The Devil Doesn’t Come In…

 …Wearing a red cape and pointy horns, he appears as everything you’ve ever dreamed of, or so the saying goes. In the job board community and the broader talent acquisition world, this advice is worth heeding—not just for the sake of our teams and brands but for the entire community.

Over the past five years, the world has experienced significant disruptions impacting how we think and operate, both professionally and personally.

Something truly unique during the pandemic was how we started finding new ways to engage with each other and meet people where they were.

We began to understand the power of community and engagement in unexpected ways. Companies were also willing to spend their money differently, investing in new technologies, strategies and niches as a part of their branding and recruiting efforts.

We also saw an unprecedented flow of cash from federal and central monetary systems to stabilize global economies. The free flow of cash then became an expectation in the market.

As we enter a period of resettling, markets are stabilizing and correcting as they always do and as we should always expect them to do.

So, back to the devil.

(Side note) One of my favorite movies is The Devil’s Advocate, starring Keanu Reeves as an ambitious young lawyer and the iconic Al Pacino as the devil. If you haven’t watched it before or recently, I highly recommend.

What disguises do these devils wear to tempt business owners and TA leaders? They appeal to our vanities, as any clever devil would, targeting our ambition, our need for comfort and love, and our desire for revenue.

To exploit our ambition, they may offer exclusive opportunities in new or developing markets. To satisfy our need for comfort, they may promise friendship, implying they won’t turn against us while doing just that to our competitors. To appeal to our desire for revenue growth, they might offer what seems like endless cash flow, especially in times of plenty.

As you may have heard on The Chad and Cheese Podcast this week, one such devil is again showing how their attire changes over time.

As markets tighten, possibly due to the devils themselves, they are beginning to cut off the cash flow that many agencies and job boards have depended on for the last decade—a decade during which they’ve been paying to siphon off our most valuable asset: our job seekers. They now charge for access to the same content and distribution sources that were once free or organic. They build walls around the job seeker data we provided them.

Now, the next step in the strategies and tactics are coming to light.  Strategies like moving from paying “partners” for advertising to promoting their “high-quality” content directly to job seekers without compensation. They’re also focusing on niche verticals like healthcare and finance, after years of promoting big-box advertising as the only effective way for TA leaders to spend budgets. As TA technology companies, we must recognize this as a direct threat to our existence. As TA leaders, we must evaluate whether what we are paying for is worth what we are getting in return.

Don’t get me wrong, partnerships are crucial for all of us, and I recommend being open to every conversation. This is especially important for smaller organizations without large tech departments or development budgets. We need partnerships that enhance user experiences, create opportunities for job seekers, deliver better outcomes all while driving revenue growth.

In order to beat the devils, we must demonstrate to our buyers and leadership that we are willing to evolve and are worth investing in—not just because we lead to great hires, but because they see a positive impact on their brands by using organizations that have trust within their communities and verticals.

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