Merry Christmas readership! This blog is sort of the penultimate one before the big day but you find me very much in the yuletide spirit. And by yuletide spirit, I mean severely hungover. I am however creeping quietly around a home in the wee hours of the morning hoping not to wake anyone, not unlike jolly St Nick. You see, we at Rice took advantage of the borders opening back up around Tamaki Makaurau and gapped it up to Langs Beach for a bit of a knees-up. That means I am up at the crack of dawn and like a classic dad on a family holiday, I will be lording it over the rest of the family for the remainder of said holiday. With my back-to-back-to-back victories on table tennis the only thing fresh in/about my mind, I thought I’d pen something that I’ve been asking recruiters recently that isn’t shrouded in virus fear, what their favorite Christmas movie is? Through these discussions it’s made me think; what does your favorite movie say about you as a recruiter? Let’s bang this out before the Liverpool Newcastle game at 9 am shall we? 😊
This movie is a real champion of consumerism but it’s all good because I’m sure the real gift is father love or something? The movie perfectly synced up with the Tickle Me Elmo craze of the same year which saw dads and mums showing Black Friday levels of contempt for their fellow man (USA! USA!) As a recruiter, you’ll likely be chasing down cars and crashing parades trying to find your Turbo Man or Woman. The most placeable candidate that all of your clients want! But as we know there is a limited supply so may want to present a client with a knock of Turbo Dude and stop breaking your back chasing the impossible.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
You’re an agency of Chaos. Log notes? I don’t think so! Know when to call it a night? Swerve that! Celebrate other consultants’ success? Why would you want to do something stupid like that!? It may just take a junior consultant coming on board to make that cold small heart grow three whole sizes, a bit of mentorship and appreciation is all that’s needed sometimes. Side note, the scene where Jim Carrey whips the table cloth away wasn’t supposed to happen. Everything was supposed to go flying but he did it flawlessly, which makes him going back and knocking everything off just brilliant!
You’re probably British or Kiwi enough that you have a weird obsession with British culture, you may even gone so far as to say you have a very ‘dry’ wit. There are a few subplots in this classic and I have to admit it’s probably my go-to Crimbo flick. You’re probably pretty resilient in that you can take the metaphorical Joni Mitchel CD when we were expecting a lovely offer letter on the chin. Just go to the kitchen or bathroom and quietly sob uncontrollably then pull it together in time for the kids. I imagine you may have or want to work in a larger agency, where you will try your best to seduce an exotic colleague without knowing exactly how to interact with them. You may also try and woo your best mate’s wife but you do it in a cute way so all is forgiven!
You may have outgrown your colleagues. You’ve been with the business a very long time and with each new crop of diligent workers coming through you’re seeming a little more out of place. Your unwavering enthusiasm for the job may come across as naïve to the more war-hardened recruiters but it’s people like you that make the workshop a little more bearable. Will Farrell actually turned down an offer of $29m to do a sequel and in the spirit of Elf you likely know it’s not all about the money, it’s about finding your candidates their forever homes not a paycheque.
Confirmed salary expectations, check. Confirmed a start date, check. Covered off the flexibility that is expected, check. Covered them off on a counter offer…KEVIN!!! You may have a bit of a lapse in process but like any great maverick, you still get the job done. You may even encounter some Marv & Harry’s in the form of other recruitment consultants trying to break their way into your deal. You’re probably adept at wielding all sorts of perfectly placed paint cans to ensure your candidate knows that these other guys are just filthy animals. Do you know you can now stay in the Macalister house?
“Come out to Auckland, we’ll get together, get a job in recruitment, have some laughs” It’s you versus the world! You’re likely an underdog, perhaps operating out of a small agency against the might of a global generalist. You make your way through the deal in vents and while the bad guys are only interested in breaking the bank you’re saving the girl, day and leveling Nakatomi Plaza in the process. You’re no cowboy but you do sometimes rock a singlet to work, Yipee-Kay-Yay!
I hope everyone enjoys themselves and just because we’ve spent most of the year in our houses watching telly, don’t let that stop you from watching some of these classics. Now, the only man in red and white giving out prezzies I’m arsed about is a certain Egyptian King. The way the UK is looking this will probably be the last game we get to watch for a wee while.
