Recruiting vs Absorbing: Know the Difference?

I continue to hear from Recruiters, Journalists and even Business owners that now is a great time to pick up talent because of how high the unemployment rate is.  I’ve written in the past about how I think that now is a great time to be RECRUITING as well but not because of the growing number of the unemployed.  I’m not going to re-hash that here.  Instead, this post is going to focus on what Jack Daly considers the difference between Recruiting and Absorbing.  

I’d like to start by sharing that I live in Austin, TX (yes, it is as cool as you’ve heard).  In this town we’re proud of live music, barbeque and, probably above all, Longhorn Football.  Mack Brown is the Head Coach (aka the CEO) of the team.

Right now, spring practices are done and the coaching team is spending all of their time figuring out (1) what’s our depth chart for the fall (2) who are the top High School Sophomores at each position in Texas and the US and (3) how are we going to convince young men from around the country to pay us $300+ to come to our camp so that they can be seen by our coaches when every other school in the country wants them to do the same?

The reason I brought up point #3 is because it’s not unlike the current marketplace for Businesses looking to land top talent.  How?  Hundreds of young men will descend upon Austin in the coming weeks and happily throw down their $300 camp fee.  While the coaching staff has a responsibility to treat every camper fairly by providing them with a safe place to stay, healthy food and some nominal feedback about how to improve, it’s the 8-10 players that they personally invited in for the camp that they are focusing their attention on.  Every once in a while a young man who shows up and was unheralded impresses the coaches and gets a shot scholarship but it’s rare.  

I hope you’re seeing the direct parallel between the people who are applying for jobs at your company as opposed to the people who you have to fight to get.  

With that in mind, let’s go back to Mack Brown’s role in this recruiting process.  Because he has the advantage of knowing who the top 10 Prep Quarterbacks or Linebackers are by subscribing to the industry publications that track this data, he can carefully place phone calls to these young men to get them excited about the program.  

Focus because here’s the crux of the blog post: After Mack Brown gets off the phone with a young man who he’d like to see as his starting quarterback in 2011, do you think he sends that 16 year old a copy of a job description for what a Quarterback does?

Let’s bring it all back to your business: here are the 5 questions you have to ask YOURSELF when recruiting and then share with your “top recruits”: 

1.  Why come to work here?
2.  What are we (as a company) doing to ensure that our team is successful?
3.  How can you (our prized recruit) be sure that the reputation of  our company is exceptional?
4.  Where is our greatest opportunity for growth in the marketplace?
5.  What are the most compelling reasons to join the team here?

If you’ve read the book Who you would know that these are also part of the 5 F’s (Fame, Family, Fortune, Fun and Fit).  By asking yourself these questions as the CEO or Hiring Manager you’re attempting to proactively answer a lot of these concerns that a recruit would have. 

If you’d like to pick up a great book for the weekend and learn how college football is answering each of these questions, check out Meat Market: Inside the smash mouth world of College Football Recruiting by Bruce Feldman.

Bonus food for thought: if Mack Brown needed a starting quarterback in 2011 and he didn’t start thinking about it until 2 weeks before the season started, would he start placing ads on CraigsList with the hopes someone would apply that he could hire?

Tags: 5 F's, A-Player, A-Players, Austin, bruce feldman, Fame, Family, Fit, Fortune, Fun, geoff smart, hiring manager, jack daly, longhorn football, mack brown, proactive recruiting, recruit don't absorb, recruiting versus absorbing, talent acquisition, unemployment, unemployment rate, who the book