You have a big database? Cool.

Don’t we all…

One of the old tricks that recruiting firms used to be able to pull was playing up the size of their database. Because once upon a time, that mattered.

Now, literally everyone has access to the same data. Anyone with a LinkedIn Recruiter license has access to 1000x more data than any private database. A boatload of other free or cheap tools popped up, not to mention aggregator tools.

Trying to say you have a meaningful “private” database is silly when literally everyone can be found somewhere online.

In reality: it was never about the size of a dataset. It was always the ability to search, source, vet, and convince those bits of data (i.e. people) that the job you’re hiring for is awesome.

That’s the skill of recruiting. It’s not having data; it’s growing it, and turning it into hires.

But that also means no one has the perfect hire sitting around waiting for you without doing the actual work yet. You don’t have the search results until after you do…the search. Before that point, you just have a bunch of data.

I bring this up because I absolutely hate overselling, and it’s a problem that’s plagued our industry forever. Chronic overpromising not only sets improper expectations (setting up both recruiters and hiring companies for failure) but it also stunts the understanding of how the recruiting process actually works.

We all have the same data. Some use it better than others.

James Hornick

Partner at Hirewell. #3 Ranked Sarcastic Commenter on LinkedIn.