- December 3, 2008
- 0 Comments
What You Don’t Know About Innovation Won’t Hurt Your Competitors
Every year, when I’m home during the holidays, I try – and fail – to explain to my mother that if she would invest just a little time in learning how to use the digital camera my sister gave her, she wouldn’t have to waste any more money on disposable cameras that, from everything I’ve seen her produce, have about a 20 percent (and I’m being generous here) success rate of producing a decent picture.
It’s not that her hesitation isn’t understandable. It’s the same reason hiring managers and recruiters insist on the old way of doing things to attract talent: they want to stick to what they know, and while their systems might not be perfect, they get by. So why change? Well, for one thing – at least in terms of business – “getting by” is no longer enough.
I think Kevin Wheeler, said it best in last week’s post on about the changing face of recruiting when he says, “Technology and the Internet still feel unfamiliar and foreign to many recruiters, but we have entered a technology-dominated, virtual era.” Embracing technology has surpassed the point of simply being a good idea to being a necessity for businesses who want to recruit, manage and retain their best talent.
To add to that, something on Jason Falls’ blog today caught my eye: he noted that students today have far more technical aptitude than their teachers, creating the need for teachers to adapt. I can’t help but think that the same might be true of the dynamic between job seekers and hiring managers or recruiters. These guys have this great opportunity to attract job seekers and engage employees that they’re missing out on because they either don’t fully understand or won’t adapt to changing technology.
Obviously, learning about all of the new technology out there takes time and effort, and just thinking about the wealth of information available is overwhelming; so I don’t fault anyone for wanting to resist it. But like I tell my mother – the more you use it, the easier it gets and the more benefit you get out of it, I swear promise.
And if changing – even tweaking – your talent management practices seems like too much to think about, at least think about this: you might not be adapting to innovations in social media, recommendation technology and search, but your competitors are. Can you afford to wait to see how things turn out?
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- Categories: Employee Attraction, Innovation, Products
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