Jennifer McClure`

Equipping people leaders to navigate change — and design the future — with boldness and purpose.

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The Random Show — Conversations with My BFF Laurie Ruettimann

When my BFF, Laurie Ruettimann, called me up and told me about her unplanned, open afternoon and a need for a last-minute podcast guest, I suggested we do a recording together to fill the gap.

Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ recurring random conversations on The Tim Ferriss podcast with his friend Kevin Rose, I suggested we do something similar. The resulting conversation was fun, and also ventured into both Laurie and I sharing some of our highs and lows of 2019, as well as what we’re excited about and focusing on in 2020.

In addition to being my friend, Laurie is also one of my personal mentors and a frequent travel companion. She’s a well-known writer, speaker, and podcaster who helps executives and HR leaders prioritize the employee experience to avoid the collateral damage of a toxic work environment.

Laurie Ruettimann

 

In this podcast conversation, we chat about where Laurie is in the process of writing and publishing her first traditionally published book, and then we move on to chatting about our outlooks for the new year, my epiphanies about time management and some of our favorite travel stories. We also discuss burnout and rethinking the way that we view our businesses.

IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 36

(Email subscribers – click HERE to listen to the podcast.)

Show Highlights:

  • Laurie’s book writing journey, the editing process, and what to expect in the new year and beyond.
  • Goodreads and Amazon as incredibly important platforms for authors and how Laurie’s publishing team is prepping for her book launch later next year.
  • Some of the places and events I’ll be traveling to in 2020.
  • My epiphanies around time management, which I had while recovering from a horse-riding accident.
  • What we’re excited about for 2020, including doing things a little bit differently in our lives in regards to our physical and mental health.

More Info and Resources:

King University

Laurie Ruettimann

Impact Makers Episode 2 – The Thriving Contrarian with Laurie Ruettimann

Let’s Fix Work podcast

The Tim Ferriss Show podcast: The Random Show — On Fasting, Forest Bathing, How to Say NO, Rebooting the Self, and Much More (#391)

ERE Recruiting Conference

Igniting Souls Conference

Kary Oberbrunner

Full Focus Planner

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Thanks to King University, who’s support makes this podcast possible! King is proud to offer sixteen online degrees with accelerated programs and affordable tuition so you can start a new career faster than ever. You can choose from programs in technology, communication, and business – like an online MBA with six concentrations including human resource management. And because the program is offered fully online, you can earn your degree on your own schedule in as little as 16 months. Visit https://online.king.edu/impactmakers to learn more about the King Difference today.

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The HOW and WHY of LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook For Business [Webinar Series]

I get to do many cool things in my job at Unbridled Talent, but one of the best things about my job is the opportunity to travel around and meet professionals who are interested in learning more about how to grow their professional careers or how to implement best practices to improve their company’s performance.

In addition to working with business leaders to define and implement people strategies required to achieve business objectives, I’ve had the opportunity to speak at over 150 conference events, corporate workshops, association meetings and webinars – often about how to utilize social media for career development, why social media matters for business and how to utilize social media tools and resources in Human Resources and Recruiting.

LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

I love my job.

But even though LinkedIn recently reached it’s 10th anniversary, Facebook has turned 9 and Twitter has crossed the 7 year mark, many people are still confused about or unaware of how to best utilize social media tools as business and professional resources. It’s not uncommon for me to talk with someone after an event where the person relates something similar to, “I was skeptical that using social media was something that I (or my organization) needed to do and I didn’t understand it, but now, I believe that it is – and I can!” Best. Feedback. Ever.

And it’s ok.

That’s one of the reasons why Laurie Ruettimann* and I are teaming up to offer a series of upcoming webinars to help business professionals, human resources pros and talent acquisition geeks understand the HOW and WHY of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook – and we’d love for you to join us!

We realize that many of you may not be inclined to attend a conference to learn more about how to use LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook and you also may not have the time or budget resources to do so. So we’re coming to you – in your offices, your cubicles or out on your back deck – via a series of 90 minute webinars to share what we’ve learned about using social media to cultivate awareness, develop your brand/your employer brand and effective ways to nurture both consumer and employment leads in the marketplace.

So here’s the scoop (click on the links for full session descriptions and for registration):

After doing webinars for other companies for years, many of whom charged quite a bit of money, we’d like to offer these webinars at an affordable price ($37 each or $99 for all three) and we’ll also provide everyone who registers with a free toolkit after each webinar that includes a copy of the slide deck, a recording of the webinar and a resource sheet with links to learn more from leading social media resources.

