Expensive recruiting tools at the expense of our brains?

Here's what I'm "thinking" today. Recruiting is hard work and not an occupation for the lazy. One aspect of recruiting today that makes it hard is that it’s gotten a bit easier over the last few years. In times past, our tool-kit wasn’t bursting at the seams; there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears – a lot of phone calls – a lot of emails – a lot of “no’s.” Much of that still applies today, but there is one big difference: we have never had so many tools at our disposal as we have today. The average recruiter has access to more information before lunch-time of any given day than ever before in the history of “recruiting/headhunting/staffing,” etc. A result is that we often run through our toolkit like kids in a candy store, failing to spend adequate time becoming experts of any one tool. Having quickly run the gamut of tools, we thoughtlessly restart the process without taking the time to “think” about where we’ve been and what we’ve done (recruiting déjà vu). Steve Levy, Principal & Chief Thinking Officer at “outside-the-box” consulting recently blogged about our “gray matter,” encouraging recruiters to embrace a different perspective http://www.ereexchange.com (see "you have enough gray matter"). Steve said, “What if you didn't have use of the Internet or job boards? How would you go about sourcing talent? It's all about changing your perspective and viewing situations "laterally." Awwright, Recruiters/Headhunters/Staffing Pro’s, it’s time to start thinking – to start using our gray matter. Thinking is hard work, but it will distinguish us from our lazier competitors. So let’s get busy with the gray matter. In the words of Jimmy V., “I believe in you. I believe you can do this.”