ERE.net

Erin Peterson joined us to discuss how to improve a candidate’s experience during the hiring process and the positive impact it can have on your hires and employment brand. Watch it here!

I wanted to start by thanking everyone who attended last week’s ERE Expo conference in San Diego, those who actually made the trip, and the hundreds of you who watched streaming live on ERE.net.

It was great to see the social media world, especially Twitter, come to life from the many people ‘tweeting’ live, up-to-the-minute posts during the presentations. You can still access the twitter stream to see some of the insightful tidbits shared by all of you.

For some other follow-up thoughts, check out some of the blog posts here, here, and here.

Naturally, we’re not done talking about it either. John Sullivan is working on a further look at some of the award-winners. And Tuesday on ERE.net we’ll offer tips for your careers website in hopes you can win next year’s site award like Yahoo did this time around. Accenture (employee-referral winner) will be featured in the May Journal, and the American Cancer Society will speak this Fall.

Speaking of the Fall: If you weren’t able to make it to San Diego, our annual ERE Expo 2009 Fall conference is approaching. Still a few weeks to take advantage of our big early bird discounts as well so check it out soon.

Here is what is going on in the ERE world this week:

• On Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. ET, our sister site debuts its newest Fordyce TV show – Living the Dream with Jordan Rayborn. Jordan has taken working virtually to the next level. Often called the RV Recruiter, this big biller works wherever his heart and business take him, and typically some of the most beautiful places in the country. This episode will be coming from the hill country outside of Austin, TX. See more about the show and Jordan’s story here.
• Also, in The Fordyce Letter world, the third annual Fordyce Forum is returning to Las Vegas in just a few months. If you are in the search and placement side of the business you won’t want to miss this.
• On Wednesday, sign up for this week’s free ERE webinar — 2009 Sources of Hire: What is Different in Today’s Market and Why You Should Care, led by Gerry Crispin from CareerXroads.
• Did you see that last week we announced the launch of our newest event – Social Recruiting Summit? The agenda is still being completed, but see where we are now and register for the early bird discount. If you are on Twitter, make sure to join the discussion by following @socrecruiting.
• A few weeks ago, we asked for your help as we are getting closer to launching the new community side of ERE.net. The other day we added some new features and are getting even closer! Here is your chance to help us help you develop the most valuable community in the recruiting industry, so take a look and let us know what you think!

Have a great week! If you have any questions about any of this feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Effective onboarding is essential to any company’s success when new hires are brought on, yet it can be one of the first programs to be cut from the budget during a recession. By using creative techniques to advance the onboarding process, you can expect to increase your return on investment, enhancing the experience for new hires and improving employee retention.

Join recruiting leader Elaine Orler and I for tomorrow’s webinar, as we explore how to get the most out of your onboarding process in these difficult times. We will be examining methods to develop onboarding without raising costs, such as implementing new technology to increase collaboration and data sharing.

Elaine will be taking questions after the presentation to respond to your thoughts and concerns about onboarding. Make sure your company realizes the importance of effective onboarding to ensure employee retention. We still have plenty of space so sign up today!

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Wednesday, March 11th
2:00 – 3:00 PM EST
Register Here
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If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at brendan@ere.net.

As many in the recruiting industry know, it can be challenging to implement a talent acquisition system within an organization. However, with an effective talent acquisition process in place, a company can achieve great results as well as avoiding pitfalls such as reduced responsiveness and a negative impact on the candidate experience.

Join me, along with Sean Kent and Rob Sunderland, as we examine the advantages to an effective talent acquisition system and how to go about implementing one. Rob will speak from personal experience about how Southern Company, one of the largest electricity generators in the US, recently transformed its talent acquisition process and the positive results it had.

Sean and Rob will be addressing questions at the end of the presentation, such as how an effective talent acquisition system can specifically help your organization and what factors you should be aware of when implementing one. Many have already registered but we still have space available so be sure to sign up today!

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When: Wednesday, March 4th
2:00 – 3:00 PM EST
Register Here
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If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at brendan@ere.net.

Recruiter Academy Founder David Szary joined me and over a thousand others yesterday to cover how the role of the recruiter is changing in 2009. With a myriad of factors such as a struggling economy, new sourcing tools and technologies, and Gen Y entering the workforce, it was apparent that the recruiting industry is going through a period of major change. Szary addressed the need to adapt in order to succeed, stating that “the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting your results to change.”

