Last week I got the opportunity to attend #DiceTalentNet in Austin. Hosted by my friend Craig Fisher in partnership with Dice, this annual event serves as a catalyst to bring together talent acquisition professionals, recruiting leaders, tech geeks, inventors and provocateurs as a kick-off to SXSW. We gathered at the Whole Foods corporate headquarters (fantastic!) thanks to global recruiting leader Andres Traslavina, noshed on healthy food, and hoisted a glass or two over the course of several days.
As is always the case when I attend an event of this sort it takes me a few days to process what I learned. I like to pause, evaluate, and think about the conversations and the sessions. There was a lot to think about.
We had incredible wide-ranging discussions last week; Gerry Crispin spoke about the Candidate Experience, Bill Boorman discussed Data for Good vs. Data for Evil, and Matt Charney, Lars Schmidt and Ambrosia Humphrey discussed Boomerang Communities (those former employees who want to come back…or the ones we want back!). James Mayes discussed concepts around Bringing Engineering to Recruiting (fascinating!). Even my friend Kristi Jones and I got in on the action and led a session called Attack of the HR Ladies.
And, needless to say, there was much much MUCH more.
I’ve spent some time this week looking back over the years (decades really) that I’ve been involved in recruiting/HR/talent roles and reflecting on both how things have changed…and how things have stayed the same. So often, especially when going to a typical conference, we find that we re-hash the same topics, the same ideas, and the same solutions. Not so at #DiceTalentNet.
For me, the theme (if you will) that emerged from #DiceTalentNet was INNOVATION. I know… it seems like an overused word but I think it fits what’s happening amongst the smart and curious people who tend to gather together to talk about these things. (note: #TalentNet attendees don’t show up for credits…they show up for community. Know how I could tell? The conversations about recruiting, tech, and talent were still going strong at midnight…and well into the wee hours of the morning).
So … innovation?
During #DiceTalentNet we had the perfect convergence of imagination and ideas. I heard about (and saw) initiatives that are designed to make things better. I had discussions about forming new alliances and creating new ways of doing things to satisfy the evolving (evolved) needs of organizations and recruiters.
I won’t call it disruption – although that word popped up now and again during the day. What I saw in action was thoughtful and informed. We talked about breaking barriers and knocking down pre-conceived notions…but doing so with purpose.
We even put it in action with a sourcing challenge using Dice Recruiter which, since I was too slow, I didn’t win; but kudos to Alice Case who did. (You can download the app here. note: The Dice Recruiter App requires a Dice Open Web account. Learn more about Open Web.)
So yeah. Innovation.
What a great day. And a great future.
“The future you create is the one you get prepared for”
#DiceTalentNet 2015
Thanks again to Craig and Dice for joining together and hosting; I definitely intend to return in 2016!
