Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-18
Posted on July 18, 2010
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- New Blog Post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-11 http://bit.ly/axE7yD #
- Hard drive failed today. El Dave is one unhappy camper. Bobblehead frowned #
- The Trouble at Twitter Inc. http://bit.ly/afyzHY #
- Twitter CEO's Secret Microsoft Visit http://bit.ly/bxCc3C #
- Horned Man Attempts to Murder Landlord with Minivan http://bit.ly/arVRsp #
- The Rewards of Inflating a Bubble http://bit.ly/ce4qgn #
- ‘Mobile gaming will beat consoles within a year’ | Game Development | News by Develop http://bit.ly/9IBpDi #
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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-11
Posted on July 11, 2010
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- New Blog Post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-04 http://bit.ly/az8efz #
- Dow Repeats Great Depression Pattern: Charts – CNBC-http://www.cnbc.com/id/38092759 #
- Compassionate HR Interview w/ @Shally tonight 7:30 EST 4:30 PST #
- New Blog Post: Dow Repeats Great Depression Pattern Despite $1.25 Trillion Stimulus Boondoggle http://bit.ly/aPXQVf #
- Dow Repeats Great Depression Pattern Despite $1.25 Trillion Stimulus Boondoggle, http://bit.ly/aPXQVf #
- @Shally Steckerl: King of Candidate Sourcing-The Untold Story http://bit.ly/bczT44" #
- @animal is my tweet friend if the week and the first! #
- For recruiters in SF or Silicon Valley: Mastering Client Engagement http://ow.ly/26wtF <–professional development event 7/13/10 #
- New Blog Post: Talent Strategist Series – Mastering Client Engagement, July 13th http://bit.ly/8ZkeAx #
- Carol Mahoney, fmr VP TA Yahoo – Register to Attend Talent Strategist Series, Mastering Client Engagement, July 13 – http://bit.ly/bpkAiP #
- Dow Repeats Great Depression Pattern Despite $1.25 Trillion Stimulus Boondoggle, http://bit.ly/98Gswr #
- WSJ.com – Opinion: The Obama Tax Trap http://on.wsj.com/cYCuCC #
- Penn Jillette: Mistrust of Government Is a Beautiful Thing http://is.gd/dmbHj #
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Talent Strategist Series – Mastering Client Engagement, July 13th
Posted on July 8, 2010
Filed Under Carol Mahoney | Leave a Comment

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• Business Website: “Professional TA”
When: Tuesday, July 13th
Where: Hyatt Burlingame (Bay Area)
Register to Attend: http://bit.ly/dyB0rO
Winning at the recruiting game is not just about finding the next great candidate…it requires influence; it demands edge; it depends upon diplomacy. Recruiters and Recruiting Leads: Sign-up for a career-changing workshop designed to increase your effectiveness as a talent acquisition leader.
Course Leaders: Mark McMillan, Executive Coach and Principal with Talent Function, and Carol Mahoney, founder and Head Strategist of Talent Acquisition on Demand, and former VP of TA for Yahoo! bring a wealth of staffing leadership experience to the room.
Don’t miss it! The day promise to be interactive, intense and impactful…sign up now.
Dow Repeats Great Depression Pattern Despite $1.25 Trillion Stimulus Boondoggle
Posted on July 5, 2010
Filed Under Economics, News | 1 Comment
After nearly two years This Administration keeps passing the buck on responsibility. It has kept the union workers of GM and Chrysler employed (with taxpayer money). It has made sure that most government employee union members got their annual raises for sleeping on the job (with taxpayer money). We were told that the Auto bail outs would avoid bankruptcy – two months later they declared Chapter 13 despite hundreds of billions of tax payer dollars invested. Shareholders of auto companies were shafted while Union members became owners of the companies they helped destroy with ludicrous pensions and benefits unequaled unless perhaps you count Greece.It made sure that its voters got handouts mislabeled as “tax cuts” which was actually truly labeled a “tax rebate” just like the Bush administration had tried a year prior. This one was even worse – it became a robin hood switch where tax papers gave their taxes to pay those recipients who never paid taxes; and wasn’t enough to do more than cover one or two utility bills. Major campaign contributors collected billions off government stimulus (with taxpayer money) whereas the promise was this would be an infrastructure investment – only 7 cents on the dollar went to actual road, bridges and other true construction projects.
