I hope you had a great holiday season and got some time to relax. As for me, I spent this holiday season enjoying discussions with extended family followed by a vacation to Mexico. When I need to think, lying by the beach with the sun baking away is the best. Scheduling down time to reflect and plan is critical for me and getting away from the Chicago winter always helps me get my priorities set for the year and recharge before a busy spring.

I realized again during this time just how much I love working on strategy and process with our clients. What I find so interesting about it is the challenge of creating strategies and processes that capture the personal, social nature of the company and how they need to recruit. It’s easy for us as recruiters to think about macro measurements like headcount and req loads, but I like to make it more personal. I prefer to focus on how we impact individuals and change lives when we fill those reqs. And how a quality process treats people with respect. Our process is how people experience our values and culture – how our strategies come to life in the real world.

I believe that we should always challenge ourselves to think about recruiting as a social activity and find ways to connect with people in a more personal way. Once we have that in mind, we can decide on the tools we need to help us do it at the scale we require and execute effectively. So how do we get focused and get ideas about this personal recruiting at scale?

One way is to attend the Social Recruiting Strategies Conference 2015 San Francisco (#SRSC) January 27-29, where I’m excited to be speaking. I’m looking forward to this event and where I get to spend time with people who are all focused on social recruiting strategies, tactics, and tools. In my presentation, I’ll share 5 key things that industry-leading companies are doing with their social recruiting to really make a difference and connect with their audience. We’ll talk in practical terms about the steps they take to achieve true engagement and interaction with people who you ultimately would love to have as employees at our company.

I love the idea of SRSC San Francisco 2015, because it has one focus and one focus only – social recruiting. Of course there are all kinds of niche areas to explore, but I love that this event is all about helping recruiting organizations get better and more efficient at connecting with people in a genuine way. And it won’t just be theoretical either. You’ll hear from great companies like Rolls Royce, Informatica, and Southwest Airlines and learn from their real world experience. This is one of the fastest ways I know to understand the state of the industry and turbocharge your own social recruiting engine.

Check out the full agenda and speaker line-up at http://socialrecruitingstrategies.com and contact me if you’re going to attend. I’d love to say hello in person and get a chance to learn more about your social recruiting journey. Will you join me at SRSC 2015?