One of my colleagues recently gave me a bit of a ‘thank you’ after a conversation we had around sourcing strategy when they thought they had looked at every single profile on the internet. My point was to challenge their own notions, even when they’ve exhausted all options. With the risk of jumping into entrepreneurship, and the pride of ownership I feel for making my business a success, I’m a huge believer in the glory of striving valiantly, regardless of the outcome.
I’ve got a family, I’m not hugely into risk-taking, but to me, in success or failure, either is better than never trying in the first place. Trying, by the way, doesn’t need to come with taking massive risks.
In recruiting, it’s about turning on all the engines, drawing candidates into the mix, and having a strong personal connection. More than having an extensive database, it’s about how you are reaching out, the relationship you already have, and building the one you want. You can do that as a full-time internal employee with far less risk versus being a founder. But either way, you can and should still drive hard and care about your work productivity. Once you’ve gotten to what you think is your limit, the odds are pretty good that you’ve actually got more you can handle.
Strategic best practices don’t mean a thing without execution, and sometimes the only way to execute is with the rolling-up-the-sleeves kind of work that requires persistence. This includes things like managing your network by asking for help, finding a mentor, and by helping others.
My favorite quote is a piece from Theodore’s Roosevelt’s Citizen in a Republic speech he gave in Sorbonne in Paris, France, in 1910.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
If you’ve got the itch to be a founder, you’ll have fun scratching it. Just get ready to wake up in the middle of the night and rush over to your computer to write down an idea that you thought of while asleep!
My grandpa taught me to be proud of what you do, so for me, it’s about the desire to do your best, and not about the risk.
In entrepreneurship, recruiting, and in life, realize that things will go awry but if you’re trending in the right direction and building while focusing on the bigger picture, you won’t go crazy in the weeds.
Thanks for reading.
Jamie Ceglarz | LinkedIn
Read On:
- Best Practices in Hiring for Early-Stage Companies
- How I Create and Cultivate my Professional Network in 2019
- What to Look for in a Contract Recruiting Partner
