Trust Me, I'm a Professional

Oh RBC how I've missed you... my divorce fueled hiatus has come to an end and in the immortal words of Elton John, the bitch is back.

So much has happened since we last chatted... one thing that hasn't changed? My love/hate relationship with my profession. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE MY JOB. I have the best boss, awesome co-workers, terrific clients, and I'm well compensated for what I do. In the big picture, I really have nothing to complain about.

It's the pesky details. Always the details.

A few months ago I received a promotion of sorts - taking on a larger team, more open positions, higher profile roles. It was a plum assignment and I lobbied hard for the job. Yay me! Just what I needed as I sorted out things in my personal life. I found myself busier than I've been since my rocking agency days and loving every minute of it.

I started digging into my new clients, getting to know them and what they were looking for. Part of this learning experience was talking to the recruiters who worked with these groups before, and getting the low down on the down low, you know - who's awesome, who can be bribed with cookies, who needs "special attention" (we all have one of those). So while I knew what I was getting in to, I still managed to find myself gobsmacked by those that think they can do what I do.

Case in point - sourcing sessions. We get in a big room with hiring managers, throw resumes up on the wall and review together. These are GREAT when first starting out. Test the waters, so to speak. What does the hiring manager like or not like on a profile? And WHY? Awesome opportunity to connect with my teams and try to wrap my non-technical brain around what these developers DO anyway, and what we want to hire more of them to do more of. I love it - until they try to do my job for me.

Now I love an engaged hiring manager. Referral machines who know what they want and aren't afraid to use their networks to go after it? Those are my favorites. But when a manager starts questioning my response rates to cold calls and demanding access to recruiting tools so they can do what I'm doing, I gotta admit I get a little offended.

I wouldn't walk in to your office and start writing code.

I won't. I can't. I don't want to. It would be like taking my car to the mechanic, having them FIX IT, and trying to pull it back into the garage while I insist they dismantle the engine so I can understand EXACTLY what they did to make it run. I don't want that level of detail! Just give me the overview, what worked, what didn't, and what you had to do to get me my happy ending. That is what we should focus on - we've made some great hires. I've shown you what worked, what didn't, and used actual data to show you were we need to spend our time. Let's not take the engine apart, ok? Just drive the car.

Comment by Tim Spagnola on September 25, 2014 at 10:16am: Amy - oh how I have missed you. Let's just drive the car. Great to hear your voice. Awesome post!!!

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on September 25, 2014 at 10:29am: :) Missed you guys tooooooooo!!!! My recruiting family lol Oh and you'll be glad to know I won this round.... my high level client put his faith in me. Good to have friends up top ya know?

Comment by Nicholas Meyler on September 25, 2014 at 5:02pm: That point you make (about people doing things 'their way', instead of the 'best way'), is maybe the thing I like least about this profession, too. But, it has to be somewhat similar when brain surgeons have to listen to their patients telling them where to stick the scalpel, etc. I never get used to it, though. The arrogance of some people, the assumptions they make (like: "you are only a service provider, and therefore you must be subordinate and obedient to me, even though I have no connection to you and haven't paid you a dime"), etc. are really infuriating. My solution is mostly to strive to educate and thereby improve rapport and the situation. If the situation sounds hopeless, I will get antagonistic... Honestly, as bad as it is to ever get antagonistic with anyone, I've found that some of the people I have snapped at or quarreled with in my career have become the most reliable customers, sources of referrals, etc. I can think of multiple instances where there were disagreements with people, which later turned into six-figures worth of billing.

It makes you think, doesn't it? Maybe there is a virtue in being honest.

Comment by Nicholas Meyler on September 26, 2014 at 12:12am: Software engineers who want to tell me how to recruit are absolutely the worst. Good example. My suggestion is to respond with something like: "If you want to tell me how to recruit, how about I rewrite all your code for you to make sure it's grammatically correct. I'm sure that my English language skills are better than yours." That might work... :)

Comment by Derdiver on September 26, 2014 at 10:51am: Ahh like a warm summer wind, Amy is back! Yay! #truestory

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on September 26, 2014 at 11:40am: And then there's my weekly update call with another high level leader, who said "when you guys start talking recruiting, it's like me talking engineering to you. I don't get it and I don't want to." lol THIS guy knows! Great partner, wish more of them understood / respected our profession.

Nicholas as an English major I love that idea.... ;)