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Truth, Justice and the American Way of Headhunting

Rockin’ Robin Will Tweet Tweet No More

by on June 26, 2009, 7:23 am

7 Comments

It’s interesting to me how some things are tied together…or maybe professionals would find interesting how I tie them together. Either way, I wish I could claim this utterance from someone yesterday. He won’t even let me attribute it to him but it is just too beautiful to claim it as my own. The guy I was talking with said “Yeah, Twitter is just like CB radio.”

What a moment THAT was for me. I was 52 yesterday and just old enough to really appreciate that statement. CB radio was a fad. Lots of people who had no need or purpose were adopting ‘handles’ and “Hey,good buddying” each other for a few years there in the mid-70s. CB radio today remains a good tool for some very narrow purposes and is of limited use.  I think that’s where Twitter will end up too. No disrespect to my buddy Harry Joiner who may just be the CW McCall of his age.

Why the song reference?  On the same day my ‘good buddy’ made his CB reference it was announced that the King of Pop and Hero of (censored) was gone. Just as Twitter indeed does feel like a recycled CB Radio fad, Rockin’ Robin was a recycled hit from right around the same time as the CB craze. There is one big difference though… I believe Twitter will go much more quietly.

Dave Staats places top executives as well as implementation consultants with software companies. He also has made more placements in Artificial Intelligence than any other headhunter. His career began during the SDI (Star Wars) years and included placement of scientists in laser, stealth, and other high-tech fields. During a short hiatus from the recruiting industry in 1994 he obtained a Private Investigator's license which he keeps as a constant reminder that a headhunter is what he really is. Dave is on the Board of Directors of The Pinnacle Society and a founder of The Tennessee Recruiters Association. He has a BA from Western Illinois University. Dave also blogs at Truth, Justice & the American Way of Headhunting
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  • http://ingeniquest.com Shawn O’Rourke

    Dave:

    I have to agree with you – I just cannot see the value in Twitter. Maybe I lack vision, intellect – you name it but I just don’t see it to be candid. No where near the value that “Linkedin” has created. If there is someone out there that can lucidly articulate the Value of twitter – please respond and enlighten us..

  • http://www.tweeter.net Tweeeeeter

    Imagine Danny Cahill tweeting that he has a director of software development open. No .csv files, no spam folders, just his audience staying tuned to his next hot opening.

    P. TIYPASI

  • http://www.burzynskies.com John Burzynski

    All good points, but it is too soon to tell.

  • Tallis

    Well, just for th record, it’s officially part of the big three. Every time Karl Marx, er, Barack Obama has a press conference, it’s no longer “MTV” they take questions from (and are being covered on), they go to facebook, myspace, and twitter. So, CB radio is covering the President.

    Do I use it? No. I just billed a record month last month, and I just use a phone, email, and an old-school crm.

    To support the article and opinion here by Dave, what have we all been learning about marketing and differentiation? Whatever everyone else is doing, do something different. What about whene everyone is twittering? Who will pay attention? Who has time to pay attention? What is more differentiating than your own unique personality? Nothing. If it wasn’t for you, personally, and your own way of talking, thinking, helping, and selling, you would just have ten fingers, two feet, and be just like all the other humans out there. The phone, your voice, and in person, and in writing– that’s it. People have already been turned off to sound bytes on the news 10 years ago. We need more sound bytes from twitter?

    Sure, use it. It’s like a thank you letter after a 1st level interview- it’s not what you say, it’s if you forget to send one that’s visible. Use it, be in there, but then, law of diminishing returns says you’ll be back on the phone sooner than you think…

  • http://www.itapartner.com Jeremy Sisemore

    Twitter

    Another way to help build your brand. If any professional recruiter that wants to be an industry expert, doesn’t realize what your “brand” is in your marketplace – stop reading.

    If you do realize you have a “brand”, you may realize that we create our brand every day by the things we say, things we do, and by communicating with the marketplace.

    TWITTER is a revolutionary & inexpensive way to communicate with our market. It’s simply another tool in the tool belt. It’s free and helps you quickly communicate with a very large audience. Maybe twitter isn’t a CB Radio. Maybe it’s like the Microwave; invented several years ago and still used to this day. The light bulb….I can go on and on. Technology is evolving and communications is emerging with the telephone/hand held device.

    Technology rarely is meant to replace the person. But, technology is meant to help increase efficiency. At a desk level, I’ve received new search assignments and placeable/interested candidates from quick tweets. Will it replace, good old fashioned human interaction (picking up the phone)? NO. Will it help me make more placements and help me differentiate myself, or build my brand – YES!

  • Keoughan, Tom

    Hi Jeremy,

    While I do agree with you that it’s just another tool in the toolbelt. It hasn’t turned out to be a very efficient tool. It could help to differentiate a recruiter and build a brand but not necessarily. Recruiter Marketing resources are best spent marketing to clients and most of them probably aren’t going to be waiting for your every hyper-insightful tweet. As for helping to make more placements – that just hasn’t been the experience of most of the big dog recruiters that I know and I know quite a few. When I clicked through to what I assumed would be your bio, I noticed that your website isn’t even really up (under construction). You might want to git-R-done before giving stump speeches about branding or twittering away the rest of the day.

    Tom Keoughan
    http://www.toyjobs.com

  • http://hdhuntr.wordpress.com Dave Staats

    Ok. Time is short here because I seem to know my market well enough to barely have time to heat some chili for lunch. Bottom line after messing with it off and on for close to a year, it is not the way to create or enhance MY brand.

    I know other people use Monster and CareerBuilder etc with varying degrees of success. I can’t. Twitter joins the club. I don’t wish for Twitter to end up being a total waste of time that is forgotten after people finally realize it’s nothing but a branded text message system…but I think that’s what will happen and I don’t worry too much about having to read this later… Now I need to start a FacePlant…er Book thread…