Today’s ‘new’ becomes tomorrow’s wallpaper

Remember a few years back, when social media recruiting was all the rage? It was going to change the face of recruiting. Revolutionize how recruiting was done. Make old methods of recruiting obsolete. Social media recruiting was the hot new thing.

And then, it wasn’t. It had become tomorrow’s wallpaper – just part of the recruiting landscape.

I’m not saying that social media recruiting isn’t used – or useful. But after its turn in the spotlight, it simply settled into being yet another tool in the recruiting toolbox. It did not obliterate everything that came before it, or replace the need for other recruiting tools and techniques. Instead, it settled into the recruiting milieu.

There have been other hot new things. Some faded into the wallpaper – mobile, for example. No one asks whether a job board or recruiting site is ‘mobile-enabled’ anymore – it’s just assumed that it is. Not being mobile-enabled would be to building a car without tires – you could do it, but it wouldn’t be very popular.

Others have simply faded. Remember the various ‘Tindr for jobs‘ sites? I don’t think anyone else does, either. Still others live in an odd suspended state – not faded but definitely not new. I’m thinking ‘video interviewing‘, which has been promising to take over recruiting for at least a decade. Yes, people use it. No, it’s not that popular. Yes, it won’t go away.

Then there are individual companies that have been seen as existential threats to everything else in recruiting. First there was Monster, then LinkedIn, then Indeed, and now Google. Maybe Facebook too? Each has certainly left destruction in its path – but somehow, thousands of job boards and recruitment marketing companies still manage to survive and even thrive. I guess it’s tough to wipe out an entire industry, eh?

And now the hot new thing (which has been lurking in the background for a number of years) is AI. You know the drill. AI is going to revolutionize how recruiting is done. Make old methods of recruiting obsolete. Change the fundamentals of the entire industry.

Ok. I guess it could happen. But I’m not holding my breath. It might be tomorrow’s wallpaper.

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