The Great Global Economic Elevator and Job Creator

The good folks at EvanCarmichael.com -- a motivation and strategies resource site for small business and entrepreneurs -- invited me to join other bloggers in promoting a good cause to help small businesses in underprivileged countries.

They're launching a series of 30 Famous Entrepreneur Heroes trading cards on April 1st, 2010 to raise money for Kiva, a global organization connecting people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Their series will feature the likes of Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Peggy Short & Jane Saunders, Richard Branson, Craig Newmark, and Walt Disney, and many, many more big names. You can view the complete list here plus how you can order your own sets: http://www.evancarmichael.com/Heroes/.

Make fun if you want, but if you're interested in receiving a complimentary set of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak Entrepreneur trading cards, I've got a few I can give away to you. Just let me know.

Pretty fun marketing fodder if you ask me. And just in time for the NFL draft, Major League Baseball Spring Training, March Madness -- Kiva celebrates the rookie-wanting-to-go-pro business person in us all globally year round.

The entrepreneurial spirit of innovation, success and creating a better life for oneself, one's family, community, country and the world shouldn't be held hostage by lack of financing, investment and an open incubating environment.

Easier said than done in impoverished and unstable areas around the world, but an inspirational task nonetheless.

It's evident in the HR marketplace that this entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. At this year's ERE Expo in San Diego we were witness to many new businesses making a play. I've also met them online in social media networks and other events in the past year. Downturns spur the hearts and minds to action.

But beyond what Kiva does globally, locally we could do better in investing in and facilitating:

• Better science, technology and leadership education for our children and our children's children.
  
• Better education and job retraining programs for the unemployed whose jobs and industries are never coming back.
• Immigration policies and legislation that encourage new business ventures from outside the U.S. like Startup Visa.
• Small businesses in severely depressed areas (and everywhere for that matter) in the form of loans, investment, referrals and buying products and services from them.

Entrepreneurism: the great global economic elevator and job creator. Not everyone's going to make it, but we should encourage it, invest in it and believe in it. And don't forget to be a better me.

Buy those trading cards today! You might be on them someday.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn!)

Emergency Preparedness: And now the short fuse of incivility is lit.

Yesterday I went through CPR and first aid certification at my local American Red Cross chapter. It was the first time I had ever been certified for either and there was a full house of folks from childcare workers, to teachers, to volunteers, to parents and expectant parents like me.

But there was no one from a place of employment solely for the purpose of being certified for their office, business, factory or plant -- beyond childcare and education.

Interesting considering the primary Red Cross manual we were given was titled First Aid/CPR/AED for the workplace.

Of course it was only one class out of many this chapter alone does, so I'm sure there are many employers who send folks to be certified (my primary reason was for my family but secondarily was for our firm).

HR along with security personnel and management usually drive emergency preparedness, but smaller companies, especially those less than 50, have no HR representation, so it's up to the managers and business owners to plan for this and have someone get certified.

Natural disasters, employee health problems, workplace accidents, and workplace violence are all situations to be prepared for.

And now the short fuse of incivility is lit.

Yes, incivility. You're seeing it played out exploitively in mainstream politics and media of late but it's also been on the rise in the workplace according to Diane Berenbaum in article titled Workplace Incivility on the Rise: Four Ways to Stop It (referencing facts from The Cost of Bad Behavior by Christine Pearson and Christine Porath).

Here are just a few of the statistics from their research study of 800 employers:

• 96 percent have experienced incivility at work
• 48 percent of employees claim they were treated uncivilly at work at least once a week
• 10 percent said they witnessed civility every day
• 94 percent of workers who are treated uncivilly say they get even with their offenders

Sometimes incivility is blatant, like:

• losing one’s temper or yelling at someone in public
• rude or obnoxious behavior in the workplace
• badgering or back-stabbing in the workplace
• withholding important customer/client information
• sabotaging a project or damaging someone’s reputation

And others times it may be a bit more subtle, like:

• arriving late to a meeting
• checking e-mail or texting during a meeting
• not answering calls or responding to emails in a timely manner
• ignoring or interrupting a colleague in the workplace
• not saying “please” or “thank you”

Diane's Human Resources IQ article highlights these steps to take:

• Increase Awareness
• Create Workplace Standards and Value Civility
• Provide Internal Training and Coaching
• Encourage Open Communication and Feedback

You can read the details of each in the article. Incivility is wrecking the workplace and destroying the already fragile peace we long for in our daily lives, at work and at home.

