This week in the Holistic Recruiter Club #010

Getting TA's "In the Zone", Napkin AI and Why TA and HR have to stop being so nice

Sep 13, 2024

Guess who’s back, back again, yes that’s right, The Two Tired Dads Talk Talent and Tech (yes I put a dad joke in there)

and I had so much fun ( and hundreds of listens and downloads) that we decided to keep it going, switch it up, and turn it into a show. This was the last one before we invited our first guest!

You can watch and listen to this week’s episode, which was all about the “State of flow”. We deep dive in to how you can use it

In our next episode, we will be speaking to Noémie Sichel-Dulong who is the Global Talent Acquisition Senior Director of 70 people at Doctolib. All about how to make tough choices!

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How TA and HR Are Creating Their Own Problems

Talent Acquisition and Human Resources are often quite a lot of the time people pleasers by nature. This can seem like a good thing at firs, I mean , who doesn’t want a team that is responsive, helpful, and accommodating? But what happens when the instinct to please everyone starts creating problems rather than solving them?

I’m not for one moment saying TA’s and HR people are like this, but if you find yourself constantly saying “yes” or agreeing to things you dont agree with just to meet unrealistic demands, you might be unknowingly shooting yourself in the foot. The relentless positivity, endless submission, and habit of always trying to make things work can quickly lead to frustration and, worse, feeling undervalued. In fact, I’d argue that this tendency is a huge reason why so many HR and TA professionals feel overlooked and underappreciated.

Just because you’re in HR or TA doesn’t mean you always have to be nice, agreeable, or make everything seem perfect. Sometimes, saying “no” is not only acceptable but necessary. This is especially true in high pressure environments where HR and TA operate in a lot of the time.

IT”S OK TO SAY NO OR PUSH BACK

TA and HR people are often trying to justify their role and in fear of losing that job the moment something goes wrong or the company decides to stop hiring so they will overcompensate.

Lets take a typical scenario in talent acquisition. The hiring manager comes to you with a request: “I need this role filled yesterday.” The pressure is on, and your natural instinct might be to just say, “Sure, let me get on it!” But hold on a second. Do you have all the information you need to make that happen? Have you clarified timelines, interview slots, and expectations for feedback? If not, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

One of the biggest mistakes TA professionals make is jumping into the hiring process without all the necessary information. You should be negotiating these details upfront with the hiring manager. If you don’t, you’ll end up scrambling to meet arbitrary deadlines, dealing with last-minute rescheduling, and ultimately taking the blame for things that were out of your control from the start.

Pushing back is key here. Don’t be afraid to ask for more time, more resources, or more clarity. The hiring manager’s sense of urgency shouldn’t dictate your entire process. After all, quality hiring takes time, and a rushed decision often leads to a poor fit and higher turnover rates down the line.

PLEASE DON’T BE THE ‘YES DEPARTMENT”

The same logic applies to HR. You’re often the fire fighting department for everything from employee relations to compliance to benefits administration. People expect you to be the office therapist, enforcer, and sometimes even the unofficial party planner. It’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to keep everyone happy.

But you can’t be everything to everyone. More importantly, you shouldn’t have to be. Setting boundaries and pushing back when necessary isn’t just about protecting your sanity it’s about doing your job effectively. If you’re always focused on pleasing people, you’ll never have time to focus on the bigger strategic initiatives that could actually improve your company’s talent processes and culture.

How Can We Make A Mindset Shift

HR and TA professionals need to stop being so agreeable.

It’s time to: -

Set boundaries

Push back when necessary and

Take control of the narrative.

You’re not just there to fix problems or put out fires—you’re there to drive long-term, sustainable change.

Stop saying “yes” to everything and start saying “no” when it counts. It might feel uncomfortable at first, but in the long run, it’s the only way to get the respect, recognition, and results you deserve.

What do you think?

Tools and Productivity

My favourite tool this week is https://www.napkin.ai/ shared to me by

Jean-Marie Caillaud

thank you my friend!

If you are thinking about a data project in talent for example of how can you get all souricng efforts data into one place and you want to. You can do one of two things. Import your data or provide it with a prompt to create your visualisation in seconds!

I told it simply (for speed) that I want to visualise a project that’s brings all the top of the funnel candidate attraction efforts into one place.

And it did a pretty good job offering a bunch of different visuals and styles. You can add remove and edit what you have here too and it is so simple to. use.

So if you are trying to visualise your idea give it a go and the best part its free!