Bring the heart back to Staffing!!

I wrote this 3 years ago, and when I reread it I realized it applies now more than ever. 

So “The heart of Rock and Roll” as Huey Lewis sang, is still beating. The question is how is the heart of staffing? From the things I have seen, and heard I seriously question if the “heart of staffing” even exists anymore. 

What I mean by the “heart of Staffing” is the reason we do it, the way we do it, the way we handle ourselves with people etc. I sometime think because of social media, ATS, HRIS, and metrics, etc.  we forgot what it is like to be …human, what it is like to be a candidate, and hiring manager, heck I think some forget what it is like to be a staffing professional. 

What brought this up was listening to the way a recruiter I meant was talking to a perspective candidate for the first time. They were quick, cold, callous, uncaring, and basically acted like the candidate was wasting their time. The interesting part was the candidate was perfect for the position. It made me start listening, and watching what other staffing professionals do and say, not to just applicants but other recruiters and hiring managers. While they were for the most part cordial, and polite, there was no zest, no sense of caring. They were almost robotic, there were “PC” but nothing else, there was no heart. 

One thing I have learned in my years in staffing is you have to have heart, you have to want to do this because you love it, you have to want to talk to candidates to not just see if they have the skills you need but to see what they are all about, what kind of person are they, what is in their hearts. You need to talk with hiring managers like they are more than just an annoying person who wants something, but more as a person who need your help. We are in the time of “Social Media” trust me everyone knows when you treated someone bad, when you stopped caring, when you stopped having heart. 

What I am saying is start acting human, start using your heart. Start remembering what it is like in the other person shoes, start remembering the way you want to be treated and remember the way you treat someone now will come back to you, the only question is will it be for the good or bad. Remember we are in the age of “Social Staffing” so having a heart is important