I’m not really a New Year’s Resolution kind of girl. I don’t particularly want to give up any of my bad habits, and I work out just enough to fit into my favorite jeans (most of the time).  I have no real desire to do anything that different. I like my life.

Still, a new year does give me a chance to reflect on the year that just past. I really amped up my involvement in RBC and committed (at least to myself) to blog more frequently. I took to Twitter like… never mind, I don’t know any clean analogies. Anyway, I tweet a lot. I got a LinkedIn Recruiter seat (score!). I have met some FANTASTIC people thanks to all this social media stuff. I considered writing about all the cool peeps I met through SoMe but that wouldn’t be a blog, it would be a novel. I decided to focus on three people who’ve had a huge impact on my career in the past year, and – bonus – I’ve met each of them in person.

Jeff Baumgarten – Tricendent

Jeff is an agency recruiter who does a whole lot more than just recruiting. Through his consulting firm he does lots of cool stuff around training, organizational development, and of course – placement services. He recruited for Zones as well when we went outside for some agency assistance. There are so many nice things I could say about Jeff, but the one thing that strikes me every time I talk to him is how genuine he is. Look, the guy could sell sand in the desert, but you never feel like he’s not completely focused on YOU and YOUR needs. His candid, sincere style is so rare in our industry. I respect and admire him for it more than he probably knows.

Paul Anderson – ProLango

You’ve no doubt heard me sing Paul’s praises before. He’s a nationally recognized speaker, writer and career consultant here in Seattle. So what, lots of people call themselves consultants, right? But Paul’s advice is GOOD. I have attended several of his career mixers and I can always tell the candidates who’ve either attended his boot camps or at least read and applied his teachings. When I first met Paul I’ll admit my initial thought was “what does this guy know about being unemployed? He’s had these great high level recruiting gigs. He knows people. How can he possibly understand the ‘little guy’?” Let me tell you, he GETS IT. If you haven’t heard Paul’s story, check it out here.

HR Nasty

Oh Mr. Nasty. Without question one of my most favorite people evah! Nasty is a VP of HR pulling back the kimono trying to help job seekers understand why HR does what it does (even when it doesn’t make sense). He’s down to earth, completely honest, and will be the first one to tell you he couldn’t do any of this without Mrs. Nasty (I have met her in person as well and she is absolutely lovely). Plus he has kick ass modified Banksy graffiti as his logo, which even my ultra-hip 18 year old college kid thought was cool. In a world full of HR doublespeak and political correctness run amok, Nasty keeps it real.

So why do they do what they do? Sure it’s all tied to their profession in some way, but I’m convinced they wouldn’t be as successful as they each are if they didn’t care. These three amazing dudes all have a couple of key traits in common – they have a genuine desire to help others and are humble. You’ll never see any of them with their chests puffed out proclaiming their superiority over the rest of us mere mortals. Nope, not these guys. You’d be hard pressed to find three more down to earth and easy to talk to HR / Recruiting / Consulting professionals. Truth – I am a better recruiter for having met and been influenced by each of them in the last year.

If I have any sort of resolution at all, it’s to be more like these guys.