It’s easy to get depressed as a recruiter or hiring manager. Recruiting involves a lot of proactive work with little short-term positive feedback.
According to Eric Barker, this is the soil where the weeds of unhelpful thoughts sprout and eventually choke out your effectiveness.
How do you keep your mind free of unhelpful thoughts?
Look for the common patterns of how they get started.
According to Eric, here are a few of the most common pitfalls to avoid.
Black and White Thinking: 100% good and 100% evil only exist in superhero movies. And when it comes to your mood, you’ll be a lot happier if you realize there are heaping piles of nuance to most things.
Unrealistic Expectations: Cynicism is bad, but a little skepticism is essential. Consistently unrealistic expectations are a great way to make sure that everything in life sucks.
Selective Attention: If your brain is always looking for the negative, trust me, you’re going to find it. The same facts can often be viewed from a different perspective. And different feelings will follow.
Disqualifying the Positive: Sometimes we go into problem-solving mode and focus only on what is broken. But if you stay in this frame all the time it will lead to depression. Plenty of good things happen and you need to appreciate them.
Predicting the Future: “This will never work” or “They’re going to think I’m stupid.” You don’t know the future. So don’t act like you do.
Recruiting is a mind game. Make sure yours is clear of clutter and ready to compete.