THE REACTIVE RECRUITING FUNCTION

(2 min read)

Early in my career, I had an executive coach who gave me some hard-to-swallow feedback after he read my 360-degree assessment. It was at a time when I was making a transition from an individual contributor to my first recruiting leadership role. 

It was also at a time when the term “war for talent” was just starting up, and an explosion of technology and innovation was disrupting the talent acquisition landscape for the first time.

At that moment, I was overwhelmed trying to figure out how to be a great leader, a great boss AND deal with all the complexities of running a recruiting department for a rapidly growing company.

Oh…and I had two kids under the age of three at home!

Piece of cake, right?

Well, to paraphrase my coach’s razor-sharp feedback, here’s the message he gave me: 

You’re flying by the seat of your pants.
You have no clear vision and no strategy for your team.
You have no systems for running the operational side of your function.
This lack of clarity and chaotic way of operating is causing your overwhelm. And you’re burning your team out in the process.

Jokingly I asked, “Sooooo, you’re telling me there’s room for improvement, haha?”

He didn’t laugh.

And that was the turning point for me. That’s when I realized I needed to take control of my recruiting function…instead of continuing to let IT control ME.

The problem was, I didn’t know how.

And there was no one around to show me.

So, I just put my head down and thought that working a billion hours per week would solve all my problems.

Sadly, it did not.

Actually, the more I worked, the more I realized that my coach was right.

I was flying by the seat of my pants. I was letting my days control me instead of me controlling my days. I didn’t have a clear strategy or a plan. And I wasn’t being a great boss to my team.

To put it simply, I was running a Reactive Recruiting Function.

A Reactive Recruiting Function exists when you don’t have a clear strategy or systems in place to ensure success. As a result, you live in a constant state of reacting to whatever comes your way.

At that time in my career, I was no different than my interview friend Jenna. So, in that moment, I snapped too.

I decided I was done operating in reactive mode. So I called my coach.

On the next page, I’ll tell you what he told me and why it gave me hope that I AM competent, overwhelm IS preventable, I CAN gain control of my function, I CAN be a better leader to my team and I CAN be seen as a strategic advisor to the business.

This next section is the most important, so don’t skip it.

Next Up — Part 4 of 6 — Clarity + Operations