Having access to people who are experts in the areas of technology, workforce issues and talent acquisition is a good thing. Having those people available to you in your local community, easily accessible is better.  Being connected with them personally as part of your local network is ideal.

The Recruiting Roadshow is designed to do all that for you, and more.

My name is John Sumser and I invite you to join me with the area’s brightest minds for a solid half-day of learning, community and networking:

- Joel Cheesman, author, publisher and Internet recruiting marketing guru will share practical ways to make the most of your recruiting online.

- Jason Morris, staffing expert will be answering your questions on the next generation of employment screening practices and helping you understand what it means for your recruiting today.

- Don Ramer, industry thought leader and rainmaker will talk on the implications for recruiting and social networking as ‘transformational’ forces in the recruiting process.

- I will lead the session on multigenerational recruiting and surviving the shifting recruitment landscape, the networking exercises too.

Date:
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Time:
8:30 am – 2:30 pm
Includes, breakfast, light lunch and networking

Location:
Main Sequence Technologies Campus
4420 Sherwin Road, Willoughby, OH 44094

Reservations:  http://tinyurl.com/39ctaw

Your ticket for admission, refreshments and learning has been covered in-full by the generous giving of our sponsors: Arbita, PC Recruiter, RecruitingBlogs.com, and ZoomInfo. Please visit them online.

When you register, please let us know if you have any special needs, questions, thoughts or comments.

See you at the Roadshow!

Part of the problem is the way that vendors reach out to their potential customers. There are a narrow range of potential channels: bulk email, telemarketing, tradeshows, web ads, print ads, superbowl ads and direct mail. Each of these methods assumes that response rates are tiny and that yelling is the best way to communicate. Marketing in our industry is rarely subtle or comforting. The communications channels depend on loud and oversimplified messaging.

• Regional communications differences and their impact on effective Recruiting;
• Alternative methods for vendor – customer interactions;
• The localization of expertise (local people are more effective than national celebrities);
• The use of physical networks to optimize online social networking; and,
• The development of an industry-wide continuing education infrastructure.

Our sponsorship experiment bears particularly close examination.

Typically, vendors are required to elbow their way into the consciousness of their prospects. The trade show circuit, with its endless array of booths and carnies is a good image. If you’ve never been to one of the big trade shows, imagine a sea of ring toss, duck shooting, basketball tossing, hammer and bell booths with their barkers. In the largest settings a full circling of the exhibits can take days.

Often, trade shows feature a late afternoon parade. Conference attendees are given a bingo card and sent to collect stamps from each of the booths. A fully completed card entitles the bearer to participate in the afternoon’s raffle of the giant teddy bear. There is always a stampede of attendees with their overflowing bags of goodies.

At the Recruiting Roadshow™, we’re trying something different. No corn dogs, no cotton candy, no timeshare sales, no petting zoo. In a big event, the typical commercial marketing transaction is barely remembered by the event participant. The booths blur together.

The Recruiting Roadshow depends on sponsorship. Since the events are free to participants, all of the costs are borne by the underwriters and sponsors. Sponsorship means something special to participants because the event is funded for them by a few memorable vendors. They aren’t allowed to sell anything during the Roadshow. They are, however, encouraged to attend and to get to know the local audience.

The experiment is designed to make sure that value is delivered first, that the learning environment is sacred. A Recruiting Roadshow™  sponsor is not brassy or intrusive. They use the opportunity to demonstrate the depths of their commitment to service. More than anything else, it’s an opportunity to give back to the community.

That sort of approach builds the sort of reputation that lasts a long time.

John Sumser. – © 2008 Two Color Hat, Inc. Santa Rosa, CA

Then we have amazing friends like Matt Martone of Yahoo HotJobs.

Without prompting, Matt has pulled together the Recruiting Roadshow logo Challenge. He’s offering $100 to anyone who generates a logo that we pick to use on this site.The Details are here.  Thanks, Matt

John Sumser. – © 2008 Two Color Hat, Inc. Santa Rosa, CA

Someone might want to remind them that TMP and Hodes both had to segregate their media businesses from their agency businesses. The problem is that you can not make unbiased recommendations when you are the owner of one of the properties under consideration.  

That said, the launch of Personified marks a profound inflection point for the newspaper industry.

Classified advertising is all but dead in the print form and online advertising services are rapidly eliminating the newspapers as players.   CareerBuilder has compiled an astonishing and aggressive track record. It has played the game unlike any of its predecessors.

While the newspaper industry has been throwing money at the problem for nearly two decades, CareerBuilder is the first glimmer of success.

Growth is a challenging objective in a market where the basic unit price is always declining. In order for CareerBuilder to continue to meet growth objectives, it must crawl out from the advertising ghetto. Personified is their first attempt to do so.  

If you’ll excuse a bit of vanity, their product and service offerings sound like a recapitulation of a decades worth of my writings. So, I have to think that the services themselves are really good ideas.   If they can get the billing approach correct, this is a real threat to the already eroding advertising agency franchises.   This is a good, smart, somewhat predictable move by CareerBuilder.

