Are Recruiters Prostitutes?

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With all my patience and maturity level being tested with the toughest invasion of self-respect, I was rendered speechless, today, when one of the business heads of a client I've been associated with for close to a decade, blasted: "I'm paying you for whatever services you're offering, so you must do what I tell you do."

I must thank Robin Sharma - whose book, "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" I'm reading now - for helping me accumulate a huge self-control demonstrating an unusual maturity level of -- laughing insults away!

However, I'm confused now! Did I really show an exceptionally high maturity level by keeping quiet, or my silence was simply a manifestation of the fear that I'd lose a client if I had reacted.

Believe me, I've never experienced such a demoralizing incident during my 15 years of an otherwise fulfilling executive search career, so far.

And, having embraced the job of a recruiter, out of passion and not under compulsion: Like, let's do something until a break in the corporate happens - as I'd already worked with the largest corporate of that time, Bajaj Auto Ltd - I wonder, is there a methodology available for identifying the line of control beyond which self-respect must take over the demonstration of maturity -- independent of the circumstances?

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Is Hiring A Peanut Job, or Something Much Beyond?

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'What's your degree of involvement in talent acquisition for your organization?' Before I could prepare myself for a reply, he, the CEO of a 1000 crore company, shot back, 'deeply, while recruiting for all senior level and critical middle level openings!'

Yes, what he said reflects an increasing awareness among top management: The importance of hiring the right candidates for leadership positions -- both macro and Micro.

Some of these trend setters are successfully breaking away from a century old mindset: Oh, hiring, that's HR's job, and the HR head, seconding boss's idea, pushes it down the hierarchy, finally to a freshers -- with no idea about either its importance, or the right methodology for a successful execution!

Gradually, without realizing the impacts of this negligence, top management continues with recruiting the candidates: Who're either good for nothing, or bad for everything, eventually laying down the foundation of a spacious organizational graveyard big enough to accommodate both the entire top management and also the stake-holders..

When I asked this CEO, 'any specific reason for such a deep involvement in hiring?' He answered, "Abhijit, I'm working hard to grow in my career which is possible only if the organization grows, and that would happen only if I've a team consisting of the right professionals supporting me achieve what I intend to." He added further, "hiring one wrong candidate for a critical position may sabotage my entire effort.Why should I let it happen?" What an explanation, and such a truthful analysis of prevailing business environment.

Let's not live in a fool's paradise: There is a huge talent crunch and sooner the leaders realize better it is, for them. Nothing, but the right talents would dictate the organizations' future in prevailing business environment, and our beloved CEOs, MDs and Lalas ( in India, the owner of a family run company is lovingly called as 'Lala' ) must realize this fact as soon as possible, and act accordingly.

So, the leaders who're of the opinion that hiring is a peanut job and nothing beyond, are not likely to survive, professionally, for long!

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Can You Take Me to the Real World?

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Forgive but Remember -- Do Not Forget!

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How to Keep Your Customers Mesmerized Ensuring an Everlasting Relationship!

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A Cruelly Innovative Retention Policy!

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Today I called up a candidate to find out if he is willing to move out of his comfort zone, I mean open to explore a challenging assignment elsewhere.

It's a regular affairs for me, because most the clients I handle strictly believe in recruiting candidates who're not actively looking out.

A difficult job, but the more you do it, more you love it: Putting your best efforts to convince those candidates that they must look out for better opportunities -- ultimately, help them building a better career.

Okay, let's not get deviated from the theme of this article.

The candidate I was talking to, is working for an organization where management strictly believe none of its employees should ever join a competitor. And to enforce this policy, they would get employees sign a legal document also -- I've strong doubt about its validity though.

When I disclosed to him that the proposed assignment is with one of the competitors, he politely declined to pursue it further saying he is keen to explore challenging options but only with non-competitors -- for the reasons stated above.

All my efforts to convince him about impracticality of that policy came to a grinding halt, when he shared that some of the ex-employees who challenged this peculiar policy - by joining competitors - were subjected to endless harassment including legal proceedings that lingered on for years.

Interestingly, contradicting its own policy, management of that company seem to be too happy to recruit potential candidates from its competitors.

In a nutshell, the company can recruit candidates from competitors but would never allow its employees to join them.

Does it sound funny? Yes it does, but there's a limit to behaving funnily. Isn't it?

