By Joe Carbone
Everyone today claims to have an algorithm or a predictive model that can tell you when employees are going to leave their firm or when they even start to think about looking. In a time where, “there’s an app for that” I don’t necessarily disagree with these algorithms and models, in fact, it has forced a paradigm shift in the recruiting industry to integrate and assimilate technology into our everyday interactions with candidates and clients.
What I disagree with is that no matter how sophisticated the technology is and no matter how many “billions” (said with my finger to my mouth) of VC or PE backed money you have, you cannot and will not replace the human element of talent acquisition.
Job boards came, had their time and now have faded. The Ladders had a shot at the top before their paid subscription tanked with the markets in ’08 and now LinkedIn has risen to fame and is currently the “it” platform but sadly one day, it too will be replaced by something better. I say this not to be negative or to throw punches at the tools that we recruiters use daily in our jobs but simply to point out that what hasn’t changed, is the fact that our clients and candidates crave meaningful interactions from credible, intelligent, and savvy consultants and internal recruiters.
Whether you are a follower of Greg Savage, who believes that to survive and prosper, the new age recruiter should be a marketing guru as well as an agent of talent (which I happen to believe) or if you believe that your algorithm and data analytics model will take over human kind, the fact remains (when I say fact, I mean my opinion) that good old relationship building will never go obsolete.
Those that have succeeded before the technology boom were those with the best and most coveted relationships and those that will continue to succeed are those that have the best and most coveted relationships along with the technological capability for an enriched engagement experience. The way we engage is changing consistently and it is happening all around us – our clients and candidates are consuming data in ways we could have only imagined ten years ago.
Think about how the founders of some of the biggest recruitment agencies in the world started (fax and snail mail) and now think about how fast job requisitions turn over – it’s mind boggling. To think that companies posted job advertisements in the newspapers just five years ago makes the industry seem like it should be captured on a black and white film with no sound!
Just because you’ve built a predictive model that might tell you when to engage someone doesn’t mean you will succeed in doing so. If you haven’t gained the trust and confidence that is expected from a consumer savvy professional in a day and age where information is a valued commodity, like Tinder, if you swipe the wrong way, you will miss all the action.