A North Carolina recruiter has decided he will place future candidates and deal with all future clients solely through technology, without having to speak to anyone on the phone or in person.
“Social media works and I’m going to take advantage of it,” says Damon Kornbluth in an IM to me. “I don’t need people anymore to recruit.”
Kornbluth says he attended a number of recruiting-industry conferences in the past, as well as local networking events, but just got tired of dealing with humans, preferring computers. “Although I got into this business because I liked people,” he says, “the more I got to know them, the less I liked ’em.”
Kornbluth is taking advantage of a number of new tools to implement his no-face-to-face, no-phone, daily plan. It includes video interviewing, automated resume screening, virtual career fairs, software that translates his keyboard strokes into audio to make contact with hiring managers, and more.
He has also taken to using a new tool that Amybeth Hale has alerted me to. The tool is RecrUtopia, which can write Boolean search strings, search the entire Internet for resumes, send personally crafted messages to potential candidates, and then conduct pre-screens, interviews, and send out offer letters. Automation of the complete recruiting process will free up sourcing and recruiting teams to focus on other activities, such as getting a coveted seat at the table before they’re all taken.
Kornbluth says his vendor of choice, RecrUtopia, will greet new hires on their first day, provide them with donuts and coffee, and take them through the first week of training with no human intervention.
Meanwhile, his banking is conducted online, and he selected an applicant tracking system to manage resumes by finding the one with live chat help, as opposed to phone support. “Thank the good Lord for self-service gasoline,” he says. “I’d go nuts if I lived in Oregon or New Jersey.”
Meanwhile, a message on his voice mail system says:
Your call is important to me, and I will be sure to return it promptly via email, or by Twitter.
Indeed, he calls himself a “Twitteraholic” but is bothered when his tweets are met with a response, either using a Twitter “reply” or a “direct message.” Says Kornbluth, “I want to say my piece and not get pushback.”
Mr. Kornbluth says one of his biggest challenges is his love for lattes from Dunkin’ Donuts. Not wanting to visit the coffee chain in person, he has set up a monthly payment system whereby a daily drink is delivered to his door by 7:15 each morning. “I pay extra,” he admits, “but I just don’t want to deal with people trying to learn my name and then call it out. I just want my coffee, not a conversation.”
I asked him if he misses social interaction with recruiters, candidates, or hiring managers, or having a sense of belonging. He told me he gets all the belonging he needs from a Kindle, iPod, iMac, Droid, and from his pet parrot he named Restrac. Says Kornbluth: “I wish that bird could keep his mouth shut.”