in a way is good. Think about it. If someone is perfect, they are almost impossible to follow. Following someone that is perfect is like playing a game with a person that never lets you win. Sure the competitive piece is fun, but after a while it gets discouraging and boring. There is always going to be someone more strategic, faster, more networked..whatever..then you are. Learn from them and share your learning’s with others. In the war for talent, it’s much better to show up at the battle with a team then alone.

(“In a New York minute…everything can change…” – Don Henley, In a New York Minute)

Six Degrees: “Best practice” you are most proud of developing (now or in the past) in your recruiting career?

Chrissy: I am learning from my MBA classes that I am what is termed a “soft skill” person. Soft skills is a sociological term relating to a person’s “EQ” (Emotional Intelligence Quotient), the cluster of personality traits, social graces. Soft skills are also defined as ones personal management skills such as attitudes and behaviors that drive one’s potential for growth and team work skills. Honestly, at first I was in denial when I learned this about myself. I thought that meant weak, non-strategic and/or analytical. How could I be a sourcer and not be strongest in strategy and analytics?! How embarrassing for me! But the more I thought about it, the more I noticed that this is in fact my style. The best practice that comes to mind is more of a soft skill example. I have a rule for myself. Whenever I receive a voicemail, I call whomever it is back within 24 hours. Whenever I receive a resume, I follow up within 24 -48 hours. I respond to those that reach out to me via LinkedIn, on Twitter and other social networks that I am a part of. I provide honest feedback to those that want to hear it. I help those that I can by at least sharing their interest with someone that might be able to help when I personally can not. Why? It helps people and in turn, people usually help me as well. People know I am not going to leave them hanging. We live in such a small world, and even smaller by industry. I can’t tell you how many calls I receive weekly from candidates that start like this: “A colleague of mine suggested I reach out to you to introduce myself…” To me, that is a win. I may not place either of these people in my organization, but my personal brand has grown successfully. My network isn’t made up of “names”. It’s made up of people. Let’s face it. Recruiters have a lot of the same names in their databases, especially for niche roles. There are only so many people at the top of the talent pools. When a top talent candidate gets two calls from two recruiters, they might call both back. They should call both back. But in the end, the chances are strong that they are going to go with the one they trust has their best interest and the company’s best interest in mind. Anyone can make a cold call. It’s the warm call that takes talent.

(“Call me on the line, call me, call me anytime”, Blondie, Call Me)

Six Degrees: What are some of the frustrating aspects/obstacles to your day to day as a staffing professional and in general?

Chrissy: In general, often times people pin the saying: “You are only as good as your last search” on Recruiters. I could understand this if Recruiting was a “job” but I see it as a “career”. It’s like saying I love visiting Disney World but I had to wait in line recently so I am never going back.

(“Cuz we lost it all, nothing lasts forever, I’m sorry I can’t be perfect” – Simple Plan, Perfect)

Six Degrees: What are the most common themes of strategic and/or tactical mishaps involving past or present HR/Staffing org?

Chrissy: The absence of feedback from hiring managers and candidates. At times, when we miss feedback from either party, our role as a Recruiter becomes that much harder. From a hiring manager perspective: pausing for a moment to provide better information can aid in our research to find the right candidates. From a candidate perspective: letting us know why, if you are not interested, can open the door to the next conversation for the right role. We are experts in recruiting, not always in the daily minutiae of the roles that we are recruiting for. At times, we don’t know what we don’t know. And that can lead to unsuccessful results.

(“Oh, let the walls burn down, set your secrets free, You can break their bounds, cause you’re safe with me” – Stevie Nicks, Talk to Me)

Six Degrees: Considering all of the frustrations you have experienced in your career as a recruiter, — what inspires you as you continue in your career?

Chrissy: What inspires me? What doesn’t inspire me these days! Recruiting today is completely different then it was pre social media and social networking. I enjoyed recruiting back when information was less available and I even more so enjoy it now that there is an overload of information available. Recruiting isn’t cut and dry. There isn’t one strategy that has been used year after year. It is consistently reinventing itself. We are reinventing it. When I think about Recruiting, I picture it as a large table top puzzle. Many pieces have been put in place and those pieces hold the foundation. There is a picture forming as we are connecting pieces over time, but it’s still a mystery what the puzzle will exactly look like when completed. You can use your imagination to create what the end result will look like, but there are still pieces of the puzzle that we will need to “earn” over time. In most cases, the past predicts the future. I like believing that the best is yet to come. I like talking to people and positively impacting their careers. I like hearing candidates smile over the phone when I share their successful interview results. I like attending our year end meetings and seeing the employees I recruited win awards and be acknowledged for the contributions they brought to our organization. I like continuing to network with employees that I recruited in the hallways, in the café and in meetings at work. I could go on and on…but I think it’s clear that I honestly enjoy getting up every day and working as a Recruiter. I have a sense of pride for the work that I do. In the end, regardless if you are great at your job, whatever job that might be, that’s what I believe to be most important.

(“You should know, everywhere I go, Always on my mind, in my heart, In my soul” – Chicago, You’re the Inspiration)

Six Degrees: What one thing do you ideally hope to accomplish in 2010?

Chrissy: There are many things that I hope to accomplish in and after 2010. One in particular would be starting my own blog. I plan to do so after completing my MBA in December. I read a lot and I have learned a lot from reading…and I am pretty sure I have enough to say. Until then, the rest is still unwritten.

Six Degrees: Anything you want to plug?

Chrissy: Visit the Astra Zeneca Careers Universe!
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/AstrazenecaCareers
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AstraZenecaJobs
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/astrazenecacareers
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Jobs Site: http ://jobs.astrazeneca.com
CRM: Candidate/Prospect Relationship Database

Six Degrees: How Are You Going To Change The Recruitment Industry?

Chrissy: I don’t expect to change anything alone. I plan to remain flexible with change, to continue to try new things with an open mind and to share what I have learned with everyone that will listen. I promise not to ever take myself too seriously but continue to do the best job that I can every day for the business that I am employed by, myself, my peers and my candidates.

(“If you need a friend, don’t look to a stranger, You know in the end, I’ll always be there” – When In Rome, The Promise)

Chrissy McKenzie, Sourcing Partner
Commercial Non-Sales, Operations & Enabling at AstraZeneca
• Linkedin
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Corporate Website
• Community Volunteering: Habitat for Humanity, Haiti Relief, Big Brother Big Sister – Harrisburg PA
• Personal Causes: (financial support if in addition to volunteering,)
• Office: 302-885-4227
• Cell: 610-952-2974
• Personal Email

Chrissy has been a fan of sourcing and a true enthusiast for her employer, Astra Zeneca. She lives and breathes her company brand and the enticement of every kernel of wealth each new experience of knowledge brings. In a first, Chrissy embraces a lyric to describe, sensation by sensation, the meaning of work and life in general. She’s going places … in fact the future is so bright, she has to wear shades …

Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world.

Chrissy: I have been married to David McKenzie the last two and a half years. David and I met in Ocean City MD the summer before Senior Year in College. We were mid way through our first date when I realized I had no idea what his last name was. Strategically, I asked how old he was. When he responded, I then commented how I didn’t believe him and asked to see his id. “David…………McKenzie” Got it! Little did I know I was “sourcing” my candidate.

I have a Labradoodle named Nicholas (2 years old) and a cat named Ms. Jinx (9 years old). Nicholas enjoys playing golf (We chip, he fetches) with us in the backyard and chasing any bunny rabbit that enters his domain. Jinx prefers to remain inside at all times plotting her next attack on Nicholas. As for hobbies, I love music. In fact, those that are linked to me on Facebook know I usually start my daily status updates with a song based on how I am feeling that day. Cheesy? Maybe, but I get up at 5 am Monday through Friday so a song is the easiest thought that I can produce at that hour. In fact, I bet I can think of song lyrics that go with my answers to your questions throughout this interview. I like to cook and I am pretty good at it. I watch a lot of the Food Network channel while “studying”. My specialties are Crab Cakes and Stuffed Peppers.

I am in the process of completing my MBA through Wilmington University It is an accelerated 15 month program which ends (fingers crossed) in December of 2010. I received my undergraduate degree from Temple University in Philadelphia PA. I majored in Communications with a focus on Advertising and Public Relations. In a way, my major was a balance of my personality. I have a creative side passed down from my mother who is an artist and personable side passed down by my father who was a teacher. I also developed a competitive side.

Six Degrees: How did you get started in the staffing industry?

Chrissy I began my staffing career in a round about way in retail while I was still in college. I was working for Guess? In the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania. On lunch breaks (and any other time I was allowed out of the store) I would cruise the mall looking for employees at other stores that seemed to genuinely enjoy the retail industry. I would approach them and encourage them to join our company. After graduation, I decided to pursue a formal career in recruiting. While I didn’t know much about it, it seemed like a natural fit based on my likes and my personality. It was also time to formally use the degree that Temple awarded me.

