Calling all Recruiters using Social Media day-to-day

I had a great meeting with a Starbucks Recruiter yesterday.  Kirsti Stubbs is on the forefront of recruiting Retail and Hospitality graduates and professionals into her world at Starbucks. She is on the leading edge using social media tools and methods as a cost-effective way to source great candidates.  Next week, I will post some video highlights from our conversation. The good news is, our program teaches students these new tools and techniques, and it offers them a tremendous place to start building their brand through post-secondary education.

When we advocate WhyHire.me to educators, faculty and students, we do need to offer external validation of some key changes that are happening in the world of job search and recruiting. I am interested in profiling your stories related to your use of Twitter, Google, Google Alerts, Blogs, Linkedin. I would very much like to profile your successes and emerging new best practices you use to source the right candidates, cost-effectively.

Your stories will hit our blog, be promoted to our users and be used for sustained social media and traditional media outreach. Check out our past coverage here.

Please drop my a line at andy [at] whyhire [dot] me  or tweet me at @goandychurch

Looking for work or looking for ways to help?

Over the past few weeks, a theme keeps percolating to the top of conversations with students, educators and industry people. It’s time to make the shift from ‘looking for work’ to “How can I help?” The meaning is completely different. The perspective is mind shifting. Businesses have challenges and problems to solve. The question is “How can I help solve them?” What do you as a student or professional have to offer and how can you help to solve their problems?

Helping people is about taking action not sitting back. It’s about getting your hands dirty and showing people what you can do. I’m not suggesting that we work for free but I am suggesting that, in some cases, you need to be willing to throw something in (an idea or time) to prove you can help. Times have changed and we need to change our approach to looking for work and start looking for ways to help.

Getting Caught Up

It’s been week since I have written a blog post.  Once again, breaking the blogging golden rule but I’m giving myself some latitude because we have been in the middle of officially launching WhyHire.me.  Although in theory, I should have been writing more.  But moving on…

Over the last month, we have launched the second version of our WhyHire.me portal, finished up a 70 page eBook which is embedded in the portal and produced 7 interactive presentations which will be used by teachers and students either in the classroom or as stand alone interactive learning modules.  It’s been a lot of work but rewarding on so many levels.  I really feel that what we have developed a product and program that will has tremendous value for those preparing for their professional lives.  I wish someone had pushed me and asked me the questions we are asking of our students when I was 20ish.  We are giving them a leg up on their careers and a perspective which all knowledge workers need in this economy.

WhyHire.me is being used in 12 classrooms this term.  We are getting the professors up to speed on the technology (social networks) but they will all be ready to fly with the content by the end of the week.  Everyone involved in the program has been very positive, and like ourselves, believe that this program has great value to our students.
Over the next couple of weeks, we will share feedback from our users here.  I will be team teaching at Carleton in the Sprott School of Business alongside Leighann Neilson, so I will have first hand input from the ‘trenches’.

I want to once again thank all our partners who have taken the next steps with us.

At Algonquin College, we would like to thank Wendy Threader, Jim Kyte, Dave Donaldson, Wayne McIntyre, Terry Frederick, Marc Johnstone and Noni Stukel.  Algonquin piloted our program last year and showed great leadership and a real understanding and interest in helping their students.  The Algonquin students in the School of Business are lucky to have people like this behind them.
At Centennial, our thanks go out to Liz Smith, David Johnson, Michael Vourakes and Linda Donville. These faculty members saw the potential associated with the curriculum and the associated outcomes. Their students get to learn how to use social media tools for research, collaboration and online communications – plus the added bonus of each student being able to fire up a comprehensive portfolio of experiences gained at Centennial College.

Patti Church, co-founder of WhyHire.me puts her passion out there!

I proudly listened to Patti on the CFRA morning show as I ventured down the 401 to Toronto on Tuesday. She is an amazing teacher and partner. Check out her interview and hear her first hand account of what drove her to help bring WhyHire.me to life!

You Should be Reading Seth Godin’s Blog

I have been a fan of Seth Godin for years. He’s led me down the path of permission marketing, purple cows and leading tribes.  As a marketing professor, I have introduced Seth to everyone of my classes.  As a consultant and business owner, I have applied his teachings and developed better business models and approaches because of them.  What sets him apart from other authors and consultants in his field is that he’s an amazing storyteller.  His short blog posts are both insightful and thought provoking but at the same time they are easy to remember and apply because of the stories he wraps around his teachings.

I’m grateful for his storytelling approach.  It has made me a part of his tribe, a better teacher, and a more astute business person.  I for one have become an information junky.  Not only because of my love for communication and  technology but also because I want to learn.  With all the information that’s out there, it’s nice to find a source that is anchored with an experienced perspective but also a visionary eye while at the same time intertwining real situations and people that pull the pieces together so nicely.

I would recommend that our students, teachers, and any other readers set up Seth in their RSS readers, follow him on twitter (where he announces his blog posts) or just check out his blog regularly.  It’s a good read and one I know you will learn from.