4 years ago this month I was asked to leave one of the largest contingency recruiting firms that I’d been with for 10 years. I had reached burnout and the grace to carry struggling recruiters had ceased regardless of past success as my company went from 40 recruiters to 10 in no time. As I sent my resume out to sales gigs I had offers left and right for jobs that paid $35k-$40k plus commission to sell a widget.

An independent recruiter and friend called me and reminded me that I…