On the Same Page with Shally Who?

August 29, 2007 in Amitai Givertz, Atlanta, Networking, Roadshow People

When I open one of my company’s training sessions for a new group of recruiters who I am meeting for the first time we play a game. Designed to help me understand where the group is in overall awareness the questions I pose sound like “Indeed.com, SimpleHired and Jobster and are types of what?” with a few multiple choices to pick from.

When the questioning turns to online networks I am always surprised at the number of good, honest, capable and successful recruiters who think LinkedIn in something other than what it is or the number of those who may know what it is and are not themselves “LinkedIn.”

If you don’t know what LinkedIn is, count yourself among the majority – at least for now. Sometimes described as a “MySpace for grown-ups” LinkedIn is also an extremely powerful tool for recruiters. Hold that thought.

In my conversations with local recruiters about the Atlanta Recruiting Roadshow — describing the learning tracks — I am asked who will be there and what’s what? Until recently in my best I’m-a-cool-dude-‘cause-I-got -connections voice I nonchalantly replied, “Oh, and Shally Steckerl the world-famous Cybersleuth will there running a workshop on how to use LinkedIn. How’s that? Yep, you heard me. Shally Steckerl — the LinkedIn guy – will be at the Roadshow!”

“Shally who? Link-a-what?” “Cyber-slobber?”

I no longer do that. Rather, I am reminded about something John Sumser (”John who?“and “John huh?“) said…

“The goal of each individual Recruiting Roadshow is to cause members of the local recruiting world who may not have easy access to the industry’s network infrastructure to have access to each other.”

…and accept that:

1. The industry’s leadership is not as widely known or accessible to the “consumers” they serve as they sometimes imagine;
2. Many of us who think we are in-the-know are in reality detached from the realities of recruiting on the frontlines, once removed from the day-to-day grind most recruiters face; and
3. The industry’s brightest talent comes from within physical communities where we live, work and play! In other words, the industry’s networking infrastructure may hang out in local places that are a lot closer than you’d think. No really, really, they do!

So now, rather than being taken aback by the majority every-day recruiters I talk to not knowing who Atlanta-based globetrotter Shally Steckerl is — or why it is important to understand the why’s and wherefore’s of sites like LinkedIn for recruiters — let me suggest the Recruiting Roadshow and The Sourcing Guru’s Guide to Leveraging LinkedIn is as a good a place as any to fix all that.

Are you coming?

Posted by: Amitai Givertz