
New Things
(November 12, 2002) -
The new way is never easier. It's scary. It's always detail oriented. It
involves learning and changing. The only reason that sales people are stuck in
the bind of promoting the positive aspects of the new thing is that the reality
would, quite likely, create no sales.
When the First Internet Era introduced the
browser, desktop searching, email and local databases, the recruiting industry
did not jump up and down and celebrate. HR managers did not run home to their
spouses screaming "Halleluiah honey, my life just got easier."
Far from it.
A few entrepreneurial third party recruiters
began using job boards in earnest, They made a lot of money short circuiting the
existing process with their new tools. The idea of becoming a billionaire
sitting pool side while your computer did the work for you was not only vogue, a
couple of lucky players did it.
Meanwhile, the rest of the industry learned the
mechanics of Boolean logic, browser maintenance, search engine tricks and other
technical details. The early winners, after all, were in no way technophobic nor
were they afraid of wrestling with the mucky details.
We're going to refer you again to hcm.blogspot.com.
We're big fans of this analyst's approach (and
usually, we find his perspective on target). What's really intriguing (and one
of the novelties of blogs
in general) is the diary-ing of his growth and experiences as a publisher. By
reading his web
statistics, he is able to develop a feel for his audience. If you read
carefully, he adds commentary based on his understanding of the traffic.
This is the experience that HR professionals
will share as they become webmasters.
Whether it's self-service benefits and pensions
or managing the workload in your recruiting specialties, a significant component
of future work in the Human Capital Department will revolve around understanding
your traffic and your web responses to that traffic. Audience development,
intricate individual relationships and a rolodex full of potential employees are
the wave of the future.
Recruiting tools, not data are the required
elements of the next step. With each recruiter functioning as a micro-brand
manager responsible for the quality of her audience and their online experiences
(see the Army
Website, again), quantitative measurements of performance will rapidly
evolve as the dominant deliverable for a high functioning recruiter. The very
same skillset is required to manage the rest of HCM's online portfolio.
Wading into the details is unpleasant at first.
There are no real standards or 'best practices' goals. Each operation is
different. The details read like noise at first. The boss is liable to think
that you are wasting your time.
But ask yourself: Is there really any way that
the future could be the alternative....big gobs of undifferentiated data
creating massive workloads without a meaningful return on investment?
-John
Sumser