My additional recommendations for incivility?

Foster personal responsibility, civility and collaborative problem solving in your workplace environment.

Be prepared for emergencies -- get folks CPR and first aid certified at your workplace.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn!)

Healthcare Overhaul and Opportunities for Benefit Vendors

An article in the LA Times titled Healthcare overhaul law shifts focus to preventing illness and keeping people fit highlights the opportunities the new health care law will offer wellness / employee benefit vendors.

Our HRmarketer Services Group works with several preventative wellness companies and we've witnessed first hand the growing interest in these services the last several years - and that was BEFORE the recent passage of the new healthcare law. Now, we expect a surge in interest for these types of services.

As a result, we believe HR vendors who offer these types of services need to take their marketing and PR up a notch to capitalize on these opportunities.

A few ideas:

1. Media Relations: Reach out to journalists who write about these topics and present your company as an expert resource to discuss the "preventative" side of healthcare and trends they see with the new health care law. They can speak to how this new law will change the way employers view healthcare and how it may change the way companies allocate benefit dollars.
2. Educate: Produce useful articles and white papers for employers (your clients and prospects) that help educate them about the new law, understand its implications and how they can make the most of it. And of course, promote this content via search-optimized releases, direct marketing, webcasts, byline articles, blogs, Twitter, etc., etc.

So what exactly are these big changes in the healthcare law? While much attention has focused on big-ticket provisions (e.g., a national mandate for buying insurance), there are also a number of provisions that focus on prevention of illnesses and keeping people fit. This includes grants to small businesses that want to establish wellness programs for workers and incentives for employers to offer as much as 50% off insurance premiums to people who participate in such programs.

But there is a lot more - you just need to figure it all out and then determine how you can incorporate it into your marketing. These marketing opportunities don't come along very often.

Related Blog Posts From HRmarketer:

- Employee Wellness. Employee Healthcare. Should Employers Pay For This Stuff?

Plain White Noise: no dramatic tension, no villains or heros, no polarizing spit-fests

The Republicans cried out, "It'll bankrupt America."

The Democrats cried out, "It'll save America."

But the reality? It'll do neither. The broader issue of the rising cost of healthcare will remain a problem.

Just listen to this.

This post isn't about the historic healthcare legislation debate, though. It's about extreme marcom polarization.

Really. You witnessed it. Over-the-top twisted messaging, skewed truth and blatant sound byte lies that practically incited riots on both sides of the fight and ruffled the feathers of many in between.

Dramatic, but in the end the final product wasn't at all like either side said it would.

Ah, the new age of social media and transparency and the greater good to be a better me --

Doesn't mean squat does it. Establishing and maintaining dramatic frothy brand zest at the expense of compromised truth prevails.

The authenticity differentiator is a dud, baby.

I've been feeling kinda blasé and cynical lately. I mean, most HR marcom is buttoned up and best practice content focused. Valuable in generating straight-laced publicity, traffic and leads, but there's no dramatic tension, no villains or heros, no polarizing spit-fests.

The closest thing of late has been Sumser's digital influencer lists, but even that ripple didn't go beyond, well, the influencers.

I work with an HR software supplier that would love to break out in blatant marketing campaign controversy and turn some heads by stating that their competitors are full of crap and have sub-par technology and customer service and used to work in traveling carnivals.

Because isn't that's what's going on in the final sit-downs include with the top 2-3 suppliers in final decision making mode? Smack attack talk about the competition into the ears of buyers behind closed doors?

Publicly, most HR buyers including HR execs, C-suite and business owners don't like too much head-turning when it comes to buying products and services for their companies, public companies in particular.

Of course there are exceptions; you should see what happens after hours at conferences and expos for both buyer and supplier.

We really don't want that much transparency. Do we?

But I digress. My point is the plain white noise of HR marketplace marketing has become just that -- too many suppliers with similar stuff to sell.

Maybe we do need a few firms lighting bags of doggie poop on fire and throwing them against the competitions' doors.

Maybe.

Or maybe we should stick to the truth of white noise. Because it works.

