Recruiter's Couch

I used to believe in the idea of six degrees of separation but now I think it’s more like three. I keep tripping over people who are connected to people I know.

I guess in my field it’s more common to find connections. Let’s face it.  I phone strangers for a living. I rarely work with the same people twice and if I do my job well, more people get pulled into the spinning wheel of connections.

There are some pretty big lessons here.

You have to nice to everyone because you never want to find out that you just bad mouthed your neighbour to his best friend.

It would also be bad if you were very critical about a former boss only to find out that he just got hired where you just interviewed.

And here’s a good one:  sarcasm does not work on a screen. You can use it in a phone call, video,  podcast or anything else where the recipient can see your face. If they can’t see your eyes, they won’t get the joke. Trust me. This one can be messy.

So remember, that as we get older, the world gets smaller.  You never know when you will find yourself talking to a future boss/reference/in-law.  Be nice to everyone.  If you can’t be nice, then at least be respectful and polite.  It will pay off in the end and if it hasn’t paid off, then it’s not the end.

Halloween is over and I had not even put away my vampire teeth when the holiday music started playing downstairs in the mall. Aaaack!

This means the deluge of holiday parties can’t be far off.  Usually, I dread these sorts of things.  People stand around sipping wine and nibbling at snacks even though they are starving.  They smile their very best fake smile and hope their boss is not counting the glasses of wine they have consumed.

This year is going to be different.

I have decided to change my approach.  I am going to look at each soiree as a chance to say hello to people I don’t often get to talk with and introduce myself to some new folks.

Why?  – Because maybe I can help them.  This may sound a bit cracked, but hear me out.  I talk about jobs, resumes and careers for a living.  Who does not want help with that?

The only thing I have to figure out is how to start the conversation.  For me, that’s the hardest part.  Gone are the days when “Come here often?” or “What’s your sign?” would open up friendly dialogue and I think it’s a bit crass to start with “What was your T4 last year?”.

If you met a headhunter at a party, what would you want to know?

Some days I wish I worked with widgets.  Widgets come in various sizes for specific uses.  They come in red, chartreuse or any other colour you might want.

You can guarantee that a widget is going to fit in the hole.  You can be pretty certain that if it is round or square, it will continue to be round or square. Widgets don’t care if it is raining or hot.  They don’t even mind the full moon.

But I don’t work with widgets.  I work with people and it can very hard to determine kind of person I am dealing with.  There is no bar code on a candidate’s forehead that lets me scan their history and attributes.

Clients can describe education and past experience but it’s not like either of us can log on to Amazon to pick the engineer or customer service person that will fit the role.  (Although, there might be something to this…..)

I am seriously thinking of going back to school to get a degree in Widgetery and perhaps even a post grad certificate in managing widgets to their fullest potential.  How hard could that be?

I was talking today with a senior financial type person. We were talking because I thought he might be a fit for one of the roles I am working on.

He sounded pretty astute – like someone who had been around the block a few times.

Here’s what he said:  “You know, Laura, a good company is not good by accident.  There is nothing random about it.  I know good companies. I can smell them.”

Naturally, he is very happy where he is.  He knew exactly what he was looking for when he was evaluating opportunities as they were presented to him.

What about the rest of us?  What about those of us who are not so sure what their dream company looks like or, for that matter, smells like?

• Fast growth or something more stable
• Big or small or in between
• Something familiar or a totally different space
• Local or international
• A place where you are known or a place where no one has ever heard of you

There is no right answer, no magical formula.  The best way to evaluate different options is to weigh what is being offered against what you have now and what you want your future to look like.

Maybe it should smell like a crisp, new shirt or maybe it should smell like a warm, chocolate cookie.  It’s up to you.

This morning I found myself quite overwhelmed by the irony of grooming, especially my hair.  It takes a lot of concentration to remember which bits to shave and which bits to blow dry.

I have to wax my brows. I have to put the light eye shadow on before the dark eye shadow.  I have to put stuff in my hair to make it stay out of my way and then remember not to touch it.

Sheesh!

Of course, the most ironic thing is blow drying my hair when it’s 95 degrees outside. No wonder the climate is falling apart. Honestly, the things we do to look civilized!

And the maintenance part is worse. Once you start dealing with the nasty hairs on your chin, you can never leave them alone again. They are worse than the most noxious weed in my garden or keeping a 10 year old Fiat on the road.

Did I point out that all of this takes time and money to deal with?  Appointments and credit cards – all in the name of looking “put together”.  And, by the way, it should look effortless too.

I feel like I finally have a handle on most of this stuff most of the time. I think the only thing left to master is heels. I think I might need a personal trainer and a serious program for that.

So if you see me tottering around in the next few months, just give me a big thumbs up and tell me I look terrific okay?

An interesting concept came up in our discussions yesterday: productive conflict. It’s the idea of discussing or even arguing a point not so you can win, but so you can make sure that you have a complete understanding of the idea; that way everyone involved in the discussion is on the same page.

There is no mud slinging or sarcasm involved. This is about picking apart the idea, not the proponent of the idea.

For some people, this is a difficult thing to grasp. We are so used to accepting ideas and not rocking the boat.

We are also not generally encouraged to argue with a manager, customer or hiring manager.

I am not suggesting that you get into a fistfight at your next job interview. That’s not what this is about. It’s about discussing and questioning to show that you are engaged and interested.

The objective is to have the person you are talking with say “hmmm… that’s a good point” at least once.

Then you will know that you have added value to the conversation and given the person pause. Hopefully enough pause to have recognized and internalized that value.

So listen actively and with confidence. Take what you hear, flip it on its ear and toss it back without fear.

If you don’t have a smartphone, stop reading this and go read the newspaper instead.

If you do have one, then you have a great job search tool in the palm of your hand.

Here’s why:

• You have access to your personal email all the time.
• You can store your resume on your phone or in dropbox mobile so you can to send it to people while you are on the go.
• You can sign up for email or text alerts so that when stuff you like comes up, you can be notified right away.
• You can get the freshly updated LinkedIn app (very slick).
• Monster also has nice app for iPhones and androids.
• Most job boards have mobile versions of their sites. This makes it easy to scout new opportunities over a sandwich or on the train.
• Once the interviews start happening, you can use an interview prep app to practice the tricky soul searching questions you will undoubtedly be asked.

So what are you waiting for?  Get on it!