Wouldn’t you want the X-men working for you? 

Professor Charles Francis Xavier, the X-men’s founder, wanted people with that something “extra,” people whose  special skills were manifest yet misunderstood. He built a tool to find these unique men and women. He broke down their skills, categorized them, and finally brought them together to maximize their potential.

Professor X was in the business of creating superheroes. He was a SUPER Connector!  In short, Marvel Comics taught me everything I needed to know to be a successful IT recruiter.  I was going to use this idea to build the perfect team.

Every recruiter can learn from Professor X. After all, this is the man – the mutant, whatever – who built Cerebro, a device that allowed him to use his mind to find exactly who he was looking for. We all have a Cerebro these days: the possibilities of social media and Google are nearly limitless. LinkedIn, CareerBuilder, Twitter, Facebook etc. were full of potential people. This is our professional capital, and we must use it wisely. Once Professor X found the individuals he wanted, he had to make certain that what he wanted for them was what they wanted too. Then he had to convince them to join him. That is, he began to recruit them.  That was the tricky part.  How do we convince them to join? How do I speak to them?

Perfect.  You see like the good Professor I was going to build my tool.  Boolean search terms and the internet were going be my Cerebro.   I knew I could build the machine but I had one problem, unlike the professor I was not ONE of them.  I did not know how to code and frankly the idea of building a computer confused me. How am I going to talk to them?   What I did was read about technology and learned.  I listened to those who knew about technology and took what I found to graph it in my mind knowing what went where and why.  JAVA is not JavaScript i.e. Then it happened. I began to connect with people and build my network.  I used what I had learned about all types of technology to converse with them and explain why they would want to come and work with my company.   I listened to what they wanted and offered what we had.  Those who were not interested at the time I kept in my folder for a later date to reconnect, and I did.  I used a database tool to remind me to call again in the future and see if they would be willing to speak again.  I began to become a connector to people. They would begin to want to connect with me and would let me connect to others they knew.  I built a tool so that daily, weekly, monthly I could go back and find them with ease and keep my connections alive with them.  I made myself easy to find and answered emails and calls as quickly as I could. I also kept reading, listening, and learning about anything new in the tech world. 

Later, over the years, I have taken this method with me to the companies I have recruited for in helping attract the talent they need. Through reaching out to the network I built in the past I can find the employee needed now.  I found myself in a world where people were comfortable when I called. They knew me to be sincere and knowledgeable.  I get referrals daily.  People return calls and emails.  So, in my own way I became a professor X of recruiting talent with my very own Cerebro and the soft skills that one needs to get talent to respond.