Hi Friends – Tech recruiting is hard, and many would say it’s getting harder. We’re doing something about it. And we’d like you to be a part of it.

Introducing Talent 42, the first ever 100% tech-focused national recruiting conference.
It’s designed to help you and your teams – tech recruiters, tech recruiting leaders – discover the best ways to attract and recruit world class technologists.

We’ve got phenomenal speakers – engineering leaders and recruiting leaders – lined up to share the best practices and tools you need to attract, source, and close software developers and engineers.

Where, When, Cost?
We expect this national tech recruiting conference to pull in 200 tech recruiting pros from all over the US.  We already have tech recruiters and tech hiring managers attending from companies like Whitepages.com, Disney, Nike, SAIC, Microsoft, Amazon, Yammer, Groupon, Nintendo, T-Mobile, Rhapsody, Expedia, Living Social, and many more large and small companies.

• June 13-14, 2012
• Seattle, WA (world class conference center, on the water)
• $895 for 1.5 days of tech recruiting goodness

World Class Speakers
The folks putting on this conference (Carmen Hudson and I) are former tech recruiting leaders with companies like Amazon, Expedia, and Yahoo. They’ve pulled together a fantastic lineup of speakers, including…

• SVP Product, Groupon , Jeff Holden, owner of this rapidly growing company’s product vision and global commerce operating system, and a fiercely competitive tech hiring leader
• Sr Engineer, Google, Steve Yegge, avid blogger, internal Google recruiting tech champion, and former Amazon Bar Raiser
• Engineering Director, Jocelyn Goldfein, Facebook, who is working not only to build a world class engineering org for new products, but is also seeking ways to grow the tech talent pie
• Director of Recruiting, Zynga, Flo Thinh, who has built and scaled up a kick-ass tech recruiting function for this fast growing games company in Silicon Valley and Seattle
• VP Recruiting, Informatica, Brad Cook , who has built an award winning global tech recruiting machine
• Director, Global Talent Labs, Microsoft, John Phillips, who is building aggressive tools and innovative strategies – at a huge scale – to go after global tech talent
• Advanced sourcing gurus, Shally Steckerl, Eric Jaquith, and Dave Mendoza
• And more.

How is this different?
This isn’t your typical recruiting conference.

• It’s 100% focused on tech. You won’t learn how to hire sales people, accountants, or customer service. All tech.
• We’re hearing from tech/engineering leaders! Not just recruiting pros – which is critical – but also engineering leaders who push and partner with their recruiting teams to recruit world class talent.
• It’s advanced – we’re assuming you know the basics of good recruiting already. So our speakers are being asked to challenge us to go beyond the foundational elements that are typically covered at recruiting conferences.
• The agenda is being built by tech recruiting pros for tech recruiting pros.
• No squishy balls or yo-yos. Yes, we’ll have the opportunity to meet reps from some hand-picked exhibitors and sponsors, but they are banned from doing the trick-or-treat conference bag thing.

How do I register?
Go to http://talent42.com

I hope you can join us!  Email me if you’d like a special friends and family $100 discount.

John Vlastelica, Founder, Talent42

Date: Wednesday, May 9, 2012Time: 11am-Noon PT
Location: Webinar
Session: How To Avoid The 10 Biggest Mistakes Corporate Recruiters Make with John Vlastelica, Managing Director, Recruiting Toolbox
Session Overview and Registration: Link to ERE site

As a consultant and trainer to corporate recruiting teams, John Vlastelica gets to see what many of the best recruiters do differently. In this fun, sometimes irreverent webinar, John will share 10 of the biggest mistakes corporate recruiters make, and what you can do to avoid them. We’ll discuss…

• poor assumptions recruiters make about sourcing, technology, and hiring managers,
• things that can be career-killers when you’re looking to interview for your next recruiting job,
• and some tactics to help you recruit better today.

I hope you can join us for this free webinar.

Date: April 30-May 2, 2012
Location: Washington DC
Session: How to Leverage Hiring Managers as Your Secret Recruiting Weapon with John Vlastelica, Managing Director, Recruiting Toolbox

I’m excited to return to the SHRM Annual Talent Management Conference to deliver a session on a topic that – in my opinion – doesn’t get enough of a focus: how can we better leverage our hiring managers to recruit the best talent?

Session Overview: Link to SHRM site

For all of the talk about employer branding, improving quality of hire, and competing for top talent, not nearly enough focus has been given to the role of the hiring manager.  In this fun how-to session, John Vlastelica, former Recruiting Director with Amazon.com and Expedia, will guide you through the top 10 actionable strategies you can take back to your offices to fully leverage your hiring managers as attractors of talent, direct sourcers, interviewers, closers, and talent leaders. You will learn actionable strategies to help them set up the interview process and team so that you select and sell top talent effectively. You will also learn how to lead and influence hiring managers so that they see their roles as more than just passive participants in a recruiting process; get them to see their true roles as talent leaders. Hiring managers can and should be your secret weapon!

I hope to see you there!  Contact us if you plan to attend.

Date: March 29, 2012
Location: San Diego, CA
Session: 2012 Recruiting Excellence Awards Panel Session, with session leader John Vlastelica, Managing Director, Recruiting Toolbox

I’m excited to return to ERE to host the 2012 Recruiting Excellence Awards in San Diego.  As I judge, I get the opportunity – along with folks like Kevin Wheeler, John Sullivan, Lou Adler, Ed Newman and a bunch of prior winners – to review applications from some of the best recruiting functions in the world.

If you and your teams have done some amazing things in 2011, please apply for one of the awards. Here’s info on the categories: http://www.ereawards.com/categories-and-criteria/

I hope to see you there!  Contact us if you plan to attend and would like a special registration discount.

If you can’t make it, watch ERE.net for information on live streaming.  Last year’s session, which included an award to Cisco, accepted by Greg Stock (now part of our team here at Recruiting Toolbox), is hosted here if you’d like to view it.

I’m really excited about our lineup for our 7th Annual SHRM/SMA Staffing Management Association conference.  I’ll be MC again this year, and I must say, we have one of the best lineups of speakers we’ve ever had…very high “value density” (to quote my colleague, Jason Warner).

• Kevin Wheeler will kick us off with a look at key trends that everyone who cares about talent acquisition needs to think about.
• We’ll then have breakout sessions – unplugged mostly, no powerpoints, more interactive panels – with local and national experts.
  • Learn about Search Engine Optimization from non-HR industry gurus – it’s changing the game for marketers…and recruiting, too
  • Attend a basic or advanced sourcing best practices panel…practical, how-to sourcing tactics to help you attract and find top talent
  • Hear non-HR executives from leading companies talk about how they drive and lead recruitment and create a culture of recruiting
  • Hear how smaller-budget companies are competing – and winning- for top talent
• John Sullivan will wrap up our conference with something edgy – and if we’re lucky – maybe even overly aggressive ideas and practices – stuff to get us thinking

The event is in Bellevue, Washington on Nov 9.  It’s a packed day, with a ton of actionable takeaways.  Our speakers and panelists have worked inside companies like Zynga, Expedia, Redbox, Marchex, SEOmoz, MediaPiston, Swedish Medical, Microsoft, Google, and Gates Foundation.

I hope you can join us.  You can register online at:

http://www.smaseattle.org/events/event_details.asp?id=177889

The cost is much cheaper than other conferences – $249 for SMA members, $279 if you belong to SHRM, and $299 for all others.

Please let me know if you plan to attend!  Would be great to see you there…