Back to the Future

This is actually one of my favourite films and I’m going to take you on my own back to the future story, only this one was made in Birmingham, not Hollywood.

Unfortunately, it’s also recruitment related, so there are no hoverboards or DeLoreans. However there is a happy ending!

Anyway, strap in and hold on tight, it’s a long one! (sorry)

Now we’re all starting to get back to some form of normal (war aside) in this new, post Covid world, one of the biggest challenges we are finding today as recruiters is the increase in counteroffer culture, as all employers are so desperate to keep hold of their staff.

This reminds me of 2004.

I was 29 and U2 had just released Vertigo. I’m not a massive U2 fan, but that was a tune!

I’d just started my business in construction recruitment and none of my first four placements started.

I was mortified.

?The first one went missing and simply disappeared. (The oldest trick on the book) Yes, he ghosted me. Although, I’m not sure it was called ghosting back then?

?The next one didn’t turn up on the day he was due to start. Which I just couldn’t believe at the time.

?Another took a job elsewhere and turned the offer down. And the last one called me on the day he was due to start and told me he had family problems.

?I was distraught. I had just risked it all for this!

?I guess even more concerning was, although I had been working in recruitment prior to setting up my own company, I had absolutely no experience in construction, white collar, perm recruitment.

?I think if I’m honest, I was just so desperate to start my own company, I saw past the fact that I was clueless in most areas!

?So what did I do when it all went wrong?

?I did what any professional business owner does, I had a complete meltdown and probably cried!

?Once I’d pulled myself together, I wanted to understand why this had happened.

?Turns out it was all down to me. So what could I do to prevent this from happening again? I was determined to get better and learn where I’d gone wrong.

?Just before we go there - put your seat belt on Marty McFly and let me give you some context on the market conditions back in 2004.

?We were in an absolute boom! These were the Blair, glory years and our economy was thriving with good news coming out every day.

?Ok so we’d managed to start a business at a time when everyone was looking for staff. That’s a great idea right?!

?WRONG!

?In my naivety, I had started a business at a time when finding a candidate, at any level within construction, meant I would probably be able to place this person 10 times over. Whenever I found a candidate, there always seemed to be a problem.

?Looking back at it 18 years later, it all seems so easy for me to understand now.

?What had happened in these boom years was that the balance of power between client and candidate had shifted far too much towards the candidate side of things and that’s where all our business challenges lay.

?In this booming job market, many candidates were showing somewhat questionable behaviours, as they clearly understood what was happening within the market. The perennial supply and demand model.

?Put simply, certain people were playing the market, as all the power was weighted in the candidates’ favour.

?As we all know this was corrected in 2008, with the balance of power swinging back sharply towards the client side.

?Anyway, if we time travel back to today, in the post Covid world, we are seeing history repeat itself over again, as employers are having to realise the world has changed and they need to change with it or face the prospect of being left behind.

?As a consequence of the last two years of craziness, the power has once again shifted further towards the candidate side once again.

?So as recruiters, how do we respond to this market, as we too are now faced with having to adapt to this sudden upturn.

?The answer is fairly straightforward.

?So, again lets time travel back to 2005, as by that point I was a little better at the job.

?I guess when you’re faced with such a booming market, experience taught me to invest all my time in those I truly believed in.

?Sounds so simple and you’re probably thinking I don’t need to read this to know that!

?This is a judgement call based on picking a winner from the start and sometimes that’s a really difficult decision to make.

?Let me explain further.

?If you take anything in life that is successful, whether that’s in business, sport or music, they all share the same common denominator.

?They all follow a strict and well-rehearsed formula.

?The main challenge is, process can be perceived as boring and somewhat dull, but without it, trust me, you’re floundering.

?For example, take a successful logistics company.

?You will find that they invest an absolute fortune in ensuring their factory production lines are modern and highly efficient as by doing this they manage to keep problems at bay and ensure deadlines are met. They have learnt that practicing good processes gives them most of their success.

?As silly as this might sound, this is no different to baking a cake. If you want it to taste nice, you must first follow the recipe.

?Time to jump back in as it’s time machine time again!

?As I reflect on my early experience of getting it so badly wrong, this pain led to purpose and helped me find and develop my winning formula.

?Once I’d got it, I simply stuck to it like glue and from that point on, I never looked back.

?There’s no great, mystical secret here, I simply focused all my attention on the people I liked and trusted, as their character was the only thing, I was really interested in.

?Yes, I know this seems surprisingly simple, but you’ll be amazed at how many people don’t do it and focus instead on other stuff which can be a waste of time.

?Of course, they had to have the relevant skills and references as that’s simply following recruitment basics.

?Working this way became much more interesting as well and made me curious about my candidates’ life outside of work. If I’m honest, it fascinated me and still does today.

