Slower than extra-inning baseball games, more discouraging than sold-out concerts, and as infuriating as the traffic encountered driving north… it’s the dog days of recruitment, when the interest of your stockpiled warm candidates will never exceed the heat of the dog days of summer. No one outside the recruitment world understands what you’re sweating through.
Their pools need chlorine, and space to fit 10 people. Yours starts at 50, and everyone inside must possess a bachelor’s in lifeguarding, with a master’s in marine biology. They check their phones and see invitations to patios, road trips, and weddings. You avoid yours, dreading correspondence from candidates recently accepting an offer.
You’ve learned that funnels, vacation time, and cafeteria plans in recruitment aren’t as anticipated nor gratifying as their collegiate counterparts. The closest you’ll ever return to a campus is that weekly water-cooler chat with the team’s campus recruiter, when you learn of the latest social network all the certified lifeguards and marine biologists are flocking to.
So, why tread through the dog days of recruitment?
Because many recently graduated ‘lifeguards and marine biologists’ still await the right aquatic centre for their desired employer-employee fit. The candidates of today have more options than ever. If you’re not on vacation, jobseekers aren’t either and they’re patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity.
If summer recruitment was merely referrals and Boolean searches delivering purple squirrels, where’s the fun in that? There’s no other world in which a lifeguard can also be a purple squirrel.
The pressure of filling roles will only ignite the scorching sauna of summer recruitment, so finding motivation and fun through challenges like securing top, fresh talent (even if it’s for the September hiring fever), will help you defeat the heat and survive its dog days.