I'm just a high-road guy that way.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn!)

Be TRU to yourself. Come join a word-food fight at TRU USA.

The 2010 HR marketplace conference season began for me last week at the ERE Expo with a big bang.

So what's next?

The TRU USA Unconference.

Never heard of it? And what's an unconference?

The TRU unconference collective is the brainchild of both Bill Boorman and Geoff Webb, recruitment icons:

An unconference is an event that has no fixed structure and only two rules, no power point and no presentations. The day is split in to sessions during which a series of “tracks” run on a theme with a track leader hosting the discussion, debate and learning. The discussion takes a life of it’s own with atendees bringing their own views, questions and opinions as well as debate.

In other words, a word-food fight. But in a good learning way.

Amazing track leaders and content at this event, which is held in Madison, Wisconsin, April 19-20, at The Brink Lounge.

Here's a sampling:

Anti Social Recruiters – can you really make placements, find clients and candidates in social media? Is twitter really just a place where recruiters hang out? Are you better off spending your time on traditional recruitment techniques over using social channels? Is it all hype and Koolaid or is there substance in the Social Recruiting talk?

Battle of the Bloggers – There’s many benefits to running a well read blog but the skill and discipline needed to build a community around it and to generate real benefit for business or an enhancement of employer as well as personal brand. Since #trulondon there has been a noticeable uptake in blogging in the sector, attend the track and join the crowd.

Being Mobile – What’s the future for integrating mobile technologies with recruitment strategies including Ipod applications, geo-tagging and other mobile media...with interesting examples from Europe. Should mobile be integrated into candidate and client strategy or is it all hype. You get to decide.

These are pretty amazing folk to be around. If your interested in upping your recruiting game, then Madison is where it's at.

And then there's:

Grow Your Business – What is the best strategy for increasing recruiter revenue streams? What do HR, Hiring Managers, and Candidates really want from Recruiters and how can you deliver this to increase your business. Should recruiting be relational or transactional and how much time should be spent on the phone selling?

And that'll be me. Yes, I was honored to be included as a track leader. I'm excited to flip the selling model back and forth between what I help HR and recruitment suppliers do versus what recruiters should be doing.

Whether you agree or not (wink).

Be TRU to yourself. Come join a word-food fight at TRU USA.

Again with the staying up past my bedtime.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn!)

Lead nurturing makes the popcorn pop

As a child I really liked popcorn. The eating it was one thing; that was always a tasty delight with tons of butter and salt.

The popping fascinated me. Whether it was in a big pan with oil or from an hot air popper, watching it pop fascinated me.

The unpredictability of it all, that no two kernels popped at the same time.

Ever.

Even when I applied a pattern to what I saw, the randomness kept popping and popping.

Like sales.

Segue to the ERE Expo this week. So many quality speakers and sessions that it was enough to make my head pop like a hot corn kernel.

One theme that kept coming up time and again was "talent community". How to build, sustain, adapt, thrive, engage, nurture, hire from said talent community. Many companies are creating them for the greater recruitment and hiring effort good.

Susan Burns, chief talent strategist at Talent Synchronicity, presented on just that and it got me thinking how that relates to your prospect community.

How as HR suppliers we build, sustain, adapt, thrive, engage, nurture, sell to from said prospect community. But we don't really treat them the same way.

Hammering your sales pipeline with demo requests and maybe a monthly newsletter isn't engaging them or nurturing. The same customer service outreach you give your customers can and should be applied to your prospects.

In fact the community should includes customers and prospects alike. We are doing more of that ourselves and seeing consistent conversion and up-sell results. According to one of our recent posts, it could be months before a prospect converts to a sale once they become a lead. It's only every few years that companies invest in HR software solutions. That's makes for long sales cycles.

