So I just received my latest cable bill in the mail yesterday.  Yes, the snail mail bill process is a tad old school, but oh well.   Upon opening up my bill I see my previous $100 monthly bill has jumped to $180! My cable bill is bundled with the internet but still, it felt a bit extreme.  Do I really need $2000 a year worth of entertainment that for the most part is populated with 500 channels I typically don’t watch? 

I’m not the only one thinking about cutting the cord.  Comcast revealed today their internet-based streaming service called Stream attracting the cord-cutters our there. On the flipside you have some businesses like ESPN who have traditionally benefited from the cable providers with lots of customers who pay for ESPN without ever watching the channel.  Clay Travis of Fox Sports wrote a great piece the other day examining the issue.

“So if people start cord cutting -- the catch all term for individuals who decide they'd rather not pay for a cable or satellite subscription -- ESPN has by far the most to lose of any channel in the country. ESPN has become the most powerful sports company in the world because just about every single cable and satellite subscriber in the country pays in excess of $6 a month for ESPN. That's despite the fact that only 20% of cable and satellite subscribers actually watch ESPN in a given month.”

Changes in our entertainment habits like the rise of Netflix and innovations in how we interact with today’s content – second screens, social pushes around the Super Bowl – 28.4 million tweets during the game this year, etc. have fundamentally changed the expectations of consumers.  Which in turn changes how we interact with candidates.  People don’t expect to have two separate experiences with brands – one professional and one personal.  The lines are blurring.

So what do you do if you are in an industry that is evolving?  And unless you are in Amish Country creating oak butter churners, odds are your industry is changing. If you are smart, you learn from the example of someone who is leading the way instead of figuring it out as you go along.  Join me July 18, 2015 at 2pm ET for Tomorrow’s Recruiting Solutions Today: How NBCUniversal Innovates.  NBCUniversal has been on quite the journey in our digital age – evolving from a traditional media company to a multi-platform digital content hub. For this special webinar, I’ll be joined by Bill Boorman, Michelle Hord-White, Vice President, Talent Acquisition and Campus Programs at NBCUniversal, and Ty Abernethy, Cofounder of Take the Interview, to discuss the recruiting challenges and solutions as the NBCUniversal continues to evolve, adapt and lead.

I hope to see you there!