TRU Conferences

How often do you come across a global company that truly works to ensure that their culture supports the culture in the community?  Any company names come to mind?  Well, I had the privilege to meet executives from a company that does.

Jobsite.

Jobsite UK (Worldwide) Ltd. is one of the largest online recruiting sites in the UK.  There are some unique qualities that Jobsite has that are clearly making them stand out against their competition.  One thing that makes them unique is their section called Be My Interviewer.  In this section of their site, job seekers can choose to practice interview questions with leaders from many top UK companies.  The interviews are pre-recorded sessions where the business leader asks key questions they would typically ask during an interview.  They also record each leader’s recommendations of the type of answer they would expect or be looking for from a candidate.   It’s an innovative concept that will certainly help job seekers prepare and helps Jobsite position itself as a thought leader in creative outreach for candidates.

What I find most inspiring is the way Jobsite supports their community.  They are the proud sponsor of the Portsmouth Football Club.  Portsmouth, UK, site of the Jobsite headquarters, relies on the football club as a source of jobs and income for the city.  And, while the club is having some financial difficulty at this time, it has not halted the enthusiasm Jobsite has to support them.  They understand just how much it means to the city and to their employees to have this team.  They also do many other community service events to show their support and dedication to Portsmouth, aka “Pompey”.  Click here to see some of the things they are involved in.

As the platinum sponsor of TRULondon 2,  Jobsite helped provide a unique un-conference experience for many people who had never experienced such an exchange of ideas.  The fact that they were progressive enough to embrace something relatively new speaks volumes about the kind of company they are.  They not only were the premier sponsor, they were presenters and participants.  And I don’t mean the kind of companies who come to a conference to tell you how great they are.  They were active participants in the leadership conversations and the recruiting strategy conversations.  They were a seamless part of the experience.

Following the event, several key execs hosted some of the TRU London attendees at a football game.  For the US readers, this means I had the opportunity to attend the most exciting “soccer” event I have ever been to. Dare I say the most exciting sporting event I have ever been to.  It was just amazing.  With Jobsite as the sponsor of the Portsmouth, UK football club, we were given the full VIP treatment.  We learned the chants and the songs, we stood, we cheered, we even had the fortune of being able to walk out on the pitch (field) during halftime for some amazing pictures.

Why do I tell you this?  Because once again, Keith Potts and Felix Wetzel were not there to try to put on the hard sell about Jobsite.  It was clear to see they are passionate about Jobsite, about their home-town football club, and about the community of Portsmouth.  After all, it’s where they are based.  They, and their employees fully support this team.

So, next time you are looking to do business with someone, look beyond the slick flyers and booths.

• Who ARE they?
• What do they really stand for?
• Do they support their community, and does their community support them?

If not, point them in the direction of Jobsite and tell them to take a lesson.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I’m not a paid endorser of Jobsite. But, I think I could have a shot as their next model.  What do you think?

At the end of last month, Jobsite were the Platinum Sponsor of TRU London 2, an unconference in London for the recruitment industry.

If an unconference means nothing to you then you’re not alone. It was certainly my first experience of one. Basically, as the name suggests, an unconference goes against all the usual conference rules. This means no speakers, no presentations, no pitches, no sales materials etc. Instead, you have ‘tracks’ run by 3 or 4 track leaders. These tracks covered some of the most interesting topics at the heart of the recruitment industry today. Examples included: social media circus, job board 2020, employer branding vs. employee branding, talent wars and technology shopping list.

The track leader’s job is to kick-start discussion and debate within the group and try to moderate so that everyone gets their say (sometimes easier said than done!)

The brains behind TRU London; Bill Boorman, told me to expect organised chaos and he wasn’t lying! The tracks I attended were really interesting and their interactive nature left me feeling like I had gained more from them than having someone talk at you for an hour, like you often do at standard conferences. The debate sometimes got heated, but that just added to the fun!

Having so many like-minded people in one place provided fantastic learning opportunities, meaning that the break-times were just as beneficial as attending tracks. However, I think a valuable lesson was learned when the food was very late arriving on day 1 – recruiters don’t like to be hungry!

As part of our sponsorship, we were able to pick the brains of those attending and get invaluable feedback on the BETA version of a new CV search we’re launching soon. On Day 2 we sought suggestions for improvements we could make to our Jobs-by-Twitter service, so expect to see some updates to that in the near future.

We were also able to take some of the TRU London guests to a Pompey match on the Saturday, which became nicknamed TRU Pompey! For the American visitors in particular, this was a fantastic experience. Take a look at Steve Boese’s blog for a fantastic comparison between football and recruitment.

That’s one of the other great things about TRU London, because the majority of attendees are huge social media fans it means the event lives on through people’s blogs, tweets etc once the two days are over. It also means that those who couldn’t attend still get to be part of it and can catch up on the main outtakes, arguments, discussions, learnings etc.

