Posted on Sun, May 08, 2011
Post contributed by Barry Diamond. Follow Barry on Twitter @bddiamond
Several weeks ago, my 6 year old son, Aaron, was playing with his cousin. From the kitchen I could hear them laughing and giggling so I decided to check up on them and see what was going on. I found them in our recreation room and asked them what they were doing. They told me they were playing “Old Man Eagle.”
“What’s Old Man Eagle?” I inquired. I had never heard of this game they were playing, so I asked them to show me how their game worked.
Aaron took a Quarter and flipped it into the air. His cousin yelled out “Old Man.” The coin hit the carpet and landed with the George Washington side facing up. She looked down at the coin and said “I win.” It was really so apparent but for so many reasons I’ve been conditioned to think “head and tails” that I couldn’t see the obvious.
In RPO, I think we often face the same group think and can miss the obvious too.
Last year, I got a new boss,Angela Hills, at Pinstripe. Her previous experience is in Talent Management versus Recruitment Process Outsourcing. Many of her observations coming from the "outside" are fresh and right on target. I’ve questioned myself why, after so many years in RPO, I didn’t see certain things that she has brought to light.
I now realize that because of my industry tenure I’ve been conditioned to think and work a certain way that can be limiting at times. In my case, it took someone with an unbiased perspective of RPO to ask the questions and make the obvious more evident.
