In 1956, the year NACE was founded, IBM invented the first hard disk on which to store data; an IBM team completed FORTRAN I, the first full-fledged computer programming language; and UNIVAC introduced the first commercially available computer. Today, technology is an active force affecting daily life, personally and professionally.

Over the past 50 years, technological developments have touched on all aspects of the career services and HR/ staffing profession, changing and improving how NACE members counsel, recruit, and hire college students and new graduates.

Earlier, practitioners relied on face-to-face meetings, the U.S. mail, and the telephone to connect with college students and graduates.

Fast-forward 50 years: Today, technology connects employers and students. Face-to-face and the “personal” touch continue to be important (giving employers a new challenge: balancing high tech with high touch), but technology is a key piece of recruiting. Indeed, online job postings, corporate web sites, and applicant tracking systems are staples of college recruiting, and employers can now search for candidates by using skills-based candidate- relationship data bases and conduct online assessments of candidates.

Ironically, despite the proliferation of technology and prevalence of its use, satisfaction with its results falls short in many cases. Among employers responding to NACE’s 2006 Employer Benchmark Survey, only applicant tracking systems received high marks for effectiveness. Less-than-perfect performance, however, isn’t a deterrent as technology continues to change and grow to meet changing needs and expectations. As a new tool pops up, recruiters find a way to incorporate it into the mix, secure in the notion that refinement and enhancement will be forthcoming. Consequently, more than 40 percent of employers responding to NACE’s 2006 Employer Benchmark Survey said they require applicants to apply online for entry-level jobs; in comparison, just 17.4 percent said this was required in a 2004 survey. Similarly, some employers now keep in contact with candidates by Instant Messaging— rather than simply e-mailing. And, consider how some organizations are now using social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, to source candidates, and, in some cases, to review candidate profiles as part of their recruiting and hiring process. Is this a widespread practice? Not now— roughly one in 10 responding to NACE’s Job Outlook 2007 Fall Preview Survey said they did this—but what about two years from now? For most employers, such activity wasn’t even on their radar just a few years ago.

On the career services side, technology is an equally dynamic force and plays a key role in career center operations.

Technology helps career services connect employers and students, deliver jobsearch information and services to students, and even provide counseling services. It also plays a part in helping the career center market its services. Web sites, e-mail, web-based recruiting systems, online tutorials and assessment tools, and other technologies help career services deliver their offerings to students, employers, and other audiences.

Just as their recruiting counterparts incorporate new technology into their efforts, so too do career services professionals. For example, popular iPods are used as a learning tool on many college and university campuses. Career services practitioners can and do adapt their programs and workshops to this new form of delivery as educators are already sending lectures, podcasts, and/or supplemental material to the devices.

For example, Central Missouri State University offers 350 career information podcasts that will play on a computer as well as on an iPod, and Emerson College has tested podcasts and videocasts of alumni who were interviewed about jobs.

Like their counterparts on the employer side, career services practitioners recognize that technology is not a panacea. Technology can help solve problems, but it also gives rise to new ones. In fact, balancing “high tech” and “high touch” is as significant an issue for career services as it is for employers. Technology can also add a new dimension to already thorny issues, such as privacy of student information. And, technology can create new issues that have to be dealt with. In the past year, for example, many practitioners have found themselves having to educate (often disbelieving) students about the potential pitfalls of social networking sites.

One only has to consider the past five years to see that the nature of technology is to continue to change and to drive change. Obviously, this requires career services and employment professionals to stay on top of developments, but also it requires more. It requires professionals to envision how they can use developments to their best advantage and to recognize and be ready to address the new issues that might arise, and to do so quickly.

. *****

Editor’s Note: For an in-depth look at and discussion of the evolution of technology over the life of the association and its role in moving the field forward, see “Technology: Shaping and Moving the Profession Forward,” in the Summer 2006 issue of the NACE Journal.