The Recruiter is Dead. Long live Facebook?

This week, the Globe and Mail site published an article talking about how recruiters, "head hunters" in particular, are being sidestepped by employers who are using social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn to recruit directly. By leveraging their personal social networks and posting a need out on Twitter or other networks, these hiring managers can avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of placement fees.

The love-hate relationship that old school recruiters have with social media is something that has been with us a long time. On the one hand, it makes it so much easier for a recruiter to learn about a company and find people for their requirements. It's quicker and much more targeted than the days when recruiters would have to use their rolodexes or, worse, dial in "cold" to a company with any of a variety of ruses like "I was referred confidentially to you as someone who has an excellent professional background in [fill in the blank]."

Has the day of the recruiter passed? Has social networking obviated the need for the recruiter who turns over rocks until the perfect candidate is uncovered? What happens when all the "rocks" have been removed?

Recruiting Has Changed

I have for a long time said that recruiting will be less and less about the ability to turn over a database with good search terms. And while I don't think that the recruiting profession is going the way of the dinosaur any time soon, I firmly believe that it is being eroded.

Let's face facts. Most hiring managers barely have the time to set aside to manage a few interviews. An increasing number will grow savvy about leveraging social networking tools to grow their business, which will increasingly damage the profits of contingency and retained recruiters. This pressure will change how recruiting works and will almost certainly marginalize recruiters who take the view that their networks should somehow be protected and private hunting grounds.

Is this a good development?