While the Red Sawx fans are contemplating suicide (gee, I hope my use of the term won’t result in a a rash of “you just don’t understand Steve” emails) with da Yankees coming into town on Friday, last evening presented a unique opportunity for most of the ERE bloggers to commiserate on the state of their platform – yes, Manaster was present and he was listening.
(BTW, Dave Lefkow and Jason Goldberg left the ERE blog love fest early)
But the real meat of the night took place at a local Irish bar (which local master sourcer Glenn Gutmacher needed assistance to find – but hey, he’s originally from Joisey). Gathered around a table, drinking adult beverages – although I was told by Louisa our waitress that my original order was for a “woman’s drink”, the topics ranged from recruiting strategy to a most vibrant discussion about ethics. Check out this crowd…
Gerry Crispin, Shally Steckerl, Jeremy Langhans, Michael Homula, Joel Cheesman, Sean Rehnder, Gretchen Ledgard, Jason Gorham, David Jackson, Glenn Gutmacher, Heather Hartmann, yours truly.
Guess what? In a nutshell (which aptly describes the personalities of the above – no letters please), even we disagreed on what qualifies as ethical recruiting. We discussed specific cases that have impacted recruiting the most seminal ones being Sears v. Montgomery Ward and Federated v. Herbert Mines Inc. If you look up these cases and really understand what the core issues were – strongly recommended – you’ll find at the core of nearly all legal cases involving recruiting you’ll find a stupid recruiter, a stupid hiring manager, a stupid C-level, or a stupid company…or any or all of these.
But for all our minor style differences – and they really are minor – what seems to garner respect is what we all have in common: A tremendous base of business knowledge. Like any business, recruiting has three components – financial, operational, organizational. Every person at the table understands that what cannot be measured cannot be improved; to this end, we also spoke of developing financial models to address the dynamic nature of recruiting processes and how these impact dividends, EPS, etc.
What else? For one, I kept calling Heather Hartmann, Heather Hamilton (we miss you here Heather of Microchick fame); I think others may have too. I placed a call to Maureen Sharib and she spoke with her arch nemesis Jeremy L. for a few minutes – lol.
Finally, all retired to the hotel’s place of adult beverages for more in-depth discourses on recruiting where we found the ERE team slouched on a couch, undoubtedly wondering what the heck they got themselves into. But Dalton was wearing his lime green power socks which enabled him and Manaster to come over and join the fray.
Anyway, it’s Thursday morning and I’m enjoying my Starbucks decaf, placing calls on my Samsung phone (you’re missed Dennis but what am I gonna do in October?). Dragged Manaster to the hotel’s gym at 6:20.
Time to register – anyone you want me to meet and blog about??
The Recruiting Inferno 