Talent Scouts

H3's approach to the referral business is more like agriculture than some of the others. Focusing on the most effective subset of the referrer population, the idea is to cultivate a forest of key connectors. These are the people who are really connected, the 3% or 4% of the population who actually do have friends and are connected to others.

Every time we've looked under the hood at referral tools, we've been astonished to discover that their builders haven't read the basic network theory that they propose to support. (Gladwell and Bowling Alone, for example). Gladwell, author of Blink and the Tipping Point makes it clear that the few "superconnected" folks are what make referral networks effective. "Bowling Alone" points out that the rest of the world (the other 96%) are isolated. Their only friends, to exaggerate, are the characters in the sitcom "Friends".

That means that referral systems either have to provide their own fodder (ie Jobster's WorkZoo and its emergence as an "employment portal") or they have to focus tightly on finding and maintaining the real connectors. That is, we think, the powerful and meaningful difference between the two approaches.

 Do yourself a favor and download a copy of Building Talent Scout Networks. Print it and take it home with you over the long weekend. It might change your mind about the future of your job.

- John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.

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