Are you stupid? Êtes-vous idiote ?
This week in the Holistic Recruiter Club #041
Should you be acting more stupid?
Well… maybe. (Yes, I’m clickbaiting, but stay with me.)
I was listening to a podcast the other day, and someone said:
“People are so deep in what they’re building, they’re over-engineering things that don’t need it.”
That stuck with me.
A founder I spoke to said something similar:
“In HR, we’re trying to build with atoms and neutrons, when really, we just need bricks.”
And I agree.
When I first learned the KISS principle, Keep It Simple, Stupid, it was during my first ever sales training with a guy called Greg Peaks nearly 18-19 years ago.
(He used to say, “Every no is closer to a yeah, baby.” I still remember it haha.)
And honestly, That lesson has stuck with me more than most HR frameworks ever have.
In TA, we often overcomplicate things.
We create complex processes that “look valuable”
But don’t actually lead to better outcomes.
So here is me tying this back to the hook
Be more stupid to get smarter.
By ‘stupid,’ I don’t mean lazy or thoughtless, I mean stripping out unnecessary complexity.
A BIG THANK YOU !!! Yes you 🫵
We made it to 299 followers, not quite the 300 but thanks to all of you who shared the newsletter with someone it means a lot! Now the next step is to reach, 500. What is awesome is that we have a 45% open rate which is jolly good for a nieche like this. As long as we have that I will continue to write! So again thank you
Next week, I’ll be sharing the latest iteration of my TA Strategy AI Helper.
I listened to your feedback and I cant wait to show you it ( if can manage to get it working, that is, but I will also tell you the difficuties I found!)
Keep an eye out on Tuesday.
Power of the Community
This was on my mind this week, so I asked my linkedin network: -
You can download the full PDF below:
It’s also very nice to get messages saying thank you for posting, as it helped them through that specific problem. Doesnt happen every day but when it does its a good feeling!
What Do You Do With 300 Applications? Applying my 4’s TA Strategy Model.
As you know, I’ve been working on a way to apply strategy to situations using something for now Im calling the
”4’s Framework for TA Strategy”
→ See → Sense → Shape → Strengthen.
So let’s put it to the test and work through an example.
SEE: what’s really happening.
For example:
We looked at the funnel and 70% of applicants weren’t even qualified.
No screening questions. No structured JD.
The team had too much volume of applications to manage and was wasting hours reviewing manually.
SENSE: Now we need to start thinking about what’s causing it?
The general consensus from the team was this: -
No friction. The process was too easy to apply, so everyone did.
Generic job ads. with No clear criteria, no pre-filter questions, and hiring managers still asking for “more CVs,” not better ones.
The market’s flooded. Especially with candidates using AI to mass-apply.
But what is the deeper problem?
Nobody had aligned on what “qualified” really meant.
SHAPE: What should we change?
We introduced:
A short pre-screen questionnaire
Clearer “must-haves” in the JD
Alignment with hiring managers on rejection criteria
Oh, they turned off job boards that were driving garbage traffic, only leaving the ones delivering quality.
🧱 STRENGTHEN": What needs reinforcing?
Measure from a base line the things we discussed in SHape and then we built a weekly review loop:
% of qualified candidates per role
CV to screen ratios
Where poor fit applicants came from
Now, every new job gets a 10 min intake checklist and auto reject logic if it doesn’t meet minimum criteria that is needed for the job.
And then we have to loop and iterate.
Because one fix isn’t enough.
Every 2 weeks, the team reviews:
% of qualified candidates
Top rejection reasons
Which sources bring junk
And they adjust. Again and again. That doesnt mean over enginerring that is minor adjustments based on the process.
🎯 Results you could expect?
40% less time wasted screening
Hiring managers aligned on “qualified”
Better candidate conversations
Less noise!
What I’d like you to take away is….
You don’t solve volume once you have to build a system that learns. None of this is heavy. It’s not overengineering, it’s building just enough system to cut out the overwhelming noise that arrises.
See → Sense → Shape → Strengthen → Repeat.
That’s how smart TA teams work. In fact thats how most teams should work…..
This week’s funny:
Year after year McKinsey reports show that 1 in 3 people will leave in the probation period and the main reason is that to the company culture is not aligned to what they were sold in the interview process…
I was expecting a poll with a Yes/No answer choice to your clickbait. Good newsletter but partly disappointed 😂