"What about me". Recruiters: the forgotten victims of Resignations

Hands up if you've ever been punched in the stomach?

Hands up if you're a Recruiter who's had someone leave a job really quickly after joining, that you placed.

Similar feeling right. The anger, the breathlessness, the nausea, the feeling of bewilderment and fear of further reprisals.

It's a horrible feeling. A person you've nurtured through a process, handling expectations, scheduling meetings, consoling, encouraging, talking up to managers, negotiated salary and future growth. Someone you know will excel, someone who will fit into the team, a great cultural fit, a good technical fit, well, just a damn good fit. You're invested! You believe in this person, you believe in the company, you believe in their compatibility. And the BAM! In your inbox is that resignation letter, or you get that phone call "Sorry to bother you, but do you have time to catch up today?"

You've made a mistake haven't you? You didn't qualify properly? You pushed too hard? You didn't push hard enough. There will be explanations that have to be made, inquisitions will be made, names will be called and frustrations will be vented. It will be the fault of the Recruiter in the eyes of the business, no matter how many stake holders were involved in the final decision.

It sucks as far as feelings go. The polar opposite to when you make that phone call to that unknown candidate you found on LinkedIn or really special Boolean string, to gauge interest and eventually hire. Karma's an ill tempered friend, she'll get you coming and going.

So Recruiters, before you pick up that phone, write that string, drop that email. Stop and think of the repercussions that call will have on your fellow Recruiters out there somewhere. Do you really want to cause them to go through this stomach punching purgatory?

Then of course what you'll do is smile, maybe even giggle and do it none the less. It's the game isn't it. He who has the best talent wins! Game on :)

Zombies and Recruiting

It's strange how a song you've heard thousands of times before, suddenly brings a meaning to you. I was peacefully sitting in my car today, kids at home, doing some errands in my own space and this song from The Zombies comes on the radio, "Shes not there". This song is 33 years old, I was 3 when it came out... and today it decided to speak to me.

Maybe this is the theme song for all those Recruitment Managers out there, who have a team doing hiring for them, which they oversee. Mistakes happen, and inevitably it come back as your problem. Someone hired on attitude, on gut feel, there was just something about them. A corner was cut somewhere, and it comes back to haunt you. They leave after a short time.

Or maybe it's the song that plays over as the sound track when you rely on Sourcers to find you people. You give them the company to source from, unfortunately a zero result comes back "no-one was interested" and lo and behold the very next week, you notice from your Linkedin "Follow this company" button that this impossible to find person, someone matching your need has either left that company or just joined them. You've missed that hire. Explain that to the CEO if you dare.

What songs speak to you? Do they reflect your personal and/or business life.

Kind of fun when it does.

Lyrics

Well, no one told me about her
The way she lied
Well, no one told me about her
How many people cried

But it's too late to say you're sorry
How would I know, why should I care?
Please don't bother trying to find her
She's not there

Well, let me tell you 'bout the way she looked
The way she acts and the color of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool, her eyes were clear and bright
But she's not there

Well, no one told me about her
What could I do?
Well, no one told me about her
Though they all knew

But it's too late to say you're sorry
How would I know, why should I care?
Please don't bother trying to find her
She's not there

Well, let me tell you about the way she looked
The way she acts and the color of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool, her eyes were clear and bright
But she's not there

But it's too late to say you're sorry
How would I know, why should I care?
Please don't bother trying to find her
She's not there

Well, let me tell you about the way she looked
The way she acts and the color of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool, her eyes were clear and bright
But she's not there

Bad day? Boring job? Suck it up! Your customers will care less than I do

Driving into the carpark outside of my office today, I noticed something that as an employer or manager would really annoy me. This carpark has "early bird" prices, you know, in before a certain time, out after another prescribed time, for a cheaper rate. However to validate for this you need to get another ticket from the attendant. Not sure if that is the right term, as the word "attendant" to me gives me the idea of attentiveness. This particular character has none of that. He has himself parked half way up the complex in a camping chair. He sits there with his paper and stack of tickets and leans forward on the chair to pass you the ticket. No "Good morning", no smile, the only acknowledglement of your presence is the fact that an arm shoots out with a ticket as you drive up.

For some reason this annoys me. OK I get that it could be a boring, thankless job, but come on.... give a little bit man. It's got to the point that I have a little game now where I am trying to see how far I can stop from the guy to actually make him get up out of his chair. I have to say, he's good, I can see the chair almost falling over, but there is no way this guy is getting up.

How does this reflect on his company? Is this the brand of the carpark? Does it say, "Come park with us, or don't I really don't give a crap!" What would his boss say? Would he/she care? I wonder what his KPI's would be. (yes I am a sad man)

Even if you are having a bad day, bad week, you have the most boring job in the world, or you are over worked, under paid and under appreciated? Your company has had layoffs and you'r enervous about your future... Who cares? You customers won't and neither they should. When servicing customers your job is to , take their problems away, to add value to the relationship. Moping, griping, complaining doesn't cut it in any circumstances. So you've got a new baby, and are undergoing that age old child, sleep deprivation torture! SO WHAT? SUCK IT UP. REPRESENT (yourself and your company) You're not the first or the last. Complaining to strangers won't give you any advantages, if anything it'll make people avoid you in the future and that definitely isn't good for you.

I would be shattered if my team showed that level of indifference? Customer Service is what get's people coming back. OK I keep going back, maybe it is my experiment to see if I can loosen the man from his chair, and the fact that it is cheaper than most others... but if something with a similar price opens up with some more care and perhaps a smile to greet me, would I move? damn straight.

There's no crying in Football! or should there be?

I had a great day today. Did one of the things I love doing most of the world. I went to the MCG with my Dad and my son (and cousin and 90,000 of my best friends) to watch an AFL game. I just love it. The atmosphere, the food, the shouting, the passion, the raw combative power and nature of the game.

I get pretty fired up at these games, I'm not my normal calm self, I kind of get involved. However I have had to calm/centre myself, now I have to be an example to my son. I do need to turn it down a few notches.

I found myself conflicted today however. Let me paint you the scene. The team I (and my son) support got absolutely thumped. We put up a bit of a fight, but in the end, we weren't really good enough on the day. My son was shattered. It upset him greatly that we were losing, and tears started at an early stage.

This surprised me a bit, he hadn't really done this before. My initial reaction was to calm him down. Remind him that losing happens, you have to take your turn and you need to be a good sport and that tears for not winning is not really acceptable. Then I thought a little more. Is this teaching him to accept losing? Should I be teaching this? It's good to hate losing and to be single focused in achieving what you want. There has to be some level of competitiveness in you to be successful, and an acceptance of losing, well.... is it acceptable?

I was/am really conflicted. I've been told that to be more successful personally I need to be harder, (you're too nice) have a bit more mongrel in me. OK losing happens. Should I be teaching that you have to like it? You should swallow it, grit your teeth, learn from it and come back better next time. But not like it, isn't that accepting mediocrity?

Maybe this makes me a bad person or parent. I do believe that as a kid it isn't if you win or lose, it's how you play the game that counts, especially when you are learning skills, sports or at school, but do I believe that as an adult?