Welcome

Heard of Google Wave yet? It's the latest product from this little company called Google, and it's the next step in their plan to dominate the world. Per Google, it's a place to "communicate and collaborate in real-time." To me, it's email and instant messenger rolled into a whiteboard. 

Google Wave launched a few weeks back by "invitation only" and getting up on the site was difficult. Google has since opened the flood gates, and invitations can be found by asking friends and colleagues, or doing a little digging in communities like Twitter and Facebook. Still no luck? Request an invitation here. You'll want to get on, as the recruiting flock has moved that way and fast.



On Monday, November 16th, ERE is hosting their second #socialrecruiting summit in NYC. I attended their first summit earlier this year at the Google headquarters in Silicon Valley and thought the speaker lineup, presentations and attendees made for a groundbreaking event. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the second physically, but living in the digital era, doesn't mean I can't attend virtually. For starters, ERE will be offering a livestream of the event on their website. Tools such as Twazzup offer you a second option with a real-time look into the conversation happening from the event on Twitter (look up #socialrecruiting). And that brings me to the third selection: Google Wave. Chris Hoyt (aka TheRecruiterGuy) took the initiative to set-up a wave dedicated solely to the #socialrecruiting summit, and it acts as a great landing spot for recruiters to meet and share their thoughts around the hot social media topic and recruiting. 



Recruiters have always found ways to interact at events before, whether it be face-to-face networking, texting, emailing, or using Twitter and other social networks. With Google Wave, recruiters can now interact and share in a wave: an online collaborative environment in real-time. The information captured in a wave can come in many forms, including text, video, links, polls, maps and much more. You can edit, markup and highlight your piece of the wave as well as others too. The possibilities are nearly endless. If you miss the #socialrecruiting summit, you can join the wave at a later date, and see the "archive" of notes and messages from the contributors. By using Google Wave, recruiters are seeing a true example of social media at its best. 

Moving forward, there are many references available online about Google Wave. Take advantage of them. Check out "The Complete Guide to Google Wave" and "Google Wave: A Complete Guide." Before diving in, these two reads can give you a quick feel for the product and how to use it. Also, see how others are using Google Wave. 5 real-time use cases can be found at Mashable, and gives great insight into what other industry leaders are doing with Google Wave since it hit the web. Finally, find my profile on Google and send me a wave.

[ This post entitled Google Waves into Social Recruiting originated by the blog of recruiting leader and sourcing consultant Geoff Peterson. ]