Consider these:

1. Hire an online customer/prospect community manager. Someone with a sales and marketing background. If you can't bring on headcount, make sure to assign to existing sales, marketing and/or biz dev folk. Person or persons must monitor and interact with both the customer and prospect communities -- listen, converse and relationship build.
2. Keep your touches value-based and content-laced. Every bit of content you generate for your outbound and inbound marketing efforts should be distributed to your prospects as well, exclusively.
3. Encourage your prospects to collaborate and engage with one another. Whether that be in a LinkedIn group, Facebook group, a Twitter stream and/or Twibe, one of many HR/recruitment professional networks, and/or your own collaborative platform. Encourage it, facilitate it and monitor it.
4. Be available to answer any and all questions. And not just about your products or services either. Be available to talk about the greater part of the HR marketplace you occupy. Be a thought leader and be "live" -- use social media, talk on the phone or via a Skype video call (to be seen). Email only doesn't cut it any more.
5. Encourage philanthropy and social causes. Corporate responsibility and virtue are the new differentiators. Get involved and encourage involvement with your firm, your employers, your customers and prospects.
6. Breakdown and analyze your community demographics. If you can, that is. This way you can better serve your prospects by providing them with regionally specific content and encouraging collaborative discussions among like companies (and you) sharing the same regional pain points. Your already doing this with your customers and this could help to close more deals.
7. Run regular informal polls and surveys. Ask your customers and prospects about what's going on in their world, what are the ever-changing events that affect their businesses today, what kinds of products and services do they need to meet their ever-changing needs -- so many things to ask. Take the time.
8. Shut up and sell me stuff. The point of all these activities is to drive sales conversations. Don't forget that.

That's only the beginning. Your sales pipeline needs to be full of popcorn because you never know when they're going to pop.

Invest the time for these lead-nurturing activities because that's what makes them pop.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn!)

ERE Expo 2010: My biggest takeaway so far? Losing it all by going all in.

I already mentioned it's the first time in nine years that I've been to an ERE Expo and mercy I've been missing out.

Through thick and thin, these ERE kids know how to put on a recruiting show with streaming video even. Sweet. (Lou Adler in the video pic below.)

The charity poker game Monday night was a huge success -- raising over $7,000 for Haiti relief via the ERE Foundation.

Besides having fun playing Texas hold 'em for a social cause, my biggest takeaway was losing it all.

Yep, losing it all by going all in. That's what kept happening over and over again -- the minimum bets went higher and higher and the night got later and later and everybody kept going all in, busting some and making others rich.

And you'll never win unless you go all in.

And that's what's happening at the ERE Expo in San Diego. From the buzz about more hiring coming, recruiting folk getting a booster shot in their departmental arms, vendor exhibits overflowing into the hall lobby, startups returning to the HR/recruiting space -- it's a pleasure to see faces awash in optimism.

John Zappe from ERE.net highlights it well here.

Granted, it's still fits and starts, but growth is catching on and we've been hearing it at HRmarketer.com since last October/November, and Jonathan Goodman and I have heard more of the same on the ERE expo floor yesterday.

I'll talk more about some of the sessions I saw and conversations I had in my next post, but in the meantime I'm all in.

(I'm going to keep beating that theme so hold on.)

This morning Kat Drum, Global Employment Brand Manager at Starbucks Coffee Company (@starbucks and @starbucksjobs and FB Starbucks), rocked the main session with social media recruiting presentation and how Starbucks is all in with the social media magic.

I tweeted at the end:

I don't like coffee, only chai lattes, but that's not the point. Whether it's your recruitment strategy or your marketing strategy, you've got to be all in on social media and many other new old school activities as well.

Because no matter the size of your firm or your marketing budget (and by gosh you better have one), you're competitors are going all in fighting for market share.

Onesie-twosie marketing pitches per year while wading in the mosquito-ridden referral pool isn't going to cut it.

You will loose customers and top talent and you will loose big.

Listen, I get it. Growing a business is hard work. Some will get the hot cards while others will fold.

But you've got to go all in no matter what. Like us and our team and the many HR suppliers we work with and our collaborative partners at TalentCulture and the ERE and so many more.

All you need is a little luck, a little love and a great poker face. You'll never win unless you go all in.

(Speaking of charity poker and other social cause marketing, check out this Starbucks Love Project video promoting AIDS in Africa awareness. Very cool.)

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn!)

ERE Expo in its 10th Year! Lookout world. We're all growed up.

Next week is the ERE Expo in San Diego and it's now in its 10th year.

Wow. In recruiting-life years that's like -- well -- 100. Two economic meltdowns later and the ERE plans on having one of its biggest events to date.

I went to the first ERE Expo in March of 2001 and wandered aimlessly and invisible from session to session. Even during the WetFeet harbor cruise I felt awkward, as if I were the geek lead in a John Hughes film.