$1.25 Trillion dollars of opportunity gone from the money stream – forever. And for all the promises to pass the Stimulus, we still went above the 8% unemployment rate it was suggested it would avoid if passed.
The Congressional Budget Office itself a non partisan governmental body declared that at this rate of spending, the national debt will be 100 percent of Gross Domestic Product: National Economic Bankruptcy. Look it up, it’s all true
The US workforce shrank by 652,000 in June, one of the sharpest contractions ever. The rate of hourly earnings fell 0.1pc. Wages are flirting with deflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is repeating a pattern that appeared just before markets fell during the Great Depression, Daryl Guppy, CEO at Guppytraders.com, told CNBC Monday.
“Those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it…there was a head and shoulders pattern that developed before the Depression in 1929, then with the recovery in 1930 we had another head and shoulders pattern that preceded a fall in the market, and in the current Dow situation we see an exact repeat of that environment,” Guppy said.
The Dow retreated 457.33 points, or 4.5 percent last week, to close at 9,686 Friday. Guppy said a Dow fall below 9,800 confirmed the head and shoulders pattern.
The Shanghai Composite is seeing a very rapid collapse, falling below 2,500, which suggests the major fall in the Dow, he added.
In the European markets, Guppy says Frankfurt’s Dax is witnessing a different pattern to London’s FTSE.
Guppy uses the broad trading band as measurement- giving the Dax a downsize target of 1,500. The same head and shoulders pattern seen in the Dow can also being seen in the FTSE, he added.
“The economy is still in the gravitational pull of the Great Recession,” said Robert Reich, former US labour secretary. “All the booster rockets for getting us beyond it are failing.”
Related Articles: Monetary union has left half of Europe trapped in depression
“Home sales are down. Retail sales are down. Factory orders in May suffered their biggest tumble since March of last year. So what are we doing about it? Less than nothing,” he said.
California is tightening faster than Greece. State workers have seen a 14pc fall in earnings this year due to forced furloughs. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is cutting pay for 200,000 state workers to the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to cover his $19bn (£15bn) deficit.
Can Illinois be far behind? The state has a deficit of $12bn and is $5bn in arrears to schools, nursing homes, child care centres, and prisons. “It is getting worse every single day,” said state comptroller Daniel Hynes. “We are not paying bills for absolutely essential services. That is obscene.”
Roughly a million Americans have dropped out of the jobs market altogether over the past two months. That is the only reason why the headline unemployment rate is not exploding to a post-war high.
Let us be honest. The US is still trapped in depression a full 18 months into zero interest rates, quantitative easing (QE), and fiscal stimulus that has pushed the budget deficit above 10pc of GDP.
The share of the US working-age population with jobs in June actually fell from 58.7pc to 58.5pc. This is the real stress indicator. The ratio was 63pc three years ago. Eight million jobs have been lost.
The average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks. Nothing like this has been seen before in the post-war era. Jeff Weninger, of Harris Private Bank, said this compares with a peak of 21.2 weeks in the Volcker recession of the early 1980s.
“Legions of individuals have been left with stale skills, and little prospect of finding meaningful work, and benefits that are being exhausted. By our math the crop of people who are unemployed but not receiving a check amounts to 9.2m.”
Washington’s fiscal stimulus is draining away. It peaked in the first quarter, yet even then the economy eked out a growth rate of just 2.7pc. This compares with 5.1pc, 9.3pc, 8.1pc and 8.5pc in the four quarters coming off recession in the early 1980s.
The housing market is already crumbling as government props are pulled away. The expiry of homebuyers’ tax credit led to a 30pc fall in the number of buyers signing contracts in May. “It is cataclysmic,” said David Bloom from HSBC.
Federal tax rises are automatically baked into the pie. The Congressional Budget Office said fiscal policy will swing from
a net +2pc of GDP to -2pc by late 2011. The states and counties may have to cut as much as $180bn.
Investors are starting to chew over the awful possibility that America’s recovery will stall just as Asia hits the buffers. China’s manufacturing index has been falling since January, with a downward lurch in June to 50.4, just above the break-even line of 50. Momentum seems to be flagging everywhere, whether in Australian building permits, Turkish exports, or Japanese industrial output.
On Friday, Jacques Cailloux from RBS put out a “double-dip alert” for Europe. “The risk is rising fast. Absent an effective policy intervention to tackle the debt crisis on the periphery over coming months, the European economy will double dip in 2011,” he said.
