recruitDC

You are here: Home / Archives for DC

A Glut Of Recruiters Jobs In The DC Area?

by Leave a Comment

By Tracy Tran

This past January, I was laid off at my company and I immediately updated my resume and applied to numerous companies and staffing agencies (Spoiler Alert: I start my new job with the HR Source this week). I did get interviews, including several from staffing firms. Without asking, all the staffing firms told me there were tons of recruiting openings (mostly contract) that companies are looking. I asked them why there’s a demand of recruiters. None of the recruiters, from staffing firms, had an answer why there is high demand. So, the next best thing is I asked the recruitDC community about this and there were a few theories:

Theory #1: Not a lot of recruiters in the DC area

It is not the right answer, but it is not entirely far-fetched, either. In Northern Virginia, you have a wide array of government contractors; in Maryland, you have mostly biotech companies; and in D.C., you have everything you can imagine, but only a few slots to fill. However recently, the area has been diversifying (in different industries and sectors) to attract people from across the United States to come to D.C.

Theory #2: Executives don’t think recruiters are necessary, are the first to get laid off, and hire contract recruiters.

On one hand, I do think executives might have a point since some companies are automating their recruiting process and making most recruiters lazy instead of being proactive, which gives recruiting a bad name.

On the other hand, if you have a good recruiting department, why would you eliminate it? Good recruiters do the ground work of sourcing, contacting, and networking with potential candidates and forward the best candidates available to the hiring manager. Good recruiters do not rely too much on machines; they mostly rely on the art of recruiting.

Theory #3: Headcounts are growing for D.C. area companies.

This is the most likely theory as the D.C. area job growth outpaced the national job growth last year. You would think federal funding was a factor of the job growth in D.C.

Not true.

D.C. area companies have found new sources of revenue and with cheaper gas prices and other alternatives to take advantage; companies can expand and be aggressive in their hiring, which is great for recruiters here.

If you’re looking for recruiting opportunities in D.C. area, it is a great time to find one. Even if the company does not have any recruiting openings, they might create one, and luckily, that’s what happened to me.

Groups like We Recruit DC on Facebook have been filled with opportunities as of late, and it bodes well for recruiters.

What are you seeing in the DC area? 

Tracy is a Sourcer and Social Media Specialist for The HR SOURCE in Maryland.  He has been in recruiting for over twelve years sourcing, networking, interviewing, negotiating, and advising hiring managers on who to look for. His experience stretches sectors from nonprofits, consulting firm, government contracting, tech, media, and others from a variety of positions from executives, directors, interns, senior-level, mid-level, and entry-level positions. He has also dealt with job boards currently with NatsJobs, which is a unique and interactive job board during Washington Nationals games. Connect with Tracy on LinkedIn or Twitter.

A Tribute To A "Famillion-aire"

by 4 Comments

By Ben Gotkin
It was almost a decade ago that my colleagues and I sat at the downtown DC Ritz-CarltonGary Cluff to see our boss, Gary Cluff, receive the 2004 HRLF Award for Service.  He was being honored for his years of bringing the local HR and Recruiting community together through Project SAVE, MASH, and a number of other activities he had selflessly led and participated in.  When Gary went up to receive his award, he told the audience that he saw so many familiar faces in the room that evening that he felt that evening like he was a ‘famillion-aire’.  Classic Cluff, a master at dry wit, new words and acronyms, and a sense of humility rarely seen in someone who has accomplished so much.

I got to know Gary very early in my career, and I was instantly drawn to his openness, his wisdom and the value that he saw in recruiter education and community.  In 2002, I had the opportunity to work with Gary on the DC EMA Planning Committee, and shortly after on WTPF’s Board of Directors.  But it was a day in the fall of 2003 that would change my career forever.  I received a call one day from Gary letting me know that he had approval for two new Lead Recruiter openings on his team and if I ‘knew’ (wink-wink) of anyone who might be interested.  I jumped at the chance, and it was one of the best career moves I ever made.  Gary’s been a mentor for me ever since.  When I left his team in 2006 for a leadership role at McGladrey, he endorsed the move completely.  I made a couple of moves after that, and one of my first calls for advice was always to Gary, and his advice has never led me astray.

When the opportunity to launch recruitDC presented itself in late 2009, there were several people that I approached to join my Board of Directors, but I knew that having Gary on the team was critical to our success.   Nobody else would bring the breadth and depth of experience and leadership that he would.

