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RecruitTECH is over for another year and having had a few days to contemplate how it all went, my reflections of the day go something like this … (and I harbour no misconceptions – I am a ‘outsider’ with respect to HR and Recruitment so my views are simply that of the guy who organised the event).  If you have any comments or thoughts, it would be great to hear from you – or you might like to comment below.

We started the day with a great presentation from Sylvia Vorhauser-Smith who came to us from PageUp People.  I think it was an important foundation discussion for the day – linking human behaviour, and in particular the decision making we do around our careers, to science – or in this case, neuroscience.  While I was forced to make a quick phone call to our insurance company regarding their policy on orange-related injuries, it was great to see the audience warm to Sylvia’s key messages.

The second speaker of the day was Sarah Nguyen from Atlassian.  Atlassian has a brand and reputation the envy of many HR and recruiting professionals – and if the post-event chatter is anything to go by, it looks as though there isn’t any immediate threat to that reputation.  The key thing that stayed with me was that if you can get into a position where your own employee’s are the biggest champion of what you do and how you do it, then you’ve effectively created the perpetual motion engine of recruitment.  Am I being too cynical in thinking that the biggest threat to Atlassian’s culture will be its success and growth … I hope not as I personally love the fact that Atlassian loudly and proudly dare to be different.

After a quick break (and the opportunity for a number of our attendees to learn about digital photography from Paul Chapman from Chapman Images) we settled back in for the pre-lunch session.

In this next presentation we got some pragmatic advice from David Smith from Peoplebank.  David’s extensive experience and understanding of recruitment at the coal-face provided the audience with some valuable insights and ideas that could be applied immediately in the work place.   Many people in the audience copied down David’s top ten tips and I am sure they were valuable take-aways from the event for many people.

The pre-lunch session at events is renowned for being a tough gig – that’s not helped when hit with Audio-Visual hiccups.  Luckily for us, Elizabeth Gaunt from Slade Partners was a consummate professional as she captured everyone’s attention with her views and ideas around social media and the way it has evolved over the past few years.   Elizabeth challenged people to always innovate with the use of new tools, and advocated ‘Digital Media’ as an emerging vocation.

The lunch break gave us an opportunity to stretch our legs, get a bit of networking in, and also get a massage from Leigh from the Holistic Services Group.

In the post lunch session, Doug Blue from Seek provided us with some insights into future directions for Seek.   Nuclear Physicist to Product Director at Seek, Doug showed us that the strategy and future of Seek is in good hands. I think we were reminded just how powerful Seek’s presence is across the recruitment industry – and how important it will be to watch their moves as it will have a flow on effect to other companies and technologies.

Matt Sigelman from Burning Glass followed Doug.  Matt had come all the way across to us from his North American headquarters and provided some interesting insights in comparing that market, to our own.  Matt also drew upon Burning Glass’s core expertise in examining workforces at a macro perspective – “more candidates don’t necessarily mean better candidates”.   Matt demonstrated a deep understanding of the HR and Recruitment industry – Matt also demonstrated a very poor taste in music.

The final break provided the opportunity to relax and re-energise – via the champagne tasting challenge!  Don’t forget to look for the little bubbles.

One of the goals we had for the day was to deliver a range of views and ideas to challenge norms.  Ben Kilsby from Holopoint Interactive came to us from a very different viewpoint – that of the Computer Games industry.  Ben’s approach and enthusiasm definitely lightened the room - but – this should not detract from Ben’s well delivered message – that game mechanics can play a massive role in training and recruitment.  As an outside observer, I think there’s a huge opportunity in this space – the challenge for the gaming industry is to start delivering in business terms and accountability with a business culture.

Michael Young from Transformed was our last presenter of the day, and like Ben before him, provided us with something a little different.  Michael’s business is unique in that it has recently been recognised as one of Australia’s fastest growing companies – but it has no office – it is run entirely virtually.  Michael challenged us to think outside of standard employee-employer relationships.  There is no doubt that technology allows us to work remotely where we weren’t able to before – I think it would be naive to think that this won’t have some effect on HR and Recruitment in the years to come.

