Break it down-ERE Expo Fall 2008 (1)

Maren and "Mr. Ted"

Whew! What a whirlwind three days. My first recruiting conference ever was an ERE conference and it was an experience then. I thought I knew what to expect at ERE Fall. I was wrong. There was a different energy, a palpable feel in the air of deeper thought, weightier topics and a desire and an itch for something new.

I won’t try to rundown every session, vendor, event or conversation. I will tell you what I noticed thematically, as I will likely use far less words that way: (Please note: The Expo itself was a masterpiece, David Manaster and his ERE team do a bang-up job of making sure everthing goes off without a hitch and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Special super uber kudos to Brendan Shields who may have worked himself to an early grave by livestreaming the whole time).

Cloud Recruiting: Even before the Expo started, there was quite a bit of buzz surrounding Micahel Marlatt (who I think debuted his GQ self at SourceCon, someone correct if wrong). His “love it or get left behind” view of where the info is going on the web was the reason some of the attendees came to the expo at all. I was not able to catch the session with Michael (I THOUGHT I would see him at Kennedy but alas, he will not make it) but I did have a chance to speak with him and his body of knowledge and visual energy was refreshing and impressive. My favorite thing about Mr. Marlatt is that he freely acknowledges that what he is promoting is nothing new; his desire is to help the concept gain awareness and traction. I think his straight-forward presentation and wide array of vetted solutions help many recruiters who would not otherwise check out the technologies he implements on a day-to-day basis, look into it.

The Economy: I was able to hear (someone please DM me her name) from Execunet speak about Recruiter Confidence and the way that has been affected by current and past economies. Many were aware, even if they did not voice it, that the economy was the big fat elephant in the room. My personal take, which I shared at the closing talk, was that I felt that the mere presence of many of the vendors, recruiters and corporations represented was extremely heartening. It is my hope that it will be these people who are the driving force that supports and assists our workforce through this time. (I would give this warning to vendors, if the people manning your booth are predicting doom and gloom and do not offer solutions, they should probably not be the rep your company sends out on a regular basis).

Being a social butterfly is more important than people USED to think. I think I learned this in the womb, but this is the first time that I ever felt so validated that certain tactics were being noticed in a professional setting. There are still those who poo-poo the social media scene but their voices are dying a slow and quiet death. What I note to be the current trend is managing the new media and leveraging it for productivity’s sake, rather than becoming a slave to it. I will give a hint to an unnamed commenter, when attending an expo put on by the ELECTRONIC Recruiting Exchange, do not make fun of methods that are based on both electronics and exchange. Nuff said.

In regards to SMTM (Social Media Time Management, natch), I think there are those that would welcome some leader emerging with a solid way to make social media a part of their day. And NOT someone like Rubel or Scobleizer who GETS to be online as part of their day. Someone who has a boss, a family and still manages to get their personal brand blazing. Maybe someone like this.

Community. This was a huge discussion, at least among the people I spoke with. Community was stated as a reason for social media use (see above), vendor choice, candidate development AND as a necessary item to have within their job. I wonder if this is a by-product of the social media uprising. When people are communicating and sharing ideas all day and lines between positions and the purveyors of those positions are becoming more transparent every day, is it any wonder that the smartest users of this technology might expect the same transparency and communication in their relationships, including their “day job”? Just a thought. Anyway, back to community. Community is becoming the buzzword of the year and that’s worth noting. Also worth noting is the fact that TONS of people do not understand the word community. If I have to explain it to you, you don’t understand it but I will tell you it’s based on mutuality.

Those were a few of the primary themes I noticed at ERE Expo this past week. I hope to see many of you at Kennedy, particularly at Susan Burn’s Interactive Intensive on the 16th.

Please stay tuned, as it can be difficult to process all this in one day!