For the most part, contemporary electronic recruiting simply repeats the practices of the pre-web era. Candidates, in spite of their scarcity, are treated as cannon fodder. Recruiters look to volumes of resumes to make up for shortages in quality. Job Boards, hell bent on being the "biggest", sell quantity not quality as well.

The costs borne by a recruiter who uses the web include both the subscription fees paid to the job boards and the internal costs associated with ad preparation and results review. As quantities of responses go up and their quality declines, the web becomes an increasingly expensive alternative. The growth objectives of the Job Board conflict directly with the quality objectives of the Recruiter.

Over the long haul, the services that dominate electronic recruiting will be those that facilitate relationships between potential employers and potential candidates. These relationships are unlikely to carry the baggage of the language of HR. Rather, the relationships will be focused on the success of the potential candidate as defined by the potential candidate.

An interesting example of this approach was showcased in yesterday's Good Morning Silicon Valley, the email newsletter of the SAn Jose Mercury News. Mentor Graphics, a company that creates custom chip design tools, ran an ad offering "free technical papers". The topics ranged from "Dynamic Timing Analysis" to "Interconnect Characterization Systems". The papers were interesting only to the community of users, customers and competitors of Mentor Graphics. Clicking on the ad takes a web user to a place that includes the company's job listings.

The approach is a good deal more subtle than bulk recruiting based on bigness. It allows Mentor Graphics to establish solid relationships with the real pool of candidates.

Increasing sophistication of this approach will include a stream of professional material that helps members actually do their jobs. The level of personalization and professional relevance in recruiting is only going to increase. Weeding through an ever larger haystack for decreasingly available needles will be supplanted by "needle cultivation" operations that eliminate the haystack.

 -John Sumser

Talent is what matters most.
Hire the best with Authoria Recruiting.

Authoria Recruiting 2007 is a next-generation recruiting solution that helps you:

• Understand exactly what talent your managers need.
• Find the best sources.
• Target and attract the highest quality candidates.
• Hire top talent and track their success.

The most widely-used enterprise recruiting solution on the market, Authoria Recruiting helps our customers manage private talent pools totaling over 11 million candidates.

Find a smarter way to hire. Download our complimentary white paper
- Staffing Strategies: Can You Find, Recruit, and Retain the Talent You Need?

---

Home | ERN | Bugler | The Blogs | Blogroll | Advertise | Archives | Careers

---

Contacting Us:

Call, fax, write, email. We'd love to consult with you about your project.

Copyright © 2013 interbiznet. All rights reserved.
Materials written by John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.
Mill Valley, CA 94941
415.377.2255
colleen@interbiznet.com