Sports Metaphors in Recruiting
Hello again,
Well you knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. As a typical New Yorker, we cherish sports and have a way of embedding sports metaphors and sports-related jargon into our everyday lives. We’ve all used terms like, “taking one for the team” or that a meeting “went into extra innings”. We’ve heard people say, “huddle up” or “that was a slam dunk!”. While I promise to make every attempt not to be as cliche as those examples, I make no guarantees that I won’t occasionally reference wisdom from a family source or wax opinionated on what I am about to say.
One day during my youth, my father asked me why I was moping around the house and not going out to play tennis with my brother at the park. My answer was that he didn’t want to play today so therefore a partnerless game wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense. To that my father said, “Well, why don’t you go down there and see if someone wants to play with you”? I think I looked at him with bewilderment and stammered something like, “I don’t want to play with those scrubs that play there. They’re all middle-aged men who have beer guts and talk about their “magic hands” when they make a lucky shot”. My father shook his head and said, “I suppose you’re probably right. You’re probably better than everyone down there so why bother, right?” I nodded. He said, “The thing you don’t understand son, is that you can learn something from anyone you play…no matter what their skill level is and besides, you might make a new friend”.
I went down to the park that day and played a man named Jerry Mintz. I’ll never forget Jerry. He was exactly the type of middle-aged beer-gutted man I was telling my dad about. He thrashed me in straight sets and taught me a lesson in humility. He beat this young high school tennis team captain with nothing more than shear savvy and grit. Both of those come from experience and years.
Why am I writing about an obscure event that happened some 25+ years ago? Because like tennis, recruiting is an opportunity for you to learn from someone no matter what type of person they are. Every candidate that you source and screen is different from the next. Every interview is a unique glimpse into the life and career of someone uniquely him/herself. And for those who are on the search firm side, every client prospect is someone you can learn from as well and the same holds true for in-house recruiters with their internal hiring managers. The questions are, “What will you learn and how will you learn it”?
Let’s start with candidates. When interviewing, take the time to ask questions that reveal a more personal side to the person behind the resume. I’m not insinuating that you ask prying personal questions into their lives but what I am saying is get to know your candidate as a person through conversation, even if it is small-talk. How many kids do they have? What are their names? Do they serve on any community-related boards (PTA, Rotary, Little League, etc.) What do they like? What are their fears or concerns? (especially in an economy like this). Doing this will do two things for you. First, it will give you extra leverage when it comes time to talk about the offer. You will already know what the candidate’s needs and wants are based on these conversations so there won’t be any surprises. Second, you get to move away from the “one-and-done” mentally of placing (or hiring) people. Why is that important? Because when we lose sight of what it is we’re doing….affecting and improving the lives of job seekers and their careers, that’s a very important mission. And I for one don’t feel that you can do this effectively if you don’t treat candidates with respect and as human beings that have their own set of values, needs, and goals. My brother Chris the physician once said, “You don’t treat a pair of legs or feet that walk in, you treat the whole person”. This is exactly how we need to view the candidates that we represent.
Okay, well what about our clients (whether they’re internal or external)? Well, here’s where you as the recruiter have an opportunity to learn. Take the time to learn about the specific business unit, division or hospital department that you’re servicing. Learn what they actually do and how they do it. Find out what the subculture is like within that group. What are the preferences of each of your clients. For example, do they prefer someone who is outgoing, vivacious and “think out of the box” or people who are your “heads-down worker bees”? Getting to know their ways and their desires help you to become a more effective recruiter that has a more targeted focus. And what’s not to like about a focused recruiter?
I leave you with one last notion. The average human being only uses 1/10th of our entire brain. We have plenty of room to learn more than we imagine we can. Make a conscious effort to learn from people (no matter who they are) and you will find yourself not only being a more productive recruiter but also more fruitful in your relationships with just about everyone. No one ever died of “over-listening” or “hyper-care-ism”.
Happy Recruiting & God Bless!
Add comment March 22nd, 2009
