I Made a Top-100 List

Ran across this on MC Stroud's blog this weekend. According to Bootstrapper, this blog is among the Top-100 HR blogs, specifically among the top-15 in the 'Corporate' category. I'm assuming that this isn't rank-ordered, as there is no way that this blog would ever be ranked higher than the Mr. Stroud.

Not to sound ungrateful, but:
A) This is not a HR Blog
B) I've also always considered this to be a personal blog rather than a corporate one (so shouldn't I be in the 'Recruitment' category instead?), and
C) I've never been a fan of 'Top' lists like this.

When you see lists like this, they are often based upon numbers (therefore highly objective), or based upon opinion (therefore highly subjective). It's the latter that bother me. These lists are often entertainment-based (Top-100 Movies, Top-100 Swimsuit Models, Top-100 Hair Bands), and I am often left shaking my head, wondering, how did they come up with THAT!

The responsible party for this list must of read something on my blog at one time that they thought was interesting or useful, then formed an opinion somehow that this was a good Corporate HR Blog. But the author clearly states that the blogs that made the list "will provide you with the information and expertise you need to take on the legal, interpersonal, management and other challenges associated with human resources." This blog ain't that...

Nonetheless, this is a first for me, so for whatever reason this blog was included on the list, I do indeed thank you kindly for the recognition.

The Sourcing Savant

All hail the SourceCon Grand Master Challenge Champion, Michael Notaro! Oh, and check out his blog too. Today, he shares with us the secrets of his success. Something to do with Google Coop and Radiohead. Brilliant!

SourceCon Wrapup

When I left you last, the Grand Master Sourcing Challenge was in full swing. It was a great competition for those involved, but only one, the great Michael Nataro, would come out on top. Michael's only been a dedicated sourcer for a short time, but he certainly has a great future ahead of him. Congrats again to Michael.

A nice outdoor reception carried on to a Charity Poker Game that would last into the night. The game, which raised $1900 the Positive Outlook Foundation, was great fun, and all for a good cause. I played some great hands, but was knocked out by the eventual winner, Jeremy Langhans (who seems to win at just about everything BTW). It turned into a late night, but the continuous networking and collaborating made it all worthwhile.

A very groggy Thursday got off to a rousing start with a energetic and entertaining presentation by Danny Cahill. I had heard of Danny before, but had never heard him speak. If you ever get the chance, don't pass it up, he is fantastic. Why? More than being entertaining, he's real, he's honest, and in most cases, he's dead-on right. Treat your prospects and candidates right, with respect and honesty, and you can't lose.

The day continued with mind-blowing presentations by Shally and Eric Jaquith. I love listening to these guys as I always get some great takeaways. They are truly two of the best around.

Marc, Constance and Denny from ExecuQuest followed with The Anatomy of a Successful Sourcing Organization, once again a highly relevant, and very informative subject relating to my mission in attending SourceCon.

Amybeth Hale (congrats on her new role!) educated us next with what the value of a Researcher is. Amybeth has been leading the charge to gain more respect for this very valuable niche specialty, and once again did a fantastic job.

I only got to see about half of Dave Copps' presentation, as I had to head off to catch my flight home (which ended up being delayed 2 hours, grrr). Dave is attempting to change the world of online search, can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

In reflection, I'm amazed just how well this conference went. For a first-time conference, it went off for the most part without a hitch. I got what I hoped to get out of it, and more. Great content, great learning, great networking and collaboration. Big thanks to Leslie O'Connor for having the vision, energy and passion to see this through. I hope to make it again next year!

SourceCon Update - Day 1

I'm reporting to you LIVE from SourceCon where the Grand Master Sourcing Challenge is about to get underway. MC Stroud is setting the stage for this event, with competitors Jeremy Langhans, Suzi Tonini and Michael Nataro getting ready to do battle. Lots of tension in the air as this exciting competition gets underway.

It's been a hectic past day here in Hot'lanta. I arrive midday yesterday and quickly met up with Russ Moon from Wachovia, who was very generous with his time and his tips. I spent the rest of the day and evening catching up with friends old (Gerry Crispin, Rob McI., Glen G., Shally, Dave M, Dave C. and more) and new (MC Stroud, Amy Beth, Jeremy, Tim and more). The evening ended over drinks and food with Gerry and Atlanta local, Eric Jaquith, who enlightened me with his new product offering and what makes Atlanta such a Recruiting powerhouse.