In a distinguished career spanning over 3 decades, Gary has been responsible for:

  • Creating the Cost-Per-Hire Survey for EMA,
  • Founding Project SAVE, which has helped countless HR/Recruiting Professionals, and others to connect and find their next career success,
  • Facilitating additional small groups with transitioning HR leaders, and top local recruiting leaders,
  • Sharing his knowledge and wisdom at local and national conference events and publications,
  • Serving our country in the Air Force,
  • Leading top performing recruiting teams at MITRE, the CIA, Contel, and Owens Corning,
  • Organizing numerous charity golf events,
  • And serving on the Boards of EMA, WTPF and recruitDC.

Gary’s been a role model to me because he showed me the importance of sharing knowledge, giving back to the community, and bringing the community together for the greater good…lessons that we all can benefit from.  He told me once that he didn’t mind having his Manager title even though he was doing the job of a Director or VP because he was provided the opportunity at MITRE to do the things in the local community that he felt were important.  Here was a man that had truly found balance in his life, between work, family, career and country.  A life to be envied indeed.

After a long, distinguished career, including a dozen years at the helm at MITRE, and 4 years on the Board of Directors at recruitDC, Gary is finally ready to retire and enjoy more time with his wife, children, grandchildren, and hopefully plenty of time on the golf course and at his oasis on the Outer Banks.  MITRE will miss Gary, as will the recruitDC Board, Project SAVE, and the recruiter community at large.  His accomplishments, career, and life have been legendary, and greatly worthy of tribute.  So thank you Gary for your time, your effort, your openness, your enthusiasm, wit and wisdom.  We hope to see you again from time-to-time, and wish you nothing but the best as you move on your next success in life!

Ben Gotkin is the Founder & President of recruitDC, and is a Principal Consultant with Recruiting Toolbox.  You can connect with Ben on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter at @bengotkin

Fall 2013 RecruitDC Tickets Now Available!

by 2 Comments

The recruitDC fall event is coming on November 14, 2013! Join us for a morning of information sharing, networking and learning with your DC area recruiting colleagues. We’ll be descending on the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD for our venue.
Visit the Eventbrite site to grab your tickets so you don’t miss out!

As always, a tremendous THANK YOU to all of our sponsors: Indeed, WANTED Analytics, Cleared Jobs.net and Brazen Careerist!

7:30am to 8:30am Registration and Networking

8:30am to 8:40am Welcome Remarks

8:40am to 9:45am – Keynote Presentation – Big Data is Interesting, but Little Data is Critical! Tom Becker, VP Recruiting, Manpower

The role and function of the talent acquisition leader is in significant transformation. CEOs and senior leaders are increasingly looking for the talent acquisition function to be more data driven and to better articulate their ROI. There seems to be a new set of skills which talent acquisition leaders much have to be successful. These skills are change management, process management and most important data management. This session will address how “little data” has big significance in how companies can transform data into insights to drive performance. Next generation companies are using talent data to predict hiring demand and focus their talent acquisition functions on key positions which constrain the organization. They are also using performance management technology to build sophisticated models to optimize their teams and to deliver real-time data to their key stakeholders!

9:45am to 10:15am Break

Breakout Sessions

10:15am to 11:15am
Call me, maybe: Mobile recruiting is here… now what?
There’s a lot of hype when it comes to mobile recruiting – but at many companies, it’s still a relatively new concept. You may feel pressure to begin scrambling to put the right tools in place but where should you start? And what are the watchout’s and gotcha’s? Through this panel, local recruiting leaders from Marriott International, GEICO, Amtrak and MITRE will share their insights on developing a mobile strategy and implementation tips… because they have actually lived through it.

Key takeaways will include:
– Key trends driving the need to develop a mobile recruiting strategy
– Mobile recruiting vendor landscape and considerations
– Implementation insights and advice

Moderator: Jessica Lee – Director, Digital Talent Strategy – Marriott International – Panelists: Kerry Noone, Employer Brand Manager, Amtrak; Shannon Smedstad HR Social Media & Employment Brand Leader, GEICO; Gary Cluff, Corporate Recruiting Manager, MITRE

OR

10:15am to 11:15am
Exerting Influence: How to Build Interest, Trust and Confidence in New Candidates, Ideas and Tactics
Recruiters and recruiting leaders are constantly working to build trust–with candidates, vendors and their own leaders. This trust is necessary to make the case for joining the organization, adopting innovations in the organization or convincing a hiring manager that a unique candidate is the best fit. During this panel, four leading recruiting professionals will talk about their successes in building trust to exert influence in the organization. They’ll share both internal and external examples of how to make the right case and what data, direction and emotion is needed to get that win. We often talk about the skills recruiters need to be successful but overlook the behaviors. If you want to take your recruiting organization forward and innovate with new candidates, ideas and tactics, you don’t want to miss this session.