I joined a company by the name of Express Personnel as a “Staffing Consultant”. This was my first “office job” with my own desk not covered in clothing and retail floor plans. Life had changed in big ways. I now had a personal computer, a telephone with voice mail and Brad my co-worker, who I spent more time with than my own family. Together we filled many temporary jobs in the Delaware County area. I learned a lot about myself at that job. I learned a lot about Brad too. Most of all, I learned the most from Mr. Floyd, a loyal temp that I placed on many assignments. Floyd made a comment that I will never forget. He was a hard worker and always showed up to any job I sent him. One Friday he came into the office to pick up his paycheck. He was covered in oil from the machine that he was assigned to run that day. Upon seeing him, I apologized for the terrible temp job I had to send him on. He looked me right in the eye and said: “Regardless of the job, if you always do your best you can feel good about it at the end of the day. “ That became my motto.

After almost two years, the commute was becoming a challenge and I said good bye to my great friend Brad and Express Personnel and accepted an opportunity with FAO Inc (FAO Schwartz, Zainy Brainy and The Right Start) as a Benefit Specialist. The role with FAO was interesting to me because I wanted to see what it was like to work inside a larger organization. My first day seemed like a dream come true. Toys covered my new desk and I was greeted by my “new family” in Human Resources. After two weeks, I was called into the VP of HR’s office for a chat. In the meeting, I was told that the company had declared bankruptcy again, and that the office would more than likely be closing over the next year. They understood if I didn’t want to stay (note: I had already quit my other job) and asked me to think about it and let them know. I played it cool, went back to my desk and immediately dialed Brad to find out what bankruptcy meant. Always the great friend, he talked me through it and I made the decision to stay with the company. I remained busy in my role and picked up the tasks of those that moved on throughout the year. It was an amazing learning experience and in the end, I was stronger for it.

Six Degrees: You are the real deal when it comes to company Cheer leader at Astra Zeneca. Tell us about your journey within the company.

Chrissy Currently, I source and recruit for our Director level and above roles within the US and Canada. I network with talent across multiple industries to build pipelines for opportunities across the business. From a branding perspective, I am open to networking with anyone interested in AstraZeneca. Specifically I seek out experts in the areas of: analytics, procurement, business development, finance, legal, regulatory affairs, pricing and market access, global brand or product directors, digital, corporate communications, lean six sigma, etc. From an educational perspective, MD’s, PhD’s and PharmD’s would be suited for Senior Management + levels at AZ. In summary, I do a lot of talking with a lot of different candidates. This is one of the many parts of being a recruiter that I really enjoy.

I have been truly blessed with great friends and family in my life. I went on a trip with friends to Atlantic City over a weekend. As we drove past the city of Philadelphia I realized how much I missed the area. After 3 years of being away, I decided to relocate back home to continue with my career. I reached out to my clients to thank them and bid farewell as I was moving on. To my surprise, a few invited me to interview, AstraZeneca being one of them. I interviewed with AZ and was delighted to be extended an offer as a sales sourcing contractor for the Northeast. Looking in from the outside, I was always impressed with the culture of AstraZeneca. I accepted the job and quickly began to see what a great company AstraZeneca really is. Mid year as a contractor, I was promoted to Sales Recruitment Partner for the Northeast. The year was quickly coming to an end and the team as whole was going through change. The decision was made to end the contracts and move the work in house. Luckily, there was a Commercial Non-Sales Recruitment Partner role in house that became available. It was rare for a contractor to be hired full time, however I had the right votes on my side and ended up scoring FTE with the organization. (Thanks Bill Warner!)

I have been awarded multiple opportunities across recruitment since joining AstraZeneca 4 years ago. Our model continues to evolve to become a more strategic global approach each day. I have seen the business from many angles including: Sales, Commercial, Procurement and Operations & Enabling. Working in various roles has helped piece the story together of how pharma is run as a whole. It’s actually pretty amazing how it all comes together starting from the molecule through to the marketplace. The variety has also contributed to the success I have shared as a member of the Recruitment team.

(“Ch-ch-Changes, Time may change me, But I can’t trace time” David Bowie, Changes)

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

There have been various occasions when something has happened and during the moment of silence afterwards I can hear the “click”. Not the click of someone hanging up on the other end of the line, rather the click of “yes I get it now”. My transition from a small sourcing firm environment to a large global corporation was one of those moments. When you are working in a smaller environment, it can be challenging to understand the process in a larger house. I can remember being frustrated on multiple occasions not understanding governance or what could be holding up a hire. Once I joined AstraZeneca, I had a better understanding of what happens on the other side of the fence. Having worked on both sides has been a benefit for me. From the smaller side I learned the importance of great customer service. From the larger side I was able to better craft my communication style and techniques with a better understanding of the businesses needs.

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

Chrissy I have a few mentors. The connections I have made in the recruitment industry through Social Networking have been absolutely amazing. If I had to pick one person in particular, it would be Glen Cathey. Glen’s blog: http://www.booleanblackbelt.com/ offers an immense amount of information. You can also follow him on twitter: @Booleanblackblt. It just so happens that he is also an excellent writer. He has encouraged me to use social media in various ways for sourcing which has awarded me many friendships as well as hires. (yes hires!) I was delighted when Glen accepted AstraZeneca’s invite to lead one of our Competitive Sourcing Workshops last year. Globally, he was able to present ready to use material to the team in a way that was mindful of our different skill sets.

Six Degrees: Tell us about your position at Astra Zeneca

Chrissy In my role, I work to develop and implement ethical competitive sourcing strategies specifically within North America (and Canada) at the Director Level and above. I partner at a global level with our internal recruitment teams as well with HR Business Partners and Senior Business Leaders to refine sourcing and develop robust candidate slates on a recurring basis. I engage Senior Level candidates in conversations branding AstraZeneca Recruitment as best in class. I develop and maintain robust competitive candidate pools and discuss pipelines with Senior Business Leaders to develop benchmarks to further refine talent lists. I continue to institute global in-house forums to develop collaborative relationships with Recruitment Leadership and Partners for seamless interactions with the business. I have recently been selected to travel to the UK to lead an in-house Sourcing Lab with my global peers for company wide challenging to fill roles.

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

Chrissy I met with Lisa Smith-Strother, our Director of Recruitment Marketing at AstraZeneca to discuss this recently. It’s always interesting to watch what other companies are doing successfully and to implement those actions into our strategy as appropriate. We talked about the following but not limited to: Sodexho, Shell, GE, Qualcomm, and Microsoft.

Six Degrees: (B) In what aspects are they superior?

Chrissy Each of these companies seem to feature strong, engaging, and impactful websites which is at the heart of a truly effective and successful online recruitment strategy and web 2.0 innovation. They’ve done a very effective job at exciting and engaging the seeker with multimedia, hooks, experimentation, and usability.

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

Chrissy For me, company branding online is a huge trend that I feel will continue to impact my work in the future. In the past, candidates were limited to the amount of information they could collect on a company pre interview. A candidates interview questions would come from this limited amount of information they were able to collect. The questions for the most part could be expected and really wouldn’t differentiate one candidate from another. Result: “The job description states working collaboratively, can you describe the cross functional collaborations that I will be involved in…” Today, candidates have the advantage to gather real time information on a company. Online networking and daily articles can provide the most recent news. A candidate can log on to the internet the morning before an interview and learn of any changes or updates to the company. This then allows candidates to ask very strategic questions concerning the business and role that they are applying for. Result: “You purchased company X last night at 10:00. I would like to share an example of a recent collaboration I led and why it was successful….” Conversations can then become much more strategic and specific.

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

Chrissy External: ERE, SourceCon – My Favorite!, CareerXRoads, Thought Leadership Institute – I always walk away with something. My “Circle of Friends” in the various groups I belong to online. Thanks Guys!! Internal: CI Workshops for Sourcing and Recruiting – US/UK/Sweden. Recruitment Roundtables – US/UK/Sweden (Recruitment gets together globally via video conferences and teleconferences to discuss country trends in recruiting and social networking.)

Six Degrees: Can you detail how the recession has affected your particular industry niche?

Chrissy Unfortunately, most industries have been impacted by the recession. At the end of the day, most of the bigger decisions are out of our control. I utilize my motto mentioned before everyday: “Regardless of the job, if you always do your best you can feel good about it at the end of the day. “At least this way, I haven’t let myself down regardless of how the day ends. AstraZeneca is a very inclusive and collaborative environment. I believe the culture has helped employees remain focused and motivated to continue to run the business successfully.

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.

