I’ve experienced my share of wins and losses in business, but one thing I am determined to avoid is causing an “own-goal.” This year’s FIFA World Cup has seen a record surge of own goals in the first couple weeks of the tournament. An “own goal” refers to an accidental, self-inflicted error, like scoring on yourself.

Building a Business Without Scoring on Yourself

As I plan and strategize for the growth of my business, I want to make sure I do it the right way. I want our clients to depend on us. I want them to know that if they have a position to fill, they can count on us and we will stick with them until the job is done. Often times these roles are difficult to fill and take more time and energy than we’d like, and our profit margins suffer.

I image there are other (more successful) recruiters out there that would move on and priorotize higher win-probability Job Orders.

What’s the right way to grow your business: (a) accept all JOs and priorotize the easy-to-fill ones or (b) accept only the JOs you have capacity to fill and maintain high fill-rate reputation?

For better or worse, I’ve leaned toward the latter. I, not only, want to grow my business, but I also want to grow my reputation for fighting for my clients. Even though I could grow my profit margins by only focusing on high-win-percentage JOs, it seems like I’d be scoring an “own goal” on my long-term reputation, which really seems like an “own-goal” on my long-term business growth.

The Hidden Risk of Specialization

An “own goal” refers to an accidental, self-inflicted error, like scoring on yourself. It’s been happening at a record rate during this year’s FIFA World Cup. They are painful to watch, even more painful to experience by your own action.

I accidentally became a specialized recruiter in Architecture, Engineering and Construction Forensics. I’m not a generalist. After working for my first engineering client, it became easier to market myself to their industry, and sooner than later after years of work that became the only industry I recruit for.

Being a specialized recruiter, I have always been keenly aware that every new client I won meant I was reducing the talent pool I was ethically allowed to recruit from. I realized early on, if I was too good at sales, and worked for too many companies inside the same industry, I’d have no candidates to reach out to, as I would never approach employees from my own client. That would be a major “own goal.”

Playing the Long Game

I’ve attended recruiting conferences and heard recruiters admit to reaching out to their client’s employees. I don’t get it. I understand the pressure of needing to fill a role when you have a hiring manager breathing down your neck. I understand the allure of signing a new contract. But I don’t think I’ll ever understand the tradeoff of a short-term win for what will inevitably be a long-term loss. I’d rather grow more slowly and sustainably than intentionally score that “own goal” on myself.

What do you think? What are the “own goals” in your business?