Hi Recruiters!
If you came here for my Top 10 List of Recruiters to Follow, I’m sorry to inform you that you have been click-baited. By me. On purpose.
No, there is no Top 10 List. But don’t click away just yet!
The reason I “tricked” you is that I want to talk about the problem I have with these types of lists, and why we’d be better off without them. And this is coming from someone who has been listed multiple times as a “top TA influencer” or “thought leader” before.
Here’s the deal: these lists of so-called influential recruiters? They are usually lazy attempts to generate some SEO content or make connections with people who have a following. It’s weird, and every year just feels like the same names getting thrown around like dice in a back-alley craps game. Maybe it’s marketing gold for the vendors who produce them, but it’s an awkward, seemingly random shuffle of personalities for the rest of us.
In other words, these lists are just a merry-go-round of brand names — most of which I’ve never stumbled across in my travels. And every year, we watch as HR and TA leaders play musical chairs.
But what’s the real value? Spoiler alert: it’s zilch. It’s a fame game where the genuinely talented often get overlooked because they don’t play into the popularity contest. And then there are those who make the list for all the wrong reasons — sometimes through controversy that doesn’t exactly age like a fine wine.
The kicker is, when your name hits one of these lists, you’re unwittingly signing up to be a poster child for the outlet that publishes it. It’s free advertising for them, with your reputation on the line. It’s a paradox, really. We rally for speakers to be compensated for their spotlight, yet wear our names on these lists like badges of honor. It’s a little ironic.
Aditi Juneja, a lawyer and writer who has been listed in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 put it well when, in a Vox article , she wrote, “Lists like these fetishize achievement while erasing the role of privilege and access.” She goes on to say “We need to acknowledge that we don’t distribute opportunity equally.”
My takeaway is this: By focusing on the same few people, or choosing people to focus on based on the same few criteria, we lose access to a lot of voices. And those voices are rich with insight we could learn from.
The fact that lists like Forbes’ 30 Under 30 frequently feature many success stories that later turn out to be fraudulent is all the evidence you need to think twice about how the media evaluates success.
Obviously, the stakes are not quite so high in the world of HR or TA, and I am not saying anyone who is on one of these lists isn’t worthy of recognition, BUT I think the point still very much applies.
And that’s really where Aditi’s wisdom comes in… to help us ask “What is this actually good for?”
Here’s where I stand: For the love of our industry, please, ditch the name-dropping. It's not doing anyone any favors.
If you want to make a real impact, share wisdom, not just names; best practices, not popularity contests.
As people existing in this world, we already deal with many forces that are interested in robbing us of our sense of community. It’s what makes us good consumers who click on everything, especially things that make us feel bad, scared, or unworthy, and convinces us to move apart instead of come together.
We don’t need that kind of energy coming from inside this industry.
It's high time we reignite the spirit of community. Let's start real conversations. I want to hear from everyone in this space, not just the same “influencers” every year.
Because it's everyone that’s living in it, innovating in it, experiencing new challenges and finding new solutions in it. And often, the more time an expert starts to spend talking about the work instead of actually doing the work, the further removed they become. What I’m getting at is that anyone doing this thing we all do has something important to offer.
Please, share your stories – everyone’s got something to add to the pot. Even if you think your tale isn’t special, the moment you open up, you teach someone something new. If enough voices are out there, maybe these lists will start getting interesting for once.
If you’re not sure you have enough expertise to start sharing your experience, take it from Gerry Crispin, our TA sage – he’ll say, “It’s not about learning something new, it's about seeing things from a fresh perspective.” We both love walking away from a chat with a newfound insight.
So, start sharing. Connection is a two-way street. You open up, you learn something. It makes you vulnerable, but also wiser.
Looking at 2024, the horizon's bright. Jim Stroud’s bringing back the buzz at SourceCon. Gerry and Chris Hoyt are expanding CareerXroads. Lars Schmidt’s re-launching Amplify Talent. And Daniel Harten and I? We’ve got our own firework to light (which we’ll share more about next week). In closing: Forget the lists. Focus on your community. You’re enough. Let's make some noise together.
Kunwar Ishan Sharma here! The good news is I’ve never made any list ever 😄
But I have something even cooler to share. It's our new Hiring and Recruiting Assistant! It's a super cool way to find the talent you need using ChatGPT.
Thank you for being a part of the community, and we’ll see you next week.
— Recruiters