Chrissy As mentioned previously, at AZ, we run global recruitment workshops to broaden our sourcing and recruiting skills. Via video conference and teleconference we are able to connect and converse and strategize. I have listened in as a participant and was lucky enough to lead a few sessions. Past the opportunity for in-house networking, we are becoming a stronger more collaborative global team. Together, we are assisting each other with senior level and/or hard to fill roles and gaining more experience in the process. During the workshops we take time to share our learning’s and success stories. This is not only motivating, but also helps us in better understanding our similarities and differences globally.

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? Be specific

Chrissy As a networker, I lean on advice that was shared with me to “Be Social”. When I first began to tweet, I didn’t get it. I was happily posting articles and commenting on what was going on with ME. What I was forgetting was what was going on with everyone else. Engaging in conversations by asking questions, making comments and reposting others articles helped me open the door to an online community that continues to help me to become a better recruiter. I often times look at others profiles, yes I am nosey and curious, to see how they are operating and what I can do better. It’s amazing to me how many people are not talking to others or following others. Let’s face it, your best kept secret will always be just that if you don’t share it with anyone.

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

Chrissy It’s hard to say exactly what my next career goal is going to be. The Pharmaceutical industry is changing at a rapid pace, and therefore, so is our Human Resources Department. It appears that new interesting roles will become available in staffing as the department unites with other areas of HR. To date, I have been lucky to have a fairly progressive career. A personal goal of mine is to continue to be as flexible as possible with change and to learn as much as I can in the process. Ideally an Executive Recruitment role or Sourcing Lead role would be of interest. To get to either place, I will need to continue to produce quality candidate slates against a competitive time to fill clock. I would also like to gain more global recruiting experience.

(“I’m doing all right, getting good grades..the future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades” – Timbuk 3, Future’s so Bright, I gotta wear shades)

“I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Chrissy for more than two years, initially, she reported to me in a Sourcing function, coming aboard into Commercial Sales and within six months had demonstrated a mastery of end-end Staffing. Working alongside of Chrissy, I have consistently witnessed excellence in delivery, customer focus and outcomes. I look forward to working with her, I hope, for a long time.” September 11, 2008
Dan Loney CIR, Recruitment Partner, West, AstraZeneca

“Christine is a well respected colleague who demonstrates strong customer/client focus and high ethical standards. Her knowledge of her internal customers/client groups as well as the external candidate market allows her to identify talent and consult with business leaders on matters related to hiring. Christine is also known for her ability to identify new ways of recruiting and networking through technology as well as identifying system related processes that lead to greater recruiting efficiency and effectiveness.” November 13, 2007
Bob Mancuso, CIR, PHR, Recruitment Partner, Human Resources, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals

“Christine is positively one of the most highly organized professionals I’ve ever worked with. I do admit that I have adopted several of her organizational tactics. She was a joy to work with as she set high goals, exuded strong professionalism, assisted less tenured co-workers, and maintained a great demeanor towards all in the company. She was a top performer who got along great with everyone and was a “go-to” recruiter for key acccounts. She was loved by her clients and serviced them well. She kept abreast of trends in the marketplace and surfaced new social networking sites to generate passive candidates. I know that several co-workers learned a lot from Christine; including myself, and I’m grateful to have worked with her and to call her a friend.” March 5, 2010
Spencer Pheil ACIR, CDR, CSSR, Lead Sourcer/Recruiter, Augustine Inc.

“Christine is a true MVP! Her finely tuned skills are only exceeded by her strong initiative and positive, do-it-all attitude. With years of expertise in her craft, she can easily dissect the most complex problems and build and execute effective plans of attack to solve them. Her professionalism, attention to detail and organizational skills are invaluable – and she does it all while maintaining her eternally positive demeanor. Any customer-focused team would be lucky to have her – what a pleasure!” October 9, 2006
John Kowalczyk, Vice President, Augustine, Inc.

“Christine has an uncanny ability to professionally interact and relate to all types of me people, regardless of their background. Christine acumen is second to none, and she will undoubtedly be an asset to whomever she encounters.” September 14, 2006
Michael K. Harrell, Recruiter/ Research Sourcing Specialist, Augustine Inc

FAO Inc

“Christine provided exceptional support to myself and my team. She consitently demonstrated urgency with resolving issues and compassion when assisting teammates with their problems. Her attention to detail and overall effort gave a lot of credibility to the HR operations.” March 5, 2010
Ron Tepner, SPHR, Senior HR Manager, FAO, Inc

On “Compassionate HR“ tonight our friend, Margo Rose Interviews Former Senator, Max Cleland to discuss his history of service to the Military, as a Veteran, and as a hero who has served our Country over the past 30+ years. As an HR Professional, Margo is passionate about seeing our veterans finding & landing good jobs. Tonight’s panel will discuss this, and more. Please tune in at 7:30 eastern time, 4:30 pacific time at http://blogtalkradio.com. You may listen to our show through your computer, or by telephone at (347) 426-3215.

By Dave Mendoza

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• Robert’s Email

Six Degrees: Does your staffing organization “DIRECT SOURCE” from competitor companies to hire talent?

Robert: In my previous role, which was effectively the creation of a new multi-market recruitment agency, and the one before that, it was a specific part of my duties to track every player at every major competitor. It was eye-opening; it certainly teaches you who treats their staff well and engenders loyalty, and who doesn’t, which is of course pretty stupid. As a newly appointed CEO, the market will be expecting me to do the same again, but we’ll see. I’m actually thinking of sourcing talent from the US or other markets where they can bring in new skills.
Once I paved the way for an entire executive recruitment team from a competitor to resign and come on board at one hit, so you can imagine that that gives one a reputation as being audacious and clever, but the simple truth is, if those people had not been feeling vulnerable, uninformed and unloved I wouldn’t have had a chance. If you lose staff to a competitor, and you blame the competitor, you are compounding your original stupidity.

I studied Candle ICT before I joined and turnover was zero percent locally and only a few percent nationally last year- these things don’t happen by accident – I’m the only person that has left there for years in Adelaide, and that was to take up the offer of a lifetime.

Six Degrees: how do Australia’s legal system affect your ability to recruit?

Robert: There’s been a fair bit of upheaval in Australian politics lately. We had a deep recession in the early ‘90’s, and a Liberal (that’s the conservative side here) did a pretty good job of running the place, and they added a lot of flexibility into the IT laws. Then they made a mistake and decided to bundle all their changes together, seek to go further on some issues and give it a name. By calling the package “Work Choices”, they gave the union movement a label to attack, and millions were sunk into defeating that government, whilst state governments (all Labor at the time) enacted various bits of legislation to get around some of the ideas. Then a Labor government (nominally leftist) was elected and they’ve pretty well dumped nearly every promise they made, though their program of IR reform seems to be proceeding via a million committees. The whole idea of a ‘minimum wage’ in other places is not so strong here, as we have ‘award wages’ for almost every occupation and these occupations will often have specific conditions. One of the key traps in the Australian market is that under some conditions a contractor – in other words someone who has been paid a higher rate in exchange for no sick pay, no annual paid leave, no job security – can be deemed to have been on staff long enough to actually become entitled to all the benefits they’ve been paid not to have. That makes no sense, of course. There’s also tax law that states that if a contractor receives more than 80% of their income from one source, then they are not really a contractor at all and should be taxed as an individual. The one that really upsets me though, is that we bring in skilled migrants and then tax them up to 50% of their income, to do the same work as the guy next to them paying a lot less tax. If you are brave enough to change countries for the sake of your family, you go through the frustrating and never-ending battle to get here, pass all the tests to prove you speak English to a high standard and that your qualifications are up to the standard we have here, and even prove you are coming here with some money behind you so as you don’t drain our public purse, then I don’t see why our Government should punish you.

Six Degrees: How is US recruitment culture (and overall) in Australia different? How are they similar?”

Robert: From here, America looks to have some great stuff, and some that just looks awful. We have universal health care and universal super annuation, so salary negotiations are pretty simple. We also have a Goods and Services Tax, which theoretically removes the incentive for “under the counter” payments, though that’s a theory that’s quite suspect.

The very worst thing about Australian recruitment culture, both internal and external, is the unwillingness to hire talent that is too good. I remember reading about previous senior execs in the US that are now serving at McDonalds and Burger King. That would never happen here, if you can’t get a job at the level you are used to, the conventional wisdom is that you would be ‘too bored” to last in a lesser job. I’ve spoken to a lot of heartbroken people over the last year that keep hearing “You’re amazing, way too good for us, best of luck” and such sentiments don’t put food on the table

Six Degrees: IMPT QUESTION: Which recruitment software tools do you use in your day to day recruitment activities & do they translate effectively within all of the different countries where you recruit?

Robert: I’m actually a bit of a basic guy when it comes to recruitment software. I have a toolbox that comprises things like my own home-made twitter bots and a bunch of useful search strings

I’ve assessed a stack of the great recruitment utilities and software which all comes form the US, and much of it suffers from the situation of only returning small amounts of Australian data nestled amongst great stuff that doesn’t mean anything to me. For example, I looked at Cardbrowser a few years back – such a simple idea – and it just needs to get more local content for me to get excited. I’ve road tested some of Arbita’s stuff and also Broadlook Diver; both of which are on my wish list when I can build a business case on the near future.

