“It does what it says on the label”

Have you ever been approached by someone whose job title was something sales based, like Head of Business Development, or Sales Manager, yet they are telling you they are a Recruiter?

The idea that a recruitment job title in a recruitment company can be something sales related is mind-boggling. 

We should never underestimate the power of words. Recruitment companies need someone spearheading their sales efforts, understanding the vision for the company and translating that into actionable plans for the team to focus their efforts on. This might be new service lines, new geographies or new verticals. Sales consultants, and recruitment consultants, however, are not the same thing. Especially in client facing roles, the specialisation should be in ‘recruitment’, not in being able to ‘sell’. 

A recruitment consultant should be exactly that. Someone who consults on the recruitment life-cycle. It is connecting people with opportunity. It is the process of identifying talent and assisting in the attraction and subsequent retention of that talent, not the outcome of an achieved sales target. 

Why do you want to work with a recruiter? To find excellent staff for your company. 

Why is a recruiter the right choice rather than inhouse? They are specialized in their field.

Why are they specialised? They have trained and fine tuned ability to assess the technical, cultural and interpersonal skills required to make recommendations on who might be the right fit for the role, coupled with deep veined networks of candidates. 

Maybe a thought for recruitment companies. Or all companies? Change the title. But don’t change just the title. Change the purpose of the role. Watch the energy change. Change the job title, and watch the consultant ‘connect’ with their role. Change the title, and watch your client satisfaction increase. Change the job title, and watch your team level up, from sales people, to consultants, with repeat business and loyal customers. 

Titles can be very telling. And if we do what it says on the label, let’s make sure the label is accurate.

-Clare Holst 

Happiness Ambassador & Recruiter

I answered this same question in a blog some years ago, when I first moved to Dubai, and despite my journey being far more vast than I ever anticipated, my answer truly has barely changed. 

Why should I work with you? What makes you different?

This is such a good question. What makes me different.. Well, a little history for you – I left my corporate role, a secure position, to seek a better future. But to really answer, we need to rewind a little further. I came from an excellent boutique agency in Australia. I spent 6 years growing, learning and encouraged at every level to explore my recruitment passions, with enough room to make mistakes. I grew quickly with the guidance offered, and was soon contributing to the business in a real way. 

In late 2017, I was approached about an opportunity to move to Dubai, and as with all good stories, well.. It didn’t start with saying “No”. 6 weeks later I was in the Middle East and a complete fish out of water. Everything was different, the language, the business style, the company culture – everything. Truly it took me 12 months to settle. I thought about giving up on many occasions. I struggled to fit in at work, I struggled with how business was conducted, I struggled to add any value at all. Or so I thought. But once again, the reality is that once you figure out what you are passionate about, and stick to that, everything else will fall into place. My passion was not in going out and winning 700 new clients a year and having a single placement with each of the new logos; no. My passion was a little deeper. I focused on enterprise companies, who I could really delve into and understand their culture, their future plans, who I could really get aligned with. What followed was three years of strategic account acquisition and growth. I am proud of the work my team and I did. We brought in the most senior contract and permanent placements in company history, we brought in strategic, multi-geo customers, but more than anything, we built strong relationships. Honest relationships, with two-way communication, co-created values. 

I mentioned that I left – to seek a better future. For me, a better future meant I have a bigger say in both the business direction, and that of my career. The investment in education, in self development, in defining and really working to my core values in all aspects. What makes me different is my undying belief that the right people, with the right attitude, are the vehicle to allow companies to do incredible things, and we must focus on finding, attracting and perfectly positioning these people to do well.

And this question – “Why should I work with you” whilst it is a good question – I don’t find it hard to answer,  as the answer is something I have built my whole career on. It’s the integrity that I live by. As a person, the quality of my work, my ability to influence. It really draws on the old saying “people might not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel”. 

You can get from A to B in many different ways. It is a question of how you want to feel when you get to B though. Do you want to feel tired and exhausted from dealing with a cumbersome process, inflexible, ego-centric recruitment partners? Or do you want to feel enthusiastic and excited about your new joiner, and what the future holds?

The job search is one that is highly personal and highly emotive. Especially when you are working in a market that is hinged on foreign labour. Having a job here is the difference between being able to live in the Middle East, or not.

Several years ago, I was working in Digital Recruitment. And this means many different things, to many different organisations. During this time I studied the principles of Digital Transformation, blogs, articles, studies, readings, and the interesting thing is that this study really translated to and shaped the way I approached recruitment as a practice. It highlighted that Digitization and Digital Transformation, are concepts founded on customer centricity at their core. Every touch point of a process influences the customer’s engagement, their perception, a patchwork of moments that collectively define the experience of that customer.

So how then, do we draw parallels between the fundamental digital principle of experience, and recruitment?

Recruitment – the ultimate relationship oriented industry. A world based on the ability to network, to deliver high quality, to influence and to consult. One of the nuances of recruitment, is it is not solely a buyer and seller transaction, it is one of the only industries, where the product has a say in it’s sale. Where your product can turn around, at the very end of the ‘transaction’ and decide it does not want to be sold, on its own accord.

