03.27.08
Watch out, Amie is on a rant… When is Enough, Enough??
Ok, I am going to go on a few tirades, so bear with me…
1.) Jeremy Langhans had it right this morning on this response to Dave Mendoza’s ERE post in the Elite Cyber Sleuthing group..
There are many in our recruiting/sourcing group that is going WAY overboard on using a recruiting community sites that are focused on recruiter development, education and discussion focused on our industry to self promote and spam their business or consulting group over and Over and OVER again. Problem is that WE in the industry feed each others egos. Plain and simple. One person will find a great way to expand networks or reach passive candidates in a new unique way and then you are then instantly promoted to a godlike status where you are handed the ability to spam people about how wonderful you are and how you are their snake oil fix to a rusty wheel you haven’t been able to fix in months. No one calls them out for what it really is, (except a rare few who have the self confidence to know they have a great talent in this industry and don’t need to base their self worth on someone else’s laurels) and it needs to stop. ERE needs to better reign in and control this ever increasing issue. I believe that when you are one of the few that do have an ability to contribute to others in a way that will help them be more successful, this does not give you the right to be an arrogant self righteous zealot. What it does require of you is the intestinal fortitude to have some character to not let the praise or increase in business hinder you from remembering where you came from (the same place as the rest of us) and be a community player and remember “to much is given, much is required”.
I may never make it to that “IT” status. You know, that is not what I am looking for either. But I will tell you this my friend; I will make darn sure that if that point does come, people can see that I want to make the world better… and not just all about me. Ok…. Enough on that one! 
Second rant…Shrm.org posted on Tuesday about bullying is now being seen worse that sexual harassment. Yes, you read right. If you are being left out of the lunch group, or if someone isn’t playing nice in the sandbox (or cubie) then darn it! That is way worse to endure and ever get over than someone being sexually harassed. Need a one night stand for that promotion? Who cares.. No one pities that or rebukes that anymore..just deal with it, right? That is similar to what Penelope Trunk’s advice on Sexual Harassment is. But ooohh, if someone dare make you feel bullied, well call the EEOC this minute! I can see the headlines. “Former employee awarded 5.5 million for co worker bullying.” How does HR manage this one? Will we need to make sure we are like the public schools where kids get suspended if they offend someone? Will we need to have unpaid leave if you don’t offer someone to go to lunch with you? OR Heck, lets just ban lunch hour, it is too divisive anyhow. I think we are becoming a society that will not be able to pull their own pants with out the government making darn sure that no one offended us if they didn’t like the color scheme we choose to wear to the office. Oh, Wait! We can fix that too! Corporate uniforms! Ok, enough… you get the point..
03.20.08
How the latest SourceCon helped me
I want to first extend my kudos to Josh Kahn who won the first of three challenges this year that SourceCon is offering. He fought a good hard race to the finish, as well as Julia Stone coming in a strong second.
Now that I can do more in my day than obsess with winning challenge #1, and wait patiently for challenge #2, I thought I would share what I did glean from it.
First, I was reminded how strong and valuable my connections really are. I could instantly place my thoughts on Twitter or Facebook and received feedback which helped my perspective with the challenge, allowing me to maintain focus. Rabbit trails kill in this challenge, leading you in paths which you think will help you find “The Moose” but eventually ends up being just plain dung. For example, look at this rabbit trail http://tiny.cc/5M11h which SC tried relentlessly to veer me away from, but, unfortunately I wouldn’t let go. My problem was when I found the picture which was a part of the Valleywag website. On December 14th Valleywag had a party at Moose’s, I thought that it was a big clue, unfortunately, it wasn’t. It didn’t even pertain to the challenge.
There was a valuable opportunity that came about from this. By using my connections also came a chance for me to reconnect with them. For those of you I emailed thinking you were my link to the last clue (and unfortunately many were not) there came new chances to reconnect, something I hadn’t done in months. You had an opportunity to know I am still out in my recruit-o-sphere making my placements and in the hunt like you are, each and every day.
The search also took me back to basics, of just making the calls and sending emails, no matter the outcome. Some of the outcomes weren’t pretty either; people didn’t want to bothered, and others had no clue what I was talking about; but for me that wasn’t a big deal. The more I talked about it, the more I wanted to win the challenge. The more no’s I did get, the more fervent my search became.
Thinking about this, leads me down another rabbit trail… (which I tend to like, bunnies are in at the moment, with Easter quickly approaching). I was thinking about recruiting and sourcing and our perceptions of online recruiting detectives (or researchers). Like Hitchcock or Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple from Agatha Christie, and Hercule Poirot, Adrian Monk, or the cute guy from Psych, Shawn Spencer, (all but one is fictional); what makes them who they are, yet so similar, and why we relate to them, is the fact they network with people on a personal level. They all need to find the answer to a mystery! They talk with others; they get led down wrong paths, but are able to use their skills and abilities to figure out whodunit. Plus, of course, you see along the way that they do upset many a person in their search
Now my point is, not that to be a good sourcer you should have people upset with you, but rather, what I am hoping to convey is that in getting to the end of a quest, what ever it may be, that there are people you may ultimately annoy. Focus on the goal, and don’t give up when the naysayers, or those who are brash, meet you along the way.
The SourceCon challenge is about an individual’s personal skills and abilities to outwit, outthink and outperform the rest in the competition; but it does take going back to the basic in any recruiting function, including third party, contract, or corporate.
The basics of physically talking, reaching out, and/or networking with people; whether it is phone or internet, email or twitter, blogs or ERE, doesn’t matter. You need the person and the people within your circle of influence, and networking is your key in finishing the race, or mystery, in first place.
Being first, for me, is the name of the game, or hunt, or mystery.
Josh was the victor this time, but for me, challenge 2 can’t come soon enough. I have my eye on the prize.
