There has been so much chatter and twitter about Social Networks replacing job boards, recruitment agencies dying out as technology takes over, and candidate care (or lack of it) that it has made me stop and think and, while thinking, that French phrase – in English “the more it changes, the more it’s the same thing” came to mind.

30 years ago, I was a young London based accountant and applied to Michael Page (recruitment agency) for an auditing role they had advertised.  The consultant saw things in me that I did not and over a two month period I ended up convinced by him and others that recruitment could be a great career for a young professional.

Our “database” was a manual card system.  A “system crash” was a drunk Adrian dropping the cards on the floor. We had a phone system that was all lights and flick switches.  No memory phones – but Richard knew all his top client numbers by heart (and many of ours too).  We had a private line (ex directory of course) for candidates to call us back on.  I (as the trainee) collected a large red bag of post from the Post Office every day so we got CVs before other agencies.  We retyped CVs from scratch into our format and then bike couriered them to the client.  Overseas clients were sent details by telex.

We advertised in Newspapers and specialist magazines and used Direct Marketing by post.   

Many clients operated a “first CV gets the fee” approach so your business depended on James getting the post bag, fast typists and fast motorbike couriers.

Then the fax machine arrived and our business started to depend on not getting an engaged tone, or the receiving client not running out of paper.  Some clients refused to accept faxes as they were getting so many and the thermal fax paper used in those days was expensive. So the bikes survived for a while.

Then came e-mail.  We phoned clients at first to check they had got the e-mail . We attended courses on “What is the Internet” and a whole new world opened up.  More CVs from all over the world now – whereas in the past our “overseas response” would be from a two month old advert from the Financial Times that someone had posted up on a board in a Spanish job centre.

and then came Job Boards…..and then Social Networks….and then…..

but did our business really grow because we had faster bikes? Because we had three fax machines and our competitors had none? Because James got an early train to work to collect the post?

Of course these all helped, but Michael Page and many other recruiters built their business on real (not virtual) relationships – between Consultant and Client and between Consultant and Candidate.  We used the phone to talk to people, we met with clients, we interviewed candidates. We knew our specialised markets well and we were respected for that knowledge.

The recruitment expert Greg Savage said at an RCSA presentation once “in the old days” you walked into a recruitment office and it was a bedlam of noise – everyone on the phone talking to people.  Now you walk into an office and the only noise is the tapping of keyboards – “libraries can be noisier” he said.  But are lasting relationships built by e-mail? Maybe in a Tom Hank’s movie……..  

This recession (I have worked through 4 now) has been a good thing for our industry.  The agencies that have been adding no value, and that have been taking CVs from the job boards, flicking them onto a client and who have expected a large fee for little effort have suffered.  Whilst 2009 has not been a fantastic year, generally the specialist recruiters have survived.

Many clients have been using job boards and several are experimenting with social networks, but there will always be a need, a positive reception and a reward for the consultant who recognises a good candidate for a relevant client. 

Job boards and social networks will give you a CV.  The Internet will give you the ability to find jobs and company information.  What technology does not give you is a beating heart.  It does not show you the motivation behind an individual, the growth plans for a company, things that are said privately and not publicly.

To fully understand your candidates and clients and to be a good recruiter you need to know what makes them tick, you need to never stop asking questions (and listening to the answers) as my mentors Bruce Duncan and Steve Brown taught me, and you need to meet with them and build the trust.  You need to treat “Human Resources” less as a resource and more as a Human. 

The trust you build with your client and candidate gives you exclusive work, preferred supplier status and enables you to act as their advisor for years to come.  Seek, Facebook, Twitter etc etc give you the ingredients – you still need to put it all together and bake the cake.  There is no “take away” or “ready meal” in good recruitment, the best job is done with fresh ingredients, a great chef and a little magic.

The skills have remained the same for 30 years – only the tools have changed.

Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose

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