Kevin Plantan, VP of Sales for ERE Media, and I were recently talking about just that experience because he had just joined CEO David Manaster's team six months prior to that and was new to the space as well.

Invisible and wet behind the ears (as the saying goes) in the HR/recruiting marketplace. When I first entered the space over a decade ago, a year before the first ERE Expo, I went to work as a sourcing account manager for a company called Tapestry.net prior to taking over the marketing communications function and internal sales team.

In all my previous incarnations, including my current one as President of HRmarketer.com, I’ve hired dozens and dozens of employees – from higher education to high-tech to the HR marketplace, marketing and PR. I’ve played recruiter, hiring manager and human resources, although I’ve never officially held the title of any with the exception of sourcer at Tapesty.net.

Which is why I'm excited to return to the ERE Expo nine years later -- to continue to learn from the best in the business.

Just check out the agenda. It's a plethora of mad road driving recruitment and hip hiring thought leadership. Illuminate. (It's a Kerouac thing with me.)

Amazing. I can't wait for the sessions, the networking, the expo hall (of course), the ERE Foundation's charity poker tournament to support the children affected by the earthquake in Haiti...

Lookout world. We're all growed up.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)

Let's get the economy simmering again with some piping hot referral soup.

When I saw the Tweet from @missusP from PerkettPR about It Is Make A Referral Week from Duct Tape Marketing -- I clicked, read and thought "how cool".

For most SMB, even the mostly tiniest of business growth has been erratic at best. It's almost been like a game of red light, green light from my childhood.

Green light - hey, let's do some business and maybe hire a person or two!

Red light - NOOOOO! STOP! NOOOOO!

Green light - Go!

Red light - No!

And that unprecedented pattern continues to play out for us and millions and millions of other businesses across the globe. It ain't my earlier incarnation's recovery, that's for sure.

Referrals aren't anything new -- whether it be for business or jobs -- and it's a vital part remodeling the economic kitchen. I see it play out everyday in the HR marketplace. So many good folks out there of late sharing the latest in job opportunities throughout all the social networks.

I read in a recent BusinessWeek article the latest jobless seems to be stabilizing:

The unemployment rate in the U.S. held at 9.7 percent in February and employers cut fewer jobs than anticipated, indicating improvement in the labor market..

The number of temporary workers increased by 48,000 in February, the fifth straight monthly gain. Payrolls at temporary-help agencies often turn up before total employment because companies prefer to see a steady increase in demand before taking on permanent staff...

Yes, there's still the much higher number of temporary and contractors and freelancers (some of which spurs entrepreneurism however) and the whole swath of underemployed, but we're looking for any yummy chicken nuggets of good news (with hot mustard sauce, please).

So refer away with your bad selves and share the menu.

For example, if you're an HR supplier who finds HRmarketer.com's marketing and PR products and services aren't a fit for your firm's palate (and thankfully many of you do), then may I suggest a lovely Starr Tincup or Devon Group dish, or any of the other marketing firms and freelancers out there serving up their own tasty services.

It's the old Macy's / Gimbels Miracle on 34th Street referral -- if we don't have what you need, they might.

"Why thank you, Santa. I'll be back here for sure."

Are you bold enough to do that? Keep sharing because business growth means more jobs and more business and more jobs.

For example, if you're interested in the job below, let me know (it's not posted anywhere, so if you want more info, I'll pass you along). It's in the Northwest and the right applicant needs to have a strong talent management background:

The Vice President of Marketing reports to the CEO and is a member of the Company’s executive team. He/She will be responsible for providing executive leadership and management of the marketing organization and in-bound and out-bound marketing activities worldwide, which includes: Corporate marketing/brand management, partner/channel marketing, product marketing, and lead generation program management.

Let's get the economy simmering again with some piping hot referral soup.

Hmmm, doesn't that social media smell good?

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)

Now that you've passed out, dream about scaling a cliff without a rope.

"I didn't want to go to a big company and I didn't want to go to a startup. Scaling a company: that's the most enjoyable phase. That's what I like doing."

That's a quote from Bill Watkins, Ex-Seagate CEO, in a recent San Jose Mercury News article about him becoming the CEO of a clean-tech company.

