e-recruitment strategy

Don't be afraid to ask me

A question has been dominating my thoughts the last few weeks - am I unapproachable as a business resource? 

How else to explain that the 100s of people that I have met at conferences, engaged with via social media and even worked with over the last 20 years or so never seem to call to ask for my professional help?  And it isn't just me; I have had similar discussions with a number of colleagues, independent thinkers and operators, who get rave reviews for their knowledge and expertise during a conference, seminar or workshop and then wait for the phone call (or email or text message or tweet) which seldom comes.

Do we need a new theme song? 
"Call me, don't be afraid you can call me, Call me and I'll be around...."
(amended lyrics, with apologies to Petula Clark)

Or is it just that people don't really know what we do?  We are seen in that micro climate of the conference, the workshop, the blog or the Meetup - perhaps we are then pigeonholed into that mini area of expertise that we spoke of or demonstrated on the day.  Does our 'expert' status frighten away possible clients?  Have we not showcased the range of individual skills, talents and help that we can offer?

OK, then, here is my stab at it.  With thanks also to friends and colleagues who have recently sent messages out via LinkedIn and email to explain what it is that they do, helping me to better understand the real value they can bring to an organisation.

Who is Alan Whitford?
I have over 20 years experience in recruitment, human resources, talent management and technology solutions from all sides of the table; as a 3rd party recruiter/headhunter, as an in-house recruiter, defining recruitment processes and strategy, recommending and selecting technology solutions, building and implementing recruitment and web solutions and most recently have built a pan-European community and knowledge portal for the recruitment industry.

Wow, all of that then? But what do I really do?

I can:
    ▪    Deliver my passion for recruitment and the central role it plays in a company's success, no matter what the company size
    ▪    Run in-house workshops/healthchecks on all aspects of recruitment, including the emergence of social media
    ▪    Provide company strategic direction and change management consulting
    ▪    Brainstorm and create business strategy
    ▪    Develop and implement candidate attraction strategies and tactics
    ▪    Focus on candidate relationship management
    ▪    Define and select technology solutions to better enable recruitment and HR processes
    ▪    Measure your recruitment success with ROI workshops

In a nutshell, I can help you define what to do and then help you to actually get it done.  No project or task is too small or to large to work on.   My services can be purchased as stand-alone discrete solutions by the 1/2 day or full day,  or combined in an end-to-end strategy project.  Every completed project has the additional benefit of our free 30 day e-mail review and consultation service, with unlimited questions, helping to ensure that you continue to apply your newly-acquired knowledge to the best effect.

My Key Message: (and a final song lyric - Thanks Elvis)

If you got a problem, I don't care what it is
If you need a hand, I can assure you this
I can help.

How can we stay in touch?
Tel:          +44 7971 864620
email:     [email protected], [email protected]
Skype:     awhitford
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alanwhitford
Twitter:     alanwhitford

And, as a final note, if I can't help you, I almost certainly know someone who can and will happily refer you on.

Thanks for listening. I look forward to working with you.

Best regards

Alan

Talkback Mobile Recruiting - 5 May 2010

On 5th May 2010, Allthetopbananas.com is running the TalkBack Mobile Recruiting event.

Talkback Mobile Recruiting aims to discuss your ideas for mobile solutions to support the recruitment industry. Dave Martin's blogs about the event and the Twitter hashtag conversation, #tbMobRec, can be read in his blogs below or on his blog site, akatopbananas.You set the agenda, tweet your views via the hashtag.

Dave's video introduction to the event is below.

But, what is my take on Mobile Recruiting?  I support it, believe it is inevitable, in fact, I believe it is already here.  Albeit, I might have a slightly different take.  My comments on Dave's blog post:

As to the big question - to me mobile is as mobile does.  I have been 'mobile' since 1993 when I packed my first Mac powerbook, an inkjet printer and took off to Asia Pacific for a non-recruitment related project.  However, I still had to make placements back here.  Mobile then was using a borrowed Motorola cell phone (the first clam shell model), hard wiring my laptop to a Wellington New Zealand motel phone jack, using Compuserve email and completing the candidate introductions, interview follow up and final negotiations.

In other words, to me Mobile is another style of communications.  GeoLocation services, apps, M sites, Facebook, Twitter andLinkedIn on the mobile -  these all depend on the candidate's and the employer's preferred means of communication. 

Despite the increased penetration of the Internet and a wide range of services one can use on a Smartphone - I still believe that the mobile phone's original purpose - talking to each other - will remain the 'killer app'. Particularly as the number of mobile phones in the UK exceeded the total population in 2006 and in 2008, adults in the UK had an average of 1.8 mobile phones.