As this is my first article of the year – HAPPY NEW YEAR beloved reader, subscriber, and especially those who read this every fortnight, wow! 🥰
2023 will be my 20th year in recruitment/talent acquisition and it got me thinking about the legacy I’d like to create, and what I could do this year to make more of an impact.
legacy /ˈlɛɡəsi/the long-lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc. that took place in the past, or of a person’s life.
If I am honest, at times, I feel like I am hitting my head against the wall, when I see recruiters treating even their own peers so badly. I don’t understand why what needs to happen to make this hiring malarkey easier and kinder is clear to me but so blooming opaque for others. Is it really that hard to be kind?
Meditating on this, I heard, “GET LOUDER – BE BOLDER!” Ok, then. Strap yourself in kids, this is going to be a bumpy ride. This year I will be shining a light on more of the things we don’t need to be doing to other people. Yep, that’s it. We don’t need to treat others like this. It’s bad for recruitment. It’s bad for their mental health. It’s bad for your mental health. It’s bad for the bottom line of the company you work for! It’s bad for [insert whatever I’ve missed].
Legacy: 2023 My Year Of The Intake
Because I believe recruitment is destined to fail or succeed based on the hiring kick-off meeting, job brief, intake, whatever you choose to call it. That crucial meeting.
Have you read my book, The Robot-Proof Recruiter?
If you have, thank you. The royalties donated to Hope for Justice charity have been enough to put 29 street children through their amazing 2 year programme to return them to a safe and loving home. Please do consider buying Edition 2, as well. 🙏🏻 And, of course, you know I am referring to Chapter 5.
If you have not, I urge you to buy it and to read Chapter 5. This focuses on the intake/kick-off/job-brief meeting and includes wisdom from industry greats like Maisha Cannon, Steve Levy & Tangie Pettis.
Everything that goes wrong with recruitment starts there, in that 60 minute meeting.
60 minutes
’60 minutes?’ I hear you sneer, while choking on your coffee. Yes, the 60 minutes your hiring managers often won’t give you to save a bucket load of their own time, articulate what they actually want, guarantee the success of their projects/products and possibly receive a promotion/bonus, save embarrassment or failure, and save the bottom line a fortune.
So, as any new Talent Acquisition Directors/Managers in my network are discovering, I plan to start by changing the understanding & attitude of your Managers – who also do some hiring – in two ways:
- I am looking for TA leaders who know their managers won’t play ball. Please get in touch to discuss how a workshop will change the attitude & behaviour of managers around hiring kick-off meetings. (Bold claim, I know.)
- I am writing a new book for CEOs and business leaders who want to transform hiring success. (Imagine if they got it too!)
Legacy: no more denial
But for this to happen… TA Leaders, no more pretending! It’s tough to get vulnerable but that’s what recruitment needs to succeed. Data abounds that shows the company’s hiring & manager issues. The following are from the last few months from just one company that denied its hiring manager’s issues.
“Interview process varies, a junior can interview a senior person, for me – I didn’t expected it to be dumb like, interviewer had one set of idea, keep on pushing on it. Utter useless waste of time and stupidity.”
“Long. Initial phone conversation, technical interview, technical skill assessment, 30 minute presentation in front of a panel. I was told the presentation was to be interactive, but nobody said a word. No follow up – I waited two weeks and then reached out to be told that although I did very well on the technical assessment, there were unspecified “concerns” after the presentation.”
“Terrible interview process. So many rounds. Halfway through the process they cancelled one of my interviews and then asked me to start the process over with a different role. No thank you, I did not want to waste anymore time with this company. Also, every single person who interviewed me was a man, this company seems misogynistic.”
I have thick skin so I am not revenge posting because someone said no. Hey, not everyone has budget or is open to my workshop approach, that’s cool. I am posting because of the denial. That concerns me.
The first two are for the same role – the third is from an employee referral, eek! 😬 They clearly show that the managers have little respect for the hiring process or the poor humans in it. These aren’t petty postings too – which they also have – these clearly show fixable behavioural issues.
Behavioural issues
The problem is, you can only change your own behaviour. It isn’t possible to wave a magic wand and all your managers suddenly behave the way you need them to. They won’t be willing to change unless not doing so harms them or doing so benefits them.
As talent acquisition we have the opportunity to create great change and deliver a positive experience for all but first we must be willing to admit there is a problem and then be vulnerable enough to ask for help.
So if you are still here and haven’t unsubscribed, that’s my plan for 2023. I want to fix intakes. I will work with companies on this, write that book, and, of course, continue to rant here every two weeks.
What’s your plan for 2023?
