Great Game. Lame commercials. Being at a Super Bowl Party at the house of a HUGE Steelers fan was fun and a real experience considering how the game went.

But from a business perspective, what did we learn? For one thing, I'm not counting on any business at all from US Auto Makers or suppliers for quite some time if ever. There was not one US Auto Maker commercial. There were a couple of foreign car company commercials, but not much there either. I'm maintaining contacts, especially with the suppliers. The strong suppliers will survive and cars will be built in the future, but by who and when they will be growing are real questions without good answers at this point. Companies in other industries didn't do much to convince me that they are strong either and apparently several ad spots were not sold. All of this indicates that business confidence is still very low and finding clients willing and able to use outside agencies will continue to be very hard work.

What about Careerbuilder and Monster? They are both trying to push forward but they didn't impress with the commercials and that just helps confirm my sense that they are desperate. I'm expecting some big changes over the next couple of years in the job boards, their models, how many survive etc...... So all of this tells me that our industry continues to shake out. That will be a good thing in the long run. The key is to work hard, work smart, and do everything you can to adjust to the current conditions. As sports often do, the game gave us some great examples that we should use in business. For both teams there were key moments where things went heavily against them. Some of these things were mistakes (big penalties, unnecessary roughness etc....). Some of these things were out of their control. Both teams though, provided great examples of letting whatever went wrong go and focusing on the task at hand. The interception return for 100 yards and a touchdown at the end of the first half could have sunk the Cardinals. But they came back focused play by play in the second half and almost won the game. The Larry Fitzgerald touchdown with a couple minutes left looked to be a back breaker for the Steelers, but they came back focused and looking forward and made the plays they needed to in order to win the game.

At a time like this when our industry is dealing with difficult conditions and changing every day, we all need to follow these examples and forget about the negative noise and events out there, and focus on the next job order, the next client, the next candidate. Those who focus and do what they know they can do well will be in great shape when things turn around.


Todd Kmiec
Todd Kmiec & Associates
todd@toddkmiec.com
919-883-7560

http://www.recruitingblogs.com/profile/ToddKmiec

http://www.linkedin.com/in/toddkmiec

Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/toddkmiec

Connect with me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com