There are many people that need to be thanked for their contribution to the day:

• All of the presenters – the core of the event was always going to be the quality of the presenters – presentations don’t just happen and we appreciate the investment you made to provide all attendees with such great insight
• All of the attendees – thanks for coming!
• Peoplebank – the major sponsors of the event – special thaks to David Smith, the manager of the Peoplebank branch here in Canberra
• The ACT Government – for their support of the event as part of the business in focus month
• The National Press Club – a great venue for the day – thanks especially to Kim Norenbergs
• Clayton Wehner – nice work as MC and in keeping things on track

Our impression was that the event went pretty well and that the different perspectives of the speakers gave everyone in the audience some food for thought.  However, we recognise that there’s always room to improve – we would love to get your ideas and feedback for RecruitTECH 2012.   Leave us a comment below or please feel free to contact us at www.capitaljobs.com.au .

Only a few days to go until RecruitTECH 2011.  Atlassian are well regarded for their cutting edge approach to recruitment and management  - we will be lucky enough to hear from Sarah Nguyen on Thursday.  We had the chance to ask Sarah a few questions in the lead up to the event …

Great if you could give us a quick elevator pitch on you and your organisation

I’m the Talent (‘HR’) Manager at Atlassian, a software development company that creates collaboration and software development tools. At Atlassian our values aren’t just corporate speak slapped on the wall, we use them to guide everything we do from recruiting to developing software.

What are you working on at the moment?

Planning for FY12, getting ready for our next 360 feedback cycle, implementing a HRIS and working on my RecruitTech presentation, of course!

What innovations in the recruitment and HR space do you think will ‘disrupt’ the market in the next few years?

I think the use of social media as a recruitment tool will dominate (more so than now) the way HR teams and recruiters find talent. As a result, I believe recruiters and HR teams will need to become more agile. I think we’ll see more sophisticated links between traditional careers sites, job ads, social media networks and apps. There will be more pressure on recruiters to develop different ways to headhunt talent as social media tools like LinkedIn give employers and internal HR teams the tools to do a lot of the researching employers typically would have used agencies for.

What’s the best book you’ve read that’s helped you in your career?

Working in a software development company, I really enjoyed reading Managing Humans by Michael Lopp – a tell-it-how-it-is look at managing software development teams. It’s definitely not a typical business book!

Can you remember how you got your first job?  What was it?

Sure can! I worked at a supermarket doing exciting things like stacking shelves and assisting customers. I’d love to tell a more interesting story than that, but it was a pretty generic experience.

What is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone just starting out their career?

Look for a company that has a culture you’ll be inspired by and challenged in — if you’re jumping into a full-time role, you’ll spend more time with your workmates than you do at home, so make sure you find a company where you’ll fit into the culture. Interviews should be about you interviewing the company, just as much as them interviewing you. Look for opportunities that will challenge you and try as many things as possible before deciding whether you want to narrow your focus and specialise. Also go in knowing that you own your career development, not your employer — your future boss/employer can help you get where you want to be, but it’s up to you to make it happen!

What keeps you busy when you’re not at work?

Gallivanting around town searching for a meal or macaron that’ll change my life, travelling when I have some time off, or planning my next adventure!

What are you going to talk about at RecruitTECH and why is it important?

I’ll be talking about unique approaches to recruitment and why they’ll become more important.

The next presenter we get to learn a little more about is Elizabeth Gaunt, the Practice Leader of Digital Media at Slade Partners.  RecruitTECH is getting very close now and we can’t wait to hear from Elizabeth as she tells us all about “Digital Natives” …

Great if you could give us a quick elevator pitch on you and your organisation.

