What’s in a name?

Walked into a cafe yesterday to meet my Candidate “John”. Saw a guy sat on his own, and approached. “Morning! John?” “Yes, I’m John!” said John. I pulled up a chair and energetically entered into the obligatory small talk about the Melbourne weather. He responded eagerly. Even going as far as to tell me what the weather forecast was looking like for the back end of the week. Small talk over, I then started formally introducing myself, and gave him my pitch about being a 25 year Marketer who has now transitioned into marketing recruitment. “That’s amazing” said John. “Good on you!” he added for good measure. “Tell me about you, John” and he continued to tell me that he’d grown up in London, and moved to Stafford when he was young. He’d then followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, who had been a teacher. He was in full flow when he told me his eldest daughter had recently moved to Melbourne to broaden her horizons, and he and his second wife were thoroughly enjoying their holiday here in Australia. It was then - in that horrific moment - that I realised that this John was not MY John. I didn’t want to interrupt his little story, so I let him keep talking about the sights that he’d been particularly enjoyed whilst visiting Victoria, including The Great Ocean Road. I smiled, and just kept nodding, thinking “How the f#ck do I get out of this? And where the hell is MY John?” Eventually, after approximately 12 minutes of small talk about the weather, his daughter, his sightseeing adventures, and even a snippet on why his first marriage failed, I drummed up the courage to explain to John that there’d been a small mistake. He looked disappointed, and even a little bit sad as I made my very quick and very embarrassed escape. My “John” was sitting about 4 tables away. And he looked annoyed that I was 12 minutes late. From now on, I’m going to ask all my candidates to carry a single carnation to make sure this never, EVER happens again! Please tell me I’m not the only person this has happened to? 😆🤣😂 Marketing Mix Recruitment - The Marketer who became a marketing recruiter.

My sons just learnt their first lessons in “work equals reward”, and “influencing”. I was invited out to dinner by my boys (aged 9 and 13) on Friday night. “Mum, it’s on us”, they maturely declared, courtesy of three “best on ground” sports vouchers that had been proudly pegged on our fridge for the past 6 months, gathering dust! Burgers were on the boys (after Mum had to sweet talk the restaurant manager to honour one of the vouchers that had expired by just 10 days. Will (the little one) never doubted me on that front - “Mum, just smile. People like it when you smile at them”… 😆) Hopefully this sows the sesame seeds of a good work ethic equalling reward, the impact of a smile as a negotiation tool, and most importantly, looking after their Mum! Marketing Mix Recruitment - The Marketer who became THE Marketing Recruiter.

In my many years of senior marketing management, I’ve had my fair share of resumes land on my desk. And my sense now, as a Marketing Recruiter, is the same as it was when I was a hiring Marketing Manager, which is: Marketing Candidates quite often miss the mark when writing their CVs. And I’ll tell you what I mean! Most hiring managers don’t want to pore over a CV, and read paragraph after paragraph about what a Marketer does! I mean, let’s be honest… It’s quite likely the person reading your CV has done your job themselves, and they understand the mechanics of Marketing as well as you do. Maybe even better! Don’t get me wrong. This shouldn’t be skipped over or omitted entirely. Let’s just avoid delivering “War & Peace” Mark 2, here. Keep it succinct. Where the majority of your focus should be, and the bit that the reader is truly going to get excited about, is the bit that tells the world how good you are at your job. Yes, we know what you do for a living, but how successful are you at what you do? What have you accomplished in your role, and how did you do it? What achievements are you most proud of in your career, and why? What are the tangibles that demonstrate how successful you were in your career, and list them! Where’s the ROI? Which targets did you smash? These are the things that will make your CV stand out amongst the pile of dozens of other CVs. Not the font. Not the profile picture. Not the “personal statement”… But the plain and demonstrable facts that tells the readers how good you are at Marketing! Marketing Mix Recruitment - The Marketer who became a Marketing Recruiter.

