By Kevin D’Aprile – Independent Recruiting Consultant and Mark A. Leon – Talent Acquisition Specialist, Hewitt Associates

In July 2003, Kevin Wheeler wrote an article entitled “Could You Automate Recruiting? Some Thoughts on Recruiter Value” for Global Learning Resources. Kevin spoke about the internet, recruiting websites, applicant tracking systems and Enterprise software. He introduced the actuality that the full life cycle functionality of recruitment from sourcing to background investigation could be completely web-based. Though it can never eliminate the front end diligence of building and fostering new and continuing relationships.

Though it may seem primitive now, this article presented the future of modern recruitment. By introducing the industry to the new functionality and technology that are evolving, he was also warning us of the next Tsunami in the world of Talent Acquisition. The new face of recruitment was born. Now that we are growing up and facing the world on our own, do we know what to do? Like any journey we must face it with courage and inspiration.

Ryan Leary, on Cruitertalk.com ranted and raved about Web 2.0, Social Recruiting and Cloud Recruiting in his article “Recruiters Need to Get Soft Skills” but in the end all he needed was a cup of coffee, a deep breath and a simple belief: Grass roots recruiting will never go away.

It is time to Bring Kevin Wheeler back for a moment. He recently stated on ERE.net that “Being a modern recruiter is, in some ways, easy. It’s about treating candidates as you would like to be treated. It’s about knowing who you are and what you believe so that you can quickly know when the direction you are headed is wrong.”

We are built on principal and dedication.

1) Believe in the organization
2) Believe in the product
3) Believe in growth and stability
4) Believe in the culture

Standing behind your product will helped facilitate relationships with your primary customer; your candidates.

Technology will define how the modern recruiter behaves due to the cost reduction and time effective tools. This begs the question: Has the recruiter evolved with the new technology or has the technology evolved the recruiter? Let us ponder that thought for just a moment…..I love those deep thought moments.
Why must we respect social media? A very well received presentation by Brandinfiltration.com “What the F**k is Social Media: One Year Later” tells us.

A) Three-fourths of Americans on the Internet use Social Media Technology
B) Two-thirds of Global Internet users visit Social Network Sites
C) 1382% is the rise of monthly growth on Twitter from January to February 2009
D) 100,000,000 is the number of daily YouTube video views
E) Five Billion minutes a day are spent on Facebook globally
F) If Facebook was a nation, it would be the fourth largest nation in the world
G) 93% of Social Network users believe companies should have a presence
H) 83% believe they should engage formally with their customers through these communication media

Are you satisfied with the evidence yet or do you need more?

Chris Wellington (The Recruiter Guy) gave a poignant yet humorous take on computer overkill with his “1,2,3…How Many Monitors Are You Using to Recruit That Next Executive” article where he demonstrated one monitor with his ATS and another with his sourcing search engine tools. It was a humorous take but it was saturated with reality.

Chris is the Recruiter Guy. As you venture into the Social media web you will see the Radical Recruiter, The Modern Recruiter, The Confused yet Happy Recruiter, The Chuck Bartowski Recruiter, The Recreational Recruiter or Super Recruiter.

Are we at a point of taking out careers a little too lightly? Perhaps but more importantly we are creating personal brand. The internet has provided an open avenue of self promotion. How does one stand above the rest. Every industry and specialty skill with have its superstars and its lagers. The Social Media front is a means of creating, engaging and growing an image. This image will provide you with the leverage to promote the soft skills that will gain the highest quality talent in the market.
The technology will provide more efficiency and cost savings but the soft skills will gain the loyalty of the talent.

Remember there are some elements of your game that must never go away and must remain a strong part of your weaponry:

Believe in your personal and professional values and ethics and share those with others
Study the talent market, understand the skills, and be able to develop effective strategies to capture the skills needed to continue to help your business grow
Build relationships. One Lego is strong but many are a fortress. Each relationship is the building block of many more. Soft skills or “High Touch Skills” must remain a critical tool in the recruitment arsenal.
Learn effective techniques of sales. If you can sell and idea to a candidate and close the deal, it is pure magic

With all these tools and technologies at your finger tips and many more being developed as we sleep how do we not get lost in the ocean of modernization? It is very simple: Listen, Become Engaged, Measure your results.

Listen to your colleagues, competitors, candidates, people on the street, blogs, musicians, poets and your mother. Take in as much information as you can to make the best educated choices in your pursuit of professional greatness

Find a few focused sites or communities that you can contribute positively and become heavily engaged. Get involved. Volunteer, start a blog, build a community and make yourself known
Measure what is working and what is not. You will not succeed at everything but when you find the true value in your attempts then you will shine.

The field is changing. The grass is greener. The players are faster and stronger and the equipment is so amazing. Are you ready to run through the gate and take the field? I think I hear the whistle.
What is the bottom line? We can’t escape technology so why try. On one end of the field are the traditional grass roots recruiters and on the other end the techie geeks. Lay your pocket protectors down and lets get ready to rumble. Wait, wait, wait! There is a better idea; use both the technology and the soft skills to your advantage. Then you will be the true Modern Recruiter.

Let’s summarize our key points.

Social Media opens up more global avenues and access to talent that we did not have in the past. It provides us the opportunity to advance public relations, collaboration, networking, knowledge sharing and branding. Blend that with the true heart of recruiting, the social element of relationship building and networking and you have a complete professional.

In the end, if you are a recruiter, sourcer, generalist or hiring manager one must be able to sell the opportunity, the employer and culture and finally gain that acceptance. Then victory is ours
Accept change but don’t ever change.

You can follow Kevin on Twitter @kdprile and Mark @markalex222