Calling All Recruiters - Humaneness For the Under and Unemployed

A couple weeks ago I started attending a local jobs networking group at a church near my home in Frisco. I am not sure why I felt compelled to show up, but I wanted to go see what it was all about. I have to be honest, I think it was one of the best decisions I could have made for my own career.

It was weird, walking in to a room of people that are under or un-employed when not only do I have a job, I have a job helping other people get jobs. The group didn't make me feel out of place but I could tell they were suspicious about my attendance. I represented the person who they were emailing, calling, linking into. I also represented in many ways a lot of no's, rejection emails, and unreturned phone calls. Here are the reasons I think these meetings are going to prove to be a great thing for me personally and in my career.

In talking to these people I was taken back to some of my earliest days as a TPR and why I was better than most of my competition; I cared. I can remember the calls with the people who were desperate for work, the people who needed help, the people who needed a voice. I can remember placing a guy who had been out of work for 2 years. I can remember his wife crying when I called to give her the good news. I can remember the pride on his face when we walked with him to his first day of work. He still has that job, has been promoted once, and is still one of my best success stories in recruiting. Do you remember your best success story? I hope it was more than the biggest placement fee you earned or the best sale you made.
Each of these people is more than the resume they use to represent themselves in their job searches. They are people. Each one is someones mom, dad, uncle, brother, friend, and neighbor. Each of these people have mortgages, rent, car payments, and dinner to worry about. Each of them is a person. Have you lost site of who you are talking to on the other end of the phone? Do you see resumes instead of faces?
These people want to work, and not just because they want a paycheck. Most of the folks in my group were really good at what they did, and that makes it that much harder on them. I have met a call center manager, an aviation stress test engineer, an M/E with 33 years of experience, a controller, a senior buyer, and a strategic planner. I have met a helpdesk engineer, a mechanic, a financial planner, collections specialist, and a programmer. While their skills haven't matched the jobs they have applied to recently, all of them are skilled. Do you look for the skills in all the people you talk to? Do you counsel the folks that might have an uphill battle or do you walk away?
What if it were me? What if I were sitting there as a job seeker? I would feel lucky to have a network of people all sharing in an experience that an outsider like myself can't fully understand. I would feel blessed to have a group so committed to people "landing" their favorite times are donuts and saying goodbye to people that don't need the meetings anymore. This group is self moderated by volunteers who keep up to date with job boards, movers and shakers in the industry, and members of the group. They schedule speakers, industry leading speakers in social media, resume writing, career coaching, and interviewing. In fact, some them know LinkedIn better than I do!

So what is my point? Simple! Please take a step back and remember these are people we are talking to. Human beings. Maybe it was you some day, maybe it was a family member, or maybe it is your neighbor. Not everyone we speak to is in this boat, but 10% of Americans, maybe more, are. Do you take the time on that 10% to help or do you move on? Many of you have a voice, an influence, the power to help. You all are experts at getting people jobs. Help people get jobs. Take a chance on a resume you may have normally passed over and see what you find. Share your knowledge with the people who need it. You have he power to rebuild self esteem, you have the power to teach, you have the power to champion people, you have the power to be humane to people who need it.

If you want to help my group, please share your own tips, tricks, and best practices that I can give to them. Share with them heart warming stories of success that can inspire them to keep going. Share with them your own humaneness in a tough time. Share them with a comment, share them with an email to me, or come to the group and present if you are in the DFW area. Please share with my group, and share with your networks as well.

Comment by Keith Plesha on September 7, 2011 at 3:01pm: I have no issue with the people that actively take part in trying to better themselves or simply network to get hired.

The issue I have is with those job seekers that do nothing! The ones that feel sorry for themselves because no one is calling them about positions; those that just expect to be handed something like they are entitled to a job; those that apply and don't follow-up on their application; those that apply for everything under the sun even though they aren't technically qualified. I see a lot more of the latter than those who are actively doing everything they can to improve themselves or differentiate themselves from the pack of other job seekers.

This is an unprecedented time in my career because I have never seen this many people out of work and struggling to make ends meet. I went through the economic boom in technology during the mid 2000s and reaped a lot of the benefits. Unfortunately, I can't take every job seeker under my wing to coach them on how to get a job. There are countless resources out there and people in specific roles that can help with things like resume writing and networking.

I truly feel for those people that have taken jobs outside their fields just to make a paycheck; pride aside. I see far too many job seekers on HR groups on Linkedin that do nothing but complain about recruiters and company HR departments as if it does them more good to complain than truly seek out the "why" they aren't getting hits or hired. My success stories revolve around people that I struggled to get placed and the joy it brought me and them when WE finally landed something. Oddly enough, I was terminated from a staffing firm because I was spending too much time with those folks that management deemed as "unplaceable" and less focused on making the company money (specifically in the recession).

Comment by Sandra McCartt on September 7, 2011 at 9:53pm: @Keith, i had to smile when i read your line about management deeming people unplacable. When i started in the business i worked for an employment agency. I was handed a little box of 5X8 applications the day i went to work and told to get on the phone and see if could find them a job.

I didn't know it at the time but what management always did was give the rookie the box of the "unplacable". Since i was too green to know the difference i just placed them, much to the shock of my boss. She finally told me that it would be interesting to see what i could do with some "good" candidates. It didn't sit exactly right with me so from then on when somebody would say, "this candidate is not placeable, blah, blah." I would tell them to give them to me i could place them. It got to be a point of honor to get them in, work them over, clean them up and either place them or get them programmed as to how and where to find a job. I still do it, i will make the time or if too busy i can give a fast coaching session on the phone of where to look and/or who to call.

I firmly believe that the recruiting gods smile a little when we take that few minutes to give someone a direction or two that generates a little hope and the will to hit it another day to keep looking and when the recruiting gods smile i always seem to fill a spot i didn't think i could. Go figure.

Comment by Kirby Cole on September 8, 2011 at 10:38am: @Sandra I have heard of the days of the 5X8 days of organizing in the business. Love me some ATS!!

Comment by Dayna Herndon on September 8, 2011 at 11:32am: @kirbycole I am pleased to see so many comments on your post. Our ultimate success hinges on service to people. The most fulfilling times of my life were when I made the decisions, working at home, working FOR people, without the limitations and expectations of a recruiting firm built to make a profit. How many of us take our roles in society seriously? Messing with and creating careers for people is a serious business. It is not a frivolous occupation, but one that impacts families - the most important unit on Earth. I would be very interested in helping you create a conference or association of some sort for like-minded recruiters.

Getting back to the basics is what we need, if that is the priority, everything else falls in line.

Count me in.

Dayna Herndon.

Comment by Mark Babbitt on September 11, 2011 at 11:14am: Kirby, this is a terrific post. Tank you, as Valentino says, for choosing to be part of the solution to putting "human" back into "Human Resources".

I suppose it is easier to hide behind a keyboard and not care, or to blame candidates for being lazy or to categorize them as unemployable because of constantly moving standards. However, Point No. 1 here shows us the benefits of stepping outside our comfort zone and caring -- and places the "reason to get up every day" rewards of recruiting front and center. Well done.