I was involved with a group of professionals and influencers in the metro Detroit area working together on a mission of hope and renewal for the city of Detroit.  It was a volunteer thing and was fun while it lasted but after a while I had to back away because I simply couldn't dedicate the right amount of time on it.

We had a "speed networking" event among the membership to make super-quick introductions between each other.  There was such a variety of people with really diverse backgrounds.  Group membership included among others:  A musical prodigy, artists, attorneys, several CEO's, publishers, doctors, builders, authors, and the list went on and on. 

So at this event we did sort of a musical chairs thing by having four people at a table and switching tables every eight minutes.  This allowed us a two-minute "elevator" speech to express what it is that we do for a living. 

I didn't prepare.  Typical recruiter.  (sigh)  The host made her introductions.  We were handed cards that listed which tables we would go to when.  There was a big clock on the wall.  The bar was closed until the exercise stopped.  And we were off.....

At my first table, there was a brain surgeon, an attorney, a CFO of a major company, and me.  I let them go first but I knew (probably because I've always been pretty OK at math) that my turn came in six minutes.  Around they went.  Then, my moment arrived.  The three geniuses all were looking at me. I said...

"I talk automotive professionals making anywhere from $70,000 to $120,000 that it's time for them to change jobs.  Having never spoken to the person ever before in my life, I can do this in two minutes. And by then, I get them to agree to apply for the new job.  That's what I do."  End of speech.  And I only burned 30 seconds.

Afterwards there was fight to get to the bar.  Several people approached me and I can genuinely say that they were pretty amazed by what we do as recruiters.  Of course, of course, not ALL recruiters operate this way.  But this works very, very well in our industry.

Today a flurry of sendouts have begun.  I've had six people interview today.  There were a couple positive results from this.  I'm feeling pretty good.  I had to do some revisiting and consolidating to help out a couple of my HR contacts.  I'm being promised more sendouts soon and I'm on it like flies on ***t.  My chips are lining up on these sendouts to snag a few placements within the next couple of weeks so I'm getting excited. 

Tomorrow I'm gonna kill it!

- Steve