Person A has done something for a long time. Person B has not. Person A will be better at this thing than Person B.
In most human endeavors, this logic holds true. Experience improves your #performance; you learn from previous mistakes and you become more efficient and generally superior at whatever task you’re accomplishing. While the specific measurements of improvement can vary widely, it is generally true that practice yields progress.
On the flip side, however, new ideas, improvements and #disruption rarely come from veterans of a particular field. No matter the subject, transformative change most often comes from people unburdened by “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” This especially holds true in organizations where "10 years experience" most often translates to "The same 1 year of experience, repeated 10 times."
Applying this backdrop specifically to the #staffingindustry, #salespeople and #recruiters likewise almost always get better at their jobs as they become veterans of their role. Success is derived from trial-and-error, the repeated behaviors it takes to build a #network, the lessons of past #deals gone wrong and exposure to those “once-in-a-blue-moon” events that inevitably occur when people are both your #product and your #customer.
That said, our #industry is no different than any other; even the most successful #staffingindustry and #sales #professionals can learn from beginners who bring fresh perspectives to our jobs. Having gradually transitioned from Rookie to Veteran to Coach and Leader over the years, I’ve come to realize that long-term Staffing Industry veterans would do well to mirror some of the traits and tactics more commonly found in people not entrenched within #conventionalwisdom
- Ask how, not why – Veteran sellers and recruiters often ask themselves “why” they should do core elements of our job (i.e. work with an imperfect #client or #candidate, pursuing candidates that are missing magic resume keywords, #networking with people that you can’t immediately help you, etc.). Newer #professionals, unconstrained by such prejudgments, focus more on how to accomplish whatever task they’re asked to perform, thereby forcing them into the biggest components of success in our industry – calling people, asking questions and seeing what happens. Getting bogged down in imperfections causes many industry veterans to lose sight of what made them successful in the first place.
- Remember how your best clients began – Every top client of any #B2B #services company started out as unproven at best, and often much worse. Only through an imprecise recipe of consistent effort, top quality service and luck can a sub-par client into a great one. A key component of that formula can often be new Sellers and Recruiters, who can bring a refreshing outlook to the challenge of uncovering diamonds in the rough.
- Numbers matter – The phrase “It’s a numbers game” is an oversimplified and dehumanizing way of looking at any business whose core product is people. That said, there’s no avoiding the fact that a successful staffing professional has to accomplish certain core, metric-driven behaviors (i.e. meetings, conversations, job orders, submittals, interviews, placements, etc.) in a repeated and sustainable way. New Staffing Professionals repeatedly get reminded and of this lesson; veterans can sometimes lose that focus.
- Product quality and attention to detail matters – Supporting factors of #marketing, #branding, work product, #references, etc. all matter. Within #staffing, examples such as #presentations, #casestudies, #resume format/quality, etc. can have a huge cumulative impact on long-term success. A poor presentation or resume will not sink every opportunity, but it will undoubtedly sink some opportunities.
- Optimism earns more business than pessimism – The best way to NOT succeed is to look for reasons why you shouldn’t even try. In the Staffing Industry, what happened before is not always indicative of what will happen again; there are too many variables in dealing with people, and you must constantly assess the circumstances surrounding all parts of your business. Veterans can sometimes be negatively influenced by prior events; newer employees sometimes succeed precisely because they are not.
Experience is a good thing in the Staffing Industry, but it can always be supplemented by the lessons of a newer professionals.
Softworld, a Kelly Company
Kelly
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