Recently, Steven Spielberg's World War II epic, "Saving Private Ryan," won this year's Golden Globe award for best drama. The movie is an evocative tale of a Ranger squad's heroic search for Private Ryan, the youngest of four brothers and the only one not killed in combat. Their mission is to find him among the shifting lines, ferocious battles and millions of soldiers strewn across the hedgerows of Normandy and bring him home safely to his family and a grateful nation.
It's sobering, engaging, uplifting and, at least on one level, an apt metaphor for today's recruiting environment. I don't mean to disrespect the soldiers who fought on Normandy beach, and I am aware that I could trivialize their contributions. However, I believe that the insights we can draw from the parallels between the two are important.
First, competition in today's marketplace often seems like a war. Many organizations use combat metaphors to "rally the troops" and "do battle" in their campaign to gain market share. Thankfully, there are no mortal victims in this warfare, but the consequences for the losers are almost as ominous; almost every day brings press reports of broken corporations and reductions in force.
Second, today's recruiting challenge is very similar to the search for Private Ryan. Ask any recruiter and they'll tell you that finding talented men and women in a tight labor market feels like searching for one soldier among millions, located who knows where. Each day's recruiting effort is a desperate, beat-the-odds race against the competition much like the Ranger squad's mission against German soldiers. It is a minute-by-minute struggle in which there can be only one victor.
In the movie, the squad's search for Private Ryan is a long and difficult trek by foot across the battlefield. As they advance, the Rangers meet fellow soldiers and, in hurried conversations, they describe the individual for whom they're hunting and try to pinpoint his location. They chase down blind alleys, battle with the enemy and finally, all but exhausted, talk to someone who points out Ryan. While the task takes its toll on the troops, they accomplish the mission. And in that regard, their experience mirrors the essence of traditional recruiting -- networking.
The squad probably would not have found Private Ryan without venturing onto the battlefield. As they say in the military, there's no substitute for being there, "on the ground." But think how much easier it would have been if the squad eliminated much of their aimless wandering and misdirection. Consider how much time and effort they would have saved if they had the capability to pinpoint Ryan's general location or to pass the word that they were looking for him by some means other than word of mouth.
Today, the armed forces use technology to do just that. With satellite communications, global positioning systems, databases and savvy, well-trained commanders, they know where every soldier is, at any given moment, down to the square meter. Contacting people in combat is no longer an exercise in weary legs and foxhole conversations. The outcome of the battle, of course, will still turn on what gets said and to whom, but thanks to technology, commanders can now devote their energy to communicating well, rather than to wandering around.
The ability to communicate well is what the Internet now offers recruiters. This technology makes it possible for them to search the job market without hiking across it by foot. It enables recruiters to connect with the right person at the right time and in the right place. It frees them to construct and convey the right message, a message that is compelling and persuasive to the kinds of candidates they want to recruit. With a couple of keystrokes, the Internet lets recruiters search resume databases containing tens of thousands of records and post job ads that are seen by millions of job seekers around the globe. In short, the Internet helps recruiters find candidates, and thus, save themselves.
Sure, face-to-face recruiting is still important. The online medium cannot replace the power of being there and the advantages of interacting with candidates "on the ground." It does, however, help recruiters ensure that the exhausting, hindering and often frustrating experience of searching by foot stays up on the big screen and not in their workday.
