#TalentNet
(May 01, 2009) Last night I had an interesting opportunity. Craig Fisher (@fishdogs on Twitter) asked me to join an event called TalentNet. He wanted me to pick a topic and tweet about it for a half an hour or so.
Fisher, the founder of A-List Staffing is a regular presence throughout the social recruiting scene. Regularly engaging in rapid experimentation, fast fail prortotyping, he is one of the experimenters who are defining the shape of next generation Recruiting. TalentNet is the brainchild of a collaboration between Fisher and Susan Kang Nam.
Here’s TalentNet on Facebook and #TalentNet on Twitter)
TalentNet is a monthly conversation (using Twitter as the platform) for recruiters who want to join in. By appending the #TalentNet ‘hash tag’ to your tweet, the messages route through twitter and can be easily searched. One participates by tweeting with the hash tag. One watches the conversation flow through a twitter search on #talentnet. (Tweetchat dolls this up into an interface that makes it feel like a more familiar chatroom)
I felt like an orator at Speaker’s corner (or better, a regular at an Irish Bar on St. Patrick’s Day). Hundreds of Recruiters jostled for time on the floor. Amidst the roar of the crowd, you had to surf the tweetflow in order to get any lift to the conversation. Just scan the twitterfeed and imagine it scrolling by at the rate of 15 messages/minute. While it was possible to stay on top of the flow, it was absorbing and dizzying.
I’m not sure that Twitter is going to work as a way to host these sorts of get-togethers. The crowd on Wednesday night taxed the limits of human attention. It’s reasonable to expect a much larger group next time. There’s just no way to level the playing field when everyone is clamoring for attention.
Now, that’s not to say that conversation went missing. There are many really bright pioneers in our Recruiting universe. They were out in force and consistently made the following points:
- You have to make deposits before you can withdraw; give before you get;
- Social media tools mean different things to different people;
- There is no one right way to use social media in recruiting; and
- We can expect lots of failure as we move forward…that’s how learning works.
So, it’s pretty exciting to get to see the best and the brightest willing to risk embarassment in the interests of getting better at their jobs. The first TalentNet was a moment the industry should be proud of. I’m hoping the folks at the social recruiting summit will make sure to host a TalentNet event.
- I’m on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Friendfeed. Catch up with me.
- I’m doing a Free Webinar: Regional HR Marketing and PR – Tailoring Sales to Market Realities
- Thursday, May 7, 2009,
- 10-11 am PT (1-2 pm ET) - I’m leading an Intensive workshop called Recruiting Strategy in a Down Economy: Identifying What’s to Come in the Upturn at the Kennedy Recruiting Conference in Las Vegas on May 19.
