Prepping for 2024 – working the odds

As you may being prepping for 2024 – yes, I know, it’s already almost the end of the year and you aren’t ready for Christmas, either – the Doctor has a few thoughts. In fact, I often have more than a few thoughts, but I will keep most of them to myself! But seriously, the news over the past couple of years is enough to make any business a bit nervous – wars, predictions of recession, layoffs, AI and chaos in the biggest AI company, falling job posting numbers, and (yes) elections. Does one try to prepare for the coming months – or hide in a bunker?

Well, having been working for a long time (sad to say, probably longer than you, dear reader), and having survived not one, not two, but four recessions, I have some ideas for how you can go forward with perhaps a little less fear and a little more confidence. For every bit of worrying news, there is also a corresponding bit of positive news. But instead of staring blindly at your social feeds, check out the Doctor’s prescription for prepping for 2024:

• Economists are wrong a lot of the time: Specifically, at least 50-60% of the time, or more. So ignore predictions of recession as well as recovery. Instead, focus on your niche. The organizations in it are the ones that matter to you, right? How are they doing? What are the factors affecting them? For example, if you’re in the infrastructure sector, there is a LOT of money that is flowing for the next several years. Companies doing this work will need more skilled workers than they have. What are you doing to help them? How can you get involved in training, assessment, recruiting, and so on? React to your niche – not to the headlines.
• Don’t do the same-old same-old: I don’t care if your grandmother was selling duration-based posts when you were knee-high to a grasshopper – it doesn’t mean that they necessarily meet your clients’ current needs. Be willing to test new approaches and technologies. Remember, your employers pay you for the outcomes they want, not the specific methods you offer. If duration-based posts work, use them. If they don’t, test programmatic. If that doesn’t, test something else. Test anything and everything you can find. Pay attention to what other recruitment platforms are doing. If you find something that works, use it. Don’t rely on what Grandma did.
• Be data-driven: It’s hard making decisions based on data. Why? Because collecting data takes time, and data is often hard to collect or incomplete. And once you have the data, you must put it into a rational decision process. Politicians are often accused – rightly – of using data to prove a point, despite other data existing that disproves that same point. Don’t be a politician. Instead, practice both the collection of data and the even-handed use of it in your decisions. This will prevent you from making emotional decisions – like spending $44B on Twitter, for instance.
• Put your candidates first: I realize that I talk about this – a lot. So? It’s true. If you don’t have candidates, you won’t have employers. That goes no matter if you are a job board, a recruitment marketing place, a sourcing tool, or any other permutation out there. The business is all about connecting candidates and employers, folks. Don’t lose sight of it!

If you keep the four points above in front of you during your prepping for 2024, you will be in good shape. Even if Sam Altman decides to leave OpenAI of his own volition, you’ll be ok. And maybe your blood pressure will be a bit lower, too!

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