I will remember 2009. I will remember how Twitter made a new platform Recruiters now use as a means to find talent, I will remember how Linkedin Revitalized and changed and transformed itself. I will remember this as the year that saw my career go in a new direction, I will remember it as a time where I found and retransformed myself yet again, and yet, to think of how much has occurred in such a short space and time, our careers are but microcosms of the greater macro-economic whole.

This is the most influential, history creating time period of our lives, and all because of social networking, an economy that has created that most interesting of challenges in economic uncertainty and a labor market that is more competitive, more life changing, more talent rearranging than ever before.

On this December to Remember, it is as though everything we planned for ourselves has changed, when the recruiting industry took a nose dive, I found myself taking a new direction, but yet strive as any of us will, we cannot control the flow of our own lives.

We are blessed to be in a capacity that others can envy, we make and open doors every day. I used to think life went the way that I planned it, it did for a while, but then this economy, and all of the various challenges we have faced in this past year. It is as though when seemingly lost, we can prosper.

Linkedin changed it's usage of Groups, we found the ability to find many amazing and powerful candidates through usage of Twitter, Facebook, My-Space, Jig-Saw, Spoke and Blogs. Web 2.0. When will we see Web 3.0? Does anyone remember C3PO? I remember Star Wars, and with all the new fads-well it just seems that we are in an age of technological phenomena that will continue to change not only how we do business, but how we impact our world.

The I-Phone has revolutionized the way we interact and communicate.

The Green Tech Space is revolutionizing efficiency.

The entrepreneurs of tomorrow will surely be close to some venture capital firms.

A recruiter can communicate real-time, and the usage of that old faithful tool-dare I say it-the phone still can yield viable outcomes. Yes, it is as though our lives march to the beat of a new drum. Have you ever thought about what it means to be grateful for all these technological gadgets, gizmos, and perks?

Here I am grateful after I stuffed myself full 3 days ago to be living in a melting pot of cultural prowess-the Bay Area. Still the heart of innovation beats loudly and proudly here. We are unique in Northern CA from the rest of the country, here in Silicon Valley, you can make it if you have your heart and mind going.

Here at the Holiday Season I stand with renewed vigor, Recruiting is at an all-time new level-and what will it take to succeed? With multiple candidates now vying for very key roles, and only so many roles to go around, candidates seem to be wanting more human contact-automated we have become, yet, recruiting at its soul will and always should be a human interaction point, there is no substitute, be it Social Media, be it job board, the phone still will always be a way to reassure that most desperate of hiring managers, or a candidate-who could be your next customer-that you do care.

The human touch of recruiting, do we still have it? I try to the best of my ability give everyone to which I come in contact a fair shake.

Although at times life has it's pressure baked, pressure built and focused impacts of desire, there is something about recruiting that has called me back again-even when the economy took a nose dive-I knew within I would have to find my way back somehow, and that somehow came with my contract through Nelson Staffing.

I can always remember what 2009 has given as it's gifts. A patient wife, a patient daughter, patient colleagues, and then an opportunity to return again to staffing-where my heart has always been.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to work and make a difference, our lives are ours, and we must live them full of purpose.

Today take your recruiting to a new level and remember the below words from Counting Crows.

A Long December

A long December and those reasons to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember the last thing that you said as you were leaving
Now the days go by so fast

And it's one more day up in the canyon
And it's one more night in Hollywood
If you think that I could be forgiven
I wish you would

The smell of hospitals in winter
And the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters but no pearls
All at once you look across a crowded room
To see the way that light attaches to a girl

And it's one more day up in canyon
And it's one more night in Hollywood
If you think to come to California
i wish you would

I drove up to Hillside Manor sometime after two am
Talked a little while about the year
I guess the winter makes you laugh a littler slower
Makes you talk a little lower
About the things you could not show her

And it's been a long December
And there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember the last time I tried to tell myself to hold on
To these moments as they pass

And it's one more day up in the canyon
And it's one more night in Hollywood
It's been so long since I've seen the ocean
I guess I should

We have but one chance to live our lives. This decade the first of the 21st century has changed a lot, there was 9/11, there was the disputed election of 2000-Bush v. Gore, there was the Bombing of the USS Cole, there was Katrina, and the Tsunami near Sumatra, there was the economic crisis of 2008/2009, there were multiple factors to consider.

A Long December, in a Long Year, but it was a time of true promise. You know I took my daughter to see Santa in 2008, at Oakridge Mall in San Jose. At that time I had just received a bonus from Solutions Partners, all seemed so happy and good to be.

2009 came and my hours got cut to part-time, and in our efforts to survive I took a job I would not normally have considered-with a long commute, a contract role that got me through the summer months-it ensured I could make it. And then an opportunity came that enabled me to return to staffing and so I did after the previous contract ended.

So here I stand-at the close of 2009, grateful, focused, and sure that good days are ahead-and just as Brielle and Mike went to see Santa, we should find Gratefulness in this season to renew our commitment to excellence. We will get success as recruiters/sourcing gurus, and staffing giants.

There is a lot of hope-and responsibility, it means that success must be earned. Lessons from recruiting/staffing/HR, and 2009 must be retained.

"Tis the Season to be grateful" and to focus your efforts on becoming a good man for your family and success should follow. That is what it is all about-focused-clearly defined goals, and outcomes that amaze those who did not think it possible to have success in the volume or effort you have allocated and dreamed of. Such is the responsibility we have and the direction we may need to go in.

Welcome to December-A time of renewal, a time of gathering with family, and closing down for a holiday time to renew your perspective with family, to regain a customer facing approach to staffing-whether with candidate or client. Thankfulness and Gratefulness will never go out of style.