Bravely step into who you authentically are

I was lucky enough to meet a couple of awesome rookie recruiters at the conference I just attended, and it brought me back to my early days of recruiting.

When I first started, I struggled to find my “voice”. I couldn’t quite master how to show up on the phone naturally and authentically. I was even asked if I was a robot once… I wish I were kidding…. 

Those of you who work closely with me today may find this surprising, because so often on my first call with a client or candidate it feels like we instantly become friends and allies. But that’s not how it always was. 

I kept trying to show up as something that I wasn’t. Rough, tough, confident, and professional with an incredibly impressive vocabulary, that I don’t actually have… And I was getting nowhere because of it. 

I was trying so hard to be more masculine, and show up like the partners of the firm I was working at. It was painfully unnatural and didn’t bring out the best version of myself, and everyone could sense it. Hence the “is this a robot?” But I thought that was what I was supposed to do and sound like, so I kept doing it. 

After a lot of built-up frustration, and little success, I hit the ‘F it’ moment. I wanted to be ME, not who I thought I was supposed to be, just plain old me.  Once I allowed myself to lean into my feminine side, my soft, happy, messy, bubbly, kind, warm, open, honest, and raw self came through. Once I did that I started to notice major shifts in my work.  

Clients started to open up to me about their struggles and kept calling me back. Candidates would talk to me about their dream jobs and their home life. I became a trusted partner in their search rather than someone just trying to fill the job. 

It’s all because I made that shift. I let go and allowed myself to show up fully and authentically and I fell in love with the work I do. 

So to my rookies out there, whether you are brand new to recruiting, sales, marketing, customer success, or whatever it is you do, show up as YOU with all of you. It’s okay if it feels a little messy, not as ‘buttoned up’ as others, or even a little scary. YOU are the one on the other side of a relationship trying to add value and help people feel seen and cared for.  

What matters is that we show up as our best and DO our best every single day, and the only way to do that is to show up authentically as you truly are. 🙂