First, I don’t think traditional means of recruiting will ever goaway. In fact, 10 years from now, name generators and career fairbooth veterans will still be as hot as ever. As I see it, what’shappening now is the resurgence of the relationship builder recruiter. Except this time, the relationships are virtual … which means theconcept is going to a whole new level in terms of impact, reach … andvolume.
Back when Zoë and I founded JobsBlog, we did it for one simple reason: Weneeded to hire A LOT of people. There were just two of us so wecouldn’t start cold calling. That didn’t scale. We had no budget sowe couldn’t travel or place an ad. And our ATS sure wouldn’t let usfind the cream of the crop.
We were tasked with creating a community of qualified applicants,and leveraging our love of the internet and helping jobseekers, welaunched JobsBlog. The idea is that it would be a little fishing netthat would scoop up a big tasty catch. By providing our readers withtips and an inside look, we were able to direct the right fish to ournet and the not-so-right fish somewhere else … like Google. ;-) Wecould then weed through our catch and route the best of the best to ourline recruiters.
Long story short, it worked. By the time we left JobsBlog, thateffort alone (which was 1/3 of one resource’s time) was producing morehires per year than the average full-time recruiter at the company. The difference was that I was no longer a traditional recruiter. Istopped being measured on hires per year, interview to offer ratios,and all that good stuff. Instead, JobsBlog responsibilities centeredaround improving the candidate experience, changing perceptions aboutthe company, and posting useful content. Measurements includedreadership numbers (staying steady or increasing), exposure (mentionson recruiting.com among other places), and, most importantly, anecdotalapplicant feedback.
Sure. I spent a lot of time responding to email. I also bufferedin time for “celebrity appearances.” :) I attended conferences justto answer candidates’ questions (no resume required!) I personally metany JobsBlog reader who interviewed in Redmond (and told me they werethere) and gave them their very own JobsBlog Rubiks Cube. And if anyreader asked – and they did, I gave them a personalized GretchenLedgard tour of Microsoft’s campus, often complete with a trip to thecompany store and all the time they needed to barrage me with requestsfor advice. I’m pretty sure that every single tour recipient went onto become an employee … how is that for a good “tour to offer” ratio?
As Stephen Rothberg recently commented on recruiting.com,a huge benefit from blogging – and a major reason I did it – is thatthe efforts increased the quality of my incoming applicants. Yeah, Ihad to sift through my net, but that net sure held some incrediblecatches. My methods of recruiting were non-traditional, but myresults were not.
Catching my breath … I have a point to this post, and that is ...Let’s forget about what’s traditional and non-traditional, and let’sthink about how we can *support* “less traditional” methods ofrecruiting. If I were a recruiter goaled with “traditional” metrics,no way would I ever branch out of my comfort zone. There’s a time andplace for a great internet and job board sourcer. There’s a time andplace for a great account management recruiter. And there’s an equallygreat time and place for a relationship builder recruiter.
When I speak with organizations (my former employer included), Isense a lot of hesitation in allowing a recruiter to spend time on“soft” recruiting. What’s the ROI? How does that translate to hires? How do I compare this recruiter against his peers? As Heather Hamiltoninfamously once said,“My opinion is that if you *know* you are doing something good (andsometimes doing it well), your intent in trying to measure it furtheris what?” I come from a slightly different mindset here. I don’tthink there’s any harm in measuring it, and in fact, I think this typeof activity should be measured. But I don’t think the currentrecruiting industry knows how to measure it. And that’s much, muchworse.
So, kiddies, that’s your assignment. Stop worrying about howrecruiting will evolve, and start figuring out how *your* organizationcan support it. The sooner you can switch one or two recruiters over tothis nuevo way of candidate generation (if only on a part time basis),the more innovative and world-class our industry will become.
And I bet you hire a bunch more people, too.
gretchen
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