Yes, I believe we've met...

In the days of old, when one wanted to get a job, they had various avenues to pursue.   One of the easiest ways still exists, referrals.  One of the scariest, however, was that of a "cold call".  If you don't know what a "cold call" is, it is when you call a company without having any referral or connection to the company.  The company, "company x," has no idea who you are but you have the "cohenes" to call up the company and inquire whatever it is that you want to inquire about; i.e. a job.  Those days have faded, I feel, due to the rise of business networking sites such as LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a company which networks people in a similar manner as Facebook, but much more business oriented than "social casual."  The article,  ABC News: Will the Web Replace the Business Lunch? makes a good point that the internet is replacing the common practices of the past.  The web has set new paradigms for the employment process.  People have already had fufilling interactions before they ever meet, making it seem as they their first encounter is one prefaced with the statement, "Hey... yea, I believe we've met... we'll... [chuckle] I guess not really but..." etc etc etc.

I feel that this has both positive and negative attributes.  Let's start off easy; the positives.  The web allows the employer to get an unbiased (by tone or body language) opinion on an employee, similar to that of a college application.  This is easily accessible and can be viewed anytime, anywhere.  Moreover, the web makes it extremely to send in information or communicate instantly with a prospective employee/employer.  The negative side, however, comes from losing that personal touch.  An employer can learn a lot about a lot of people very quickly through the web, but you need face to face interaction, or at least vocal interaction, to get a truer sense of the person.  A prospect may seem perfect on paper, but if you don't hear confidence in their voice and they are going for a regional speaker position, thinks might not work out.

You get what I'm saying... what do you think?