Wanted: Recruiters

I’ve just returned from OnRec in Chicago and am wondering;

Are there Recruiters out there?

It seems that advertising has taken over and today the Internet is being used to solicit candidates rather than find them.  (apologies to Shally and Dave) If you want to argue with me, then tell me why are job boards so prolific and why are they all run by ex-advertising guys?

When I started in recruiting in 1992, I had a desk, a yellow pages and a phone.  I know, it sounds like the old “hike up a hill in bare-feet” routine of the middle aged man but seriously, recruiting is about finding talent not waiting for it to come to you.  The Internet should have helped this but the ADMEN got ahold of it and today it is a fragmented mess of confusion for recruiters and job seekers.  Thanks Madison Ave!

 

Recruiters realized early on that putting an ad in the newspaper was a really bad waste of time and money.

So what’s the difference between an old ad in a paper and putting a “posting” up online these days? 

Nothing. 

If you are a “post and pray” Recruiter your days are numbered.  If picking up the phone and cold calling candidates off a list of research is akin to no-novacaine root canal to you, there are lots of jobs out there for you but Recruiting isn’t one of them.   Recruiting is a sales job.  If you were hired to sell widgets for the ABC company and you came in on Monday and put an ad up online and waited for your phone to ring, you’d be looking for another job by Wednesday.  Competition for talent is fierce and going to get worse.  Advertising for candidates, no matter how targeted, is a passive activity.  Passive sales people are unemployed sales people.

September 16, 2008 | Filed Under Industry Commentary 

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