This week´s webcast was an interesting one to be sure. Talking about CRM (Candidate Relationship Marketing) has become a favorite pastime lately. It seems everywhere you look someone is talking about how to better source candidates.

Even the likes of Shally and Rob are talking about it. However, when you get two people like that they seem to take it to another level as witnessed here. They call it "Peer Regression Analysis."

After being seduced by the provocative title I had to read what they had to say and found myself nodding my head in agreement. It basically boils down to the basics of networking. I was taught how to develop a network back in my early days of being a TPR (Third Party Recruiter - or Headhunter, as I used to call myself).

Back in the late 80´s and 90´s it was common to work a desk and have a Rolodex as your database and supplement that information with file folders full of resumes. Working 10-hour days to develop a call list wasn´t unusual (many a Sunday was dedicated to searching files for the upcoming week) and spending eight hours or more a day on the phone was just the way you did business.

I must say I don´t miss the long days on the phone. These days would often blend into the night (after hour calls with hot prospects) and thinking back I wonder how I kept my sanity through it all. Something tells me I didn´t and maybe that´s why weekends were a blur of drinking starting all over again the next day. Mind you most of us made more money that humans should be allowed to make. I guess that eased the pain a little.

One of the ways I eventually eased my way out was to take an interest in technology in a big way. Back then that meant fax servers and a rudimentary database called FoxPro. For those of you who remember that far back we were at the cutting edge with what we were doing. Eventually I developed the company´s first website and set up email addresses for resumes and integrated those into the database as well (remember when scanning resumes was something you actually got excited about?). We were, so I thought, well on our way to complete automation of the sourcing process. I was wrong. It all stopped there.

Seems like I was pushing things too far for the old pros in the office who would rather write on the back of resumes and keep 3x5 cards on their desk. It was obvious I needed to move on to see the real automation of the staffing process take place. That´s when I found iLogos which is now Taleo Research. The rest as they say is history.

However, the lessons learned in that small boutique-staffing firm oh so many years ago still stick with me today. They are the foundation upon which my knowledge of the staffing world was built. It´s obvious to me by the article written by two of the most recognizable names in the business today, most of what I learned way back when is still relevant and useful.

Seems like no matter how much things change they in fact remain the same. We may call them something else and they may look altogether different but the old rules still apply. The best way to source candidates and develop a network is hard work. In the end it´s still all about how well you use what you´ve got.