Slade Group has maintained an exceptional reputation for over 40 years. We employee specialists with significant industry experience and global networks. What sets us aside from our competitors are our research tools, which we use to identify and secure the best candidates in the market. When you partner with Slade you benefit from the networks of key specialist search consultants in their chosen industry sectors and gain access to the networks of Chairman and Founder Geoff Slade, Managing Director Anita Ziemer, General Manager of Executive Search, Bill Sakellaris and Head of Research, Sarah Law. We follow a tight process that minimises your risk and ensures best practice. You can be confident that we will secure the best candidate to deliver the performance you need.
As the Practice Manager of Digital Media, I am actively involved in finding and connecting the best digital media professionals with the most innovative and progressive digital media companies, agencies, internal digital departments and publishers in Australia and globally. Key roles include Executive General Managers, General Managers, Heads of Digital, Heads of Search, Heads of e-Commerce, Digital Marketers, Creative Directors, Digital Strategists and Planners, Media Managers and Directors, Media Sales, Sales Directors, User Experience Leads, Search Engine Marketing Specialists and Managing Directors.

What are you working on at the moment?

Key search assignments include General Manager – Head of Paid Search for a major media group, Business Director for a leading digital technology agency, State Sales Manager for a leading dot com, General Manager for a major advertising agency and Senior Account Directors for a number of high profile pure digital agencies. Marketing initiatives include planning and executing a “Digital Transformation” Lunch Series attracting Chief Operating Officer  of The Australian, John Allan as keynote speaker for the first of three luncheons to take place in the Spring of 2011.

What innovations in the recruitment and HR space do you think will ‘disrupt’ the market in the next few years?

Certainly websites like LinkedIn have enabled the internal recruiter to step up and head hunt themselves bringing strong competition to the traditional recruitment agencies. As internal recruiters up-skill in the social recruiting space, opportunities for recruitment agencies may decrease. Therefore, the emphasis will need to be on the speed to market and the engagement with the candidate which remains a core strength of the search recruiter. No doubt this area will continue to evolve as recruiters recognise the need to become more accessible and available to their candidate pool.

What’s the best book you’ve read that’s helped you in your career?

The Google Story. The story behind one of the most remarkable Internet successes of our time. I read this book in 2007 when I left Sensis after seven years to embark on my own website initiative www.itsmytime.com.au. The incredible story of university drop outs Larry Page and Sergey Brin and their meteoric rise gave me the strength, excitement and drive to succeed in my own dot com dream. The learning’s from this book still resonate with me from the amazing business acumen and computer wizardry that started the company, to the secret network of computers delivering lightning-fast search results and the unorthodox approach that has enabled it to challenge Microsoft’s dominance. What perhaps resonated with me most was that even through all the successes, Google wrestled with difficult choices along the way that enabled it to continue expanding to what we know today.

Can you remember how you got your first job?  What was it?

I was 14 and 10 months, the youngest legal age for working and I submitted a very glossy, 40 page CV including school award certificates, report cards, charity achievements and references from teachers to secure my first job at Target. I opened my first bank account to accept my first pay check that was funding an exchange trip to France which my parents had offered to match me dollar for dollar.

What is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone just starting out their career?

Be open to growth, learning’s and opportunities. What you do now, may be very different to what you may find yourself doing in ten years time. If you do have a career goal or dream, be sure to open your networks, talk to professionals in the chosen industry and ask lots of questions. Keep your eye on the job market so that you’re always up with the opportunities out there and don’t be afraid to throw your hat in the ring. Increase your business acumen by reading and observing the business world around you though newspapers, journals, online niche websites. Finally, the best piece of advise I was given at a young age was to dress in the role that you wish to be. If people see you looking like the part, they are quicker to think of you for the role.

What keeps you busy when you’re not at work?

My interests outside of Slade include being an active Ambassador for the K.I.D.S (Kids in Dangerous Situations) Foundation. I am also a well known singer and performer at key sporting and corporate events around Melbourne including singing the national anthem at the home games of the Melbourne Tigers Basketball club. I am also a member of the children’s entertainment group The Workers as character Ballerina Beth, a television series due to go on air in October 2011 on Southern Cross Ten. I am an active member of Fitness First, enjoy skiing, cycling, dining out and attending launches and social events. I’m also in the planning stages of another big event taking place in February 2012 – my wedding day!

What are you going to talk about at RecruitTECH and why is it important?

