Recruiting Is An Emotional Roller Coaster

𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝘀 𝗔𝗻 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿

I’m a gamer.

I grew up playing Atari with my brother, then headed to Nintendo, through Sega, while finally crash-landing into the Playstation universe since the PS1 debuted.

I always favored sports games. Especially Madden, PGA, FIFA, MLB, NHL, and NBA games.

I remember NBA Live ’09 back when I lived in Los Angeles.

At that time, you could make yourself. Make yourself especially skilled I might add, LOL.

The music was produced by actual artists (shoutout to Kid Cudi’s first mainstream banger on there)

But one thing that stood out the most was the genuine rush you get from tipoff, that’s sustained the entire simulated hour.

Quite frankly, It was an emotional rollercoaster.

It reminds me of the time I worked at Aerotek as a recruiter. The guy who owns the Ravens (BOOOOOO!) started the company. It’s a fine firm, even if they’re Baltimore Ravens fans (BOOOOOO AGAIN!) That’s where I cut my teeth, learned business acumen. Fine-tuned my recruiting skills. Really learned what client management was and could be with the right team and effort.

Recruiting is an emotional roller coaster, especially up until the unknown is settled. Will this client be the right fit? Will they prepare for the interview properly? Will they show up to the interview with leather pants, a tight-fitted black clubbing shirt, and an Italian shoe horn necklace? (true story)

I remember days when you started off laughing and fist-pumping while finishing literally crying in my manager’s office.

Recruiting is like babysitting until the client is well off and re-engaged on their career journey. But while trying to place butts into seats, it really can take a toll on your professional AND personal life.

You can go through an entire vetting process, bring someone into an interview, run background and reference checks, negotiate a solid package…and then get left holding the empty bag because the candidate left after a month.

Boiling it down, think about your situation from the hiring manager’s point of view. He or she has to be pulled aside from their day-to-day at the end of the workday to review resumes and fill an open requisition. An open requisition that is either costing them money or not making them money by leaving it vacant. When they find an ideal candidate, sometimes it’s more of a cultural fit if they know they can train someone rather quickly. So trust that if it’s supposed to happen, it will. If not, keep looking for opportunities in this new space.

The hiring process is selective for a reason — it’s time-consuming and costs a lot of money and resources from sourcing, recruiting, and interviewing to background checks, reference checks, drug tests, and finally training. A lot is involved so it’s crucial they get it right. That means, showing them you care about their time. And their money! Show them you offer this value that they can use in this open requisition. Why is it open? What pains do they have because it’s open? Once you can hone in on that, you can start to massage in key-value- and accomplishments-based content that makes your resume pop and motivates these decision-makers to invite you in on an interview. Be pragmatic and don’t ask. Offer more than want. Rather than asking people to help you get a job resume, ask them how can you be a better candidate. How can you improve? And what knowledge do you offer to help them to reciprocate?

Also, check out the staffing series I made back during my filmmaker days in the 2000s:

Episode 1:

Episode 2:

#jobstickers #ununemployed #thepragmaticresume