Building Real Relationships

Yesterday I met Adelaide recruiter Nicole Underwood. I met her because I’d read her blogs and had responded to an underlying sense of genuineness, humanity and enthusiasm that I recognized in her writing. Nicole came to visit us in our Adelaide rooms where we sat and looked over Rymill Park drinking coffee and talking about life, recruiting, HR, and starting over. The important thing though, is that we found that the intention to be genuine and authentic, and the medium of writing, can bring people together.

Nicole has recently left Entree Recruitment which she helped to found with Mark Hender over 10 years ago. She left a company thriving, and which she can feel satisfied that she built with her own vision, hard work and innovation. Her philosophy for work and life, which comes through strongly in her conversation, is that she cares about people, and believes that looking after them, either when they are her team or her clients is the way to build satisfaction, relationships and success.

In our industry, recruiters can sometimes have a reputation for being hard-nosed and abrupt, whether deservedly or not. Nicole’s attitude goes a long way to show that this isn’t always the case and doesn’t have to be. Especially since the GFC, recruitment is changing and recruiters seem to have found more and more that they are being asked to show evidence of the value of the services they provide.

Having an attitude of building good, firm, genuine relationships is an example of someone understanding the real value of service and care. You would want to employ the services of someone who you think means it, who’ll listen to you and your needs, who’ll make and retain good long-term relationships and who makes people feel good and secure in their company.

Whether in business, or life, people want to have relationships and feel connected to other people. It’s the way we are made. Our species is gregarious, and we thrive in groups. Recruitment, and every other business is no different. It takes time and effort to build strong, genuine relationships with people, but the effort pays off over the long term. It pays off in trust, respect and ultimately success.

It was a delight to meet Nicole yesterday, and it will be a pleasure to watch her build her next business. The fact that we connected via social networking and  Jo Knox’s idea to build an HR Daily Community of bloggers shows that in work and life, people recognize and respond to genuine connection. It’s what it means to be human. Thanks Jo, and thanks Nicole.

Lynette Jensen

Lynette Jensen is a director and co-founder of Genesys Australia and is committed to helping people achieve work-life balance through good job fit. In addition to contributing to this blog, she also writes regularly for HR Daily Community and Dynamic Business Magazine. Her articles have been re-published in India & the United Kingdom.

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NB: We are an independent workplace psychology practice. All views expressed here are our own and are the opinions of Stephen Kohl & his associates, which do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher and developer of GeneSys assessments, Psytech International.

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One Response to “Building Real Relationships”

  1. Thank you Lynette. Isn’t it amazing what you can derive from a conversation! Thank you so very much for picking up on those things that I value and consider essential to business success and relationships. It still surprises me that so many people (especially in our small town of Adelaide) still don’t see this big picture. Our meeting gave me hope that there are like-minded individuals who understand that we aren’t just here for the transaction! I look forward to our continued connection. Nicole

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