Competitive Collaboration | Collaborative Competition

site:willvanmiddendorp.com (“Competitive Collaboration” | “Collaborative Competition”)”

Tell me, did you click the link OR try to use the full sourcing string? Or perhaps you just wondered what heck that title actually means.

Well, let me clarify. There’s no such thing as the willvanmiddendorp.com site (which makes me realize I should act on that ;-)). But there is something about the #Competition AND #Collaboration aspect in #Recruitment I’ve been thinking a lot about recently.

Having worked in the Recruitment Profession for quite a few years now, primarily in Canada and the Netherlands (and a little bit in Germany), I’ve tried to keep up with best practices in our industry and I’ll tell you, it could almost be a full-time job. There’s so much information out there and things change constantly.

If you believe many trainers in our industry, they can all make you the best Recruitment Professional ever. Whether you are working on the agency side OR the corporate side. Without speaking with you or asking questions, they seem to understand your issues AND have the solution for you on how to:

1) FIND the unicorn you’re looking for

2) WORK successfully with hiring managers

3) INCREASE your billings 

4) STOP fishing from the same pond as everyone else

5) SET yourself apart from you competitors

6) THINK outside the box

Here’s the SHOCKING part. I believe most of them are right. What? Yes, I believe they are right about having a solution however, and this is very important to realize, it doesn’t necessarily mean their solution is the right one for you.

Personally, I don’t believe there is a #OneSizeFitsAll approach in recruitment! If that were to be the case we’d all be doing the same thing which, let’s be honest, would be very boring.

At the same time I know we are doing some of the same things. Mind you, some more successful than others. For example: Regardless of the fact we say we don’t want to fish from the same pond, we are doing exactly that! Perhaps it’s just how I look at it but we’re all fishing from the HUMAN pond. 

THE HUMAN POND

The Human Pond is full of candidates. Both active and passive. Some of the potential candidates are clearly swimming on the surface. (Think about those who apply for jobs). Others are swimming in shallow water (#LinkedIn, #Facebook, #Twitter, #Instagram etc.) and there is still a large group of potential “candidates” who are in the deep deep ocean and can only be found if you know how to properly use your diving gear. But again, all together, they are the human pond. 

CULTURE ADD (NOT FIT)

The interesting part of all these candidates is what they can individually offer you / your organization. Not just in regards to their education or experience but who they are as a person. Every organization has a different DNA. When we look at that aspect, we know not every potential candidate will be the right employee for your role / organization. For example, they might not bring the culture add that positively contributes to your company despite the fact they have the right education and experience. 

For me this shows that (just) continually educating myself on how to successfully locate (source) potential employees isn’t enough. Sure, from a competitive point of view it is AMAZING that I learn innovative ways to fish from the deep deep ocean but it’s only a step in the process. 

COMPETITION

By nature, recruitment is a very competitive industry. Simply said, whether you look at the internal recruitment function or agency (3rd party) side, everyone wants to locate the unicorns and either hire them or find suitable employment for them. I think that is great and refer to it as healthy competition which I believe is needed to keep us on our toes. From there, how you do your “magic”, that is all up to you and I know there are many different ways to be successful. 

However, and I need to address this, one thing that frustrates the life out of me is the cut-throat approach where Recruiters bash Recruiters to further promote themselves or their business. If you truly believe you are that good you shouldn’t need to speak negatively about others! Think about that next time you are tempted ......

Anyway, I do believe healthy competition is good and needed.

COLLABORATION

Now, to continue on our “fishing” journey, like I mentioned before, some of us are more successful than others when it comes to locating and attracting “passive” talent. (ps. yes, there definitely is a difference between locating (sourcing) talent and actually bringing them on board but I’ll leave that for a different article.)

Perhaps as a result of this pandemic, more industry peers seem to be willing to collaborate. As an advocate for collaboration I am over the moon about that. We seem to be sharing more best practices and tips and tricks than before which I believe helps elevate our industry and raises the bar on the industry standard. 

It also shows that competition and collaboration definitely can co-exist and that we can learn a lot by listening to each other regardless of whether we are fishing for the same talent or not. That is why I feel our industry is moving towards a Competitive Collaboration OR Collaborative Competition style (CC Style) and I like it!

Let me clarify by saying that this style doesn’t mean we shouldn’t compete or have to be secretive about everything. It is my believe that it actually means we want each other to be successful and it’s ok to share our lessons learned with one another.

I also believe this “new” CC Style creates opportunities for us, as industry peers, if you’re willing to see it and go for it.

TRAINING

One other thing I feel connects really well with this CC Style is the amount of free training that’s being offered. And believe me, right now during this pandemic, if you are without work, there is so much you can learn / improve on that will eventually help you become a better Recruitment Professional. So please, take advantage of that!

Interesting enough, it also feels the amount of Recruitment Industry #Trainers has doubled over the past few months. Maybe it’s just my perception but I seem to receive InMails and Emails every few weeks from someone new who claims to be able to make me a better Recruitment Professional.

Truth be told, some of these messages really do pique my interest. For example: How do I successfully build my business during a pandemic OR How to fish from the deep deep ocean OR How do I set myself apart from my industry peers. 

Despite the fact these are all interesting topics for me, I want to point out that it is very critical to do your due diligence before choosing a Recruitment Trainer to work with. Please, don’t just pick the one highest rated but pick the one who will be a value add for you and your organization.

As one trainer once told me: “If everyone goes left, you go right”. Keep that in mind and make sure to ask the right questions so you can make an informed decision on who to work with. Whether that is a new Recruitment Trainer, Industry peer, Client or even Candidate. If they don’t provide a value add, why would you want to work with them? 

Good luck in your role(s) / search for a new role and if you have any comments or questions, let me know. I’m happy to answer them to my best ability.

Will

Ps. One great (free) resource I highly recommend for anyone in the Recruitment / #TalentAcquisition / #Sourcing Profession to subscribe to is https://www.recruitingbrainfood.com/. Hung Lee emails a weekly newsletter with loads of information and interesting articles so if you want to learn and hear more about our profession, you NEED this.