INTERVIEW: David Manaster, CEO of ERE
I recently came across a survey that revealed 31% of employers are having difficulty filling positions due to the lack of qualified talent. Really?! You would think with high unemployment it would be easy to find candidates.
But maybe we need to ask ourselves if we are taking advantage of all the resources available when it comes to sourcing talent. Which is why I wanted to interview David Manaster, chief executive officer at ERE, and share with you the resources that ERE offers.
David started his recruiting career at Monster. While working there, he says he met many recruiters ” who were curious and confused about how to use the Internet 
1) ERE has a strong presence in the recruiting industry. What kind of information are you focusing on with regard to the job market and unemployment?
Our mission at ERE is to provide new ideas and information for recruiters and HR professionals. So, we always view things from the practitioner’s perspective, and on ERE.net we’ve covered the economy, job market, and recession with one thing in mind: How does it effect recruiters?
We’ve got job listings for recruiters, and at the height of the financial crisis, we put together a place where recruiters looking for work could post their availability.
2) I noticed that ERE has started a new blog, TLNT. Tell us more about the publication and how it fits into the ERE family.
TLNT.com is the newest member of our family. It is being run by John Hollon, the former Editor of Workforce Magazine. Its mission is to bring reliable and useful news to HR professionals on Internet time. Our blog has been live for only two months, but the coverage of important HR news is already exceptional.
The HR profession has historically been served by a small number of magazines. These magazines all have web sites now, but their roots are in print, and the pace of print publishing still seems to rule. More recently, HR bloggers have been operating in real time to share their opinions and challenges, but very few have the network and time to do the time-consuming research and original fact-gathering that professional journalists do.
The news that Lon O’Neil is stepping down as CEO of SHRM is a perfect example. The blogs generally do not have the sources necessary to break this kind of story, and we didn’t see it on the homepage of any of the HR magazine websites either.
HR professionals need real news on Internet time, and TLNT.com is going to deliver it.
3) So I can’t resist asking…does this mean that HR bloggers don’t deliver facts?
When I said that “very few have the network and time to do the time-consuming research and original fact-gathering that professional journalists do” I certainly did not mean that bloggers do not deal in facts, nor did I mean in any way to imply it.
To me, this is a simple function of time. Most in the HR blogosphere are not blogging full time, and simply do not have the hours in the day to break news stories that require time-consuming research on a regular basis. For the record, I find the HR blogs to be incredibly valuable, and there are many things that they do well. But no medium is perfect, and I believe that this gap between the HR bloggers and the traditional HR magazines creates an opportunity for TLNT.com.
(Editor’s Note: Whew! I’m certainly happy for the clarification.)
4) As a human resources professional, I’m always interested to know if I worked for you what would you expect from me?
I’d expect your enthusiasm and integrity. And never make the same mistake twice.
5) Here at HR Bartender, we do serious work but try not to take ourselves too seriously. So my last question is what’s your favorite drink (adult or not)?
Bloody Mary. Spicy.
Many thanks to David for the interview. We wish nothing but success to TLNT! Be sure to check out ERE’s upcoming conferences Social Recruiting Summit at Microsoft Headquarters and ERE Fall Expo, here in my hometown of South Florida. I attended the Fall Expo last year and it was terrific!
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