Lessons From A Kid

Throughout my life there have been so many times that I have "wanted" to do something or "thought" about doing something, but I just never followed through with or completed. There have been lots of things actually, like going back to school, becoming a police officer, writing a book, and the list goes on and on. I'm almost certain that I am not alone in this category either. Things always seemed to come up or I just never took the initiative to get something started as it related to my desire or dream. Even worse are the times that I did actually get myself in action around whatever it was I intended to do, but then I never completed the steps necessary to see it finalized. I found myself with a large trail of incomplete dreams and goals which didn't exactly empower me, and I was sick of feeling like a failure. Failure might actually be too severe to label myself back then, but it sure sums up how I felt. If you were to ask my friends and family they would say I was doing well. I owned my own home, was a successful recruiter, and had great health. Still it felt as if there was something missing. The missing in my life was soon to be exposed however, and it was actually made crystal clear to me while I was on a call with a student who wanted to break into the Games Industry. By all means this prospective candidate was way too junior for me to assist. The kid had just graduated college and hadn't had any real experience in the industry yet, but there was something in his voice that kept me talking to him, and I am glad that I did!

The kid speaking to me on the phone was typical of most college grads that I had grown accustomed to speaking to. He described his studies to me and he was sure to go into great detail about the projects that he had worked on. By trade he was an animator, and I will admit that the animation that he did for his class projects looked pretty good. After listening to him speak for a few minutes I began to steer the call toward a conclusion so that I could get on with my day. At this point in my career as a recruiter I had a standard closing line that I almost always used when trying to end a call with a candidate that I thought was too junior to present to one of our clients. The line went something like... "I will keep your resume on file and update you if any of our clients are looking for good entry level talent". Just as I began to speak the first few words of that sentence the kid interrupted me. He said something that I will never forget, which was "I need someone to believe in me enough, if only once, just long enough for me to show them how good I am" "That being said, I am asking you to give me a shot and believe in me." I was stopped dead in my tracks and speechless! What was I to say to THAT! Reluctantly I agreed to see what I could do for him. My suggestion was that he create a new demo reel with his best recent work and supply me with the link within 5 days. I promised to review his work and get back to him with my thoughts in one week's time. The kid agreed and I got back to work cold calling the "seasoned" candidates on my list in hopes of making a placement happen soon. To be honest I figured that he would forget to send me the demo I requested and that I could just forget about him. In fact, after a hour or so I had completely forgot about him and his call all together. That is until the fourth day came and I received the link to the demo that I had requested.

Honestly I had mixed emotions when the link to his demo arrived in my inbox. My Client Manager was a veteran recruiter and she scrutinized my candidates very closely before submitting them to the client. She was good at what she did, and there was no arguing her decisions. One of the main rules was no entry level or fresh graduates. I was told over and over that our clients did not want kids out of school. So, with those thoughts running through my head, I clicked the link to the demo site. Had I not known this demo was sent from a newly graduated student, I would have guessed it to be that of an industry veteran! It was GOOD! The demo was so good that I actually picked up the phone right then and called the kid! I really didn't fully believe that I was looking at his work. Really...it was that good. The kid picked up the phone on the second ring and his voice sounded just as confident and assured as the first time we spoke. He chuckled when I asked him if what I was watching was really his work. I honestly couldn't figure out why someone hadn't already hired this kid! In fact, that was my next question actually...what has been the outcome of his interviews or resumes. With his usual confidence, the kid explained to me that he has yet to be called back, never mind an interview. Before I could stop myself I said to him "that's a shame because you have such great talent and you must get really down and out about the lack of response". My statement was quickly corrected with his response. "NO...I am not discouraged at all". "I know that I am good and soon enough I will have my turn". I wasn't so sure he was right though, and I told him that sometimes things just don't work out.

Weeks went by and the kid would continue to check in with me. By this point is was just over a month since I received his demo, and there wasn't a single requisition that allowed for less than 7 years experience. I never presented his resume anywhere because I didn't want to look bad or get chewed out by my client manager, and I kind of hoped that he would eventually just give up. Then came the call that I had been anticipating but dreading...his call. He was calling to check in and to ask me if there was anything new to share with him. While he was on the phone I looked over our open requisitions and I was prepared to deliver my standard "NO" when I remembered a client who was willing to "look at" someone with as little as 3 years experience. With skepticism and caution I shared the details about the position with him and I warned him that even though they stated they would "look at" recent grads they still would rather have someone with at least three years of industry experience. Even after my warnings and words of caution, together we decided to submit him for the role. To say I was nervous would be an understatement! I could almost hear the call that would be coming from my client manager screaming at me about his lack of work experience. The joke was on me however, when less than 24 hours after submitting him to the client we had a request for a telephone interview. Excitedly I called him to tell him the news, and I was shocked to find myself more excited than he was. As I coached him through what to expect on the call he seemed to be absent on the other end of the line. When I questioned whether he was still there he answered affirmatively and thanked me for the coaching and for believing in him enough to submit. Just before we ended the call he told me not to worry because everything would be just fine. I was a bit dumbfounded as I hung up the phone, but I went on with my day. I couldn't believe the drive this kid had!

