Member Showcase

Rachel Astruc, Talent Resourcer, The Johnson Group

Thanks heaps Rachel for being the first community member to be put under the spotlight! We see below that you are a science fiction writer - an essential skill for all recruitment 2.0 professionals :)

Rachel responds to 2 questions:

1. What's the essence of your role?

I work at The Johnson Group in Wellington, who specialise in public sector recruitment. My job title is ‘Talent Resourcer’, which probably warrants an explanation!

Basically I’m responsible for our web presence: I blog, post online advertisements, manage communities on social network platforms, and write and source articles that might be of interest to jobseekers in the public sector. I also handle email enquiries, newsletters, manage our candidate database and so on.

While I’m new to the recruitment industry, my background is mainly in IT communications — I’ve worked for several years as a content writer/editor, online forum moderator, information architect and content manager. (I actually got my first job in online writing and editing through a friend on an online community...) Possibly as a result of my internet obsession, I also write rather terrible science fiction stories as a hobby…

2. What does Recruitment 2.0 mean to you?

Recruitment 2.0 to me is about exploring new methods of communication. I’m lucky in that TJG has always been ready to adopt and experiment with new technologies. Primarily I use Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. TJG has just replaced its old website with a new 2.0-savvy version which includes links to the company’s profiles on these sites. Over the next month or two I’ll be adding our recruitment consultants’ individual profiles as well, so candidates can contact them more directly online. The idea is to be open to all kinds of connections, which will in turn build a sense of community and long-term working relationships.

It’s difficult to explain all the benefits of these sites unless you’re part of them—I don’t feel that it’s just about placing people in jobs. I’ve seen so many other ways that 2.0 technologies are useful to recruitment. People have recognised me (in real life) from my online profile, I’ve received great advice from recruitment and web professionals, and I’ve also been able to field informal questions from candidates.