I am seeing a revolution happening in recruitment.
In the past 20 years, I have seen recruiting evolve drastically. Before the Internet and social media, recruitment was stripped down the the basics. Recruiting was all about a phone and cold calling. Recruiters would call candidates relentlessly and our best bet was to try and catch the candidates at night and at home. At this time, not everyone had a mobile phone or for that matter e-mail.
Then we came into the age of the Internet. Job boards quickly followed and Monster and Career Builder were household names for every candidate and recruiter. The best way to find candidates was posting a job. Both Monster and CareerBuilder had great resume databases and you could find candidates a heck of a lot faster than a manilla folder.
Job boards slowly lost momentum as candidates quickly got the “active” tag attached them when they were on one of those job boards. Certainly there was something “wrong” with candidates who have their resume on a job board. The top 10 percent wouldn’t dare publicly declare that they were looking for a job because that would hurt their negotiation power.
Then, came LinkedIn. Many recruitment agencies, corporations, and candidates bought into it. LinkedIn was the answer. Most everyone now has a LinkedIn profile. There was and is no shame in having a profile. No one could tell if you were an “active”or “passive” candidate. Reality set in and people realized they should be a “passive” candidate. Economic uncertainty and recent history of recessions have forced us to look at taking care of No. 1: Ourselves. Certainly our companies have shown us we are dispensable.
People are getting smarter though. Time will tell if LinkedIn is going away. LinkedIn is like the white pages in a phone book. It is a place to find names. As a consumer, we don’t need to buy LinkedIn’s recruiter product. There is still a majority of the population that does not hang out on LinkedIn. There is Twitter, there is Facebook, there is GitHub, there is Pinterest, there is Instagram, and the list goes on and on.
Big Data will allow us to identify the right talent quickly. They will be able to identify the right talent through all of the social media platforms and be able to tell by data who is the most qualified, who is looking, and when people are likely to make a change in employment. So, who needs to spend thousands of dollars on a product that is getting diminishing returns on your investment?
So, if we can identify the right talent quickly, where does that leave the recruitment industry? Recruiters won’t go away. Recruiting will go back to the basics. People won’t be jamming out on their iPods looking through 1,000 resumes to send out 500 InMails to get a 5 percent response rate. The recruiters that will succeed will be the ones that have the two things we had 20 years ago — a phone and ability to cold call. A salesperson who relentlessly calls the right person.
The recruitment industry has gotten lazy and a revolution is upon us.
What are your thoughts? Can’t you see the signs?
Will, being a sales person who isn’t afraid of hearing, “Go away douchebag”, isn’t enough. What I’ll be talking about at SourceCon in October is about the engagement mapping that rarely takes place these days.
When I’m hunting Purple Squirrels, there’s no way I’m going into the trees with green and brown acorns. I’ll only be laughed at, ridiculed, posted on recruiterspam.com, and have a blog post written about me entitled, “Levy is Just Another Douchebag Recruiter.”
Having access to Gild, Dice’s OneWeb, LIR, etc, might open doors but few recruiters know what to do when that door opens.
So while you’re spot on with the phone being key, so is the handshake. The honest handshake. Both are becoming rare in our profession.
Steve,
The Internet, applicant tracking systems, LinkedIn,…. has created an environment that makes the job search impersonal.
I am preaching to my clients that your next gig will come through a relationship. It is about using these to tools so that you shake the hand of the right person.
Mark, you are 100% right. Very Impersonal. It is a tragedy. Both the recruiter and the candidate need to do a better job getting to know one another rather than just sending a blind LinkedIn invitation. I long for a candidate to get to know me and give me a reason why we should get to know one another. I am certain the candidates want the same.
Hey Steve, thanks for the response. You are correct in your statement. Recruiters should already be trying to build long term relationships with their candidates and clients. So, to your point- cold calling isn’t enough. You need to start somewhere though and just sending an e-mail/ inmail just won’t cut it anymore. The good recruiters will spend years building the trust of the right people.
Will,
I agree with you and Steve that the personal nature of relationships is going to be critical going forward. Networking, getting”out into the community” are both also going to be important. But (and I don’t think you are advising against this) we’re still going to need technology from a sourcing perspective.
What I think is going to happen, is those who are combing the job boards, LinkedIn, and other social content aggregator sites will start to transition to sourcing roles primarily. Those who still have strong phone and sales skills will be the ones who are the recruiters. Unlike today, where you have a vast population of people who have NO business being in a sales/recruiting role. Sorry to say it, but it’s a fact. Many recruiters are form-email hacks, and that won’t cut it going forward. Maybe for entry level roles, but the top tier talent will not respond to those types.
Good post!
Hey Pete- thanks for responding. Yes, you got my point. The ones with the good sales skills are going to succeed. Without a doubt though, relationships are key!
Another great article Will. I’ll never forget when my first manager in this business told me I had to stay well past 5:30 because that’s when it was prime time to get the candidates on the phone.
Thanks Chadd! Yea- I remember that all too well also!
Will,
I agree whole heartily. Ask any one of our recruiters and they will tell you that we are constantly training and talking to them about picking up the phone and having meaningful conversations with the candidates and not just “email” recruiting.
Without actually talking to the candidate and getting an understanding of what type of opportunity excites them and what they are looking for in their career you don’t know when to call them and about what type of opportunity to call them about.
Plus, when everyone is on the phone there is great energy in the office and that always comes through in your voice – Keep on dialing, it works.
Thanks Dave! Recruiting is all about who gets to the person first. I do feel people are growing tired of LinkedIn inmails and a call can sure get to the source a heck of a lot quicker. Good hearing from you by the way! Will