Day in and day out my life revolves around the internet and mobile phone in some fashion. See my daily schedule below.
Morning – Mobile phone alarm clock wakes me up
- Check weather and personal email on phone
- Check overnight emails on Blackberry
- Log into work – two laptops, one on the Network, one for managing social media
Afternoon – Work through the day on both laptops, Blackberry, Droid, work phone, instant message and LiveMeetings
Evening – Log off work laptop with Blackberry always close at hand
- Check personal email – Yahoo & Gmail on phone or laptop
- Check social media accounts, Facebook, Linkedin, & Twitter
- Read news and stories on internet
- Pay bills, all online
- Watch TV either on phone or TV
Almost everything I do on a daily basis involves the internet or my mobile device. So I got to thinking. As a sourcer, what I would do if I lost the internet (including email) and mobile phone for two months? How would I find the talent I need to hire?
Could I search my ATS or CRM? No, I’d need to be online to access all of my info. Nobody prints out resumes or applications anymore, so I can’t sift through a stack. I couldn’t post jobs, search the job boards or social media sites. Google, for the time being, does not exist. As modern day sourcers and recruiters, we would quickly run out of options.
Assuming you still needed to meet your hiring needs for the next two months, where is your talent going to come from? I wish I had the answer, but I don’t. I did come up with a few thoughts on what a sourcer/recruiter could do to get people in the door:
1. Rely on what your best source of candidates should already be, referrals from your employees. Have them call their friends, former colleagues and family members.
2. Visit local universities in person to conduct interviews and promote your company.
3. Visit you local state employment offices and attend job fairs.
4. Conduct open houses at your larger offices.
5. Place ads in local and national newspapers and magazines (with your fax #).
6. Cold call, cold call, cold call into your competitors. This is also known as phone sourcing (but now you have no Linkedin profiles or resumes to initiate conversations or find people).
7. Street-side billboards advertising jobs, open houses and special events.
8. Attend skill-specific conferences to recruit attendees.
So what would you do? I am very interested to hear everyone’s thoughts around this. Going without the internet and mobile phone for two months is like doomsday for the modern sourcer/recruiter. Would you take a long vacation and hope for the best when you return? Or would you get creative and use the headhunter instinct in you to fill your jobs?
Although some may feel this is far fetched, I think in today’s world we need to be prepared for anything. Are you prepared?
Tim O’Connor is a Talent Acquisition Consultant, strategist, and speaker originally from Northampton, Massachusetts, now residing in Southern Maine. Tim currently manages Hewitt's Social Media Platforms such as, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin. He is in charge of strategy to leverage Social Media to increase brand awareness and build Talent Communities. Mr. O'Connor also manages a Global Sourcing Team out of India that is responsible for providing talent pipelines for North America, Europe & Asia. Prior to his current position at Hewitt, Tim managed a dedicated team of sourcers for Hewitt's Consulting, IT, Legal, Finance & Executive Practices. Prior to Hewitt, Tim was the Strategic Sourcing Lead for Capgemini North America, one of the largest IT Consulting Firms in the World. In this role Tim was brought on to create and implement Capgemini’s first ever Strategic Passive Sourcing Program. He also managed a Sourcing Team in Kolkata India, which was responsible for developing both active and passive pipelining for North American recruiting.
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Great questions, Tim. Another intelligent and outspoken colleague, Steve Levy, has asked this question before as well, so I think you'd have a kindred spirit. Your approach is more subtle, but I think your implied message is that sourcers need to remember these more traditional channels and make sure someone in the organization is covering them. However, the other question that follows from that is whether these channels are as effective as they once were, which is why metrics are so important (something that is easier to compile today, thanks to technology). I think we'll find that the optimal mix combines things from various traditional and new arenas, though it will vary by organization, business unit, location and possibly even down to the requisition level, which adds to the challenge!