John Sumser Presents The Recruiting Roadshow

You might have noticed a flurry of activity here at the Recruiting Roadshow. We’ve officially started registering participants for the 2008 Portland Recruiting Roadshow.

If you want to cut to the chase, here are the event details and registration page.

Mark the 20th of June on your calendars. We’ll be bringing the whole shebang to Portland. The kind people at Adidas have agreed to host the event. Portland will never be the same.

With five presentations, the Roadshow runs the gamut …. Strategy, Big Picture Demographics, Employment Branding Tactics, The Far Edge of Social Media and Vision. As usual, the Roadshow works to combine out of town and local talent. One of the key ideas is that the people in your town are everybit as capable as people known as experts.

Our sponsors and underwriters are hanging in with us through the experiment:

• Arbita, who does a yoeman’s job with logistics and fundamental support.
• ZoomInfo, who provide both money and marketing support.
• MainSequence Technologies, producers of PCRecruiter and the hosts of the Cleveland Roadshow
• Recruitingblogs.com, the official online community of the Recruiting Roadshow.

There is going to be a Recruitingblogs.com sponsored networking event that night. More details to follow.

Susan Burns is president and founder of Talent Synchronicity develops talent strategy solutions through an integrated alignment with core business functions and processes. Susan weaves together technology, social media, branding, P & L experience, and alignment with business directives to create intrinsic value in strategic recruitment and talent initiatives. Through hands-on experience in organizations of various size and brand visibility, Susan has delivered successful solutions around developing integrated recruitment strategies, employment brand differentiation, workforce/talent planning, university recruitment strategies, recruitment team structure and processes, and recruitment leader development.

In addition to Talent Synchronicity, Susan is executive director for The Future of Talent - a small community of successful senior talent leaders. Through an annual retreat, practitioners come together to design guiding forecasts and strategies in the areas of talent acquisition, branding, knowledge management, employee development, and leadership.

Susan was previously Worldwide Talent Acquisition Leader with Waggener Edstrom (WE), the second largest privately held PR firm. Susan was responsible for leading and developing a global talent attraction and acquisition function, a workforce planning model, and Agency Executive Board guidance. Prior to WE, Susan was Operating Vice President of Employment Initiatives and College Relations for Federated Department Stores (Macy’s Inc). Her contributions included selection, development, deployment and utilization of recruitment technologies, employment brand development, SEO, marketing, change management, and talent-centric initiatives to further educate and align key constituents. Her groundbreaking work in the development of the Retailology.com platform, which included macysJOBS.com and bloomingdalesJOBS.com, is still considered leading edge today.

Susan Will be presenting a talk on Communications Transformation and Your Talent Strategy. Here is a synopsis:

We are in the midst of a significant communication transformation.  The momentum being generated through the fingertips of individuals is growing exponentially.  The impact of Social Media is just beginning to be felt and the potential is just beginning to be understood.  Integrating social networking into your Talent Strategy is no longer an option but an important investment in delivering a competitive advantage to your company.  Focusing on key aspects of navigating the social landscape we’ll chart a path for success and fun in developing and managing an effective strategy.
 

Louis is a 13-year veteran of the advertising and marketing industry. He first cut his teeth in the ad agency world at DDB Seattle back in the ’90s before joining a small creative boutique agency called Austin Knight. Austin Knight was one of the few early adopters of interactive development for talent attraction in the mid-90s. At TMP Worldwide, Mr. Vong is responsible for keeping the agency at the forefront of interactive innovation and emergent technologies, working closely with clients to deliver innovative marketing strategies. Mr. Vong is also a member and co-chair of TMP Labs, TMP Worldwide’s internal think tank, tasked with development of next-generation recruiting strategies and tools.

Louis will give a presentation on the far edge of new media: Here is a synopsis of the talk:

A Splog and an Imglish Walk Into a Pub…the Splog says to the Imglish, “ru in the txt-off tom?” The Imglish replies, “afaik, I s/b. ttyl.”

OK, if you understood any of that you’re part of the generation that was an early adopter, or you grew up communicating this way. Social media and connective technologies have opened up the doors for marketers to reach consumers in so many ways. From mobile marketing and social networking to virtual worlds and gaming, we’re all participating and contributing to conversations that are unique and dynamic to our needs and wants.

Join us for an engaging discussion regarding emerging technologies and marketing trends for recruiting in the world of Web 2.0—and beyond. No matter what size your organization or recruiting budget, you’ll learn how the new media ecology is changing how we need to recruit and attract the next wave of talent.

Steve is a sports enthusiast, a recruiting nut, and a man living his dream job.  He started preparing for his job today when he first stepped out on the little league field 30 years ago. Little did he know that the lessons he started learning on the little league field would guide him to this point in his career. The key lessons are: hard work pays off, one accomplishes far more working with teammates, and a good coach is critical to deliver successful end results.

After graduating from San Jose State University with a bachelor degree in Psychology, he spent one year as a teacher and baseball coach before going to work for a search firm in San Jose, California. His path eventually led to San Diego working for TaylorMade Golf, and then a short hop over to Herzogenaurach, Germany with the adidas Group. Today, Steve is focused on building out a global recruiting infrastructure, building the employer brand, and instilling a passion for recruiting in everybody he comes into contact with.

