SERVANE CROSS BLOG

How My 4 Year Old Daughter’s Birthday Party is Like Recruiting

March 19th, 2010

This past week has been a spectacle watching my wife do most of the planning for our daughter’s birthday party. She’s turning four and where else would a four year old want to go but that mecca of arcade games, skee ball, and pizza. Yes, you’ve guess it: Chuck E. Cheese’. As any dutiful husband would, I helped drive her all over town to get the necessary cooking utensils, ingredients and knick-knacks (for her to actually bake her very first birthday cake ever) among other honey-do tasks. While doing all of this and visualizing the birthday party at Chuck E’s, I couldn’t help but find a parallel with the world of recruiting, especially healthcare recruiting. Please indulge me as I illustrate my observations.

First off, I equate the coordinating parents (aka: Us….the Kims) as the third-party recruiters (executive search or staffing) who industriously scramble to make sure all the plans for the party (aka: interview) are set. They make sure the invitations go out (aka: relaying to candidates when to show up for their interview). They make sure that there are enough of everything like seating, meals, slices of cake, etc. (aka: ensure there are open and active job reqs). They help to educate the guests about what the party will be like (aka: explain the organization’s culture, mission, and values). And last but not least, they ask each of the guests if they’re having fun and what they like about it to ensure a good time (aka: get feedback from both client and candidates throughout the interview process). I started to think that a party organizer’s job was almost never done which is sometimes what it feels like to be a recruiter. Every detail must be planned and thought through but with no guarantee of any sort of success. That sounds familiar.

Secondly, I started thinking about Chuck E. Cheese, the facility itself. This reminded me of the hiring organization with its many spokes in the wheel. There’s a birthday hostess (HR Recruiter or Recruiting Manager) who ensures the party (aka: interview process) goes smoothly. Their responsibilities are limited to a certain timeframe as they’re not responsible for HOW the children play, interact, or actually get fed but rather in the logistics of delivering a seamless process. The restaurant itself (aka: organization) has rules and expectations. For example, they expect you to be apprompt to the party (interview). They also expect that you participate in the activities like singing happy birthday, doing the Chuck E. Dance Time, etc. (aka: going through each of the delicate phases and rounds of interviewing from HR to Line Interviews, etc.).

Thirdly, I thought about who the client (aka: hiring manager) would be in all this. That would have to be my daughter. You see, if she’s not happy with either how the process goes or the guests (aka: interviewees), then she’s going to let me and her mommy know about it. Nothing really means that much if the client (my daughter Christall) isn’t happy with the day’s event, the cake, the party favors or anything else. It all has to go perfectly in order for there to be a happy client (again aka: my 4 y/o). And unlike in my generation when we were four and any old party would suffice for us just as long as our friends were there, four year olds these days are much savvier and much more demanding. If you have children of your own, I’m sure you can understand what I mean.

In summary, I think that you could just about draw a parallel between Recruiting and anything if you really put your mind to it. But this one seemed pretty correlative to me and came easily to my mind. Just as the interview process is a high-wire act where anything can happen to knock the trapeze artist off, planning a birthday is also no simple feat. Now I’ll just find it funny when I see my daughter sitting in her seat of honor because I’ll be wondering when I can send her my invoice for services rendered.

Happy Birthday, Christall! Mommy and Daddy really worked hard on this one.

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