As I look ahead to the world of college hiring a decade from now, I envision a significant increase in the number of candidates that employers will be in touch with not because those employers will have a greater number of openings and not because a great number of candidates will be applying to job openings, but because the hiring cycle will greatly increase. I envision that the interaction between employers and college students and recent graduates will occur primarily months and even years ahead of their offer date rather than days or weeks. We’re already seeing employers and candidates using technologies such as blogs, podcasts, and social networking to brand and position themselves in the marketplace. As the labor market continues to tighten due to the retiring Baby Boomers and as technology makes it less expensive for employers to interact with more and more candidates in shorter and shorter periods of time, there will be increased willingness and ability by employers and candidates to truly network with each other well before they are willing or able to actually work together. More employers will find it economically feasible to mentor high school students who demonstrate the competencies, interests, and values desired by those employers so that years later some of those high school students and their friends will want to consummate the relationship with those employers by going to work for them. Rather than virtually all employers first coming into contact with virtually all of their candidates as a result of on-campus interviews, job postings, and other such methods, most employers will first come into contact with many of their candidates months or even years before the employers are in a position to hire those candidates or the candidates are willing to work for the employers.