Should you be looking for the Monster solution of 2015?

Circa 1992 when I was heading up a national staffing Franchise organization, I met with some enterprising advertising representatives who introduced me to what they called, the Monster Board. Keep in mind that in 1992 most of us, including Al Gore, had not heard much about the Internet. There was no Google or Bing, and AOL wasn’t even a household name at the time.

This innovative group explained to me that they were creating a giant computer board that would house all US job seekers.

Employers could purchase job postings and they expected within the year that all candidates would be utilizing the Monster Board to find a job. I admit it sounded way outside of the box to me but it wasn’t too expensive – just $1500.00 for unlimited postings on Monster for approximately 40 offices for 10 years. At the time I remember trying to sell the concept to our purchasing group and my VP explaining that new technology was going to make a difference – in order to be in front of the pack we needed to stay ahead of them.

We had no idea how big that Monster would be.

In the course of a few years, the subscription became very valuable and the Monster Board grew to become simply Monster. Since then recruiting technologies have evolved considerably leaving Monster and job boards in general, a part of recruitment but a smaller part of many vehicles.

In the days of Facebook, LinkedIn, Indeed, and Charlie Sheen—-technology is spreading information everywhere, information that tells a story about who we are as a person and what we are as an organization. Case in point, Glassdoor, and Indeed not only supply open job postings but also allow job seekers to discuss companies and their policies. There are discussion boards about interview practices, company culture, their salary bonus and benefits, and overall reviews which are generally a critique of management practices. (If you haven’t checked your company out—we strongly suggest you do.) Whether we are prepared for it or not, technology is forcing transparency.

Candidates with talent are in high demand and the next generation of workers is focused on choosing their next position based on the persona of the hiring company. This is why well-known companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Intel, who have a well-branded persona, have large candidate pools. Today, company culture and branding are vital when attracting and retaining talent. Before a candidate even looks for their next position they already have a relationship with these companies. They can feel and see what the company is about—transparency equals comfort and comfort equals interest and opportunity.

Thinking back to those enterprising Monster Board ad reps, I admire how they used their forward-thinking of technology to build the recruiting icon of Monster. And as a recruitment process outsourcing partner, we have learned firsthand that solving tough recruitment challenges requires us to stay as far in front of technology as possible – in essence, always keeping us on the lookout for those Monster ideas.

We’d like to know what you think. Feel free to tell us: How do you see technology affecting talent acquisition moving forward? What will be Your Monster idea for 2015?

You are what you measure.

– Christine