S4 55 |CXR Foundation: Barb Ruess shares some exciting news about the launch of a new CXR project

Announcer 0:00Welcome to the CXR channel, our premier podcasts for talent acquisition and talent management. Listen in as the CXR community discusses a wide range of topics focused on attracting, engaging and retaining the best talent we're glad you're here.

Chris Hoyt 0:23Hello, everybody, this is Chris Hoyt with CareerXroads, I am excited. We have kind of a special announcement today. And I'm kind of pretty excited about it. But I have with me, Barb Ruess, who is the VP of Marketing and all muscle at CareerXroads. So we're pretty excited to have you on Hi, Barb.

Barb Ruess 0:41Hi, Chris.

Chris Hoyt 0:43So, so Barb, I I'm dying to share the news, because with this is a project that has been in the works for quite some time. I think even you might agree even before we knew that this was what this was going to become.

Barb Ruess 0:59Yes.

Chris Hoyt 1:00But I I would like to bestow to you the honor of making the announcement. So why don't you tell everybody why you and I are on the podcast today.

Barb Ruess 1:10Oh, I'm so excited to officially announced the launch of the CXR Foundation.

Chris Hoyt 1:16Oh, my God,

Barb Ruess 1:17I know we should have like sound effects.

Chris Hoyt 1:21What's the six our foundation?

Barb Ruess 1:23I'm so glad you asked. I you know, I want to tell you, I think like many ideas across the board, not just with people involved in talent and recruiting. It probably came about over over a dinner at some point. And you're right, I think it started. It started with at a project level. And then we realized, Hey, wait a second, if we tie these community service projects that we were doing under CXR Cares if we tie things like the Recruiters Recruiting Recruiters efforts. If we tie these things together, we have the potential to really make an impact in the world of talent. And that's that's what the CXR Foundation is all about.

Chris Hoyt 2:02Yeah, I think it's my so let's back up a little bit because I had totally forgotten. I feel terrible. I had totally forgotten the true origin, right. We have an origin story. Like every superhero, we have an origin story. We were typically back in the days of traveling, we were typically going to our live meetings a day or two early to do a little team building. And that typically consisted of Gerry and I going to play around a golf.

Barb Ruess 2:27Yeah.

Chris Hoyt 2:28And then we would all gather together for dinner and talk about the next couple of days had the work that we needed to do any ideas, any last minute curveballs etc. But But somehow that that transmogrified into us believing that we could do not just work for the talent acquisition community, which is our mission. It's in our blood for CareerXroads, but something for the local communities in which we were we were being hosted, right?

Barb Ruess 2:55Yeah, yeah, I tell people that when we talk about community, we don't just talk as we like to walk that talk in as many ways as possible. I think it was an It was a natural fit. It was a it was an idea sparked, with a couple different conversations. And then, as often happens, once I get a hold of idea, I'm happy to figure out how to execute that idea. And then the next thing you know, instead of playing golf, we were stacking food pantry shelves and flipping beds and homeless shelters. And and we really got to see some sides of communities that we certainly would not have seen otherwise.

Chris Hoyt 3:30Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, the fun work we got to do under the umbrella of CXR Cares was and I think just the start, but that was like, really appreciate it. We had a number of members join. We In fact, we were so excited to do more of it this year, I'm literally sitting on 150 T-shirts, because of a T-shirt to everybody that would show up at the events. And of course, nobody's going anywhere. So the T-shirts,

Barb Ruess 3:55We should send those out and just have people start wearing them under meeting. But yeah,

Announcer 0:00
Welcome to the CXR channel, our premier podcasts for talent acquisition and talent management. Listen in as the CXR community discusses a wide range of topics focused on attracting, engaging and retaining the best talent we’re glad you’re here.

Chris Hoyt 0:23
Hello, everybody, this is Chris Hoyt with CareerXroads, I am excited. We have kind of a special announcement today. And I’m kind of pretty excited about it. But I have with me, Barb Ruess, who is the VP of Marketing and all muscle at CareerXroads. So we’re pretty excited to have you on Hi, Barb.

Barb Ruess 0:41
Hi, Chris.

Chris Hoyt 0:43
So, so Barb, I I’m dying to share the news, because with this is a project that has been in the works for quite some time. I think even you might agree even before we knew that this was what this was going to become.

Barb Ruess 0:59
Yes.

Chris Hoyt 1:00
But I I would like to bestow to you the honor of making the announcement. So why don’t you tell everybody why you and I are on the podcast today.

Barb Ruess 1:10
Oh, I’m so excited to officially announced the launch of the CXR Foundation.

Chris Hoyt 1:16
Oh, my God,

Barb Ruess 1:17
I know we should have like sound effects.

Chris Hoyt 1:21
What’s the six our foundation?

