Time is on my mind at the moment because itās exactly a month to go until I enter a new decade of life, so Iām spending most of my spare moments counting my grey hairs, browsing cardigans in Marks & Spencer, and filling my cupboards with Murray mints.
(Which decade am I leaving, you ask?Ā None of your business!)
5th May is notable for other reasons too.
- Emperor Napoleon died 200 years ago today.
- Chanel No. 5 was launched 100 years ago today.
- My brother-in-law Phil was born 43 years ago today.
Itās also the feast day of celebrity Catholic Edmund Ignatius Rice, founder of the Christian Brothers.Ā This is relevant to me because I went to one of their schools, spending seven years of my life being bossed around and occasionally hit on the hand with a leather strap by unmarried Irishmen in black capes.
I donāt remember my school days with particular fondness, and those seven years seemed to last an eternity.Ā By contrast, the first seven years of my daughterās life have passed by in a flash. Ā One minute she was a helpless babe in arms and now sheās giving out fashion advice and asking for a mobile phone (not going to happen).
So the older I get, the faster time seems to go ā and I know Iām not alone in this.Ā The āproportional theoryā of time perception is that each successive day of your prolonged existence represents a smaller proportion of the total than the previous one, so the days feel progressively shorter as your life goes on.Ā I also subscribe to the notion that our days become so dominated by routine that we go about on autopilot for much of the time, and weāre not āin the momentā as much as we used to be. This article goes into more depth.
Now, it seems to me that the recruitment cycle is also faster these days.Ā But this time itās not just my impression ā itās true!Ā IT candidates with good software experience ā developers, project managers, testers etc ā donāt hang around on the market for long.Ā Demand for these people outstrips supply, and turnaround times are quicker than ever.
This phenomenon is real, folks!Ā Time is of the essence if youāre in recruitment mode.
Good advice would be to move quickly if you see a good candidate, and be flexible when it comes to arranging interview times. Donāt take shortcuts through the process, though.Ā You know what they say: marry in haste, repent at leisure.
(Which reminds me: my wife is in charge of present buying, so drop her a line if you need ideas.)