Meet Alex Putman, ‘Social T-Rex’: A Paper Resume Unfolds Over 13 Years
August 31, 2009
“Never quit. It is the easiest cop-out in the world. Set a goal and don’t quit until you attain it. When you do attain it, set another goal, and don’t quit until you reach it. Never quit”
Paul “Bear” Bryant
• RecruitingBlogs Profile
• Linkedin Profile
• Facebook Profile
• Twitter Profile
• Personal Blog
• Community Volunteering: Habitat for Humanity of Atlanta (3 consecutive build years), Sentinels of Freedom (Gwinnett County, Georgia), Susan B Komen Breast Cancer Walk
• Personal Causes: Angel Tree Program, March of Dimes, Toys for Tots, and Church Outreach
• Phone: 770-346-7216 (o) | 678-557-0469 (c)
• Email Alex alex@alexputman.com, or aputman@eusebeia.com
** First Published at RecruitingBlogs.com
Alex Putman is the first of a series on the most active members of the RecruitingBlogs.com community. He has contributed recent blog posts that have attracted attention such as “Dirty Words Recruiters Use“, “Be a Social T-Rex“, “Do Your Prospects Know“, and “Big Shoes Leave A Lasting Impression.”
Alex enjoys consulting & coaching other recruiters in techniques that enhance their marketability and capabilities. He has lead workshops for new and seasoned recruiting professionals via a managed training program focused on goals, objective and time management. In the past decade, Alex’s teams have been responsible for the fulfillment of 3,200+ requisitions and job orders.
Alex has a driven passion for utilizing social networking/social media, to benefit human resource services, talent acquisition, career coaching and assisting people in their search for career fulfillment.
Q&A with Alex Putman
Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world.
ALEX: I have been married for 7 wonderful year to my wife Tifany. We have 4 children including our beautiful twin daughters Alexis & Kathryn (6 yrs old), Gabrielle (3 yrs old) and son Corban (18 months).
I am extremely active in the lives of our children; participating in their many church and school events. I believe one of the greatest gifts given to us is the ability to see the world through the eyes of our children. This blessing has changed my entire outlook on life.
My personal hobbies include home renovation projects, working outside, getting together for cookouts with friends (especially during football season) and reading the Bible. I also enjoy Golf, College Football (Roll Tide), Basketball, pretty much a sports enthusiast. I am a strong family person; I do everything with my wife and children! We have a strong commitment to giving back within our community. I have had the honor of working with The Habitat for Humanity – Atlanta in partnership with 13 other local technology organizations. As a deacon at Shadowbrook Baptist Church, I am embedded in a multitude of activities offered at our church. My wife and I are invested in the College & Career class, Awana, and Children’s Worship.
Warm and fuzzy: Every month I take one of our daughters out for a date night! They enjoy going to the mall, having dinner at McDonalds and getting a giant pretzel. I hope this never changes!
Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry?
ALEX: I have been in the industry for 13+ years. I started in executive recruiting and then made the change to the corporate side (Panasonic). Once I made this change my career rapidly progressed from an individual contributor to the HR Manager for Employment, Immigration and Employee Relations. We grew form 88 people to 450 with a Canadian office. After 6.5 wonderful years, we closed the facility.
I then went to work for a DoD contractor in the satellite communications (VOIP) field and found myself in the growth mode again (375 employees to 600 in 1 year!!!!). Too fast, we began to experience the pains of layoffs. I then incorporated myself (Eusebeia Consulting Group LLC www.webstarts.com/eusebeia. I quickly picked up 2 contracts as a consultant, one with Danger (www.danger.com) – they make the Sidekick for T-Mobile and another with Synergis (my current employer). I then decided to go to work growing a staffing firm, and what an adventure it has been! Recruiting has provided for my family over the years and I am grateful to this business and the many wonderful people I have met along the way.
Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter?
ALEX: In preparation for my graduation from The University of Alabama (Roll Tide) in 1996 I was going through the campus career center for job placement. By shear accident I dropped my paper resume (yes paper, email was not so big then) into a file for AIM Executive. Little did I know the ride I was in for! This position took me to Toledo, OH (far cry from the farm in Smalltown, USA) and I was a full desk, commissioned recruiter, recruiting engineering talent for the automotive and manufacturing industry. Short lists of industries I have experience with include: Mobile Communications, Handheld devices, Satellite Communications, Utilities, Media, Automotive and Manufacturing. You name it, I have recruited for it, including; software engineers, hardware engineers, electrical engineers, manufacturing engineers, digital design engineers, network engineers and RF engineers. I have placed Project Managers, Program Managers, Product Managers, Sales Manager, HR Managers…really just about every type of person one can imagine.
Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career?
