Changing minds
Ikigai in process, recruitment writing pt 10
Experience influences thoughts.
Thoughts inform decisions.
Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to rewire itself from different stimuli.
An example of this is how social media has reprogrammed us - think about how you feel when a post zings, and the next one zinks. Read up on dopamine loops or watch The Social Dilemma if you're interested.
It's a simple example of how we want to feel good about life and seek more of the same when we find it.
If anything it shows how we are guided by our environment and experiences.
We can also take advantage of this principle if we want to change something about ourselves.
Regular small incremental changes to adopt preferred behaviour are one way to create good habits.
The cynic in me knows that this principle can also be used to compel behaviour.
Cults. Junk food.
However, this same principle is a benefit of a good process done for the right reasons.
How often do experiences in recruitment evoke a feeling that makes you want to experience more?
Too often it's the opposite - jobseekers persist despite the misery in the hope of a better outcome.
Would the passive candidate do the same?
What happens if your recruitment process intentionally creates the small delights that are ikigai at each and every step?
A surprisingly appealing advert that gives all the information they might want
How can your LinkedIn content build trust with potential candidates?
How can your website and other materials give readers what they need?
Communications that don't just manage expectations, but answer their questions before they ask them
Interviews that allow them an objective decision
Timely constructive feedback for successful and unsuccessful candidates
Documentation that comes through as expected, written in easily digestible English, from job descriptions to offer letters
Appropriate contact before their start date, getting them ready for a new role in the right way
How might you feel if you experienced these things? How much more likely are you to stay in process compared to others that don’t?
Ikigai isn’t about a big singular purpose – it focuses on the experiences that define us. The small moments, the seemingly trivial, those that fulfil.
It’s about experiences as much as drive and purpose.
Candidate experience.
See, ikigai can be found everywhere, sometimes unexpectedly, but always about filling a need, and if applied well in recruitment will serve to draw the right people forward for the right reasons.
I mentioned “Someone unexpectedly replying to your 99th job application, the first of none.” as an example of ikigai a little while back.
I get back to every candidate, reciprocating their level of care and effort.
An interviewed candidate gets suitable and sufficient feedback.
An applicant with wholly unsuitable experience gets a template reply saying thanks, but no thanks, at that initial stage.
Of those rejections, I often receive replies showing how unusual it is to get any reply from an application, sometimes that it validates their tough job search.
Partly it’s about decency, but it’s also because I know people are likely to reciprocate how they are treated – ‘treat others as you would have them treat you’.
Who might they know, how might we work together in future?
I do it because it answers “How can we fulfil this person’s needs?” without being detrimental to mine.
Think about that question of any step you take in recruitment, and you might change how you approach that step while serving to improve your odds of meeting your own needs.
Steps that aren’t just administrative burdens – they’re commercial opportunities.
What might candidates hope to gain from any recruitment touchpoint?
How can you meet their scepticism?
What bad experiences have they had, and how might you help them change their minds about your intent?
How can your content encourage the right action?
When you see the benefit from ikigai-focused words, how might that influence your actions and how you work with your candidates?
The benefit should be to meet your own needs, in hiring and recruitment.
Anyway, that’s enough about Ikigai, the I in AIDE. The next edition is about the D, Definition.
Thanks for reading.
Regards,
Greg
p.s. While you are here, if you like the idea of improving how you recruit, lack capacity or need better candidates, and are curious how I can help, these are my services:
- commercial, operational and technical leadership recruitment (available for no more than three vacancies)
- manage part or all of your recruitment on an individually designed basis for one client
- recruitment coaching and mentoring
- recruitment strategy setting
- outplacement support
Get in touch to discuss if my approach is right for you.