Barb Ruess 1:23
I’m so glad you asked. I you know, I want to tell you, I think like many ideas across the board, not just with people involved in talent and recruiting. It probably came about over over a dinner at some point. And you’re right, I think it started. It started with at a project level. And then we realized, Hey, wait a second, if we tie these community service projects that we were doing under CXR Cares if we tie things like the Recruiters Recruiting Recruiters efforts. If we tie these things together, we have the potential to really make an impact in the world of talent. And that’s that’s what the CXR Foundation is all about.

Chris Hoyt 2:02
Yeah, I think it’s my so let’s back up a little bit because I had totally forgotten. I feel terrible. I had totally forgotten the true origin, right. We have an origin story. Like every superhero, we have an origin story. We were typically back in the days of traveling, we were typically going to our live meetings a day or two early to do a little team building. And that typically consisted of Gerry and I going to play around a golf.

Barb Ruess 2:27
Yeah.

Chris Hoyt 2:28
And then we would all gather together for dinner and talk about the next couple of days had the work that we needed to do any ideas, any last minute curveballs etc. But But somehow that that transmogrified into us believing that we could do not just work for the talent acquisition community, which is our mission. It’s in our blood for CareerXroads, but something for the local communities in which we were we were being hosted, right?

Barb Ruess 2:55
Yeah, yeah, I tell people that when we talk about community, we don’t just talk as we like to walk that talk in as many ways as possible. I think it was an It was a natural fit. It was a it was an idea sparked, with a couple different conversations. And then, as often happens, once I get a hold of idea, I’m happy to figure out how to execute that idea. And then the next thing you know, instead of playing golf, we were stacking food pantry shelves and flipping beds and homeless shelters. And and we really got to see some sides of communities that we certainly would not have seen otherwise.

Chris Hoyt 3:30
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, the fun work we got to do under the umbrella of CXR Cares was and I think just the start, but that was like, really appreciate it. We had a number of members join. We In fact, we were so excited to do more of it this year, I’m literally sitting on 150 T-shirts, because of a T-shirt to everybody that would show up at the events. And of course, nobody’s going anywhere. So the T-shirts,

Barb Ruess 3:55
We should send those out and just have people start wearing them under meeting. But yeah, it was fun. And so again, I think the kernel of automation started with these with these actions. And I am really excited that we’re gonna pull those together to make a more concerted, larger effort, bigger scale.

Chris Hoyt 4:11
Yeah, and I think what what most of our listeners are probably going to be familiar with is an effort that has already been rolled under see the CXR Foundation and that’s Recruiters Recruiting Recruiters. And you can go to recruitersrecruitingrecruiters.com and check that out. But it was an effort that for the greater good brought together, vendors brought together talent acquisition leaders brought together volunteers to build a platform where recruiters who had been impacted negatively from an employment standpoint by the pandemic and the impact of the economy could go and continue to find work with organizations that were agreeing to a level of service level standard. From a candidate experience standpoint, there’s plenty of information you can find on the website. You can look it up yourself. That’s not what this podcast is about. But that was kind of an interesting piece that just naturally sort of rolled under it. But there are also projects under the CXR Foundation, foundation that have already begun to bubble up. One being quite well, one being One is the name of the project where there is a program being put together by our by our members and volunteers to get recruiters to dedicate employed recruiters to dedicate one conversation, one phone call with one person to make one difference from a career coaching or resume feedback or interview skills type of type of scenario, right type of give back, and we think that will be pretty powerful. And that’s being organized. There is another one, which sort of, for me resonates nicely with our CXR Cares work where we did in the soup kitchen type of thing. But virtual cooking is all the rage. And we’re doing one now I think called Get Cooking, that’s just now getting some muscle underneath it, but about doing virtual cooking classes. And anybody can attend, they just put any level of donation towards the the session. And we have a chef who will teach them how to how to cook and you can stay late and break bread with them. If you like, all the warning, some of our calls go go a really long time when we drink wine and break bread virtually. But anyway, the idea being though, they’ll get stuff following that like lifetime access to a virtual cookbook, you know, that sort of thing. So that idea is underway also that goes outside of talent acquisition. Right.

Barb Ruess 6:16
Right.

Chris Hoyt 6:17
Yeah, so a little bit more there. So tell me you’re you’re on the board of directors like you are one of the founding people that sort of pulled this together. What why, tell me what why did you decide to be part of the board and God help you what why the secretary?

Barb Ruess 6:36
I know, I know if the job that nobody ever wants

Chris Hoyt 6:39
All the work!

