We caught up with Michael Specht to ask him a little about himself and his business – Michael will be speaking at RecruitTECH on 18 September 2009.
Michael Specht has been involved in the technology industry for over 20 years specialising in the impact that technology has on management practices and organisation. He currently leads an HR technology consulting business, Inspecht looking at how social media can be used by organisations to not just enhance their business but actually attract the best people to work for them and also deliver on shareholder value. Previously he has worked in a multitude of roles ranging from software development to project management both in Australia and overseas. He is a regular speaker on HR technology for the Australian Human Resource Institute and has been convener in their HR Technology Special Interest Group. His blog which discusses HR and recruitment has over 5,000 unique readers every month and one of the top 50 in the world covering HR and Recruitment.
Your position/title?
Owner/Founder of Inspecht
Where do you live?
Melbourne
Give us a quick elevator pitch for your business.
I can’t – it is still evolving, but if you must, I run a small consulting business, Inspecht, specialising in HR technology and the application of Web 2.0 tools and techniques for companies of all sizes. To pay the bills I also do project management and change management.
How old is your business?
About 18 months
Why are you passionate about your business?
I want to change the way the world sees technology and its impact on organisations and people.
Name your three favourite business-related websites – the ones you visit religiously in your business
Twitter, Google Reader for my feeds, Saasu my accounting software J
Name your three favourite websites – the ones that you visit in your spare time
All sorts of sites depending on what is of interest, they vary from business to technical.
How many hours do you work in a typical working day and do you work weekends?
It depends; today 15 hours, some days 8 hours, weekends always
What do you do in your spare time?
Work, run, ski and spend time with my family, oh and work
How many followers do you have on Twitter?
Around 2,999 plus or minus 10 or 20 depending on the day
How many friends do you have on Facebook?
446 or so
Do you blog? Where is your blog located?
Yes I blog, you can find me at http://specht.com.au/michael/
If you were able to invite any three people to dinner, who would they be and why?
Chris Anderson of TED fame, cause he has spent so much time with thought leaders through the TED conference. Clay Shirky as I have been a fan of his writing for a long time. Finally either of the Google founders to understand what makes them tick.
Do you have a business mantra or favourite saying? If so, what is it?
I have two; “It’s not what the software does. It’s what the user does.” And the second comes from the Agile Project Management methodology of Scrum “A pig and a chicken are walking down a road. The chicken looks at the pig and says, “Hey, why don’t we open a restaurant?” The pig looks back at the chicken and says, “Good idea, what do you want to call it?” The chicken thinks about it and says, “Why don’t we call it ‘Ham and Eggs’?” “I don’t think so,” says the pig, “I’d be committed, but you’d only be involved.”
What is the biggest mistake that you have ever made in your business?
While I make mistakes daily probably the biggest was not starting it sooner.
In your eyes, what are the three top trends in the recruitment and technology space?
That is a hard question, one I have been pondering for many months and still have no answers. If I look toward the top 5 Boston Consulting Groups’ Mega Trends (Economic Volatility, Globalisation, Connectivity, Rise of Trust and Transparency, Global Warming and Rise of Green Products) they provide us some view on what is going to happen around recruitment technology. With continued economic volatility the only trends that will become mainstream will be the ones that limit economic exposure or provide a return on investment in a very short time. The continued push of globalisation and connectivity will influence how and where work is done, impacting the how and where we source candidates. The rise of trust and transparency will fuel more sites like Glassdoor, and Rate my Professor while providing both candidates and recruiters the ability to research each other in a way that has never been seen before.
What are you going to talk about at RecruitTECH and why is it important?
I will be talking about Social media in the workplace and why you should never turn a deep fryer into a spa.
