December 17, 2024
Ban the Phrase “Rock Star” From Your Recruiting Vocabulary
In the summer of 1980 I began freshman year at college. On a hot day in August, I said goodbye to my parents, moved into the dorm and met my roommate for the first time.
Like all new roommates in those days, we compared record collections. The results were not promising. Mine was dominated by punk rock, and his by what can politely be called “easy listening.”
If you asked us if we liked rock music, we both would have answered with an emphatic “yes.” But when asked to name a favorite rock star, I might have named Joe Strummer of The Clash. He would've named one of the semi-anonymous members of Air Supply.
It turns out that the phrase “rock star” means very different things to different people. That's why smart recruiters cringe when they hear that phrase from a client.
“Rock star” is an empty platitude. It means the client wants to hire a top performer (which goes without saying), but does nothing to define what the ideal candidate looks like.
Therein lies the danger. It's easy for stakeholders to agree they need a rock star, but difficult to define what that means. Only when they begin to interview candidates do they realize they don't agree on anything. One guy is looking for Jack White, and another wants Taylor Swift.
The solution is to draft a detailed position description and candidate specification upfront, and make sure all of the key players agree on its main points. Reaching consensus can be difficult, but it's a lot better to do it up front than several months into an important search.
What happened with my roommate? Things worked out. Our different musical tastes notwithstanding, we became lifelong friends.
