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 .