Moderator: Susan LaMotte, Founder & Principal Consultant, exaqueo – Panelists: Bill Blackford, Recruiting Manager, Merlin International; MIke Bruni, Talent Acquisition Manager, SAIC/Leidos, National Security Sector; Luke Daniel Mann, Technical Recruiter, Northrop Grumman Information Systems; Lars Schmidt, NPR, Senior Director, Talent Acquisition & Innovation.

11:15am to 11:30am Break

11:30am to 12:30pm
Closing Session: Fast and Furious: 60 Social Media Tips in 60 Minutes!
In this lightening round session, local social media superstars share their quick tips on making social media more effective for recruiting, building brand and connecting. This is a great way to end the morning with 60 tips to walk out the door with to make difference in how you connect with your community.

Moderator: Kathleen Smith, ClearedJobs.Net; Panelists: Adelia Curtis, Living Social; Holly Biena, Capital One; Kerry Noone, Amtrak, Francesca Hawk, AIS and a few more rock stars for spotlight tips!
And more….Would you like to participate? Submit your social media tip during registration and maybe your tip will be picked!

recruitDC Tweetup – The Wrap-up

by Leave a Comment

By Derek Zeller
Tweetup7.25.13

Have you seen or maybe attended a RecruitDC conference in the last couple of years? Maybe you have said, “I just don’t have the time” to take a day off to go to a conference. We get that. We are recruiters too. That is why a number of months ago we partnered up with RecruitDC and started Tweet-ups.

RecruitDC is an awesome event filled with some of the biggest names both nationally and locally discussing strategy, sourcing, and recruiting in a conference setting. It is an amazing time to gather information from multiple sources and not need a hotel or plane ticket. However it does take time.

The tweet-ups were designed to be a mini-conference. Its happy hour with a twitter flair. It is about socializing and learning from each other. Trading contact info or learning who and what is going on within the industry. There is no cost or ticket to buy. Just show up grab a drink and start introducing yourself. WE ARE RECRUITERS so we want to talk!

The first one we did was in Virginia the night before the conference this past spring. Due to its success and everyone having a great time we decided to do another one. We had heard from southern Maryland recruiters that they wanted something for them so we focused in that area. WOW – we are glad we did. The turnout was awesome!

We had representation from the whole area too, NOVA, DC, and Baltimore! There were newer recruiters there and more experienced ones sharing knowledge and dropping great stories. The best part of the tweet-ups is they are totally informal. People were in shorts and short sleeves. No name tags or speakers. We were all equals sharing ideas, stories, and at times…candidates! YES we were able to say I know someone that fits that role, what’s your email or twitter handle?

Tweet-ups were designed to be social and help put a name to a face for local recruiting. Then next time you get an invite or see us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Come on over for a chat and hello. We would love to have you!

Derek is a Senior IT Recruiter at Advanced Resources Technologies, Inc., and you can always find him on Twitter at @Derdiver

It's all about local – recruitDC

by Leave a Comment

By Derek Zeller
So what is the value of a LOCAL recruiting conference? Why go? What could I possibly gain from this? I mean there are lots of conferences to go to. ERE, SHRM, Sourcecon, Talent42, etc. They are national stages and days long seminars and meetings. They offer the biggest speakers for 30 minutes snippets of knowledge. What would a LOCAL conference, RecruitDC, have to offer a senior recruiter like me? I decided that it would be fun and since my good friend asked if I would speak at a break out session I decided why not, sounds like fun. What happened surprised me by what I did get out of it.

  • I got to engage with my professional peers that do what I do in the local area. I.E. they know the daily pains and struggles of finding and reporting in the way we do.
  • I was able to listen to some engaging speakers that told me there best practices. What makes them successful and how I can walk on a paved road, not a dirt one.
  • It was great to catch up with old friends in the industry and shake the hands of those I have not met.
  • In a world of social media it was great to put a name to a face on people. There are some I had chatted with for months who I have never met in person.
  • I was able to hear a great sourcer share some insights that I did not have on websites that he used to find hard to find candidates.
  • A truly moving and motivating speech by a Marine that served his country and reminded me that there are always struggles it’s how you handle them.
  • Personally I got the chance to speak at the conference about something I am passionate about to a room full of my peers with a REALLY BIG SCREEN.

DerekZeller Spring 13 (1)

You see for me it is not JUST the actual conference that mattered. It is what you take away from it that does. Not SWAG or a free lunch but the education part of it. It was the people I got to meet that I could meet up with AGAIN and really get a chance to learn and talk with them. We were local. We could plan to spend time with each other and it was just the right size that after the conference you could even get some one on one time with your favorite speaker!

