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Recruitment

Vision

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Courage stems from the leader and can transform any follower. Real courage is fueled by a vision, and without a vision, there can be no courage. How dare we reduce people to a title or job function! How dare we qualify leadership based on a title or job function! The next time you meet with a leader of an organization for coffee, ask them to articulate their vision. This is not to be confused with the organization’s vision statement. I’m referring to their own personal convictions that shape their vision, which dictates direction. A leader without a vision is blind and can only lead the blind. The vision is the spark plug and the team is the battery. What is your personal vision for your organization, team, division, or branch?

The Business World Is Salivating For Authentic Leaders

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Were you the same person yesterday? Are you the same person today? Are you striving to be that same person tomorrow? Are you driven by convictions, or by acceptance? We are surrounded by professional chameleons who are highly skilled at changing their colors to suit the room. While adapting to changing circumstances and environments is a business necessity, changing your core values to people-please is a flaw. True leaders are real, and authenticity is their greatest strength. What if there was a way to authenticate leadership the same way we validate our humanity when transacting online? If we could run a CAPTCHA test on leadership, the single greatest way to pass would be answering one question: 👉 “How many leaders have you produced to date?” Leadership is more than a title and your value extends far beyond your corner office. Your effectiveness is hinged on your consistency, authenticity, and your ability to cultivate the next generation of leaders.

Honesty

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Good leaders choose honesty over convenience Case in point: I was not the smartest person in the room. There were 4 of us – a Mathematician/General Manager, a Manager of Technology, and the Head of Talent Acquisition. We were brainstorming a solution to an urgent problem involving a contractor who was supposed to start a new role with our client that morning. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the client decided to go with another candidate and informed us at the last minute. The goal was to mitigate the fallout and protect the reputations of everyone involved. Cue the desperate ideas, none of which were based on the truth. To them, it was more believable to cook up a story to tell the contractor. Here I was in a room with brilliance and none of the ideas seemed to stick. I listened to them go back and forth until I finally decided to speak up. My suggestion: “Why don’t we tell her the truth?” (i.e., the client wanted someone else). The idea was so simple that it caught them off guard. We ended up telling the contractor what happened, and she understood. There was no harm, no damage, and everyone—including the client—looked good. Lesson: The most elegant solutions are usually the simplest ones. That quiet, unassuming person in your meetings might be the one holding the solution that could save your reputation and time.

Leave The Room (Part 2)

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Good leaders know how to shift from logic to empathy. Case in point: after my daughter’s situation had been resolved, I decided to ask my wife for the details. Instead of sharing what I wanted to hear, she told me that I was essentially too logical for moments like that. She’s correct, and my decision to leave the room made more sense. This was not a logical moment; nothing about my daughter’s sudden mood change was logical, and Daddy’s method of problem-solving might’ve closed our daughter off to help entirely. The moment required compassion and a listening ear, and who better than my wife to help her sort through those feelings. Lesson: Adapt your approach to fit the emotional needs of the moment. An approach that worked for one situation, may not be the right method for a present-day matter.  Final Takeaway from Part 1 & 2: Stepping back allows others to exercise their strengths, and accepting your own limitations allows the right emotional response to be applied in the moment.

Leave The Room (Part 1)

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Good leaders clearly communicate the goal for every meeting and know when to exit the room to allow for unfiltered brainstorming that leads to tangible, lasting solutions. When they step back into the room, it’s to listen, mediate, and offer constructive guidance without imposing. Case in point: my 7-year-old daughter had a moment this week that climaxed into tears. Despite our efforts, we couldn’t get her to verbally express this sudden change in mood. I watched as my wife probed with questions to no avail (her frustration level was also rising). Then it dawned on me: leave the room. Turns out that my presence was hindering the flow of honest communication between my daughter and her mother. This was not my territory, and my wife was able to get to the core of the issue, and ultimately help our daughter. Lesson: Knowing when to exit is key to your success as a leader. You don’t need to be present for everything, and my departure created a runway for my wife to fully assert herself.

The Right Fit

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“Stars Want to Work with Other Stars” – Mark Tatum, NBA COO & Deputy Commissioner Let’s face it, your inaction is eroding your team’s success. Mark recently sat down with Senior Writer at Forbes, Jabari Young. When asked to discuss his greatest failure, this is what Mark had to say: “I’m not sure I would say that there was one event. What I would say is my biggest learning was a pattern of waiting too long to make difficult decisions on people. So early on in my career, I would know that someone wasn’t right for the role, but I would keep giving them an opportunity. I would always coach them and give them feedback, but there were times when I just needed to make tougher decisions on people sooner because what happens if you don’t is other people see it, other people get impacted by it; it starts affecting the team. Stars want to work with other stars. And if it’s clear that someone is not pulling their weight, earlier on in my career, I would sort of hope and give them that one more opportunity that maybe things will change. That wasn’t serving them well. It wasn’t serving the organization well. It’s better to have an open honest dialogue with them, tell them they’re not in the right role, and put them in a right role. In some cases, if they must move on, they will. And I’ve seen that time and time again where someone wasn’t necessarily a right fit in the role, but then they go on, and they thrive in a different role outside.” It’s been said that nothing upsets a good performer more than watching a leader within the organization tolerate a bad one. Caring dictates that you act and good leadership positions people for success. Thank you, Mark!

