Cheezhead

The band Radiohead disrupted the music supply chain recently by removing all the traditional friction points in the music industry: labels, agents, distribution channels etc. The band went directly to ‘buyers’ using the internet allowing them to determine value and pay or not for downloading the music online. The disruptive move was met with much fanfare, brought servers down and in the end mixed results.

What does this have to do with recruiting?

The internet has intensified the friction points in the traditional recruitment supply chain and spawned some new. The common traits amongst these ‘extended’ friction points:

1. They are designed for the purpose of extracting dollars from the recruitment supply chain
2. Not all add value to the end users of the recruitment process - talent and recruiters

Examples of intensified friction points are advertising at job boards and aggregation of resumes and names. Advertising in newspapers around classifieds has been a traditional aspect of the recruitment supply chain just as selling resumes and names have been. And it makes sense that people and organizations would seize the opportunity to increase revenue through the expanded reach and depth of the ‘net.

Today the reach and scope of these have increased such that advertising revenue at the major job boards have become the goal and supplying jobs the means to attract eyeballs to support their advertising business model. While aggregation of names and monetizing access in a US market where there is not enough skilled talent for the work available results in prospective talent receiving a large amount of contact from recruiters through email and phone and not all matched well to their wants and needs.

The focus on advertising and aggregation business models in the recruitment supply chain decrease value to talent and recruiters …

Some believe there is growing talent fatigue from unnecessary advertising and too many contacts from recruiters (agency and corporate) resulting in talent backlash. Talent is not happy unless contacted on their terms with information they deem important. They desire an easier and direct way to interact with companies and positions of value - on their own terms at times of their choosing.

This may be the true in some cases and not so in others, yet as with Radiohead disrupting the status quo can be the mother of invention. We could see a ‘pure’ talent network that matches needs and wants for talent and hiring organizations simultaneously in real time. Emphasizing bi-directional value to talent and recruiters through user-control, graciousness and no ‘unnecessary’ business model friction points such as advertising or database aggregation with no talent opt in and opt out offered ‘in small print’ on the back side.

An approach that could make sourcing easier for both talent and recruiters …

Radiohead caused a splash but because they offered lower quality MP3s, their offer became seen, true or not as an attempt to sell higher quality CDs and some fans reacted negatively. Pure is pure. Whether it happens tomorrow or five years from now there will be a time when talent and recruiters will be aware of each other’s needs the moment they both are available. The technology is here, it’s simply applying new business models to a recruitment supply chain that is confused on who is served.

BTW: Where a lot of dollars and time are spent on sourcing through the recruitment supply channels today, the value in the future will come from experienced recruiters adept at assessing and delivering talent. Two major aspects of the recruitment process today that too many times are after thoughts to managing the sourcing friction points described.

Most are unnecessary, get in the way and cause more headache than value. Maybe it is time to disrupt ….