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Why recruitDC Matters To Me

May 19, 2017 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

By Audra Knight

I was rather nervous the first time I attended recruitDC. Now, let me clear here – I knew I was going to learn a lot at RecruitDC in 2016, but what I didn’t expect was the friendships that would come out of attending the conference.

For me, it was great to catch up with some old friends like Katrina Collier, Jo Weech, Kerri Noone and some other great DC people who make our industry and community so special. As for new friends, I ended up at a meal with one of my favorite podcasters, the Mad Scientist of Online Recruiting Chris Russell. Not surprisingly, we’ve kept in touch and I have learned so much about HR Tech from him over the past year. It was also at this event that I first met Chris Kurtz, whom I now consider one of my best friends and someone I am so thankful to have in my life. Derek Zeller taught me that you should always celebrate who you are, and he continues to blow me away with his recruiting knowledge and writing skills, even from the other side of the country in Portland. As a side note, the most surprising aspect of any connection I made while I was there was the valuable parenting advice that I got from Lorne Epstein. I bet he doesn’t even remember but it has really helped me. Hat tip to you, Lorne. 

This year I’m returning to recruitDC, and by far, the learning is again a strong pull for me. The event covers everything from sourcing to closing the candidate, which we can always use a refresher on.

In my presentation, I will be sharing why and how personal branding will benefit everyone in recruitment. Candidates are researching us online just as we are researching them, and trust me, the cost of a bad online presence is high. Don’t believe me? Just check out the hashtag #RecruiterFail. I I most certainly appreciate that we are all super busy, so what you’ll see from me is a few easy tips and tricks to put in action in no time.

Beyond the learning, I am really looking forward to another chance to meet new people and make new recruiting friends. Here are my “pro tips” for networking at this event:

  • Arrive early and have breakfast with the other early risers like me.
  • Don’t work during the breaks. You might not get another chance to meet the great people around you.
  • At lunch, sit with people you don’t know. Confort Zones are to be avoided at conferences!
  • Meet all the sponsors. We wouldn’t have this great event without them and you just make have something in common.
  • Listen more than you talk – so important to relationship building at every stage.
  • Most important, stay for the networking party from 4:00 on as that’s where the real friendships happen.

See you next week!

RecruitDC 2016 – One old friend and one new friend

Filed Under: DC Area Conferences, recruitDC Conference, recruitDC Events Tagged With: Audra Knight, employment branding, networking, recruitDC

Jason Redman: A Veteran's Perspective

November 13, 2014 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

By Kathleen Smith
Jason Redman is a keynote speaker on the second day of the CyberMaryland 2014 conference. Jason is a U.S. Navy SEAL Lieutenant (retired), Founder of SOF Spoken Speaking company, author of “The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy Seal Leader” and CEO and Founder of Wounded Wear.

I feel really thankful. When you come close to the other side it makes you very reflective. At least it did for me. That really caused me to dig deep at who I was and what it was to lead, strengths, and weaknesses. For me to have such positive feedback from other people out there about the book is great. Because when I released it out there, I was wondering “how is this going to go over?” It has been resoundingly positive.

What advantages and disadvantages did you have in the job market as a veteran?

All veterans have been taught leadership, teamwork, communication and how to overcome adversity. We have been trained how to work in teams. Even teams where you might not like all the people you are working with, but you have to work toward that common goal and you have to make those benchmarks.

This is no different in business. Everything we learned in the military you can transfer those same terms into the business world. Frequently I talk about military mission process. I take the military mission process and show businesses it’s not a different process than what they are trying to accomplish. We may use different terms, but really the process to execute a mission to completion is the same.

This is where veterans have a tremendous advantage. They come into the workforce and they understand how to build a team, they understand how to step up and lead, they clearly understand how to follow. Many of the simple things that people need to learn in business when they come into the workforce, our veterans already have.

As to disadvantages, I think veterans coming into the workforce from the military community are frustrated because the civilian workforce doesn’t work as quickly as the military can in executing missions. I see this frustration a lot among our veterans.