If you want to get a better flavour take a look at:

The Twitter stream on TRU London

Matt Alder’s blog – takes you through the very good, the slightly bad and the tiny bit ugly

Peter Gold’s blog – looks at whether there was an ROI

Jon Ingham’s blog – a wrap up of a couple of sessions including Culture Clash, Employer vs. Employee Branding and HR Leadership

Michelle Fischer’s blog – focuses on the debate surrounding social media in recruitment

Mervyn Dinnen’s blog – sharing his thoughts on the Gen Y track

HR Zone – Charlie Duff, Editor of HR Zone, looks at the flaws in the Gen Y argument and argues why there is a need to communicate with various generations of workers differently

Andy Headworth’s blog – video post of Jim Stroud discussing where social media will be in recruitment in 2 years time

Michael Carty’s blog – looking at how TRU London was borne out of social media and the impact these same tools will have on the recruitment industry

Wendy Jacobs’s blog – summary of the unconference and post on TRU Source, TRU London’s little sister which was held the day before

Tristan Greaves’ blog – our very own ‘Head Geek’ talks you through his experiences of TRU London

Mike Taylor’s video – showcasing his TRU Pompey trip to the Pompey vs. Stoke match complete with fantastic rock soundtrack!

It was even more interesting to return to the UK this time; I’ve only discovered my actual heritage in the last 7 years of which my last trip to the UK was 11 years ago.  I have learned that I’m a mix of Scottish(MacKay), English(Swain) and French(Gambs) with more to be discovered later, I hope.  My trip to the wonderful UK continued with my Ambassadors/Partners/Tour Guides/Minders’ then treated me to some wonderful history in our walking tour through London and Westminster settling in for lunch at the Crypt of St. Martin.

The “Crypt” was an amazing little hole in the ground place to eat some reasonably priced food that taste great with a juicy side order of history.  I would recommend and return for lunch anytime.    Next, I pleaded for another dose of culture during our walking tour as we chatted about history, food, politics, business and many other things I don’t remember because I was all hopped on the tea, coffee and diet coke trying avoid the j-lag.

We were able to set aside a few minutes to step into the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square checking out a few works from little known artist like Rembrandt, Canaletto and Raphael. (wonderful, wonderful…)

It was such an exhilarating day of exploring, learning and sharing discussions and thoughts about London and much more. I felt very fortunate to spend so much one-on-one time with my UK partners getting educated about the obvious and not-so-obvious nuances of doing business in the UK and Europe.  They’d provided many perspectives that I’d not considered which thank you goodness they have their eye on the prize, this will surely assist us in the short and longer term.

It’s late into the afternoon and we have sent one of party back up north for dinner with his very charming wife while my other compadre’ is with me for the duration on day 2 of the TruLondon II tour.  We start hiking around the streets of Westminster looking for an address for the TruSource folks.  We go side street by side street we find and head up a couple of flights of stairs to start meeting talent from around the world.  In the stairs, ran right into the Bill Boorman @billboorman and Geoff Webb @radicalrecruit (TruLondon Founders) and a new friend Craig Fisher @fishdogs it was nice to collide with friendly faces and voices. (I’d interview both on my radio show DriveThruHR as chatted with both on the phone)  Next, it was Maha upstairs and some other folks but I think the jet-lag was kicking in becuase I don’t remember who else we

The day was wrapping up so it was time to shift gears for a drink and some food, more the social side of the unconference but also discussion after discussion continued on.  Met several folks here from the unconference and also didn’t get the pleasure of meeting thea!%h(*& who felt they needed my laptop more than I did.  Good luck with cracking into that box you punks, anyway.  PH met as many people as we could absorb for the day and headed back north to Milton Keynes for one more night.

We got off the train fairly late into the classic English fog, thick as mushy pea soup but luckily our driver is a long-time pilot and provided me with quite an exhilarating ride back to the house, quite fun and yee-haw! Paul and Nigel again, thank you for getting me hauled all over the country safely and enjoyably.

I’d traveled to the UK in a prior life some 10+ years ago under vastly different circumstances with completely different objectives and expectations. So to say that I’m comparing apples with iphones would not be without merit but these are my words so “whatever”.  This trip, my return to the UK for the TruLondon Unconference was filled with an intense schedule but learning with age I’d build in an extra “day” of nothing scheduled time for “getting my witts about me” and seeing a few of the wonderful sights in London and other parts of the country.  Thank goodness as I needed the day, learned from experience.

I was met off the flight from my partners in the UK, Recruit Technologies specifically Nigel and PH (Paul) at the gate which was nice for me to have a seasoned and quite humorous chaps educating me ROP (right of the plane).  To no surprise it was raining when I left the UK in 1999 and still raining upon my in 2010.   It was truly a great feeling for me to pick up where I’d left off 10+ years before with coming back to a wonderful country in much better place both personally and professionally – total time warp in good way.   We next loaded up the ride and headed north from airport up to Milton Keynes a city north of London about 60 minutes. It was a quite pleasant ride after being on the plane (load-fly-unload) time for 10 hours.

My host truly lived out in the English countryside, thought for a brief moment that Inspector Morris or Chief Inspector Barnaby was going to stop us to inquire about a bloke whoabsconded with Church funds. (bonus points  for those who get all three references).   Once we arrived at the little village I was privileged to see the church that had parts dating to the 7th century.  Seriously, the only thing that dates to the 7th century in the US would have to be something a Native American tribe might graciously share with us.  It was very much appreciated that my wonderful hosts pointed these little things out.  Again, I want to thank Janet and Nigel, PH, Davo and Pabs as well it was a pleasure to meet Lesley and your cool kids.

We powered through the afternoon with lots and do mean LOTS of tea, coffee and bit of cake.   Our meetings went through a delicious dinner, some Shakespeare, rendition of 24 hours from Tulsa and a couple of bottles of wine, NZ Pinot Noir (yum..).  I was finally encouraged to quit starring and go to bed, the hard fought battle was over after 30 hours.  Bedtime for bonzo.