John suggests that “Former sourcing luminaries will be familiarizing themselves with the alarm on the French fry machine and the relative difference between Rare, Medium and Well done.”

Oh, dear.

I imagine in years to come when the names of those “sourcing luminaries” have been long forgotten there will still be those recruiters who would like to know how to find leads and resumes online. Poor souls, who will teach them?

It pains me to think of the years of hard graft that these forgotten fry cooks have put into researching search syntax and Boolean strings to advance the profession, all for naught. So sad that they are gone now, forgotten.

In the hours of my darkest depression, lamenting the impending death of so many beautiful minds, my own demise too perhaps, I decided I would erect a monument to the “Unkown Cybersleuth.”

In so doing I hope that for generations to come, recruiters every would add job titles like “Accountant” or skill sets like “Java” to the etched names memorialized there and click “Keywords” to miraculously find code left by the masters to cut and paste directly into their browsers.

Long after punditry has gone the way of sourcing, I imagine recruiters everywhere thumbing their noses at Mr. Sumser saying:

Sourcing is Dead! Long Live Google!

I have been involved with RPO companies large and small in various capacities over the years. I can say with the confidence of an insider that in the main, they or no less dysfunctional, inept, devoid of imagination and generally wattless than the clients who they purport to transcend.

No two employers are alike. They are all different by virtue of their size, orientation, positioning, culture, experience, leadership, workforce and yada-yada-yada.

So, how can a process that systematizes something as nuanced, complex and involved  as recruiting passive, semi-passive, semi-active, active, and/or hyper-active candidates — who, I might add, could match any number of psychographic constructs, fit any number of demographic profiles and/or be in any number of geographic areas — be farmed out to an industry that is one slice short of a loaf of bread?

Surely the only RPOs worth looking at are the ones that have a process for identifying the underlying problem that is being outsourced and who recognize the problem could be an issue internally as well as within the clients’ operation.

Provided an RPO can be that artful, call a spade a spade on economies of scale and demonstrate how they’ve tackled their own “problems” — God knows there are some marginal recruiters, systems and practices out there — then who are we kidding?

I don’t have any firsthand experience of an RPO that is that open to that degree of self-examination and equally transparent about what they find. Do you? Nah, what are we, nuts?

More than that, I want the aggregated results to be served in context, arranged in folders by media and domain, sorted by date and relevancy, cross referenced to each other, color coded and appropriately tagged. Peer reviews would be nice.

If anyone I know — or you know for that matter — who has every referenced the subject in a conversation, or a posted a link, or bookmarked the page, or shared a comment, I want to know that too. If there is a relationship between any of those people I want to be able to see how and where they are connected and if we share any interests other than the subject in question.

It probably makes sense to see what their other interests are including their marital status, sexual orientation, previous employment and Amazon wish lists. Throw in email addresses, telephone numbers and user names — you know, just in case.

I want to be able to visualize the data, reorder the data, post it with a tiny URL and have it delivered to my mobile device. I want to create a feed for my reader and one for my blog. Oh, and I must have all this data in some personalized archive where I can conduct “proprietary” searches on my desktop.

Why would I want all this? Because I need it!

Oh, the Sirens, the Sirens — make them stop!

Google! Google! The end is nigh, the end is nigh! Prepare to meet thy Maker. Can I get an Amen, [Big] Brother?
Sat 31 Jan 10:25 via web

Hey, y’all. Do you get this when you run a Google search: “This site may harm your computer?” Or am I doomed…
Sat 31 Jan 10:28 via web

I can Google! I can Google! Yes, People, there is a God! Can I get another ‘Amen’ Brother? Halla-freakin’-lujah!
Sat 31 Jan 10:42 via web

Sorry, God. I couldn’t resist.

Apparently, you can use the coupons at over 1,000 niche, diversity and regional job boards that are slashing up to half the price on their job postings, all to help make the world go round. Think of it as cross between an economic stimulus package and a licked-to-go Green Shield Stamps program.

In times of economic collapse it is only natural that the industry’s leadership should bandy together and step up to the plate. Rewarding good behavior [buying postings] and facilitating commerce [direct marketing] is not a bad thing. To the contrary, it is a good thing. And programs like this are quintessentially American, aren’t they?

To the cynics who might postulate the alliance between SHRM and JobTarget has more to do with monopolistic price fixing than affinity programming, I say this: Phooey!

And to the preposterous argument that this scheme has more to do with deflationary pricing to offset falling demand and the no-cost alternatives that may be even more effective than traditional job postings — double phooey!

