Word-of-mouth epidemic

A colleague of mine shared with me an article about the online word-of-mouth epidemic and how it impacts recruiting. I thought the article just scratched the surface on how powerful this epidemic really is.

The article got me thinking of a new way to search for jobs. What would happen to Monster or Careerbuilder if Google wrote a job engine algorithm that cataloged job results like Amazon catalogs books? That is right, I said Amazon the worlds largest bookseller.

This is how the word-of-mouth epidemic would work.

A job seeker would start by entering a search criteria. For example, Financial Analyst, American Express, New York City. (We all know this is how most people search anyway.)

The search result page will list the typical American Express matches and something NEW. A list of the other jobs that applicants applied for. This is what it would look like:

People who applied for this job also applied to these jobs: (Like Amazon's check out algorithm.)
Morgan Stanley - Sr. Analyst, New York City
AXA Advisors - Financial Analyst, New York City
Burger King - Financial Accountant, Coral Gables, Florida
Macy's - Finance Director, New York City

In addition to the job listings a job seeker can read comments from employees about the jobs/company.

Word-of-mouth epidemics can help big companies act small and small companies act big.

Internet Dating

I was listening to one of my wife’s friends talk about her Internet dating experiences and I couldn’t believe how similar it was to Internet job searching. After hearing her dating stories and theories I came up with the below chart.

Dating Term: Single
Job Seeker Term: Active job seeker

Dating Term: Seeing other people
Job Seeker Term: Interviewing

Dating Term: Blind Date
Job Seeker Term: Employee Referral

Dating Term: Married
Job Seeker Term: Job you want

Dating Term: Separated
Job Seeker Term: Looking

Dating Term: Divorced
Job Seeker Term: Starting again

In addition to the above chart I also noted the most common dating statements and compared them with job seeker statements:

Dating Statement: Where does he/she live?
Job Seeker Statement: How long is the commute?

Dating Statement: She/he is the one.
Job Seeker Statement: I really hope I get this job. It is my dream job.

Dating Statement: He/she never called.
Job Seeker Statement: I didn't get the job.

Dating Statement: I found him/her on myspace then googled him/her.
Job Seeker Statement: I know more about the company than a simple job posting.

Dating Statement: I sent him/her a clever e-mail.
Job Seeker Statement: I submitted my resume with a killer cover letter.

Dating Statement: My friend used to date him/her and said he/she was a jerk.
Job Seeker Statement: I know someone who worked there. They don’t treat their employees well.

Dating Statement: His/Her mom hated me.
Job Seeker Statement: My boss and I didn't get a long.


Job searching on the web is like on-line dating. In a flat world applicants and employers use the web to learn as much about each other before “agreeing” to meet. This makes better first dates and even more second dates.

Does the flat world have "passive" job seekers?

Hello Human Resources and Marketing Communications and welcome to my blog. My name is Darren Grant and I work at JWT EC. This blog was launched to start a conversation about recruiting in the flat world. Please share your thoughts and experiences.

As a North American Client Director, I am often asked to create sourcing strategies to find “passive” job seekers. But does the flat world even have “passive” job seekers?

I read the below African Proverb in Thomas Friedman's book "The world is flat" and I thought this is the perfect first entry for our blog.

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running.

In a flat world working harder than the person to your left and to your right is not enough. Imagine that as your headline on your monster or careerbuilder job posting.