Social Headhunting with Mzinga's Aaron Strout
Thanks for tuning in to another edition of Media Bullseye's weekly Radio Roundtable. My guests this week are Jennifer Zingsheim, VP here at CustomScoop, and Aaron Strout. Aaron is the VP of New Media Mzinga, a white label community provider out of the Boston area.
Aaron participated in the presentations at the recent Social Media Breakfast 7, and I was delighted to have him on the Roundtable to discuss his thoughts on using social media for HR recruiting purposes, for those unable to make it to the breakfast.
(Click here to listen to the 23 minute discussion)
Aaron got the ball rolling by discussing how social media has changed the hiring process, particularly at Mzinga. As a community-driven company, they decided to start "practicing what they preach" and using the tools they offer clients to search for talent. Aaron shuns cover letters and traditional resumes, and prefers to reach out via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social networking applications. We all agree that the human element definitely changes the often guarded process of finding a new employee.
We moved on to discuss a somewhat controversial blog post from Phil Gomes, in which he expressed dismay that more attendees at last week's New Comm Forum seemed interested only in discussions of "shiny new toys" rather than fundamentals of the communications industry. I point out that gatherings such as SNCR, Podcamps, and South By Southwest are geared specifically towards the shiny new toy audience, and that while "AP" conferences or seminars would be right up my alley, right now this is all a part of the evangelism process for social media.
We end with a quick chat about Grand Theft Auto 4 (whose similarity in title to "Guitar Hero," another popular game, caused a humorous slip-up in one of us!), the violent video game that has caused quite the storm of controversy in the days leading up to its release this week. Jen and Aaron agree that this sort of controversy is nothing new, and does nothing to dispel those interested in the game, and that there might even be marketing opportunities for other companies looking to "ride the coattails" on the game's free publicity (even if that publicity hasn't been the greatest.)
(Click here to listen to the 23 minute discussion)
Aaron participated in the presentations at the recent Social Media Breakfast 7, and I was delighted to have him on the Roundtable to discuss his thoughts on using social media for HR recruiting purposes, for those unable to make it to the breakfast.
(Click here to listen to the 23 minute discussion)
Aaron got the ball rolling by discussing how social media has changed the hiring process, particularly at Mzinga. As a community-driven company, they decided to start "practicing what they preach" and using the tools they offer clients to search for talent. Aaron shuns cover letters and traditional resumes, and prefers to reach out via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social networking applications. We all agree that the human element definitely changes the often guarded process of finding a new employee.
We moved on to discuss a somewhat controversial blog post from Phil Gomes, in which he expressed dismay that more attendees at last week's New Comm Forum seemed interested only in discussions of "shiny new toys" rather than fundamentals of the communications industry. I point out that gatherings such as SNCR, Podcamps, and South By Southwest are geared specifically towards the shiny new toy audience, and that while "AP" conferences or seminars would be right up my alley, right now this is all a part of the evangelism process for social media.
We end with a quick chat about Grand Theft Auto 4 (whose similarity in title to "Guitar Hero," another popular game, caused a humorous slip-up in one of us!), the violent video game that has caused quite the storm of controversy in the days leading up to its release this week. Jen and Aaron agree that this sort of controversy is nothing new, and does nothing to dispel those interested in the game, and that there might even be marketing opportunities for other companies looking to "ride the coattails" on the game's free publicity (even if that publicity hasn't been the greatest.)
(Click here to listen to the 23 minute discussion)
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