RecruiterGuy's ERE Expo Summary

Let's just say it... the event was a hit.  ERE Expo 2009 (#ereexpo) was without a doubt one of the best recruitment and talent driven events I've ever attended.

Mad props go out of course not only to the speakers at the event but to the awesome team led by David Manaster of ERE.  His vision of ERE becomes more apparent with each event and interaction with the amazing teams he's put together to pull off these large productions.

So while I could write pages of compliments about the speakers and organizers and provide examples about what worked and was improved upon - I'll think I'll just pull back and shoot from the hip a few things on the top of my mind in relation to what I took away.  Keep in mind that I'll be throwing up some video snippets of presentations with thoughts on small segments - but here are the top items that stand out for me at the moment.

• I'd like to hear more buzz about what Steve Bonomo at adidas is doing.  His partner in crime, Steve Fogarty is great... but I sense some quiet genius lurking in Bonomo.  Their presentation on building up an employment brand using various resources to impact the job seekers experience was interesting and a great way to kick off the first day - but I think Bonomo would have been a great addition to the final panel if they'd had another seat.
• Many Recruiters are still struggling to understand how social efforts will cure recruiting challenges.  I blame the rooftop screamers and naysayers for this perception of the impact that social tools like Twitter or sites such as Facebook will have on direct recruiting.  All too frequently a conversation was overheard about social recruiting killing job boards or sourcers or x, y & z.
  This simply won't happen and it's naive to think it will.  I also believe that it's face-time at events like ERE that help convey an evenly weighted message to remind rookies and veterans alike: These are tools, not silver bullets.
• It was great to see a growing consensus that the Recruiting function is becoming more about brand and attraction - and should not necessarily report in to an HR organization directly.  Mike Grennier, Senior Dir. Corp Recruiting for Wal-Mart earned more than a few exclamations of approval during his session where the topic again came up.
• What was also great to see and hear from peers was the trend related to how Recruiting teams are picking up the social aspect and interaction with potential job seekers and fielding many of the typical "HR Questions" - where HR is too afraid to respond, and thus contributes to that already dysfunctional perception of being unreachable or distant.  Hey HR folks... paying attention here?  Keyword: PARTNER
• Analytics are key to everything.  I took on a new role just over a month ago that pulled the AT&T HR/Staffing Reports team into my shop.  What this ultimately meant was that while designing and implementing strategic recruiting initiatives - I'd have complete control in ensuring that appropriate measurements were applied and examined to all of our recruiting efforts.
  So it's great anytime I can talk with or listen to Kevin Wheeler, President & Founder of Global Learning Solutions, about the importance of metrics and understanding how, when appropriately applied, they can have an incredible impact on the business.  Kevin chaired the ERE event and did a great job with the final panel.
• This event was the most socially interactive ever and I believe this was because of the social tools used during pre-game.  You can't deny it.  With such an incredible spike in first time attendees there was still an amazing sense of familiarity among both the attendees and speakers that I've not seen anywhere before.  People that had never met in person were greeting each other as though they'd been working side by side for months.
  Social tools got the majority of handshakes and initial greetings out of the way - and attendees showed up itching for dialogue.

It was pretty damned terrific to meet some people I've been networked with online for months and even years.  It was fun (and slightly disappointing) to have come in 4th during the charity poker event - I was robbed on the river!  It was terrific to see so many great people really taking advantage of the opportunity to communicate and share ideas.

Solid props.  Job well done.  I'll be back.