Jeff Weiner, CEO of Linkedin, wants the company to be synonymous with ‘talent’ just as ‘Internet Search’ is for Google. In an interview with Techcrunch, he talks about past achievements and sheds light on future plans. Not surprisingly, Linkedin’s recruitment products are the largest and fastest growing part of the business. However, Jeff is careful to differentiate Linkedin from job boards. Here’s his take:

We are unique….Monster is all about jobs and that’s a component of what we do certainly, but Linkedin is not just about helping you find the best job, it’s about making you more successful, more productive in the job you are already in.…. ultimately we want to connect talent to opportunity. We want to do that on a massive scale and I don’t think that it has been done before……within a professional context we have an opportunity to completely change the game.

Membership has now reached 75 million, and if rumours of an impending IPO are proven real, it’s safe to assume that growth will accelerate further. When job boards first showed up, fear and loathing greeted them. Once the dust settled and it became clear that they added value to the sourcing function, objections subsided. Soon, the focus shifted to getting the best out of the new recruitment channel. Discussions revolves around cost and pricing. ‘What is the cheapest and most effective way I can use job boards’ was the prevailing mindset; a sign job boards have come of age. A week ago I spoke to a recruitment manager who just negotiated a deal with Linkedin. ‘It’s very expensive, but necessary’ he quipped.  Be prepared to see conversations shifting to the issue of pricing. The question is no longer about LinkedIn’s place and relevance as a recruitment tool, but more about how best to capitalise; a situation enjoyed by job boards in their heydays. It seems to me Linkedin is destined to have a permanent and prominent presence in the Australian recruitment landscape. What do you think?

Sylvia Hewlett, Founding President of Centre for Work-Life Policy, on what the new generation of workers want from employers:

I think jazz is the right metaphor. It’s freedom within form. Our new demographic research coming out in July really shows that what Gen Y wants, and is actually what boomers want too, is actually to stay with an employer/company that they had admire. But to mix and match, to ebb and flow, to have much more of freedom within form, and to have a long view.

One of the biggest yearnings of these two juggernaut generations…what they want within the context of loyal attachment to an employer and intense periods of work is odyssey. The ability to search and quest for meaning, to maybe work for six weeks in Africa, and then absolutely get down to work back on the ranch again.

Also check -  what Motivates Gen Y & Boomer Talent (Harvard Business Review)

Five employers – Lincoln Benbow from Halcyon Knights, Tim Brady from Credo, Leigh Jasper from Aconex, David Markus from Combo, and Paul Rae from Bourke Group – discussed their approach to attracting and retaining staff (Via BRW Fast Club)

(PS: Video will open in new window)

Jason Fried reminds us how much our workplaces are optimised for interruptions.

Consider these numbers – According to Gloria Mark, the average knowledge worker switches tasks every three minutes, and, once distracted, a worker takes nearly a half-hour to resume the original task. And according to Basex, interruptions and the requisite recovery time now consume 28 percent of a worker’s day.

How are you coping?

Here’s the latest from Tom Peters. He is frustrated with HR, particularly with standard evaluation forms.

What do you use in your organisation?