Today has been long, but chock full of great information from speakers including:

• Stan Smith of Deloitte (Found his research very interesting, and scary for the professional services industry at the same time. Can't say I agreed with his conclusions however, i.e. I'm not a bridge. Those of you who heard his presentation know what I'm talking about).
• Susan Burns (A wonderful overview of the most critical components to building out a talent acquisition strategy. Her focus on internal talent development and mobility was particularly good to hear)
• Rob McIntosh of Deloitte (A treasure trove of information. He always leaves me with more questions than answers...)
• Tracey Friend of The Right Thing (What you need to know when considering outsourcing sourcing functions, again leaving me with more questions than answers)
• Glenn Gutmatcher of Microsoft (Blew the room away with tips and tools of how to do internet sourcing on a budge)
• Krista Bradford of The Good Search (Enlightened the room with a number of out-of-the box approaches to name generation)

A lot to take in for sure, and even more to come tomorrow. As I've spoken with a number of my colleagues here, I realize more and more that I understand the pieces of the puzzle, I just need to figure out how they will fit together in our organization.

Big announcement here just now. MC Stroud is working the room, conducting interviews in the audience, and Shally lets us know that he has a new Sourcer (i.e. baby) on the way. Congrats to Shally on the great news!

The competition continues as we can see the action on the main screen. The competitors are hard at work figuring out this great challenge. Many in the audience are following along taking notes of the search strings that are being used.

We'll have another update tomorrow. Wish you were here. Signing off from SourceCon...

Last Time I Was In Atlanta...

There is no greater experience as a sports fan than to witness in person YOUR team win it ALL. I was honored to have that experience on April 1, 2002 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.



Will my experience in Atlanta this week be as great as my last time there? We'll have to wait and see. Do check back often this week as I'll be providing daily recaps from SourceCon.

Props from Copps

Yesterday, a promotional email for the upcoming SourceCon conference was sent out, complete with an interview with one of the scheduled presenters, Dave Copps. I met Dave at the Virtual Edge Power Summit a few months back and was blown away by his ideas and work in Semantic Search. I'm thrilled to see that he'll be presenting at SourceCon next week, but am disappointed that I'll only be able to see a portion of his presentation, as I'll have to leave a bit early to catch a flight home.

In the interview with Dave, he was kind enough to mention me, although his quote was a bit inaccurate:

The first three things you should do are - network, network and network. Many answers are already out there right now and being talked about by your peers. If you haven’t already done so, set up a feed reader and subscribe to recruiting blogs - make sure you add Jimmy Smith and Ben Gotkin. Ben has even created a Ning social network of recruiting blogs at http://www.recruitingblogs.com/.

Of course, Jason Davis is the creator of Recruitingblogs.com, Dave might of meant that I had created a private subnetwork off of Recruitingblogs.com, which I have to admit, I haven't done much with lately. Again, thank you to Dave for the very, very kind words, but I also want to make sure the record is set straight too.

At any rate, if you are attending SourceCon next week, do be sure to seek out Dave and network with him too. I've seen what he is developing, and it will, IMO, revolutionize Internet sourcing as we know it.

SourceCon Questions

A week to go until SourceCon, and already Sourcing is starting to consume my every thought (well, except for our launch of Virtual Edge, but more on that later). As I mentioned in my prior post, I have a singular mission and goal in attending this conference. So what do I need to come away with? It's not a definition of Sourcing, I believe that I have that already.

(My definition: The process of identifying and engaging talent that is not coming to us, and that we are not finding through traditional recruiting sources.)

No, what I need to learn includes the following:

- Where to begin? Most all of our recruiters want sourcing help, but we are not looking to drink-the-ocean here. How do we prioritize?

- Is a centralized or decentralized structure more appropriate in our situation?

- Inhouse? Outsourced? Offshored? A Matrix of some or all? I'm pretty sure that something will be in house, but what model will be most effective for us?

- Full-time? Part-time? Flexible-hours? Virtual employees/Telecommuters? Contractors? For those that we do 'hire', what works best? How many sourcers per recruiter?

- What costs are involved and how do we justify these costs?

- Should sourcers do both name and candidate generation? Can sourcers have equally good phone and online skills, or is better if they specialize in one? Does it matter?

- Sourcer Job Market. Am I too late into the game. Lots of opportunities out there right now for Sourcers, are there enough qualified Sourcers around? And going back to cost, what's the going rate for great sourcers.

- What tools do we need to provide them. We already will have an outstanding CRM tool (VE Pilot). Are there other essential tools they need (i.e. Broadlook, Infogist, etc.)

- How have others successfully built a business case for Sourcing in their organizations?


I'm just getting started with this list. If you will be at SourceCon next week and think you can help, I'd love connect with you. I'm sure I'll have more questions coming up too. This is a complex subject for sure, lots to learn, just a week away. Yea!