Steve will be joining Steve Fogarty to present “Killer Employment Brands”. Here’s a synopsis:
Pull, grab, tear the essence of brand from your corporate bureaucracy and bring it to life.  We will explore how to identify the essence of your brand in highly complex, Global and multi-branded organization and amplify this in the talent marketplace.  Hear how we achieved the impossible by leveraging adidas marketing teams—brand marketing, product marketing, sports marketing and digital marketing.  Also learn how we built in design, simplicity and beauty into our employment branding initiative at all levels.  Design not as an afterthought or veneer but as a key component.  We will also look at how to differentiate between channels, brand, marketing, advertising or any other element that we often confuse for one another.  If employment branding is a key initiative within your recruiting group then this is a presentation you won’t want to miss.  

Here is Steve in his own words:

If you threw some adidas originals on Doc Holiday, asked him to give up dentistry and take on recruiting, took his pistol from him and gave him the internet then you have the role of talent acquisition in the 21st Century.

Doc Holiday ventured into the wild frontiers and to survive he needed to understand the landscape, have strong relationships, a reputation and an ability to act on it. This made him a legend.

Talent acquisition is the wild west of the 21st Century. Everybody is out there looking for their plot on the internet with the desire to build something great. You are either a bystander or you are in the game. Then you have the villains. These are all of those competitors out there looking at how they can build it better, faster, smarter. The landscape is constantly changing. You have to get smart about what’s relevant and what’s not. And if you play all your cards right you make it through the struggle, defeat the villains and make your indelible mark in digital history. Welcome to my frontier—the Wild Digital West.

At adidas I am tasked with building a world class talent acquisition function, a kicking talent brand, Web 2.0 recruitment strategy and whatever and wherever else the twists, turns, clicks and crashes of the Wild Digital West takes me. The thing that Doc did not have was a pair of kick’n adidas originals which I personally believe are a necessity in the Wild Digital West.

Prior to adidas I spent almost seven years at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. My role was to develop and implement integrated strategies to attract key talent. I served as a digital “trend spotter” for the agency’s staffing function as well as played a key role in advancing our talent relationship capabilities with CRM and Web 2.0/social networking strategies.

I spent the first two years of my career on the agency side. The volume and intensity of agency recruitment laid the foundation for where I am today.

At the Portland Recruiting Roadshow, he will be joined by Steve Bonomo, Steve Bonomo, adidas-Group Global Head of Staffing. Here’s a synopsis of their talk,

Killer Employment Branding:

Pull, grab, tear the essence of brand from your corporate bureaucracy and bring it to life. We will explore how to identify the essence of your brand in highly complex, Global and multi-branded organization and amplify this in the talent marketplace. Hear how we achieved the impossible by leveraging adidas marketing teams—brand marketing, product marketing, sports marketing and digital marketing. Also learn how we built in design, simplicity and beauty into our employment branding initiative at all levels. Design not as an afterthought or veneer but as a key component. We will also look at how to differentiate between channels, brand, marketing, advertising or any other element that we often confuse for one another. If employment branding is a key initiative within your recruiting group then this is a presentation you won’t want to miss.

Tuesday the 29th, the Roadshow rolled into Cleveland. Over 100 Recruiters had the opportunity to network and learn. Everyone walked away excited and refreshed.

The event was made possible by the investment of several sponsors:

• Arbita, the Minneapolis based Internet Recruiting Powerhouse, is a staunch supporter who underwrites the Roadshows with cash, development and logistics support. There would be no Roadshow without them.
• The event was held on the wonderful campus of Main Sequence Technologies who produce the amazing PCRecruiter. They are sponsoring the next several Roadshows as well.
• Zoom Info is our partner in marketing as well as a committed sponsor of the Roadshows. Their tool gives Recruiters access to millions of passive candidates.
• Recruitingblogs.com is the official online community of the Recruiting Roadshow. Jason Davis’ sprawling community is a place for Recruiters to help each other.

Please take a moment to visit them and thank them for supporting these fre events.

 Content at the Cleveland Roadshow consisted of five modules. These links will take you to a pdf copy of the presentation materials,:

• The Introductions and Networking Exercise John Sumser Introduced the day. Marty Snyder welcomed the audience, delivering an eloquent presntation on the importance of community in Recruiting. Sumser ran a networking exercise that encouraged all the participants to interact with each other.
• Joel Cheesman opened the morning of presentations with marketing in a web 2.0 world. As you’d expect, Joel’s self-deprecating style was the gateway to a broad introduction to web 2.0 tools. The audience was delighted and energized as the consequence of Joel’s talk.
• Arbita’s CEO, Don Ramer, offered a talk on Internet Recruiting: Past, Present and Future. A mesmerizing speaker, Ramer worked the audience through  the implications of a proactive future where collaboration and interdependence define Recruiting.
• Trends in Background Checking was the subject of Jason Morris’ presentation. The world is changing and, according to JAson, background checking is ever more important.
• After Lunch, John Sumser closed the day with Multigenerational Recruiting, a discussion of demographic dynamics that are driving cultural change.

