Delegate’s Corner: Get to know Damon Klotz

Damon Klotz (aka HRockstar) an HR professional from QLD talks about his background, HR/Recruitment events and his views on sourcing. Damon will be live blogging and tweeting at the Sourcing Summit. You can follow him here.

My background, current job & interests
I started a Bachelor of Business at QUT in Brisbane in 2007. I soon realized that to be successful in my career I’d have to put as much effort into my activities outside of university as I did within the university. So I became a member of AHRI, was elected President of the HR Student Group at my university, bought a 250 pack of business cards and attended one networking event a week as well as gained part-time admin work within a large corporate HR team.

Since then my career has seemed to change based on my passions and interest to further my own knowledge in different areas. This has led to my taking on the Director of Operations role with Spur Projects who launched the National campaign Soften The Fck Up in July. I also work three days a week as a brand strategist for a global health care provider and take on smaller consulting projects on the side.

Thoughts on HR events
My first ever conference was the AHRI Leadership Conference in Brisbane back in 2009. Since then I have had the privilege of attending several conferences including the Connect Now Social Media conference which really ignited my passion for emerging technology. My conference highlight was probably speaking at the Tru Toronto HR and Recruiting Conference earlier this year in England.
I was recently down in Sydney at the AHRI National Convention to live blog and tweet Australia’s largest HR Conference. I find myself speaking at quite a few Brisbane based events and am regularly invited to give my $0.02 to students who are looking at breaking into industry and how to be unconventional in your job search. The last event I spoke at was the inaugural QUT Inspiration – Motivation – Aspiration conference where I ran a series of workshops on Storytelling through Social Media.

HR/recruitment events I like
I really like the UnConference format because not only are the speakers approachable but the conversations are stimulating and the networking is genuine. I think it’s really important to tap into the global community within this space so we can learn from the myriad of case studies available.

My understanding of sourcing
I’m quite new to this space and found myself drifting away from generalist HR very early on in my career. I’m really interested in creating talent pools and providing sustainable solutions to recruitment. I enjoy reading and learning about innovative ways organisations are engaging with potential employees and providing a remarkable recruitment experience that turns those potential employees into brand advocates regardless of the recruitment outcome.

What I expect from the Sourcing Summit
I’m expecting some great case studies and discussions from thought leaders in this space. As a relatively new member of this community I’m really looking forward to picking the brains of all the attendees and speakers and maybe even finding myself a mentor in this space. When it comes to the sessions that stand out for me then I’d have to say that I’m really looking forward to Paul Jacob’s session on emotional branding in sourcing.