By Angela Liu.
Well, would you look at that? We’ve now tread 1/4 of our way into year 2012 since my first and last post. Shining example of how perfectionism does not breed productivity: It’s not that I have had ‘writer’s block’ per se. It’s not that I don’t have ideas: The ideas are coming fast and hard, and are being unloaded into a Google Doc dumpsite.
But, sadly, if our writing were to mirror some sort of geophysical terrain, ‘dump site’ is it. Good stand-alone ideas that they are, when summed together and packaged up in my ‘paralysis analysis’ MIND-field, they’ve become building blocks for another dump, a static clog-clutter camp. So, it’s time to nip the perfectionistic petal in the bud and revisit my goals in my last entry. In this post, I’m going to give a quick update on each resolution before expanding on them in future posts.
1. Become more technically savvy. – A good # of the members of the tech world have told me, in conversation, that a recruiter not knowing what they are talking about is a gear-grinder for them. While I understand that recruiters need to take time to do some homework on the technology behind job requirements, let’s face it.
We are recruiters and not developers, engineers, or analysts because tech isn’t our thing. Optimally, I’ll end up with a more polished technical overview with time, but I’m still not going to get anywhere close to the point where it won’t be clear as day to a tech person that I am not part of their world. I’m starting to understand that the best leveraging tool I have under my belt is the ability to understand and hear others. And, so, I’m collapsing this goal into Goal 2.
2. Refine communication and networking skills. Network meaningfully. Stay open but target particular networks. Take the initiative to– in my boss’s words– “break bread.” Follow through. Maintain those relationships for years.
Subgoal 2: Pipelining for candidates/consultants: Several months ago, I embarked on a project in which I invited strangers and friends alike to become trial subjects for 10 minute mock-interviews/job consults. Excerpt: ” It doesn’t matter if you have a job, are/are not looking for a job.
My purpose is to figure out how well I can understand what you really want in a job, what makes you tick, why you choose what you choose. Attempting a paradigm shift/rehaul in how I approach and try to help jobseekers as an IT recruiter– finding a job that fits a person versus fitting a person into a job.” I want to come to know a prospective candidate’s needs, motivators, and drivers like the back of my hand. I want to learn to hear what’s being told to me directly and in between the lines. My trials/tribulations and discoveries on this project coming in a future post.
3. Be nicer. Read a book called “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie per boss’ recommendation. This will be revisited in a future post.
4. Learn more about and apply knowledge of social media strategies, integration, tools, and best practices for personal marketing and company marketing. I still believe that social media/marketing is now a critical extension of who we are, and that we have social, personal, and professional audiences in this realm whether we care to acknowledge them or not. But, while, I’m still attending to my social media ‘stuff,’ I’m relegating Resolution 4 to a lower priority.
5. Think and dream positively: Focus on what I want to happen and not what I don’t want to happen. They say perfectionists are slated for failure. In my last post, I had predicted Resolutions 3 and 5 would be my tougher goals. Boy, does this one take the cake from a hard-knocks perspective. Over and over again, my 24/7 breakneak/whiplash-speed ‘thinking’ and, then, the fear-driven, self-punitive-ridden nature of much of my thinking comes into my play in my other resolutions. Resolution 5 is the first item I need to tackle or an item that always needs to be on the front burner, in tandem with anything else I am trying to tackle.
