In what other year in world history could one go onto Facebook and announce to all of their various friends, acquaintances, and business connections that they are about to walk their poodle in the rain, buy groceries at Safeway, or floss their teeth?
All floss aside, I wouldn’t know a lot things if it wasn’t for Facebook and Twitter. Like that Dennis Smith, a big name in wireless-industry recruiting, is in the job market. Or that Accenture has a new employee portal. Or about a new free corporate social network site. Or that Sodexo’s got a new careers page emphasizing networking.
Sometimes I even find something on Facebook that sends me to Twitter, where I find something that sends me to Facebook in order to find something on Twitter.
Social media is here to stay, and it’ll stay part of recruiting. A recent ERE article about it was one of the more highly trafficked in recent weeks.
Other popular articles this year: Ron Katz’s, on passive candidates. P-Trunk’s, on Gen Y. Lots of Sullivan pieces. Plus, the 10 rules for dating and recruiting, by Amy Kimmes, a new writer.
Speaking of new writers, if you’re interested, it’d be great. We want more people, more voices, more opinions, more insight. Here are some guidelines. Email me (first name at ere.net).
I’m also looking for writers for the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership: mainly directors of recruiting.
Webinar speakers, conference presenters – we want that too. We’re full for the Spring conference (end of March, San Diego) but have a couple of spots open for the Fall (Hollywood, Florida, September 9-11). Contact me or the world’s greatest conference producer.
In 2008, ERE (Jim Dalton and others) redid and improved much of the home page and the web site (expect changes to the community section in 2009). We launched some subtle improvements like an archive by date as well as a tag search. Jim and his team just in the last few days added another little site feature, where you can have a URL (such as a blog of yours) show up when you post on ERE (if you’re logged in to ERE you can click on your profile to do this). We launched the “Vendor Watch” – online, and print, to provide a little scoop on recruiting vendors. I got an earful from some companies who weren’t thrilled with how we described them. Speaking of earfuls: I got one for publishing Corinne and Howard’s article which contained a little politics. We get a lot of notes about how valuable ERE is to you, so the earfuls help bring us down to earth.
Speaking of politics, remember during the campaign when Sen. McCain made the boneheaded comment that the American economy was fundamentally sound? Politically, it was unwise. But he was right. We’re a skilled, productive, people with a strong work ethic, great natural resources, and a strong higher education system.
Don’t surround yourself by doomsayers who claim the world is sicker, poorer, more dangerous, and so on, than ever before. All of those things, statistically, are false. Many neighborhoods are safer than ever, but people have somehow convinced themselves the world is really dangerous now. Poverty is way, way down from what it once was around the world. The economy will get better (and for top talent in many industries there’s still a gold rush for candidates). The baby boomers will be retiring (leaving big holes in the federal government, nursing, teaching, utilities, and elsewhere) and perhaps a year from now, talent again will be as hot as an Illinois senate seat.
I say “we” in the paragraph before last — but I don’t want to imply that everyone reading this is American. Sure, I loved that Washington Post article debunking the myth that America has lost its competitive edge. But I love corresponding with our readers in Australia, India, and the United Arab Emirates. When a recruiter in Turkey learns something on ERE that in the end helps them recruit better and helps their company become better – there’s nothing better. Let’s all keep networking and keeping in touch 2009. Amybeth Hale, a recruiting researcher in Cincinnati who is one of my favorites, just posted on Facebook to say, “let’s be thankful for life – it is so fragile.” I don’t know what exactly inspired her to say that, but without Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn, such thoughts would spread less easily. Think about them while flossing, and keep them coming.