When it comes to Applicant Tracking Systems I love a little system out of Melbourne called Virgo. I like the fact that it is totally customizable to work flow, so that you can effectively force not-so-good consultants to follow the habits of good ones…

Six Degrees: How many applicants do you estimate are hired from your corporate website as compared to how many are hired through referrals?

Robert: As a sourcer, I don’t rely much on traditional applications through the web. Often I get a job that has already been thoroughly advertised. I always feel I find my candidates through science, hard work and luck. You need at least two of those three in any search.

Six Degrees: Where are your key sources of hires collected from? (In terms of Quantity #)

Robert: On-line advertising is definitely the greatest source of totally unsuitable candidates. Of course, there;s often good ones in amongst it. I always approach these resumés with a mixture of expectation and trepidation.

Six Degrees: What is the source of your “LOWEST COST OF HIRES” – (least amount of invested resources for the easiest hires, regardless of quality)

Robert: Run an on-line ad for peanuts and pick up the phone. From there, the cost is a reflection of how long it takes and how many calls I make.

One strategic decision I made a while back was to avoid politically-tinged appointments. Once the decision becomes not about who can do the best job but who is the best politically-credentialed, it’s a waste of time. I once put 500 candidates forward in batches of 20-30 because a public servant was crossing off anyone who he thought might not be acceptable to the Minister. In the end, the original person in the number one slot, who was thought to be unacceptable, was appointed by the Minister to another role, and the public servant who decided all of our candidates were unsuitable got the job. Now that’s a pretty significant cost-to-hire!

In fact, government hiring processes invariably seem to me to be designed to ensure that the best candidates get lost in the process. The best, though, are those clients who leave standing orders with me to forward people of a certain skill set when I come across them. They know I won’t waste their time with anyone that is not suitable, so often it’s a few days, a decent fee and a happy client and candidate.

Six Degrees: Whether you are hiring IT engineers, accounting, – whatever talent you are seeking, – is your country’s CULTURE a factor in the RESPONSE RATE you get when sending an email requesting a CV versus calling the candidate directly at their work?

Robert: I’ve split my time between sourcing and salary consulting, and nothing is more suspicious sounding than calling an executive and asking them what they get paid. Head-hunting by comparison is a much easier call. Most people love to get a head-hunt call, it validates them and enforces their sense of self-worth. If they have an interest, you’ll get a CV pronto. It’s the gate keepers that are suspicious and there you have to be careful and charming. Email is always a bit hit and miss.

Six Degrees: In terms of what is attractive to Australia’s workers what do you feel drives them in their choice of employer?

Robert: Australians have headed off around the globe in search of careers and can be found pretty well anywhere, so I guess we’re all looking for something different. I think a challenge, and a good team are probably pretty high up on the list for many. My home town of Adelaide has a great tradition of young people heading off to the East Coast (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane) or the UK, US or Asia to establish a career and have an adventure. The big impetus to return is usually either birth of the first child or the start of schooling. Adelaide has world class schools – we’re spawned a host of Nobel prize winners – but the cost of education is incredibly low by world standards.

Six Degrees: In Australia, how does the actual selection process proceed once a candidate has been identified and what role does a recruiter in Australia play in the process?

Robert: Varies a bit, but normally I would interview them first, send a report with my thoughts and suggest a client interview. If that goes well, I’d run some strong reference checks and then I’d negotiate the salary, conditions and a start date between the parties. It’s also good practice to stay in touch with both and head off any teething troubles after commencement.

Six Degrees: What methods/resources produce the FASTEST amount of time in producing hires (what types of talent?)

Robert: For me the quickest method is to write and post it somewhere – it doesn’t matter where, but seek.com is the most popular site in Australia, so I tend to use careerone.com – it helps judge the effects of a social media campaign. Once you’ve got the ad posted, a few strategic tweets drive traffic to it. I’ve got a few industry mailing lists, so an email to inform people who might know someone of the ad. Add the advert to suitable LinkedIn groups – a great example is the Pick Users Group if you are looking for a Pick/Universe specialist, (and most of those have retired). Then get on the phone. By now I’ve spent maybe half an hour, and the ad is out there working for me, while I call a few appropriate candidates from the database or my head.

I don’t think you can drive the second half of the recruitment process much past a certain speed without damaging quality, so any speed has to occur in the identification portion of the process.

Six Degrees: What SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGY TOOLS do you use that produce FASTEST amount of time in producing hires. Please state the software, databases you use in detail.

Robert: I’ve used plenty of ATS systems that have all sorts of features, and I find that they all have good and bad points. Clarius Recruitment Group (an Australian Public Company) have an in-house system that has superb integration with Outlook and the rest of MS office, which basically avoids all double-handling and double-entry. If you can save time on admin, you can have a far more effective ATS (and often integrated CMS) systems. I’ve spent a fair bit of time working with a small software company in Australia who produce the VIRGO recruitment system which I find speeds the process as the workflow is built into the product – basically there’s little decision making, a consultant just works through the process:

I also quite like the mycareer.com Australian jobsites “Head Hunter” module, great software that really just needs another year to really fill out the database.

Six Degrees: Is it acceptable, or common, in your country’s culture to offer a referral fee for a successful hire to someone who recommended the candidate? Yes or No? What is the formula, method or basis for developing a money reward for a referral?

Robert: It’s not uncommon but has never really taken off. I think it has some issues, particularly the pressure it puts on staff – for example, someone is very keen to have HR hire their friend and pocket some dollars. Also, they tend to not pay out until after the probationary period, which means that someone who joins the company and doesn’t like it might feel obligate to stay until their friend collects the bonus.

Six Degrees: Do you use blogs specific to each country’s talent within target industries/competing companies?

Robert: Much of my life I’ve recruited recruiters, and Recruiter Daily is invaluable for knowing what goes on in our industry in Australia: I also do a bit of work in recruiting Social media types, and I often look to see who has posted replies on blogs such as Silkcharm, a blog out of Sydney. But as a general principal, if you find yourself recruiting in an unfamilair arena, the first two things to find are a good blog and a local news RSS Feed.

Six Degrees: What are the BEST JOB BOARDS ** SPECIFIC WEBSITES** to each of the countries you recruit for, BOTH overall and SPECIFIC TO each industry

Robert: The situation is Australia is that the industry leader is Seek – http://www.seek.com.au . Far and away the strongest site, well well branded and advertised. The other two big players have their pro’s and con’s . Career One – http://www.careerone.com.au – come out of Rupert Murdoch’s news limited. It has far and away the best content to assist employers and candidates – I should mention I’ve just been appointed as an expert to one of their on-line career forums. It’s the second strongest site in states where the main newspaper is a News Limited paper, such as my home town. Other places where the Fairfax papers are strong – that’s another big Australian media group – seem to have MyCareer (http://www.mycareer.com.au) as their number two. The link between the print media and on-line in this case is very strong

Six Degrees: What Search Engines in addition to common ones like Google, do you use that are native to the countries you are responsible for? Please Detail with links.

Robert: Both Google and Yahoo have local flavours here in Australia, and I rarely go outside of those search engines. LinkedIn is usually my first port of call, though, as the information is always presented in a format that I can use.

Six Degrees: Which 3rd party agency/ recruitment search firms have you successfully used and would recommend to others for the types of positions (IT, accounting etc) you recruit for?

Robert: I’ve worked for a few, and also done some research. Fairness compels me to identify Hudson, an ex-employer, as the only large agency that had a 100% response rate in some research I did.: Candle ICT have impressed me with their intense knowledge of the IT market.

By Dave Mendoza

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• Community Volunteering: I support IASEI, A group of people trying to set up an international plan of action to help people overcome anxiety and find employment
• Contact: +618 7129 4441 – +614 33 413 305
• Robert’s Email

I take pride in featuring my friend and loyal fan of the mission statement of the “Six Degrees from Dave” audience to further the goodness that is “passing it forward” among fellow industry colleagues the world over. I can state that I hand picked him from the audience at the Austral-Asian Talent Conference to demonstrate the power of peer networking. I made a convert and a friend that day on the issue of open networking and he is today one of the most responsive colleagues – be it 15 flight hours away, I know we can always count on Robert as an enthusiast and a friend.

Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world.

Robert: I’ve been with Anne since we met in 1984. I know a good candidate when I see one! We’ve been married for 24 years this year. Our two boys have grown up and left home, so we share our house in Adelaide, South Australia with our dog and a stack of cats

When I’m not talking recruitment and HR, I’m talking tea. I’m obsessed with the stuff. I have a tea blog where I discuss ethics in the tea trade and a video blog where I explore different teas and tea issues. In fact, I dropped out of recruitment for a year in 08/09 to run a teashop with the family.

