More valuable than lawyers

You are the secret to your clients’ success

Presenting to a group of recruitment agency finance directors last week, I pointed out to them that Steve Jobs didn’t credit lawyers for his business success.

I had to tread carefully with this next point considering the audience, but Steve Jobs didn’t credit accountants for his success either.

Who could be more valuable than lawyers and accountants, you wonder. To quote him in full, Steve Jobs said: 

“The secret to my success is that we’ve gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world.”

So the success of Apple - the most valuable company in the world - is down to hiring the best people. 

This thinking isn’t limited to Steve Jobs and Apple. Flip through any CEO autobiography and you’ll find a chapter on the importance of getting the best people in the business.

You don’t have to connect too many dots to realise the role that recruiters play in supporting this success.

My concern is that this understanding of the value of hiring fades as we look down the organisation, until we’re left facing a hiring manager who is too focused on finding the cheapest supplier for their next vacancy.

As recruiters, it’s our responsibility to remind our clients of the importance of hiring the best people. It’s what their CEOs believe. It’s what the CEOs of the most valuable companies in the world believe. 

Let’s not let people forget it.

Jon

P.S. It’s also our responsibility to make sure we remind ourselves and our team mates of the value of hiring. 

Without a regular top up, we can lose confidence in our own value. It certainly doesn’t help that hiring managers stand to gain when we forget our value, as they’re likely to undermine our self worth as they negotiate.

If you’re looking for ways to build your team’s confidence in the value you create for your clients, simply reply to this email and I can share some of the ways I’ve helped recruiters believe in their value.