Our Director Paul Hamilton has recently raised a good and timeless question – why do a lot of people starting out in Recruitment ultimately end up failing. One of the answers can be found in a simple observation: a lot of people of my generation do not take the only one path that is open to them, one of hard work, persistence and sacrifice.
Drop your expectations and sense of entitlement.
Put your nose to the grind and good things will happen.
Our generation grew up with too many distractions. We are surrounded by stories of unprecedented and tremendous success (ranging anywhere from Mark Zuckerberg to Dan Bilzerian). These are amplified and delivered via various digital media with a nearly subliminal messaging-level of penetration. The impact is that we often underestimate the amount of hard work, persistence and sacrifice that is actually involved. Instead, our expectations of life are inflated beyond any reason.
The second elephant in the room is the social norms that deemphasize hard work, sacrifice and achievement. Instead the Normal is to be social, go on holidays, go out to restaurants, buy expensive breakfasts and own the latest gadgets. Now, I understand the value and importance of being social on weekends and spending time with friends. But not all weekend, every weekend – time off work also needs to be spent on projects, learning, being creative, being productive, on working to improve yourself and your life.
Drew Houston of Dropbox talks about how he would spend
every weekend reading books on business, sales, marketing.
All day long. Every weekend.
I think that a lot of successful recruiters actually get the above balance right. Hence the work hard, play hard culture that our Industry is known for. The newcomers, on the other hand, really need to understand this – Recruitment can pay for a great lifestyle and financial freedom, but you need to own your results and stop looking for excuses. If putting in long hours is what it takes to build your business, then you sacrifice your evenings and some of your social life, and you do what it takes. In Recruitment and Business, as in life, there are simply no shortcuts to success. The only path that is open to us is one of selfless hard work.