It is obvious what that policy should be for Europe, America, and Japan. If budgets are to shrink in an orderly fashion over several years – as they must, to avoid sovereign debt spirals – then central banks will have to cushion the blow keeping monetary policy ultra-loose for as long it takes.
The Fed is already eyeing the printing press again. “It’s appropriate to think about what we would do under a deflationary scenario,” said Dennis Lockhart for the Atlanta Fed. His colleague Kevin Warsh said the pros and cons of purchasing more bonds should be subject to “strict scrutiny”, a comment I took as confirmation that the Fed Board is arguing internally about QE2.
Perhaps naively, I still think central banks have the tools to head off disaster. The question is whether they will do so fast enough, or even whether they wish to resist the chorus of 1930s liquidation taking charge of the debate. Last week the Bank for International Settlements called for combined fiscal and monetary tightening, lending its great authority to the forces of debt-deflation and mass unemployment. If even the BIS has lost the plot, God help us.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-04
Posted on July 4, 2010
Filed Under Twitter | 1 Comment
- New Blog Post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-27 http://bit.ly/9V3Q1w #
- New Blog Post: Rob Dromgoole, Battelle's One Man Army Protecting America One Hire at a Time http://bit.ly/a1sTKJ #
- Rob Dromgoole, Battelle’s One Man Army Protecting America One Hire at a Time http://bit.ly/bBWQs4 #
- Had a nice day. Took 4 year old to help daddy pick a shirt, played on giant fake food playground, shared "pink" ice cream. Nap time #
- I favorited a YouTube video — 2010 Jaguar XF: AutoWeek Video Tour http://youtu.be/7hdZPLmmJv4?a #
- @davemendoza Interviews Rob Dromgoole, Battelle’s One Man Army Protecting America One Hire at a Time, http://bit.ly/a6×43T #
- I favorited a YouTube video — New Financial Reform Bill is Unconstitutional http://youtu.be/OPIvL0rox6c?a #
- @davemendoza SixDegrees Pt 2 Interviews Rob Dromgoole, Battelle’s One Man Army Protecting America One Hire at Time, http://bit.ly/a6×43T #
- Help my friends get started on Twitter. Please follow @JPUSBean & @jonflahive – it will make me smile. Kindness always does #
- Rob Dromgoole, Battelle’s One Man Army Protecting America One Hire at a Time http://bit.ly/bBWQs4 #
- http://bit.ly/dtGzWP #
- Please join me and listen to Compassionate HR 7:30 pm today http://t.co/qD7TMO9 #
- Back on the road to Redmond then Atlanta. I'll be on my cell folks #
- Economic Outlook: Worsening picture in the US http://bit.ly/bMd6ef #
- @pritchatl Hospital Charitable Service Awards is looking for stories of hospital programs that go above and beyond – http://goo.gl/c0Ql #
- New Blog Post: Global Interview Series: Meet My Australian Friend, Robert Godden – CEO of Essence Talent http://bit.ly/c8Oh2D #
- @davemendoza Six Degrees Global Series: Meet My Australian Friend, Robert Godden – CEO of Essence Talent, http://bit.ly/bxXtMU #
- I favorited a YouTube video — Jaguar Experience Technologies http://youtu.be/JOACeRVVg0c?a #
- @davemendoza Six Degrees Global Series: Meet My Australian Friend, Robert Godden – CEO of Essence Talent, http://bit.ly/bxXtMU #
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Global Interview Series: Meet My Australian Friend, Robert Godden – CEO of Essence Talent
Posted on July 1, 2010
Filed Under Interviews | Leave a Comment

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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
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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?
