1. There are no new
ideas. There are only new
ways of making them felt.
-Audre Lord

2. The Evolution of Recruitment

3. 3
Smoke Signals
Circa 400 B.C.
From the beginning of civilization,
humans have called upon each
other in times of need. As one of
the oldest forms of long-distance
communication (telegraphy) smoke
signals were used to gather people
to a common area when help was
wanted.

4. Town Crier
Circa 600s A.D.
4
Prior to widespread literacy town criers,
also known as bellmen, were the chief
means of news and communication with
the townspeople. Seen worldwide these
public officials were charged with making
proclamations and announcements and
were frequently tipped by business owners
to advertise employment openings. The
last known town crier in North America
held office as recently as 1904 in Los
Angeles.

5. 5
Help Wanted
Circa 1400s
The spread of literacy propelled by
the advancement of Moveable Type
meant, businesspeople, shop
owners, trades- and craftspeople
could announce they were hiring by
hanging signs outside their stores.
Interested prospects would apply by
bringing the sign into the shop.

6. Classifieds
Circa 1600s
6
First the Gutenberg Press followed
by the Stanhope Press and high-
speed paper manufacturing brough
about the widespread distribution of
newspapers. Publishers could raise
money selling ads to businesses in
need of new recruits.

7. Telegraph
Circa 1832
7
Semaphores dating from ancient times
employed hydraulics, flags and smoke to
communicate across distances. Napoleon
made full use of optical telegraphs in his
military campaigns, but like all previous
versions, they were limited by line of sight. It
was Samuel Morse who overcame that
limitation with the invention of the electric
telegraph and Morse Code making it
possible for builders of the Pacific Railroad
to send Help Wanted messages from San
Francisco to New Jersey in a few minutes.

8. Telephone
Circa 1870
8
Alexander Bell made it possible for
a person’s voice to be carried via
electric wires from one city to
another thus shortening the time
required to call for help. Businesses
could now recruit across broader
distances than ever before.

9. Telex
Circa 1933
9
Delivering written words at a rate of 66 per
minute, the Telex was the forerunner to
modern fax, email and text messaging. In
this way, one single message could be
sent to any number of multiple distant
recipients simultaneously. Help Wanted
messages could now be broadcasted
widely and rapidly.

10. Fax
Circa 1964
10
Entire newspapers complete with
text, images and classified ads
were wirelessly transmitted globally
with the introduction of the facsimile
machine. Able to scan, send and
print Help Wanted messages they
are still in use today.

11. Email
Circa 1971
11
Before ARPANET introduced the @ sign to
link a username with a destination server,
electronic mail required sender and
recipient to be on the same system. Today
email addresses are more ubiquitous than
telephone numbers. Candidates typically
prefer to receive initial communication from
recruiters via email rather than a phone
call. Though giving way to other forms of
digital messaging, it remains an essential
form of recruitment communication.

12. Internet
Circa 1993
12
This system for connecting all forms of
computing devices began as a military and
academic initiative in the 1960s and gave
way to the commercial and enterprise
network it is today. Converging, reshaping
and even bypassing all other forms of
communication the Internet is the most
powerful recruitment platform yet.

13. SMS
Circa 1999
13
TSI
Texting combines the telegram,
telex, telephone, and mobile device
with the Internet making it possible
for recruiters to communicate
instantly with candidates one-on-
one. Other forms of SMS allow one-
to-many communication or between
different applications.

14. Social Media
Circa 2004
14
Digitally-mediated interactive technologies
facilitate the creation and sharing of
information to and from any form of
Internet connected device. Nearly half of
the people on earth have some form of
social media account such as Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, WeChat, WhatsApp,
YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and QQ
among thousands of others.

15. While technology has evolved dramatically, people get
caught up in the aspects of how to use it and forget that
networking principles remain much the same.
We already know that effective utilization of your personal network is a required
business skill. The evolution of Social media provides opportunities to better connect
with people whom you already know, grow your current relationships, brand yourself,
and find new people with whom to connect.

16. The hackneyed phrase "it's who you know" has been abused by
companies touting their latest-and-greatest social networking software
flavor, but that phrase sadly falls far off the mark. The truth is that in
today's over-informed digital business world, where bloated data moves
at the speed of thought, it is not who you know that really counts, but
who knows you.

17. Systems for communicating, sharing and managing relationships have long existed.
From smoke signals to contact management software to social media, each walks a
fine line between too much and not enough. They have all multiplied our ability to
maintain business relationships, but none have ever made us better communicators.
That we have to learn for ourselves.
Neanderthals and Modern humans were contemporaneous yet only one survived. The
evolution of more rapid and complex communication created stronger collaboration
among communities, making us better equipped to survive by enabling us to call upon
each other in times of need.