Yesterday, The Recruiting Roadshow returned to Minneapolis to celebrate its first anniversary. With five speakers, a networking exercise, breakfast and lunch, the event was a very full day. About 270 people registered and nearly 250 actually attended.
It was fantastic to see so many Recruiters who are hungry to learn and improve their work. Continuing education is hard to find in our industry. The Recruiting Roadshow project is designed to create networks that help Recruiters bootstrap each other.
I opened the morning about a half hour late. An unexpected downpour, combined with the summer road construction season in Minneapolis, created a traffic problem that held many people up. Once we got going, the day was packed with information and experiences.
The networking exercise, which simulates keyword searching and team building, demonstrated the idea when people clump together, opportunities increase. It was a good segue into my presentation about the shifting demographics in America. (Here is a copy of that material).
George LaRocque briefed us on the results of Bullhorn’s interesting RecruiterIQ initiative.
Joel Kramer, the editor of MinnPost.com gave an impassioned speech about the importance of journalism. He opined that newspapers were the best source of journalism and that that was an essential part of our government. When the newspapers decay (as they are), the opportunities for journalists (real journalists) to keep their jobs declines. This creates a risky situation where the checks and balances disappear.
Steven Rothberg spent about an hour explaining the way that College Recruiter helps its clients.
Don Ramer closed the morning with an intense multimedia presentation that described the obstacles and opportunities facing recruiters. Emerging from a legacy in the real body business of the 18th and 19th Century, Recruiting has had trouble shaking off its roots. Even the term "Human Resources" contains disturbing implications of the idea that one person might own another. Ramer went on to illuminate the possibilities for transformation and global impact.
The event was made possible by the generous sponsorship of
- Arbita (who provided massive logistical support as well)
- Bullhorn
- PCRecruiter
- Oberon
- ZoomInfo
- RecruitingBlogs.com
I want to acknowledge the huge contributions made by the core team in Minneapolis:
- Josh Kahn (Accenture-Best Buy) is a silent and stong hand behind the scenes. he really makes much of the Minneapolis success story possible
- Paul Debettegnies who tirelessly organizes the Minnesota Recruiters Network.
- Nicole St Martin the energy behind the energy
- Kelly Wackerfuss, Arbita’s queen of logistics
- Seth Fair, the design genius.