Anne and myself met when I joined her band as a bass player – she’s a wonderful singer and an impressive self-taught keyboard player so music always surrounds us, whether we are making it, listening to it or going to see it.

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

Robert: The pure answer to that is ten years, though the seven years before that were effectively training me and guiding me toward the industry as we had our own resume business.

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

Robert: I started in computer sales and by age 26, I’d worked up to a position of Marketing and Sales Manager for a small firm, and one of our specialties was Desktop Publishing. One day a guy came in and he’d made himself a brochure-style resumé, and I just fell in love with the concept. I quit my job, bought some desktop publishing equipment and started a resumé creation business with Anne.
From there, I was invited to teach resumé skills on a government program, then to help people create business plans, all the while building up skills.

One day I went for a job as a resourcing team leader, and the guy just liked me. I found myself in the corporate world for the first time in my thirties, and it was weird. Everyone was frightened of the next person up the chain. As I didn’t share that fear, I stood out, and six months later I was head of Research. The previous head had been promoted to head office in Holland, and the other researcher had left. So I was head of a department of one, and nobody had any idea what the job actually entailed. They just told me what they needed to know and I took it from there.

Six Degrees: What languages are you fluent in?

Robert: Only English and a sprinkling of Hindi

Six Degrees: What countries within your country are you accountable for?

Robert: AS CEO of Essence, my focus is executives across the board in Australia, but our main domain is emerging industries, such as green power or bio-tech. If you want to be a CFO or a Company Secretary in these industries, you can’t be a standard old-fashioned type – and that’s regardless of age. It’s more of a mindset. Bluntly, our candidates are people who are going places, and our clients are the people that want them. Also Anne runs employment programs and I try to assist with ideas for placements across Australia.

Six Degrees: How is culture a factor in the hiring practice different from other countries you recruit from?

Robert: I find that at an executive level, things are quite similar – people know the quality they want.

Robert: I think Australians as a whole see recruitment as quite simple, and they tend to shy away from any process that seems complex. It’s more obvious when I look at People Magic, where Anne is doing a lot of work with what Australia calls “Skilled Migrants” and the culture and the expectations can be quite tricky. Firstly the candidates have been told by migration agents they are coming to a land of milk and honey where their skills are in demand, but many don’t realize how insular Australia is. As an example, the first thing she advises clients from Kenya is to put near the top of their resumé that all business in that country is transacted in English. A simple step, but Australians as a whole are a little unaware of the world outside of Australia, the US and the UK.

We did recently have to let a candidate know that shouting at your subordinates is not usual work practice in Australia; He was simply from a place where that was expected! Giving people who are brave enough to move countries to make a better life for their children a fair go is something we are passionate about; we live in a country built by migrants

Six Degrees: Where is your country ahead of the USA in certain recruitment tactics?

Robert: I don’t think we are ahead of the US at all though It pains me to say it. I think the industrial relations environment is different between the two, and that means there’s less scope for flexibility or originality. I recently read that former senior managers in the US are now flipping burgers for a living. That’s wouldn’t happen in Australia; no employer or recruiter would hire someone that is “too good for the job” which sounds noble but isn’t what you want to hear if you’re a former exec trying to save your house after losing your job. That’s not to suggest that either system is better; they’re just different, and ours encourages employers and recruiters to look simply at the candidate that “ticks all the boxes” It makes those situations where you see creativity all the more interesting. I think we could learn from the US in candidate care and responsiveness, too.

Six Degrees: What networking groups are available and influential within Your Country as a whole and within your country in particular?

Robert: I started a networking group on LinkedIn the day after seeing Dave talk at the ATC in Sydney in 2008. The group has only three rules – live in Adelaide, be an open networker, and be prepared to meet occasionally in real life. The strength of that group is that every member is a good contact; it’s not full of network marketers from far away. I built that group because I thought it was important, not with any expectation of profit from it, and I think that has made it stand out. For me personally and unexpectedly, all of a sudden I’m “that guy who started that group ” and people are seeking me out. I’m also impressed by Ian Berry’s Differencemakers.com and some of the worldwide LinkedIn group, like the RecruitingBlogs one are pretty popular amongst my peers

Six Degrees: What types of training in sourcing/recruitment are available to you and have you taken advantage of?

Robert: Because I was self-taught and I had been head-hunted to set up an entire recruitment practice, I thought I knew it all. Then I spent three days in Sydney listening to Kevin Wheeler, Dave Mendoza, Shally Steckerl and others, and I realized I was a long way behind.

Ever since that, webinars have been my source of inspiration. At least one a week I find myself on-line at 3 or 4 in the morning listening to Shally, Kevin, Glenn Gutmacher, Donato Diorio or others. I also read many blogs, but the only non-missables for me are Six degrees, The Talent Buzz and Boolean Black Belt

Six Degrees: Do you recommend any specific books to gain a broader understanding of Australia’s Culture?

Robert: That’s a tough one. I think there are some similarities across Australia but also some regional differences, in the same way that Texans are different to New Yorkers. But I like to think we’ve all got a strong sense of the absurd, and we are quite egalitarian, but not in a grim way.

Here’s a great example – when we managed to spawn a racist, bigoted, ignorant politician a few years back, the reaction of most Australian was to just start incessantly making fun.
If you react with horror. You give them something to feed off of, if most people just get to a point where they laugh out loud at the mere mention of the person, then there’s no political power in that.

Visit Australia and be prepared to laugh at everything, including yourself, and you’ll get on just fine.

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

Robert: I’ve tended to be more involved in development and avoided the political or ‘establishment’ side of the industry. For example, I’ve sat on focus groups and advisory bodies to on-line job boards and provided a lot of time and energy to people who were developing software for the recruitment industry in general. Sourcing as a specialty is so limited here that I’ve joined recruiters and then had to have their applicant tracking software modified to actually cope with my work.

Where I’ve made a broader contribution is through direct teaching of individuals around me or through articles, though I believe in “telling it like it is” so some of my articles have appalled my peers. For example, I made 120+ calls to recruiters posing as a candidate and then reported on the response rate, which was pretty bad. A stack of recruiters responded by contacting me and asking how they could improve, but another bunch attacked me and said either I didn’t know what I was talking about, or that they were perfect and everybody else was at fault. When you get a strong reaction, you know you’re onto something!

I’ve also got a deep interest in helping disadvantaged candidates to reach employment, which of course is what my wife Anne actually does, so I like to help out with referrals or ideas and advice. On the candidate theme, being made a Forum Editor of the CareerOne website, which is Australia’s most content-rich job site, gives me further opportunity to help candidates, and as well as being a chance to help, when you do that now it increases the talent pool down the track.

Six Degrees: Can you detail how the recession has affected your particular industry niche

Robert: My perspective is unique for two reasons. One is that I left the industry for a while just before the GFC hit. I actually bought a business with Anne, and our first day was the day Lehmann Brothers crashed. The business was a café/restaurant very much favored by recruiters for candidate meetings, and over the first couple of months we watched that side of the business dwindle. Then recruiters I knew were stopping by to tell me they were on the market, usually involuntarily.

Australia at that exact moment had transitioned from 11 years of a conservative Government to one that, on paper at least was a union-backed Labor one. The new government reacted with an odd plan and just gave everybody $900 as well as picking a few industries to pump billions into. Even though the planning was appalling and the targeting dreadful, it was one of those situations were poorly planned action was better than no action – technically Australia avoided recession. The extra money stimulated the economy enough so that unemployment didn’t go much over 5%, and in my home town in particular, the hard times were in general much shallower that in the rest of the world.

Pretty soon recruiters were hiring again, and a few careers have been reinvented, and a few recruiters have used this as an exercise to strengthen their teams.

Coming out of the downturn, I briefly joined Candle ICT, an IT recruiter with a very strong presence in the Government sector which gave them a steady stream of opportunity, even during the worst of the recession. I’m grateful to Candle, because the couple of months there really re-awakened my passion for recruitment, and while I was running around full of zeal, some venture capital guys met me, saw how I operated and offered to bankroll a new agency, partly to get first crack at the best candidates, so Essence was born. However, it’s sobering to think that In Australia there are 4000+ recruiters less that were in the industry two years ago.

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.

Robert: I’ve rarely done anything purely in the name of networking, except for the day when I saw Dave speak and went from a ‘closed” LinkedIn Networker to an open one. Within a week of making the Six Degrees Top Ten List I had increased by network by a factor of 15. At the time, I decided to create a networking group on LinkedIn purely for my home town, and for people who actually wanted to meet in person occasionally. Because I had virtually no Business Development responsibilities, I didn’t create it as a place to capture business, and I think that made it unique. It really is more of a support group.

