[font=Helvetica, sans-serif]By Adrian.Wood on July 21, 2014 / 0 Comments
Shadowmatch helps clients increase the quality of hire and improve turnover. I know we also do a lot of team alignment and help with internal employees, but recruiting is really where Shadowmatch originated. Do you know what one of the most common concerns we hear is when meeting with a new client? – “You know, I’d really like to see how you could help, but I’m just too darn busy trying to get my positions filled!”It’s almost akin to ACME Rockets having a rejection call from Napoleon on the night before the battle of Waterloo saying “Go away, I’m busy planning a battle!” (You have to crouch down and say it in a French accent for full effect). It happens though, and I think that, in the heat of trying to filter a pipeline or manage candidates through interviews, we suddenly lose sight of the fact that if we never stop to sharpen the axe, then the trees will slowly get thicker until suddenly we’re lost in a forest.
Being “busy” often seems “good” (or at least productive), especially when hiring has picked up from the nuclear winter of layoffs in the last few years, but we seem to have forgotten some of the best practices that existed in the past, and become reluctant to re-embrace them. Perhaps the people involved are new, perhaps it just feels good to “do” and be valued again? Everyone who identifies with this resurgence of activity and who dove into the recruiting fray should stop and take a step back for a second.
If your day is typically consumed with interviewing candidates, or trying to manage hundreds of applicants in the pipeline, you’re probably focused so much on the tactical transactions that it will be hard for you to think for even a second about the strategy. No doubt that candidates and open positions need to be managed rapidly, but you can increase your overall efficiency (and effectiveness) by simply stopping and asking “what could I use to sharpen my axe?” I’m not talking about implementing a full blown HR suite or ATS (that’s beyond long term strategic) but there is a wealth of really valuable point solutions in the marketplace today (Shadowmatch for one). High value, rapid implementation and (quite frankly) way cool applications that can make your axe razor sharp in days and weeks (not months). These are real and practical ways to start to return some of your lost time, and clear the forest so you can see the strategy again.
Perhaps your situation is not as dire as the diminutive Bonaparte facing Wellington and the Prussians, but you should take a step back at least once in a while and reach out for advice so that you never have to face your own private Waterloo!
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