I came upon an interesting post today at Leading Questions on what Ed Brenegar calls "an emerging culture of business as an Edgeconomy where light beats heavy; open beats closed; free beats paid; and, good beats evil". Ed quotes from Bubblegeneration author Umair Haque and his numerous posts on this emerging culture. Here is the money quote:
What matters in the edge culture is context. Every client, every customer, every vendor exists in a different context. Haque refers to these contexts as micro cultures. This is certainly my experience. Not a single one of my clients are the same, have the exact same issues, and the projects have never been exactly the same.
As a result, what happens is that I come with a tool box instead of a formula. We decide what the project needs, and then select the tools appropriate to the it. This is the opposite of a one-size fits all formula that squeezes the client into a box that doesn't fit their situation. For some clients, this is a strange experience because they are used to buying a standardized product instead of a customized solution.
I don't know if any of these thought are particularly ground breaking or "emerging" as this trend has been developing for 8 or so years but I do know these ideas are significant and Ed does an excellent job of succinctly identifying and describing them. The culture of multiple context/micro cultures and a tool box vs. formula approach are HUGE in talent acquisition and talent relationship management. Here are a few quick thoughts on how this "emerging" culture impacts the world of recruiting.
Context - every prospect, candidate, client and hiring leader exists in a different context. If you just look for a minute at prospects and candidates you can see this clearly enough. Each of them have different decision making criteria they use to make a change, each has different "career wounds" they are looking to have healed, some passive and other are active. One approach does not work for all. So many in the talent acquisition game build career websites, design application/recruiting process and execute recruiting the same for everyone. Sure, there are some very good legal reason for maintaining consistency in the recruitment process but within those confines a toolbox approach vs. a formula approach is critical to winning the best talent to your organization. This is especially true when starting, building and maintaining relationships with prospects for future needs. - Context again - add the complexity of the prospect and candidate context with that of the client/hiring leader and you can see how critically important it is that a recruiter in today's "edgeconomy" make use of a plethora of tools in their toolbox. Recruiting can be a delicate business of balancing the needs of multiple players and shaping them into a successful placement/hire. A vast set of skills and tactics with multiple approaches are necessary.
- Using a toolbox instead of a formula - so many of the recruiting teams we work with at Bearing Fruit Consulting are stuck in an antiquated formula for how to execute talent acquisition. So many are also ill equipped; lacking the proper tools and techniques to succeed and win. In large part this is the result of viewing recruiting as just a process rather then a relational exercise. Going back to the idea of context; since each prospect, candidate, client and hiring leader are different and have different needs a toolbox of skills, behaviors and talent acquisition tactics are necessary to win and succeed with each of these different groups and contexts. All to often recruiting teams are attempting to acquire the best talent for their organization using a limited number of ineffective tools and tactics. They need to be better equipped, staring with proper recruiter training, in order to succeed for their business.
Different contexts, varying cultures, a variety of needs, multiple expectations etc. all serve to make for a challenging landscape of acquiring talent. Having the proper tools and tactics and knowing how, when, and perhaps more importantly, on whom to use them is vital to ensuring your organization succeeds in acquiring the best talent.
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