As an owner and manager of an IT recruiting company we are constantly talking to candidates and clients alike about the advances of technology and how it can impact our industry or potentially help us run our business better. Over twenty plus years I’ve gone from a 100% paper environment to an almost paperless existence and seen the rise of the fax machine, PC’s, the Web, company websites, job boards, social networks and many different software tools developed specifically to assist our industry.

Currently we’re in the midst of a complete redesign of our Website and Blog and have been for several weeks (look for it soon) and of course continue to look at differing technologies to assist us in what we do. So it struck me as funny this week after reflecting on an interview I had just done with Bill Vick (www.xtremerecruiting.tv) where he asked me about my belief in technology and the tools out there and what recommendations that I would give to new recruiters. Instead of talking about the great tools and all the ways they can help a recruiter I went on to say (since it’s not posted yet this is my best recollection) that the tools are there to help us do what we do and shouldn’t be our first or only focus, and that most recruiters fail when they don’t learn the basics of selling and working within their industry before sitting at a computer to source names and make those all important phone calls.

So while I like the tools out there and they certainly assist me in doing more work faster (making placements) I guess I still think in a bricks and mortar kind of way that everyone should be grounded in the basics.