(October 13, 2003) - We've spent a lot of time writing and thinking about the internal social networks that form human capital and the external networks that form some of the supply. (A cruise through the archives is always an interesting voyage.) Our bias is that networks work best when communication is reciprocal and introductions are converted into relationships that can harness the network. (It's the underlying principle behind our longstanding support of Hire.com as a vision and an execution.)

Advertising networks are, in general, a different kind of thing. Like email, they are message delivery systems. Response management and results generation are, in most advertising systems, an afterthought. Where relationship development is facilitated, it usually comes at the expense of using internal systems. In other words, Recruitment advertising in general and Recruitment advertising networks, in specific, suffer from the same sorts of myopia that cripple ATS systems.

There is no one best way to do recruiting .

We believe that there are (at least) 7 major variables that define the appropriate recruiting tactics for a specific company in a specific setting. (The idea is still developing, look for a white paper from us shortly.)

 

Variable	Conditions
Brand Strength	Well Known	Industry Aware	Regional	Unknown
Labor Volatility	Shortage	Industry Shortage	Local Shortage	Surplus
Screening Utility	Low - Executive	Qualifying	Skills Based	High - Blue Collar
Business Size	Huge (Fortune 500)	Large (501-3,000)	Medium	Small
Workforce Mix	Project Oriented	Complex	Product Focused	Simple
Industry	High Tech	Service	Manufacturing	Other
Recruiter's Role	Recruiting/Hiring	Recruiting	Network	Admin Assistant

From here, that looks like more than 700 observable major variations in recruiting style and tactics and we haven't yet focused in on employment type (temp/contract, perm, PEO, outsourced), profession or a number of other key variables. The right approach to recruiting depends on company circumstances.

We needed to introduce this idea at this point in the discussion because the viability of a given Advertising network is precisely driven by its attention (or lack of attention) to customer needs. Although most of the major network players will tell you that they understand 'recruiting' and recruiter's needs, the truth is that they are really offering solutions to problems suffered in specific subsets of this matrix.

John Sumser

Dice
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