Rob Dromgoole, Battelle’s One Man Army Protecting America One Hire at a Time
Posted on June 27, 2010
Filed Under Interviews | Leave a Comment
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.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-27
Posted on June 27, 2010
Filed Under Twitter | Leave a Comment
- New Blog Post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-20 http://bit.ly/98kdpr #
- @levyrecruits thanks Steve! happy Fathers day to you too. You have reproduced correct? #
- Al-Qaida warns of new attacks deadlier than before #
- Toshiba launches dual touch-screen laptop – Telegraph http://bit.ly/bsHHx8 #
- Obama's revolving door always open to Podestas | Washington Examiner http://bit.ly/cc3Ki7 #
- Obama’s Boss Sees Silver Lining in BP Spill: http://bit.ly/bBrx8w via @addthis #
- I liked a YouTube video — Glenn Beck Exposes Soros's Obama's Scam 6-21-10 Billions Mad… http://youtu.be/hGDaOoED-1E?a #
- I liked a YouTube video — Glenn Beck Crime Inc. Part 4 http://youtu.be/hrhv6548UcM?a #
- I liked a YouTube video — Glenn Beck Exposes Soros's connection to Obama's Drilling Mo… http://youtu.be/DJfbnLUO_hU?a #
- I favorited a YouTube video — Glenn Beck Exposes Soros's connection to Obama's Drillin… http://youtu.be/DJfbnLUO_hU?a #
- I favorited a YouTube video — Glenn Beck – Obama , No Less Than Treason http://youtu.be/e3caqQrBhZY?a #
- RT @time Scientists Confirm Chimps, Like Humans, Go to War – TIME http://bit.ly/c0ftqt #
- I favorited a YouTube video — THE SHIP MARMARA – WHAT WE REALLY KNOW – "'Freedo… http://youtu.be/ybgdWRxRBuE?a #
- New Blog Post: The Greecing of America, Simplified http://bit.ly/9XVK9y #
- The Greecing of America, Simplified http://bit.ly/dBfyiL #
- I favorited a YouTube video — Mr. Carey Goes to Cleveland: Drew & Nick talk to the Cle… http://youtu.be/nJ-vLM0mK1Q?a #
- The Greecing of America, from A to Z, http://bit.ly/aRhlt8 #
- RT @davemendoza The Greecing of America, Simplified http://bit.ly/dBfyiL #
- GOV'T REPORT: 1,300 prison Inmates Got $9M in Homebuyer Tax Credits… #
- RT @NBCNewYork: AIR NIGHTMARE: Chaos as Newark Flight Diverted http://bit.ly/c9OHsT #
- listening to "Black Betty" by Ram Jam. It Rocks! #
- shock over Labor Dept ad featuring Secretary Solis offer govt assistance to illegal immigrants who think they are getting shortchanged. #
- Oregon Woman Accused Al Gore of 'Unwanted Sexual Contact' in 2006 #
- I favorited a YouTube video — The Communards -Don't leave me this way – dancing in studio http://youtu.be/enuj6_attEw?a #
- I'm at mall getting my iphone 32gig 4.0 and line is around NORDSTROM and Macy's at 630 am even for reserved #
- Omg 3.5 hours I am still on line at mall for iPhone. I don't feel like an early adoptee as much as foolish. Now it's a commitment #
- Do me a favor & follow my friends, @JPUSBean & @jonflahive – I would consider it a personal kindness. Help them get started on twitter! #
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The Greecing of America, Simplified
Posted on June 22, 2010
Filed Under Economics | 1 Comment
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The repercussions from Greece’s fiscal crisis are starting to ripple around the world. But are lessons being learned?
Thousands of Greeks have violently rioted against their government because the game is up. For years, the Greek government made spending promises to its people that it could never keep (much like a Bernie Madoff-style Ponzi scheme).
When taxes couldn’t cover the cost of spending, the Greek government took out loans. Loans quickly turned to a debt so large it’s 115% the size of Greece’s economy.
Unfortunately, the U.S. is doing the exact same thing. Watch the video to find out more and, if you approve of the video’s message, please pass it along to others.