In examining the trends, Szary predicted the end of an era for the “generalist” recruiter. As more sourcing technologies and specialties emerge, he made the point that being a jack of all trades and a master of none is no longer feasible. “Make yourself invaluable” was the number one takeaway of the presentation. By specializing and becoming an expert in a select few areas, recruiters are less likely to be considered expendable in tough times like these.

Following the presentation (about 45 minutes into the video) Szary took questions from the audience, addressing a variety of topics. I particularly enjoyed David’s thoughts on the future of middle class recruiters & sourcers and changing mindsets around the use of new sourcing tools. View the slideshow and archived video of the presentation below to learn more!

keep reading…

As the economy continues to affect the recruiting industry, companies have been making budget cuts in many areas. College recruiting is often one of the first programs to go when deciding how to appropriate the budget during a recession. However, as past recessions have taught us, this can prove to be a costly mistake in the long run, creating gaps in succession plans for entry level management roles several years down the road.

Join me, along with talent management strategist Dr. John Sullivan, for tomorrow’s webinar as we explore college recruiting during a recession.  We’ll be taking a look at why you should continue college recruiting despite the economy, the financial impact of your efforts, and how to attract the best talent using a variety of mediums.

Dr. Sullivan will be taking questions at the conclusion of the presentation to address your thoughts and concerns regarding college recruiting. Don’t wait until it’s too late to find out why and how you should continue your college recruiting efforts in 2009. We still have plenty of space so sign up today!

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Wednesday, February 11th
2:00 – 3:00 PM EST
Register Here
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If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at brendan@ere.net.

Last Friday I was joined by talent acquisition gurus Jeremy Eskenazi and Dan Kilgore of Riviera Advisors to discuss what 2009 has in store and how we can gain an advantage even in these difficult times. Although hiring is expected to continue to weaken throughout 2009, they showed that by thinking creatively, companies are able to survive and even succeed during the recession.

For instance, companies have been able to compensate for a reduction in placements by insourcing what is typically outsourced, unbundling packaged services, and conducting internal assessment to weed out inefficient practices. Sometimes practices are so steeped in tradition that it takes a step back to realize they are no longer working. It’s a time to optimize your business and resources such as applicant tracking systems to be as efficient as possible.

They also discussed how difficult recruiting passive candidates has become as people have become afraid of leaving the security of their current jobs. There are still pros and cons to passive recruiting, but the dangers of exclusively recruiting passive candidates in the current economy were made clear.

At the conclusion of the presentation (about 45 minutes into the video) Jeremy and Dan fielded questions from the audience. I found their thoughts on recruitment process outsourcing and passive recruiting to be particularly interesting. View the slideshow and archived video of the presentation below to learn more!

keep reading…

Here is a quick rundown of what is going on around the ERE world this week:

• On Tuesday 2 pm ET, our sister site, FordyceLetter.com premieres a new Fordyce TV show, On The Rise with Kati Basso. If you have missed any of the previous shows, no need to worry, you can see them all here.
• On Wednesday at 2 pm ET, Dr. John Sullivan will be leading a free webinar, College Recruiting on a Shoestring Budget.

Our distinguished judging panel, who have been so gracious with their time, are wrapping up the judging for the 2009 Recruiting Excellence Awards. This year’s applicants represent a mix of some global behemoths and more obscure organizations you’ll likely be hearing more about in the months to come. Stay tuned as we announce the finalists in the next few weeks, and the awards will be presented in San Diego on March 30.

Our editor Todd is wrapping up the March issue of the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership. He has a story that features some cool charts and graphs on “what you can learn from military recruiting.” His biggest challenge is making sure the resolution is just right for when it runs through the printers. There is an article on “hiring intact teams” — where you recruit a whole group of people. Also, Todd Noebel of McGuire Woods has an article about working better with third-party recruiters. We are pretty psyched about the March issue.

Have a great week, and feel free to ask me any questions about these in the comments below!