At times, I questioned my efforts, as it seemed that plenty of others in the group were getting work, leads, even jobs and I was facilitating this as almost a free public service, but it enabled me to build up tremendous quantities of what my friend Kwan Yu calls ‘Social Capital”. The results are opportunities like my own small TV show and some other exposure-type stuff, and I’m now starting to see other good things come of it.

I’ve also always been keen to help others via things like LinkedIn answers, and I think this builds you as a person but also means that opportunity will find you. Lastly, my great hobby and passion, tea, has led to create my own blog on the tea industry and a series of videos about the stuff. I’m amazing how my work in that area is leading to opportunity within my professional life.

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?

Robert: Understand this- LinkedIn has 60 million people who joined to sell, and virtually none who joined to buy. Or consider a ‘networking function’ – again, mainly only people who are looking to sell something turn up, And it’s pretty obvious where that leads, with the succession of people who throw themselves enthusiastically into one form of networking or another, then vanish after a few engagements. I can’t suggest strongly enough to be a giver, not a taker. I’ve spent years connecting people with opportunity, and if it’s outside my field and it seems like a good match, then make that introduction or pass on that information. I find I don’t need to demand payback like I’ve seen some others do- people just love doing business with me. I’m not the sharpest dresser, the most highly qualified or the ‘old school tie’ choice, not the cheapest or the highest profile, I’m just the guy people trust to do a good job and treat them well. I tend to service a client base that doesn’t have job after job on offer – most of them one or two hires per year- yet I’m 100% confident in most cases that their first reaction to a need is to call me. And because of that, I can help them join in with my networks – even though there’s plenty of other good quality recruiters with those networks – knowing they will benefit, but remain loyal.

I do go back again though to my watershed moment – the afternoon in Sydney when Dave Mendoza explained clearly and simply why I should be an Open Networker. If you start with that as your base, you can make the right decisions going forward

Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? What inspires You as a Recruiter?

Robert: In about my forth week in charge of a sourcing team – my first foray into the recruiting side of the fence – an outplacement consultant told me of an IT manager that had been treated in an incredibly shabby way and then fired. I met him, and two weeks later he was my first placement – at 30% more than the salary he had been on. The phone call I made – his wife answered, because he actually hadn’t arrived home from the interview by the time he won the job – has stayed permanently recorded in my head. Why would you want to work in any other field? I only really work with clients I respect and trust, and I’d never put forward someone that I didn’t think was a good person. The client wins, the candidate wins and how can anything be better than being paid to do that?

By Dave Mendoza

PART 2 of 2

The bulk of my responsibility is staffing for a 1,200+ division which focuses on National Security. Our mission is related to nuclear nonproliferation and counter terrorism.

Community-wise I’ve recently brought together a collection of 60+ recruiters in our area. We’ll meet about 4 times per year to talk recruiting in an effort to uplift our function.

Rob Dromgoole
Executive Search Consultant,
Battelle Memorial Institute
Richland, Washington
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Six Degrees: How many applicants at your present employer do you estimate are hired from your corporate website as compared to how many are hired through referrals?

ROB: About 50% of our hires are through referrals. About 20-25% are through other advertising means and the rest is through cold calling and outreach efforts.

Six Degrees: What is the source of the “Most Hires” collected from at your present employer? (In terms of Quantity #)

ROB: Referrals is by far our #1 source.

Six Degrees: What is the source of your “LOWEST COST OF HIRES” – (least amount of invested resources for the easiest hires, regardless of quality) at your present employer?

ROB: Referrals again. We have no formal program to speak of and offer no bonuses for referrals yet we get them. This costs us nothing but time.

Six Degrees: What talent niche groups do you target and are these particular talent areas specialized under your review?

ROB: Wow, I’m hard pressed to summarize due to the diversity of backgrounds required. In short–lots of PhDs. Physicists, chemists, chemical engineers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, biologists, computer scientists … just about every type of scientist if they have a PhD. In addition, most of my openings require a security clearance so candidates often must be a U.S. citizen.

Six Degrees: What types of training in sourcing/recruitment are available to you and have you taken advantage of?

ROB: I’ve had some formal sales training throughout my career. I would say my first job doing cold calling was like recruiter basic training. I have my CIR. In fact, I earned my first CIR with Lisa Stoker at AIRS back in 1997. I recently heard she’s still with AIRS/The Right Thing. I read ERE daily and talk to people like yourself, Dave. The MBA doesn’t hurt either in speaking the language of business.

Six Degrees: What recruitment software tools do you use in your day to day recruitment activities & do they translate effectively within all of the different countries where you recruit?

ROB: A caveat. No piece of software has ever closed a deal for me. My #1 tool is the phone. My #2 tool is the internet at large. If I had an office suite and my phone, I’d do fine. We offer Linked In Talent Advantage and we use AIRS Sourcepoint. I’m up for evaluating a robust CRM. Microsoft Dynamics or Salesforce.com would be great, but we lack the budget. We use Monster.com and get some hits. We use Peoplesoft as an ATS, which I’m sad to say is awful. Again, software has never made a hire for me. I think we overemphasize the use of these tools and de-emphasize the important of the phone. In fact, I think if companies reduced some of their expenditures on software and spent more on sales training—they’d get better results. I have hired from overseas, and it has worked the same. I cold call, use my Lou Adler techniques to get them interested and close the deal. My software only comes in when they have to apply and when I have to get my background checks done.

Six Degrees: What tools (technology or old school file folder, for example) did you first encounter early in your recruitment career?

ROB: I used a UNIX based CRM and I had a phone. It crashed once in 3 years. I think I’d take it today! I did Boolean searches on Mosaic but most of my success came through using Maureen Sharib-like techniques getting org charts. Who needs to dig too deep when you get an org chart? Then you call them. That’s recruiting.

Six Degrees: How did your expectations of being a recruiter compare to the actual, first time you got on the phone or in the cubicle? In your opinion, how do people’s assumptions about our vocation differ from reality?

ROB: Well, keep in mind my first experience was at a retained search firm. I had a script and a list of 100 names, that’s all I knew. I loved it. The biggest challenge I have in educating people is more on the HR generalist side. My clients get it, because I deliver talent. The HR folks don’t quite know what do to do with a sales guy. We’re entirely different but great partners.

Six Degrees: Worst mistake, biggest goof, lousiest practice you thought would fly but didn’t — and how that was a learning experience?

ROB: Many years ago, I went to the VP of HR’s office and suggested that the entire recruiting department move out of HR and be plugged somewhere else. As a piece of advice to recruiters out there—don’t do that. I was whack-a-moled and sent away packing. If that IS what you believe, make it THEIR idea through influence, don’t tell them their org chart and way of doing things sucks. That approach was—less than effective. But I learned. Direct communication has its place, but sometimes a less direct approach is the key to success.

Six Degrees: How do you personally expect to facilitate change within our industry, and/or at your place of work? If you started that process, outline the problem, your solutions, and the vision.

ROB: I expect to facilitate change by uplifting as many recruiters as I can. I’m at a point in my career where I need to pass along what I’ve learned to others. I want to continue to partner with my clients to set a recruiting strategy and meet their needs. Also, I would love to make converts out of every HR generalist out there. I’m in the process of expanding my circle of influence beyond that of recruiting to include other departments within HR. We are one HR and we can’t meet the needs of our customer unless we work together. My clients value our function and we are tied to their goals, but I want to bring the other parts of HR along. We won’t succeed unless we all succeed. Community-wise I’ve recently brought together a collection of 60+ recruiters in our area. We’ll meet about 4 times per year to talk recruiting in an effort to uplift our function.

Six Degrees: “Best practice” you are most proud of developing (now or in the past) in your recruiting career?

ROB: I’m not sure I have done anything too revolutionary. I was doing patent searches in the 90s to do name generation. I was the first at every company I’ve worked at in house to develop recruiter ‘blitzes’. This is time dedicated for the team to do outbound calling for their hard to fill jobs. It has always produced results. However, I didn’t invent the blitz, I learned it from someone out there. Everywhere I’ve been I’ve made an effort to inculcate passion, hard work and a sales focus to deliver great talent—and I’ve succeeded.

Six Degrees: What are some of the frustrating aspects/obstacles to your day to day as a staffing professional and in general?

ROB: I hate the administrative aspects of my job (anything to do with completing a form). The more administrative/process centric tasks I’m working on, the less time I’m spending on the phone adding value. In addition, working at a quasi-government organization our speed can be very very slow. Our time to fill (which I don’t know off hand) has to be longer than private industry. That makes it difficult to work with urgency at times when candidates have to make quick decisions. It’s great for work life balance overall. Lack of a good CRM has slowed me down and made sharing information difficult. Is there some tool out there that combines a CRM/ATS/Outreach like AIRS? The holy grail of recruiting ….

Six Degrees: What are the most common themes of strategic and/or tactical mishaps involving past or present HR/Staffing org?

