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!
