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Recruiting
News,
Training &
Commentary
by Bill Radin
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The
Recruiter's Digest
Recruiting
News, Training & Commentary by Bill Radin |
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January,
2009 |
Too Much Training?
(see it on YouTube)
How did
you learn to type? To sew on a button? To make an omelet?
Did you (A) receive instruction; or, (B) did you figure it out for yourself?
If you're like me, the answer is (C) both.
I took a typing class in high school, but had to teach myself how to cut and
paste. My mother taught me how to thread a needle, but when a button came
off my shirt 10 minutes before a TV interview, I had to improvise in a
hurry.
As for the omelet, my college roommate showed me the ropes; but over the
years I tweaked his recipe, and my eggs are far superior.
Training vs. Self-Reliance
The point is, most everything we do combines formal instruction with trial
and error. Otherwise, there can be gaps in our understanding or performance.
And the same is true with recruiting.
For example, some recruiters are information addicts. They constantly seek
out all manner of training and coaching, but seem to make the same mistakes
over and over again.
At the other extreme are the autodidacts—those who are totally self-taught.
As a trainer, autodidactic recruiters drive me crazy, because you can't
teach them anything. By nature, they're resistant to any method they didn't
figure out for themselves.
The Best Teacher of All
I've found that the most successful people—recruiters or otherwise—are
receptive to training and eager to stand on the shoulders of giants. They're
comfortable working within a system, as long as they get good results.
But people also have a sixth sense for when a system breaks down, or they
need an answer that can’t be found online or in their training materials. At
that point, their inner coach kicks in, and they begin to look for ways to
solve problems, or at the very least, learn from their mistakes.
That's why I love the expression, "Success is a poor teacher." No matter how
rigorous your training, there's no better—or more personal—learning
experience than a setback or a failure. Being forced to learn on the fly can
be difficult and frustrating. But as Tony Robbins once observed, there's a
lot to be gained from turning the frustration of a problem into fascination
for the solution.
Giant leaps in proficiency rarely occur as a result of preparation alone.
Rather, success has a way of arriving just in time, at that lonely
intersection where formal training and the need for self-preservation
collide. |
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