Starting Out, Again...

Today on Twitter, Susan Nam asked me how I got started with TalentBar, and what I want to accomplish with the site in 2009. She is an avid Twitter user with an incredible 3,122 people following her updates. If you would like to follow her too, here is her profile. Come on, everybody else is doing it...

No one wants to read my whole life history, because it's long and shrouded in mystery (especially for me.) I will say that about 10 years ago, I was a waiter in NYC at the now defunct Cajun restaurant, which served excellent alligator and even better jazz. (What else do you do with a Philosophy major?) Eventually, I decided to get a business job and of course I was only qualified for sales. I did, after all, have a pulse. I sold microfilm equipment - technology circa 1940 - for a few years in NYC before moving back home. From sales, I fell into the people business quite by accident and have never looked back.

So if that doesn't qualify me to run a major portal for the human capital industry, I don't know what does! I jest, of course. What brought me to start TalentBar was a real excitement about the power of social networking to bring people together and an honest love for the profession. I had a very modest plan for the group when we started out, which I am proud to say I have shed entirely. This community is going to do great things in 2009.

We now have an incredible 15,725 members on TalentBar after just over a year since starting out. The seniority and depth of this community is perhaps unprecedented, as we are bringing together executives and professionals in recruiting and Human Resources - everyone who is involved in the study, business, and management of human talent. The potential for this community is limitless.

As far as plans go for 2009, in general, we want to bring more value to this community of professionals. We will be continuing to increase the quantity and quality of our content, as we look to engage the community itself further. I am looking forward to meeting and speaking with lots of folks in person, and getting to know what they would like to get out of the site and what they can contribute. We also plan to continue to add features and technological advancements to site, including more tools for actual business use. However, this site started out as a networking site first, and I think this primary use will not change. Professionals need ways to connect and exchange ideas, and this is the most important function of TalentBar. I do feel like we just started and now in 2009, it feels like we are starting all over again.

Thanks for your question, it made me think.

Miles

Twitter profile