Humor in Recruitment pt.1

Having written a master’s thesis about the Humor at work and its influence on stress, I decided to go further and write again about humor but this time in an entirely different perspective. Don’t get me wrong though, I am not going to write a whole thesis (btw I do not plan to do it again in the next 20 years… at least :) in my opinion one thesis is enough for a lifetime and I was damaged enough after successfully defending it)

I will just try to share some thoughts about how we can use and benefit from humor in our jobs.

Let’s admit it, from time to time it’s stressful — we have the hiring managers pushing all the time for great candidates and more CVs, sometimes we even have this rare good a.k.a. great candidates, but they are pushing for faster process, higher salaries, interviews during unacceptable working hours. In between all of this… there we are! pushing about pretty much everything — CVs, approvals, feedbacks, responses, job requisitions, ranges … … (the list is inexhaustible)

So, straight to the goal: where, when and how we can use the humor? Definitely humor’s benefits are not limited to just coping with stress. We can use it in our day-2-day communication and activities. I will emphasize some of the benefits using it (let’s extend the list in our webinar together)

· Humor gets people to listen — it makes people want to read and hear what you say.

· Humor increases persuasion — because humor distracts them from immediately creating counter arguments

· Humor increases the likability of the speaker.

· Humor encourages people to work together.

· Humor increases the acceptance of new ideas.

· Humor triggers new connections

· Humor increases employee engagement

· ….

(source: http://www.humorthatworks.com/benefits/30-benefits-of-humor-at-work/)

Ok, I believe I’ve already convinced you! :)

But also… be careful! Humor is not a cure and it’s not always the best option. Because we are using it while communicating with other people, each person has an entirely different perception and (unfortunately!) there are some human beings with no sense of humor at all!

In the next part of my article (coming really soon!) I will go deeper into the recruitment-specific topic and how the recruiters can use it. The main points will be:

• Humor & Creativeness in our Job Descriptions (risks & benefits)
• Use of humor in the candidates interaction process (pros & cons)
• Humor in communication with other colleagues (advantages & disadvantages (if any))