One Size Does Not Fit All

I can't imagine anyone who is a part of or has even a passive interest in the world of recruitment who isn't familiar with Interbiznet.com. If you don't subscribe, I would urge you to do so. John Sumser's tagline for the site is Daily Newsletters and Professional Toolboxes. It's a very apt description.

In a piece he ran today called Not The New Big (JJ-IV he gives one real pause for thought in terms of the impact of "size" on the individual and quality.
You should really read the whole piece, but if you don't have the time, the excerpt below will give you a flavor:

If you look at Craigslist and Google, it's clear that getting big has erased some (or most) of the original charm. We think it eliminates much of the effectiveness as well. When volume and money are the only discriminating factors in audience reach, there is no community. When permission based marketing no longer requires asking permission, providers will get resentful. When the act of creation is ignored in exchange for reliance on search, something critical is getting lost.

People ask me all the time if when I started ExecuNet way back in the dark ages (i.e. 1988) if I had a "vision" of turning it into a Monster type site. My immediate answer was "God forbid!" I had a tough enough time once the Internet came along allowing new members to join online before we had the chance to talk with them. I finally relented, but only after we had systems in place to make sure that we could communicate directly, and most importantly individually.

So maybe this is why this article made such an impression on me. The operative word here is "me". When I go somewhere I am not looking for something for everyone else, I am looking for something for me. When I ask for help, I am looking for someone who not only has the information I need but who actually shows me they have a genuine interest in whatever problem it is that I am trying to solve.

If one takes that notion and translates it to career management at the senior executive level, it becomes clear why most people move around the executive world (and most of the rest of it as well) by the relationships they build with others.

It is also one of the reasons why we continue to be a membership and not a subscription.