dirtyDogStink

Extreme Recruiting

Wednesday, August 16 2006

As part of the Big Bad Recruiting Blog Swap, today's post is brought to you by George Blomgren of Jobs, Job Seekers, Employers & Recruiters. Maybe it's a good thing I'm not in recruiting since he's comparing recruiters to UFC fighters...I would regularly get my arse whipped. ;-) Enjoy!

I'm not a big sports fan, but I love watching Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and other "extreme" mixed martial arts competitions. A bit brutal, but fascinating. And oddly relevant to recruiting.

UFC (the most publicized and arguably best ongoing competition) dramatically changed the nature of competitive martial arts around the world. After centuries of slow evolution -- different martial arts evolving in very different directions -- mixed martial arts competitions changed things dramatically and quickly. The very public and utilitarian nature of these competitions became a crucible. In this crucible, it became painfully clear what worked and what didn't. For participants, it became obvious that anything less than a fanatical dedication to 1) training/adaptation and 2) results wasn't enough for success.

The world of recruiting has undergone similar evolution in the last 10 years. The web has enabled and forced the changes. I'd suggest that the internet is the equivalent of UFC in this movement -- an extremely visible venue, an arena where many of the best and brightest come to spar and exchange ideas in a very public manner, and a crucible that has significantly changed recruiting.

One common theme in the martial arts world, prior to UFC, was the "my way is the best/only way" mentality. Masters of any given style often felt that they had perfected the be-all, end-all techniques, and didn't need to look outside. UFC quickly proved that no martial art was complete, that fighters had to master multiple skills (from multiple arts) and be ready to adapt instantly to any new situation/opponent. See where I'm going with this?

UFC also created a lot of unprecedented partnerships. Traditional enmity between competitors disappeared as smart fighters realized that partnering up was the best way to learn new skills and/or complement their areas of mastery. Homogenous schools/clubs were replaced by dynamic "camps" sharing first and foremost a commitment to results. This has also happened to a remarkable extent in recruiting. The Recruiting blogswap that made this posting possible demonstrates that.

The octagon, where UFC bouts occur, attracts an interesting mix of people. Innovators, experts, coaches, synthesizers of information, and a few pompous windbags. If you're familiar with the variety of people who have hung as shingle as career coaches, recruiting experts, employment gurus, etc. the whole cast of characters should sound familiar.

UFC created real-world pragmatic standards. Previously, there had been belts, which reflected experience. Experience helps create champions, but it doesn't always work that way. The octagon created a real world distinction between truly world class fighters, and those who weren't capable of this level of performance. Thanks to UFC, this elite circle became recognizable and recognized. The high-tech, high-touch and high-concept recruiting techniques (and challenges) created by the internet have similarly separated the champions from the duffers.

Thanks to UFC, martial arts have evolved more in the last 15 years than in the centuries before. The internet has brought similar (r)evolution to recruiting. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for both.