Recruiters Seeking Relevance In a Connected World

In a flash of brilliance, Susan decided she wanted to hire a boss. A website is created, buzz is generated using social media. Employers noticed, connections made and Susan got hired (Here’s the story).

Is the above example an exception or will it be the new norm?

Susan is obviously very smart, but the undeniable fact is – it’s getting easier and easier for job seekers and employers to find one another. Unlike any other time in memory, job seekers has never been more richer with tools to express themselves, to get noticed and connect with employers.  As Clay Shirky puts it –  “The moment we’re living through, the moment our historic generation is living through, is the largest increase in expressive capability in human history.”

If you are a middleman who earns a living by connecting job seekers and employers, is this new status quo a threat? Where do you fit in a world where job seekers are armed to the teeth with options (many of them just don’t know it yet) and employers’ sourcing toolbox gets richer?

So, here is the question to ask – what can you do exceedingly well which employers cannot do very well themselves? What can you offer job seekers that’s not available anywhere else?

Unless you can figure out a way to maintain (or enhance) the existing triangular nexus between employers, recruiters and job seekers, employment transactions will increasingly be a two-way nexus without any room for the middleman.