The thread that won't die now has competition: Collecting from the dead.

What I honed in on in reading the article was this:

Not everyone has the temperament to make such calls. About half of DCM’s hires do not make it past the first 90 days. For those who survive, many tools help them deal with stress: yoga classes and foosball tables, a rotating assortment of free snacks as well as full-scale lunches twice a month. A masseuse comes in regularly to work on their heads and necks.

Wow! Yoga classes, foosball tables and snacks! I wonder if recruiting agencies - all are hurting a little (or alot) - are offering these to their harried staff these days? Or are they simply cutting to the bone hoping that when the turnaround comes they'll be able to ramp up their activity?

There are ways to make even the most noxious of tasks palpable but in the end, just like there are people who can collect debts from dead people there are recruiters who can build strong relationships even during down periods.

I think this is where the agency side needs to be now: Supporting the people who build of relationships even when there are no openings and not providing you-want-fries-with-that candidates...

Why think downside when there's so much upside potential?