I’ve spent all month focusing on talent; where to find it, how to attract it, how to identify it, and how to retain it. I believe most leaders would agree this is one of the trickiest and most essential practices of any successful business.
I’ve also spent the month listening to a variety of oh-so-talented, dedicated, loyal, hardworking, innovative, and creative people talk about how frustrating, scary, and ‘hopeless’ it feels when looking for a job. I have one daughter applying for her first ‘real’ part-time job; scared to hand out her newly minted resume. I have another who is starting her search for her first career job, feeling woefully underqualified and insignificant. Another person close to me has found a career change merely impossible; struggling to find their life’s work to be even seen as valuable. We’ve all heard it and probably most of us have experienced one or all of these lines; ‘not enough experience’, ‘too much experience’, ‘not the right experience’. The rejection, self-doubt, confidence kicker, and soul sucking processes of recruitment are brutal on a person.
I’ve had amazing people (and I truly mean really wickedly talented) share their stories of being treated terribly at the hands of their employer. People who have turned themselves inside out to do a great job, exceed expectations, and crush goals. Let me reiterate; these are employees; not entrepreneurs; their extra miles are given for more than just themselves.
And on the employer side, there is the ‘misfire’ hires; people who misrepresent themselves, their skills, or abilities to get the job simply don’t exist. Perhaps using the adage ‘fake it to you make it’ is taken too literal. The devastation this type of ‘mishire’ can have on a team or leader is tremendous. It creates mistrust, cynicism of recruiting, and can result in introducing a way too strenuous, rigorous recruitment process, to protect them from ‘being duped again’. It puts the bar so high that the expectation for a new hire needs to be legendary, that of ‘unicorn’ status. ‘Well thanks Karen, you’ve ruined it for all of us.’
So, it would seem we have an untameable beast in our friend Recruitment where neither candidate nor employer is satisfied. And how do we change that?
Let’s work backwards: The goal of an employer is to find a great candidate who works well within the team and organization, understands and shares the goals and vision of the company, and is talented, motivated, qualified and engaged. The goal of a candidate is to find a company whose goals and vision align with theirs - offering rewarding work and experiences - with a team they like and respect within a safe environment and earn a wage that is reflective of their talents. Meh! Super easy right?
Well, when we strip away all the bullshit, it is called fit. Fit. Fit. Fit. Understanding and searching for fit means both parties need to have a clear understanding of what a person will need in order to be successful within a company. Then (and here’s the scary, vulnerable part!) be honest, open, and transparent with that information with the other party. In short, if you really don’t know your WHY, it’s hard for the employer/candidate to determine if they’d fit into your Why.
Authentic conversations, candid and accurate postings reflecting the gig and your company’s culture, and asking questions to discover if you (or they) will fit your environment is the first step. Finding fit far exceeds letters behind a name, and countless certifications. Fit means a person will be willing to train, ask questions, and go above and beyond because they will be invested, engaged, and belong.
So let’s bring the human element back into recruiting. Seriously. Let’s shed the unnecessary, roll up our sleeves, look each other in the eye and actually speak, talk, converse and learn from each other; person to person.
