The Golden Rule

I just got off the phone with a job seeker who was referred to Talent Tap.  After explaining that my industry niches were not a match for his experience, I referred him to two other staffing companies who I thought would be better positioned to assist him.  The candidate mentioned that one of those companies didn’t engage him in any conversation when he called them a year ago and just pointed him to their website.  Needless to say, he was really turned off.   I love these calls because it gives me the opportunity to mindfully practice a key value at Talent Tap – treating people like you would want to be treated.   After eighteen years in the staffing business, I have noticed that it can be easy to let this practice slip when you’re juggling incoming calls, candidate interviews, follow up to clients and the other million tasks that pop up every day.

 

I was fortunate to be hired right out of college by a progressive, local staffing firm, The Byrnes Group. They were a great group to work with for most of my time there – the training I received was invaluable and I learned a lot about running a successful business because it was an open-book management company.  Our President, Randy Byrnes, believed in educating all staff to think and run their desks like owners.  The one piece of advice he offered really stuck with me throughout my career:  Remember that not only do we serve our clients (they write the checks that keep the lights on), we also need to serve our candidates well, too.  Most job seekers are in a stressful time in their lives – professional change and transition is never easy – so always practice the Golden Rule:  treat them like you would want to be treated if the tables were turned.  And you know what – very few of us get through our professional lives without becoming a job applicant at one time or another.  

Candidates remember how they were treated when knocking on doors and they tend to tell their friends and family.  Paying it forward is always the right choice as staffing professionals and as human beings, as we walk our respective life paths.