The god of small things

Ikigai in principle; recruitment writing pt 8

It’s 9.08am and I’ve just logged on to write this.

I’ll clock off again around 11am to make my daughter’s birthday cake, although we didn’t actually call her Leia, unlike the original text to my colleagues 13 years ago.

This is my ikigai.

Part of the sovereignty running a small business allows, and why I’ll decline any approach about working for someone else, no matter how brilliant that opportunity might be.

Of course, if you knew that, you might appeal to it in how you contacted me.

With sovereignty comes accountability too.

But ikigai doesn’t always have to be about the positive -

one of my most evocative recent memories is standing in a field with the Border Terrier, during the first part of the pandemic.

Half a mile away, my wife was in week 4 of a severe case of Covid, back when the Daily Mail was vomiting headlines about 41 year old healthy mums dying from it.

My business had vanished over night, leaving me to fill my days with helping job seekers find jobs that didn’t exist, while trying to pretend everything was fine with children who were going stir crazy.

But those allowable dog walks were an oasis, in a storm of worry and uncertainty.

They too were my ikigai, finding fulfilment in the smallest of moments, despite what was going on elsewhere.

If you’re familiar with ikigai, you are likely familiar with the Westernised version of it - one that has little to do with the Japanese concept it derives from.

You may know it as this, the Purpose Venn Diagram:

«image description: not ikigai»

It seems a worthy and lofty goal, to have all these elements come together.

Yet while it feels important, it can be knobbish and condescending, leading away from a concept that can change how you look at candidate attraction.

What about people who hate their jobs, and do it only to pay the bills and feed their children?

Are they not achieving something worthy?

I think about that when I get a bad experience with the market checkout attendant. What’s going on in their lives?

Indeed they likely have an ikigai in the real sense of the word, fulfilment in knowing they have looked after their loved ones.

That’s a goal to write home about.

In Japan, ikigai isn’t a big deal. It’s hardly a deal at all, it just means ‘what makes life worthwhile’ and what you get out of bed for.

It’s a conversational notion found in both the small and big things, which can change over time as our priorities change.

A cup of coffee on a Spring morning.

Watching your daughter perform at the Christmas play.

Your end-of-year bonus.

Someone unexpectedly replying to your 99th job application, the first of none.

The joy of brow-beating an underperforming team with the threat of mass dismissal (the people we hate have things they thrive on too).

Commuting 90 minutes each way, listening to an audiobook, so you don’t have to think about work or home.

Ikigai.

Because it’s these moments that appear trivial, indifferent or even damaging to others, which define who we are and what we want from our lives and careers.

Moments that can delay, prevent, facilitate or drive decisions.

And if we know the ikigai of our ideal candidates, we can appeal to them.

Typically they will relate to why people leave jobs for others and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

But they will also relate to the ikigai your vacancy fulfils, whether the role, the culture, the compensation or the seemingly trivial.

Define the ikigai of your role with meaning for your candidates, and you’ll appeal to people whose own ikigai is a match.

That’s the principle of it anyway, the ‘I’ in AIDE: attention ikigai definition experience.

I’ll write about the practice, and how to apply to every touch point, from a job advert to an offer letter, in the next edition.

Thanks for reading.

Regards,

Greg

p.s. If you’re curious about the title of this article, it’s from the exceptional novel by Arundhati Roy. The title has a few meanings. One is that seemingly small things shape our lives, while another is that our society shapes how we enjoy the small things. It’s the perfect title for this post.

p.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

Just hit reply to check if my approach is right for you.