On September 22, 2016, #TruGeneva organized an unconference at the Office Cantonal de l’emploi. There were more than 150 recruiters from the Human Resources (HR) sector exchanging information and experience, such as what employers are requesting from placement agencies when they need a candidate with particular skills, and the sort of skills and experience highly sort-after by recruiters.
In this unconference, there are no badges, no pitching of products, and an encouragement for everybody to participate. The organizers decided to divide the meeting room into four sections by color: yellow, blue, green and red, each representing a different theme. Participants could move from area to area, at any time, depending on their interest of the subject.
The unconference was opened by the ‘Conseiller d'Etat chargé du département de l'emploi, des affaires sociales et de la santé (DEAS)’, who spoke about increasing the skill of the workforce, and encouraging recruiters to find the skills locally rather than abroad.
The day’s discussion included job descriptions vs job ads, and how to properly ‘sell’ your job to a candidate. During this talk, it was noted that sometimes the job title means nothing to the candidate, which in turn dissuades potential employees. Similarly, if the job description is too long, it will not be read.
Another one of the themes was ‘LinkedIn As a Digital Recruiter.’ For the recruiter to find you, it was emphasized that your word profile choice is of upmost importance. For example, if a recruiter types a specialized job title, such as ‘banking administrator’, those with that profile will come higher up in the search than those with just ‘administrator’.
There was a good atmosphere at the #Tru Geneva unconference with a lot of active participation. It was interesting to find out first-hand what is important for recruiters, what they look for in a candidate, and why they do not sometimes find the right candidate.
What I got most from the conference, though, was that though keeping up with the latest trends in recruitment is important, the key of the success is to always try and have a “Can Do” attitude.
