UPDATE 4/10: Multiple sources have confirmed that former Monster exec Neal Bruce will be going to work for First Advantage. No official word yet from the company, but sources inside the company said he reportedly will be working with the ATS group. Recruitment blogger Joel Cheesman first reported Bruce’s new employer Tuesday.
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Veteran Monster (profile; site) executive Neal Bruce has left the company where his last assignment was vice president of the global innovation group.
A popular speaker at recruitment conferences, Bruce emceed the awards banquet last week at ERE’s San Diego Expo that was attended by his boss, Monster CEO Sal Iannuzzi. He gave no hint then that he was leaving the company where he’s worked for 4 and-a-half years, joking with Iannuzzi as he introduced him to the audience.
It was over the weekend that Bruce announced his departure in a short email to associates and contacts.
A former recruiter for Ernst & Young, Bruce was director of global staffing for PTC when he joined Monster in August 2003 as vice president of alliances tasked with building alliances with vendors. In September 2007 he moved to the innovation group job.
During his tenure at Monster Bruce became the face of the company to the recruiting industry, building bridges to users and mending fences with vendors and others who felt slighted by the heavy-handedness of the company in previous years. His success is borne out by some of the testimonials on his LinkedIn site.
Well known sourcer and blogger Dave Mendoza, once critical of Bruce, came to regard him as a friend and thought leader. In his recommendation of Bruce on LinkedIn Mendoza writes:
“I have had the privilege of observing Neal Bruce’s extraordinary ability to connect with an audience at a variety of venues, and on each occasion he contributes with a depth of analysis of prevailing issues in an entertaining, provocative manner that both challenges and informs.”
Bruce, who describes himself as a “visionary type guy” who enjoys “impossible projects,” could not be reached and did not say in his email what he will be doing next. Once possibility is that he may start blogging .