I'm meeting with lots of great candidates who have awesome experience, but in the one particular industry. More and more of them are open to trying new industries, knowing and believing that the skills they have developed over time are transferable. But time and time again, feedback I'm hearing from candidates is that some recruiters are simply pigeonholing them into their original industry, without taking the time to explore the opportunities beyond! They believe the skills they have aquired are easily transferable. (And I'm inclined to agree!) But, look, maybe that's because we're in a saturated candidate market right now, and the recruiters know that those with specific industry experience are likely to come out on top? But where's the creative thinking? We're servicing the creative industry! So should'nt we try and be a little creative ourselves? These candidates love what they do but they want to try new industries. And who are we to try and stop them? I can relate! Not that long ago I was a marketer. Now I'm a marketing recruiter!

In my many years of marketing, I’ve had a lot of resumes land on my desk. And my sense now, as a Marketing Recruiter, is the same as it was when I was a hiring Marketing Manager, which is that Marketing Candidates quite often miss the mark when writing their CVs. And I’ll tell you what I mean! Most hiring managers don’t want to pore over a CV, and read paragraph after paragraph about what a Marketer does! I mean, let’s be honest… The person reading your CV has invariably done your job themselves, and they understand the mechanics of Marketing as well as you do. Maybe even better! Don’t get me wrong. This shouldn’t be skipped over or omitted entirely. Let’s just avoid delivering “War & Peace” Mark 2, here. Keep it succinct. Where the majority of your focus should be, and the bit that the Reader is truly going to get excited about, is the bit that tells the world how good you are at your job. Yes, we know what you do for a living, but how successful are you at what you do? What have you accomplished in your role, and how did you do it? What achievements are you most proud of in your career, and why? What are the tangibles that demonstrate how successful you were in your career, and list them! Where’s the ROI? Which targets did you smash? These are the things that will make your CV stand out amongst the pile of dozens of other CVs. Not the font. Not the profile picture. Not the “personal statement”… But the plain and demonstrable facts that tells the Reader how good you are at Marketing!

OK, heads up! Before you read this, at no point during this article will I require you to reach for your miniature violin or your Kleenex. To be clear, this is not a “oh, woe is me” moment. This is simply me telling you, the Reader (whoever you might be), why my being a single Mum is my superpower! And why that particular superpower is also one of the key reasons I am pretty damn good at my job. Let me break it down for you… When you’re a single Mum, you have to be pretty efficient. When you’re a single Mum of three, you have to be very efficient. When you’re a single Mum of three, who all attend different schools, you need to be efficient on steroids. (If it isn’t perfectly obvious, I fall into the last category!) Efficiency isn’t necessarily a skill I was aware that I had as a teenager growing up, or when I was footloose and fancy free. Maybe it was there in the background, but I never really had need to call upon it. But like the millions of other parents on the planet who carry the workload of not only themselves PLUS their adorable offspring, it is a skill that I have not only developed, but mastered. What it essentially means, is that I have the ability to do 37 tasks at the same time, but to a very high standard. It also means that those 37 tasks will get done within the appointed time, because if they don’t get done, they Don’t. Get. Done. It also means that procrastination, clock-watching, thumb-twiddling and daytime TV viewing are concepts I’ve heard of, but have never experienced. If I could summarise my life, I could do it with six simple words… “On my watch, shit gets done!” Now, at this juncture, let me interject and point out that I don’t tell you this for applause, accolades or even a little medal (which would be nice if my kids happen to read this). Not at all. In fact, I wish I didn’t have to live my life like a race. But this is my life, this is my lot, and I do what I have to do. But how does this relate to my professional life? Quite simply, I know that I have a finite amount of time each day to make a difference in my life for myself, my kids, my future, my Clients, and my Candidates. And that is between 8.30am (when the kids leave for school) and 4.30pm (when the kids start drifting home from school). (And then at 7pm onwards when the kids are fed and dealt with, when most of you are watching MAFS reruns!) Every minute counts. Every second counts. And what that means to the Clients and the Candidates I partner with, is that you know I’m never going to drop the ball, and you’re never going to find yourself chasing me. But finally, and I suppose the little miniature violin could be pulled out for this last bit… See that big pointy thing that sits on top of these expensive four walls? That’s my roof. And if I don’t “get shit done”, then my kids won’t have one of those over their demanding little heads. That’s why being a single Mum is my superpower.