If you are using Twitter and not listed below send me an email (paul@mnheadhunter.com):

MNHeadhunter | jokahn | MplsRecruiter | StevenRothberg | ecaron | txaggie94 | jjbuss | Tavisd | toddbaer | ebkelly | RickDeare | ashleymonseth | timesse | DaveHulbert | kateklobe | AppleRecruiter | RecruitingGuy | tobydayton | marymacken |cbuss | patodonnell | derrickmoe | robertstanke | ksielingtac | t1stewart | erincarlson | KariC | MnJavaRecruiter | kevindonlin

Web site:
www.minnesotarecruiters.com

LinkedIn group (Minnesota Recruiter and HR professionals):
http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/58696/58BAB676B50F

Newsletter:
1^st and 3^rd week of the month

Dues or fees?
This in an informal group so there are no dues and no fees for events. This is possible through sponsors who are committed to supporting the local Recruiter and HR community.How many members and what is the make up of the group?

“Members” is a loose term. As of May 21, 2008 when combining those who have registered on the Minnesota Recruiters web site, joined the Minnesota Recruiters LinkedIn Group, attended an event, and/or asked to be added to the email list the number is 780+.

52% corporate
26% consulting/contracting firms
22% search firms/independent recruiters

How the group started:
The group started as an attempt to get the 11 local bloggers who write on career, HR, recruiter related topics together for lunch and through many conversations and some planning turned into an event at Best Buy corporate headquarters in July 2007 with 135 of our Recruiter and HR colleagues.

For more information on how this group was created and how it has evolved go to, http://www.mnheadhunter.com/mh/minnesota_recruiters_unconference/index.html

What is an (un)Conference, how often are they, how many attend, and why have them?
(un)Conferences are an informal get together of peers who listen to presenters and share their own experiences.

We are very fortunate to have in our area national speakers and local experts on Recruiter and HR topics and they lead the conversations. We will also be bringing in experts from around the country to present.

Topics are decided by those who are attending the events.

(un)Conferences are held quarterly (seasonally) and were held July (Summer) 2007, November (Fall) 2007, February (Winter) 2008, and May (Spring) 2008.

The main idea is less than 5% of the attendees have ever taken a trip to Orlando, Las Vegas, or where ever the big conferences are being held to spend 2-5 days and $3,000. In most cases there is not a budget or time to do so.

We are bringing that kind of information to these free events that take half a day. The number of attendees for the first three events ranged from 125 to 135.

The fourth event moved from the conference room to theater seating with capacity of 220.

While doing these events and learning new recruiting techniques is an important part of what we are doing equally important is creating networking opportunities for everyone.

What topics have been presented?
May 2008:

• Foundations for Diversity
• Building a Value Added Recruiting Function
• Creating and Building Passive Candidate and Talent Pools 101

February 2008:

• A legal perspective on privacy issues in the work place, Googling candidates, use of blogs and social networking sites
• Changing labor market, demographics, statistics from the State of Minnesota
• The current state of the Twin Cities IT marketplace

November 2007:

• Talent Acquisition "How NOT to put a Square Peg in a Round Hole"
• Top 10 SEO Tips For Company Job Boards
• Web Recruiting: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

July 2007:

• Intergenerational Recruiting
• MySpace, Facebook, and Other Social Network Sites: Best Practices for Recruiters
• Blogging as a Recruiting and Employer Branding Tool
• "Bringing Sexy Back" To Your Career Website

When is the next event scheduled?
The Minnesota (un)Conference | Summer 2008 is set for the morning of July 25^th at Best Buy Corporate Headquarters. Details to be announced soon.

What is a topic session?
Many members have requested more frequent gatherings but doing so on the (un)Conference scale every month is difficult to do. Instead we will focus on one topic a month that may be presented by an out of town guest speaker, a follow-up and more in depth presentation from an (un)Conference, or a topic that may interest a very small part of the larger group:

April 28^th, Jason Alba and “Social Tools and Technologies for Recruiters”

What is coming next for the group?
A social activity like a Happy Hour or boat cruise on Lake Minnetonka on July 24^th is in the works. This will be the evening before the Summer 2008 event. More on this at a later date.

Group Sponsor and Co-Founder:
Don Ramer, CEO of Arbita (www.arbita.net)

Volunteers and Co-Founders:
Paul DeBettignies, Coordinator of Minnesota Recruiters, Managing Partner of Nerd Search, blog writer MN Headhunter (www.mnheadhunter.com)

Nicole St. Martin, SEO expert, blog writer HR Search Marketing (www.hrsearchmarketing.blogspot.com)

Josh Kahn, Sr Pipeline Generation Expert, Best Buy/Accenture HR Services

Steven Rothberg, CEO and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com (www.collegerecruiter.com)

Toby Dayton, President and CEO of JobDig (www.jobdig.com)

How do I join?
In order “join” the Minnesota Recruiters group, do any (or all) of the following: create a profile on the Minnesota Recruiters web site (www.minnesotarecruiters.com); join the Minnesota Recruiters LinkedIn Group (http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/58696/58BAB676B50F); send an email with "Add me to your list" in the subject line to paul@mnheadhunter.com

To request more information or ask a question not covered above, please contact:

Paul DeBettignies
Minnesota Recruiters
Co-Founder and Coordinator
paul@mnheadhunter.com