London, farewell and cheese…..
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It is Friday and I’m writing a post. I never write on a Friday….well almost never. But yesterday was so full and busy that I didn’t have a chance.
Yesterday afternoon was spent at #truLondon where I participated in a track with Laurie Ruettimann on the lack of strategy in Recruitment and HR. We weren’t saying it had to be more strategic…..far from it, the position was that it wasn’t a strategic function to stop pretending it is. How did it go? Mixed I think…the reaction was so-so but seeing as people were still talking about it today then that can only be a good thing. It would have been much easier to stand there and talk about some happy clappy recruitment bollocks and get everyone to go “ohh wow, I’ve seen the future”. But that was never going to happen a) because it is all bollocks and b) because we are not spineless arseholes c) because we are right. If you want to hear an honest appraisal from Laurie then you can check it out here.
Today, I’ve been working like a nut and packing as we head out-of-town for a week away tonight. You’ll hear nothing for me, which is a reason to be cheerful on a Friday afternoon. I’ll be back though, don’t you worry about that.
And that brings me to the last point. On 5 March there will be the first and probably last #HRclubbing event, held at the palace of taste and pleasure that is Club de Fromage and is organised by the wonderful, hugely talented and pint-sized Charlie Duff. It promises to be a night not to remember as you’ll get the chance to see lots of other people, including Mrs HRD (which should be interesting given the whole anonymous thing and her tendency to talk). We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. You can get your tickets here for next to nothing and come and see how badly HR people dance.
It would be great to see some old and new faces there. Until then…..soyez sage mes amis.
My Hell is Other People 
Strategy is the plan of action, Recruitment is the task you carry out to deliver the plan – thus recruitment is not really strategic, but may be part of the overall strategy – I get where you’re coming HRD.
I think that some were offended in the room as they felt that they were being called “unstrategic” – personally I get the concept that recruitment is a task within the overall strategy, and not the strategy itself.
Lisa, lovely to meet you at Tru.
We were calling them nonstrategic. Too bad they were offended by it. I blame Theo for his poor delivery style. He doesn’t have my American ability to be passive-aggressive. 🙂
Theo, I like Charlie because she is smaller than I am. Have fun at the event.
I never got the chance to find out whether the discussion was any good – so much waffle and bollocks in the first 10 minutes, I wandered off to find something useful. When your live-tweeter feels the need to read you the wikipedia definition of one-third of your track title….
No offence intended to either Theo or Laurie, coz I love your blogs.
And yep, I agree recruitment is largely non-strategic. But then most things in business over the past few years have been. Too many people fighting to stay afloat with too few resources means non-stop fire-fighting in every part of the business. Strategy is a luxury most will not (at present) spend either time or money on.
Seeya again on the 5th Theo.
Basically loved meeting you botany highly react you blog …what he said really
I can honestly say I didn’t meet anyone who was offended by this track – that would have made it somewhat more interesting!
The reality was that neither of you had anything to say – “Recruitment is not strategic” define strategic Theo? Answer – “Oh dont start with that bollocks!!”
Laurie attempted to define it by suggesting it had to be ‘financial’ – which to be frank is blindingly obvious but pretty much everything in business has some sort of financial impact – strategic or not!
The only reason we are still talking about it is because we were so disappointed that 2 of the best bloggers in the social recruiting/HR world could deliver such a lame track.
Recruitment and HR are both tactical – obviously. Who is suggesting otherwise? I didn’t hear anyone suggesting anything else in the track – no argument…. move on.
People were annoyed because that was all there was and in the absence of anything else it ended up a discussion about semantics .
I must confess to sneaking out the door in that track. Not so much because the discussion centred around semantics and the definition of “strategic”, but more because I was accidentally in an HR track.
Did I miss anything?