It’s where the newspapers have needed to go for a long time.

John Sumser. – © 2008 Two Color Hat, Inc. Santa Rosa, CA

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7039307133408613852&hl=en]

Isn’t that how it seems?

There are some pretty odd trends that amplify the problem.

• The percentage of jobs that require advanced education is going up. The percentage of North Americans who get advanced education is going down.
• In the face of a shortage, much recruiting focuses on the way a candidate looks rather than on performance. This is particularly true in intergenerational and interethnic recruiting.
• The education system continues to prepare students for jobs in factories. The video game companies do a better job of preparing them for work.
• Hiring based on credentials continues to vex both sides of the equation. Do you want someone with an accounting degree or someone who can do accounting? Credentials, which should be the last resort of a competent recruiter, are poor substitutes for a quality guarantee.
• Inflationary pressures are driving turnover. It’s being reported as an increase in the unemployment rate.
• The recession we are in is localized to housing and retail. Yet, companies with clear paths to increased growth and profitability are behaving like the recession is universal.

Now, more than ever, the most important piece of technology in your arsenal is between your ears.

Reality is never like that.

Reality is paradoxical, inconsistent, occasionally flat. It is rarely logical or reasonable. When reality resembles a great story, all of the BS detectors go off like car alarms after a small earthquake.

Seeing the future changes it.

Here are some of the pieces of the paradoxes. Notice the inconsistencies.

• There is a labor shortage.
• World population doubled twice in the past 50 years.
• Population is declining in the top 50 Industrialized countries.
• The population of the US will grow by 20% over the next 30 years.
• The nursing shortage is global.

Part of the trouble lies with the old fashioned need to generalize for global media markets. When you watch something like Crossfire or the Daily Show, you come away with the impression that National and Global trends are directly applicable to local conditions. It’s the same paradox as the “Strategic Plan / Reality” problem. Many things that can be generalized at a National or Global level fall apart in a local context.

Pundits have an easier time of it when they sound like a strategic plan. They are more successful if they can persuade you that reality is coherent. When their stories sizzle and swirl, their wallets fatten.

Change is definitely brewing. Today’s daily links on Recruiting.com emphasize ideas that are slightly out of the American mainstream. They seem to be coming our way. In a highly collaborative world, the hierarchy just doesn’t make very much sense.

John Sumser. – © 2008 Two Color Hat, Inc. Santa Rosa, CA

If you’ve been following the story of the Recruiting Roadshow™ from the beginning, you’ll recall that Ramer and Arbita have been buying lunch all the way along. As our first sponsor, they’ve been in on the planning and execution of the Roadshow since before there was a Roadshow. Don has always been there with a word of encouragement or just the right bit of financial support.

Now, however, that commitment is becoming major league.

We’ve organized the Roadshow so that it’s sort of like Public Broadcasting. Free to the audience and supported by Underwriters, Sponsors and Friends. Each of those groupings involves specific resource commitments. (Let me know, by the way, if you’re interested in becoming a supporter.)

Ramer has agreed to be an underwriter for all of the events in 2008. The deal includes an array of other bits of logistics and technical support. Don and his team give us the foundation necessary to really grow the Recruiting Roadshow™ in 2008.

Thank you.

John Sumser. – © 2008 Two Color Hat, Inc. Santa Rosa, CA

A network involves people who you can call to get things arranged. A network is a potentially collaborative web of connections and recommendations. A network is made of people with whom you have connection.

Facebook manages to give the feeling of intimacy and respect in a way that I have not seen in other online communities or social software toolsets. Somehow, the protocols of offline friendship are maintained and the feeling of closeness is fungible.

(I should note that my children are a little less than perfectly happy about my entre. I understand this to be a reflection of the dynamic I am trying to describe. Facebook manages to create a sense of home-iness. It cements networks with a feeling of immediacy.)

There are several interesting applications available to prospective employees. Steven Rothberg’s CollegeRecruiter.com has a number of applications including a search interface and a flow of the latest internships.

Ageneral search on the word “jobs” produces an enormous windfall of opportunity.

I am planning to get to know the Jobster application over the weekend.I

John Sumser. – © 2008 Two Color Hat, Inc. Santa Rosa, CA

The people on this list made 2007 memorable and interesting. Often, they are writers of blogs. Sometimes, they are industry figures. Some are family, some are friends and some are fellows of the road. Theuy all helped, in their way, to shape the roadshow and my adventures.

Thank you.

