4 Star Wars Quotes for Recruiters to Live By

As you’ve already probably seen on every website on the Internet and every channel on TV, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is out.

And it’s supposed to be really good.

Of course, as we already proved, the entire Star Wars franchise is really about one thing: Recruiting. The three prequels are focused around Emperor Palpatine’s successful attempt to recruit Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vadar) to the dark side, whereas the original three movies revolve around Darth Vader’s unsuccessful attempt to recruit Luke Skywalker to join as well.

Therefore, it makes perfect sense that the movies are a fountain of profound, inspiring quotes, meant just for recruiters. We decided to choose the top four, and explain their deeper, talent acquisition meaning.

They are:

1. “Never tell me the odds.” - Han Solo

In The Empire Strikes Back, C3P0 tells Han Solo that the possibility of successfully navigating the asteroid field Solo is currently flying in is a mere 3,702 to 1. Solo, brazen to the core, brushes it off.

In reality, the odds of creating an incredibly successful company like a Google or an Apple is probably even lower. Truth is, most businesses die out within 10 years, and while there are many good companies, there aren’t many great ones.

But, you can’t let those long odds affect your job and your ability to recruit. Whether it's reality or not, you need to believe 100 percent in your company and your own skills to do anything well in this world, particularly to be successful in a highly competitive field like recruiting.

2. “Your eyes can deceive you. Don’t trust them.”- Obi-Wan Kenobi

There’s actually one scene in The Empire Strikes Back that illustrates the point of this quote beautifully. After Luke Skywalker crash lands his plane on the swamp planet of Dagobah, he runs into Yoda, without realizing it is Yoda. He asks the little green creature where he can find the great Jedi master he is searching for; refusing to believe such a tiny being could possibly be such a great warrior.

In other words, you can’t judge a book by your cover. This is particularly true for recruiters as they try to avoid subconscious biases and bring in talent non-discriminatorily.

Whether we like it or not, we all have an idea of what the perfect candidate should look like. As Kenobi said, don’t trust your eyes, and focus instead on the merit of the candidate.

3. “There’s always a bigger fish.” - Qui-Gon Jinn

I really wanted to avoid any mention of the prequels in this article, considering they nearly derailed the love millions of people had for the original trilogy. But, it is hard to avoid the most obvious reference to recruiting in the six movies: Liam Neeson telling you they’ll always be a bigger fish.

What does that mean to talent acquisition professionals? Simple: don’t get down if can’t close a great candidate or you lose a great person at your organization. Sure, it might sting, but just like Neeson said – there’s always a bigger, better candidate out there for you to hook.

4. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” - Yoda

It was tough to pick just one Yoda quote (I also really enjoyed “you must unlearn what you have learned”). But this one, a fan favorite and one of the most popular quotes in the series, won out.

You should never “try” to recruit a candidate or “try” to create a great candidate experience. The word “try” implies the possibility of failure, which ultimately leads to failure.

No, instead, you will just do those things. That doesn’t mean there won’t be failures along the way, but ultimately, if you focus only on “do” and not “try to do,” you will eventually succeed.

So, the one action you can take right after reading this article is to take the word “try” out of you and your team’s vocabulary. From now on, you will just do. And you and your company will be better off because of it.

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