It’s too late for Greece. But it’s not too late for us. We can still cut spending and save our economy from crisis.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-20
Posted on June 20, 2010
Filed Under Twitter | Leave a Comment
- New Blog Post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-13 http://bit.ly/d9QdWu #
- Controller-Free Xbox Gets a Name: "Microsoft Kinect" http://bit.ly/ascaqv #
- @bkjrecruiter Video/Testimonial of @davemendoza "Six Degrees from Dave" http://bit.ly/aWtdgs #
- RT @mashable iPhone 4 Available for Pre-order at Best Buy Tomorrow http://bit.ly/asqM7S #best buy #iphone #iphone-4 #
- RT @mashable iPhone 4's Crystal Clear Retina Display [PICS] http://bit.ly/bboJlX #apple #iphone-4 #mobile #
- RT @mashable Pair Arrested for Trying to Trade iPod Touch and Marijuana fo.. http://bit.ly/awNgHj #apple #craiglist #ipad #
- RT @mashable 10 Casual Games for Android Phones http://bit.ly/cnCzg4 #android #apps #casual #
- RT @mashable 25 Essential Social Media Resources You .. http://bit.ly/arpzjT #business #facebook #features week-in-review #
- RT @mashable Our Top YouTube Videos This Week: "The Karate Kid," ".. http://bit.ly/91GbEI #humor #karate-kid #pop culture #
- RT @mashable iPhone-Playing YouTube Star Applegirl Gets Record Deal http://bit.ly/bATqsU #app #apple #applegirl #
- 24 hours until I order my new iphone 4.0 32gig – my 3Gs is next hand me down within the family #
- New Blog Post: I'm back To Entertain You: Kung Fu Bear Finds a Light Saber http://bit.ly/9TevTW #
- Moody's Cuts Greece Government Ratings to Junk. Why does this matter? USA $13T hits 20T in 5 years –http://www.cnbc.com/id/37689484 debt #
- I showed my wife the viral video "Kung Fu Bear w/light saber" – she asked if it was for real. #
- RT Next on Compassionate HR: @ChrisBrogan Global Philanthropy & Grass Roots Volunteering http://twt.tl/Rb9n96D 7:30 EST #
- New Blog Post: Brenda Le Asks "Unemployed Will Not Be Considered" (Right or Wrong?) http://bit.ly/aGMD4g #
- Brenda Le Asks “Unemployed Will Not Be Considered” (Right or Wrong?) http://bit.ly/94mWzt #
- Brenda Le Asks “Unemployed Will Not Be Considered” (Right or Wrong?), http://bit.ly/avZIZE #
- Damn, I keep getting logged out trying to pre-order my new 32G Iphone 4.0! #
- Check out my newly registered profile on Twellow, the yellow pages of Twitter: http://twellow.com/u/davemendoza #
- Just reserved my new iphone 32G 4.0 for pick up next week! After hours of trying…Yes I have no life, but I'll have a cool phone #
- RT @gizmodo AT&T iPhone 4 Pre-Orders Sold Out? http://bit.ly/cjTDKY #
- Woman died after being given smoker's lungs http://www.independent.co.uk/news/a2000852.html #
- BP founding member of 'cap-and-trade' lobby…biggest campaign contributor ..OBAMA TO PUSH NEW NATIONAL TAX on CARBON'…coincidence? #
- How the ancient rhododendrons of Heligan were saved by cloning http://www.independent.co.uk/news/a2001620.html #
- New Blog Post: Immediate Job Opening for SEO Consultant http://bit.ly/ab89XE #
- Immediate Job Opening for SEO Consultant, do you have what it takes? http://bit.ly/90kxhG #
- @levyrecruits, El Dave does not cower, The Spaniard is a gladiator of ideas and presence and Obama is to be pitied to be met with my logic in reply to levyrecruits #
- Thanks to @shally I finally got my windows live sync back on board between main desktop and my laptop. Ahhhhh! #
- New Blog Post: Meet Rob Dromgoole, "1,000 Recruiters of Light" is Making A Difference http://bit.ly/bWu4Z1 #
- RT @davemendoza Meet Rob Dromgoole, “1,000 Recruiters of Light” is Making A Difference http://bit.ly/di303Z #
- @davemendoza SixDegrees Interview "Meet Rob Dromgoole, '1,000 Recruiters of Light' is Making A Difference," http://bit.ly/dzqIfI #
- One week later, my wife finally noticed my tattoo of our children's names. I am the last person expected to do it, but on a dare why not #
- RT @arbitainc Elements 6, 7 and 8 are online http://ht.ly/1ZSRD Get Your Recruitment Message Noticed Among the Social Media Madness #
- @levyrecruits nice wording, I would personally modify it, then again I do have the world's most fantastic bobbleheadhttp://twitter.com/# in reply to levyrecruits #
- "Owning iPad makes you a minor celebrity. You bring it with you & girls hit on you, random people walk up & say "Is that an iPad? wow!" #
- 6 days and counting for my new Iphone 4,0 #
- Going to see #ToyStory3 today with Siena Blue #
- To Save the Gulf, Send the Jones Act to Davy Jones’ Locker | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News. http://bit.ly/9P0b51 #
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