The lessons England’s football team can learn from Recruitment!

Football. The beautiful game. On Thursday the 16th of June, I sat, as many other dedicated Englishmen no doubt did, in the boardroom of my fabulous Oakleaf Partnership, to witness the defeat of Wales by the predictably capricious English team. In true England team style, the match, and audience, was fuelled throughout by a stream of anticlimactic adrenaline rushes, proving painful and infuriating to watch. Until, as though an act of God to the patriotic English nation, Sturridge scored the winning goal during extra time, reawakening the spirit within us which we so are familiar with losing as England supporters. Oh! The agony of being English! Tea was the only remedy capable of neutralising our excitable souls.

 

I am a recruiter and, from my corporate perspective, football and recruitment are played upon seemingly different fields, however whilst watching, I noticed a few unexpected parallels between the formation of the England team and the cultural formation of a business, and our role as a recruiter to make sure we get it absolutely right, for both client and candidate. As my mind was wandering from the, somewhat stagnant, game, I came to thinking about the importance of culture fit among the employees and individuals to allow an organisation to work collaboratively and succeed. Consequently, the importance of consultant and client relationships transcends the importance of the technological advancements surrounding us. Whilst I am a big fan of constant new and improving technology (as I recruit HR in to Tech!), it just gave me further realisation of the importance of our role in a recruitment agency, and how, as long as we stay ahead and relevant, we will always be needed.

 

So the metaphor goes like this….

 

A CV could be matched to a job spec every day of the week, and our roles as recruitment consultants would be redundant. Equally, people can be referred by someone who knows them from a previous job encounter and is confident that they are excellent. However, someone can be excellent in one business, but move them to the wrong environment and they’ll be entirely out of place. A CV can match a spec, but that person completely wrong for the business, or vice versa (stay with me here!)

 

Comparatively, looking at the England team, it occurred to me you have the likes of Wayne Rooney, who has scored in almost 50% of all games played for Man Utd, Harry Kane – 49 goals in 72 games for Tottenham, and other great names in the line-up and who were substituted. For their premiership clubs they are stars, but as with previous England players; Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Terry, Shearer, all superstars for their clubs, yet never ever coming together and leading to England being a world class team. Presumably because the national team is primarily one of heritage and coincidence, not strategy. They are stuck with each other. Like with CV and spec, on paper we should have won so much more over the years, but evidently, for a team to work, you need more than matching bullet points. This is particularly true within the world of HR.

 

As infuriating as this apparent lack of patriotic dedication is, the 1966 England world cup winning team stands as proof that creating a team differently can lead to a more successful outcome. Alf Ramsey famously constructed the team on the basis of camaraderie and natural chemistry on the field. For example, the focal point of the entire team was Bobby Charlton. Ramsey knew that the other players were the energy behind Charlton’s light, hence why he chose to play Nobby Stiles. Not the most obviously best player individually, however, as one of this 11, he was invaluable. Ramsey famously ‘On the one hand…had Geoff [Hurst] and Roger [Hunt] who could be relied on to sweat cobs. On the other he had Jimmy Greaves, a fantastic finisher but a moderate team player. Alf did what he thought was best for the team.’ Consequently, Graeves did not play in the world cup final. Therefore, it was victory for England! The one and only time our optimism as an English nation has been worthwhile.

 

I am now; finally, to connect the dots (if you have not done so already). I realised, it is all about getting the culture right, the team right, being strong together and achieving as a result. I have met many people in my career who have been superstars in one business, and gone to another and been bewildered by feeling that something just isn’t right, and consequently not getting the same glory, respect and joy experienced previously. Candidates can then start to think, are you not as good as you thought? Were you just lucky previously? And self-doubt can kick in.

 

As a recruiter, I make it my absolute priority to ensure I really get to know my candidates, their strengths, what’s important to them and subsequently where they are going to fly. Meeting clients and having a strong relationship with them aids further in allowing us the understanding of who is going to be their next Bobby Charlton. This is why I love my role, I can find the brilliance in people and make sure I place them exactly where they are going to be the Christiano Ronaldo’s and Bobby Moore’s of the business.

 

Within the company I work for, we invest particular effort into our OP academy; the future stars of the HR world. I realised that this reflects the strategy of the German team and coincidentally, the most recent world cup winners. Their players are of the highest standards because so much is invested into their academy players. The German managers see the future of football in the present, just as we prepare future HR candidates for unknown future employers.

 

Footballers lunge; recruiters scrutinize CV’s. Footballers score goals; recruiters turn the prospect of a job into the prospect of infinite horizons. To put it simply, whether your team is kicking a ball or interviewing a candidate, behind every person is the potential to excel in their role on the basis that they are in the right one. And that is where a recruitment agency will always be so well positioned to get it right, because of a huge network, and meeting candidates all day every day. Just because you can’t be the best at everything, doesn’t mean you can’t be truly wonderful at something, somewhere. Not every team is for you, but one is. You may have to try on many boots before you find the one which fits perfectly and scores you the winning hat-trick. Nevertheless, we will always be there for support, pep talks and be your biggest fans throughout your career.

 

In the meantime……. World cup 2018 qualifiers here we come!

 

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