A quick update from our friend Bill 'the brand' Boorman on his upcoming flagship recruitment unconference #truLondon on 22-23 of February. If you are based anywhere near to London and you do recruitment, HR or simillar, this is a great event to network and share information with industry leaders.

There are no less than 40 track leaders lined up, coming from around the globe including South Africa, America and right across Europe. Participants are already booked from 12 countries. There’s plenty of new conversations, livestream, new for 2012 is a live lab that is going to feature a surprise hack to be announced on the day, the #TruGrads, a minimum of 6 case study’s and much more.

The deal with an unconference is that you won't have to sit through any dull presentations, in fact PowerPoint is banned completely from the premises. There are no pitches, nobody is flogging their wares (unless you ask them to of course). If you have never attended one of these events you're in for a treat.

Bill has also teamed up again with Rob Van Elburg and #RIDE for “The Recruitment Industry Dance Event,” on the 22nd (it's unclear whether there are any dance track leaders). 

Need more info? Don't email Bill. Don't call him. Don't fax him. Tweet him at @BillBoorman. And would you like to see Bill in a shiny suit? Check out his Top Social Media Tips here on the blog.

Whenever I do LinkedIn trainings or talk to people about LinkedIn, I get a few recurring questions. One of these is by business developers who want to connect with new potential customers, partners and investors. Although I believe LinkedIn is a tool for actually connecting with people you know already, it can certainly be very useful for finding new contacts. This is especially true when you are doing business in a new industry or geography.
 
My advice is normally to connect via someone you both know, someone you are both connected with on LinkedIn. The quickest way to do this is to pick up the phone and as this common connection to make an introduction in person, on the phone, via email or LinkedIn.
 
But what do you do when there is no common connection and you have no idea how to introduce yourself to someone on LinkedIn? You probably have to find some common ground, such as having worked at the same place, gone to the same university or having an interest in collecting stamps from the South Pacific.

Templates for your LinkedIn invites 

Here is a compilation of ideas from Anthony J. Johnson, see what you think:

As we steadily approach the edge of the long-anticipated ‘double dip,’ the Great Recession continues its third straight year as the central topic of economic discussion in our country. It has affected, and continues to affect, everyone in the US in one way or another – whether through unemployment, defunding of state and government institutions like school and infrastructure, or the violent fluctuations of the stock market. Unemployment, in particular, has long been pinpointed by numerous economists as the number one economic problem in our midst. 
 
Though unemployment has been wide-reaching across industries, some have clearly been hit worse than others. Certain professions, such as mail sorting and photo processing, are being phased out by emerging digital technologies rapidly rendering them, arguably, obsolete. Others businesses, such as independent record stores, are in decline because of the way their respective industries have radically become transformed – once again, thanks to digital technology.
 
Other jobs, however, against all odds, are on the rise. The steep rise. And while everyone knows that the tech giants are constantly hiring the best and brightest, you might be surprised to hear about a few of the others. Any interest in becoming a performance makeup artist? Now’s the time, with 40% projected job growth into 2016. Or how about dabbling in mental health counseling? There are more than societal benefits to this job, with a remarkable – though somewhat unexplainable – projected growth of 30%. So if you’re sick of your job and craving a new profession, now might be the time to head back to school and get that secondary degree in one of these 10 specializations. These jobs, according to data, have nowhere to go but up. 

Companies and recruiting agencies can get thousands of responses for job openings. Under such circumstances, they will be able to give each letter a few moments to get the gist of the candidate’s proficiency, qualification and experience before moving on to the next one. If you are making a serious bid for that job, your cover letter must have that unique element to hold the recruiter’s attention and make them go through the entire content.
 

Another day, another cool infographic about social media and job search. Recruiters, employers and jobseekers are all out there using social networks. But what do people think about using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus for career purposes? 

Our friends at Jobvite commissioned a study of 2,049 adults aged over 18 across the US, asking them for their opinions on using social media when finding a job. 

It discovered that though almost all of those surveyed seemed to be socially active, just 16% used social networks solely to find their most recent job - but a massive 54% have used Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn in some way. 

Here's an interesting result: Most job search activity takes place at Facebook (44%), LinkedIn (26%) and Twitter (23%).  

Other key findings from the study were that:  

• 45% of those employed were open to a new job
• 86% of active and passive job seekers have a social profile
• 40% are 'super social' with over 150 contacts
• One in six found the last job through a social network