About 6 weeks ago we shared the news that a new recognition and award platform for the recruiting industry would soon be unveiled.  The RecruitingAwards.com site is now live, and the team is gearing up for the inaugural awards (in corporate recruiting) which will be announced live at the upcoming 2011 LinkedIn Talent Connect Conference in Las Vegas.

There are several recruiting award contests currently run at other conferences, so what’s different here? Well, there are several factors that makes this platform unique, including:

• The voting.  Winners will be selected via 3 phases of judging.  First, there is a crowd-sourcing component.  No, this isn’t a popularity contest, it’s just one piece of the puzzle.  Second, there is a panel of recruiting practitioner judges that will weigh in.  And last, the conference attendees (all recruiting practitioners) will have a strong voice in the voting too.
• The prizes.  There isn’t going to be a black tie dinner, better yet we’ve integrated the awards into the Talent Connect Conference.  Winners will receive a little more than just recognition, and so will the charities they select.
• The venue.  From all of the events nationally in the past 12 months, the LinkedIn Talent Connect conference in 2010 carried the biggest buzz from recruiting practitioners and thought leaders (from the content and benefits received as an attendee). If you can make it to one event, this is the one.

While there are many facets of recruiting that deserve recognition and credit for building the future workforces of the companies we recruit for, the inaugural awards delivered at this event will include the following 3 categories for corporate recruiting professionals:

1. The “Talent Hunter” Recruiting Award
2. The “Recruiting Innovation” Award
3. The Recruiting “Organization” Award

A big thanks to all of the sponsors of the inaugural awards and the RecruitingAwards.com site, including Montage Talent, Checkster, Jobs2Web, LinkedIn, and Talent HQ.

You can stay connected with Recruiting Awards and TalentHQ channels for more updates on twitter, facebook, and LinkedIn.