Competition began in earnest in the 1980’s. Women were rapidly expanding the roles they could expect to be hired into. The rise in analog fax machines allowed a new way to transmit resumes to companies but most company research was still done via phone books and the library. Recruiting was cumbersome in part because personnel professionals tracked and stored paper resumes.
That said, this decade brought the promise of many new technologies. Although ‘personal computers’ were first introduced in the 1970’s through dozens of businesses like Compaq, Sperry, Radio Shack, etc. it was IBM’s PC entry in 1982 that was a watershed moment making personal computers available to the masses. At the same time, rudimentary modems became available and made it feasible to send a document from one computer to another.
A basket of Human Resources technology applications included precursors to the modern applicant tracking systems. By the end of the decade, If a recruiter had a computer they could now search for applicants from a relational database of resumes that were scanned, faxed, or had even begun to be emailed into their system.
- 1981 – Launch of the personal home computer by IBM.1
- 1983 – Launch of the Radio Shack Model 100.2
- 1982 – ResTrac (ATS) founded.3
- 1983 – College internships rise sharply.4
- 1983 – The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X introduced (mobile phone).5
- 1983 – Aerotek founded.6
- 1983 – Microsoft Word was launched.7
- 1984 – Dell Computers launched as PC’s Limited.8
- 1986 – Fax machines go digital.9
- 1987 – PeopleSoft founded (launches in 1989).10
- 1987 – Kenexa founded; originally an insurance industry executive recruitment service.11
- 1988 – Resumix founded.12
- 1989 – The World Wide Web was created by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee.13
- 1989 – Growth of dial up Computer Bulletin Board Systems (BBS).14
- 1989 – Whistleblower Protection Act.15
- 1989 – The number of fax machines in the US grew from 300,000 (in 1983) to 4,000,000 in 1989.16
References