Today was, by far, the darkest day of the year.  Before I knew it, the Grim Reaper of Recruiting was standing about 20 feet behind me and decided to cast a demon into my life.  The signals were all there. 

Earlier, half paying attention and knee deep in yesterday’s e-mail candidate applications, I sort of overheard one of the recruiters here say to someone that they’d call back “in a bit”.  I was so intense today that I barely noticed that our little boombox played the same Adelle song three times already.   But I carried on.  Calling and calling.  Screening, defending, promoting, and searching as fast as I could so I could get resumes out the door.  I also was setting myself up for some critical client calls to see if I could start scoring some sendouts.

Bruno Mars now for the fifth time today.  I had some more caffeine because I thought I could work faster.  Then I pulled up an old e-mail and called one of my clients.  She answered and everything seemed OK.  Then, the Grim Reaper gave me the finger.  My HR contact then said, “Hello?  Hello?  Steve, I can barely here you.  It’s breaking up.  It’s kkkkikk (silence) pffff-kkkkk (silence) pffkk….pfffkkk….”  Nothing.  Silence.

(deer in the headlights and stunned disbelief)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!  We lost internet.

I contend, my friends, that this is THE (pronounced THEE) worst thing that can happen to a recruiter.  (Other than maybe dying or something.)  An internet connection loss is recruiter hell.  I’m going out there this time and I don’t care if you hot-shots start flaming me over this.  Our efficiency goes from 100% down to about 3%.  WE ARE COOKED WITHOUT INTERNET.

This is the impact in my office:  No database access.  No e-mail.  No phones (we use VOIP phones here). 

Thankfully, I’ve set up our operation so the recruiters can run home (where they need a modem/router) and immediately go mobile.  Internet goes down.  We identify it’s catastrophic which means a tech must be scheduled.  Everyone scrambles and disconnects their laptops first and the VOIP phone next.  We pack them up and start heading home.  It takes about five minutes to set everything up and we’re up and running.  The VOIP phones dial out and get incoming calls as if they were physically still in the office.  (They have to be plugged into an internet router/modem to work…a standard phone jack is no good.)  This way, we’re not using cell phones with some crappy connection or weird tinny sound. 

My daily metrics were pretty good as I had 68 calls in by Noon.  The demon struck at 2:30PM. 

A couple things.  Two JO’s were put on hold as my (I’m hoping) semi-overconfident hiring manager thinks he’s found his new people.  This is one of those clients that latches on to a candidate they really like, stops interviewing other candidates, and waits (I presume holding their breath) to finish the process.  This is a dangerous practice in Detroit which right now is the center of the counteroffer universe. 

Also, I got a 911 call from a client that one of their key plant personnel suddenly passed away.  He was only 43.  And I mean KEY.  Like…he was the only guy who knew X, Y, W, J, and Z at the plant.  RED ALERT!  My HR contact was freaking out.  I jumped into the database and immediately fired off 500 e-mails country-wide. 

Got another drive-by JO as well.  HR contact says, “Hey can you help me with blah-blah?”  Abso-freaking-lutely! 

I’m tapping this out as the Comcast (yea I’ll say it) guy is coming in and out of the office with machinery and weird devices conducting his exorcism.  I’m going give him a couple office Monster Energy drinks as ‘thanks’! 

Now, I have to go mow my stupid lawn and barbeque 30 pounds of chicken.  What a crud day!

Looking forward to the Recruiting Animal Show tomorrow!  :)

- Steve