I can only hope this doesn't go off the page.
talent acquisition. heh.
Jim Durbin, the Social Media Headhunter and founder of Social Media Talent, has decided to launch a channel on YouTube to explore video blogging in regards to social media employment.
With twelve years of experience in recruiting, and six as the owner of a social media marketing firm, Jim hopes to capture his experiences and share them in short segments to compliment his writing.
The channel is listed under Durbin Media on YouTube, and already has a dozen videos discussing social media interviewing, Empire Avenue, and the what defines a social media expert.
For more on Jim, check him out via Klout, Quora, or Empire Avenue.
Down at SXSW, I had the pleasure of connecting with several recruiting and HR types, sharing information and planning out our strategy for world domination. As usually happens after a conference, we all connected socially, and started sharing ideas and links.
One of the best ideas to come out of that was a site called Empire Avenue, a social network/stock market/social monitoring game site.
I Know, I know. Playing a game at work sounds like something only network techs and independent recruiters get to do. But it's not that. It's about combining all of the elements of what you're currently doing in social media into candidate and sales sourcing, and doing so in a manner that engages you. It's making work fun.
The idea behind gamification at work is to reward successful work strategies the same way that Nintendo or Xbox would reward game strategies. Pick up enough coins? You level up. Give out enough positive feedback? Level up at the work game. The list is endless. Show up to work at 8:00 for 30 days? Get a badge. Travel twice in a month? Get a badge. Taking the day-in and day-out normal work processes, many of which don't go any recognition, and making them automatic rewards turns out to be good for engagement, happiness, and productivity.
The parameters of the games are limited only by our imagination, and the business goals we are trying to achieve. For jobs where burnout comes quickly and learning is capped, games offer the opportunity to re-engage and make work more fun and less dreary. For other departments, like sales and recruiting, games offer ways to take KPI's and turn them into contests.
And that's just the internal stuff. From the outside, the growth of social games, from SCVNGR to Foursquare to sites like Empire Avenue, gives recruiters insights into candidates and their daily work habits.
Say you're looking for a salesperson that needs to be out on the road four days a week. Tracking their social profiles through a game network serves the same principle as using LinkedIn does for checking their resume. You can find out if they're really road warriors, if they get up early, and get on the road early, and even find out how they think and what they do. True, fancy check-ins aren't the sole way to make a decision, but a candidate with a social profile can give valuable information backing up your more formal processes.
I don't tend to make big pronouncements, and I'm not naive enough to think this will "fix" work or employment. It is a fantastic tool that we will start to see making an impact in how we look at work. And like social a few years ago, the winners will be those who figure out how to use social principles to enhance productivity.
Jim Durbin writes on the topics of recruiting, sales, and social business. He is a managing principal at Social Media Talent, a staffing firm for social business consulting. Follow him on Twitter at SMHeadhunter.
Down in Dallas, Jim Durbin and Craig Fisher have launched Social Media Talent, a staffing firm aimed at filling the gap between high level strategist and entry level Facebook interns.
With over 100 clients between them in social media, marketing, and recruiting, Craig and Jim offer a combined 12 years of experiece in the world of social media training and staffing.
The basic premise lies in the mechanics of social stafffing.
Companies can't hire top strategists because of costs.
Companies can't train strategists because of predatory competitors
Real value in social media comes from long-term programs aimed at internal resources.
It's difficult enough to define the social space, as social media is a catch-all for any connection with clients, prospects, or the general public. Well-intentioned but poorly though out social strategies describe some fantastical future where all clients are proactive and never have supply chain or customer service problems. And when looking for experience, we're searching for something where the recruiters and hiring managers lack the expertise to know when someone is an expert, and when they read a blogpost that morning that sounds good.
To solve the problem, Social Media Talent employs a compensation system that employs long-term contractors with a training system called ICEP, which applies social principles in a replicable system to internal departments.
For more on the company, go to SocialMediaTalent.com, or follow @smheadhunter or @fishdogs on Twitter.
