Win without fighting
The art of recruitment, pt 1
I was going to write about inverting candidate behaviour as a companion piece to this week’s Jobseeker Basics.
But then I had an emotional confrontation with Ross Sullivan on one of his rare LinkedIn posts and he inspired me to write a whole series on the Art of War, by Sun Tzu, as it pertains to recruitment.
Bear with me, in case I do make it past pt 1.
The Art of War may have been written 2,500 years ago (and adapted as a decent Wesley Snipes movie more recently), but it’s as relevant today as the classics in philosophy.
For the simple reason that it’s about the human condition, our psychology and how we experience and influence complex situations.
“Win without fighting” means to subdue your adversary without battle.
And while we might hope most recruitment doesn’t involve a scrap, the principles of such a win are the same, in the business of them and us.
Make strategic moves that go against expectation
Wait for the right moment
Persuade naturally
Avoid impulsive action
How does this work in recruitment?
Candidate resentment will tell you that for many job seekers, they expect a bad experience. And while people who aren’t actively looking for work may not have had these same bad experiences, their threshold for bullshit will inevitably be lower.
Look at job adverts:
Make strategic moves that go against expectation
In a world of £competitive salary, generic twaddle, and no insight into how an employer will recruit; why not
List compensation details or philosophy, provide clear unambiguous language, highlight the recruitment process.
Transparency is a surprise to many, and when done appropriately stands out for good reason.
Wait for the right moment
You can’t know what the right moment is for a potential applicant, so why are you requiring they apply now with a cover letter and up-to-date CV?
What if they are the perfect candidate for a hard-to-fill role and don’t have time to update their CV or write something you won’t read?
“Don’t worry if your CV isn’t up-to-date - get in touch with what you have and we can deal with the rest later.”
“Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions before you apply.”
Oh, and try it before you assume it opens the floodgates - people typically respond to this with an agency spammers don’t have.
Persuade naturally
Best job ever with a market-leading innovator of disruptive products doesn’t flow naturally.
Why don’t you just describe your vacancy and (if you have to) company in a way you’d talk to a friend down the pub?
There’s no question it won’t be more persuasive than that rote patter.
Avoid impulsive action
Does EasyApply help in this market? How about linking an application to an ATS you haven’t tried yourself? Should you ask them to do something unusual and penalise those who don’t, in an application?
Maybe the answer is yes, but only with intention. Otherwise, what might happen?
There are other principles too in this notion of winning without fighting:
Psychological warfare
Of course, psychology has a huge part to play in anyone’s decision to even enter a recruitment process.
How are you considering the psychology of your ideal and good enough candidates? How can you make it easier for them to make the first move? How can you keep them in process?
By understanding your candidates, you are better armed to bring them forward.
Diplomacy and negotiation
If you’re running your recruitment as a one-sided “all about us” process, what opportunities are you missing out on?
Every step in recruitment is a negotiation, with an opportunity to deal with the other decently and tactfully.
How might this benefit your recruitment process? The clue is in the title.
Most of all, for me, these principles touch on something we are losing in society: intentionality.
If we are fighting to be heard in an attention economy, then it makes sense to stand out by doing something different.
Even if that different is as old as Sparta. I wonder how they might have fared against the might of Sun Tzu?
Thanks for reading.
Regards,
Greg