Recruiting, Deadliest Catch style

I’m a big fan of the show Deadliest Catch on Discovery. I’ve always been intrigued by the action, the personalities of the various crew members and how difficult and dangerous the job is. For some reason though, I never realized how closely related the tactics used on the show to catch crab are to my role in finding, attracting and recruiting talented professionals. Until last night’s episode…let me give you an example. 

If you have watched the show, you will understand the phrase “string of pots”. Simply put, it is a row of crab traps which are set at specific intervals and depths. Crabbers set hundreds of these pots on a line they call the string. Through the marvels of GPS technology, they track where these strings are set and after they “soak” in the Bering Sea for a certain amount of time they return to the string to pull up the pots, which hopefully contain a lot of crab. Seems simple enough? NOT. It can be a bang your head against the wall job, a “grind” as they say on the show. It takes much preparation as they track the crabs’ movements, set up test strings, pull dozens of empty pots and deal with brutal and unpredictable weather. When they finally hit the sweet spot, they spend countless hours working that area until they pull in as much crab as possible, hopefully achieving the predetermined quota for the boat. They then log the area where they were fishing so they can return next season to hopefully find the crab in the same spot.  

For me, that is very similar to how I approach sourcing and recruiting – minus the fact that I have never feared for my life while sourcing for candidates :) You spend a lot of time creating test “strings” of key words and phrases. In doing so, you battle changing requirements and adapt to the feedback being provided.  You use the new information to vary those strings, using different sources, looking in different spots and grinding it out, until you come up with the few strings that actual yield the types of candidates you are seeking. It can go on for days. Frustration can set in when your strings yield little to no results.  But once you hit on the right strings and sources, you work tireless and exhaust all efforts to gain contact and hopefully attract and recruit those candidates. You do this until you reach or exceed your quota of candidates for that particular role. You always track what strings worked best for the next time you work on a similar role.  

Successful Crabbers and successful Recruiters have three traits in common. First, they PREPARE – they examine what worked the last time and they test their new theories by looking at the situation from all angles. Second, they are RELENTLESS in their pursuit – they adapt to changing conditions, try different spots, and grind it out. When they feel confident they are “on the crab”, they work tirelessly to get as many that qualify "into the boat" as possible.  Lastly, they understand the importance of LUCK - their definition is a bit different than just thinking things happen by chance though. Strong Crabbers and Recruiters create opportunity and when it hits, they are fully prepared and committed to take advantage of it – the true definition of Luck is the intersection of opportunity and preparation.