The Rugby World Cup – According to a Recruiter

Konnichi wa, seeing as it’s at the business end of the eventful and often controversial Japanese hosted World Cup, I thought I would in the words of Nigel Owens, “USE IT”. The Webb Ellis cup is within striking distance for four teams. So far, we have seen plenty of murderously high challenges, social media faux-pas from referees and even some interesting hairstyles, see Jack Goodhue, RG Snyman and Evan Olstead.

Recruiters love inspirational posts, so to give some sort of levity to the endless informational and motivational waffle we whack up on LinkedIn, I thought I could at least ride on the coattails of the fascinating feast of sport at the foot of Mt Fuji. In the words of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly and a Japanese fan by the name of Breffni, “roysh let the cornage begin”.

Back up your claims

Scotland entered this tournament shouting the odds like Mr McGregor flinging plastic water bottles at one of his royal-rumble styled press conferences. It genuinely is not hard to compare the two as just like Whiskey touting Conor, very few take Scotland’s claims of being a world champion seriously. They followed this up by flopping out of the group, never really offering any sort of glimpse of what Vern Cotter had started to create a few years prior.

What followed was most definitely a misjudged tantrum over how unfair life is. The deadly typhoon which hit Japan was tragic. What nobody needed was any discussions on whether a game where large men chase a leather egg and conduct a brutal version of swan lake in mud needed to take place.

This is where I think many candidates and even employees can learn a lesson. If you are going into an interview or even a performance review, know your value and avoid a Scottish-style disappointment. Most importantly, don’t follow this up by whinging about it, be modest in approaching both victory, defeat and adversity.

Contingency planning – When Schmidt goes wrong

Suffice to say, Ireland have not enjoyed the smoothest of Rugby World Cups. From upsetting the nation by leaving his loyal servant Toner behind in favour of a newly naturalised Kleyn to questions over planning and peaking too soon.

Companies meticulously claw over their hiring plans every quarter but with Sexton still easily hanging onto his spot even while walking out wrapped in cotton wool in Yokohama, Joe doesn’t seem to have prepared Carberry and Carty in time for a smooth transition. Morale of the story is, HR leaders, make sure you identify early on the talent for the future to maintain high performance.

An Eddie Jones inspired legacy and a full force Fukuoka

Eddie Jones is a true pantomime villain for many rugby fans where he consistently winds up any who cross his path, but he is undoubtedly a highly skilled manager and knows exactly what he is doing. His initial coaching jobs were littered with struggles to motivate players and massive fallout's with referees and directors alike.

However, it was at Japan that everything came together for him. If you want to see Ed at his best, google his interviews for his first few games managing the cherry blossoms where he effectively brings grown men to tears in front of the world press. He implemented a tough training regime, instilling in the Japanese a work ethic that would be the only way they would produce their current batch of upsets against Ireland, South Africa and in one of the most fascinating fast paced games of Rugby ever seen, Scotland.

If tier one nations would train twice a day and force their foes to feel every bit the lowly tier two minnows, the Japanese would train three times a day and force their foes to bust their lungs to beat them. Eddie Jones had started a movement, Jamie Joseph compounded it and Kenki Fukuoko flaunted it. Fukuoko, who is set to quit rugby and become a doctor like his father and grandfather, scored potentially the try of the tournament picking the ball off the tip of his laces and cemented his place in Rugby history.

Simply put, if you come up against adversity, learn from it but be true to yourself and know what can make you stand out in an ever-tightening global market. Eddie Jones epitomises this from learning from his mistakes and mastering the press conference and human aspect of management while still utilising his fiery personality to get the best out of his team and upset the opposition.

Dreams start with dancing

Joe Cokanasiga is not a name known to the majority of passive or even the most engaged rugby fan but his journey from following his British army father across the globe to being part of the Fijian dance troupe who performed in front of Stuart Lancaster’s England side to scoring tries in front of a full house in the so-called home of rugby, Twickenham.

Without waxing lyrical too much, don’t pigeon hole yourself throughout your career. What’s become apparent to us as recruiters is that in this global market, a strong work ethic and the ability to adapt are what breeds success. Traditional south sea island dancing is optional.

Canadian Kindness

This is more a discussion on culture within an organisation than anything else. I briefly mentioned the Typhoon which his Japan during the world cup which was deadly and tragic. If there were any questions on what Canada were able to bring to the pitch, they left nothing to the imagination when it came to their respect for their hosts and the real decency, they showed by helping locals clean up in the aftermath of Hagebis.

They turned the negative of a massive natural disaster and the disappointment that their final pool game was cancelled into something majorly positive, aiding those suffering in their time of need. Companies certainly add to the economy through taxes and employment, but charitable gestures are what binds them to the community. Leaders take note, this is key for culture development not bean bags.

Heed your gut feeling

The concussions of Halfpenny are well documented, the sad story of big Sam Warburton having his career cut short by injuries has been lamented but Adam Beard’s appendix nearly blew a hole through his belly button and who is talking about that? On his way to the airport, his stomach grew slowly more painful and between his non stop whinging and the astute call from the team doctor, saved Adam having a particularly uncomfortable 14-hour flight.

This is a quite literal tale of having a gut feeling. If you’re interviewing for a new job and get that uneasy feeling, heed it. Humans are designed to be paranoid for a reason, so maybe do your due diligence if you’re getting that sensation something isn’t right for the benefit of your career. Obviously if your stomach is about to burst open like a scene in Alien, maybe ask for a glass of water in your interview.

So that just about sums up all the career advice I can muster and loosely work into sport stories. Sadly, Ireland are already home and hosed but we still have a fantastic feast of rugby over the bank holiday weekend. Enjoy everyone!