Another disadvantage is we have a tendency to be very blunt. It’s just the nature of our community. We can’t always get away with being so blunt, but we can say to a colleague, you messed up, you need to fix it and this is why. In the civilian community, people are not used to this. Good or bad, over the last couple of years I have realized that while I am running both companies – Wounded Wear and my speaking company – that I need to temper my bluntness. I have learned I need to be more appreciative of the contributions of others and how they are contributing. I have learned that I need to build and foster my working relationships without the need to be so direct. It is useful and totally applicable in the military to be direct and totally accepted in the military, but doesn’t go over to well in the civilian community.

It is a bit of shock. I will be completely honest. I actually burned a potentially good business relationship to the ground because I was way too direct. There was some friction and I expressed my mindset and thoughts. Lesson learned afterwards when I realized you can’t just do that. I had to learn how to nurture relationships in a better, less direct way. You can still think these thoughts as part of your process, but vocalizing them may need some temperance.

Why did you choose to become an entrepreneur over joining a company and specifically a charitable endeavor?

I didn’t necessarily choose the entrepreneurial venture, it chose me. This came about through needs of the community.

As I went through my transition process as a wounded veteran, I saw that we could do things better. I saw gaps in services that I thought that we could fill. As with anything it started out as an idea, and this is a great strength of mine to take an idea and turn it into reality. I am also very fortunate that my wife is an entrepreneur. While I was serving, she ran several businesses just like many military spouses have done to support their families. So when I brought up the idea to do Wounded Wear, she said okay let’s do it. She was very instrumental in shaping the venture and driving it forward. My wife reminded me that many other wounded veterans felt the same way I did, that there were gaps in the support provided.

Now here we are four years later after creating Wounded Wear, and I have started my second company, SOF Spoken, the speaking company. I think everyone who served in the military understands the process of how to step into any role in a company and complete the mission. If you are a career military person, you now have all the skills and abilities to assume a leadership role. I think it would be hard for some individuals to step out and take a couple of steps back. So many of these career veterans are well suited for running their own businesses and shaping the direction of where their company is going. This really appealed to me and I have really enjoyed it.

To be able to run your own venture and make a difference in people’s lives through Wounded Wear is just an added bonus.

What advice do you have for transitioning military?

It is a totally different culture. As I said earlier, learning how to foster relationships and not being so direct is one piece of advice. The two main points that I illustrate in the book are leadership and the overcome mindset.

Getting out into the civilian community is no different. This is where veterans have a tremendous advantage, especially veterans who have been in for 20 or 30 years who have held higher lever leadership positions. The civilian organization that they may go work for may not recognize their leadership ability immediately. I strongly believe in leadership by example. So even if you feel that the company doesn’t have that mission focused culture or that tight knit camaraderie yet, I firmly believe the veteran can foster a similar type of community feel in their civilian position.

The veterans will see quickly that people want to be around leaders and around those individuals who are making a difference. A veteran should come into a civilian organization not with the mindset of changing, but applying the lessons they learned in the military. Motivating and inspiring those around you by example, I think the veteran will quickly find that they will be welcomed and quickly have opportunities to move up.

Another point I make in the book is the concept of living greatly. Too many times people do not want to step outside of their comfort zone out of fear. Fear is the number one thing that drives us not to do things. In the situation of a veteran looking at transitioning to civilian life there is some of this. How is this next phase in my life going to be? How is it going to be working in an environment that is so different from what I was doing before? Some of these thoughts are preconceived notions in our mind. Usually these thoughts we create in our mind are the biggest things that stops us from accomplishing things. 90% of the time those things that we perceive don’t even come to reality.

If you do take that step, that leap of faith, to move past these preconceived notions most of the time we find out that it is not nearly as bad as we thought it would be. I tell people all the time you have to take that step.

One thing I do with wounded warriors and families of the fallen is take them skydiving. I tell them, it is not about jumping. It’s not about skydiving. It’s much more about overcoming fear. It’s about standing up on that ramp and stepping off into the great unknown. It is recognizing you are alive and you have the ability to overcome. This is what people need to get into their minds.

