Last week I had a super sore throat and just felt like crap in general. Slight fever, headaches, etc. One night I took a little tea cocktail that my nanny recommended. It was a recipe that her abuela had put together to cure sore throats. I drank it, and can say that it worked pretty quickly. So I got in bed and fell asleep.
Well, I tried to fall asleep. My body was tired, my brain was exhausted and yet the grip of sleep was never that strong. I tossed. I turned. I thrashed. I struggled to resist the temptation of looking at my phone. Because blue light at night is not good for sleep, right??
Eventually, dancing from side to side was wearing on me, and my newborn lying next to me began to stir. So I decided to try something new, lying on my belly. Now, belly sleeping is not something I do. To say I've been through belly sleep 'trauma' is an over-exaggeration. But I do have painful, vivid memories of my youth where I fell asleep on my belly and wake up middle of the night with BOTH arms completely asleep and therefore useless. And because they are asleep, I can't flip my body around. So I use my hips and neck and nose and ears to turn my body on my back in a violent campaign of desire. (Cue the 'what do you call a guy with no arms and no legs' joke). It takes time and its hard to do. Its a pathetic little sequence I'd rather not endure again.
And so last night I put a little wrinkle into the strategy. What if I put one arm to my side, near my hip, while the other arm stayed up near my neck? That way, if I fall asleep in this position, worst case Ontario is that only 50% of my arms are immobile. Such are the things you consider when you can't fall asleep...
This strategy of one arm up and one arm down is actually a lot like recruiting.
You see, when you have a finalist candidate...you do everything in your power to make it a successful outcome for both the candidate and the hiring manager or company. This means that you help walk the candidate through the offer; you open communication lines and provide transparent feedback. You do this to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks for THE most important part of the entire search - which can be a 3-6 month project. It's all come down to this point, and you need to nail it.
But what if you don't? What if the candidate changes her mind? What if she changes her compensation number, sending red flags through your hiring managers team? What if her references are not glowing? What if she takes another job altogether, leaving you high and dry? This is why you have your other hand unbound and free to maneuver as needed.
This other hand is working to find backup candidates, to clean up any holes in research, to re-canvass the market. This hand is not working with your sleeping hand; it knows that there likely will be a point in the middle of the night where your sleeping hand is arrested in its place. Thus, the free hand saves the day. The free hand comes to the sleeping hand's rescue. The free hand props you up, helps you turn over and gets back into your sleep groove.
People often ask me what makes for a great recruiter. Lots of things, I say. But maybe it is simpler than I thought.
If you want to be a world-class recruiter, free up your other hand!