Mindfulness + Recruiting
As people, our professional “success” in the real world and the digital universe, is in no small part contingent on the way we impart our knowledge, skills and abilities to others. For recruiting, and recruiters, this success parallels to that of the candidates we source and the companies and hiring managers we partner with. The more we understand the competencies and skills that our hiring managers are seeking (beyond that which is listed in the job description), the better equipped we are to find the right candidates for opportunities. Additionally, the more in attune we are with the hiring manager and her needs, the more a candidates answers will resonate with us for that opening.
Mindfulness is practiced, a muscle to be built through exercise. You can’t order it on Amazon and have it delivered tomorrow. The same is true with recruiting, it is through practice and repetition that you get better. The ability to show up and deliver results every day (even when we don’t want to) takes drive and tenacity. It is always easier to find the “no” than the hard “yes”. Delivering to the customers expectation is not always easy, but it is part of the job. Sure, hiring managers can be difficult, but so what? Be mindful of their situation, and empathize with their objectives. By showing understanding and partnership, we demonstrate our commitment to them. By establishing that trust and commitment we have ability and the buy-in to hold them accountable to our expectations, and the candidate experience.
Recruiting is hard, and is made harder by the fact that everyone thinks they can do it (and maybe even better than you). I had a GM tell me once that the best way to fill a semi-skilled trade position was to fly to California and put fliers advertising the opening in our competitions employee parking lot. Understanding the available market talent pool is achieved by knowing your position inside and out, and then talking to those people who are “in the market” and connecting with those passive seekers who haven’t even considered new positions yet. By understanding those, and many other factors, you can easily articulate why someone who is happily employed may not want to relocate to another state for a $14 an hour position.