I Simply Have Got To Know

Laurie Ruettimann, Punk Rock HR, has a wonderful, straight to the point post at Cheezehead.com about social networking. "Times are changing and HR professionals need to learn what it means to identify and acquire talent in the 21st century."

I appreciate the post because honestly, I have a lot to learn. I don't know what it really means to identify and acquire talent in the 21st Century. Ahh, that felt good. 

With Google Reader, this blog, and now Twitter,  I am dipping my toes into a very big pond. Each and every day, I feel that I am so close to something very unbelievably powerful, yet I don't know how to get right into the midst of it. 

As an HR leader, I want to know about "social networking, recruiting applications, and sourcing methodologies." I want to know how I can best mobilize my staff to "communicate with candidates using a mix of technology and old-fashioned recruiting skills."

I want to know about building relationships with people I can't reach out and touch (beware: my age is showing). Can I say that it is like jumping into the midst of new culture?

We are in the midst of a major transformation in how people communicate with each other. We have access to real time information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We can get communicate with next door neighbor, the person we have yet to meet across the globe, and everyone in between.

It is simply amazing. I want to "get" it all but know that, literally, within minutes, what I "get" will be either be changed, improved, or replaced by something else.

So, my question to you is, "What do you do to keep your finger on the pulse?"

I simply have got to know.