Not available during the specific dates or times? No worries. The webinars will be recorded for access at any time and you’ll still receive the toolkit!

Why are we doing this now? Because we want to help you and we want to share what we’ve learned from years of working as entrepreneurs, recruiters and human resources professionals along with our experience working in a variety of industries – both within corporate America and as external consultants working with some of the best leaders and companies in the world.

Have a question about the webinars or what’s in it for you? Let me know in the comments or you can find both Laurie and I on the interwebs via

LinkedIn – Laurie Ruettimann / LinkedIn – Jennifer McClure

Twitter – Laurie Ruettimann / Twitter – Jennifer McClure

Facebook – Laurie Ruettimann / Facebook – Jennifer McClure

Or just go old school and send me an email!

If you know someone who could benefit from one, two or all three of these webinars, please share this information with your colleagues or clients!

*True story. Laurie is my favorite Cynical Girl, Pixie of the Apocalypse, cat lover and thinker/agitator in the world of work. We “met online” years ago when I found her Punk Rock HR blog, so when we actually met for the first time in person at the 2009 SHRM Annual Conference, we were already BFF’s. Ultimately, Laurie has been one of the most helpful people to me in developing my business and my speaking career and is firmly ensconced in the Unbridled Talent President’s Club. See? Using social media to build real relationships and to grow your business can definitely work!

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Unbridled Talent LLC is a consulting and advisory firm providing services to clients in the areas of recruiting & human resources strategy, employment branding and leadership/career development. We offer keynotes, workshops and training that inspire and teach business leaders to be more effective in their careers and as leaders of their organization’s most valuable resource – people. Contact us to schedule an event or to discuss our strategic consulting and advisory services.

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Social Media For HR – Now & Next [Interview With Laurie Ruettimann]

I’m on vacation this week – well as much of a vacation as a self-employed person can take – and I’m coming down from a fantastic month of attending and speaking at conferences, as well as connecting with a ton of new professional relationships and long-time social media friends!

However, I wanted to take a moment to share this great Q&A led by Curtis Midkiff with my friend and Cynical Girl – Laurie Ruettimann – from The Hive at the 2012 SHRM Annual Conference. Watch this brief video (email subscribers click through to view) to learn more about:

  • Tips for HR pros who want to get involved with social media for their job.
  • How to find usable info on Twitter
  • Using social media to facilitate connecting with professional relationships online – and offline
  • Is Twitter a credible source of information?
  • How do you use social media to connect different generations (or can you)?
  • Are you doing it wrong by using social media as part of the hiring process?
  • What’s coming next? (Hint: Going retro.)

You can also learn how women like Laurie’s Mom are using Facebook. Now that’s money right there.

SHRM Day 2: Ask an Expert Session: Laurie Ruettimann

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Invest in Your Career – Sign Up for The Career Summit!

Five years ago next month, I was fired from my job.

It wasn’t a surprise. I knew my day was coming. In fact, I’d been suggesting the demise of my position for quite awhile. I’d even been encouraged by my CEO to look for a job while still on the payroll – since it was only a matter of time before the axe would fall after the sale of the company where I worked.

But I didn’t do anything to find a new job.

In some sort of Gen X loyalty play gone awry – I told myself it would be wrong to look for a job while still having a job.

Dummy -> Me.

Go ahead. Judge me. (You know you want to).

Now stop judging me. (It’s not nice.)

The truth is, I had quite a few reasons excuses that were causing my career paralysis, including:

  • I’d been “too busy” focusing on what needed to be done in my day job and had developed very few professional relationships outside of my current company.
  • As an Introvert, I found the very thought of “networking” to be exhausting.
  • Job boards, applicant tracking systems – and even email (gasp!) – were all new pieces in the job search puzzle since I’d last looked for a job.
  • I was burned out and not sure what I wanted to do next. (A start up, three high growth environments and one successful turnaround & subsequent company sale can do that to a person.)

So I stuck my head in the sand and I did nothing.

Until the day I was invited to leave.

Once I was forced to confront the process, I reached out to some really smart and wonderful people – including one awesome Career Coach – who shared their expertise, thoughts and advice with me. And with their help I was able to learn how to follow a process for building relationships (i.e. networking) that helped me to identify and connect with the “right” people and even find the courage to try something new in my career – which involved a change that wasn’t even close to being on my radar. Ever.