DerekZeller Spring 13 (2)

Then there was the follow up. So here was my two weeks following the conference.

  • Five meetings with vendors offering products that I not only use but could get at a better price and they were local
  • Four meetings with fellow recruiters learning how we could start best practices with each other’s companies in hiring and share knowledge
  • Three meetings with younger starting out recruiters that wanted advice from an old salty tech recruiter like myself.
  • One BIG meeting with my a vendor to find out that we have a way of doing business with each other and help each other win work in the area!

Conferences for the most part for me and much of the general public are just large parties disguised as a working learning session and not an “I always wanted to go to that city” type of thing. This was a true social meet up. Looking back I am really glad that Kathleen asked a guy to buck up and come to RecruitDC this year. Smartest thing I have done in a while and it was worth the $70 for sure. I hope to see you all at the next one and when you are there come up and say hello!

Derek Zeller is a senior corporate technical recruiter within both the Federal and commercial spaces. He has been both a contractor and permanent employee and has worked both the agency and corporate side of the house. Find him on Twitter @derdiver and blogging on http://www.recruitingblogs.com

Reflections From RecruitDC

by 4 Comments

By Celinda Appleby

me1After my participation in the RecruitDC Career Development Panel, I took the time to reflect on both my presentations and all of the others.  What I love about attending the RecruitDC conference and mini- networking events is that I am guaranteed to walk away reenergized to approach my career in a different way and with new friends.  The social aspect of RecruitDC may be my favorite part; the ability to connect with like-minded individuals is really important not just for sanity but for personal growth. Often times, my peers (me included) feel like we as Recruiters and Sourcers are stuck in a life of recruiting; chasing the candidates and closing the deals. But I want to take the time to refocus on the fact that you can take destiny into your own hands. You can walk away from a RecruitDC event and look at recruiting in a whole different way.

That happened to me, 2.5 years ago at a Spring RecruitDC event at the Gartner Building. It was my very first RecruitDC conference. The closing keynote was about Social Recruiting and I recall being one of three people in the room that was not using it for talent attraction (at least being honest and not raising their hands).  I took over 10 pages of notes and left that conference full of curiosity and excitement for this new sourcing avenue. The impact of that one keynote turned my entire career around.  I would never have imagined the career I have now, before that RecruitDC conference.  It wasn’t an easy path, but without the information, the knowledge sharing and the network I depended on it wouldn’t have even been possible.

I want to empower everyone with taking the time to reflect on the lessons learned and the connections made at RecruitDC last week. Dedicate an hour to strategizing your career. Incorporate the key takeaways that can influence the way you run your desk. Reach out to the people that really resonated with you and invite them to your networks.  There may not be a clear career path for us Recruiters, but find a way to make yourself invaluable and directly impact your customers. This can apply for both agency and corporate enterprises, as we are all in the same industry.

Celinda Appleby is the Employer Branding, Digital & Social Media Program Manager, HR Global Operations, Americas Staffing Organization for HP.  Follow Celinda at @CelindaAppleby. 

 

recruitDC: What Does The C-Suite Want To Know About Talent Acquisition?

by Leave a Comment

We’re looking forward to another packed house at the Spring 2013 recruitDC event. There will be numerous session that provide valuable best practices and tools for recruiting practitioners at all levels throughout the day. We’ll be opening this year’s spring recruitDC event with a panel moderated by Sarah Halzack, Business Reporter at The Washington Post, featuring local HR and Talent leaders.

Learn more about the panel and speakers below.

The headline for this year’s “Post 200″ a Washington Post review of the top 200 companies in the Washington, DC area read like this:  ”In the Washington region, the biggest businesses got a little smaller in 2012.” Combine that with the impact of the Sequester on the local economy, and it would seem talent acquisition wouldn’t be a priority for executives. But the local job market is still one of the most challenging and robust in the entire country. Now more than ever, those organizations that have the hire and retain the best talent are those that win. So what do C-Level executives want to know about the challenges with developing and executing a successful talent acquisition strategy in the local market? Join a panel of top local HR leaders who are being asked these very questions by their top executives and who will share with you their insights into how they are believe that they can win in the local War for Talent.

Bridgette A. Weitzel,
 VP, OD & Chief Talent Officer – BAE Systems

RecruitDC_Bridgette Weitzel

Bridgette A. Weitzel is the Vice President of Organization Development and Chief Talent Officer for BAE Systems. In this role she is responsible for the culture, organization development, talent management, diversity and inclusion, and leadership development efforts globally. [Read more…]

NEVER MISS A RECRUITDC UPDATE!

Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates on recruitDC events, blog posts, conferences and more!

Get Social