Chicago VP HR Market Heats Up

Recently, I had the pleasure of having a conversation regarding the Chicago Human Resources job market with Paul Schneider, partner with SSP, an outplacement and executive coaching firm with offices in Oakbrook Terrace, Chicago, Deerfield, Racine, WI and St. Louis, MO. Long recognized as an HR networking icon and HR market authority in Chicago, Paul seems to know where senior leadership is on the "Chicago HR Chess Board" at any given moment and what moves are about to take place. Consequently, our conversation focused on what the Chicago market looked like at the Vice President, Human Resources level.

Since 2002, Paul has compiled market data which he regularly shares in his newsletter,SSP Perspective.

Acccording to Paul,

"The Senior VP HR Market looks strong - It's up over 40% compared to this time last year - These VP openings are the bell weather of how the economy is growing."

The data indicates that there are 21 openings in Q1 2007 as opposed to just 15 at this time a year ago. This undoubtably will have a trickle down effect for positions reporting into the VP level. Good news indeed for those seeking senior level HR opportunities and networking in the Chicago market.

Survey Says - LinkedIn

Recently, Bullhorn (a global leader in On Demand, front office staffing and recruiting software, and integrated solutions for staffing and recruiting firms) conducted an industry-wide “Tools of the Trade 2007″ study on established and emerging websites, online social networks, job boards, professional development sites and blogs.

"The Survey Says"
(free download here)

"The majority of staffing and recruiting professionals (68 percent) listed LinkedIn as the online social network they use most frequently, followed by ZoomInfo (12 percent) and Electronic Recruiter Exchange (ERE) (9 percent). Just 4 percent use Jobster most frequently. Only 1 percent and 2 percent of respondents, respectively, reported using Facebook and MySpace most often."

Not surprising, considering the following:

• Recently, I attended an information session on LinkedIn thanks to the kind folks at Challenger Gray & Christmas and Baker & McKenzie. During the presentation, Sherman Hu, Regional Sales Manager for LinkedIn commented "People who have >20 connections are Thirty Four times more likely to be approached by a recruiter than people with <5".
• Early in 2006, recruiting/sourcing icon Jim Stroud interviewed Konstantin Guericke, co-founder and former VP of Marketing with LinkedIn (now with Jaxtr). Jim captured the interview as a podcast in his Recruiter's Lounge. During the interview, Konstantin Guericke describes how LinkedIn has become an essential tool in the recruiting tool kit and mentions that over 100,000 of LinkedIn's paying customers are "Recruiters".
• Master Cybersluething Pioneer Shally Steckerl knows the importance of LinkedIn. Shally is helping recruiting and sourcing professionals learn cutting edge tips and techniques to leverage LinkedIn through JobMachine's LinkedIn Cheat Sheet which provides excellent insight into advance searches in LinkedIn.

Now Consider this....

• Internationally recognized speaker, Gerry Crispin of Career Crossroads determined that based on his recent source of hire survey, Employee Referrals are Fifty Four times as likely to result in a hire than all the job boards put together. (see blog entry).

If you are networking for new opportunities do you want to be....
LinkedIn or Left Out? You decide. Here are some resources to help you:

• The unofficial users guide for executive and professionals - published by the Global Human Capital Journal.
• Virtual Rolodex video tutorial - Detailed tutorial on LinkedIn by Otis Collier.
  

SHEIFGAB! - Motivationaly Speaking

I've had the great fortune of seeing Conor Cunneen, C.A.S.H. - Consultant, Author, Speaker, Humorist make presentations on several different occasions. His presentations are high value offerings of both humor and substance.

A favorite of mine is one in which Conor crafts a wonderfully inspirational and humorous presentation called "SHEIFGAB The World". (video clip)

"SHEIFGAB"? Conor's pleasant Irish brogue and quick wit may lead you to assume that the term "SHEIFGAB" has some mystical Gaelic meaning but he is fast to point out that it is a memorable acronym he created to help explain eight powerful building blocks designed to get and keep a person motivated during their career transition.

The Eight Powerful Building Block developed by Conor are:

S - Structure (your life)
H - Help (others)
E - Environment (change it)
I - Improve (yourself)
F - Family (communicate with)
G - Goals (set and achieve)
A - Attitude (determines your success)
B - Boss (Bruce Springsteen anecdote)

Conor will be presenting "SHEIFGAB The World" on

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Immanuel Lutheran Church
200 N. Plum Grove Road
Palatine, IL. (map)

Program - 9:00am - 10:30am
Informal Networking - 10:30am - Noon

Conor's presentation is made possible through St. Hubert Job Ministry (contact Bob Podgorski for any event questions at 847-925-6005).

Don't miss this one.