AKA The View From The Back Of The Room

Considering CareerXroads Membership? Or maybe you’re a current member but new to CXR resources? Until you experience the CareerXroads community first-hand, it can be hard to appreciate just what the Colloquium means to its members. What is it about CareerXroads that makes people say:

There is no better way to gauge your own progress, plan to better your strategies, and ignite, or re-ignite, the ingenuity needed to win.
~Michael, Scotiabank

I find the most valuable aspect of the CareerXroads membership is the exposure to the other members. Being able to share ideas, programs, challenges and successes is invaluable.
~Lisa, ADP

It was awesome to engage with colleagues in this space to learn and share our respective journeys identifying pitfalls and highlighting wins.
~Shil, Northwestern Mutual

I have the privilege of sitting in the back of the room at CareerXroads Colloquium Meetings throughout the year. I hear comments like those during and after every single meeting. I watch the interactions happen, see the aha moments strike, and listen to long-term connections being made. I’m not going to lie… it’s a pretty cool gig. Let me take a few minutes to let you in on what I’ve watched happen in the nearly 20 years that I’ve been involved with CareerXroads.

What makes CareerXroads Membership special?

The passion

No, I’m not talking about a passion for good wine (though that might be a special feature of CXR.) I’m talking about a distinct passion for improving and helping others improve. One of my favorite parts of each meeting is watching how long it takes for the conversation to get robust enough that it takes us a few times to get everyone’s attention. Some meetings it doesn’t happen until close to lunch. At others, it happens before we even get to the introductory exercise. One thing is constant – it always happens. Networking is consistently listed as one of the most useful parts of CareerXroads membership. Whether it happens in person at one of our meetings or on the eXchange or even on social media – CXR members are making connections each and every day and using those connections to improve talent acquisition.

[CXR Uncorked with Marie Artim]

There’s another passion that is apparent throughout the CXR Community: A true passion for the talent acquisition space and all its quirks. Trust me, when you see a group of people excitedly talking and snapping pics of each other’s talent dashboards… there’s clearly a passion for quirks in the room. CXR Members love helping their organizations attract, hire and retain the right talent and they also love having a safe space to share their enthusiasm. At least once a meeting, someone stops to tell me that CareerXroads provides the only space where they feel surrounded by peers who truly understand their challenges and are willing to openly talk about them.

It is great to know we aren’t alone in the world as recruiters with our struggles and wins!
~Lauren, Cargill

The sharing

From the very beginning, CareerXroads has been a vendor-neutral space that gives its members a forum to openly discuss any and all aspects of talent acquisition. New members are often blown away by the caliber of discussions that happen both online and in our meetings. It’s one of the reasons each prospective member must complete a member interview before they are accepted into CareerXroads. We’re not interested in being the largest talent acquisition community – we want to continue to be the premier talent acquisition community. The place where professionals come to analyze and openly discuss practices, vendors, programs and trends. A trusted community that gives leaders and teams the tools they need to learn and succeed.

We always feel like we walk away from the CXR events with more than any other recruiting events/conferences that we attend.
~Nicole, Edward Jones

[Candidate Diversity Expectations: a CXR Research Report]

The members

The real secret to CareerXroads isn’t found under any hat (even when those hats are legendary). The one thing that makes this community unlike any other are the people that form that community. We’re here to foster their discussions – to put their questions in front of each other – to help them shine a light on what’s working and what’s not. The people behind CareerXroads have the same passions as our members. We are driven to continually learn about TA trends and practices so we can elevate the discussions our members want to have – and sometimes propose discussions they don’t even know they want yet.

[CXR Chat: Executive Recruiting Colleague Takeaways]

I certainly see that passion, sharing and camaraderie during each of my interactions with members. The view from the back of the room is a busy one – our members keep me hopping – but it’s a view that is energizing and exciting. Each conversation, each post, each meeting brings something new and elevates the community as a whole.

So what can you expect from CareerXroads? A community unlike any other.