Magic Pot of Jobs

So, here’s something I learned during my recent job search.

I’m not cut out to be a recruiter. At least, not like some people are.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved my job. For nearly two years, it was the best job I ever had. But I learned that what I loved about it was a very specific set of conditions that are difficult to replicate.

I loved the field I specialized in, because web and Interactive media are things that are important to me. Having that specialty allowed me to get to know people who do things I’m interested in, enjoy the same things I do, and are generally like me in some critical way.

I loved the people I worked with, because we were very selective and didn’t hire anyone to work in the office who we wouldn’t be willing to hang out with on weekends.

I loved becoming a connector- a person who knows lots of people, and more importantly, knows which people need to meet which other people.

But it didn’t take long in my job search to know that I’d probably hate being a recruiter anywhere else. I interviewed with an executive search firm who does all their business development and recruiting via phone. Y’all know how I hate the phone. And I nearly ran screaming from the room when one of the interviewers mentioned how unusual it is for any of their recruiters to actually MEET a client or a candidate. I’m sure that works for lots of people, but I knew it wasn’t for me.

I also have no patience for esoteric sourcing strategies, applicant tracking systems, debating the future of recruiting (job boards? no job boards? niche job boards? yawn), or any of that other stuff my friends in the recruitosphere seem to have endless interest in.

So I switched fields entirely- I work in the web department of a professional association now, and I’m actually having a pretty good time. I’ve got to make a lot of effort to maintain my “connector” habits now that weekly networking events are no longer an expectation of my job, but I’m doing well with that.

And I’ve taken up a new hobby.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 30th, 2007 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Tales from the Field, Meta. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.