Buy the Rumor, Sell the News

What indicators does your organization use to plan out its hiring for the next 6-12 months?

Does your C-Level suite agonize over the bipolar beat of “doom-&-gloom” vs. “all-is-well” media reports? Or do you have reliable sources to draw from?

Economic pressures and the Zeitgeist lead media conglomerates to rely on hyper-sensationalism to bait profitable clicks, whatever political agenda they champion.

What may make for big headlines, does nothing for reliable economic reporting.

Your HR OKRs for the next 6-12 months must be founded on actual industry data. What are your sources?

Beyond analyzing available economic indicators (whether governmental or industry-specific), does your organization survey its suppliers, vendors, clients, and peers directly?

No one knows your own industry and the upstream/downstream factors that affect it better than these agents. No one else has more fingers on the pulse of your industry than these stakeholders.

The old market saying of “buy the rumor, sell the news” applies just as well to other sectors. Does demand look well-oriented in your industry for the next 6-12 months? How do your suppliers gear up for 2023? If your largest competitor is hiring or firing, is this for external or internal reasons? What do you hear through the grapevine?

Ask your upstream and downstream. Get your procurement and sales people to ask questions. You’ll make more reliable decisions.