From faxing to social media.

Cast your minds back with me a moment, not too far, to the early 90s. You’re a marketer in the tech space, which by-the-by, is a world away from what it is now and a whole lot smaller. You’ve just been made redundant. You need to start looking for a new job, pronto. There are no online job boards accessible by computer, let alone smartphone. You can’t email over your CV to anyone. On the plus side, you might say, at least you know there are certain hoops you won’t be jumping through. Psychometric tests? Nope. Video interviews? No chance. Infographic CVs? Well, the need for that one’s still debatable now…

So how would you begin?

Perhaps you would check billboards or newspaper ads, drawing a red circle around those you thought sounded promising, calling up the number, or turning up at a particular place and time as listed. As is still the case today, you’d turn to your personal network, or perhaps a recruitment agency. Without LinkedIn or website applications, you’d have been a lot more reliant on them at that time than you are now.

Not so long ago, our candidates would come visit us with CVs in hand. We’d later fax, post or even personally deliver these to our clients with relevant vacancies. We’d keep in touch with a candidate like yourself purely by phone (landline) and face-to-face meeting. No texts or emails.

We retired our fax machine quite a number of years ago, but other elements of this ‘old school’ approach we prefer to keep. Though emails and texts can sometimes be the only way to get through to our time-strapped marketing professionals, you still can’t beat a phone call or face-to-face meeting for a long catch-up or in-depth discussion. It’s important we still take the time to do so. It’s also important we don’t let the number of relevant key words in your CV dictate whether or not we give you the time of day.

The recruitment process in its bare bones remains much the same – a candidate applies (or is headhunted), is screened and selected for a job by a recruiter or an employee with one exception. Parts of this process are beginning to be done by computer algorithms (CV scanning software and more), though thankfully not all of it, not yet anyway. The screening process can be as simple as it used to be – a series of phone and face-to-face interviews, a presentation, and often is for senior candidates. Though some companies have adopted newer methods: video interviews, psychometric testing and assessment centres, it’s usually when they are hiring graduates.

It’s the way you conduct your job search though that has really changed the most with each technological innovation: with the rise of email, online careers pages and job boards, social media sites like LinkedIn, smartphone and job apps (even we have one on Android and Apple). Good recruitment agencies have changed too – becoming specialized consultancies that have mapped out their sector, for us marketing in technology, and built strong networks, drawing on both their years in the business and the new communication tools at their disposal. It’s this expertise and presence in their industry that will ensure they remain a useful resource for candidates who lack the time and energy to filter options or connect the dots to each new opportunity.

A little timeline…

job search timeline
1983: You’d be faxing your application.
1989: Finally, you can email it instead!
1999: At last, an online job board.
2005/6: LinkedIn starts listing jobs.
But most won’t set up a profile until 2010…
2005: YouTube makes video easier,
paving the way for video job applications.
2012: 66% of adults use social media,
now a key place for job ads.

If you could benefit from the support of an experienced recruitment specialist in your job search, contact Melvin Day on mday@marketingmoves.com


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