ROB: Mishaps …. I think any time the balance of power goes out of whack with HR Generalists and Staffing professionals who are assigned to clients can cause problems or tension. A good team consists of partners who work together and are equal partners. When the balance tilts in one direction or another, there can be issues. Also, there needs to be clear definition of roles and responsibilities. One lesson I’ve learned is the Recruiting Assistant (HR Admin) is not a career step to recruiting by and large. As an administrative professional, the detail oriented requirements often collide with the sales skills in general most great recruiters possess. Recruiting is a skill, administrative duties are a skill and HR generalists have a skill. Use them together, you have a great team. Also, a common mishap at least with our organization has been the limitation in upgrading tools to make recruiters more successful. With limited budgets it is hard to argue for tools but we do what we can.

Six Degrees: Considering all of the frustrations you have experienced in your career as a recruiter, — what inspires you as you continue in your career?

ROB: One, the impact I’m having toward our strategic mission. If our team meets our goals, we move to complete our mission and ultimately we are making a difference. Scientists I have hired have done great and amazing things. I enable that success. In addition, I’m helping people achieve their personal career goals, which is highly satisfying. Also, I love helping people within the industry move up. Recently, I attended a graduation party where someone I had written a letter of recommendation for to get into graduate school had completed their Masters program. I had pushed for that person to enroll. It felt pretty good knowing I had in a tiny way contributed toward their success and nudged them in the right direction. I love to encourage professional development.

Six Degrees: What one thing do you ideally hope to accomplish this year?

ROB: What I would love to accomplish in the next 6 months is to implement social media at our organization from a recruiting stand point and also make our career site mobile phone enabled. In addition, I want to take some formal management training classes.

Six Degrees: Anything you want to plug?

ROB: The only reason I’m successful is the great team I work with. I have world class administrative support, great clients and a strong HR team. I want to plug them, because they are my secret ingredient. So Mary Ellen, Tina, Norma, Sorcha, Jessica, Jill THANK YOU!!!! I stand on the shoulders of giants …

Six Degrees: How Are You Going To Change The Recruitment Industry?

ROB: I would love to be considered a leader in recruiting who combines what Lou Adler offers with what Marvin Smith at MSFT is building. The recruiter of the future is one who masters the use of technology while mastering their sales skills. I want to bring the phone back to the forefront.

By Dave Mendoza

Rob Quotables:

“The premise of the novel was that there was no such thing as coincidence and everything is connected. Lizzy posted a comment, reviewing the book on a web site. I replied. We started a thread and eventually exchanged phone numbers and the rest is history. So we met online, but not a dating site, we met discussing a book that posits there’s no such thing as coincidence … coincidentally?”

1,000 Recruiters of Light’s vision is to engage the recruiting community to help veterans find jobs. We are not seeking money, we want your talent and your time. We are asking 1,000 recruiters to contact and develop a job search mentoring relationship with 1,000 veterans; they have the talent but we have the knowledge, the tools, and the contacts to help them find the right job.

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• Websites: www.pnl.gov & www.battelle.org
• Community Volunteering: 1,000 Recruiters of Light Project
• Office: 509-375-2441
• Personal Email

It is always with a genuine smile that I get to feature someone I have not only met but featured in our “Six Degrees from Dave” networking listings who has a personal story to tell experiencing the depth of industry virtual handshakes. It is also a pleasure knowing that someone who so often comments on my Facebook posts, is also someone who shares the same admiration of valuable contributors in our industry we also are fortunate enough to call friends. Ron Dromgoole is such a person, and I recall after several years of comments and emails that I realized I was sitting next to him having drinks with Kevin Wheeler at ERE and he did not disappoint. we immediately hit it off viewing the world in much the same way and yet I also realize he has done far more than I have in my own life, when it comes to ‘walking the talk” in serving our country as a veteran. He is one o the nicest guys you can meet and in much the same way I tend to judge people by how they treat their animals (serious) I can also say how they view their families as part of their identities matters as well. When I received pictures from Rob you can tell he never tired of a picture holding his son’s hands or on his shoulders. I can relate given we have little ones nearly the same age. You view your legacy in the little ones we hold dear. Rob is about friends, family, and country, – how can you not admire Rob already? Then there is the issue of pertinence to all – he loves our industry and he finds himself making a difference even in his own small way if need be, one candidate at a time. Here is someone to watch because his candidates have already experienced his truisms in candidate experience and someday he will be on his own stage sharing what his friends and colleagues already know are his passions. He is one of the brightest among thousands of lights in our industry. He is a man with a genuine story to tell. In family alone he is a wealthy man, in his associations and in his passions we are all the richer.

Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world.

ROB: I have been married to Elizabeth Anne Dromgoole since 2000, but we’ve known each other since 1996. During the 1996 time frame a book was released titled the Celestine Prophecy. The premise of the novel was that there was no such thing as coincidence and everything is connected. Lizzy posted a comment, reviewing the book on a web site. I replied. We started a thread and eventually exchanged phone numbers and the rest is history. So we met online, but not a dating site, we met discussing a book that posits there’s no such thing as coincidence … coincidentally? I always found that amusing. She was going to school at Linfield at the time, and I was finishing up at University of Washington.

We have 2 dogs, Reggie & Shelby, both pug/Chihuahua mixes. If any reader would like to adopt them, we’ll pay shipping. Hint, one wears a diaper full time inside. We lost the marking battle and declared a truce with Huggies size 3. So if you want a Chihuaha that wears size 3 diapers …. I have a great dog for you. Liam Blake Dromgoole, born Oct. 7, 2007 is our son. We have one on the way, little James Austin Dromgoole, expected to be born Sep. 20th, 2010. Liam is already an avid reader and loves to catch bugs and LOVES animals. He’s been to the zoo almost 10 times, and he’s not even 3, so maybe his mother loves animals more than him. He loves his trains, cars and pressing buttons. In addition, he somehow managed to order an MMA event which Charter Cable charged us for on his own.

Six Degrees: What is a Dromgoole past time in the day in the life?

ROB: Family is #1. I love the NFL, especially the Seattle Seahawks. I’m still angry at the referees during the 2006 Superbowl. I’m a huge University of Washington Huskies fan being a former season ticket holder. Our 1991 National Championship was an awesome moment. I am an avid Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel reader. Besides the Lord of the Rings, I love Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind etc. However, Stephen King I argue is the most influential author of our time. In addition, I have a strange fascination with sci-fi movies and novels related to asteroids. I don’t why, but I just loved Lucifer’s Hammer, both the crazy meteor movies. So if you know of a great asteroid novel, shoot me the title. I love Sid Meier’s Civilization and during my lifetime have wasted countless hours in world domination since its creation in the 80s. In addition, military strategy games I’ve always enjoyed, like Axis & Allies, Risk, Conquest. Our family & friends enjoy our PS3, and Rockband/Guitar Hero. I enjoy playing competitive Spades when I can. An old habit from the Army. We would constantly play cards in the hours awaiting deployment. Ask any long time soldier and there are many hours where you have to find something to do—for me it was Spades and it stuck.

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

ROB: I began staffing in Dec. 1996 immediately after graduating with a Bachelor’s degree. 14 years.

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

ROB: I was a temp. I graduated with an under graduate degree in English and Philosophy with no job prospects and no connections. I landed at a retained search firm specializing in high-tech and telecommunications. I started doing reference checks and quickly began to make cold calls to candidates. I still remember my first script and the task to call 100-200 people making a pitch. It was 100% commission, and a lot of fun. We had to average 60 dials per day, and 3.5 hours of connect time to earn our draw. However, that activity produced billing. It created discipline, and taught me everything I needed to be a successful recruiter. All my success I’ve had is due to this start at ROI International. Marc Goyette the President of ROI I’m still connected with and I still send him the occasional thank you. Oh yeah, my first interview, I had to sell a pen to him face-to-face. “Sell me this pen.” “Marc, I want to discuss the fine features of this writing instrument that will enable your success in business ….” A time I like to call the good ‘ole days.

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

ROB: How do you define impact? Well, I would say when I was recruited away from ROI, I went to an internet startup called InterNap Network Services. I was offered a crazy sign on bonus, 10,000 shares of stock and a fantastic base salary. This was in Dec. 98/99. In fact, I’ve only recently passed what I was earning back then in base. My strike price was in the low 30s. Our stock at its peak rose to 125+ a share. I had $7-million in stock before age 30 … but wasn’t vested. I remember watching it turn to vapor and the company almost folding. The startup experience was fantastic. The highs were unbelievably high and the lows were low, but we learned a lot. I loved the passion and energy that organization offered and fondly look back on that experience. I made a vow that I wanted to surround myself with really impressive people and learn from them. This is one of the reasons why I work at a national lab today because of my startup experience. I encourage everyone to try a startup at least once in their career. If you want a cool placement story, I have plenty of those too.

