Recruitment Advice from X-Men: From Clarity to High-Tech Solutions

Photo credit: IMDB

Talk about a master of recruiting—the character “Professor Xavier” of the X-Men movie franchise is constantly recruiting powerful mutants to join his team and try to save the world. And this is not an easy sell. His team has to accept dangerous, life-threatening work; endure being feared and derided by the very people they’re trying to save; and deal with potential back stabbing and infighting.

But as X-Men fans count down to X-Men: Days of Future Past and its upcoming release, we can look at the movie in another way. Among the high-speed chases, action sequences and other special effects there are thought-provoking lessons and recruitment advice.

Wolverine can’t do it alone – and neither can you

Professor Xavier knows that his team must work together to succeed. In the upcoming film, he sends a member of his team, Wolverine, 50 years into the past to recruit himself at a younger age for a very important mission. In recruiting, you need to stay connected and build a team around you that can help you grow in your profession.

Building your team takes strategy and a blend of old-school networking and new-school social media.

• Attend conferences, seminars and webinars to engage with people in your profession.
• Use social media to solidify those relationships, keep informed about the industries you serve, and stay in touch with former colleagues.
• Think of ways you can be helpful to your contacts—send them occasional links to interesting articles, retweet their insight, and send them referrals that you can’t utilize.

Building a team will take time and energy, which is challenging when you’re busy. But it’s worth it. In X-Men, Professor Xavier knows how to build a talented team. The recruitment advice we adopt is that recruiters can continue to network “old school” style, then solidify those relationships with social media. You never know when a relationship you’ve been building might send you a referral or help you determine a “just right” candidate for a favorite client.

Know your talents, know your mission

Professor Xavier knows that the characters he’s recruiting have their own unique abilities, and with his guidance they can optimize their talents to help him accomplish his mission. He knows their unique skillsets that he can use to his advantage. In recruiting, staffing professionals can use LinkedIn and social media tools in addition to conducting enlightening interviews to get an authentic picture of candidates. Seeing personal backgrounds can help you view individuals’ preferences that aren’t included on resumes, helping you determine who might be a better fit at certain companies.

Kevin Grossman writes about the importance of cultural fit on TalentCulture.com:

“[F]or the modern dispersed workforce, the unprecedented levels of stress today in the workplace means that we want more than the money; we want cultural fit with like-minded folk to collaborate, innovate and invigorate our workspaces everywhere we go.”

Although delving into social media sites takes extra time, recruiting software  solutions that include one-click connections to candidates’ profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook will enable recruiters to view insightful data with one click as part of a smooth workflow process. Recruiters can use social media to obtain a clearer view into a candidate’s authentic self to determine would be a good, mutually beneficial fit, or conversely to pinpoint red flags.

Use technology to help you succeed

Professor Xavier has access to technology that allows him to send his teammate back in time. Recruiters can utilize the latest technology that helps you improve your workflow, reducing time spent on administrative tasks. Recruiting software solutions that are adaptable are key—if you use Outlook, for example, you want software that will sync with it so you don’t need to re-enter the data in two places.

Similarly, when you update meetings, phone calls, emails, job orders, or other communications that you wish to track, your software should automatically update and immediately sync that data to Outlook.

Today’s software:

• Has more capabilities
• Is intuitive to use
• Can be used on mobile devices
• Allows users to organize contacts and search by categories, companies, upcoming meetings and communications

Professor X uses high-tech solutions to prevent catastrophe. You should take full advantage of technology available to you—stay up-to-date in our data-driven, connected world via mobile applications that allow you to work smarter and faster anywhere at any time.

Summer blockbusters will soon be coming to theaters near you. When it comes to X-Men, we can look at the leading character of Professor Xavier and learn what lessons to adopt that apply to recruiting, from embracing authenticity to using technology to get ahead.

Discover more about the high-tech solutions that Bond can provide by downloading our AdaptSuite brochure.