This is what veterans need to get in their minds, I am afraid of this new endeavor, this new stage in my life because it is unknown but there is so much opportunity there and this life is too short to let it pass by so you can’t sit around and wait. You need to step off that ramp and go.

How can veterans benefit from inner reflection as they embark on a new career?

For those who think that tapping into your inner reflection is weak, you have a very short sighted view of life. You can never truly achieve your greatest potential unless you truly know who you are. That is the reality and something that I figured out after I made some mistakes. I realized that there were parts of me, things that I was doing whether consciously or unconsciously, that were holding me back.

All of us have different personalities and talents. These are things that define who we are and drive us to be successful. These are also sometimes the things that drive us to fail. It is only when you are able to look at all of your strengths and weaknesses, looking at what are all the things that have helped you but also what are all the things that have hindered you and might hinder you in the future. It is only when you can truly understand all of these components of yourself can you move forward to success. You begin to recognize that you have certain tendencies.

This is what I experienced and wrote about in the book such as my tendency to be a bit impatient with my decision making. I am very aware of this now and try to slow down my decision process to make sure that I am thinking through all the things that might happen. This is totally applicable to anyone out there. If you see this as a weakness I think some day you will figure out that you are missing out.

In closing I would like to share what I say to all veterans: Our country is at a time right now where it is starving for leadership in business, politics and community. We are starving for leaders who have conviction, who have accountability, who are willing to step up and lead and set the example. And these are all the things that we have learned in the military and we need veterans to get out there and do it.

I tell veterans, step up and lead because we need it. Maybe you don’t want to run a large company, or get into politics. At least get out and be active in your community. The military has taught us veterans so much about how to lead, overcome, make a difference and accomplish the mission. We need to share these lessons with the American people as it is critical to the future of our nation.

Kathleen Smith is the Chief Marketing officer for ClearedJobs.net. You can connect with her on Twitter at @YesItsKathleen. Follow ClearedJobs.net at @ClearedJobsNet

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: entrepreneur, Job Search, Kathleen Smith, networking, Veterans

Looking Back On Talent Connect 2014

November 4, 2014 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

By Danielle Boykin
I’m fresh off the plane from Talent Connect in San Francisco, and am trying to put into words how I feel about the overall experience.  Here are the highlights: San Francisco was beautiful, the Giants were going to the World Series, the weather was pleasant and the fog was minimal…what’s not to like?

Here’s my report card for the event:

Efficiency: B
The Moscone Center was amazing, but my initial encounter there was to walk into a line of 1000+ people waiting at registration on Day 1.  Wait, I’m confused…didn’t I register online already? Why am I waiting in line for registration?  It was simply for the swag bag and badge, but perhaps they could have allowed us to print our own badges prior, or had them at our hotels upon check-in, and then all the bags could have been distributed a whole lot quicker. The registration line made most of us late to our first learning session.

Speakers: B
In my first session, the speakers gave a captivating talk on how to make a mark with your personal brand on LinkedIn.  In less than 30 minutes I got plenty of takeaways on personalizing, customizing, and optimizing my profile…huge value add!

But not all of the sessions were as valuable, and that’s not just from my perspective. I heard many people commenting at the networking events and meals that they had a bad experience at one of the sessions.  I always asked, “Which one?”  I was anxious to see if they simply weren’t going to the same great sessions that I was going to, and that was often the case.  The consensus seemed to be that a lot of the presentations were very light in their content, often leaving us wanting more.  In the 60-minute “How to Influence Your Hiring Managers” presentation on Tuesday afternoon, the presenters said “thank you” and had clearly finished up what they had to share with us…in only 29 minutes!  So we headed to the snack tables and did some more networking.

Networking: A
The networking piece was probably what I found most valuable during my entire time atTalent Connect.  I recruit recruiters, so this was like being a kid in a candy store for me, 4000+ recruiting/marketing/branding professionals all in one place!  I met people from all over the country, so it wasn’t like everyone I met was a potential candidate—but they were a potential resource.

