The Speakers
Shannon Smedstad
Shannon Smedstad is a principal employer brand strategist at exaqueo (ex-ack-we-o), a premier employer brand experience firm. With nearly 20 years of talent acquisition, employer brand, and employee communications experience, she is passionate about connecting organizations and people. Working with both U.S. and global clients, her experience includes consulting in the non-profit, pharmaceutical, luxury hospitality, insurance, and tech industries.
Before joining exaqueo, Shannon was the Employment Brand Director at CEB (now Gartner), and prior to that she led employer branding, and built campus and social recruiting initiatives at GEICO. Over the course of her career, Shanon has served as an agency and corporate recruiter, directed more than 25 employer brand videos, managed the Career Services department for a non-profit, and trained recruiting teams. She has a deep understanding of career sites, university recruitment, employee referral programs and social media.
Her work has received Graphic Design USA, Potentialpark Group, and Glassdoor awards. She has been named a Top Employer Brand Influencer and featured by SHRM and Business Insider. Shannon graduated with honors and a B.A. in Speech Communication from Shippensburg University. She enjoys writing and leading two Girl Scout troops, and lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two daughters, and a dog named Taco.
Say hi: shannon@exaqueo.com
Tweet: @shannonsmedstad
Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonsmedstad/
Luke Doubler
Founder, Recruiter Central.
Luke Doubler is an innovator in talent sourcing. He has trained 1000s of corporate and agency recruiters to be the best at what they do: source talent to achieve a purpose. His listen first, transformational leadership style and commitment to peer development is unique in the search firm industry.
Notable Career Accomplishments
- 15+ years of corporate and agency recruiting leadership
- Dozens of speaking engagements on sourcing topics ranging from national audiences to local meet-ups.
- Lead sourcer for Target’s cybersecurity recruiting team, post data breach
- Lead sourcer for Target.com and infrastructure
- Lead sourcer for Target’s executive search team
- Developed corporate in-house sourcing and recruiting models for Cargill, Schwans, and Target
- Guest blogger on various HR and recruiting publications
Jason Buss
With 23 years of human resources and talent acquisition leadership experience, Jason Buss is a recognized expert with deep experience in identifying, recruiting and hiring high-performing teams. He is currently the vice president of talent acquisition for MongoDB.
Jason has authored and published content in, and has been quoted by The Huffington Post, Fast Company, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, Society for Human Resource Management, Corporate Executive Board and more.
He is the founder of the Recruiters Network and serves as the president and community leader for several of the nation’s largest and most active regional recruiting communities. You can connect with Jason on LinkedIn or Twitter @jjbuss.
Chris Dardis
Chris Dardis is the Vice President of Versique HR Executive Search and Consulting. Chris has more than 15 years of combined experience within corporate HR leadership positions and the executive search and consulting industry.
This experience provides Chris with the unique ability to truly understand his clients’ human capital needs and offer strategic solutions.
Tiffany Kuehl
Tiffany Kuehl has over two decades of HR and talent acquisition experience, enabling her to bring unique industry insight to every search. She has held high-level talent acquisition positions within manufacturers including, Donaldson Company, Honeywell and MTS Systems.
She serves as the Director of the Minnesota Society for Human Resource Management State Council (MNSHRM), held multiple roles on the Twin Cities Human Resource Association (TCHRA) Board, and served on the Advisory Board with Minnesota Recruiters (MNREC)..
Agenda
8:30 - 9:00: Check-in and networking
9:00 - 9:10: Kickoff with Jason Buss, Founder, Recruiters Network
9:10 - 9:55: Luke Doubler - From Recruiter to Blogger, Marketing Tactics for Recruiters
9:55 - 10:25: Chris Dardis & Tiffany Kuehl - Market Update & The Future of Recruiting
10:25 - 10:55: Networking Break
10:55 - 11:20 Prize Drawings & Announcements
11:20 - 12:00: Shannon Smedstad - Moments that Matter: Your Candidate Experience (CX) + Employer Brand (EB)
12:00: Wrap up
Session Descriptions
Shannon Smedstad
Moments That Matter: Your Employer Brand + the Candidate Experiences You Create
Many organizations focus employer branding efforts primarily on talent attraction. But there has to be a connection between your external talent acquisition and your internal talent retention strategies. Let Shannon Smedstad, principal strategist at exaqueo, the premier employer brand experience firm, guide you through the employer brand lifecycle, and the moments that matter to the people you want to hire and keep.
For your employer brand to be strong, effective and long-lasting, you have to think more holistically and reach far beyond the status quo. During this session you will:
- Learn how to understand all of the touch points you have with candidates and employees
- Connect your employer brand with moments that matter, and identify opportunities to amplify those interactions into meaningful candidate and employment experiences
- Walk away with a more holistic view of why your candidate experience matters and what you can do to affect it right now.
Luke Doubler
From Recruiter to Blogger, Marketing Tactics for Recruiters
Luke Doubler, owner of the technical search firm RecruiterCentral and former recruiting leader for Target and Cargill will present on "From Recruiter to Blogger to Business Owner, lessons learned from a top blogging innovator"
He and his wife Kate Doubler, Registered Nurse, BSN, and founder of the blog www.realfoodrn.com have touched millions with their message of healthy, whole food diets. During this session, Luke shares lessons learned with his wife and will give you new and innovative ways to incorporate tools and tactics of a successful blogger into your recruiting routines.
Attendees will learn:
- Tips on how recruiters develop their personal online brand
- How to be a brand ambassador for your company
- Lessons in SEO (search engine optimization) and how to get maximum exposure to a target audience
- How to create and maintain a talent community
- Simple steps and tools to greatly increase the visibility of your job postings
- How to get higher response rates on your recruiting efforts
- How top bloggers develop their online brand
- Tools and tactics that will save you time and produce better candidates
Chris Dardis & Tiffany Kuehl
Minneapolis / St. Paul Market Update & A Key Future Component in Recruiting
Chris Dardis, VP, HR Search and Consulting and Tiffany Kuehl, Director, HR Search of Versique Search and Consulting will discuss the state of the Minneapolis / St. Paul job market, what skills hiring leaders and what candidates are seeking in their careers, and introduce a key component in the future of talent acquisition.
