The Modern Recruiter is a new breed
I recently found myself at Droidcon in Krakow, Poland, mixing with engineers, designers, and of course a few other recruiters. My employer had sponsored the event so I was fairly visible — and my company also happens to be one of the coolest brands on the planet. Whilst there, I took the time to reflect on the changing role of a recruiter in today’s market.
One word kept coming up: “visibility”.
When I started my career way back in 1999, recruiters flew under the radar. It was rare to see us at trade events or conferences with the exception of the odd brave individual masquerading as a “consultant” whilst entirely removing any reference to their actual profession from their name tag. We used technology to hide our phone number when calling potential candidates and often deployed an entirely different persona when attempting to overcome the gatekeeper to contact prospective clients.
The Modern Recruiter is a new breed. We value analytics over stealth, branding over subterfuge, engagement over the quick fix, and most of all visibility. Of course, the cynic will point to social media driving the change in the industry rather than the industry itself leading the change. I’m not so sure.
A peer of mine recently published a post comparing recruiting for a position to running a successful online marketing campaign. You first build a relevant audience, then engage with that audience, and finally require some form of action from those individuals that are interested in your product (the job). This is not all that different to how I’d work before the rise of the digital recruiter. However, the tools and platforms have changed. Replace my complex filing system with an ATS, fax messages with email, paper ads in computer weekly with online job boards, and phone calls with VC’s. This is an evolution of recruiting rather than the reinvention.
In the last few years I have met recruiters who are masters of PR and branding. They are highly trusted and valued public speakers. Discussions range from organizational development, through to advancements in selection methodologies, to challenging the out-of-date interview. Now recruiters sit at the executive table in roles such as Chief Talent Officer and are engaged by venture capital and PE firms to assess human capital while performing due diligence on a potential investment. If you are an ambitious recruiter, then visibility and branding should be foremost in your mind.
I’m just starting on my visibility journey and to be honest, after over 15 years in the industry, I was equal parts nervous and excited about writing this first blog post. I’ve built trusted referral networks, micro-talent communities, and advised companies big and small on talent acquisition strategies all from the comfort of the boardroom or my office. The idea of me publishing to the black hole of the internet had me shaking at my keyboard
So, Geronimo.
I’m working on a more detailed blog post about Droidcon and some thoughts around the evolution of talent sourcing and selection. Stay tuned.