One such story: Director Bioproducts & Engineering Laboratory. I cold called the leading scientist for biomass in Denmark and introduced our Director opportunity at PNNL. We were partnering with Washington State University at the time, so I was working with the President of a University, a large search committee, Washington State and an international relocation. It was a great recruiting experience. The high bay facility is now build and working. When my candidate was at the ribbon cutting ceremony on May 8, 2008, that was a great experience. But every placement is like the story above. We make a difference one placement at a time.

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

ROB: Lou Adler, Gerry Crispin, Mark Mehler and the entire ERE community.

Six Degrees: Tell us about your role at Battelle, Rob :

ROB: Well, I have multiple roles. Battelle consists of 21,000 employees in 157 locations around the world. I am occasionally called upon to fill executive roles (like an in house Korn Ferry etc.) That accounts for about 10-20% of my time depending on the amount of positions I’m assigned. I’ve had the good fortune to work on positions for Brookhaven National Lab, Oak Ridge National Lab, Idaho National Lab and Battelle Corporate.
Another of my responsibilities is to work on hard-to-fill strategic positions for our Energy & Environment Directorate. I’m mentoring some recruiters on roles focused on Energy Storage (Batteries), Carbon Capture & Storage and Energy Economics & Policy. The opportunity provides me the chance to network with energy leaders around the world. Our organization is at the forefront in reducing our dependency on oil and reducing environmental effects of energy use. We are making a difference.

The bulk of my responsibility is staffing for a 1,200+ division which focuses on National Security. Our mission is related to nuclear nonproliferation and counter terrorism. There are 2 other recruiters on my team here and we filled about 125 positions last year and are on track for another great year. Our lab is the world leader in radiation detection and explosives detection. It’s fun to be a part of. We hire physicists, chemists, biologists, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, but also counter intelligence types, project managers, polygraph experts and computer scientists. It is diverse and it’s awesome. We have so many challenges, but I really look forward to coming to work each day.

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

ROB: Microsoft & Starbucks for their social media approach and use of tools. I also envy Bank of America with their integrated use of a CRM that ties to their ATS. I want to learn more about Sodexho because they seem to sweep the ERE awards each year. Sodhexo, can I visit?

Six Degrees: (B) In what aspects are they superior?

ROB: Microsoft: Talent Communities and the use of technology to create them. Marvin Smith is the brain child here. Mr. Balmer, give Marvin a raise because that guy is money. He’s a world leader in the use of technology to find and attract talent. If I could have half of a Marvin he’d be better than the top 5% of most recruiters.

Starbucks: 8-million Facebook fans and growing and a progressive approach to use social media to promote their brand and attract talent. Kat Drum has done an amazing job.

Bank of America: Again, their use of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Their recruiters have a great CRM tool to cold call talent which ties to Taleo.

Sodexho: Let me read their ERE award packets in detail—I just want to be able to implement what they do. It would be great to be on stage someday and get recognized by ERE.

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

ROB: Locally, I think there will be a massive decrease in government spending. I feel R&D is a worthy expenditure of tax payer dollars when its focus is to protect our country from attack and to reduce our dependence on oil. However, we are quickly approaching a time where we have to make tough choices in budgets. I foresee the demise of a good portion of the national labs and am scared of what that means. I wouldn’t be surprised in the years ahead if that $23-billion budget for DOE is greatly reduced.

Industry wide: what will separate the great recruiters from the hoard are sales skills. I highly recommend Lou Adler’s Recruiter Boot Camp. Learn how to use the phone, use the technology and you’ll be in the top 5%.

Six Degrees: Tell us about your broader involvement within the staffing industry: (Do you attend conferences? Which ones? List/detail speaking events, awards, publications, where you have you represented your company)

ROB: I have been to about 10 ERE events it seems both East & West over the years. Most recently I attended the #socialrecruiting event in Minneapolis which offered great insight into social media implementation. I highly recommend watching Josh Ingalls and Andy Drish: http://socialrecruitingsummit.com/mn2010/agenda/session-descriptions/

In addition, Jenny DeVaughn did fantastic. She’s the Director of Social Strategy for Bernard Hodes and was incredible. If you find her blog, she has a good deck to read. I had the honor of speaking at the recent ERE in San Diego. I really got deep on how to use the phone and overcome objections and close deals. I’ve written a few ERE pieces. Many years ago I was part of the Board for the Northwest Recruiter Association. We’re looking at combing our local recruiting community with the NWRA. Local for me is Tri-Cities, WA. We have 60+ recruiters in the community. We had an event where Marvin Smith spoke recently on June 10, 2010. The readers are more than welcome to attend, come one come all to Tri-Cities, WA.

Six Degrees: Can you detail how the recession has affected your particular industry niche?

ROB: What recession? Government expenditures as many realize have only gone up. For me, the recession has been something I witnessed on the news, in headlines and through the stories of fellow recruiters who were laid off. But hiring at my organization has only gone up. It has cut our turnover in half the past couple years. Recently, since the economy begins to shift we’ve had more difficulty hiring computational scientists. I’ve lost a few candidates to private industry. We’ve had the good fortune of being able to hire a great recruiter in Jill Schroeder from Mentor Graphics. She’s doing great things for our team. I don’t think we would have been able to attract her without the recession.

Six Degrees: Compassionate HR’s Margo Rose has spotlighted the “1,000 Recruiters of Light” effort you have helped spearhead. Can you tell us about it?

ROB: Recently, Steve Levy & I started the 1,000 Recruiters of Light project. You can find the piece on ERE.net. However, the organization’s premise is to connect one recruiter with one veteran one hour per week to help veterans find jobs in the civilian world. The charity is in its inception, but we have 150+ fans on Facebook and numerous members in our Linked In group. The work is just starting, but I’m excited to be able to take my talent and time to help others. There was a story I read/heard about Mother Theresa once that has always stuck with me. During a tour of the U.S. she went on a radio station and was interviewing with a DJ. The DJ was excited and wanted to reach out to his audience to raise money for her orphanage and the poor children in India. However, Mother Theresa turned down his request. Instead, she really emphasized that charity had to be one-on-one. That personal transformation came from one-on-one engagement. Raising money is fantastic, but to truly help and to truly give, you have to make that personal connection. The DJ claimed that that day, that moment changed his life forever for the better. He didn’t raise money, but he donated his time to homeless people in his city. I like to think that the recruiters who participate may experience that same type of visceral connection to reach out, help someone who has dedicated their life to defend freedom and protect our country. We owe these veterans so much and the recruiting community has a lot to offer. So I encourage recruiters to participate. Find us on Facebook/LI or e-mail Steve & direct.

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.

ROB: To broaden my opportunities? I’ve made a more conscious effort to become engaged in the industry outside my organization. Through my connections with organizations like CareerXRoads and ERE, I’ve learned from great talent. What I’ve learned has gained me credibility internally. With colleagues? I do what I can to share best practices and mentor daily. There isn’t a day which goes by during the week where I’m not on the phone with a recruiter—internally or externally—and trying to help them in some ways. Sometimes it’s political issues they are struggling with, other times it’s a tough search, either way I try to uplift others any way I can. I highly recommend Gerry Crispin’s and Mark Mehler’s CareerXRoads and also encourage recruiters to find the funding to attend ERE events.

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? Be specific

ROB: Well, if someone is taking action to reach out, that’s better than not doing anything. I guess one piece of advice is to not post anything on someone’s Facebook wall. Some people really make an effort to keep work separated from their FB account and a visible post can violate their personal space. Send them an e-mail or call them. I also encourage a networker to offer something instead of just demanding something. Give back. Most people you want to network with are busy. Respect their time, respect their success and be patient.

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

ROB: I’ve had the opportunity to lead many small teams in my career, but my next step is to lead a staffing function for a great organization. As much as I love cold calling and closing deals, I’ve been feeling the call to work more strategically. I want to find a position that allows me to set the strategic staffing vision of a company with senior executives. I want to enable the success of a larger recruiting team and help budget for tools, work with executives and execute on strategy. The company has to be high-tech and I would have to have P&L (a budget/hiring authority etc.). I would like to get more formal manager training. If government spending does get lower, I may have the opportunity to rejoin the private work force in the months ahead. So if you readers know of a great manager or Director role, keep me in mind.

Staffing Industry Recommendations

“Rob Dromgoole is one of the very few staffing leaders who walks the talk when it comes to candidate experience. His firm offers a promise to candidates…how they can expect to be treated if they pursue a job. Not rocket science but it sure is in short supply.”
Gerry Crispin, Careerxroads.com

“I would like to tell you about Rob. I found him to be a passionate and talented recruiting professional. He brings a bit of “old school high touch” into this technological age that is constantly changing. I appreciate Rob’s dedication to providing assistance to our military that are in transition; he truly wants to pay it forward. We need more Rob’s in recruiting and staffing.”
Marvin Smith, Talent Community Evangelist, Microsoft Entertainment & Devices