ALEX: Wow, huge question! I would have to say going through a company closure (Panasonic) and a layoff from the very next job. I incorporated myself, built a home office and began my journey of becoming highly networked. This is about the time I discovered people like Dave Mendoza existed. Prior to this I was in my corporate shell and let people come to me. I established a goal, “be the most networked person in Atlanta!”, Still working on this one, but the point is, I was able to quickly transition to perm placement from home and contract recruiting. I never missed a beat (or paycheck) and learned that having a strong network means everything (the 400 people from Panasonic all went to other companies, many of which I still do business with to this day!)
Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after?
ALEX: Many! Dan Bell from my first role was a recruiting machine. This man billed $1.5 million per year by himself! Many would not call Dan the “easiest” person in the world, however he instilled a sense of urgency in me early on. He once told me that he was scared to go to the bathroom during the day because he may miss a call that would lead to a placement!
I do plan to meet several “on-line” mentors at Recruitfest this year! This may come as a surprise to these people, but Jenny DeVaughn (whom I have met recently), Maren Hagen, Scott Love, Bill Radin (first person I heard speak) and you Dave are people I see on-line and love your stuff! The Recruiting Animal has some great stuff as well! I really try to find the best in their field and learn as much as possible!
Six Degrees: Tell us about your position as Director of Recruiting at Synergis:
ALEX: I am the manager of recruiting and currently have 4 direct reports (have had more prior to this year). I am part of our leadership team and have indirect responsibility for sales. Our total staff (Atlanta HQ) is 15 people. I have introduced a lot of social networking techniques and each team member has a personal branding plan. We boast a national client base with 300+ clients serviced. In conjunction with my recruiting, I maintain a few clients with whom we do a good portion of business (one client was $300k in sales last year — goes back to my Panasonic network). I am also a member of the leadership function and involved in the corporate growth and planning of the company.
Six Degrees: (A) What other companies’ recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples?
ALEX: TekSystems comes to mind, they are huge (12% market share), but what a success story. I respect them for their model, not their size. Apex Systems is a prime example, look at how fast they have reached the $360 million mark (10 years). Many other successful companies have utilized their model and are among the top in our industry.
(B) In what aspects are they superior?
ALEX: These companies have unbelievable training programs! I was fortunate to go through a strong training program, but TekSystems sets the standards. They really invest in the success of their employees.
Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why?
ALEX: I know everyone is still buzzing about social networking / social media, but it is a trend that is here to stay! People are so busy and we are use to getting our information in “bits”. I recently read an article on vlogs (video blogs), I believe the industry and technology are merging and we will see this more the norm!
Six Degrees: Tell us about your broader involvement within the staffing industry:
ALEX: Conferences are great! I am extremely excited to attend Recruitfest this year (booked and ready to go)! I regularly attend the Technology Association of Georgia conferences, The Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce meetings and the High Tech Career Ministries. Our company is a member of TechAlliance (formerly NACCB) www.techservealliance.org and we attend their annual conference in November. Last year I attended a “Lead Like Jesus” conference where Patrick Lencioni presented (great speaker).
This year I will be attending RecruitFest and possibly ERE (potential schedule conflict). I have worked closely with the Georgia Institute of Technology’s career center and participated in roundtable presentations. I am actively seeking opportunities to speak and be published. I am currently working on my first book and my goal is to speak at a major conference or forum in the near future.
Six Degrees: Can you detail how the recession has affected your particular industry niche? Has it effected your job or that of your fellow team members within the organization? strong>
ALEX: We are in the IT industry and although we have not been hit significantly, we have experienced some down time. In January of this year we (the leadership team) scrubbed our budget to the bare bones. We were able to plan for the year accordingly and to date have had a small increase in sales over last year, added to our sales and marketing functions and remained in the black for 2009.
Six Degrees: Aside from simply the generic term “Networking” what specific efforts have you made on your own behalf, or on behalf of colleagues to broaden your opportunities.
ALEX: So many! For two years I have aggressively encourage my team to develop their personal brand. We developed plans and events for them to attend. I created my own Yahoo user group (ConnectHiTech) as my initial platform into the social networking world. Recruitingblogs.com has been a real catalyst for blogging. This is something I always wanted to do, so I took the chance and my first blog written was a feature. After this boost of confidence, I have become a blogging machine ? I created my moniker “The Social T-Rex™” and have been running with this brand! I am currently developing a logo, website and many other features around this brand!
All of these have proven to be fruitful in extending my personal brand. My on-line brand has widened tremendously and has actually led to referrals, contacts and placements!
Six Degrees: Given your own Trial and Error experiences as a Networker, what advice do you have for your peers on what NOT to do?
ALEX: Don’t be scared! I know talented people, writers, speakers etc that are just scared of what people will think. I have learned, some people will like me, some will not…part of life! But by all means, put yourself out there and see what happens! In conjunction, be yourself, don’t be something you are not. If your personality can come out in writing or interviews then you will gain respect of peers and others (even if they don’t like you personally).
Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there?