My topic “Digital Natives and The New Phase of Social Recruiting” will cover the digital media industry today and digital transformation in recruitment. I will address the insurgence of digital media jobs and the six figure salaries that now accompany roles that were typically considered graduate roles and the do’s and don’ts of social recruiting. As digital transformation and technologies evolve, the role of the recruiter is to embrace these changes but recognise how to best to use them to benefit your business and profile whilst being aware of how revealing a commodity the Internet has become and the dangers that come with this.

Next in line in our series of ‘Meet the Presenter’ blog articles is Sylvia Vorhauser-Smith from PageUp People ….

Great if you could give us a quick elevator pitch on you and your organisation.

PageUp People is a global talent management organisation, combining technology and the behavioural sciences to solve global talent challenges. Sylvia is head of global research.

What are you working on at the moment?

Currently developing the Centre for International Talent Management, a global portal of talent management research for use by business leaders to guide the talent challenges of international expansion.

What innovations in the recruitment and HR space do you think will ‘disrupt’ the market in the next few years?

Advanced technologies and neuroscience. Technology is unleashing the secrets of the brain, and science is entering the realm of business. The combined power and insights of science and technology is a future game-changer.

What’s the best book you’ve read that’s helped you in your career?

I love the books that challenge the status quo: Dan Pink’s “A Whole New Mind”, Charles Jacobs “Management Rewired” and Susan Cantrell’s “Workforce of One” are stimulating.

Can you remember how you got your first job?  What was it?

My first job was as a receptionist in a real estate agency. It was in the gap before I started uni. I replied to a tiny add in a local newspaper, lied and told them I wanted a permanent job knowing that I would leave in 3 months to start uni. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I felt sick when I had to resign and disappoint the team that had fully adopted me by then.

What is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone just starting out their career?

Find a space you love, then build skill depth in it, not breadth. Too many career starters are jumping from one thing to the next without building deep expertise in anything. Experts stand out a few years down the track.

What keeps you busy when you’re not at work?

My dog Boris, my husband Charles, and our boat Bling. And my Masters of Neuroscience.

What are you going to talk about at RecruitTECH and why is it important?

I’m going to talk about how science and technology are coming together in exciting ways that will change how we work, not just play.

In the next post in our ‘Meet the Presenters’ series – we’ve asked David Smith, the General Manager in Canberra for Peoplebank to kindly answer some of questions …

Great if you could give us a quick elevator pitch on you and your organisation.

I have more than 20 years’ leadership and management experience in Professional Services having worked for SMS Consulting, Nasdaq-listed Sylvan Learning Systems (now Thompson Prometric) and GMT People. My earlier career was with the Royal Australian Navy, as a Seaman Officer on HMAS TOBRUK, HMAS TORRENS and HMAS BRUNEI.
Peoplebank is Australia’s and Canberra’s largest IT recruitment company. We specialise in placing IT candidates into permanent and contract roles in the Government and Private Sector across all levels from graduates to CIOs. With Canberra’s largest team of recruitment specialists we can assist candidates in finding their next role.
The Peoplebank group of companies also includes specialist Accounting, Banking & Finance; Sales & Marketing; Executive and Oil, Gas & Mining recruitment brands.

What are you working on at the moment?

Further developing a unique candidate sourcing and candidate care team in Canberra, so we can continue finding people for hard to fill roles.

What innovations in the recruitment and HR space do you think will ‘disrupt’ the market in the next few years?

Social networking will continue to shape HR/recruitment over the next few years and in particular how organisations use LinkedIn (and the various tools that plug in to it) as well as Facebook and Twitter to attract talent. The ever increasing awareness of Employer Branding and EVP will also see organisations becoming more savvy with how they leverage technology such as video, social media and career sites etc

What’s the best book you’ve read that’s helped you in your career?

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Can you remember how you got your first job?  What was it?

My first full time role was when I joined the Navy in January 1987 as a Midshipman attending ADFA. My first part time job was as a builders labourer standing frames for houses.

What is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone just starting out their career?

Develop a great can do attitude focused on delivering results for your team. Be passionate and disciplined at work, managers admire a great work ethic in their staff.

What keeps you busy when you’re not at work?

