What a week! Have they always been this long? We have it pretty cushy here in NZ and especially Auckland. We’ve got a short weeks coming out the wazoo with an anniversary every other. If you’re like me you’ve found yourself doing some late shifts this week in order to make up for the lost time. I’ve met many a lackadaisical recruiter that will put the ‘em’ or ‘erm’ into temp and perm. I’ve noticed those procrastinating consultants tend to have a predilection for switching off at the end of the day too. Personally, I find it tough to not think in recruitment terms. My partner is an awesome recruiter, making her superior to me in a professional capacity as well as every other way. We tend to talk shop more than we should which probably explains why it’s at the forefront. Some people meditate, some run circuits or drink to get away from the working woes of the day. We tend to watch TV. Recently, we’ve been getting into Amazing Race Australia which we finished last night!
I should say, this was last season’s race so no spoilers concerning Season 5. Once the deserving couple found Beau (who is a delight!) in Nitmiluk Gorge and got confirmation that they were the lucky recipients of $250,000 we thought it was over. Turns out there was another episode. More of a recap in which the winners told us what it took to take them to the very top and around the world. It was here when I thought “they should have a recruitment couple” This isn’t me putting me and my betrothed hat in the ring, I’m personally useless in the heat and a little bitch on an empty puku. However, it was the skills and attributes they cited as key to success that is eerily similar to the attributes needed in recruitment.
Communication is key! Whether you’re traversing an urban jungle or navigating your way through the sales process keeping everyone in the loop and up to date is imperative. The biggest gripe people seem to have on the candidate side is when their recruiter doesn’t get back to them. Talking to a client this week they made the point that the younger generation has a tendency to text over picking up the phone and talking with their client base. Apparently imitating some contrived choreography for the entire world to see is a less daunting prospect than having a yarn with a prospective client. The dynamic of client and consultant is not unlike the relationships on Greatest Race, you need to be clear and concise, a bit of fluff but direct while trying not to lose your shit entirely.
Resilience is the backbone of the Greatest Race and recruitment. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been given a ‘U-Turn’ or into your 3rd hour of resourcing, you don’t give up! Countless times the contestants have gotten into a taxi with a driver who ensures them he knows where he’s going, only to end up in the wops. It’s an external factor you can’t control akin to when your candidate’s partner sticks their oar in or an untimely passing of a relative. Life has a way of chucking curve balls and especially when the product your selling has free will and is capable of lying it sometimes feels like a rank of clueless cabbies are conspiring against you.
For those who haven’t binged Amazing Race no doubt this blog would’ve been swerved by now, but for those that do watch it you’ll be aware that there is a time frame the contestants are working to. Time management is of paramount importance and hesitation is the enemy. In our day to day if a consultant lacks a sense of urgency that is catastrophic to success. The timeliness of providing a shortlist or deciding to push that client meeting to next week could result in a fat goose egg on the billings board. There were two nuns on the show who on reaching the demilitarized zone at the North Korean border took time out for a little prayer. Needless to say, this cost them the race. You’ve got to learn to prioritize and hustle in this industry, well wishes are nice but often you finish where all the other nice guys do. As my Glaswegian father told me on the subject of prayer “if you wish in a bucket and you pish in a bucket, which one is full first?”
More comparisons can be drawn but I strongly urge you to jump on TVNZ on demand and give her a watch especially with your significant other. I fear for all my smarmy chat the nation would see me at my worst; on little sleep, heavily sunburnt applying my own brand of passive-aggressive pettiness to my boo. Like the show our industry it’s full of life lessons, experiences and as the title suggests is pretty amazing, most of the time.