ALEX: My ultimate goal is to be a motivational speaker! I want to write a book (professionally and personal ideas) to incorporate my life experiences to help others maximize their potential. I want to be the guy that is sought after for speaking engagements works hard from home and creates a socially big personal brand….maybe as big as a T-Rex!
What do I need to get there? Advice and assistance from people already there! Jenny DeVaughn has a “pay it forward” concept and I firmly believe in this. If those who are already there can pull us up and then we become the ones pulling others up, everyone wins!
Siena Blue at Boulder Creek
August 31, 2009
Jobs and Employment creation in India
August 31, 2009
While a lot of ink is used on focus on jobs in the – what people usually forget is that a majority of Indians work in what is referred to as the “unorganized sector”. This sector has to be the focus of attention if the country has to emerge faster from the economic slowdown. Take a look at this old post by Dr. Madhukar Shukla on the future of work and employment in India.
Now a ILO report has stressed the need again. From an article in Mint:
“Employment creation by itself will be a stimulus for growth as purchasing power will increase and, therefore, local demand can be created, provided remuneration is adequate and monitored,” said the report sponsored by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The report also called for the implementation of a statutory national minimum wage and easier credit for micro, small and medium enterprises, and emphasized that benefits from financial incentives be monitored to ensure employment is protected.
An estimated 131,000 people have lost their jobs across 3,003 labour-intensive, export-oriented sectors such as leather, gems and jewellery and textiles, according to the Labour Bureau’s latest survey conducted between April and June.
Half-a-million people had lost jobs between October and December, followed by a mild recovery—280,000 new jobs were created in the January-March period.
The report has identified urban youth, women, migrants and workers in the informal sector, particularly in construction, among the worst hit. The informal sector includes economic activities that are not officially regulated and which operate outside the scope of the incentive system offered by the government.
Jobs: Officer shortage in the Military
August 31, 2009
Interesting article from the Strategy Page on the officer shortage faced by the Indian armed forces. Will the global recession change this reality? Will we see more talented people joining the Indian military?
Until the last few decades, it was considered prestigious, and career enhancing, to serve at least a few years as a military officer. These days, no more. Shortages are often filled by lowering standards, which can have disastrous results in combat.
The Indian Army is short 24 percent of its officer strength, while China has the numbers, it is seriously concerned with the quality. Meanwhile, the Indian army has had a shortage of officers for decades. The air force and navy are also short, but only by 12-15 percent. In China, the problem is growing as the economy continues to boom (despite the global recession.)
But it’s not just officers that are hard for the Indians to recruit and keep. Technical specialists are in short supply, which is a growing problem as the army adds more high tech gear. The basic problem is that the army must compete with the civilian economy for highly trained or educated personnel.
The Indian army maintains high standards for officers, and has tried to eliminate the shortages by more aggressively recruiting young NCOs for officer candidate school. But that doesn’t always work, because too many of the NCOs cannot pass the entrance exam.
Who are Career Counselors?
August 31, 2009
Over the last few months have got a couple of mails from folks, typically who are looking to relocate to India – asking me if I can suggest people who can be their career counselors.
Full time career counselors are not really well known in India, and the only type of career counselors who come to mind are the ones who do advice columns in the papers like Usha Albuquerque or TV, like Rashmi Bansal.
But what exactly does a one on one career counselor do?
This is a good answer on Lawjobs:
A counselor serves as a guide on your career exploration. He or she is an objective listener who can help you determine solutions to the issues that brought you to her or him.
Do not expect a counselor to tell you what to do. As a way around what may be viewed as a counselor’s unwillingness to resolve a dilemma, a client sometimes asks the counselor what he or she would do in the same situation. Even if the counselor responds, the answer may not be relevant to the client. Each one of us has different characteristics and needs. As a result, the hypothetical actions of the counselor may not be the best approach for the client.
With that in mind, consider the counselor’s qualities that can lead to a productive relationship. Working with an objective, attentive listener is a key component. The talking-listening balance favors you engaging in a major share of talking while the counselor listens and poses questions that help you probe into the issues.
A counselor may also challenge you to analyze some of your underlying perceptions. Without recommending a particular course of action, a counselor can offer ideas and strategies for you to consider.
When deciding on a counselor, take into account your level of comfort and trust. As you determine whether you are comfortable with a counselor, discount your discomfort about dealing with your career issues. Focus on whether you have rapport and can discuss issues openly with the person.
Some interesting HR posts
August 31, 2009
Dub Dubs looks at the Top Chef show and draws some parallels with management styles HR.
Michael Specht is putting together a social recruiting conference in Australia.
Saikat reminds us of Ulrich’s points for HR professionals
What do you say? Read any great HR posts recently?
Let us know in the comments and it might be featured here!
Training Games – 40 Ice Breakers
August 31, 2009
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August 31, 2009
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Training Videos on Nonverbal communication
August 31, 2009
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All HR related Letter Format
August 31, 2009
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