10 Reasons Why Being a Recruiter Is Like Being a Parent Traveling With Young Children

I’m in the middle of planning a family holiday for mid to late 2015.  To be honest it scares the hell out of me.  We’re off to the USA, aiming for Disneyland, NYC and a Recruiting Conference somewhere (just don’t tell my wife yet.. shhhhh, and any tips of which one would be appreciated).
Secondly, and the main part of the post, is in the midst of this planning I remember some similarities between being a parent traveling with your young children and being a Recruiter.
You have to be crazy!
Let me pull on this bow a little further.
It’s not a blog nowadays without a numbered list somewhere, to assist in the title SEO.  So here’s mine.  My top 10 reasons why being a Recruiter is like being a parent traveling with young children (eat your heart out Letterman!) (for those without kids… I know you’ve suffered through us on a flight or bus ride or shared our bored pain in the airports)

  1. Those that aren’t (parents or Recruiters) look at you and wonder why in the world you are doing it? (and prefer not to associate in public… think HR or any single traveller in the plane sitting next to a family of 4)
  2.  You have a shared bond and a competitive streak with others of your type. My kids are behaving better (ha!) my candidate is way better than your candidate
  3. Experienced people will look at you and think (and sometimes even say).. “that never happened in my day. I didn’t had those advantages, and I performed better.” Think DVDs, iPods,  Social Media or applicant tracking systems.
  4. Your kids and your candidates will ask an endless amount of banal repetitive questions… “How old is god?” “Do they have comfortable chairs?”
  5. As a parent and a recruiter, you are very protective of your kids and candidates, always watching them to stop people from stealing them.
  6. You have to be a step ahead of them both. OK if my son/daughter/candidate sees that bright shiny object over there, this will happen (Do I want that to happen?)
  7. If your kids (and candidates) are good, others will look at you with envy. Wanting what you have.
  8. They are very hard to make them do anything they don’t want to do. Negotiation skills are a must.
  9. They ask for unrealistic stuff with no shame. Knifes, monkeys, carparks, health insurance, that large 4 foot lollipop over there etc 🙂
  10. When everything is working out, there is not much in the world more rewarding.

(OK successful Recruiting makes you money, traveling with kids costs a heap, but let’s not kill a good story with facts OK?)
You can join Dan and leading sourcing and social recruitment experts at Sourcing.Social.Talent #SST2014 in November to discuss everything recruitment (and parenting if you like). Register now for the event in SydneyMelbourne or Auckland .
 

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