The Cost of Wasted Time

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You will fill that position, but how long will it take and at what cost? The time it takes to fill that important role is everything. Here’s why making a hire in under 30 days matters: Pressure On Your Existing Team Members: The mandate for that unfilled position becomes everyone’s burden until a hire is made. Employee Perception: Your best people are quietly evaluating whether the key decision-makers can find the right people. Market Perception: The best in your marketplace will question why that role went unfilled for that length of time. Takeaway: Don’t fear the cost to hire. Count the cost of a disgruntled workforce, frustrated customers, compromised projects, and a weakened image of your company in your market. Fear is counterproductive to growth, and time is your greatest asset.

How Market Perception Transforms Your Recruitment Strategy

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An example of a good business decision and a hidden recruitment benefit from the world of professional basketball: After acquiring Jaylen Brown through a trade with the Boston Celtics, The Philadelphia 76ers immediately positioned themselves as a destination of choice for other elite performers. Not long thereafter, LeBron James decided to join the organization. Many more will undoubtedly follow suit, this year and in the years to come. The 76ers are now entertaining interest from players that were never on their radar prior to these acquisitions. A good business decision (trading for Jaylen Brown) forced an elite performer (LeBron James) to seek the organization out. Overnight, the 76ers recruitment efforts went from a desperate chase to a strong magnet. How your organization is perceived in the marketplace directly correlates to the soundness of your decisions. This inevitably influences your ability to attract the best your marketplace has to offer. Hiring the right people is a good business decision. Don’t focus on the cost to hire and don’t be afraid to take risks. Shifting your focus to the ROI that star talent could bring to your organization is what’s best for your business. Key Takeaways: Market perception: Good choices impact how the marketplace views your company Recruitment revamp: A strong reputation attracts talent organically Business focus: Smart risks and top talent equal a high ROI

Technical Assessments

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The goal of administering a technical assessment as a first step is to screen candidates and filter out unqualified applicants. The irony is that this approach simultaneously repels the top talent you want to attract. Assessments should complement your hiring process, not act as a gatekeeper. I recommend using them on a case-by-case basis, and only after meaningful conversations have taken place. Relying solely on a test to make critical hiring decisions is risky, as it is rarely an accurate measurement of intelligence, capability, or future success. You’re essentially asking Michael Jordan in his prime to prove he can dribble a ball. My Alternative: Present a technical scenario during an in-person meeting with the applicant as a last step in the hiring process. Provide them with 30 minutes to prepare their solution and have them present it to you on the spot. This feels less transactional, more engaging, and provides real insight into their reasoning, & how well they critically-think under pressure. Your assessment doesn’t need to be eliminated; it just needs to be repositioned in the process with a clearly articulated purpose.

The Meeting

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How many of you have hired a general contractor to do major repair work on your home without meeting them first? That would be a recipe for disaster, yet, many decision makers within organizations are consistently enlisting the services of recruiters under such circumstances and wonder why the results are what they are… You are handing positions that can change the trajectory of your organization over to partners you’ve never met. They’ve never walked through your office or plant, and they don’t know the key stakeholders involved in the hiring process… You are speed dating through talent acquisition, and you’ve normalized this behaviour. How can any recruiter truly act as an extension of the company they are representing if they haven’t spent time getting to know the problems, preferences, culture, and context related to that position… So, why would a recruiter avoid such an important aspect of the hiring process? And why would a decision maker engage without insisting that both sides meet? Accountability. …neither side wants to be accountable to the other. It’s easy to walk away from (ghost) you if we don’t have a real relationship that was established through a formal meeting at your facility… Logistics is often a barrier to such in-person meetings, and reasonable accommodations can be made in those cases. A virtual call for instance can bridge the gap, but should never replace the authenticity of sitting across from a future client or candidate… Recruiters have designed and promoted their own irrelevancy… Having an “out” in case things don’t materialize favourably with a client or candidate is now the secret sauce driving the industry… Let’s get back to the grassroots of what made recruitment a viable service and respected by organizations. Like a General Contractor, a Recruiter takes your vision and brings it to life.