There has been much lamenting over the past year about the impact of the Internet on recruiters and the profession of recruiting. The criticism is based on the perception that cyberspace is teaching recruiters -- particularly those recruiters who are too young to remember typewriters and carbon paper -- some bad habits.
At the core of this concern is the conviction that the Internet undercuts a recruiter's desire and ability to network. It is an article of faith, at least among recruiting purists, that networking -- the process of finding, meeting and engaging prospective candidates face-to-face -- is the key to success in their profession. They believe that the savvy and aplomb required to network effectively is what distinguishes a professional recruiter from one who recruits by getting a generally round peg into a sort of round hole.
Yet, such sloppy behavior is precisely the kind of recruiting the Internet encourages. The purists see too many freshly minted recruiters who have become virtually dependent on its job boards and resume banks, newsgroups and automated agents. These johnnies and jeannettes come lately to the profession now use online resources as their principal, if not sole means of sourcing candidates. And when that happens, according to the purists, they inevitably lose (or worse yet, never learn) the networking skills of a truly professional recruiter.
No doubt, there are lazy recruiters, although I suspect such sluggish behavior has more to do with their character than the Internet. And yes, there is a cohort of the recruiter population who have become overly reliant on the Internet. These techno-faddists probably do see the Internet as a silver bullet -- a one-stop, make-it-really-easy-to-get-my-job-done resource for recruiting.
Nevertheless, I think the criticism of online recruiting is off-base for at least two reasons. First, it assumes that online recruiting will forever be what it is today. And second, it views the Internet as a medium limited to posting jobs and sourcing resumes. In my opinion, neither of these notions is correct.
Technology simply does not stand still. The Internet has been used as a recruiting resource for all of 4-5 years. Yet, in that short time, we have seen the medium mature from impossibly complex and unfriendly web sites that only a programmer could love, to today's streamlined, highly engaging centers for recruiting activity. Moreover, each passing week sees the launch of additional technological advances to help recruiters locate, evaluate and meet prospective candidates. The good news is that this new technology is immensely powerful and increasingly easy-to-use, and the even better news is that it will never replace the instincts and insights of a good recruiter.
Indeed, the Internet, as viewed by many of the purists, is a two-legged stool; it's a medium for posting jobs and sourcing resumes, and that's about it. This view completely ignores the most important (and remarked upon) development in cyberspace: the creation of virtual communities. The Internet has enabled people to overcome geographic, time, social, and virtually any other kind of barrier to assemble and interact with one another at a common meeting place online. There are now hundreds of thousands of such communities, offering companionship and conversation to everyone from archeologists to zoologists.
I believe that these virtual communities will eventually become the third leg of the stool for internet recruiting. Recruiters will build technologically sophisticated hang-outs on the information superhighway designed to attract the kinds of candidates they are recruiting today and may recruit tomorrow. Within these virtual domains, they will use the communications capabilities of the Internet to meet and engage people -- and yes, to network with them electronically. In the process, they will nurture long-term relationships with many more people in many more places than they could ever hope to do by networking the old fashioned way.
And that's the irony in the purists' criticism of online recruiting. The truth of the matter is that the Internet provides a platform for a more efficient and effective form of networking, and that process requires the very same skills as its old fashioned cousin. Whether it happens in Peoria or in cyberspace, meeting and engaging prospective candidates requires aplomb and savvy. Whether it is a face-to-face experience or a virtual one, networking demands all of the instincts and insights of a good recruiter.
Hence, the Internet is a dynamic, every changing environment with the inherent capacity to both support and extend the role of networking in the recruiting profession. And as that happens, the Internet itself will restore the balance that is now missing from much of the recruiting activity in cyberspace.
