Now, more than ever, effective recruiting will focus on the 20 percent of hires that produce 80 percent of the results. These critical hires are not best handled with automated sourcing methods, but depend on successful mastery of time-honored search techniques. Like other acquisition disciplines, the most valuable assets can only be purchased through diligent negotiation and the pursuit of win-win outcomes. Although the figures are impressive, only half of the population uses the Internet for any form of job search. For the most part, the important 20 percent are not a part of this universe. Automated support systems that resemble Customer Relationship Management tools are essential for acquiring this most critical talent. The front-end that provides source information, however, will not come from job boards or other web traffic/surveillance methods.

This suggests a window of opportunity for traditional search firms and a number of development possibilities for the incumbent vendors of Recruiting Software. Essentially, there is a market for solutions that directly treat the question of the "hard-to-find" candidate.