This is an excerpt a client shared from a recruiting experience:
“I was invited to interview for a high level marketing position with a company I frequent often. After being blown off by their recruiter not once, but twice, I still rescheduled because it sounded like a very cool opportunity and I wanted to learn more about it.
Once on the call, she was abrasive, short, rude and dismissed nearly everything I asked. After 18 minutes, I thanked her for her time as I knew it wouldn’t lead anywhere I wanted to be.
The problem is now I’m soured. Was I less valuable as an employee than I am as a consumer? I no longer care to interact with this organization, ever. My appreciation of their work will be tainted by this interaction with HR and I’ll think more carefully about spending my money there.”
If this is standard practice for this organization, then the message is loud and clear about how every interaction impacts the customer experience. But what if this is a one-off situation and the recruiter was in the middle of a personal crisis or other situation that made this particular interaction difficult?
My client has a solid reason to feel this organization likely is not a good fit if it allows this sort of attitude to be pervasive in its recruiting process and team. But everyone has bad days – or perhaps weeks as may be the case here. A key question is if the organization’s culture is one where this recruiter could have gone to her supervisors and expressed needing the time and/or space?
How flexible is your company or team when someone is suddenly, and hopefully only temporarily, unable to perform their job effectively? Do you have a culture of trust where those needing help and support can ask for it freely and unabashedly? Do you have systems in place where this doesn’t have to be a catastrophic event but you can allow folks to focus on other responsibilities while they regroup?
In today’s current worker shortage I can imagine many reading this are groaning that they are already short staffed, overworked and adapting and accommodating roles would be impossible. As a coach, I would ask the leadership how else they can support their team members so they can have their challenges yet be understood and maintain their positivity and effectiveness when performing their roles?
It mostly comes down to trust. If your team trusts they can come forward with their challenges and not risk their posts, then the rest will more easily follow. Instilling trust into an organization’s culture is not as hard as it sounds, though it does take time to take root. It starts with empathy – to listen and understand. Then a change in language to convey positivity, gratitude and acceptance. Which then sets up a great mindset for constructive problem solving which can often be the most rewarding, if not most fun, part of the management process.