Meaningful Connections - The Talent UnConference

"There were so many valuable experiences, so many rich learning experiences... Then, during the night, it struck me: it's all about meaningful connections." - Jeff Hunter

Jeff Hunter

From Jeff Hunter's post on the SimplyHired Blog:

"The Unconference was the manifestation of a firmly held belief: you have to give before you get. It was not an end in-and-of itself, but rather one more step on a path of trying to inspire a community that can achieve substantial and sustainable ends. We are all part of a "Talent Community", a community that consists of all those who work towards the end of turning human potential into positive social and economic progress. This community includes parents, educators, business people, innovators, recruiters and HR professionals. While we may see our day-to-day tasks as fundamentally different, we are in fact all working toward that goal: "positive social and economic progress."

"To date this community has largely been connected through theory and happenstance. While certain factions within the overall community are close (i.e. third party recruiters) there is little if any connection between those factions and other tangential satellite groups (i.e. educators). The Unconference was a small first attempt to coalesce these loose affiliations into a stronger bond. But you can't just put up a blog post one day and hope that people will show up. You don't just pick up the phone and say "Hey, you have never heard of me, but I thought you might want to spend some of your hard-earned money and precious time to come out to California for a day!" Community building doesn't work that way. You have to give before you get. People spend a lot of time "networking" these days. When people use that verb they really seem to be saying they are "researching." They find out that somebody exists, use a technology (the phone, email, social networking sites, etc.) to connect to that person and exchange pleasnatries and then claim that a "network" exists between the two individuals. The fact that this "network" is just slightly more valuable than bumping into a total stranger in the street (you do have their name after all) is lost on people. The longer your network list, the better off you are."

Jeff Hunter's Biography

Jeff is an accomplished technologist, strategist, author and entrepreneur. He is the Director of Talent Strategies and Technology at Electronic Arts, the world’s largest digital entertainment company, senior partner and founder of Hunter | Morgan Associates, a strategy and technology consultancy located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and co-founder of DashNote, Inc., a Web 2.0 start-up. He has previously served as CEO and founder of Euphorion, a rapid application development technology and services company, and Relevate Software, an advanced search and retrieval technology business. His blog Talentism won “Blog of the Year” from Recruiting.com in 2005, and his articles about talent strategy and technology have been published in ERE, the CRL Journal, Recruiting.com and WetFeet. He has two patent applications pending in the areas of search and online community, and speaks widely on the intersection of talent and business strategy. Jeff lives in the Bay Area of California with his wife and three children.

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