Scaling a company. The most enjoyable phase. It kept ringing in my ear like the morning after a rock concert.

Aren't we always scaling our companies? (Man, I love that song...)

Most SMB businesses in the HR marketplace -- and most businesses across the board with fewer than 20 employees comprise 87 percent of the total U.S. private employer base (and they're doing better by the way) -- are actually having to do three things simultaneously, or at least in rapid repetitive and cyclical succession:

• Starting up - educating the market, brand and relationship building, and differentiating from competitors
• Scaling - educating the market, brand and relationship building, and capturing market share
• Nurturing - educating the market, brand and relationship building, and maintaining market share (customer service)

All of which share:

• Educating the market (customers, prospects and influencers)
• Brand and relationship building

And all of business, big and small, are constantly starting up, scaling and nurturing -- especially in this erratic, post-economic-apocalyptic world. When you think of buzz-kill in terms of marketing investment, there's a lot of work to be done.

A lot of hard work that includes:

• Planning marketing activities
• Managing marketing activities
• Executing marketing activities
• Tracking marketing activities
• Measuring marketing activities (publicity, traffic, leads, improved SEO)

In order to take the three steps of starting up, scaling and nurturing, you've got to allocate staff and resources to take these three steps:

Step One: Strategy, Messaging and the Search-Optimized “Marketing” Web site

Before engaging in any marketing, you need to have a strategy –- a long-term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal and the messaging to drive that strategy. Then you need a Web site with a strong online presence that is search-optimized to improve the volume and quality of traffic to a Web site from search engines via natural (“organic”) search results.

Step Two: Content. Content. Content.

How many times do we have to say it - a primary goal of your Web site is to convert visitors into prospects (then nurture them into true leads). But without site traffic, you have no prospects. And without great content, in addition to SEO, you have no site traffic, only virtual crickets chirping.

Step Three: Promotion.

Okay, now you have a winning strategy, powerful messaging, and a great Web site that is search-optimized. And you have lots of great content and processes in place to generate fresh content on a regular basis. Now you’re ready to promote and distribute that content to generate visibility, traffic and leads.

Promotional tactics being everything from:

• Direct email and print marketing
• Search-optimized press releases
• Media relations and pitching
• Analyst briefings
• Partnerships/affiliate programs
• Content download campaigns (articles, white papers and research reports)
• Blogging
• Podcasts/Video
  
• Webcasts
• Trade shows
• Speaking
  
• Mobile
  
• Online radio
• And now we've got social media marketing - the sharing of relevant content and the building of trust and relationships with very specific prospect groups

Now that you've passed out, dream about scaling a cliff without a rope.

C'mon. You can do this marketing thing. We're here to help.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)

TalentCulture: How the power of social media germinates collaborative partnerships

The democratization of knowledge flattens the world like a pancake. The alphabet, the written word, the printing press, SNL, the Internet...

And now social media.

While the jury is still out with the captains of HR industry about the ultimate business value of social media, most of us running businesses in the HR marketplace and beyond agree that social media is a viable marketing communications channel to:

• Share thought leadership
• Share original content and news
• Share other's content and news
• Listen and learn
• Facilitate better communication within their organization and without (creating brand ambassadors)
• Network, relationship build and develop collaborative partnerships

The last bullet being the germinated seed of the TalentCulture community.

Meghan Biro, the founder of TalentCulture, is the consummate networker and someone I connected with on Twitter only a few months ago.

With her passion, wit and wisdom and her knowledge of the greater HR and recruitment marketplace, she pulled together a team of entrepreneurial contributors who will launch regular conversations about the issues of career, culture (workplace, digital lifestyle, trends, popular, alternative, arts) talent acquisition, branding, sustainability, social causes, motivation and innovation.

You name it. Besides sharing valuable content with our readers we of course hope to generate visibility and traffic for each other's businesses via the TalentCulture community, and ultimately leads and business.

I'm honored to be one of these fine folks -- these are Go-To Guys and Gals. Maybe in previous incarnations we would've met in any one of these forums:

• Cocktail Hour
• Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
• Trade Shows
• Golf
• Association Meetings
• Networking Events
• Online Discussion Groups

Maybe...but instead is was the power of social media that germinated this collaborative partnership.

Right on. Please subscribe and read and spread the word!

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)