It comes down to your relationship, to being attentive and empathetic, and engaged. It comes down to your ability to listen, and how you make your customer feel. And in that journey, your recruiter should be your co-creator. Be that the co-creator of your team, or the co-creator of your career.

So maybe, it is time to change the mindset of the modern recruiter. In the digital world we now live in, when customer experience is ultimately the make or break of an organization, our value proposition should be centered around the experience, rather than being defined as the product or service.

Here at Hyrd Consulting, we see ourselves as Curators of Careers. If you are seeking a new position, or a new team member, get in touch, let us assist you.

-Clare Holst 

Happiness Ambassador & Recruiter

Disciple Vs Motivation

It is so important to be hideously honest. Because no one is perfect, and people need to relate to others. Relating not in perfection, but in imperfection. So let me start by sharing something I learnt in the gym, but actually applies to me every day, in my current journey. You will not always be motivated, and if you rely on motivation alone, you will likely fail. You will want to stay in bed, you will not know what you are doing, you will feel isolated or alone, or truly just ‘I can’t be bothered’.

It is not the motivation that is getting you to your desk each morning, latte in hand. It is discipline. It is the structure and having a purpose, a defined list, a practice and a craft to follow. And when you are starting a business, it is chipping away at lists of things. Every day monumental things will not happen, but it is about achieving small things each day, ticking them off, and ‘chipping away’ at the greater picture, to ensure you are on the right path.

Hard work is HARD 

No, really, it is. HARD. If hard work was easy, everyone would do it. The hours, the sacrifice, the risk, the self doubt, the critical evaluation of what you are doing, is it productive? Do you have a product or service or experience that people want? Is it worth it? You aren’t doing it wrong, and you shouldn’t give up. In a culture that talks about ‘working smarter, not harder’ (which I do agree with) it is almost creating a perception that we need not expose ourselves to hard work, or we are doing something wrong. The uncomfortable and inescapable fact is, and will always be – hard work is hard. 

Struggle is not a sign you are failing, it is a sign you are growing. 

It is the hardest thing to keep going, when it feels like all of your activity is amounting to not much. But there is a brilliant thought that my previous MD, a hugely successful and incredibly kind hearted businesswoman, shared with me many years ago, that I continue to live by, and manage my teams by – it is this:

“Activity breeds activity”

Keep going, keep pushing, stick with it. It is ok to struggle, and it is (or can be) exciting. It means we are growing, we are learning and we are pushing ourselves outside our comfort zone. It is the new ideas, it is the core of innovation. Struggle = growth, if you let it. 

How do you re-energise?

We do not need to reinvent the wheel. We need to learn from the masters who built it. When I am feeling exhausted, or demotivated or just generally in a flap (way more often than I care to admit) I get a PodCast on, or read a book. Pick a topic, maybe it is business, mental health, productivity, transformation. There are so many business geniuses out there who willingly share their experiences, their high performance tips and their beliefs which have shaped their success. Not all of them will be relatable, not all will have the same experience as you, or even work in remotely similar fields, but they don’t need to. Perhaps you take ‘one good thing’ away from this. But this ‘one good thing’, is better than the overwhelming ‘no good things’ you had before you listened. Take this lesson and run with it. Let the energy flow through you and reignite the spark, even just a little. 

Just do the next right thing.

In a landmine of decision making, and especially when you are setting up a business, or navigating in a new role, trying to wade through subject matter you have never had to think about before (there was always a department for that), it feels like all you can do is make each decision, the next right thing. Not to say you won’t make mistakes, you will, but if you stick as close to your values and beliefs as possible, it will help you choose the next right thing, even if it doesn’t propel you forward, it certainly is not going to set you back.

Reward is in the journey.

Did you ever really work for something, like a promotion, or a pay-rise, and after all the hard work and effort and never give up attitude, when you finally reached the goal it felt… underwhelming? Something I am learning, every day, is that the true reward is the journey itself. It is settling in and getting comfortable and enjoying the process, rather than gritting your teeth to race to the finish line only to think.. What now? The hard part, I find, is remembering that the journey is where all the fun is.

When people offer you help. Take it. 

I am notoriously bad at accepting things. Presents, compliments, feedback. But one that I am getting better at, is accepting help. People genuinely want to help you and to contribute, and I am realising how fantastic this is. One day, I hope I will be lucky enough to offer my help in return, so in the interim, I graciously accept the offers of assistance, because the people offering are far wiser and more talented in their given fields than I could ever dream, and there is no need ‘to be an island’. Even in pursuit of our individual goals, we are all in this together.

FEAR :  False Evidence Appearing Real.

Okay final one for tonight. FEAR. Especially for me, keeping the fear of failure at bay. I recently heard this acronym and I love it. It reshapes how I approach the things that scare me (like no-one ever wanting to do business with me and destroying my own career at 32). 

• False
• Evidence 
• Appearing 
• Real 

I am sure this list of lessons will only continue to grow, almost on a daily basis, but as one starting out on this journey these points resonate with me, and I felt compelled to share, because maybe one or two of them might resonate with you too.

-Clare Holst 

Happiness Ambassador & Recruiter