John Sumser

Recruiting Roadshow Organizer & Keynote Speaker
Founder, Recruiting Roadshow
johnsumser.com, Recruiting Roadshow, Recruitingblogs.com

John Sumser’s first entrepreneurial venture was selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts door-to-door as a 10 year old. He failed miserably because the merchandise was so delicious. After college, he tried the conventional wisdom of getting a big corporate job, working his way from copy boy at Westinghouse Defense to training engineers and negotiating NATO contracts over the course of 15 years.

John became interested in the internet in its embryonic stages back when it was owned and operated by DARPA. He eventually found his way on to the WeLL. His conversations and musings with folks in the San Francisco Bay Area developed into a position as Director and Editor of the Whole Earth Review where he met and worked with many of the central figures in Silicon Valley and became an expert on start-up businesses.

In 1995, John started his own company Interbiznet, where he wrote a daily column on using the internet and technology for recruiting. His ideas have been the catalyst for dozens of new companies and countless MBA student papers. John wrote the first book describing the internet as a sourcing and recruiting tool in 1996.

He regularly consults with recruiters and employers on how to find, hire and keep the best employees, how people work, how companies and systems affect employees and how changing economies and technology alter the nature of work itself. He also consults with Recruiting startups and sits n the Board of Directors of Salary.com

One of John’s current areas of interest is how the cultural differences between the generations are changing the workplace. He introduced this idea last year to the top 500 employers in Canada last year where Al Gore was the warm-up act (although Mr. Gore might call it the key-note speech).

John continues to explore the importance of culture and communications through new technologies and forums like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and blogging, all of which allow us to meet and connect with people we might not have found in another era, and perhaps say things we would never say in person.

John has taken this idea full circle with the Recruiting Roadshow which is designed to actually bring people together in the same room to connect and talk in “real time.” Even with the coolest networking tools, there is still no substitute for sharing a meal and a conversation, for looking people in the eye and seeing them laugh.

• Homepage: John Sumser
• Blogs:
• Roads traveled: Minneapolis, Atlanta, Dallas

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