My first Linkedin blog

I didn't think I'd really get to use my psychology degree when I got into recruitment. As many of you in my network would know, recruitment is a sales driven industry, and in contrary to popular belief, people who study psychology cannot read minds.

However, as I reflect upon my seventh year in recruitment, I can't help but notice how the world of recruitment is intimately connected to social psychology. During my studies, I took a special interest in social psychology and evolutionary psychology. By definition, evolutionary psychology is the study of behaviour, thought, and feeling as viewed through the lens of evolutionary biology. Evolutionary psychologists presume all human behaviours reflect the influence of physical and psychological predispositions that helped human ancestors survive and reproduce.

So how does this relate to recruitment? Most would agree that the number one interview question is always "what attracted you to this position?" A.k.a we want to know why you are applying for this job, and by extension why you are leaving your current job. Recently, SEEK collated a bunch of data to uncover the drivers that attract candidates to a role, for example, salary and compensation, work life balance, management quality, etc. In my opinion, it's probably even a bit more simpler than that we take a step back. You are either, 1. dissatisfied with your current job, or 2. you think you can get a better job. I am fairly confident you fall in either one, or more likely, both of these categories, or otherwise you wouldn't be talking to me in the first place.

Do you know what this is similar to? My old psychology lecturer once told me, people who choose to leave or cheat on their partners are 1. dissatisfied with their current relationship, and 2. they think they can get someone better. Yes, I'm insinuating that we engage the same parts of our brain when we search for mates as we would in job searching. After all, why not? We were selecting mates for millions of years as a species before we all had formal jobs. I mean, our brain is exceptional at generalizing stuff anyway.

During COVID, we saw a big push among businesses to improve and promote their company culture in order to retain staff and attract talents. It's not surprising as I have lost count on how many candidates I've met over the years who are very unhappy with (and often spend an inappropriately large amount of time in the interview talking about) management. To me, it all boils down to an 'us vs them' mentality. After all, no teams ever defeated Michael Jordan in the finals. It was Chicago Bull's owner at the time Jerry Krause who infamously said, "players and coaches don't win championships, organizations do" that ultimately led to Jordan's departure in 1998.

We all lived in tribes for millions of years, and a cohesive tribe who can overcome adversities and fend off enemy tribes is literally a matter of life and death. According to social identity theory, we view our fellow tribe members as part of the 'in-group', and we can't help but view our in-group members overwhelming more positively, and even morally superior compared to those who are in the 'out-group'. Our own self esteem is also intimately tied to our in-group identity (think identity politics, sports fans, etc.). Therefore, it's very important that companies have a good culture, and that their employees feel a sense of belonging. One could easily argue that those who view their management or other staff as part of the 'out-group' is always going to be a ticking time bomb.

Going back to the drivers and motivations, we all know money talks, but there are those who genuinely love what they do and they're not there for the money. I've met many hiring managers and candidates who are like that. They are extremely talented people who geek out about their work every single day. Their eyes literally light up when they talk about their work. In social psychology, money is a classed as extrinsic motivation, and no doubt a powerful one at that, but studies have already found that intrinsic motivation, like the sense of enjoyment you get in performing tasks, has a bigger influence by far in job satisfaction. As we discussed earlier, what do people do when they're not satisfied with their work (and think they can find something better)? They start applying for other jobs.

If that's you, come to talk us, we'll get you a better job in 2024.