Kim Randolph
I had the privilege of attending the Jack Johnson concert with my husband and daughters this weekend. He put on a great show and connected with the audience so gracefully. I also left thinking about how much his songs relate to the business I try to run every day here at Pikemann. Yes, I admit some of this is cheesy, but it hits on a lot of great points that all Internal and Agency Recruiters face.
Here’s what the mellowest man in music taught me about staffing.
1. “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing” is not a sourcing strategy. This is what I call the “Post and Pray”….that is not a strategy. In recruiting it’s how you end up with a req open for 94 days. The best candidates don’t show up in your inbox on their own. We have the best talent available because we are constantly networking with the top Acct/Finance talent in Seattle whether they are looking or not.
2. Everything is “Better Together,” including hiring managers and recruiters. Jack doesn’t do surprise drum solos. The band knows the plan. When a recruiter and a hiring manager align the role before the search starts, the whole thing gets easier. When they don’t, you get three rounds of interviews for a job that turns out to be a completely different job. When a hiring manager doesn’t want to take the time for an intake call before we start our search, we prioritize this req very low or not at all. If they can’t invest the time upfront, we are all wasting our time on the backend.
3. Read the crowd like you read a résumé. Within four minutes I could tell who had been to 11 of his shows, who got dragged there by a spouse, and who thought they had bought Jack Black tickets. Every crowd tells you something, and so does every candidate. Read between the lines, if something doesn’t seem right, push for more information. Ask the hard questions!
4. Nobody has ever been “Upside Down” about a well-timed follow-up. Jack never leaves the crowd hanging between songs. Recruiters shouldn’t leave candidates hanging between interviews either. A quick “we’re still working on it” beats silence every time.
5. Don’t be a “Flake.” If you told a candidate you’d call Tuesday, call Tuesday. He literally wrote a song about this. The man has been warning us for 25 years.
6. Culture fit is real. Sometimes it looks like 8,000 people in flip-flops. Nobody showed up to that show in a three-piece suit, and nobody needed a dress code memo. When a company knows its culture and communicates it clearly, the right people self-select in. The people who hate ukuleles stay home, and everyone is happier.
7. Keep it simple. A guy, a guitar, and a few chords filled an amphitheater. Your job posting doesn’t need 47 bullet points and the phrase “rockstar ninja.” Say what the job is, what it pays and why someone would want it. That’s the whole song.
Encore Good recruiting, like a good Jack Johnson set, should feel easy, even though a lot of work goes on behind the scenes. If your hiring process feels more like a mosh pit than a beach bonfire, let’s talk.
And if you’re hiring for “Banana Pancakes Taste Tester,” please send us that req first.