While his politic views and his tweets can be distracting, his approach of “telling it like it is” and “shooting straight” is still appealing to millions of people and business owners. As the leader of the free world, Donald Trump knows a thing or two about professionals and how valuable for a company/government they can be. Or does he?
After firing the FBI director, Trump struggled to find a replacement. Out of the group of desirable candidates, most have publicly withdrawn their name from the nomination of this prominent position. It was well known that Trump pressured the former director on the outcome of a particular affair, and nobody was keen to follow those steps.
Getting a bad reputation in the industry will make it hard for you to attract top candidates and this sounds like a sure way to fail in business, as network links can spread far. Even those who associate their name with you will start to be reluctant and careful as your bad name can affect your partners as well. Being deeply unpopular among your audience means that people won’t rush to work for you or with you!
Consultants know this first hand, as many of them nowadays use their social media profiles to help raise their personal brand image and contribute to adding real value to their company. Both candidates and clients have admitted to researching online profiles in preparation for an interview. So their reputation is now more important than ever, as everyone can find out about you and your history. It is not just word of mouth anymore!
Whilst insisting on loyalty from his employees, Trump is not in a rush to return it. More likely he will publicity tweet not-so-subtle views undermining the public profile of his appointees.
It is known how Trump jokingly (or not) treated several key members of his staff. It is also known how people don’t seem to last long in their roles. People are either fired or they resign, leaving key positions unfilled, even after months since Trump took over.
No recruitment company is in a rush to work with Trump administration, as it is known retention in his government is not high.
Consultants always keep a close connect to their ‘pool of talent’, both throughout the interviewing process and even after they start their new role, ensuring that both the candidate and the client are happy and content with the service provided.
Nurturing the professional relationship seems to be a social lesson that the President has forgotten.
It is known that Trump allegedly won the first round of the presidential race because he knew to make himself visual. The American audience was more likely to vote for a familiar face, than for a governor from Wisconsin, for example.
However, while Clinton’s strategy seemed to be centered around being “correct” with rehearsed speeches, on point attitude and scheduled online and offline agenda, Trump on the other hand was focusing on… improvisation and always pumping content for media. Every tweet and every speech at his rallies seemed to be an exercise of improvisation.
The problem with this is that most of the time, his speeches lacked content, hence repetition and incoherent communication. Shocking and click-baiting headlines will only get you this far. It won’t attract a diverse audience like academics or highly educated professionals or immigrants or or or…
As professional recruitment consultants are aware, just firing roles on job boards won’t attract quality candidates and this in turn, will slowly make business owners lose their trust in their service provided.
Finding roles and then marketing them in the right context, with the right tools is the key to attracting those people who are genuinely interested by the services they provide. It is known that providing quality content is always a better long-term strategy than having a short, improvised bang.
From the CIA head to the professional mixed martial boxer to his wife, a lot of people seems to warn Trump to be more careful about the way he is speaking or writing. Not that he listens!
The American head of state has also lost some employees because of his forward speaking/tweeting as not many people agree with his views.
While a part of the United States citizens have voted him for his “telling it like it is” approach, his style is also making him to rapidly lose supports and business, as any recruitment consultant would warn him.
Even if you are the CEO of a small company or the head of a nation, you should know to accept defeat. In the recruitment industry, the environment makes it even more obvious. We are working with people, not with email addresses or phone numbers. Counter offers are a solid treat and shouting about the grass being greener on your side of the wall won’t win you many candidates.
Recruitment consultants are trained to listen to the needs of the candidate and of the client. It’s a happy day when a deal is made between them! But until then, the search continues and deals are put on hold, whilst waiting for the perfect match.
And these are the top 5 lessons Trump should learn from recruitment consultants… or from ordinary professionals, in general!
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