Are we falling or flying …

Some of my friends occaisionally land really awesome managers.  Most of the time, they land ok managers; but most of the managers I get assigned to are mediocore at best.

As a result, on those rare occasions when someone I know has a good manager who actually wants their team members to be successful, I get  jealous.

What does regularly happen with me is this: I usually inherit a mildly to very unhappy technology exec and his team of hiring managers; all whom have open job reqs which seem to age in a supersonic way, in that each 24 hours really equals three days.

I like challenges, I like to solve problems, and I’m pretty good at the work I do.  I’m usually able to work successfully with very technical, very senior people by adding enough value with industry breadth and sometimes depth so I become their equal. 

As a result - I usually have a lot of fun identifying and recruiting really good people whom my hiring managers usually end up hiring; and my internal clients tend to become my long-term peers, and sometimes friends.

This is a very unusual dynamic within each and every staffing org for which I’ve worked; with the result consistently being the more successful I am working with my client groups, the less liked I become within the staffing team.  

About a year ago I left a large coffee purveyor which shall remain nameless for now, although legions of former employees refer to it either as “The Roaster” or “The Inferno” (take your pick…).

I was working with a hiring manager whom I really enjoyed working with, and most days I felt I was in the midst of a really fun treasure hunt.

Not only did I get to identify which business and technology people were doing really good work and solving problems similar to the ones my hiring manager and his team needed to solve - but often I was able to actually talk with them, and learn from them too.

I identified and was able to “hook” to a certain level a candidate who became my hiring manager’s dream candidate.  However, neither the manager nor I were initially able to convince the candidate, who lived in another part of the country, to interview onsite with my manager and his team.

One week, I talked the hiring manager through 2 additional one hour converations with the candidate, with each call based on a solution sales approach specific to this candidate.

I left the building for lunch while the hiring manager talked with that candidate for the third time that week.

When I returned, my manager and several recruiters came up to me and said “wow, where were you?”

I replied - “Um… at lunch…?  Why?”

“Well, you missed your hiring manager running from his desk, on the other side of the floor, shouting “Where’s Andi?  I love Andi!” 

While I apparently missed this event by about 15 minutes, my manager and the others were still in a noticeable state of surprise.

I looked at them and said “Great.  That must mean that Midwestern candidate agreed to come here and interview for the Deputy Director role.”

Oblivious, I continued whatever I was working on, and clearly missed my cue:

Ask not for whom the bell tolls… it tolls for thee.  - John Donne