If you're looking for KC Social Media news, be sure to check out the Social Media Club KC.
Feb 16th Happy Hour, if you're game.
There's also a Business Communicators Summit on March 11.
2011 KC/IABC Business Communicators SummitKeynote Speakers Announced for the 2011 KC/IABC Business Communicators Summit
Make plans now to join us for the KC/IABC 2011 Business Communicators Summit on March 3 at the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial. Early-bird registration is now open to everyone.
- IABC members $175
- Non-members $250
- Students $50 (active student ID needed at check-in)
The Kansas ity Recruiting Community On Ning is up to almost 500 members, and it's turning into an interesting career coaching site for candidates. I've spent a lot of time in KC, and the Midwest value of helping out your neighbor is pretty strong.
If you're a recruiter here, or if you want to take stock of a recruiter before you send in a resume, this is a good place to start. Of course, if you want your own voice, starting a blog is still the best way, but if you're looking to network with other recruiters - head on over and start up a profile.
I can only hope this doesn't go off the page.
talent acquisition. heh.
Curious about the LinkedIn Training? I've uploaded a trailer of some of the content. To register for the lunch on the 19th, head on over to the MAPSS KC website. This is a live training, but you'll also be taking back a training DVD to review at your own leisure.
Using LinkedIn As A Sourcing Tool from James Durbin on Vimeo.
The quality of the video is much better - this has been compressed for uploading to the web.
I'll be in Kansas City (one of my favorite cities - they have the best house architecture in the Midwest) February 19th-21st, primarily to train the local NAPS Chapter on the use of LinkedIn for recruiting. Lunch will be served, and in addition to the presentation, you'll be taking home a LinkedIn: Recruiting CompanionTraining DVD of the presentation, ensuring that the knowledge you hear is available for review.
The registration link is here for the event. Thursday the 19th, from 11:30-1:30, at the Hereford House in Leawood, Kansas. This event is specifically intended for third party and independent recruiters. For more information, be sure to check out the Kansas City MAPSS Site. You can also register by contacting Shelley Seibolt.
Call Shelley Seibolt 913.663.5627 or Email: shelley@staffingkc.com
I will be in town Friday as well - if you are a local firm looking for more information on using social media, whether in recruiting, sales, marketing, or public relations, schedule some time and let's sit down and talk.
Here's a sample presentation on the impact of Enterprise 2.0 on the Modern Corporation.
This training will focuses on the description and application of search engine optimization techniques for recruiters, including primers on what SEO means, how to write content, and how to rank highly in search engines for terms relating to your market niche.
Some facts to think about:
68% of offline purchases begin with online searches
Over 70% of recruiters admit to using a search engine to check a candidate’s background prior to an offer
What this means is that search engines are an important part of the way we conduct all business. We check out salespeople calling us by checking their name in a search engine. We research vendors, and yes, we check out recruiters before we agree to send them a resume.
Learn how to dominate your niche both locally and nationally, in this specialized training.
And if you’d like to see how it’s done – do a search for “jim durbin” recruiter. Last time I checked, I was 18 pages deep on Goole.
Purchase Search Engine Optimization for Recruiters at the Social Media Headhunter Cafe.
YourHRGuys says yes, and tells us why. Reasons #1 and #2:
The key reason to blog is knowledge - both about your industry and about your business. You'd be surprised how many people never take the time to look critically at the way they do business. In today's business climate, that's going to be a problem.
How can you improve, if you don't know what you do right and wrong? Blogging demands content, and the best content is looking at your situation and discussing what you do wrong, and how you plan to fix it.
Forget the rest. Blog for yourself. It makes you a better employee, more aware of what's going around, and there's that personal branding boost you need for the future. It looks like I'm coming to Kansas City in February. If you start your blog between now and then, I'll be happy to promote it. And if five people do it, I'll give each of you a shiny recruiter training CD on how to blog to hire candidates.