The other day I gazed down from the top of the Heavenly Resort Lookout in Lake Tahoe, to a beautiful panorama that made me step back and think about my life and the direction of my career. A bright blue lake gazed up at me, and I was for a moment lost in my thoughts. I had enjoyed a week of utter incredible beauty visiting Lake Tahoe's Emerald Bay, Watching Fireworks with my Family, going on drives and seeing a scenic rustic ideal landscape, where nature reaches out to hold you in its hands. For a moment, you are small and insignificant. My wife's birthday celebrated a day earlier, a gorgeous Gondola ride which was very romantic, a thought that in my life at this moment all my years of hard work to establish my career were paying off. As if symbolic I got a call from a Helicopter Company as I had "won" a raffle at the Vertical Challenge Airshow, meaning my wife and I could "lift off" for a 20 minute helicopter ride over beautiful Santa Cruz. All that week I was thrilled at what blessings had been accorded to me.

In work I had learned to take search assignments and run with them, and had made a great placement, sealing the deal with the candidate and client, and as such had solidified my standing in my new company, Solutions Partners. I had begun a search for an Executive Assistant for a Public Municipality, a highly visible role for my client, and just two days ago rounded out a search that had begun with over 350 resumes and narrowed it down to the top 12. This was a hard task, being gentle with those who needed work and wanted the job so badly, having to make a recommendation to my client so they could select the best "fit" for thier group. I had also managed completing a client handbook, and managed a benefits reconciliation process for another. Also recently managed to obtain a new account.

Many thoughts about securing the future blessings for my family circulated through my mind on this July day looking down on the Lake. In a short space of 3 months my career has blossomed as a result of my favorite HR function, Staffing. I now have incredible Executive Assistants to market to my clients. By skill marketing them, I can help these folks obtain jobs I hope knowing they are high caliber professionals with a great deal of potential after they invested so much time and energy into this current role where only 1 can emerge with the opportunity in hand, an Apex, a Zenith, for that professional.

As I stood on top of this Lake Tahoe Mountain lookout with a bird's eye view, I knew I had found my niche. My familial relations are happier, and great successes are resulting. When perspective in life is coupled with incredible drive, an outpouring of confidence and success become the norm. In short "What we achieve inwardly will become outer reality," so said Otto Rank. It is true, success begets success, when one is trully at inward peace with themselves.

Finding your niche, what does that mean? It means being ready and willing to go to work, being invigorated and revved up to go to an opportunity you know is what you have been seeking for your entire life.

As a recruiter, I think it is paramount to channel our own lives to understand our candidates. As they are human beings just like us, being positive, and helping them acheive their career desires can only lead to an Apex for you and for them, helping others climb the mountain is well, rather enjoyable. Reaching the Zenith and Apex means you open doors for others, fees result, work grows, business thrives, and in a down economy, people find themselves. A good recruiter opens doors. Today, taking a recently placed candidate out to lunch, with my manager and I celebrating her recent job offer, a thought occured to me as my candidate said the following: "You treated me professionally. Unlike another recruiter who said they were a people person but really was not." That stuck.

The essence of good recruiting, reaching your Apex, Your Niche, Your Zenith is being a customer service provider first and a recruiting provider second. Really, it is about relationships. It never ceases to amaze me that by practicing the golden rule among my clients and candidates, that success shows up in unexpected places.
On this July day early in the morning, standing on a mountain, I knew I had found my home, my niche, my zenith, my love: Staffing and Recruiting, where great matches define order and solidarity, build a future continuous pipeline, indeed being a master of relationships, and kindenesses that helps others harness their zenith, after all to be a good people person, at the center of success in recruiting, requires being genuine, and approachable, helping clients and candidates alike find direction.

Climbing the mountain of life is a team effort, benefit your network, reach out to your candidates, make matches, make lives change. That is what recruiting is all about!