The idea of recruiters having their own ‘exclusive’ database will be a thing of the past, thanks to the expansion of social media and professional networks.

That was the view of Mike Pilcher, director, corporate solutions Europe, at professional networking site LinkedIn, speaking at the Association of Executive Search Consultants’ annual Summit in London.

“If you can potentially link with 414m [the projected number of worldwide professionals] through LinkedIn, why would you need your own database?” he told the audience of global researchers and associates.

With the discussion focusing on social media and professional networks, and their impact on executive research, Wayne Gibbons, marketing director of business network Viadeo, said that leaders need to buy in to digital strategy rather than ignore it. “Executive search must adapt to social media,” he said, “but it must also learn to use technology efficiently.”

Penny Power, founder of social business networking site Ecademy, emphasised that the leaders of the future - the young internet generation of today - would be much more open to using the “social capital” aspects of a person to see whether someone would be a good fit for their a business. She referred to the growing trend of using social media and professional sites over the internet as “humanity networks”.

“The closed, selected and screened professional networks are changing to become open, random and supportive. Professionals are starting to ask ‘what can I give?’ rather than ‘what can I take?’,” she said.

Brian Slater from software specialist The Cluen Corp, revealed Cluen’s involvement with its search management tool Encore 5 in aiding recruitment for US president Barack Obama’s staff in the transition period between administrations.

“The process of staffing the new presidential administration was in a mess,” he told the audience. “Cluen’s role was the final element in the puzzle to establish values for a future recruitment strategy, including adapting Encore 5 for executive search use of professional networking.”
All speakers were excited about the future of the internet and the potential of networking, which Pilcher believed “in 20 years would look completely different even from today”.