I am married with 3 kids, 10, 8 and 6. So they keep me busy with Rugby and Netball. I am also a Cub Scout Leader and enjoy outdoor activities.

What are you going to talk about at RecruitTECH and why is it important?

The IT Skills shortage in Canberra, how the market is going to change and what ideas employers can do to find talent in a tight market.

We’ve struck a deal with the Holistic Services Group (HSG) to provide our attendees with massages throughout the day at RecruitTECH.  It’s great to have HSG involved and demonstrates that we want people to not only see the day as a great professional development opportunity – but as also a way to have some fun and take a little time out from the standard day to day grind.  A bit more on HSG below …

Holistic Services Group is Australia’s number 1 provider of corporate wellness services. Since 2003, we have been a provider of health and wellbeing services for staff in companies amongst the top 500 in Australia.

We offer a full range of wellness services designed to keep your workplace healthy and productive. Research shows that Corporate Health and Wellbeing Programs reduce workplace absenteeism and saves you money. They help retain and attract quality talent, enhance work/life balance, boost morale, and increase job satisfaction and company pride.
Well-planned programs turn costly workplaces into profitable environments.Holistic Services Group operates in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Our programs are tailored to your environment, your people and your budget, offering effective and affordable solutions for workplace health.

Corporate Health and Wellbeing Benefits:

•             Return on investment through employee retention, decreased absenteeism and sick leave. Case studies show an average ROI of $3-$5 for every $1 spent (Harvard Business Review)

•             Increased trust, engagement, morale and motivation

•             Improved productivity and performance

•             Better focus, concentration and management of workload pressures

•             Sustained mind-body health and wellbeing

•             Foster a community feeling amongst employees

We’ve just released our first list of presenters for RecruitTECH 2011 to be held at the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday 8 September 2011.   As you can see, we have an outstanding group of people lined up that will really deliver some excellent content to our audience.

Make sure that your secure your seat right now – we only have room for 140 delegates and the last conference sold out very quickly.  We have a special Early Bird rate available until 30 June 2011…

RecruitTECH 2009, the inaugural Australian recruitment and technology conference, held in Canberra on 18 September 2009 was a great success, according to its organiser, Clayton Wehner.

‘Our hope was to put on a day-long program of engaging speakers and to have a ‘full house’ of delegates and we achieved both of those aims’, said Clayton, who is also the Managing Director of ACT jobs board CapitalJobs.com.au (http://www.capitaljobs.com.au).

‘We were very lucky to have the support of some great sponsors: the ACT Government, which provided us with a grant to run the event as part of the ACT’s ‘Business in Focus’ month, as well as CapitalJobs.com.au, Peoplebank and JobAdder. Without their help, RecruitTECH 2009 wouldn’t have gone ahead’.

Seventy five delegates, both local and interstate, attended the conference and were representative of the broad spectrum of organisations that are actively using technology to aid their recruitment efforts: recruitment companies, government departments and agencies, small-to-medium enterprises and multinationals.

Delegates were treated to a program of engaging presentations from the likes of recruitment industry stalwart Ross Clennett, social networking queen Laurel Papworth and well-known Oracle blogger David Talamelli. A humourous ‘vox pop’ video from JobAdder’s Brett Iredale was well received by the audience and demonstrated the levels of engagement that can be achieved through online video.

A highlight of the day was the event’s Twitter handle (#recruittech2009) appearing in the top 5 Australian topics for the day as delegates tweeted and re-tweeted their comments around the world. This feat was indicative of the power of social networking, a recurrent theme throughout RecruitTECH 2009.

Given the success of the 2009 event, consideration is now being given to running the event again in 2010.

‘The feedback for RecruitTECH 2009 has been overwhelmingly positive and we’re keen to run the event in both Melbourne and Sydney in late 2010. We had quite a few people contact us in the lead up to RecruitTECH 2009 and ask when the show was moving to those cities, so we’re confident that it will be well received there, too‘.

Anyone interested in attending or sponsoring RecruitTECH 2010 should get in contact with Clayton Wehner at info@capitaljobs.com.au.

Video footage of RecruitTECH 2009 presentations will soon be available at http://www.recruittech.com.au.