Recruiting Conferences

Follow Our Roving Reporter at SHRM ’09!

Posted on June 29, 2009 by admin

Day 1 of the Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference in New Orleans is officially in the books and it appears to have been a great kick-off for this mega event involving over 10,000 HR/Talent Management Pros. With so much of the world’s HR community partying soaking up some knowledge in the Big Easy, I wonder if Recruiters around the world are seizing upon this opportunity to run amok contacting Hiring Managers directly while the gatekeepers are out of the office?

Love it or hate it, Twitter will be a big deal at the Conference this year. The opening session with Jack Welch (@Jack_Welch) was widely tweeted by several nimble-fingered Tweeters (including SHRM’s COO – China Gorman – @SHRMCoo) and TwitPics of everything from the Exhibitor booths to swag laden attendees to flip flop adorned feet (sorry – that was me) were sent to inquiring minds around the world using the hashtag #SHRM09 – allowing many to participate virtually in the day’s events. Jack even answered a few questions via Twitter in his Keynote address moderated by Claire Shipman, ABC News Correspondent and Co-Author of the recently published book Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success.

The challenge for today’s HR Leaders according to Jack Welch? Stop being a victim and get out of the parties, picnics and insurance forms stuff. Over-deliver and make a difference. Gain the trust of your CEO and your people so that the role of HR is viewed on par with that of the CFO in an organization. (Thankfully no mention was made of “being strategic” or of the infamous “seat at the table” by Mr. Welch.) He also made good points about how the idea of being an entrepreneur is flourishing among all age groups of employees today and companies/HR need to figure out how to deal with this trend. If we don’ find ways to be innovative and make our organizations exciting and vibrant, then we’ll be even more challenged when the economy rebounds and the “stars” move on to more inspiring work environments – even if they have to create them. Jack didn’t share anything new necessarily, but his straight talking style made for an inspiring pep talk and sufficiently revved up the crowd as they were turned loose for the first time on the massive Exhibit Hall – complete with free adult beverages and Vendor booths bursting at the seams with coveted swag such as goofy hats, blinking glasses, stuffed animals and Mardi Gras beads. (Oh well, so much for moving beyond the parties and picnics thing.)

After a pretty long day of travel, I didn’t spend too much time in the Exhibit Hall this evening, but did note the HUGE presence by both Monster and Career Builder among the sea of Exhibitors. Of course Yahoo! HotJobs and many of the other job boards are there too, but with a less massive presence. All of the major job boards, as well as many of the niche sites were advertising their abilities to access the “passive” job seekers that everyone desires. Should be interesting to check them out to see if I learn anything new. One Vendor I’ll definitely be visiting is some company called Baudv!lle, Inc. Once the Exhibit Hall opened, their VP of Product & Merchandising (@Baudvillekristy) tweeted several times:

“Cute guys in blue suits at The Ladders…..while checking them out…look across the aisle at Baudville…great new products. #shrm09

and

Wow!!!! Some amazing cupcakes at Baudville…booth 339 #shrm09

Awww yeah. Cute guys and cupcakes! Give Kristy a prize, because it appears that she has the secret of recruiting all figured out. Of course I’ll let you know after I check out her booth first thing in the morning…