What the Education Industry can Learn from Recruiters
Guest post by Stefan Palios
The education industry and recruiting industry are more alike than you think. These similarities are particularly strong when it comes to a few key challenges around connecting and getting work done. Whether you’re a sales professional, a recruiter, a professor or a student just trying to get through the next midterm, we all have challenges around connecting with people. Luckily for students, TAs, and professors, though, sales professionals and recruiters have solved a lot of learning and productivity problems – all you need to do is use their solutions.
Scheduling can be easy and automatic
Students may have mastered the idea of a study group, but sales and recruiting professionals nailed the concept of easy and automatic scheduling. Instead of time-consuming back and forth via email to schedule meetings, they’ve made it automatic. Tools like CalendarHero make this simple. You make the technology do the heavy lifting while you focus on other things (probably your midterm).
Remember that “scheduling” isn’t just about marking your classes in your calendar or booking a study group. It can also be helpful for:
Extracurricular activities
Booking office hours with TAs or professors
Marking out “quiet time” for yourself
Noting travel time to and from classes or other activities
Booking time in the gym and other physical activity
However you use your time, scheduling is a time-consuming task. Make it automatic and let technology do the heavy lifting to free up your time for more important things.
Education comes in all forms
In the high school and college or university world, it can feel like there’s only one kind of education. You’re taught by a knowledgeable professor and then you have midterms and final exams to ‘prove’ your knowledge. The sales and recruiting world discovered long ago that this model has its limitations, which is why industry leaders leverage education and learning in all of their forms.
Learn by doing
One of the best ways to learn a new concept is to try it out. Sales teams in particular are known for this, trying wacky ways to get people’s attention (a.k.a. doing their jobs better).
Since not all schools have a practical element to them, if you want to learn by doing you’ll have to try new things yourself. Or, if you need more structure, look to volunteer or get a job to learn a new skill. This can be a skillset that complements what you’re already studying, or something completely new that pushes you to think and see problems differently.
Online or part-time courses
A secret of the working professional for quite some time, online or part-time courses give you the flexibility to learn a new skill on the side. Sure, your full-time gig may be attending classes, but that doesn’t mean your “side-hustle” can’t be learning more.
Whether a course in data analytics or a career-changing coding bootcamp, there are so many things you can learn in bite-sized chunks.
Leverage project management tools
Once you’ve made your scheduling easy and identified different ways to learn, you’re no doubt going to have deliverables. While most students will write to-do lists or keep a mental checklist of major tasks for the week, take a page from sales and recruiting - use project management tools.
Tools like Asana, Trello, or Hubspot are all free platforms that help you keep track of all your people, deliverables, and more. Since all offer collaboration in the platform as well, you could manage different study groups, course loads, and more within one platform. And while we’re on the topic of courses, you can complement these tools with project management courses designed to help you make the most of them.
Same wheel, new car
Instead of reinventing the wheel, borrow the same wheel design from someone else’s car and put them on your own. The education world is steeped in tradition and systematic learning that builds carefully upon itself. There’s certainly a thing or two that your average salesperson could take from that. But on the flip side, professionals in the sales and recruiting world spent their time learning how to create connections quickly - and how to make technology do the heavy lifting for them. Take their innovations into your world as a student or academic professional. Not only will it save you time and help you get more done, but it will keep the learning curve steep.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stefan Palios is a writer, entrepreneur, and speaker passionate about the people behind tech. He's the founder of PulseBlueprint Media, a digital publication for creative workers and intrapreneurs. Follow him or get in touch on Twitter.