Well, I'm not inclined to analyze it further and suggest any corrective action at the moment, but, would like to ask you a simple question: Have you ever heard of or come across such HR policy in your career so far and if so, what's your take on the validity of such cruelly innovative retention policy?

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Image: Flickr

Faith And Leadership !!!

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In current competitive business environment , faith plays a major role in shaping up leadership qualities through spiritual interventions.

Classical definition of Faith is the affirmation of belief, without any practical or logical evidence. The realm of Faith starts, when we venture into the space beyond evidence or logic.

Now ,if you look at religious interpretations:

In Christianity, Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

In Hinduism, Faith means unshaken belief and purity of thought and it is recognized as a virtue.

In chapter 17 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna mentions the three types of faith:

1.Faith rooted in Sattva
Those with sattvic faith are said to worship the GOD.

2.Faith rooted in Rajas
Those with Rajasic faith are said to worship Demons.

3.Faith rooted in Tamas
Those with tamasic faith are said to worship Ghosts and Spirits.

Faith in Buddhism refers to a sense of conviction, regarding setting a goal and the determination to accomplish it, while drawing a sense of joy and also live by what is learnt and accepted, rather than believing something outright.

Faith in Islam is called Iman and it signifies an instinct of the human soul, refined through upbringing into specific religious or spiritual paths.

Even Scientific discovery begins with a scientist's faith that an unknown discovery is possible requiring a passionate commitment. However , this faith is based on a set of assumptions and extrapolation of the fundamental truth towards a predictable conclusion but without any idea about the nature of final outcome.

All these above interpretations are strickingly similar, clearly confirming a decisive role of spirituality in defining the degree conviction and the extent of determination of the Leadership to achieve the ultimate business objective.


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Written a year and half ago

9 Best Inspirational Quotes -- Never Give Up!

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These are the 9 best ‘Never Give Up’ quotes – in my opinion – I have collected over a period of time and sharing with you now.

1. God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless. # Chester W. Nimitz

2. Nothing could be worse than the fear that one had given up too soon, and left one unexpended effort that might have saved the world. # Jane Addams

3. The man who wins may have been counted out several times, but he didn’t hear the referee. Never quit or give up….never…..never give up. # H.E. Janson

4. Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. # Satchel Paige

5. Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss. # Doug Williams

6.Never, never, never, never give up. # Winston Churchill

7. Think of the long view of life, not just what’s going to happen today or tomorrow. Don’t give up what you most want in life for something you think you want now. # Elder Richard G. Scot

8. Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never, never – in nothing great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. # Winston Churchill

9. When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. # Harriet Beecher Stowe

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Image: Flickr

Never Say, "Thanks to 'Everyone:'" It Hurts, Silently!

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I was surprised - long ago, while working for a large Indian Corporate - when someone during a course of discussion on relationship management said that our divisional manager would always make it a point to send personalized greeting cards to his contacts -- four separate cards to a family of four members.

But what never surprised us was, his immense popularity at least in his professional circle. Now, I can make out how he achieved that: He always respected and acted - to acknowledge and recognize individualism!

Then came the era of email, sms and now status updates: Real-time communications. However, it still holds good and effective -- personalized communications.

Like or don't like; accept or don't accept: Everybody seeks importance, and when you receive a group message against a personalized communication making you part of the crowd -- you hate it, may not express, though!

Small things in life matter and most of us overlook that, but at what cost? Nothing visible at the moment, though -- they do matter in the long run.

So, please use the name while thanking someone who took out a few minutes to say something good about you, instead of saying: 'Thanks to everyone,' -- unless  it's too big to handle, or you're a celebrity!

Thanks: RedCat, on Flickr

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Can We Learn Re-Invention Lesson From LG Success Story in U.S.

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Amazing: 3 attempts in four years, it took for LG, in 2002, to launch its brand in the US market and today it's the top seller of refrigerators and washing machines with 24 percent market share.

"Today, some 95 per cent of American consumers view LG as a premium foreign consumer electronics brand, lagging only behind Sony in terms of brand recognition, according to a survey commissioned by LG last year. But as recently as the late 1990s, the company had marketed its products under the Goldstar brand, which American consumers viewed as low quality. To establish a premium brand image and achieve a broader penetration of the US market, the company re-launched its products under the LGE brand in 2002."

Can we learn some lessons from LGA's success story -- in terms of re-invention?