Real People in a Cyber Landscape

This week I had an interaction with a candidate that I would like to share.
Here's a bit of background:
In an average week we can receive up to 150 new CVs of South African Scientists either looking for new challenges in their career or their first job out of school/tech or University.
At any given time a lot of these CVs aren't relevant to current positions we work on. They either come in as direct submissions to our online database ( www.lumaconsulting.co.za/register/ ) or into my email inbox. We retain all these CVs as they become relevant as Employers seek their skills.
I also get phone calls from some of these individuals just checking in.
This week I once again realised the power of personal connection- even if it is a quick phone conversation. One of our jobseekers, whose CV has been on our database for three weeks just phoned to connect on Tuesday. We had a quick chat and at that stage I couldn't assist her in her job search.
The next afternoon one of my clients contacted me with a position in their company.
I immediately thought of the young lady that had called the previous day. That one phone call had made the connection that she needed. I didn't have to screen data or sift through CVs- so my response time to the client was a whole lot faster than normal.
She has been interviewed and offered the position, and will start working next week with my client- all because she made personal contact with me.

In this digital age all of our profiles are reduced to a bunch of text and a few images. We become part of the cyber landscape.
I will remember this week as an example of how if we really want to make a difference in our own lives and those around us it may require us to use conventional communication!
We are Real People in a Cyber Landscape.

2015

Since launching Luma Consulting in January 2012 as a Recruiting Consultancy in the South African Science industry we have learnt a lot!
The most valuable lessons we have learnt have been from interaction with people looking for new career challenges and the Employers looking for their skills.
I hope to spend more time blogging in 2015- sometimes it will just be a quick anecdote or link to a relevant article/blog post published online.

We look forward to sharing our 2015 journey of helping Scientists and the Organisations that employ them connect with each other.
We may also throw in a few personal stories and observations that we think you may be interested in.