Last weekend, my girlfriend and I took a walk around Caumsett Park, one of the great New York State parks sure to be partially shuttered as a result of the California-like financial situation foisted upon residents as a result of bloated, feed-the-hand-that-lobbies-you, I-want-my-14%-raise-too-even-though-I’m-a-crappy-teacher-who-goes-through-the-motions, allow-public-transportation-officials-to-once-again-raise-fees-because-that’s-all-they-know-how-to-do fiscal policies. But it was a beautiful day, sunshine everywhere so with sunshine streaming out of every pore, onward we went.
Even with New York State in the dire grasp of red ink, funds are still provided for important infrastructure and signage: The easy 3 mile or so loop around the park on a paved path is dotted a paracourse as well as regular markers informing patrons how far they’ve walked and how far it is back to the parking lot.
We were coming up on the half-mile-to-the-lot sign (for people coming our way) when we began to hear a woman chatting on her cell phone. Yapping is more like it; from easily 50 yards away. Think spoiled Yorkies.
As we approached we heard this woman exclaim to her friend – having just passed the “.5 Mile to Parking Lot” sign – “I wonder how far it is to the parking lot? How do I get there?” to which in an act of timing that would make military brass proud, a man 10 feet in front of her nonchalantly offered the following wisdom…
“Just follow the big ass in front of you.”
One week later, the incident rings like the state of recruiting today: Lots of followers (or if you prefer, lemmings) who need to be explicitly reminded by others where they need to go.
Social media recruiting needs influencers; Digg needs a new, faster site so its members can tell others what articles they need to view. Both rely on others to decide who or what is worthy of eyeballs; given enough critical mass not necessarily born out of intelligent analysis, both contribute to the narrowing of one’s ability to perceive and receive concepts and contributions outside the walls of influence.
In The Invention of Lying, no one tells a lie; the word isn’t known and people are genetically predisposed to tell the truth – all the time – since everyone believes everyone else tells the truth. So when the protagonist tells a lie, he is rewarded with the attention and rewards that his words bring. He even goes so far as to smooth his dying Mother’s “transition” to a better place by telling her that heaven is…beautiful and people there receive mansions and ice cream (props to Pizza Hut – watch the movie).
Recruiting and HR is very much like this – most believe one thing until something else becomes the best metric, technique, compensation strategy, culture builder, social media platform, ad nauseum.
When many of the early experimenters and adopters of new frontiers and tools in recruiting were, well, younger, there weren’t lists of influencers, only examples of “try doing X” or “have you thought of Y?” When things changed I simply can’t pinpoint but I do know from speaking with many heads of HR friends that they loathed it when Jack Welch would end up on the cover of Forbes or Fortune magazine because they knew the next day their CEO would be knocking on their doors asking – rather demanding – “Why aren’t we doing this here?!?!?”
The biggest problem today is that many are simply walking around a well-traveled path following the ass in front of them.
Are you sure that the ass is leading you to the parking lot?
The Recruiting Inferno 
So true. So very true.
It’s interesting as I watch the love fest in Social Media whereby many of the participants simply pass out kudos to strangers they know little about. Blogs which you “must read” – though they themselves have only seen the link title, people you “have to follow” just “because” and so on.
Of the many thousands of motivational Tweets my eyes are forced to choke down – there was one in particular that stuck with me from a few days ago. Not quite sure of the exact wording – or it’s origin but it went something like this: When you have a great idea – don’t worry about anyone stealing it. You’ll be lucky to cram it down their throat!
So true indeed.
Sheep in the field. Waiting to see which direction the wind moves the flock next.
Carry on.
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During high school, I once challenged someone I adored to a tennis match. He turned me down, saying, “you are not a good tennis player, I don’t want to play with you, I want to play with someone better than myself so I can improve my game!” After getting over the rejection and everything that comes with that emotion, I thought about what he had said. He was right, he taught me something that day and that lesson has served me well over the years. Not having an advanced education, I have hitched myself to the proverbial ‘coat tails’ of many outstanding leaders and have aquired a lifetime of education just by following the ass in front of me!
Jerry, you mention the negative side of twitter – after finding myself out of work last summer, my main goal was to use the down time to brush up on my skills and maybe find a new gig. I signed onto twitter and facebook, hoping to learn how to search for candidates and jobs, which I did. In the meantime, I have made so many new friends – only spoken to via phone, but some great people whom I have learned a lot from already. Twitter is obviously not for everyone and if the redundant and silly messages get under your skin, you can always turn it off!
After learning to use twitter, I am now thinking how much I would love to reinvent my career and become a social media bug for some major company – would love to get paid to just sit and twitter and post on facebook all day! In the meantime, I will keep on following! Thanks for the blog, Steve! As always, you write very well.
Brenda L
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Steve,
As we all know, there are a multitude of reasons why most of us follow. Some of those pressures come internally and others externally. Does the term “risk averse” ring a bell? How about “fear of failure”? Certainly it is one factor in why leaders are in such short supply and for sure the recruiting and/or HR world has no corner on that market.
As to Twitter, it still feels to me that it is still very much like the CB radio fad but only because it is still so new. In the case of the CB radio, it remained a fad and went the way of all fads.
In the case of Twitter I am not so sure. Yes there is way too much “playing” but it will take time to see how it plays out. I can’t prove it, but my instinct says there is a role evolving, I just hope from an evolutionary perspective we don’t wake up 10,000 years from now and see kids being born with ten thumbs.
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Steve,
All I can say is this, I’ve expanded my business and friendship circle more than 10-fold via Twitter, including partnership and revenue opportunities. I just love the venue. I think that, versus us just following the ‘arse’ in front of us, those who ferret the best value are not just following, but are sharing, conversing, offering alternative opinions, growing our knowledge and evolving.
That said, you’re right that some people on Twitter eagerly follow the stream ‘in front of them’ and assume that what they hear is valid. This is not optimal Twitter practice, and I’d encourage those doing so take a few extra moments in their social media day and address their approach.
I also like what Dave Opton said that it will take time to see how Twitter ‘plays out.’ Indeed, a role is evolving!
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@Jerry…Baaaaah
@Brenda…There’s “following” and then there’s “following but eyes wide open”; you may have jumped on the bandwagon at the onset but where you are now is a new path – that’s fantastic. BTW, I don’t think I write well – I simply write like I speak.
@Dave…Don’t forget “out of shape” too. When some of these people are stuck somewhere with their thumbs up their asses, it’s going to be painful getting back to reality.
@Jacqui…It’s the same with career counseling and resume writing: Too much becoming proficient at using a hammer so everything must be a nail.
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