Breakfast on Tuesday morning proved the most interesting when I had a chance to sit with a “Talent Hacker” from Nebraska.  We had a great conversation; it was a collaborative, genuine exchange of best practices.  We recounted our recent successes and failures, explained different recruiting techniques, and shared what we think works, what doesn’t work, and how to keep moving forward.  That conversation, right there, was worth my time. That was worth the trip.

Overall
Talent Connect was a great experience.  Could the learning sessions have been better? Always, at every event, but that’s why it’s so critical to plan ahead.  I definitely recommend looking at the different learning tracks and reading what they are about, so you can determine which tracks/classes are going to be the most beneficial to you as a recruiter, a manager, or someone who is looking to bring back content to train a team of recruiters, as I am planning to do.  Two days of classes, networking, great conversations, not so great food, and the occasional adult beverage, and I think I got what I was looking for…personal development, professional development, and a chance to grow my network.  Thank you LinkedIn!  Looking forward to next year!

Danielle Boykin is a Corporate Recruiter at Celerity IT. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or find her on Twitter

Ed Note: This post was originally published here, and was republished with the author’s consent. 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Danielle Boykin, LinkedIn, networking, Recruiters, Talent Connect

Join Us For The Next recruitDC Event – December 11th!

October 20, 2014 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

Join us for the next recruitDC! Our upcoming half day conference will be hosted at the USAToday/Gannett building in McLean on Thursday, December 11th from 7:30am to 12:30pm.
We have an exciting line-up for this half day conference, starting off with Talent Advisors: The Next Frontier from Dion Love, Senior Director at CEB.

Following this session, we will host roundtable discussions to share and learn best practices on topics such as: Boolean Search Strings, Veteran Hiring Best Practices and Managing Recruiters & Building Effective Teams.

You will then have a choice between two breakout sessions: Engaging Talent or Recruiting Leadership. Panelists and presenters come from many different companies in our community including The MotleyFool, Bozzuto, Leidos, Rosetta Stone, CEB, Triple Canopy, to name a few!

Remember to register early, as tickets will go fast! https://fall2014recruitdc.eventbrite.com

Filed Under: recruitDC Events, Uncategorized Tagged With: networking, recruitDC, Recruiters, recruiting, sourcing

Got Community?

October 8, 2014 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

By Kathleen Smith
Community as an aspect of our daily lives – not the television show – has become another buzzword. We want to live in a community -sometimes a gated community-, we want to be part of a community to learn, share, become popular; entrepreneurs want a community to make revenue and recruiters want a community to build a talent pipeline.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Community, Kathleen Smith, networking

Turning The Tables – Job Searching As A Recruiter

October 6, 2014 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

As recruiters, we’re uniquely positioned to see job searches on a daily basis. We see how they start, the progression of the interview cycle, and the end of the cycle where a candidate lands in their new job. As is often true, it’s hard to see something clearly when you are right on top of it. Recruiters are notorious for being good at facilitating this type of life change for others, but for also having a very hard time to do it for themselves.
Many questions start to surface as you prepare to dive into the job search as a recruiter marketing yourself. Is my resume up to date? Who have I kept in touch with? Who do you reach out to? It’s also interesting to think about how recruiters perceive candidate experience when they are in the middle of a search….for themselves. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Candidate Experience, Career Path, Job Search, networking, Recruiters, Social Media

How To Network Your Way Into Your Next Startup Job

October 2, 2014 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

By David Adelman
Landing a job isn’t easy. With unemployment stubbornly high and constant competition from overqualified candidates, overseas labor and overzealous robots, getting hired is getting harder.

I recently watched several friends go through the job hunt, and one thing became clear: The traditional method of applying for posted jobs won’t cut it anymore. Times are changing, and that means that job seekers must adapt as well. Now more than ever, it’s your network — not just your resume — that matters. Up to 80 percent of all jobs are “hidden.” They aren’t advertised, and those that are often get filled by candidates with an inside track.