The telephone interview went perfectly and the client then arranged for a face-to-face interview. Again I called him to coach him through the process and ended the call by letting him know that he should not worry as he was just perfect for the job. He answered by saying "I know I am" and "everything will work out perfect Matt". After his face-to-face the client called our offices with an offer of employment to extend to the kid. I couldn't wait to call him and share the news! When we finally connected on the phone and I told him the great news he was absolutely elated. I congratulated him on a job well done and decided to share with him how I wasn't always so sure it would happen this way. The kid listened to me tell him how I was at first hesitant to submit him for our opening due to his lack of experience etc. After my long story he had a simple response which was "I know".

While I thought that I was being "slick" at putting the kid on the back burner, he knew all along that I was a bit skeptical and frightened to put him in front of a client. When I asked him why he tolerated my behavior if he knew what I was doing he simply stated "I believed in myself and knew that eventually you would believe in me too". The call ended with me having learned a valuable lesson from the kid with no experience, and it was a lesson of a lifetime.

What I learned is that somewhere along the way I stopped believing in myself and I became afraid of change. There have been things in my life that I have wanted to do but somehow never followed through with because of any one of a million excuses. Eventually I had forgotten these things or decided that I just wasn't good enough to make them happen. I could create a story or reason to justify all of the things that I wanted to do but never accomplished. My stories were what stopped me in my life and kept me wondering what could have been or should have been. It became easy to be a victim of circumstances or fault another for my dreams that were unrealized, and by doing so I didn't have to be the one responsible for the inaction that left me feeling this way. In essence I was a victim of myself. The kid helped me to realize that I was the creator of my own destiny, and through hard work and perseverance, along with the help of others, I could achieve anything that I wanted. There was no need to give up and there is no such thing as defeat. The word "fail" just doesn't exist and change is byproduct of growth and success. My perceived failures were in reality nothing more than a temporary setback that would eventually lead to my success.

The kid went on to accept the position at the game company that I was afraid to submit him to, and to this day he continues to be employed there and he is a huge success. After I learned my valuable lesson from this kid I decided to follow his lead and begin to take action in seeing my own dreams come true. I was determined to succeed regardless of any setbacks, and this time I was not going to give up! Because of the lessons I learned from this kid, RecruiterBuddy was born, and since its birth I have not looked back! I often ask myself what else there is to learn from all of these kids with no real life experience?? What do you think?

RecruiterBuddy is a fully web-based software designed to maximize your potential and allow your dreams to come true! We specialize in creating solutions unique to each customer that will increase profitability and cut back administrative tasks. The RecruiterBuddy package comes complete with a Parsing feature as well as our proprietary Sleuth Tool that will source new talent outside of your database and find hard to locate talent. RecruiterBuddy offers the best value at only $50 per user monthly and requires no long-term commitments. I encourage you to take the next step in following your dreams, no matter what they may be, and give us a call if you need a helping hand to see them become reality!

Lessons For A New Recruiter

I have often heard that a good plan is essential for success, and for the most part I agree. That being said though, a good plan was definitely something that I was lacking when I entered the recruiting industry. I began my career as a recruiter out of necessity. Why necessity? Well I had just lost my job, and it was necessary that I have money to eat, pay bills, and ultimately survive. A new career was not in my game plan by any stretch of the imagination, and recruiting was foreign to me in every aspect. Sure, I knew what was meant by the verb recruit, but I had no clue how the job was accomplished or anything else beyond the root meaning. Just to make sure that all the odds were working against me, I also began my recruiter career by recruiting for an industry that I had absolutely no interest in or experience with- video games. So unless my idea of a good plan also involved starting a new career in an area that I lacked knowledge or even interest, I was going to need a good plan quickly!

The first item on my "to do" list was to align myself with an experienced recruiter who knew the industry well, and most importantly someone who enjoyed their job! It's easy to find someone to teach the "doings" involved in the work, but to find someone who is passionate about what they do and the service they provided was key for me. I found that passion and experience in one of the client managers at the firm I worked for, and I immediately aligned myself with her. Her name is Maria Barton, a no nonsense Brit with a work ethic that most people could only aspire to achieve, and the people skills akin to some of the world's greatest leaders. She knew how to talk to a complete stranger, be it over the phone or in person, and she could quickly build a bond of trust that would serve as a foundation for years to come. It seemed as if there wasn't a single person in the Video Games Industry that didn't know of her, and they all had nothing but good to say about their experiences with her. Maria was my new mentor and ultimately she became a great friend as well, but she also had a lot of work in front of her if she hoped to turn me into a recruiter! I had a lot to learn about recruiting in general, like learning how to build my own network for referrals, knowing how to use the many different social networking sites to source, cold calling, etc. This list of things to learn and master was a long one, but there were a few key lessons that Maria taught me which in hindsight was key to my success.

