HR

Five strange things recruiters say

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1)  “We’re looking for a big hitter” – Come again? Explain to me what a big hitter actually is? An admission that you’ve failed to develop your internal talent? An acceptance that you normally recruit mediocre talent? I’ve never met a big hitter, I’m not sure I’d recognise one if I did. Except perhaps for the unnatural muscle development in the dominant arm.

2)  “You must have experience in the industry” – Ok….so walk me through this. Either they need specific skills, or they don’t. I get that if you are looking to hire a rigger for the North Sea then a certain amount of experience is going to be required, so just define it. But if you’re looking for a Finance Manager? Or a HR Manager? How does industry really matter?

3)  “We provide opportunities for growth and development” – Oh no? Really? Because I was looking for a job that didn’t. I was really looking for something that had no room for any sort of progression. Everything was looking so good up until that point. We were so close, but yet so far.

4)  “We require a demonstrable record of hitting targets” – I’m good at darts, that works, no? Because otherwise I’ll have to tell you the truth, about the fact that I’ve slightly missed every target set for me throughout my career. Because, of course, I’ll admit that at interview, because you’ve asked me. And we always tell the truth.

5)  “You need to demonstrate progressive experience” – Now I’m at a loss. Can you have regressive experience? Maybe as a recruiter you can? Maybe that’s the thing?Maybe they live in some parallel universe. Maybe.

Or, maybe it is just me?

The last resort

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We draw inspiration from some funny places. The moments, the stories, the experiences that sometimes we even struggle to place can form our thinking, our feeling and our doing. As a kid, I had a collection of Aesop’s Fables, I can’t even remember whether they were read to me, or I read them myself. Or perhaps even both. But I remember the stories.

The one that sticks with me most is the story of the North Wind and The Sun. If you’re not familiar with the fables then you can read more about it here. The message being that gentleness or persuasion is more powerful than force or bluster. A lesson that has stuck with me through life and work.

The organizational context within which we co-exist is becoming increasingly complex, with relationships stretching across borders and boundaries. Inter connecting departments, shared purpose with separate ownership, leadership from within not above.  The world of work is increasingly full of ambiguity.

And faced with ambiguity and complexity, the natural instinct is to create order from disorder, certainty in uncertainty and control the uncontrollable. But the rules of the games have changed forever and the traditional methods of management are themselves ineffective, outdated and the refuge of the ineffective and outdated; the last resort of the inept.

In this increasingly complex and inter connecting world those that succeed are the ones that understand that trust beats control, that persuasion beats force, that collaboration beats independence. We create cohesion not by instruction, but by willingly coming together, we create certainty by collectively defining the future, we create success through self-determination and empowerment.

The future of work bears little resemblance to the past, the environment is changing at such a pace and some will adapt, but many won’t. The scared, ill prepared and ineffective will try to hold it back. The wise will listen, understand, talk, create, co-operate and succeed.

When things are bafflingly complex, only through empowering, respecting, trusting and collaborating will we find the way through.

Only by letting go will we hold on.

Because being you is hard

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I understand you want to be popular. I understand that you want to be accepted. I understand the hurt that you feel when you’re not.

I see how this makes you behave. I see how you make choices for them and not for you. I see how this makes you hesitant, resistant, less than the sum of your parts.

I feel how you hurt. I feel how you need and want.

I feel how you feel.

I want something better for you. I want you to be you. I want you to feel, understand and see these things.

But wanting is not being, and seeing is not doing. Understanding is not acting and feeling…….is why it’s all so hard.

Some people are born to be different, some people are born to stand out, some people have to walk up the down escalator….even when they don’t want to.

Never be afraid of being yourself, of being who you are. Never be afraid of being.

It’s better to stand out as who you are, than blend in by being who you’re not.

It is better to be you.

Whatever may come.

Get your sexy on….

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Having a mouth that moves faster than your brain can have both advantages and disadvantages. Like anything in life, you have to take the crunchy with the smooth. It was at the end of an interview with HR Magazine that I uttered the words, “Before I die, I want to make HR sexy, that’s my mission in life,” A phrase that has gone on to be mocked and criticised in equal measure. That’s ok, I’m good with that…..you don’t wear the shirts that I wear unless you have a thick skin.

Now clearly, I didn’t mean that I wanted the profession to don suspenders and a basque or to in any way physically get a little bit jiggy with their business. Only those with the stunted intellectual prowess of a failed Parisian artist dragging their sorry carcass from an 18th century absinthe parlour in the early hours of a fog soaked night would draw that conclusion. In fact, the idea that I, or indeed anyone, would suggest anything of this sort is just down right dumb and borderline insulting.

But that isn’t the main thing that struck me from the whole sexygate nonsense. It was more the slightly embarrassed self mockery that came from the profession itself. Like suggesting the awkward bespectacled geek or, the child of the orthodentist who takes too much of his work home with him, could actually become the prom king or queen. Who us? Get away. Clearly the person saying it is mad. Right?

Because HR doesn’t want to be sexy, it wants to be serious. It doesn’t want to be desired, it wants to be respected. It doesn’t want people to feel, it wants them to think. And that is the reason, why unless we change the way in which we represent ourselves, we will never be any of these things.

People have choices about the careers that they pursue, they take views from their friends and their families, from their tutors and advisors. Most people want to do something with their lives that makes a difference, that appeals to them on both an emotional and intellectual level. They want to do something with meaning.

HR for me is the profession that sees more of an organisation than any other, it is the profession that can systemically improve performance and deliver results and profitability, it can make people’s working lives better, it can drive innovation, entrepreneurialism and creativity, it can improve customer service, shareholder return and employee satisfaction.

And, if that wasn’t enough, it can be fun, lighthearted and even irreverent at times.

A profession that does all of this, that can improve the lot of all major stakeholders and be fun? Sexy?

I mean, really……that’s just stupid. Clearly I’m mad.

DISCLAIMER: The title of this blog post is in no way intended to suggest that any reader should in any way, physically, mentally or metaphysically perform any sort of inappropriate act or make any suggestion either orally, in writing or through the medium of contemporary dance that could be deemed inappropriate by any other individual. Always seek the consent of anyone with a 5 metre vicinity, before getting your sexy on.