Every single day there is a question or the gist of a question that rolls around in my head and is asked online and in numerous blogs. It typically addresses technology and the future of it. Where is it going? How will it affect what we do? Will it cause us to miss out on the vitals that make up the guts of our industry? The face-to-face, voice-to-voice, actual human contact? I struggle with the questions, mostly because I don't have them, myself.

That's right, that's what I said. I don't have these questions for myself. So, ultimately, the question that I do struggle with is, "Should I be concerned about this?" I mean, should I wonder about what is next, should it occupy my time? I have learned over the last several years to simply (and sometimes, not so simply) to just go with the flow. I love to learn about it and some of it I really "get." And some of it, if given the necessary time and instruction, I would eventually "get."  

I came to this game late. I didn't grow up with a computer in my lap or a thorough understanding of java or even HTML, though I have learned quite a bit. I was probably eight when my dad brought home a handheld calculator made by Texas Instrument with a red-lit number display. It was the first time I had heard the words circuit and semi-conductor. Not much later, the next thing my dad brought home was a prototype of a game console that plugged into our big 24" television. It created a dark green screen with lighter green "paddles" that could be manipulated up and down to "hit" and propel a digital "ball" from one side of the screen to the other. I must say, my banked-corner shots were the best.

Pong was a big hit at my house. Of course, my older brothers had total game control but every once in a while I was given the opportunity to "play" and learn how to work the game, the technology. When I was sixteen, my boyfriend and I purchased a TI keyboard. No computer or monitor, just the keyboard. It could be plugged into your TV and you could type on it and whatever you typed would appear on the television screen. We were fascinated, but the fascination was short-lived as the functionality was minimal but improvements were starting to roll in everyday. Not like today, mind you, but even in the 1970s, techies raced wildly against each other.

What do recruiters want, need from technology? We have always been about speed. The first one with the placement wins. Not much has changed that. If a new technology, be that fax, email, or twitter, gets you to the finish line faster, more power to you. But none of these impersonal devices will ever take the place of pure relationship development. They may help or speed it along but the heart and soul of this industry will never be replaced by the nuts and bolts.

@ by rayannethorn