As you get settled in and plan out your calendar, here are a few things of note around the ERE world this week:

On Tuesday, our sister site FordyceLetter.com will be debuting it’s newest Fordyce TV show – Keen on Recruiting with Margaret Graziano.  No need to RSVP to this one, just stop by www.fordyceletter.com at 2:00 pm ET and join the fun.  If you missed the past ones from Jeff Kaye & Dave Nerz you can still view them here, here, and here.

On Wednesday at 2:00 pm ET, brand entrepreneur Frank Lane is presenting a free webinar on how to use the principles of killer branding to recruit real stars. Frank will take his years of branding experience with companies such as Neutrogena, S. C. Johnson Wax, and hundreds of others he has consulted for and apply them to the recruiting space.

Friday is the final day to take advantage of some early bird discounts for ERE’s upcoming events.  The $200 discount for ERE Expo 2009 Spring in San Diego from March 30 – April 1 and the $400 discount for Fordyce Forum 2009 in Las Vegas from June 10 – 12 both expire.

And if you haven’t already taken a few minutes to take our annual reader survey, I would appreciate if you can help us out!

Have a great week, and feel free to ask me any questions about these in the comments below!

I believe it was Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” that gave us the ever optimistic “Always look on the bright side of life.” While times are certainly tough as we get rolling in the new year, prospects may not be as bleak as anticipated at the close of 2008. Join me, along with talent acquisition experts Jeremy Eskenazi and Dan Kilgore, for a webinar this Wednesday as we discuss what we can expect, both the good and the bad, in 2009.

As we all know, the recruiting industry is always changing and we can certainly expect more new developments in the months to come. We’ll be taking a look at trends to see what kinds of big picture changes we can expect this year, and more importantly what this means for YOU.

Jeremy and Dan will be taking questions after the presentations to address your thoughts and concerns for what awaits us in 2009. We already have over 400 people registered but still have plenty of space so make sure to sign up today!

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When: Wednesday, January 28th
2:00 – 3:00 PM EST
Register Here
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If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at brendan@ere.net.

Ed Newman, president of The Newman Group, joined me and 920 others yesterday on a webinar to discuss more efficient ways of finding talent.  Ed addressed the problem of wasting valuable time “funneling” a large group of potential candidates to make a placement.  Using the age old wisdom of quality over quantity, Ed shared his tips for increasing social ties within one’s own organization and finding employees with the most social currency. I found particularly interesting the points about how hiring managers should focus more on true networking relationships with a smaller group of quality candidates rather than aggressively marketing to a larger group of people.  Networking events and meetups can foster a strong relationship, worthwhile because “hiring people we know increases quality because there is a shorter time to employee engagement.”  These points are covered 15 minutes into the video.

He also covered how social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and newer developments like Twitter and TouchGraph, can help to understand your network better and make more efficient placements.  Ed also fielded such tough questions as “How to organize a successful social event to help hiring managers initiate” and particularly interesting to members of Gen Y like myself “How to separate your personal and professional life on Facebook and other social networking sites.”  See the slideshow and archived video of the presentation below to learn more!

keep reading…

It is now more important than ever to be able to effectively find top talent. While it may be tempting to start with a large pool of potential candidates and narrow them down, this method is hardly efficient and uses up valuable time. Join us for this free webinar as Ed Newman addresses this problem and offers effective talent acquisition solutions for the new year and beyond.

Beyond the Funnel Mentality — How a Shift in Thinking Will Transform the Way Companies Engage Quality Candidates.

Over the past two decades, companies have strived to become more efficient in the way they handle talent acquisition. Traditionally, that has meant reaching out to large numbers of candidates and sifting them through the largest funnel possible in the hopes of identifying a few top choices — but the funnel mentality has its limitations. The process is cumbersome, and it does not always yield the quality candidates an organization seeks. The good news is companies have many options for breaking out of the funnel mentality.

Ed Newman

In this session, Ed Newman provides insight on an approach to better understanding available talent; building networks; measuring, managing and improving those networks; and creating a talent acquisition culture that is focused on delivering known, high-quality candidates. This is a chance to learn about an approach that is practical, results-driven, and promises to transform the way companies drive talent acquisition in the future.

Hope to see you there! Check out our other upcoming webinars as well:

• January 28: 2009: Corporate Staffing & Recruiting Trends and Predictions.
• February 11: College Recruiting on a Shoestring Budget — Low Cost Ways to Land the Very Best.