SHRM-sponsored programs like this one have always been about reducing the cost-per-hire and getting the best return on regular HR folk’s advertising dollars. I think its wonderful that the nice people at JobTarget would help out this way.

Every responsible job board owner should be buying into this historic blow-in. And to the blasted cynic who would say that the only thing being cached here are job postings and commission checks — phooey, phooey, phooey!

Change happens in front of our very eyes but we often miss it. In so doing we miss out on developing a level of appreciation of things that should come as part of the pay-off. Somewhere in the over abundance of social media, participation, micro-blogging and chat we’re short-changing ourselves. It’s not sustainable.

John Sumser’s Digging into RecruitingBlogs.com post today was remarkable. Not so much for the content, but for its timing.

The significance of turning the page to open a new chapter [v 2.0] would not be lost on anyone who has been reading John’s recruiting annals for as long as some of us have. In his chronicling of Recruitopia particularly, John was articulating what RecruitingBlogs.com could become long before we had considered today’s nuisance in getting our email synced.

I was reflecting today that 2008 was the first in a few years that Jason Davis wasn’t hosting a Best Recruiting Blog Awards. It seemed to me as if in the raising of this barn, such things didn’t matter anymore. And perhaps they really don’t.

Happy Friday, Bloggers.

I am also part of Michael’s reverse brain drain on CloudRecruiting.net and couldn’t be more flattered to have my name in lights with the likes of his other Think Tank members — Amybeth Hale, Dan Harris, Eric Jaquith, Geoff Peterson, Jeremy Langhans, Jim Stroud, Josh Kahn, Leslie O’Connor, Rithesh Nair, Suzy Tonini, and Tim O’Connor. I cannot say how they feel about being similarly associated with me but three out of the eleven follow me on Twitter. That say’s something doesn’t it?

I am also a shameless marketer looking to make a buck or two while the recruiting industry collapses into a heap of transaction-driven dysfunction, peddling [almost] free stuff thinly veiled as thought leadership-inspired recruiter training. Yes, while the digerati have their heads in the cloud, and ol’-timers have theirs somewhere where the sun don’t shine, this boychick follows the rainbow. What can I tell ya? I dig the cloud.

Next, in the same way that I reject the ambiguity of hijacked metaphors by confused talking heads to promote [or defend] a particular position — making an exception for moi’, of course — I would love it if we could try and get along in time for Christmas.

So, with the strains of Let There Be Peace on Earth in background…

This week I was reminded that small fish rise to small bait. I was not only tickled to see a big-fish from O’Reilly Media sniffing around ERE’s chummed waters but equally amused to see that he sniffed around and left. Well, it amused me.

[Later that day...]

Oh, bugger! Am I the small fry who just got hooked, was that linkbait barbed? Nah, it’s cool. It’s just a fast-talking and link-laden bloggin’ carny-ride. Up, up and away!

Our apostolic neighbor got to work and in no time was possessed. She began uttering some unknown prayer that was only coherent to God and herself.

While it seemed quite possible that everyone else in the room was being transported to a higher place, I found myself being teleported to the Appalachian foothills where one imagines spirits of a different sort give voice to an equally unintelligible, if not distilled, form of incantation.

Somehow, in my befuddled Hebraic interpretation of what was going on I confused the “charismatic church” with the “charismatic me” and foolishly decided to apply the lessons of the day to some healing of my own.

Without going in to the pathetic details of my amorous overtures — or my completely missing the point with the snake metaphor — suffice it to say, getting lickered up, and my own very clumsy “laying on of hands,” resulted in my waking up the next day with a thick head and a lip to match. Go figure.

Steve Levy recently posted Learn Boolean, Start a Business. In a catholic defense of modern day mediums he says:

In the 10+ years that I’ve been part of the online recruiting community, I’ve never seen a time when it was possible to learn a rudimentary skill and then pawn oneself off as an expert. Shally and G-Man have been internet search wonks for this period and have the experience to bolster their skills teaching with a range of specific examples; El Dave isn’t too far behind…

Alas during the past year, I’ve seen several neophytes learn to write a Boolean - or more precisely, to copy one that the true experts freely share - and suddenly they’re self-appointed experts selling themselves as Internet search gurus.

Oh dearie, dearie me. Let’s apply my befuddled Hebraic interpretation to this one now, shall we?

First, it occurs to me that nothing could be easier than passing oneself off as “an expert” when the skill is “rudimentary.”  I mean, honestly: AND, OR, and NOT — how much simpler could it be?

