How to stay motivated in TA when the market turns… again.

The only thing that is constant and certain… is change. Wow - as recruiters – don’t we know that statement to be true!

Over the last few years, we have seen markets do things we haven’t seen in previous markets. Pre-covid, covid, post-covid and now the market in which we currently find ourselves. I don’t know about you – but I certainly have a case of whiplash from all the up and down and round and round this market has put us though.

I also certainly feel a bit battered and bruised… and tired. This market is really kicking our arse in TA.

I’ve spoken with a few TA leaders recently, that honestly – wonder how much longer they can stay in TA and continue to whether these markets. One minute we are in demand and the best thing since sliced bread, the next minute – the axe falls, and we are some of the first to go.

It’s tough.

I am finding it tough.

My team is finding it tough.

My hiring managers are finding it tough.

I’ve written previously about market conditions and how economics should form to a large degree, the predictability of TA.

As Talent Advisors – we need to know basic economics to drive our talent strategy formation and delivery. We must know what the market is doing. We cannot in TA sit there and wait and watch – we have done that before, and way too many times, and what happens – we become victims of the market.

Our resilience gets tested, our patience gets tested, and so does our motivation.

Which brings me to today’s piece. How do we continue to stay motivated in TA. Not only to get through this market cycle, but to get through all the others that will come after it. Because we know they will.

Change is the only constant.

Let’s start with what motivation exactly is.

According to Verywellmind.com “motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors.” (verywellmind – Emily Roberts) and that “motivation also involves factors that direct and maintain goal-directed actions.”

If we think about motivation related to TA – well the goal-oriented behaviours are things like making placements, or hiring candidates, its engaging with hiring leaders, its proactively reaching out to those candidates, its all the output required for us to do our jobs and add value to our organisations.

But what motivates us to do that? What are those factors that drive and maintain those behaviours?

Motivation can be intrinsic (internal) and extrinsic (external) in nature, meaning what motivates you as the self, but also what motivates you outside of yourself.

Why is this important? Well in markets like this – its important to understand HOW you are motivated, and WHAT that looks like, so you can do more of those things to ensure you maintain your goal-oriented behaviors. It helps you take action, it helps you have a level of control over yourself even when you don’t have it over other things like market conditions, and it helps maintain a healthy perspective and attitude to what is going on and which impacts your mental health.

Now I won’t go into motivational theory here as interesting as it is – but if you are interested to know more in this space, I encourage you to look into motivational theory. I’ve cited these a few times in my conference talks - motivation plays a huge part in being a successful talent advisor.

So how do you know what motivates you?

There’s a couple of ways you can see what motivates you and its by reflecting on how you feel/felt about recent situations;

• Do you like seeing the impact you have?
• Do you like solving problems?
• Do you enjoy seeing people reach their goals?
• Do you like seeing a clear career path for yourself?
• Are you motivated by money or financial incentives?

Or take this online test which identifies for you at a high level, which of the “big 5 motivations” you have at work out of achievement, power, affiliation, security and adventure”.

Quiz: What Motivates You? (leadershipiq.com)

(surprise, mine’s achievement… shocking right)

The great news here is motivation is like a muscle. The more you flex the right muscle, the stronger it will get. Know what motivates you – and do more of it.

So that’s motivation – but there’s something else we need in spades when the going gets tough.

Resilience.

According to the APA – “Resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands” (APA.org)

Like motivation, resilience is also multi-faceted. Factors including the lens in which people see the world, what management strategies they have at their disposal and societal structures all support and shape the depth and ability for people to respond to environmental factors.

In other words – their levels of resilience.

Think about your own ability to manage through circumstances as a recruiter when things are challenging. How do you bounce back when you have candidates withdraw last minute from processes? How do you pick yourself up when a hiring manager gives less than stellar feedback? How do you cope when you receive criticism from your leader?

So, like motivation, how do we build resilience in TA?

Firstly – connections. You need to have connections and a support system that helps you navigate through challenging situations. Maybe you have a work wife, or a work husband, maybe you have an awesome leader who you can go to, maybe your team has strong meme game on their teams or slack that helps relieve some pressure… build and leverage those connections.

If it isn’t inside work, make sure you have it externally. If you don’t – please build a professional support system if you need it. Use your organisation’s EAP if you need to.

Asking for support and saying things feel hard – is not something to be embarrassed about.

After resilience – what else can we do?

Focus on what we can control.

This is sometimes easier said than done – what is within your control that you can influence, and what sits outside it.

Generally, as a rule you can only control yourself, your behavior, your actions, your thoughts, but I also think as recruiters we can control our focus.

If we aren’t recruiting externally, internally what is there to support on? Maybe it’s a leading adjacent projects like a review on your organisational attrition, conduct a skills analysis, drive redeployment conversations, drive your internal mobility program, clean up your ATS, engage with all your new starters, review your sourcing channels.

Get ready for when the market changes again. (Because it will!) That stuff is within your control. You can’t control the market – you can’t control your organisation, but you can control what you do and what you focus on, and you can continue to add value in your organisation.

You can also focus on influencing, rather than controlling. Look up Steven Covey's "The Covey Circles of Influence" to see how he breaks down what we need to accept, what we can influence, and what we can control - if helpful - draw yourself a diagram and list all the things you are worried about out and plot them in the 3 circles and see what you can accept, influence and control. 

The Covey Circles of Influence (thecareerpsychologist.com)

Now being in TA – it would be remiss of me not to mention that I have seen the number of redundancies that are happening in our industry. For those that this has happened to – I’m sorry. It isn’t fun. It also isn’t a reflection on you as a human, your value and what you bring to the world of TA.

Organisations have to make tough decisions. And this is one of them. This too shall pass.

For those whose teams have been impacted and are stable in your current roles.

This is hard too.

Having been on both sides of the fence – being the ones who stay can be hard. Survivor guilt and waiting for the other shoe to drop is an awful feeling.

The pressure of having to do more with less is challenging. I encourage you to review your work structures, how you plan your day/week. What output are you realistically able to achieve?

Your levels of communication and influencing will be your best friend.

Communicate and manage expectations, use sentences like, “if this is to be delivered, what would you like to me to deprioritise in order to put the right level of focus on this project”, I am able to support on this role, but given current workloads, the shortlist will be sent on this date. I will keep you updated on my progress” etc.

Also explore opportunities for automation and developing systems and processes that help you offload the lower value work, to prioritise the higher value work to your business.

For example, are you able to leverage tools at the top of the funnel to help screen and assess applicants to reduce the workload?

Lastly – take care of you.

We do important work in TA, and we have an amazing impact – but none of that will be realized if you don’t take care of yourself.

Build in joy into your days by doing one thing you really enjoy doing, block out your calendars to take a walk (or better yet – do walking meetings and encourage others to walk with you!), maintain a positive outlook, and lastly accept change is happening, and that it will keep on changing.

I hope this has helped, but please reach out and leverage support organisations if you need them. You are important, you matter, and you are worth it.

Below are the links to some support organisations:

National mental health helplines & support groups - Beyond Blue

Support services for depression and anxiety | Depression | ReachOut Australia

J.xx