Stacy Pursell
The VET Recruiter ®
Even if you’re a casual sports fan (and I suspect that some of you are more than casual fans), you know the truth of the above headline.
It doesn’t matter if your sport of choice is football . . . or basketball . . . or soccer . . . or hockey. The team with the best players usually wins. Notice that I did not say “always wins.” That’s because the team with the best players does not always win 100% of the time.
However, it wins most of the time. That’s because it is extraordinarily difficult to overcome top talent.
In professional sports, there is something called the “free agency period.” This is a designated period of time during which teams attempt to woo athletes from other teams who are deemed or who are qualified as free agents. As free agents, these athletes are eligible to sign a contract with another team.
As you might imagine, teams do all they can to sign the best players possible during the “free agency period.” That’s because the owners and general managers know that the team with the best players usually wins. The “free agency period” is similar to what your organization does when it has an open position and you’re attempting to fill it.
However, when you have an open position, are you doing everything you can to fill it with the best professionals (best players) possible? Do you approach the process with the mindset that the organization (team) with the best players (employees) usually wins?
If not, then you’re selling yourself—and your organization—short.
Identify, recruit, and hire the best
Here’s what the best teams are NOT doing. They are not filling a position on their team just for the sake of filling it. They want the best. They know that if they don’t get the best, then they’re going to have to answer for their failure to do so. As a result, they are prepared to do everything within their power to identify the best, recruit the best, and hire the best.
Identify—Teams are generally aware of the best players available on the market. They also have scouts and other personnel who evaluate these players and assess their potential fit within the team. This is a crucial step because you can’t hire the best players if you don’t even know who the best players are.
Recruit—There’s a lot that goes into the recruiting of these players. It almost always involves a visit on the part of the player to the team’s facilities. Then there’s the matter of how the player will be compensated for their services if the team successfully signs the player. It’s during this stage of the process that the team is doing its best to woo the player.
Hire—Arguably, this is the most important stage of the process. This is when the team “closes” the free agent, convincing the player that signing with their team is the best move for their career. It’s here where the team makes its best offer possible to the player. They don’t try to “low ball” the player or offer something that the player believes is not a true reflection of their value on the open market.
If this is a process that works well for the most successful teams and franchises in the world of professional sports, then it’s one that will work well for your organization, too.
Self-feeding cycle of success
There’s another important point to remember: the best players almost always want to play for the best teams. Sure, money is a big consideration, but there are many players who will take less money for the chance to play for the best. The New England Patriots of the National Football League represents a prime example of this.
During the course of the past 15 years, the Patriots have become a desired destination for many top players who wish to play for the best and give themselves a chance to win a Super Bowl. The same rule applies to the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. The best candidates in the marketplace want to work for the best employers.
So how do you become one of the best employers or an “employer of choice”? By hiring the best candidates, that’s how!
It’s what you might call a self-feeding cycle of success. You hire the best candidates. Because you hire the best candidates, your organization is more successful. Because your organization is more successful, more people know about it. Because your organization is more successful and more people know about it, more people want to work for it, including the best candidates.
As an employer in the Animal Health industry or Veterinary profession, you need the best players. In other words, you need the best players who will then become top employees once they join your organization. The best players (candidates) give you a competitive advantage in the marketplace, and they do so in two ways:
- They contribute to your organization’s productivity and bottom line, helping it to become more profitable and more successful.
- By contributing to the organization’s success, they also help to raise its prominence and notoriety within the marketplace, further attracting even more top candidates.
You don’t need to know anything about sports to hire successfully. All you need to know is that the team with the best players usually wins. And you want your organization to be that team.
An experienced Animal Health recruiter or Veterinary recruiter can help. They have knowledge of the best players and what it will take to convince them to make a move for a better opportunity. They can help identify, recruit, and hire the best candidates, so that your organization can enjoy a competitive advantage in the marketplace, as well as a self-feeding cycle of sustained success!
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1. By helping Animal Health and Veterinary professionals to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2. By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of Animal Health and Veterinary organizations. If this is something that you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.
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