Originally published on September 28, 2015
This morning a compelling Linked-In post really caught my attention. It held nothing back about what it was like to search for a job at present via employment agencies. It also made me think - what if playing “politely” simply means one gets screwed over by algorithms and recruiters? After all, if you DO write things in such a way that gets you past the algorithms, then, as the author mentions, a Google search will show more about you. I’m not blaming recruiters here, they have a tough gig, and these tools just help (?) them to deal with the flood of applications they see each day.
But the author made a really valid point: if you want passion, this is what it looks like. Think about where the world’s greatest art, music and sporting achievements come from: when we speak about Beethoven, Shakespeare, Babe Ruth, the Beatles, Michelangelo, and so on, the feelings we have come out of awe and respect for human effort. While software can likely do all of these things, would it mean anything to anyone if it did? Can you imagine saying this “Wow, what a great painting – it was done by a HP Spectre X360 fitted with an Intel 5.0 processor and an NVidia graphics chip?” (or whatever the future equivalent is)? Not likely, because it doesn’t mean much to anyone without human input. If you want human creativity in all of its amazing diversity, then you need to accept that it comes as a package - with human issues.
So when businesses hire people, their challenge involves the following:
When you are hiring, do you actually speak to potential staff face-to-face, or do you make them jump through lots of hoops before they are deigned impressive enough to be graced by your presence? Do you advertise one thing, and actually do another?
Is using recruiters a good way to show new staff what your business stands for, and believes in? Or is it indicative of your broader culture – that finding people is just another thing to be done as quickly and painlessly as possible?
If you ask recruiters to find passionate people, don’t expect them to be wallflowers, and to always tow the company line. If you want to be mediocre, then silencing dissent is a good way to go about it. You’ll get what your company displays rather than what you say it wants: those who are happy to not rock the boat will not speak up with new ideas because they’ve seen what happens to those who do. And those with “get-up-and-go” will have already left, often straight to your competitors.
If you want your business to grow, then you need your people to grow as well.
None of these challenges are easy for either employers or employees to overcome. But trying to think things through from the other perspective can lead to better outcomes for both parties.
If employees are going to spend a third of our lives at work, we’d like to feel proud of our efforts and respected for them. If we don’t feel that, then we’ll either move on, or we’ll find other ways to express our frustrations – and our desire to be authentic. If your firm performs exceptionally well at doing this, we’ll recommend you far and wide, and that is crucial for you, because we trust each other’s opinions far more than we trust your advertising.
I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions. Please get in touch using the comments field below.
