The Art of Real Recruiting
Most companies hire like they’re arranging marriages from newspaper ads. They post jobs, collect resumes, and make decisions based on who sounds good on paper and interviews well. It’s backwards, and it needs to stop.
I’ve been watching recruiting evolve for years, and here’s what I’ve learned: the best recruiters aren’t recruiters at all - they’re relationship builders who happen to help companies find great people.
Think about it. When you need work done on your house, do you hire the contractor who gives the best theoretical answer about how they’d fix your roof? No - you look at their past work, talk to their previous clients, and maybe even watch them tackle a small project first.
That’s what achievement-based interviewing is all about. Instead of asking candidates about hypothetical situations (“What would you do if…?”), you dig into what they’ve actually done. It’s the difference between reading a recipe and tasting the dish.
But it goes deeper than that. Smart companies are turning interviews into tryouts. Want to hire a salesperson? Have them sell something. Looking for a manager? Watch them lead a mock team meeting. It’s amazing how quickly the talk-versus-action gap becomes apparent.
The real magic happens when you combine this practical approach with proactive relationship building. Stop treating recruiting like a transaction and start treating it like growing a garden. You don’t plant seeds the day you want vegetables - you prepare the soil, tend the plants, and harvest when the time is right.
This means building your network before you need it. Connect with people who do great work. Keep in touch. Share insights. Help others. When you do need to hire, you’re not starting from scratch - you’re reaching out to people you already know and trust.
And here’s what nobody tells you about reducing bias in hiring: the best way to do it isn’t through fancy frameworks or AI tools. It’s through focusing on actual achievements and demonstrated capabilities. Past performance doesn’t care what someone looks like or where they went to school.
For new recruiters (or anyone involved in hiring), here’s the secret: act like an independent headhunter even if you’re in-house. Build real relationships. Develop expertise in your domain. Start your network yesterday. And most importantly, play the long game.
The companies that get this right see the results in their numbers - lower turnover, higher performance, better retention. But those aren’t really metrics - they’re the natural outcome of hiring real people based on real achievements through real relationships.
Stop hiring people who talk about work. Start hiring people who show their work. Everything else is just conversation.