The problem with being a really good fireman is that it tends to breed arsonists.

Fires happen every day: some intentional, some accidental. Regardless of the cause the call comes in, our brave firefighter responds, and puts out the blaze. Lives hanging in the balance are snatched from the jaws of doom. Awards, pictures in the paper, a personal meeting with the mayor. Hurray for our brave firefighter! Next fire please!

Apply the above scenario to recruiting. Crises arise in the business world too. We noble recruiters have all received a call from a harried and near-panicked stricken client saying, “We need your help! We have to hire a (fill in the blank with appropriate job title) immediately! Our professional lives, the future of our company, and the survival of all mankind depends upon it!”

key dramatic music - dun dun daaaaa

(The camera pans across an expansive debris field to find YOU standing heroically atop the rubble from some nondescript building chest thrust forward, chin jutting, teeth gleaming.) “Have no fear oh corporate citizen, Super Recruiter is here!”, you state confidently. (Envision the poor disheveled soul sitting on the rubble clinging to your calf gazing up, hopefully) Pretty heady stuff. Isn’t it? OH YEAH!

Your first response is to reassure the victim. Explaining to them that while the search will be difficult, given the (insert perfunctory reason the search will be really hard) and further complicated by THEIR time limitations. Despite the myriad of complexities they are in good hands NOW.

Off the phone, job order in hand, you sound the alarm: clanging bells, screaming sirens, and flashing lights. Over the loudspeaker a barely discernible voice shouts, “Client in trouble. Corner of Despair Drive and Clueless Court.” Adrenalin pumps, respiration quickens, and numbers flash...30% X $$$ = $. OHHH YEAAAH!

Your actions are smooth, fluid. You’ve done this a hundred times. You rack your brain for a candidate. Unsuccessful yet undeterred, we turn to our trusty data base. Ah the trusty data base! Fingers of fire fly as they bang the keys to form almost-perfect search criteria. Digital signals shoot through miles of wire and fiber-optic cable to retrieve the all-important names and numbers of prospective candidates. Satisfied we have enough to go on, we pick up the phone and start to dial...

(2 weeks later)

Search successfully completed, your client doles out the obligatory approbation, sends a check, and promptly returns to business as usual. You ride the waves of adulation from client and candidate alike, cash the check, and return to business as usual. AWESOME, right? Or, is it?

...to be continued

Tune in later today to read the exciting conclusion to BREEDING ARSONISTS!!!