Barb Ruess 6:40
The job, the job of the person who loves to organize things and communicate and make this list. It’s like the perfect fit. Why did I wouldn’t be involved? Okay, so I was I was honestly so inspired by the Recruiters Recruiting Recruiters effort, not just in the way people from a variety of different groups came together under a common cause, but that it was helping people and at the same time, also trying to influence some standards. Like I think those two pieces together, were, they really appealed to me like I was really impressed with how that all came together. I am the kind of person that has always for years and years looked for causes or groups to donate some of my time to things to support that I think can make a true difference. So when all these little pieces started to come together underneath this umbrella, we’re now calling the CXR Foundation, I had no doubt that I wanted to be a part of something that I truly think impact at a lot of different levels. So it felt like a good fit to me. And yes, even though my job description in the minutes or the the bylaws I mean, might be the longest. I’m happy to take that on and I’m excited about doing so.

Chris Hoyt 7:50
Well, if anybody can do it successfully, it will be you. That’s for sure.

Barb Ruess 7:54
Thanks.

Chris Hoyt 7:55
So obviously, we’re board members. Yep. And we got a couple of cool chats with the other folks that are on the board. I’m pretty excited about those as well. But what what does it take to be part of the CXR Foundation? Like who is an ideal member of the CXR Foundation? Is it is it a talent acquisition leader? Is it a recruiter at a recruiter level or a vendor and the vendor space? I mean, who’s an ideal member of the CXR Foundation?

Barb Ruess 8:26
Yeah, I think that’s a really good question. And and I think that’s something that, you know, this could appeal to some people who may not be ideal members of the foundation, but might want to be involved in some way. So I do like the idea of taking a step back and look at saying who, who is the ideal person to be involved at a membership level. And I think that I’m going to put job titles aside, and I’m going to say it’s the person who is at a level who both understands some of the issues the talent industry is facing, and has the ability to influence change. So that might be that might very well be a TA leader at a large fortune 500 company who sees firsthand what is happening with bias and you know, DE&I issues and their own company. And they are in a position where they see firsthand the understand the issue. And they can certainly influence change in their organization. And simply because of the you know, the size or the you know, the stature of their organization that has a ripple effect, right, that that helps influence change on down the stream with other organizations. So that’s a great candidate. I think vendors in the talent space are actually a great candidate for membership of the foundation simply because they are in the position of hearing about issues for a variety of different resources, like they’re hearing it from lots of different organizations and lots of different levels. So I think they bring a very different perspective, but they also bring a solid understanding of an issue and I think simply because of their network, they are also in a position where they can influence change. So I think if you’ve got people who understand the issues have the ability to influence change, and truly want to make an impact, because this is going to be a working foundation, this is not just going to be a foundation in name only. I think those are the people that should jump on board. And and I hope they do.

Chris Hoyt 10:13
Yeah, I think you’re right. I mean, you’re talking about 60 plus members, we’ve got that are easily corporate. But we’ve already got organizations signed up people from organizations, Smart Recruiters, Consider, Consider.com, Red Branch Media. So just just to name a few, that these guys are in rolling their sleeves up and working side by side with to your point, these these influencers are these leaders within the talent space at various levels. And you know, Barb, there’s probably something else we should call out. I mean, we talked about some of the sexier cool delivery projects, but we’re also talking about delivering standards and methodologies and documentation, that that we will literally be handing, you know, not only publishing but then handing off to sister organizations like ATAP to help contribute to the, you know, truly the greater landscape of talent acquisition.

Barb Ruess 11:05
Yeah, definitely. And this is part of what excited me about it is it’s not just doing good works. It’s doing good works that have the chance to make some long term, some long term impacts. And I think it’s worth noting that, you know, we talked about community, I probably already mentioned community on this interview. But the foundation also has a really strong community aspect. And I think that aspect, that the ability that we’re giving people, at all levels to interact with each other, won’t just help the projects happen. It’s going to help these standards come together, and to truly be standards that that will make a difference.

Chris Hoyt 11:38
Yeah, I think people were writing a few comments. But I think people are going to be really surprised at how we’ve taken the spirit of community that that I think nobody delivers, like we do within CareerXroads, we’ve taken that spirit of community, and we’re dropping it into a nonprofit, from a deliverability standpoint, and I think that will literally catapult us forward and really accelerate a lot of the deliveries that folks are already coming up with ideas and projects. They want to run things they want to be part of. So I’m pretty excited about a Barb as we close out here. Why don’t you tell everybody where they’re supposed to go? To learn more about the foundation,

Barb Ruess 12:12
I get to drop all the funby bombs, please go visit our new website. There’s some great articles on there that’ll help you start to understand some of the things that you want to tackle. You can also see our members and some other information it is CXR.foundation.

Chris Hoyt 12:28
That’s right. not dot com not dot anything else. Just www.CXR.Foundation.

Barb Ruess 12:34
There you go. We’re also on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Chris Hoyt 12:37
Boom. Alright Barb, it’s good to chat with you today. Thanks so much.

Barb Ruess 12:42
Yeah, Thanks, Chris.

Chris Hoyt 12:43
I’ll see it the next board meeting

Barb Ruess 12:44
You bet.

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