Next, as one of the neophytes let me clarify a couple of things…

One (NOT first): If the experts “freely share” why can’t I freely copy, share in kind? Of course, “if” covers a multitude of sins, doesn’t it? In reality if most of what is being “freely shared” has been available in the public domain since, well, before googling, who’s copying who; where’s the hanky-panky? Maybe the question here is one of attribution, maybe that’s it.

Two (NEAR:One): “…and then pawn oneself off as an expert” — golly! And, “..suddenly they’re self-appointed experts selling themselves as Internet search gurus” — that’s a bit strong, don’t you think?

I might consider myself a neophyte in the esteemed company of the liturgical high-priests of cybersleuthing — unworthy even — but in the company of lay folk my bible-thumping is enough to save a few sinners with the sacrament of sourcing know-how. Sure, the cacophony of hand-clappin,’ foot-stoppin’ music is a far cry from a reverential Latin Mass but for the recruiting riff-raff it’s an experience worth the price of admission.

Three (-wise.men) Just to be clear, only a fool would suggest that the 12 Apostles of George: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, [no, no, no -- that was John The Baptist!] and the rest of them, have not enabled a few scruffy-looking lay-preachers like me to schlep from one congregation to another but, Mr. Levy, gimme a break! Am I the one to be weighed in the balance, found wanting?

This week another hillbilly church has sprung up, this time on the slopes of RecruitingBlogs.com. I wonder if the Apostles will come down to share in a snake-whoopie-woo or two, sip a little poison at the Congregation of Boolean Strings. Whatever…

One of the things that has been interesting to me for some time is the codification of language and the subsequent value placed on its interpretation by a litany of coders and their assigns. Historically, all that has been a source of power so, why not now?

In some convoluted way I think the communication of Boolean syntax for surfacing leads and resumes is like bottling water. We have to contain it, brand it, sell it and defend our share of it to give it value despite the fact that, like water, the means to quench our thirst exists everywhere. Maybe Steve Levy see’s it slightly differently.

Experts, priests, shamans and snake-charmers all hold a special place in our communities because they [purportedly] hold the key to unlocking the knowledge we seek, and it’s practical application for a better life.

Is it any wonder that when the status quo gets “status skewed” those with the most to loose get shirty? Can I get an “Amen!” Brother?

Several days after our neighbors visit and my wife’s miraculous healing her pain returned, this time with a vengeance.  When I tried lightening things up with a drooling “I’ll be darn’d!” she told me to “Put a sock in it!” Hmmm…maybe in our house if we’re not speaking in tongues were talking at cross purposes? Nah, that’s just too obtuse, isn’t it? I don’t know, maybe not…

On the other hand, the brains behind the group blog – the Recruiting Animal — has picked himself up and dusted himself off, posting on his name-sake blog like the truthiest renaissance man he really is.

Ah, life in the Recruitosphere — where every post counts for something. What perspective!

As part of my illustration that the disconnect can be reconciled with relatively little effort we jumped online to look at ways I had addressed this problem in the past. We looked at my Quote for the Day, On the Radar, Recruiting by Numbers and other experiments, managing to cover everything from SEO blah-blah-blah to reputation yada-yada-yada in the space of about 20 minutes.

I’m sure the conversation would have been more fruitful had many of  my illustrations not been frustrated by a series of recently vandalized pages, courtsey of Jobster. Clicking through a series of blank pages is hardly a good first step in getting a reticent client to part with more money, is it?

Ho-hum…

I was watching the telly the other day, something to do with the continuity between China’s ancient history and its modernity evidenced in the spectacles of the Beijing Olympics.  A curator at some Chinese museum was profiled painstaking repairing a terracotta soldier that had seen better days since his exquisite creation not that long after God started his own work in clay.

As he pieced tiny fragments together to reconstruct this noble warrior’s shattered chin — noting it would take at least a year to fix just one of the thousands of these unique figures that needed attention — the curator said he continues to soldier on for the love of his work.  Clearly, in the overall scheme of things his product will have little impact on the course of humanity. But the the type of devotion manifest in labors of love might, don’t you think?

I think I shall attempt to reconstruct some of my fragmented efforts at optimization by consolidating past posts and new ones on my BROWN BAG RECRUITER site.  I believe this is a good way to preserve something that had value at the time it was conceived and which may serve a useful purpose moving forward.

I know some people will bellyache about content regurgitation but I don’t care. I say, if nothing else, labors of love are good for the soul. That was reaffirmed for me the other day looking at the wry smile on a once shattered soldiers face.