Notice the word “work” in “network.” Your contacts won’t just hand you jobs. There’s effort involved. If you don’t ask, you’ll never receive. Put yourself out there and you’ll be shocked at how open your contacts are to lending a hand. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: David Adelman, Job Search, LinkedIn, networking, Social Media

Social Media Recruiting in the Defense and Intelligence Community

August 28, 2014 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

By Kathleen Smith
The buzz concerning social media for recruiting and employer branding has reached a ball-142738_1280fever pitch. What was once thought impossible, namely access to social media sites, and is now permitted. But now that the gates have opened many are in a quandary as to how to implement social media. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Government Contracting, intelligence community, Kathleen Smith, networking, Recruiters, recruiting, Social Media, sourcing

What Do Recruiting & Bartending Have In Common?

August 26, 2014 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

By Celinda Appleby
Over at HP, we have been having a conversation amongst our Global Talent Acquisition team about “What makes a Great Recruiter?” on our internal social media network. The responses from our Recruiters have been really awesome! However, all I keep thinking about is how recruiting is like bartending. Maybe I am in need of a happy hour… but I have come up with three ways on how recruiting is like bartending. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Career Path, celinda appleby, networking, recruiting

Getting Back To Recruiting Basics

August 15, 2014 by recruitdc 2 Comments

By Mike Chuidian

Couldn’t I argue that most of us hate being uncomfortable?! Couldn’t I also argue that some of us don’t like change? But couldn’t I also argue that change and being uncomfortable are the two things that hold us back from realizing our full potential as human beings?

Several months ago, I was forced to get out of my comfort zone and make a change. The couple years before that, I was engulfed with Social Media and utilizing it in my everyday recruitment routine. I was that guy….You know…. the one who thought he was too good to pick up the phone and call people because I thought I was above making 250 pipelining calls a week.  I really thought that Social Media was my saving grace in the recruitment process. I had what The Boolean Blackbelt, Glen Cathey would call “OESS- Obsessive Exotic Sourcing Syndrome”.  I was that guy.

Last December, I did the unthinkable and landed back in agency. What was I thinking?! Ugh! But you know what? I knew I was getting out of my comfort zone and making a change I knew I had to make….for the better. So here I am…..in a metrics driven environment forced to pick up the phone *insert music of terror*. Was I scared to pick up the phone at first?  YES. But why?!? I’ve been doing this for 8 years and I know recruitment very well. Because I leaned heavily on messaging, tweeting, In-mailing, emailing, etc. The phone was like kryptonite to me while I was “Social Recruiting”, whatever that means nowadays. I’ll save that for another post.

PhoneWolfI was forced to go back to basics and learn how to get my swagger back on the phones.  It was like picking up a surfboard or bodyboard you haven’t ridden in years and picking up where you left off. It took me a little while to get it back, but I got it back.  Smooth as ever and building an awesome pipeline of candidates in an area that for me was/is foreign to recruit in….Central PA. But YES, I’ve fallen back in love with the phones, but I still LOVE Social Media and using it as a tool to supplement my sourcing and recruiting efforts.

I was pretty good with the “Social Recruiting” thing.  But you know what?!  I’m even BETTER picking up the phone in combination with using Social Media to recruit and source.  So getting back to basics of picking up the phone has served me a big piece of humble pie…straight to the face. But I’m savoring that taste to take me to new heights in an industry that I love immensely.

I’ll leave you with a quote, an inspiring one to say the least……

“Look down at that little black box right in front of you. You see it? It’s a wonderful little invention called the telephone. Here, I’ll spell it for you: T-E-L-E-P-H-O-N-E. Now, guess what, everybody? This telephone won’t dial itself! Yeah, that’s right. Until you take some f*cking action, it’s nothing more than a worthless hunk of plastic.”…..“So don’t you ever f*cking forget that that phone sitting on your desk is a deadly weapon. And in the hands of a motivated Strattonite it’s a license to print money. And it’s the great equalizer!”” ~ The Wolf of Wall Street

Mike Chuidian is a Sr. IT Recruiter with Modis, and has worked with growing companies such as SAI and Comcast. He’s also an epic connoisseur of sneakers.  Keep in touch with Mike on LinkedIn or Twitter

Note: This post was originally featured on The Rad Recruiter, and was republished with the author’s consent.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: agency, mike chuidian, networking, Phone Sourcing, recruiting, Recruiting Basics, Social Media

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