The medium is important too.  Reading leads us to hear the sender’s voice in ways that a telephone call makes impossible. The nuance of a word and the inflection of a voice cannot convey the same messages communicated by facial expressions and body language.   

I guess one-on-one communication is just more engaging, at least for those who opt-in to relationship building. Clearly, there are times when we choose to opt-out at which point one-on-one communication becomes strained and unproductive.

Just as the medium has pros and cons for our level of engagement, the setting affects the quality and value of our one-on-one communication too. Likewise, whispering sweet nothings into the ear of your lover assumes a level of intimacy and trust that might be the exception rather than the rule in business. But that shouldn’t stop us from wanting comparable levels of easiness and mutual gratification at work, at least I don’t think so.

Lubricating the mechanisms that make all this work is brain chemistry. After all, how we feel [read: how we react to brain chemistry] affects how we perceive what’s going on and how we’ll respond, engage or disengage.  If the relevance, directness, medium, opt-iningness, and the time and place affect the quality of our one-on-one communication, I think it’s fair to say brain chemistry is often overlooked as a driver of all that on many levels.

We could apply this notion to recruiting where the whole business of finding, attracting, hiring, developing and retaining talent which assumes good one-on-one communication, synthesized of course, as leading to the ultimate prize: engaged and  passionate users.”

For workforce planning, complimenting big picture demographics with psychographic data would give an employer a huge advantage, don’t you think?  Knowing where people are and how populations are distributed is only part of the equation. Learning why candidates and employees do the things they do is central to understanding how to manage that one-on-one tête-à-tête, predict their behaviors even.   Hey, we could even make it a 12-step program!

The conversations we have with our workforce would be improved if we could draw together these loose threads that often trip us up. Bringing together an understanding of who really makes up the desired audience, where they hang out and what they are feeling, thinking or are inclined toward with the relevance, directness, the best choice of media, easy opt-iningness, good timing an engaging “one-on-one communication,” well that couldn’t hurt, could it?

Ah, brain chemistry.

Unfortunately, many people in our industry cannot imagine how they could accomplish these types of thing – and more besides — without changing their brain chemistry first.  Doubt, fear, disintrested and other negative thoughts are as forceful in debilitating us personally as rising costs, dwindling budgets, “talent shortages,” distracted leadership, and so on can stop even the biggest corporations in their tracks.

An experiment for you: You can change your brain chemistry immediately with seven deep breaths exhaled ever so slowly — if you really want to, of course. It has to start with you.  Go on, change your brain chemistry, give it a try. If that fails, try a ridiculously strong cup of coffee.

For stressed out organizations it starts with you too. Taking seven deep breaths in the company of your peers while learning new things, making new connections and getting reconnected to the possibility of doing amazing things — enjoying one-on-one communications before, during and after — that’s what the Roadshow is for!

See you there…for coffee.

So it was with Rose Mirielle Exumé and her sister Alta Grace Garcon who one Monday afternoon left their home in Deerfield Beach, Florida to travel the 15 miles or so to Broward General.

What is normally a routine journey on I-95 was for this family anything but and Olivier Jean Paul Exumé was born in the fast lane in the back seat of his auntie’s SUV.

For the drivers on the road that day who would have imagined the drama in that car pulling over for no apparent reason? For sure, they were as oblivious to the clamor that accompanied baby Olivier’s birth just as the heaving mother and her panic-stricken sister were oblivious to the travelers speeding by.

Like the information superhighways where data streams in self-contained packets so too do people transport themselves along I-95 absorbed in the bubble of their own journey and experience. Data conveying information about national security and seismic activity share the same beam of light as updates about Uncle Vinnie’s hemorrhoids. No doubt gangsters running drugs and soccer Moms dropping off children were among those whistling by the lurching SUV.

Olivier’s passage was featured on the evening news. The miracle of life was not in of itself important but the circumstances of its coming to be the “human interest” headline.  This is the kind of warm and fuzzy stuff that keeps viewers glued to the box while the commercials run, good for ratings, good for business.

Where the news was most welcomed was in the neighborhood where Rose and her sister lived. Carried by word-of-mouth, the news soon travelled beyond the metropolis and the farthest reaches of I-95 to places where the network is defined by the community of familial ties, shared experiences, language and culture.

Suddenly, Rose was getting messages from “friends” who she never knew she had. It included people she had never heard of but who felt a connection nonetheless. It transpired that through this one and that one they shared mutual friends. People who she had left behind in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince suddenly popped up living around the corner and up the road. Just as new friendships were being made old ones were being reestablished.

The network was working. It began to take on a tangible form in the gift of diapers, car seats, bibs and bibles. An everyday event, remarkable only for the time and place of it, was the catalyst for a form of “social networking” that transcended self-interest and who-knows-who. Rose and others were personally enriched by the experience.

I-95 is a road that is seemingly always under construction. Today the work is less about the route and more about the ride. Likewise, today the Internet and its proliferation of tools, applications and content is less about the network and more about relevancy for its users.

In both instances, physical and virtual connections are easier and faster to make and navigate. But the things that define and connect communities in the real world and online are changing in ways that make “bringing physical community to online networks” a harder thing to do than at first we might think.

For those of us whose imagination is sparked by the possibility and promise of the Recruiting Roadshow there is much to reflect on in Rose’s story. For example:

When our careering down the road precludes us from being first hand witnesses to the daily miracles of life or when the human experience is trivailized to serve commercial interests; or when we fail to learn the trusted vernacular that makes word-of-mouth credible; or we fail to respond in ways that strengthen our ties to “place,” how will we ever enjoy the gifts of relative strangers who would rather you call them “friend?”

“Bringing physical community to online networks,” imagine that.