I’ll tell you more about Cleveland in the coming days.

Next Tuesday, the 29th, the Recruiting Roadshow™ arrives in Cleveland, Ohio. This will be the sixth Roadshow to date. The project has been successful in each city we’ve visited.

If you’re in the neighborhood on Tuesday, please join us. You can register here.

As expected, each city turns out to be wildly different along recruiting fault line. Local population growth rates, ethnic diversity, geography, climate, industry, manners, regional culture, labor supply (by profession) and a number of other factors determine what’s really important. The number, density and tactics of the regional recruiting workforce depend on these issues.

Cleveland will be another really useful data point in the experiment.

We keep using the word ‘experiment’ because this is unchartted territory. Unlike traditional trade shows and/or events run by local trade associations, the Recruiting Roadshow focuses on local issues. The idea is to build new self-aware local networks of Recruiters that are designed to help recruiters help each other.

Recruiting Roadshows are free for participants.

We’re supported in this task by a number of very helpful sponsors and an underwriter (the difference is in the size of the check and the depth of assistance).

• Arbita is our first underwriter. Arbita is modeling the behavior of the 21st Century Recruitment Advertising agency. Don Ramer and his amazing team provide the project with site design, writing and logistics. Please visit them.
   
• Recruitingblogs.com is the official online community of the Recruiting Roadshow. If you are not yet a member, please visit them and sign up.
   
• Zoom Info is the Boston based sourcing powerhouse. Zoom has a huge database of passive candidates.
   
• PC Recruiter is a power tool for high performing Recruiters. They are hosting the Roadshow in Cleveland.

Please help out by visiting these generous friends and learning about their offerings.

Thanks,

John

Technology and a faster than ever pace have made recruiting a complex business to stay ahead of. Add to this a changing business environment, changing candidate behaviors, changing workplace values and so on, and it becomes easier to understand why many good recruiters feel overwhelmed.

Having access to people who are experts in the areas of technology, workforce issues and talent acquisition is a good thing. Having those people available to you in your local community, easily accessible is better.  Being connected with them personally as part of your local network is ideal.

The Recruiting Roadshow is designed to do all that for you, and more.

My name is John Sumser and I invite you to join me with the area’s brightest minds for a solid half-day of learning, community and networking:

- Joel Cheesman, author, publisher and Internet recruiting marketing guru will share practical ways to make the most of your recruiting online.

- Jason Morris, staffing expert will be answering your questions on the next generation of employment screening practices and helping you understand what it means for your recruiting today.

- Don Ramer, industry thought leader and rainmaker will talk on the implications for recruiting and social networking as ‘transformational’ forces in the recruiting process.

- I will lead the session on multigenerational recruiting and surviving the shifting recruitment landscape, the networking exercises too.

Date:
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Time:
8:30 am - 2:30 pm
Includes, breakfast, light lunch and networking

Location:
Main Sequence Technologies Campus
4420 Sherwin Road, Willoughby, OH 44094

Reservations:  http://tinyurl.com/39ctaw

Your ticket for admission, refreshments and learning has been covered in-full by the generous giving of our sponsors: Arbita, PC Recruiter, RecruitingBlogs.com, and ZoomInfo. Please visit them online.

When you register, please let us know if you have any special needs, questions, thoughts or comments.

See you at the Roadshow!

The Recruiting Roadshow™ is coming to Cleveland on April 29th. The free half-day event will be held on the campus of Main Sequence Technologies in the town of Willoughby (here’s a map). A light breakfast and lunch are a part of the offering. Seating is limited and advance registration is required. (Register here)

The Recruiting Roadshow™ delivers continuing education for Recruiters. All Recruiting Roadshow™ events are free, sponsored by companies who are committed to improving the industry.

The goal of a Recruiting Roadshow™ is to help Recruiters harness the resources available in their own neighborhoods. Through a combination of structured networking exercises and topical content, the events strive to create a sense of community.

Many of the participants in the Roadshow events are also visible in online communities for Recruiters. The Recruiting Roadshow™ attempts to integrate online and offline community. We believe that it takes a combination of the two (physical and online) to make a community that really works.

Joel Cheesman, the widely respected voice behind Cheezhead will be among the presenters. Joel’s talks on the use of Search Engine Optimization in Recruiting are the stuff of legends.

Don Ramer, the charismatic CEO of Arbita, will deliver a talk on the future of recruiting in a social networked world.

John Sumser, the founder of the Recruiting Roadshow™, will address the demographic changes that are shaping the workplace.

A special guest will round out the foursome.

Again, seating is limited and advance registration is required. Look here for more info.

The next Recruiting Roadshow will be on April 29th in Cleveland. Details to follow. Register here. 

The Las Vegas Roadshow was a big success. 150 Recruiters found their way to the Green Valley Resort on the morning of February 27. Here are copies of three of the presentations:

• Doug Geinzer’s presentation on the Las Vegas Recruiting Landscape
• Don Ramer’s Internet Recruiting: Past, Present, Future
• John Sumser on Multigenerational Recruiting