I find this whole recruiting train of thought amusing...

With Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, and myriad other avenues of engagement - worrying about where the best site to place a job ad...well, er - it sounds like a discussion from a 100 years ago listening to two buggy whip salesmen chatting about which blacksmith to align themselves with...while Ford, Nash, Olds and Packard were quickly replacing them.  Think about it, how hard was it for men to carry something 4,000 pounds for about 20 miles – when it could be done with a Buick on just one gallon of gas.  What’s amazing is that it didn’t happen sooner, yet this is the very state we find recruiting in today…where the expectations of the career minded woefully are mismatched with the traditional process of making a career move (yup the latest research says that job boards and job ads still dominate, but it also tells us that candidates hate using them with only about 30% on average finding success that answer the ads…).

Compare the state of transportation before the auto technology explosion with our 90 year old system of placing an ad, hoping someone will see it and having that same person send a resume to alert the company about interview interest for the opening (oh yeah, that resume is only a marketing document prepared by the person applying…).  Could there be a more ineffective method - you’d really have to stop and think quite a bit to make it any worse!  Like the automobile, we finally have new methods and tools readily available that make this old method seem very outdated.  Now we have at our finger tips the ability to find innately interested people, cultivate them for the company and opening and learn pre-interview whether they would be a good fit.  Yet just like all those buggy whip makers 100 years ago many of us are failing to see what transformational change the new Social Recruiting Order has brought (and continues to evolve…)

I’ve never seen so many people dig their heels in to protect the status quo since the Stones released Let It Bleed and my Dad gave me the ultimatum to either turn it down, take a bath and get a haircut or find a tent to live in (being that Central Park (NYC) was pretty cold that winter, I turned it down to an 8 and took a bath – for him 2 out of 3 wasn’t too bad so I got to stay…).  For many, if they take their preconceived notions and put them aside and evaluate the efficiency improvements and advanced candidate engagement experience, I am convinced that they will wonder what all the fuss was about and begin using these tools right away (their potential candidates will thank them).

Talent Acquisition and Management today, is not about where active candidates can find a job ad, keeping an eye on the “back doors” of internal recruitment or relying on Third Party Recruitment solutions.  It’s providing ways to effectively encourage and cultivate specific talent segments interested in the company, and then managing the relationships of those interested people.  Once managed effectively through company specific Talent Communities or other means where confidentiality of members can be maintained, the other key components of hiring such as pre-interview Assessment, Scheduling, Selection, and Offer Management can be handled much more efficiently.  

...the most powerful strategy in social media is building “talent communities.” ..this “pre-need” recruiting strategy emphasizes building relationships over time with multiple targeted segments....the relationship is based on learning and professional sharing...            

                                               Dr. John Sullivan (the Michael Jordan of Recruiting)

After many, many years of Talent Acquisition business ownership, it is amazing to see the shifts that are happening.  The Talent world is changing before our eyes and worrying about who sells that last horse whip will only let the rest of us fill the void as you’re left behind.

To all my friends in the business, I respectively urge them to wake up and not be left holding the wrong end of the horse...