The barista with the best recruiter talent I have ever seen

For about 5 years I worked out of a great office in Pitt Street, Sydney, when I was running Aquent and Firebrand Talent Search.

I admit I am a coffee drinker. It’s my biggest vice (and I have substantial portfolio of those!).

So at least two, maybe three times a day, I would need a hit from Pronto, the coffee shop below our office.

And unless I could cajole, bully or bribe Carolyn Hyams or Jenny Gottlieb to get it for me, that meant me nipping downstairs and putting in my order with the friendly crew.

In 2012 I sold Firebrand and moved away from the Pitt Street end of town.

So for 5 years I have not been into Pronto. Until last week.

I was striding past, fancied a caffeine hit, and in I strolled, with no expectation of recognising anyone who worked there now.

How wrong I was.

“Hello Greg”, came the cheerful cry.

There was David, the owner (I had forgotten his name of course, but his face and his persona were instantly recognisable)

“Flat white, no sugar isn’t it?”

I was gobsmacked! I had not been there for 5 years, and this place must serve a thousand people a day. And he remembers my name, and my order?

We chatted. I had to ask for his name. He was unfazed.

But it gets better.

“How is your sons’ cricket going?” he said. Had we even discussed that? All those years and coffees ago? “Fast bowler, isn’t he?” Correct

“Is he enjoying XXXX School” David continued with a smile, correctly mentioning the school my son attends.

We chatted some more, and I left with a handshake and great coffee.

But I also left reflecting on what a great talent David has. I remembered now that he had always greeted his customers by name. But I was a five-year lapsed customer!

I wrote recently of ‘Generation C’ having the talent to make people ‘feel special’, and I admit right now, that I left that coffee shop on a high.

Great recruiters do what David does. They take enough interest to remember. Years ago I wrote about my mate, Graham Whelan, the greatest recruiter I ever met, as having an incredible memory for people and their lives.

The ugly side of technology is that it has dumbed recruitment down. It has weakened the human skills, which made being great recruiters so special. So many recruiters today hide behind technology, and avoid real interaction.

And I am a firm believer that the more technology we see in the workplace, the more complex it gets, the greater will become the need for human intervention. (Insurance company ‘help’ line, with an automated voice anyone?)

I also remembered as I walked away, that David, a full-on Aussie now, was originally from Myanmar (we had chatted at length years ago about this, because I visited Myanmar with family at the time). I paused to reflect on what I had learned about the attitude of immigrants in business and in life. David is a living embodiment of this.

David I salute you.

Recruiters, including me, take heed.

There is nothing sweeter to the human ear than the sound of your own name.

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