electronic-recruiting We read about them every year; in fact I crave them. I set my readers to pick them up and I set aside extra time to enjoy them. Nothing is more relaxing than a cup of coke in the morning and my recruiting predictions for the upcoming year! This is not a predictions rant but it does touch on one prediction from a few years back that I dusted off.

Have you heard this one: “Recruiting will become a purely electronic transaction?”

Really?

Sure, the recruiting market has been flooded with the desire to automate nearly every step in the process, but let’s be real. We can only automate so much. With the entire discussion surrounding web 2.0, social media and social networking, it would be easy to reach the conclusion that technology has made the human component in recruiting obsolete; but that could not be further from the truth. Today’s recruiter has to be a master at research, sleuthing the internet, manipulating data and without fail must have a credible personal brand.So, yes technology has begun to take over our lives, but in recruiting, it’s how we leverage social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace that ultimately show results. I recently posted another article talking about the 4 C’s. You can read it about here. The 4 C’s if you have not already heard about them stand for:

Communication – Collaboration – Conversation – Community

To me they represent the very foundation of which I am rambling about today. The data shift; the advancement of technology and the future of how the recruiter today will survive. It’s about the impact that you have on your candidate as you guide them through a transition from one career to another. Look, in recent years the recruiter has become the key component in the hiring process. In a similar light to the HR partners, recruiters truly manage the human capital aspect of the process. From initial research, to the introductions and in the end on boarding, the recruiters drive the candidate into his/her seat.

So, the question still remains; will recruiting become a purely electronic transaction? I don’t think this will ever be true. In a world where having the feeling of belonging, and the feeling that your thoughts and work are appreciated are a top priority, the human touch in this process is more important now that it has ever been. Have you ever purely recruited, hired and on boarded a candidate through a social network?

There are hundreds of ATS’s, CRM’s, Search tools and aggregators available to recruiters. As advanced and as fun as they are to play with (including second life) they will simply not replace the human touch in this business. Recruiters must make it a goal to constantly redefine their processes and techniques, leveraging the technology to make quick and effective decisions to support the process.

Please feel free to leave a comment – I think this is a great topic we can all learn from!

@ryanleary



By Noel Cocca

CEO/Founder RecruitingDaily and avid skier, coach and avid father of two trying to keep up with my altruistic wife. Producing at the sweet spot talent acquisition to create great content for the living breathing human beings in recruiting and hiring. I try to ease the biggest to smallest problems from start-ups to enterprise. Founder of RecruitingDaily and our merry band of rabble-rousers.