Richard Milligan says recruiting markets have more unknowns than knowns, which triggers fear. Direct pitches backfire. Instead, frame outreach as a conversation about market changes: "I'm not trying to recruit you, I'm trying to understand the market together." Candidates respond better when the call feels collaborative, not transactional.
Collaborative environments are marked by more unknowns than knowns. Like, you all wanna know what's gonna happen to this market, right? Are rates gonna stay where they are? They're gonna go up? They're gonna come back down? Like, and if you think about it, and this is just behavioral psychology, by the way, in behavioral psychology, where there are more unknowns than knowns, fear is present. That's just the way we humans typically operate. Okay? And when you call as another company that's well known in this marketplace, as a lead that says, I, I'm not trying to recruit you, I'm simply trying to build a relationship with you because I see this market is changing right now and I think change is going to accelerate over the next couple years. I would love to get to know you. People are willing to say yes.
