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Recruiting
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Bill Radin
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The
Recruiter's Digest
Recruiting
News, Training & Commentary by Bill Radin |
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June, 2005 |
Forget the Past -- The Future is Now!
"What's the score?" the basketball
coach asked his star rookie during halftime.
"We're down by 20 points," said the rookie.
"Wrong answer," shot back the coach. "From this moment on,
the score is
0-0. What happened in the first half is history, and there's nothing we
can do about it. But if we go out and play a great second half, we can
outscore the other guys by 21 points and win the game."
I love this story, not only for its optimism, but because it
addresses so many aspects of our professional life.
For example, many rookie recruiters feel they can't compete
effectively against recruiters with much more experience. Or that
cold calling is a waste of time, because it didn't work the last time it
was tried.
But they could be wrong; from this moment on, the score is 0-0.
I've found that an enterprising rookie recruiter has just as good a chance to open a
large account or find a high-quality candidate as a ten-year
veteran. If that weren't the case, there wouldn't BE any ten-year
veterans. And in terms of cold calling, recruiters sometimes give up too
easily, especially when confronted with gnarly gatekeepers or a painful
string of rejection.
Whatever your failures or mistakes have been, it's best to leave them
where they belong -- in the past. While it may be true that insanity is
defined as doing the same thing over and over while expecting a
different result, it's just as crazy-making to switch horses every
time the race becomes contested.
As Jim Cramer of CNBC's Mad Money says, it doesn't matter how much
money you made or lost in the past by investing in a particular
stock. The only thing that matters is where the stock is headed in the
future.
The Flip Side is True, Too.
Just because you had a terrific client yesterday doesn't mean the client
still needs you today. Or that the expertise you worked so hard to
develop will forever guarantee your success.
According to Tom Friedman, author of The World is Flat, the U.S.
has been asleep at the wheel for over a decade. During that time, the
Chinese were quietly taking our manufacturing jobs, the Indians were
taking our technology jobs and the Argentines were
taking our Olympic gold medals in basketball. Our response?
Hit the snooze button.
The U.S. was so dominant for so many years, we never felt the need to
look over our shoulders. But that's no longer the case. We're now ranked
17th in the world in math and science, and new technical schools are
popping up all over the planet to satisfy our competitors' insatiable
appetite for skills that drive innovation and job creation. And you
can bet our global high-value rivals aren't racing us to the bottom.
Should we worry about losing our jobs to a team of bright and enthusiastic
22-year old recruiters working from a 24/7 call center in Bangalore? Maybe.
But from this moment on, the score is 0-0, and if we go and play a great
second half, we can outscore the other guys and win the game.
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