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Once, I was told that the best approach before a meeting or an interview is to take a moment, and make a conscious effort to forget your nerves and become more confident.

Meet Colm O Griobhtha from our London office. Colm has been with us for a few months and when he first started, he found himself taking the plunge pretty early on. "But what does it have to do with trousers?" I hear you ask. Well, I'll let Colm tell you.

 

The dry cleaner lost my suit on Monday, so I had to walk into a meeting, in my first month at Morgan McKinley, with no trousers or jacket. I had jeans, granted, but in this business presentation is everything, so it was still a problem. So what did I do? I took the plunge and just brazenly walked into the meeting wearing  jeans, shirt, shoes and tie. The mullet of business attire and party combined.

 

I bring this up because being outside the comfort zone, but going for it anyway, is key to developing in recruitment. I knew this before I started here, but I have gotten some terrible advice on the subject before. Something I learnt from studying cognition that the more you consciously pay attention to something, the more you retain it in working memory, and the harder it is to forget. I tried his technique for an interview, and I’ve never looked less confident.

 

The Morgan McKinley approach has been to give me the basics, then let me try it, and develop it in my own way. No deliberating over making a call or going to a meeting, just know what you want to get from it, then go for it. If you make a mistake you can learn from it, and address it for the next time. There’s no point in mulling over it beforehand and making yourself nervous. You’re already outside of your comfort zone, so you may as well take the plunge.

That’s not to say that they’ve thrown me in the deep end- I’ve had a lot of training, one to one help from my manager, and advice from my team and other co-workers. The main point is that I’m free to go and feel it out for myself, to learn by trying, and to develop my own style. That’s what I’ve loved about working here, and that’s all you really need to be a success in recruitment. It’s not brain science. I should know.