the reason i ask this question is because we hear so much about the downturn in the economy....the loss of jobs.....business are experiencing a downturn.....the housing crisis.....the gas crisis. if all is so bad, what are recruiters doing during this time?

my guess is the same as we always do, find great people for the opportunities we are recruiting for or am i missing something. i hear from recruiters all the time, oh my company is not recruiting or i am not recruiting right now. my response is, how can that be? we always need to be recruiting, in prosperous times and lean times. the truth is, it is always imperative to find people for the companies we represent.

for the past few years, we had more reqs than we could handle to work on and we were successful with a smaller pool of candidates and we worked crazy hours. now, we have a smaller number of reqs with a larger pool of talent and all do is complain that we see too many candidates and not the right ones. oh, by the way, we are not working as hard as we used to. this is a huge mistake. whether the economy is booming or busting, whether you company is booming or busting, the value we add to the company is huge because of the talent we bring on. if we are not continuously seeking new and different ways to help our company get better we are failing as consultants.

if you hear from people in the company that we are not recruiting, you need to fight that message immediately. if your company is cutting back on recruitment efforts, you need to fight that message immediately. listen, the economy and even your business will be producing again soon. if you do not have the right people on your team when that happens, you can be assured that your competitors will.

do not let short sighted penny pinchers dictate your business. stress the need to be proactive and seek out the right people. turnover and attrition during these times sends a direct message to those under performers of what is and is not acceptable.

again, what are we as recruiters doing?????