The future of recruiting is doomed?

Let me share a few headlines from some articles that are predicting the future of recruiting…

• Job Boards Will Replace Recruiters
• LinkedIn and Facebook Will Replace Job Boards
• Why Facebook will Destroy LinkedIn
• LinkedIn and Facebook to Face Challenge from Google+

OK, I’m confused. If we were to believe every headline, it seems like the recruiting business is doomed to be replaced. It also seems that anyone that becomes the next best thing will be replaced by another next best thing!

I’m not naive and certainly understand that as time marches on good ideas surface that replace older ways of doing things. I just think that recruiting is not one that will be replaced easily or with great speed. Here’s why:

1. Real recruiting (“headhunting “) is not done by email or by technology. Technology is a tool to assist true headhunters. But the passive candidate is truly passive, not engaged in a search, until someone nudges them from a place of security. The recruiter is the nudge. I don’t see technology that is connecting with people on an emotional level to move them from happy and satisfied to open for a change. I do see recruiters doing that every day.
2. The “Global War for Talent” is called a “war” because it is difficult. If just running LinkedIn campaigns was effective or if an advertisement in Monster made it happen it would be called something else. Companies that want the best and brightest are waging war on multiple fronts…they are working the technology side and they are also working the human side via recruitment. If you are filling 1000 job orders for unskilled staff and you have limited criteria other than availability then technology will be a great way to fight your battle. If you need a specialist with unique characteristics and that candidate will be required to change physical location, then you will want a recruiter working that assignment.
3. The Internet can help find candidates. LinkedIn and Facebook (and their threatened replacements) will not identify and evaluate talent. Keywords are the way that technology qualifies candidates. Recruiters qualify talent by talking and evaluating the accuracy of candidate statements after technology locates a candidate pool.
4. Technology tools cast a net to find candidates. Recruiters cull through the “catch” and find the right fish. There is skill required to separate the best from the pack of all that apply for a position. The best may be uncovered via technology but not converted into applicants or new hires without significant time and attention from someone that can uncover motivation and apply it properly. Motivation is difficult to uncover with a pure technology approach and even more unlikely to be reversed by technology alone. If the overwhelming motivation is to stay with the current employer, someone needs to change the status quo. Top talent is often rewarded and cared for in a way that they are not outwardly seeking change. They must be drawn into change by a great motivator. Recruiters can uncover motivation and create the desire for change.
5. Recruiters can engage, communicate, sell, problem-solve, emote, think and respond. Please text me when LinkedIn has all these bases covered!

Leading employers will continue to engage quality global recruiters…now and well into the future. Recruiters with strong recruitment networks and the skills to identify, evaluate, recruit, and motivate talent will always have a place in the search for top talent. Technology is a tool. It is improving but not yet ready to replace the skills that a professional global recruiter can offer.

That’s my view. Stop by my office and share your thoughts, or send a handwritten letter with your thoughts, fax me, call me, email me, text me, poke me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, or add me to a Google+ circle. Funny how things change but stay the same.