Amy, Robert Half has been around the recruiting business for donkey's years--way long before there was a web in anyone's eye. But they're interested in keeping up with the Joneses, so's to speak. Witness their being willing actually to send a warm body to the H-T b'day party, probably in pursuit of networking via H-T (Rbt Half likely is somewhat formal) with H-T's interesting, networked members. It's likely a clear opportunity if H-T wishes to structure a relationship. As nicely discussed below by Steven Solomon, clearly H-T's members have marketing ideas that could help Rbt Half segment the Mass market including the Conn River Valley, Berkshires, & Hudson River Valley regional markets with more regional granularity than "Boston metro." The disaggregated nature of H-T may discombobulate folks as structured as Rbt Half, but then again, maybe not. It may not have escaped their notice that Craigslist runs to the city level around the country, which granularity has served seekers and employers equally well. BTW, as Steven Solomon noted below, Mass Mutual is very much a technical company, and very large. You may want to touch base with Allan Campbell, MM's Sr Enterprise Architect. He's an enterprise content management guy, and he's focused on records & content management and enterprise reference architecture. He likes FileNet's P8 product suite (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileNet). IBM bought it. Best regards, David David Morf Market Data Consulting Complexity, context, pattern 136 Dartmouth Street Holyoke, MA 01040 413-536-0944 (direct) 413-426-6059 (cell) davidtoday at comcast.net A founding member of the Center for Semantic Excellence www.semanticexcellence.org <http://www.semanticexcellence.org/> -----Original Message----- From: hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net [mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] On Behalf Of Steven Solomon Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 10:25 AM To: A - Z International; Hidden Tech Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] a question on recruiting ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee. ** You too can help the group ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area. ** If you did, we all thank you. Amy, I had not heard of them nor used their services, but a quick look at their site leads me to think that they are credible. That said, if you poke around their online forums you'll see a lot of griping by users about Half's performance. This may be as much a result of the user's overreaching and being less that qualified for the position they were interested in. Who knows. Oh, and after a quick Google, I found no hint that they served creative types, tho their range of offerings is vast. Am I correct in reading between the lines that they are staffing a branch office in Spfld? If so, you might want to suggest to somebody there that they offer W. Mass as a location to search. Boston is not all of the Commonwealth, after all. There's also a lot of activity in the Albany area adjacent to the Berkshires. Tons of tech oriented programs at the region's colleges and SUNY, plus hoards of now unemployed former GE workers and the Knoll's nuke research center that GE runs. Tho I haven't been very active with HT outside this list, the thought that stitching together a region that includes west of Worcester up to the foothills of the Adirondacks could give HT enough heft to better compete for opportunities with Beantown. Our population not nearly as dense, but we do have the numbers and educational infrastructure to rival them. One last thought. Have you taken a look at Mass Mutual? They represent a different kind of Hidden Tech. The modern insurance company is as much a IT shop as a financial institution. MM not only has a value that, if I remember correctly, is ten times that of Microsoft, but they are in constant tension with recruiters and college placement folks to keep IT grads in the region. The company may have an interest in supporting HT. You might also want to stop by their Spfld headquarters and see if there's an article from such a visit. Folks at the EDC can get you entree. Be Well, S On May 9, 2008, at 9:17 AM, A - Z International wrote: > ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee. > ** You too can help the group > ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area. > ** If you did, we all thank you. > > > Hi all, > > I've been conducting a running dialogue for a year with members of > the Robert Half recruiting agency's various departments about how > they can better serve virtual company owners like us who depend on > project work -- preferably retainer-based clients. Ironically, they > found me by showing up to Hidden-Tech's 5th birthday party to scope > us out. > > I'm curious how many of you knew that Robert Half offers recruiting > services for project work for both techies and those in the > creative sectors? > > I certainly did not. And to be honest, I'm not plugging them or > working for them. I don't even have a clear sense of what they do > offer, which is why I'm turning to the list with these questions: > > -- Have any of you heard of this agency? > > -- Have any of you ever utilized their services? > > -- If so, were your experiences positive? negative? in-between? > > -- Would any of you be willing to pay money for an agent or "head > hunter" who could get you project work, or even retainer clients? > > Let me know. Could be I'll write about this. But I will certainly > pass on your thoughts to this organization and many others. As > someone who has never located an on-line job board I could stand, > and would love a work agent or head hunter to assist me when work > is slow, I think it would be great of the recruiting industry > caught up to our needs. Curious if you agree. > > best, > > Amy Zuckerman > Hidden-Tech Founder > > _______________________________________________ > Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net > Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net > > You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech > Discussion list. > If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the > Members page on the Hidden Tech Web site. > http://www.hidden-tech.net/members Steven Solomon ssol at othereality.com http://www.othereality.com "God, for lack of a better word, is that Order implicit and emergent in all possible Universes, in all possible dimensions, within and without Time." Anton Saurian Circa 2005CE _______________________________________________ Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion list. 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