Posted by: Amitai Givertz

Special Thanks to Matt Martone, the team at Yahoo and Ami Givertz

His presentation at the Dallas Recruiting Roadshow was fascinating especially for those who were being introduced for the first time to some of the wider implications of social media and its potential value to recruiters.

Bill touched on how recruiters — like marketers — need to understand how to harness the power of Web 2.0 technologies. One of the points Bill made was that when building a profile the data should be as complete as possible.

That’s a good idea for sure but some caution should be exercised. After all, you wouldn’t someone taking your LinkedIn profile and making a dogs dinner of it, now would you?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNJl9EEcsoE&rel=0&color1=0xd6d6d6&color2=0xf0f0f0&border=0]

There were so many people involved in the Dallas Recruiting Roadshow, people who went above and beyond to make sure that the experience was a good one. So may people to thank..

On the ground and in the trenches, Dennis Smith and his team took care of the logistics, marshalling people and resources. Following suit, our fantastic sponsors, whiz-bang presenters, caterers, the University of Dallas and Roadshow visitors all played an integral part in making the day a huge success.

To each and everyone of you — from the heart — thank you, thank you, thank you!

In the coming days I will be posting some updates and some really useful links so stay posted.

There are number of announcements to make about John Sumser’s Dallas Recruiting Roadshow and quite a few posts following up on topics from Atlanta. That said the two most important messages for the day are these:

Important message number one: We will be trying out some new approaches for the Dallas event ranging from how we promote the day to the format and content for the happening on Tuesday, December 4, 2007.

While the experiment continues to test some theories about how best to bring physical community to social networks the underlying promise remains unchanged. The goal is to provide Dallas’ recruiters with a day of learning, networking and community in a way that helps that continue after some of us have left town.

Important message number one: Dennis Smith will be running the show! For those who may not know Dennis all that is about to change. Anyone who does know Dennis will know why!

Dennis is the driving force behind WirelessJobs.com where for years he has been busy “building wireless careers, one blogpost at a time,” — sometimes literally. He is a poster boy for artfully combining conversational marketing, social media with down-to-earth goodness. And , oh yes, and he was one of my teachers.

An ol’ time blogger and knock-your-socks-off recruiter, Dennis is well connected both online and on the ground in Dallas. Best of all, anyone who knows Dennis loves him.

So, who better than Dennis to run the show? Stay posted, there is a lot more to follow!

Posted by: Amitai Givertz

By most estimates the Atlanta Recruiting Roadshow was a success. The people who turned up left with a variety of things that ran the gamut of positive impressions, affirmations and lessons learned, acquaintances made and friendship renewed.

That’s how it was meant to be and how it is hoped it can continue.

I cannot talk to most people’s experience when it comes to delivering the Recruiting Roadshow’s promise of “bringing physical community to social networks” but for those who I have spoken to I am told the day was a force multiplier for their networking efforts.

For me I can say that the value of this collaboration with John Sumser has been immense and continues to grow. My personal network has been enriched and expanded. I’m excited about the road ahead.

More, my whole view of the intrinsic value of networking – as well as the mechanics of it – is changing. I will be documenting that process as this journey progresses. Also, I will be exploring other aspects of networking that dovetail with the Recruiting Roadshow’s underlying theme of building physical community and enfranchising more local recruiters. So, stay posted for that and the continuing updates for Atlanta!

There were some great lessons learned for John and me as we sat back and weighed the Atlanta Recruiting Roadshow in the balance. As we move forward on the next leg of the tour we will be applying some of those lessons and further testing our assumptions. After all, it is an experiment.

I got an email from someone who was not only sitting in on Steven Rothberg’s keynote Best Practices for Using Facebook, MySpace and Other Social Networking Sites for Recruiting but she was also taking notes! The question was:

Steven was talking about the data coming from our ATS being 80% inaccurate when it comes to where candidates come from. Where does that statistic come from?

I believe the number was actually higher and that Steven was referring to a whitepaper titled ATS Sourcing Data – 83% Inaccurate, talking about traditional postings. In fact, John Sumser pointed the research out in his Electronic Recruiting News column in December last year:

Having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), HR Executives wrongly assume that the sourcing data has some resemblance to reality. Yet 5 out of 6 Candidates enter inaccurate data.

To the question about who can help with accurately tracking job posting responses Steven suggested a couple of options pointing to Don Ramer in the back of the room. Don’s company Arbita — one of Atlanta’s sponsors — provides a range of solutions worth checking out and publishes a good overview titled Global Jobs Cross-Posting Solutions.

Steven also addresses the issues and related topics in an excellent post, Consolidation in the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Space.

Last, I posted a related item on RCI Recruitment Solutions’ Bells & Whistles blog called The Budget for Stupidity which has a few useful links.

If you have any questions or comments do share them please.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2koQDCxyI6g]

…well, maybe.

I peeled this video off The First Social Skills Blog Carnival which is published on Succeed Socially. If you take the time to poke around you’ll find some real gems on networking.

Enjoy!

posted by: Amitai Givertz

Things are shaping up for our upcoming Atlanta Recruiting Roadshow to be held on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at The Bill Moore Student Success Center on the campus of Georgia Institute of Technology.

In keeping with the best unconference tradition things could change on the day depending on who wants to go where and when. For example, if there is one learning track that is so in-demand that a second track would suffer for lack of relative interest, we’ll just expand the room to accommodate everyone for the more popular session.

Take a moment to see what we have scheduled for you. The earlier you come the more likely you’ll have your first choices available and the more time you’ll have to network before the day’s programmed events start at 9:30AM.

Last we’ve extended the end-time to 5:30PM for those who want to stick it out to the very end and network, and you should!

For the day’s program, scheduled times, track leaders, discussion topics and possible updates click here.

Posted by: Amitai Givertz