HR Influencer: Shally Steckerl

As the discipline of recruiting pivots during the downturn, sourcing is becoming decidedly more professional. What was once the province of cold calling direct marketers is now the home of seasoned technical workers. The essence of information economy employment, sourcing is the art of finding people.

Recruiting itself is a range of practices and procedures that get tailored to the specifics of a niche, industry, city, division or company. Part rites of passage, part intelligent human matching, part requirements fulfillment and part relationship management, each company creates a nuanced approach to the problem. But, at the root, it's find 'em, attract 'em, hire 'em and train 'em.

Sourcing is the find 'em part. While an army of relationship based telephone sourcers still remains, the craft is rapidly becoming an online research problem. Though only 85 percent of people are discoverable online, that's enough to suit most sourcing needs.

Shally Steckerl is a driving force in the professionalization of sourcing through his training operation, JobMachine, Shally and his crew create training programs. Thousands of Internet Sourcing wizards have been through his programs. His offerings are standard at any recruiting conference.

Shally has an amazing story. Born at Four Corners on a reservation; raised in Columbia; the weird kid at Rochester Institute of Technology; business and IT degrees; Peace Corps in Nicaragua; recruiter; contract recruiter; company founder; successful partner in a merger. All the while, Shally's larger-than-life presence colored the environments he occupied.

Blended together, they turn out to make the perfect ingredients for a technology evangelist in the HR Industry. He's able to apply business concepts to computerized tools as he moves his enterprise across cultural boundaries.

A professional road warrior, you can often see Shally wheeling his duffle bag to the next conference hall. Webinars, handouts, in person training and a team of trainers make the Steckerl operation the industry's busiest. He's changed the way companies recruit.

He thinks the future is all about specialization. "There's no such thing as permanent employment. Instead you get to work with great people who play well together. No one is going to punch a clock, everyone will be evaluated on their ability to collaborate. What you do will be more like business than a job.

"I see a continual blurring of the distinction between knowledge worker and contingency worker. The world is becoming a place of projects," he said. "In our labs we're working on predictive technology that bridges the gaps between technologies. We think that the machine will assist you. It will likely know what you want."

As Shally grows his enterprise, it is increasingly becoming like a publishing house.

As part of John Sumser’s ongoing Top 100 Influencers project, in which the key influencers working in recruiting, staffing, HR, HCM and HR technology are identified and profiled, John shares additional perspectives and compelling insights from those who are profiled here in Salary.com HR Voice each Friday.

John Sumser is a member of the Salary.com Board of Directors as well as the founder and president of Two Color Hat, Inc. Contributions to Salary.com HR Voice and this Website reflect the opinions of the authors and are not an official opinion of Salary.com, Inc., or any of its subsidiary or affiliated entities.