Recruiter Chicks

I have to tell you, I almost didn’t go to mRecruitingcamp (#mRec), the first ever mobile recruiting conference organized by brilliant and passionate Recruiting Consultant, Michael Marlatt.  WHAT???  NOT GO???  Michael stays on the forefront of technology that can support talent attraction and engagement — mobile, SoLoMo (social-local-mobile), augmented reality, semantic, social, cloud, etc., etc. — which if you know anything about me, you know this is just the kind of thing I love.  And yes – he is part of our amazing Atlanta team of recruiting and sourcing gurus – and you know we love to support our own.

So why, you ask, would I even hesitate to go?  Like everyone else, I have to weigh time, budgets, and other commitments against the return — and it is all about the short term, right?  At first I thought, I have two back to back conferences in Vegas (#HREvolution and HR Technology – posts coming) directly after #mRec that directly relate to work I am doing right now — in addition to an already full plate of billable work, conferences, speaking, blogging, and my beautiful, busy family — and frankly, I am not in the midst of deploying a mobile strategy, sooo…  Ugh.  I hate it when I am short-sighted.  It would have been a huge mistake.

Michael did a great job of putting together an incredible agenda and group of speakers, all carefully designed to enlighten, educate, and most importantly think ahead about how organizations can leverage mobile media and technology to find, attract, and retain talent.  Not only did he accomplish that mission but he attracted an incredible array of attendees as well — humbling to be around so much brain power and forward thinking!!  It also made for excellent social engagement pre- and post-conference

And newsworthy…Congrats to Michael and mRecruitingcamp for also being featured on ABC7 News, KGO-TV San Francisco, CA:

#mRec highlights for me were eye-opening statistics, trends, tools, strategies, and a variety of things to think about before embarking on a mobile strategy.  There was of course the normal debate over mobile web vs. mobile apps — though for most organizations I am not sure why this is a conundrum.  In my humble opinion, most people are not going to be searching for or downloading a special app for your company — the chances are they will just happen upon your site — so put your focus getting it mobile ready.  Which brings me to what I think should be the biggest takeaway for anyone who attended — or did not — and that is, whether you like it or not, you ARE already mobile.

One of the more popular and staggering statistics cited at #mRec is that 77% of the world population carries a cell phone — but only 20% of the Fortune 1000, have a mobile optimized site (infographic alert #1 – thx @TalentMinded).  And 92% of career sites ignore the mobile channel all together (infographic alert #2 – thx @mobile_dave).  Even less detect mobile access upfront and automatically redirect to a mobile rendered site.  FACT:  A huge percentage of those cell phones are smartphones, and the tablet market is also starting to explode.  FACT:  Mobile data networks are more robust than ever and people are accessing the internet more and more with these devices on a regular basis. So let me say it again – YOU ARE ALREADY MOBILE.  Because you don’t have a choice, it really is wise to take control of your mobile strategy and make your site compatible with this means of access.

Presentations from practitioners such as Chris Hoyt, Talent Engagement & Marketing Leader at PepsiCo (@TheRecruiterGuy) and Richard Cho (@ChoRichard), Recruiting Manager at Facebook were incredibly insightful and thought-provoking.  Keynotes from Michael Becker and Chuck Martin, a great session on Mobile Gamification by Louis Vong, as well as the panel discussions, were also worth well beyond the price of admission.  I plan to write more about some of these topics over the coming weeks — including tidbits from the conversations that occurred around the sessions I attended.  Lastly, a big shout out to emcee, Jenny DeVaughn!  While many of you may think I am biased about my good friend, she really was the icing on the cake at #mRec – great job, Jenny!!!

Check out the slide presentations, graciously provided via #mRec.  And most importantly, if you didn’t make it this year, don’t miss #mRec2012.  Stay connected and follow those on the forefront of mobile via:

Twitter: @mRecruitingcamp; Hashtag: #mrec
Facebook: Facebook.com/mRecruitingcamp
Mobile:  TXT “MREC” to 82257 for special event promos, updates, and more! (*Standard text & data rates apply).