Lesson #1- Know your client. Maria stressed this to me from the minute we first talked! Knowing who the client is, where they have come from, and where they hope to be in the future is important. Sure, anyone can read a paragraph or two about a client and regurgitate the information to a prospective candidate, but I didn't want to be anyone, and Maria certainly wasn't going to allow me to "be" an anyone either! Great details were given to me about the "environment" of each one of our client's studios and what a candidate could expect. The product lineup and company vision where also important pieces of information that I was to know. Knowing how the client handled promotions and acquiring new talent was key, as was knowing the general background of each person that made up the management staff. I can go on and on here about what it really meant to Maria when she said "Know your client", but the real message is just as simple as the phrase implies. Knowing as much about a client as possible will always translate into higher placement percentages and stronger candidate relationships.

Lesson #2- Know your candidate. This phrase sounded simple enough to me when I first heard it. After all, I was going to be interviewing each person anyway so wouldn't I end up knowing them by proxy? Yeah, I was in for another surprise. When Maria told me to "Know my candidates", she really meant to know them! There was one time that I spent 45 minutes on the phone interviewing a candidate just to make sure that I knew everything there was to know. I knew where he worked, what he earned, and all of that other stuff, but it turned out that I didn't really know anything about him at all. I didn't take the time to learn the candidate's likes & dislikes, preferences in climate if he were to relocate, social activities outside of work, what his spouse did for work, special needs of his children, where he grew up and where the majority of his family still lived, etc. This was important information to know if my plans were to eventually place him in a new job. From a business standpoint, the small details that I forgot to ask could later result in a deal breaker. More important was that each candidate left our conversation knowing that I actually cared enough to listen, and that I had their best interests and concerns at heart. Looking back, it was the practice of really knowing my candidates that contributed the most to my success. The worst thing that will ever come from knowing a candidate is their trust. Ironically, trust is something that some recruiters struggle to earn throughout their entire career.

Lesson #3- Get on the phone. In today's society the majority of our communicating is done electronically. We are sending emails, tweeting, posting, texting, and whatever else I may have forgotten. Communication is most effective when the person trying to communicate something knows that they are being heard and understood. People like to experience being heard, or put simply, everybody wants to be "gotten". Obviously we can't have every conversation in person, so the next best is to communicate often and effectively over the phone. That's not to say that the phone is the only way to communicate, but instead of building a relationship that only exists over emails, tweets, posts, and texts, throw in the occasional phone call as well. No matter how it gets delivered, the written word quite often leaves a lot of room for interpretation. The reader may not always conclude with your desired message either. When a candidate (active or passive) speaks to their recruiter on occasion they will begin to see that there is actually a partnership being forged and that the recruiter has their best interests in mind. Keeping up with a candidates changing concerns and desires will build a relatedness between recruiter and candidate that will truly stand the test of time. Communicating involves much more than speaking though, it also involves listening. When a candidate knows that their recruiter is actually listening to their concerns, those same concerns will fade away or disappear altogether, because they know that the recruiter understands them and will handle them.

Lesson #4- Know when to move on. My step-father had a hobby that involved looking at houses that were for sale, and to this day I still don't understand it. On each family vacation he would pack us into the car and spend several hours looking at homes that were for sale. He wouldn't look at places that he couldn't afford to buy or couldn't qualify for, rather he would look at each as if he were really buying it and we were moving. I can't count how many I was convinced we were actually moving, and I can only imagine the frustration the Realtors went through each and every time! Well everyone has a hobby, that was my dad's, and we never moved. The moral of the story? Some people are professional "lookers", just as my dad was when he looked at property for sale. If you really listen to a prospective candidate when you speak to them it's easier to spot the professional "looker". The professional looker is usually just fishing for information or checking out the market, but he really has no intentions of switching careers. The "looker" may even go as far as the offer stage before backing out of the role. Knowing that these types are out there, and learning how to spot them and walk away is important. There is only so much time in one day and it needs to be used wisely. Of course, the "looker" might someday become a "mover", or a great bird-dog, so treating each person with respect and kindness is always key.

The lessons I learned from Maria Barton are such that they will be an asset to me no matter what my career. As far as recruiters go, I think she is the best. She taught me more than I could ever hope to capture on paper, and more than she will ever realize. I believe that it is her passion for her job and the humanity that she brings to it that makes her a huge success. I can relate to that passion now since I feel it every day when I go to work at RecruiterBuddy. The enormous and quick success of RecruiterBuddy is largely due to the simple yet difficult lessons that Maria taught me. RecruiterBuddy is designed to allow recruiters more time to do what they do best, recruit. We take care of the sourcing, parsing, searching, scheduling, and contact managing so that the recruiters can get back on the phone and start talking again.

Maria still recruits in the Video Game Industry, and I still speak to her on a regular basis to keep up on my "lessons". What "lessons" might you share with someone today?