In other words – it took a Village (of Experts) to help me get my career back on track and headed in the right direction. And I’m grateful for the career wake-up call that getting fired gave me. It’s one of the best things that has ever happened to me. For real.


Maybe you’re stuck in your own version of an Ostrich Moment. If so, then check out The Career Summit – starting online October 26th and running weekly through November 17th. There, you can access your own Village (of Experts) who can help if you are:

  • unsure about how to develop an effective online presence and navigating “job search 2.0”.
  • confused about how to deal with HR and Recruiters (who isn’t?).
  • currently employed and looking to figure out your next career step on the down low.
  • dissatisfied in your current job, but unsure what you want to do next.
  • currently employed and find it difficult to attend seminars or webinars that are held during work hours.

This really is a great opportunity and I’m excited that my friends Laurie Ruettimann and Mark Stelzner have pulled together a stellar cast of characters to help you in your career journey.

I encourage you to register and join us online for the weekly live presentations, or access the recordings as often as you like via the archives. By signing up, you’ll also have access to several free career resources, books and articles.

You can even be proactive about managing your career by eating Cheetos while listening in your pajamas if you want. And you don’t have to get fired to start the process.

How cool is that?

*p.s. – Don’t miss my Session on November 10th at 3pm ET – “Great Brands, Great HR: Demystify the Recruiting Process” – where I’ll be interviewing Richard Cho – Recruiting Lead at Facebook, Jeremy Langhans – Senior Recruiter | Talent Engagement at Starbucks and Heather McGough – HR & Recruiting Professional at Microsoft.  We’re going to break down what happens in the hiring process and how job seekers can get noticed by recruiters, HR pros and hiring managers. It’s going to be awesome! 🙂




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2010 SHRM Annual Conference – Day 1 Recap

Day 1 of the 2010 SHRM Annual Conference in San Diego, California is in the books and in my opinion, it’s off to a great start!

In the Opening Session, the event kicked off with a surprise Flash Mob dance before SHRM President & CEO Lon O’Neil and SHRM Board Chairman Robb Van Cleaves welcomed everyone and shared that attendance for this year’s event is up over 4,000 from 2009 – topping 11,000 attendees and including over 800 international members from 73 countries!

O’Neil and Cleaves were followed by a brief message from Assistant Secretary for Veteran’s Employment & Training Services – Ray Jefferson, a true American Hero who lost all five fingers on one hand while serving his country and protecting his teammates from a hand grenade prematurely detonating. Jefferson offered up one of my favorite quotes of the day – “The death of a dream can be the birth of a destiny”. Nice.

Next up, O’Neil introduced SHRM’s “We Know Next” initiative, positioning HR at the center of changes taking place in business today. He also encouraged HR professionals to use the latest communications tools like LinkedIn and Twitter (yeah, Twitter!). He’s even jumped on Twitter himself and you can follow him at @SHRMCEO.

Steve Forbes was this year’s Opening Session keynote and while his talk sent a few heading for the doors early and a few in my row to focus on the back of their eyelids, when I spoke to many of the attendees later on the Exhibit Hall floor, several mentioned that they really enjoyed what he had to say and felt his talk was very good. Blogger John Hollon begged to differ and quickly shared his thoughts via a post on the new (and very good) HR & Talent Management site TLNT.com – illustrating the challenge of an organization as large as SHRM to find a speaker that can please everyone. They can’t.

After the Opening Session, it was time to hit the SHRM Exposition. This year, I’m attending the conference as part of the Monster.com Social Media Street Team and my goal was to capture some of the sights and sounds of the chaos in the Expo Hall once the doors were opened. I was lucky enough to grab Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock HR for some commentary on various vendors and their swag and I’ll share a video of her adventures at a future date. (It’s late here ya’ll.) I also did over 20 brief video interviews with some interesting folks I stopped throughout the evening to ask about their plans for the conference or just to comment on their copious or outrageous swag finds. Below are a couple of my favorites that give a flavor of what it’s like. (Email subscribers – click here to view.)

Stay tuned for more live coverage of SHRM 2010 here on Unbridled Talent from me, and follow the conversation via Twitter using the hashtag #shrm10 and #monsterlive. You’ll also find posts daily from the Monster.com Social Media Street Team on the Monster Thinking blog, from fellow Street Team member Ben Eubanks on Upstart HR and the SHRM Blog Squad over at the official SHRM Conference Blog!

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