2025-01-20

I just has this conversation with my manager about "talking with new people" when we were brainstorming about some tweaks on the content I made for a job guide. This was under Research and Preparation section for recruiters. Its primary purpose is to set a standard research practice for recruiters when researching about a lead's business industry and the requirements of the role they want to hire, so the recruiters can find a suitable fit for their needs. Somehow, it did remind me of my thoughts yesterday, where I have always been trying to prepare for interactions, especially when meeting new people. It was a topic that I wholeheartedly understood. I even feel like I had years of preparation for this brainstorming session with my manager.

It made me think about how I think about communication and relationships. In terms of service, the idea makes perfect sense because you want to make the lead feel that as a recruiter, you made an effort to understand their business (know them) and that you care about their business by doing your research. It is a service after all where the lead's experience is a highly valued feedback when it comes to ensuring that we are able to meet their needs. In my own job, I try to do the same thing: in accepting writing tasks and writing requests, I make sure that their request is aligned to my understanding. So I prepare by reading the format, what type of examples I can follow, and understanding the essence of the request so I can confidently fulfill their request and complete the transaction. In this framing, the way that we both know that this is a transactional relationship allows us to accept that we have to put up a mask at face value. I know that when I am talking to a salesperson, that they are most often than not trying to sell me a product so they can have a commission, which can always be prioritized above wanting to help a customer. That is something I can understand even if I don't necessarily agree with it.

As of this moment, I can probably say that I was never used to a type of social interaction that is not transactional. Or I can state that in trying to understand this old habit of mine, I have only considered interactions to be concretely transactional, in a sense that I have always assumed that people always need something from me. I may have not considered that interactions can exist as it is, without anything to give or take. As I'm trying to uncover this in real-time, I can also interpret this as my tendency to always ensure that people can always learn something from me, even in a short amount of time. That I always have something unique to offer. Perhaps, even that it is a people-pleasing tendency to project a better version of me when I'm around new people.

I will return to this topic soon. I may be on to something.