Recruitment is like a marathon, not just in the sense that it’s always a race to find a candidate before your client receives a CV they’ll accept, either from a competitor, or through the client’s talent team themselves. It’s why you shouldn’t dream, dreams don’t make success, setting goals, that brings you success.
It’s a marathon in the sense that, it’s not just about getting from A to B. It’s everything in-between, from the entering that race, to the training, ensuring you have the right equipment, overtaking those people running as unicorns, and trying to avoid that dreaded cut off mark.
Well just imagine you’d entered a race, let’s say a Half Marathon, for instance. It’s going to be your first ever run of that distance. You think you’ll be fine, you’ve ignored all your friend’s comments about preparation, done a few 5-8 mile runs and thought, “I’ll do it on the day.” No that won’t do, and what it results in is not reaching that finish line!
This is just like Recruitment, in that, your market research, keeping track of businesses career pages, cold calls, checking in on companies, it all counts as your preparation, your “training” if you like, so that you’re completely on the ball when those companies advertise for work, as you had the job spec yesterday.
Next there’s equipment, just as a runner needs a gait analysis, the right trainers, the right nutrition and, if they really want the extra stats, a GPS watch, to track their stats and monitor their pace.
Now in recruitment, the equipment, I’ll include learning and development, as giving you the tools to do the job. The physical tools being, first and foremost a computer, internet connection, (simple I know, but we need to cover all bases), a phone, work mobile as well, and most importantly to me, a good set of notebooks and pens to make all my notes throughout the day. As for clothing, you can tell more about someone from their shoes than you think. I’m not saying you have to be in a tie, but being of smart, clean appearance with looked after clothes definitely gives the right impression to clients and candidates alike, as well as ensuring you go to work feeling focussed.
Nutrition is definitely important, and this is relevant across the board in most office jobs, don’t have 4 energy drinks and a selection of pastries and crisps and think you’re doing great. Prep your meals on Sunday, or sort your packed lunch the night before. Drink loads of water, treat yourself to a coffee but don’t go overboard, no one wants to start crashing at 3pm.
Then of course there’s the race. Pace yourself, don’t fly off at the beginning and give yourself an injury, find the appropriate pacer, and stick there, bide you time, trust me, you don’t want the embarrassment of having an injury.
In recruitment, whilst you may think acting quickly is the most important thing, it is in face the act of moving efficiently that is more important. Don’t just send 10 CV’s as fast as you can. Stop, think, really get to know the job description, you know your client, you’ve been talking to them every day. So, slow down and look for a handful of really good CV’s across, then, when they have them, ask for their thoughts, nurture those CV’s whilst you look for the next set to send across.
You will get your ups and downs, your knock backs and disappointments, but nothing compares to crossing that line when you’ve completed that race and helped get someone a new job. Just as in Recruitment, and as Chumbawamba rightly said, if you get knocked down, then you get up again.