Back in the 90s it was socially acceptable to be a bit mean to teachers. Before he succumbed to scurvy, one of my old man’s favourite adages was “those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach”. Why he hated teachers so much we’ll never know. Society has moved on from this however, with most of us agreeing that teaching is a sh*tty job, and that you don’t have to be the world’s best mathematician to be the world’s best maths teacher. In fact, the world’s best mathematician probably has a tag on his ankle keeping him 400 metres from any school. The idea that we can impart knowledge to those who are better than us at the activity is well documented. You only have to look at the world of professional sport. Boxing trainers can’t beat those they coach and train, football managers rarely get a run out for their team, and gymnastic coaches are often fat, balding men, also with a tag around their ankle.
Recruiters are no different. The world’s best IT recruiter probably can’t write a line of code. You don’t need to be an engineer to recruit them, and I’m yet to meet a medical recruiter who we have to refer to as “Doctor”. Even though they get paid more than doctors. However, since Covid, branding yourself as a “recruiter” is rarely enough. Apparently now, we’re all “career coaches”. And as much as I believe in the discipline of true career coaching, if I look at the CV of most recruiters, I question if half of us are really qualified.
Simply put, when it comes to their own career, most recruiters make absolutely terrible decisions.
The strange irony is that a Engineering recruiter may spend their days giving sound advice about the engineering sector, but when they have to decide whether to go to a top-tier recruiter firm who specialise in this space, or some Christchurch bucket-shop who “specialise in everything”, they pick the latter. And then, lo-and-behold, 3 months later they call us to suggest they may have made a mistake. No sh*t Sherlock.
There’s a few reasons why people make poor career choices. Some are in our control. Some are not. What we can’t control is the market, decisions made in the upper echelons of large corporates, and if your boss decides to be a secret narcissistic bully. However, in my experiences, bad decisions often stem from the following:
We listen to the wrong people. There is nothing wrong with talking to your partner, your mate, or an ex colleague about a potential move. However, they have not been through the process. They do not know what you know. Yes, collectively they can help paint the picture, but when someone goes to a firm because their mate recommended it, or works there, or their mate’s girlfriend works there, then this does not represent due diligence. Listening too much to one person who doesn’t know what they’re talking about cannot be a good idea. Put it this way; would you marry your best mate’s husband or wife? Would you even shag them?? Probably not. What’s right for them probably isn’t right for you.
We’re also all blinded by the money. In this industry, the best recruitment firm has never and will never pay the highest basic salaries in the industry. Fact. If you have an offer at $100k or an offer at $120k, I can almost guarantee that you should take the $100k offer. I don’t even need to know the names of the firms. The problem is, if you don’t know this industry, that sounds like madness. Revert to point A.
We also hang around to “compare offers”. If you find yourself trying to get as many offers in front of you simultaneously so that you can pick the “best”, you will end up with a shite CV. When I was single I tried to date multiple women to try and pick the “winner” as my girlfriend. How do you think that went?? If you have an offer and are waiting on another, then the first job isn’t for you. If it truly fits, what other firms say doesn’t really matter.
Everyone is allowed to make a poor career choice. I’ve made one/some. It’s easy to be dazzled by the money, the title, a slick talking boss. It’s those who habitually make these mistakes, and yet still give good career advice to their own candidates that infuriate me. At some point recruiters need to understand that as much as they are career experts to their candidates, when they themselves become candidates, there are people who can provide good advice to them. I’d like to think that we can.
If making poor life decisions is your “thing”, there’s still a couple of tickets left for NZs hottest Recruitment networking event next month. Click the link and I’ll see you there.
^SW
