Today I was reading a blog post as forwarded by friends and it put my “Haynes” in a wad. It seems to me that John Sumser either over edited his blog post till it made no sense or he’s talking in incongruent sentences just to confuse or to incite. On his post titled “relationships take time 4” He states some pretty wild things.  Let me give you an example; his second sentence says. “Internet search techniques, it is supposed, have created a new function in our industry.” Besides the bad sentence composition, it appears to be saying that sourcing started with the coming of internet research techniques.

Forgive me if I’m wrong but didn’t we have sourcers since like the seventies. Research was done by recruiters and as a result searching techniques came about which resulted in further specialization. We used to keep index cards and did research thru the phone. I remember doing research in the internet back when we had “gopher”, I didn’t know how to flip or x-ray then. Internet search techniques didn’t just magically appear to create a new function. Considering internet research a new function to the industry is not recognizing that recruiters have always sourced and that research function existed and was performed well by recruiters long before “internet search techniques” came about.   Mr Sumser’s next sentence states: “This sort of confusion happens every time there is a hiring peak.” It seems to me he is either declaring the internet research function a “confusion” or the reasoning for creating the internet research position a confusion. I long thought of Mr. Sumser as a visionary but I am rethinking my position.  

His next statement is just as bewildering: It might even be a good way to predict the end of a bubble”. This is where the incongruity becomes obvious. I was under the impression that internet search techniques were an innovation and as the market tightens there will be more need for such innovations not that it was a result of confusion. And if I was to follow his reasoning it would mean that every time we have an innovation in the industry it is a sign that as he puts it is a “good way to predict the end of a bubble”.  There you have it guys the new crystal ball for staffing/recruitment is the upcoming innovations as new things  come about they indicate the market busting. The last sentence in his first paragraph goes on to say: “Sourcing is a component of market targeting”. This is news to me, sourcing can be a form of market targeting but a component of it? I better not go any further before I go from annoyed to just ranting or worse yet I might become as incongruent as Mr. Sumser.