Fishing 101

As a child of two upstanding Christian parents I was often privvy to stories of giants, parting great seas, two great tablets and fishing for men. Whilst I have not always adhered to the tenets of the tablets I have adapted the "fishing for men" to my craft of recruitment and regularly use the fishing metaphors to describe the art of recruitment. 

Once upon a time in a land not so far away our only fishing tactic would be to throw a line into water and see what fish came a'nibbling. The methodology of this attraction mechanism relied upon good berley (big ad with big recognisable logo on page 5 of The Saturday Age) and a tightly wound worm around the jagged hook. Often in order to dissuade the blow fish from taking the bait we would surround the bait with lures and sinkers to scare them off (qualifications and strictly enforced experience time-frames required). This method worked well for that time, but one line, one hook proved to be way too arduous for the serious fisherman. And bloody expensive for restaurants! But they paid, since FBT wasn't on the radar and Bob gave us the day off. General rating: 6/10 Executive: 8/10

In a land not so far back we started to immobilise large nets designed to capture all of the fish within a certain part of the sea (online classification-based job boards). We would drop these large nets down and see what happened to drift into the nets, discarding the sharks and blowfish and keeping the tuna. Here, we faced the problem of the "fish sorters". They were often a ramshackle mob who were only useful at performing 1-2 tasks. Sure, they could spot the tuna, but all of the other fish were ignored and thrown back or worse, killed. A shark never likes to be tossed aside and can come back an nibble the boat. Restaurants were getting the volumes and filling up their guests, so we were all happy enough. General Rating: 8/10 Executive: 6/10

Next, only yesterday we would set up an elaborate super Trawler to scrape the ocean, sort the fish and allocate them according to weight and type (technology, multi-loading, key word identification, portals). This methodology has proven to be an economical and intelligent way to filter candidates and create meaningful shortlists without the inconstancy of human error. Boats like BPO's and RPO's were the huge vessels sailing the seas and offering their services to restaurants looking for one type or a variety of fish to fill their kitchens. This system works well, as it keeps fisherman with something to do and seems to make sense. After all, no point setting out in a small boat to do what others are can do for you in a big boat. It might cost a little bit more, but let's stick to what we're good at. General Rating: 8/10 Executive: 7/10

The one type of fishing I like the most is fly-fishing - this will never die. Deliberate and experienced targetting within a small area of the lake (search / head/hunting). This requires patience, the right equipment and knowledge of the types of bugs trout like the most. The only problem with this type of fishing is that it can take a bit longer. The true concept of "talent pooling" is virtually a myth that Recruiters propagate in order to convince restaurants they are serving up fresh fish. It's instead, usually, either trout farm stagnant, or once again snap frozen. That said, most restaurants will accept whatever fish you have on the freezer shelf when they are desperate, even when they have been promised fresh trout. Treading this fine line between quality control and speed of deliver is a constant battle for the seasoned fisherman with high standards. General Rating: 5/10 Executive: 9/10

Today we use all of these methods to catch fish. Often this depends on what type of fisherman we have on our boat, but more often it depends on the restaurant we are trying to service. Many restaurants find it easier to simply choose snap frozen from the freezer as they need the fish to serve up tonight. Hand-to-mouth service has become a necessity with the FMCG society we live in. That's fine and satisfies the customers some of the time, but are they really satisfied?! We need to be honest with them and communicate our ability to serve what they are looking for, or give them the option of going somewhere else.

The industry has transformed, but how far has it really come?! Sure, technology gives us a range of ways we can now expedite the search process, but we are still dealing with human beings who have many more agendas than we can ever realise. Timing has a huge part to play, but strategy and engagement style has an even larger role in the process. Nurturing relationships and being visible are key aspects to candidate attraction and there is nothing wrong with being a fisherman. Just be smart about it and try to do it nicely. Oh, and I should mention, most humans prefer strawberries and cream to worms.