?I guess what I was looking for were people who I really believed in, and this then gave me the confidence and the drive to find them a new position, which in turn become an effortless process.

?If something didn’t feel right, I wasn’t afraid to ask the awkward questions, as I wanted to totally understand this person’s motivations.

?Hands up, it did get me in trouble a couple of times, but I wasn’t willing to compromise on my newfound formula, as this was starting to produce some great results.

?I also realised, this booming market gave a lot of people a false impression that they could walk into any job, along with a misplaced sense of importance and career expectations and that some of the people I was dealing with in the beginning were a little bored with their lives and the thought of moving jobs gave them a feeling of being appreciated and wanted.

?The problem was, they were never ever going to leave, they just liked the attention, and I was picking up the tab.

?So again, by asking those different questions, this allowed me to avoid any time wasters.

?I also tried hard to ensure that I managed people’s expectations, as this was also a huge part of my formula too. Selfishly I wasn’t going to waste my time with someone who would blurt out in an interview that they wanted the construction director’s job in 12 months, or they wanted a 30% increase in salary.

?Again, this actually happened in the early years.

?I’ve learnt it’s sometimes best to not fall on love with a perfect CV, as this can blind you.

?Again, by following this stringent process, it helped me to sift out the time wasters, the money grabbers and the deluded, and this therefore, allowed us the time to work with a carefully selected group of suitable candidates who I liked and respected.

?What also worked for me in this market was the importance of outlining what I expected from them at the very beginning of the process and equally, what they could also expect from me.

?This ironed out any potential, future problems between us.

?I didn’t know this it at the time, but what I was actually doing was setting out some kind of verbal contract, that both parties were in agreement with.

?When you stop and think about this, we do this in so many walks of our lives without even realising it. Anyway, by ensuring I used these rules, it made everything clearer and eliminated grey areas.

?We’re almost there guys so please don’t fall asleep. I promise this is coming to an end shortly as this time machine is running out of fuel!

?Anyway, I also tried to explain to my candidate what was important to me.

?Looking back, and I don’t think I fully realised this at the time, but what I was doing was explaining that my time was equally as important as theirs, and this was a level playing field and an equal partnership.

?I guess all I wanted was for them to show me a little bit of respect, it was really that simple. For example, one of the first things I quickly realised was that people just didn’t call me back.

?So I’d have an interview for them and then I couldn’t get hold of them.

?As part of my process, I politely would ask my candidates to try and get back to me as soon as they could. This way I pre-empted people not calling me back as part of our verbal contract and it was also a great measure on whether they actually wanted to move jobs. If you really want to move, you make the time and effort to call back.

?When this wasn’t respected, I would bring it up politely. And if it happened again, I wouldn’t waste anymore of my time and move on, no matter how good they were on paper.

?Also, my business rules gave me the opportunity to explain why I was different and what that meant for them, as there were, and still are, hundreds of people who do what I do.

?I can honestly say that I was never bothered about walking away if I genuinely felt this wasn’t going to work, no matter how good the candidate was.

?As the old saying goes, there’s always plenty more fish in the sea.

?Not long now I promise! (I know! I said that last time!)

?This is our last trip to present day.

?I loved my time in recruitment and, it was without doubt, the best job I’ve ever had. I managed to build so many relationships with people and I still get calls years after I stopped doing the job from clients asking me for staff.

?I also think it’s the only job I’ve had where it got better and better over time.

?Without doubt, being in recruitment changed me forever and made me more responsible and more of an honest person. I think the pain of being let down by people, made me never want to intentionally make someone feel that way.

?The number of times I heard, “Darren I’m 95% sure I’m taking the job.”

?And just 24 hours later, I’d get the email explaining they weren’t taking the job.

?I soon realised that 5% was huge!

?What they really meant was, Darren I’m not taking that job, but I don’t want to let you down so I’ll avoid it, hence the email.

?The truth is that many people are born people pleasers (me included) and don’t want the confrontation. Whether that’s with you or their boss.

?Recruiters can become very desensitised. A bit like how a fireman or a doctor has to be, I guess.

?The danger is, we then become somewhat transactional about people, this is where it goes wrong, as the best recruiters I’ve met understand the human emotions behind someone leaving their current employer, as they know how to show understanding and get the emotional approach right.

These are people’s lives and moving jobs can be one of the hardest decisions for a person to make and that’s why, the easiest and the most pain free option is always to stay where you are.

I feel the best recruiters typically find their own way and have their own unique style, which works for them. None of my thoughts and ideas came from being coached, I just found out for myself through personal experience and mistakes. However, I wish it hadn’t ?been this taught, as this would have saved a huge amount of time.

Market forces will forever change, from candidate to client and back again and recessions and booms are just part of our economic cycle.

?But how we respond to this ever-changing world is always in our hands.

?As George McFly once said, “If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.”

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