It seems like déjà vu. About 10 years ago the art of crafting Boolean search string commands, "peeling back URL's" took the recruitment industry by storm. Much like the Job boards did in the mid to late 90's . These new sourcing techniques were claimed to be the next 'silver bullet' with respect to finding that elusive passive, high quality candidate. Recruiters raced out to learn more about these techniques and if . . .they executed the techniques properly. . . on certain types of positions . . . they found success.

Fast forward and 10 years later and the same phenomenon is occurring again. We have a new set of technology based sourcing tools to find candidates.

• Blogs have replaced internet "chat rooms" (isn't a blog what we used to call a "chat room?")
• Searching the Internet via powerful browsers and Boolean search string logic has become even more advanced and powerful
• Huge databases of people have emerged in social networks

Web 2.0 is what we are calling it this time around and again . . . like 10 years ago . . . on certain types of positions . . . these are powerful tools that work!

But just like last time, the pendulum that probably "swung to far to the right" is coming back.

Over the past six months, many discussions have been focusing back on the fundamentals of recruiting. While technology-based tools and methodologies can assist in finding candidates and even developing relationships . . . we know that this is only one piece of the pie.

What about - -

• Engaging hiring managers, identifying the skills and competencies that are required of a new employee
• Setting Service Level agreements
• Developing and communicating a value proposition to attract quality top talent
• Skillful Assessment techniques
• Candidate Interview Preparation
• Effective Salary negotiation tactics
• Having the discipline to manage priorities, daily time management, and goal setting, etc.

The Pareto principle (80/20 rule) probably applies somewhere in this conversation. Just like 10 years ago, with all these cool new gadgets - - it is hard not to focus 80% of your time, effort and energy trying to master them. But the reality is there is no silver bullet with respect to recruiting. Recruiting is a balance between technology, "Boolean searches", networking groups, and the bullets above!

These thoughts of mine were further validated at the ERE conference last week. While there certainly were some really cool technology-based sourcing and selection tools - - many of the sessions were focused more on the fundamentals, managing client relationships, and measuring success/ROI, etc.

Tony Blake from DaVita, in his excellent presentation, quoted a person stating - - "The next killer app. in recruiting is the recruiter!" (I love this quote!)

Mike Grennier from Wal-Mart in his presentation titled "What I have Learned" . . . stated - - "Don't forget about the phone as a core fundamental recruiting tool!"

So just like 10 years ago, the pendulum is starting to swing back to the right...

"Mastering the fundamentals, while maybe not that sexy, is back in style!"

Richard Newsom from Fifth Third Bank stated the following during his sesession "Managing your recruitment department on a single metric": "There is nothing more powerful in recruiting than a skillful recruiter managing the process artfully from "end-to-end" to achieve exemplary customer satisfaction ratings from your internal/external customers."

To this point, over the coming weeks we will be discussing 10 fundamental "game changers" that Elite recruiters execute flawlessly 95% of the time!