What Motivates You to Bag Your Next Placement?

In Missouri, there are only two preciously short weeks in November that you can shoot an antlered deer with a firearm. Every year, men and women all over the state get out their hunter orange and camo, and prepare to sit in a tree in the wee hours of the morning, hoping that a huge buck will wander in front of their sight lines.

While every season, 40% to 70% of the antlered deer population is killed in Missouri, only 1 in 5 hunters will actually get a deer. So, really, the majority of people who get their hunting license, prep their deer stand, gas up their four wheelers, and head out into rural Missouri will come back empty handed.

Why do they keep doing it? And are they that different from the recruiters who work every year toward some internally-spoken goal, knowing that only a select few of them will reach big biller status?

According to jonbartos.com, only the top half of one percent of all recruiters bill over a million dollars a year. While the majority of recruiters isn’t necessarily coming back empty handed, the uber successful are few and far between.

So why do we keep up the hunt when, chances are, billing millions will always be just a dream?

Ignorance….is bliss. Some of us are just out there, not aware that, in terms of billing, our career will be mediocre at best. Then again, maybe not knowing the odds are against you is just what some recruiters need to succeed?

Thrill of the hunt. Maybe we are like a hunter who got a 6 point buck a few years ago. Maybe we got lucky, fell into a hot niche, and just happened to have a great year once. And we won’t rest until we can surpass it.

Experience driven. There are some hunters who don’t really care much about shooting deer. But they do like sitting around drinking beer with their buddies, or like the excuse to unplug for a few days, or maybe they just enjoy sitting in the woods at the crack of dawn.

Maybe most of us are like that. We realize there is this illusive 12 point buck that is big biller status. But that’s not what is in our sight lines. We like reaching out to people, making connections, giving an exceptional candidate an awesome opportunity, or finding a great client the perfect match. And, we’re happy to do it every day of the year, no matter what it adds up to.

This post originally appeared at www.sendouts.com

Comment by Tim Spagnola on November 16, 2011 at 9:58am: Nice post Jessica - I was wondering when someone would make a connection between recruiting and deer hunting. ; ) For me I suppose it would be the thrill of the hunt. I might be alone in saying this, but what drives me really is the opportunity to help people. Help a candidate advance his/her career. Help my client by introducing them to great talent. And in the Doc biz- helping the community by bringing a physician that will in the end help people. Yes- the financial gain is enticing and helps drive action, but as corny as it may sound to some- helping others is what makes me pick up the phone.

Comment by Jessica Lunk on November 16, 2011 at 10:07am: Thanks, Tim - I feel like the parallels between hunting and recruiting are endless! I don't think you are alone - I think a lot of recruiters get satisfaction from helping people. But I also think that big billers get a lot of attention in the recruiting community because some people are driven by that lofty, but not unattainable, million dollar benchmark.

Comment by Sandra McCartt on November 16, 2011 at 2:14pm: What motivates me is seven hay burning horses, 4 eternally hungry dogs, an unknown number of barn cats who eat canned cat food instead of mice, they all look alike so i don't know how many there are, a granddaughter in college, two great grandsons in private school and my penchant for spending a great deal of time at T. J. Maxx.

Who knows what i bill. I consider myself a drop shipper of American Green Whipout Currency feeding and educating the multitudes. Who knew that 6 and 8 year olds could be focused on ipads and laptops for Christmas along with DS3's and Air Swimmers. Gotta make a placement fast. :)

Comment by Melissa Zentgraf on November 16, 2011 at 2:21pm: I'm with Sandra. My older son is now competing on the national level for fencing. And OH MY FREAKIN' GAWD if he keeps this up I'll be eating mac and cheese if I don't make some more placements!

Comment by Sandra McCartt on November 16, 2011 at 2:38pm: Melissa, put green chilis in the mac and cheese it breaks the monotony. Spam is good too and the dogs will eat the mac and cheese if it has spam in it.

Comment by audrey chernoff on November 17, 2011 at 8:38pm: 40 to 70% of the deer each year? Wow.

Comment by Joe Burns on November 18, 2011 at 4:15pm: Most people don't have the ego drive to want to bill a million dollars and that's OK as far as I'm concerned. I do 300-400K/year working from home by myself w/out headaches, stress, and a commute. I could hire a couple of people to do more of the 'grunt work' and bill a lot more but I'd be miserable - what's the point in that?

Comment by Noel Cocca on November 21, 2011 at 8:27pm: I am not sure what category I fit into but I enjoyed making the deal. From both sides. I frequently was able to negotiate for both sides and loved that. I had one month with 10 placements and it was so much craziness, and fun that when I was promoted I knew my role as Director was going to be even more enjoyable. There I oversaw and was involved in between 40 to 60 placements per month. There I had two million dollar recruiters working for me...good times.

Comment by Brian K. Johnston on November 22, 2011 at 10:23am: What motivates me? Letting down my Creator (God)... We ALL come here to fulfill some destiny, and we consciously or unconsciously know this as a truth and what it is... BUT, we have a "choice" to succeed or fail with our actions... Talent/DNA, is only part of the puzzle, we MUST take daily action (definiteness of purpose)... GO GET EM!!!!