• Abigail Tremble for Recruiting As Master Problem Solvers
• Al Gore who warmed the audience up for me in Canada
• Alan Lee for Mastering the Art of the 4 B’s: Build, Buy, Borrow and Boost
• Auren Hoffman (Rapleaf) for continuing inspiration
• Ami Givertz, the creative source for the last half of 2007
• Anna Brekka (Kennedy) the embodiment of hospitality
• Art Koff old dog with new tricks
• Barbara Disco and Diego Chacon
• Bill Bargas Mr. Diversity.com willing to bet on the untested Roadshow
• Bill Krumbein firm hand on the shoulder
• Bill Vick ever growing center of the Recruiting Universe
• Brian Howlett zen as it art
• Bridget Sumser setting the pace for personal transformation
• Café Japan noodles for the soul, organic sushi
• Chad Sowash strength requires endurance
• Chris Russell the industry’s new energy source and this
• Colin Kingsbury constant correspondent
• Colleen Gildea foundational issues
• Dave Mendoza, bulldoza in a China shop, constant offers of support
• Dave Winer, constantly improving the visionary curmudgeon archetype. He is one of the few who can actually change an industry.
• David Hurst personally made the industry more competitive, envisioned the industry day
• David Manaster (ERE) early support of the Roadshow
• Denise Court, overseer of all thing Marketing at itzbig. The first charter underwriter of the Roadshow
• Dennis Smith Texas hospitality and spokesmodel for large families for hosting Dallas
• Don Ramer (Arbita) for providing a solid foundation in a time of change. He’s the backbone of the roadshow.
• Did I mention My friend Don Ramer?
• Doug Berg (hotgigs) for longstanding support of the Minneapolis network
• Doug Geinzer (RecruitingNevada) who is running the show in Los Vegas
• Doug Reis modeling musical independence
• Everyone at itzbig
• Frank Mulligan eternally gracious about our missed meeting in San Francisco
• Frank Speer (RCI) for logistics and love in Atlanta
• Gerry Crispin provider of routine inspiration
• Greg Garrison the best cold caller I know
• Hank Stringer inspirational even when hobbled (itzbig ger than you think)
• Heather Bussing for legal and less tangible support (Empire Law School)
• Heather Hamilton continues to define effective recruitment blogging
• Helen from CareerTV made the conversation interesting
• Ira Wolff really gets the Perfect Labor Storm (so should you)
• Janet Sun is the marketing genius at experience
• Jason Davis, Mr. Charisma
• Jason Goldberg for Recruiting.com and true hands-off management
• Jeff Hunter source of John Chaisson
• Jennifer Marcy graceful execution in a windstorm
• Jeremy Langhans on principle
• Jim Hammock, the rock, why I crave a red Porsche
• Jim Stroud, Mr Wonderful
• Joel Cheesman, Mr Neutral Charisma, industry workhorse
• John Bell (boxwood), who knew that the association world was so good for job boards
• John Chaisson constant source of inspiration
• John Tarrant zen mastering
• Jorrit Blok the two best meals of my life and an expanding horizon line
• Josh Kahn, Minneapolis could not happen without him
• Julian and Shannon
• Karen Mattonen need I say more
• Kate Sumser ever mellow in a sea of chaos, willing to immerse in Japan
• Kay Meckes
• Keith Robinson
• Ken Hedburg, tirelessly pushing the assessment window
• Kent Plunkett for the IPO
• Kevin Grossman, helping bring the industry into the 21st Century
• Kevin Strange, decades have improved him.
• Kris Leonard for a great time in Chicago (EMA)
• Krist Jake
• LinkedIn changed my way of thinking
• Mark Hornung, Mr. Employment Branding
• Martin Birnbach full momentum recruiting. He exudes charisma
• Martin Snyder smart support of Dallas and evangelist of roadshow things
• Matt Martone for this and everything else. Very early to Roadshow sponsorship
• Matt Payne, Jobster’s accounts receivable guru
• Maureen Sharib who is becoming a force of nature
• Michael Keleman, Mr. Anti-charisma, howooooo
• Michelle Riddle
• Mike Moore RCI made Atlanta possible
• Neal Bruce for a few well timed words of support
• Nicole “Wingman” St. Martin the heart of Minneapolis
• O Chame, Berkely’s best noodles and caramel balsamic gelato
• Paul DeBettinges for making Minneapolis manifest
• Peter Weddle, I still owe him a book
• R D Whitney the beating heart of Kennedy Information
• Ray Sumser who demonstrates the fact that quality is a product of quantity
• Rachel Howlett we need more female zen masters
• Rob McGovern doing it again in Atlanta
• Robby Macdonell seasoned technical hand holding
• Scott Dow mercurial and inspirational. He’s redefining recruiting
• Salary.com, growing like a weed
• Shally Steckerl relentless supporter of things Roadshow
• Simon Goddard Hot Jobs yoga god
• Steve Levy for repeated offers of support and a number of critical good laughs
• Steve Patterson for facilities and personal generosity
• Steven Rothberg tenacious, tenacious, tenacious
• Tad Goltra just getting started
• Tara King
• The Whole ERE Team we almost had an industry day. Thanks for trying so hard.
• Tim Driver vision and support
• Toby Dayton for inputs to Minneapolis and trend setting
• Vince Whitcomb harp in the zen band
• Yvonne LaRose
• ~John Sumser. – © 2007 Two Color Hat, Inc. Santa Rosa, CA