It's a question that begs an answer.  Where do we go from here?  On any given day you will find recruiters pondering this same question.  You will find multiple scenarios which may require your focus.  You will find candidates, colleagues, friends, neighbors, careerists, others, all pondering this self same question.  It is a career question as old as business.  It is a question that facilitates outcomes, it is a call to action. 

It is a reference to choice, and change.  All of which bring uncertainty and a focus on quality.  Where then - do you go from here? 

I think answers to this question may be best brought forth by one whom doesn't give up, doesn't shirk responsibility, gives credence to their own humanity, and realizes that the world of today is going to be different from the one we are in tomorrow.

I think it comes down to perspective.  Granted, how can one in our busy world still find hope and perspective when day in and day out things are going at the speed of light?  It comes down to the fact that one must carve out of a busy day a few moments to be introspective, to be one whom ponders the greater outcomes. 

Somewhere along the way are moments where things come together in more ways than one can even ponder, where the light on the staffing journey is so clear, that you know that in spite of everything that is thrown at you, no matter what happens you will achieve greatness when all things are battling you to the nether reaches of your ability to deliver.  And somehow you do.

Where do we go from here?  What do we do differently?  How do we take the proverbial bull by the horns in today's society so much so that nothing stops us from going to the next level of performance?  How do you accomplish goals you set when obstacles appear to be so overwhelming as to make you stop and say - How can I do this?

I found myself the other day giving career feedback and career coaching to a candidate whom didn't give themselves enough credit.  This candidate has so much potential and his work ethic is so powerful that he reminds me that regardless of what endeavor one is in, one can achieve and will achieve when they are focused, disciplined and keep on. 

This candidate a contractor at my company needed that spark of hope, having worked in temporary capacities for the past few years - there was that sliver of doubt that crept in when he kept going from temp job to temp job.  When really it had nothing to do with his ability, just the economic circumstances in our macro environment. 

There are many like this - I have run into them in my recruiting ventures on a daily basis as I strive to deliver outcomes, and business results I come across those whom are concerned with life, concerned with change, and look at the temporary circumstances surrounding them.  This is human nature, it is normal. 

Today - there are numerous circumstances at the macro level of society that we cannot control - I find it paramount to alleviate the scars of life's temporary mentality to switch that paradigm around to one of permanence.  What is the long term?  What is the 5 year, 10 year, and 15 year plan?  Where does one go from here?

I suppose it comes down to career perspective.  That is a lesson that all of us can take to heart.  How often do we as recruiting/staffing professionals look at our own career journey in the lens of the long haul.  How often do we ponder the true aspect of our delivery and performance model for the long term career trajectory, the long term perspective of life?  There is in our world a temporary gratification reflex.  I can't really say it any other way.  Overcoming the tendency to think of your career in the myopic lens of temporary focus is cutting out a whole opportunity to deliver even stronger results.  Where does life dictate that we will go?  Does it ever?  Always.  But we need to rise above that - take into account the true meaning of our careers that they are going to be DECADES LONG, and that this blip on a screen, this challenge, this struggle of today is just a temporary blur, blip and little check mark on the screen.  There is SO MUCH MORE.

I account staffing vision as lacking these days, in our staffing strategies do we map out the long term, not just the short term business blinders?  The telescope of long term career planning should be married to the long term organizational planning.  Sure - how can your recruiters & sourcers fit into the long term scheme of things to come?  How will one deliver outcomes that never shed a positive momentum?  By committing to the long term career mantra, the long haul, the vision that is bigger than any one recruiter, venture, staffing plan or metric.  Long term perspective is the holy grail of every careerist.  Where does one go from here?  Answering that question with one of long term significance? What is my long term career plan?  What is my overall organizational value add for the long haul?  Where do I see myself in 5, 10, 15 years?

We ask these questions of candidates and why not of ourselves?  I think that vision is clearly what gets me up out of bed each day to go a few more rounds and fill a few more jobs.  That's the driving long term factor.  That's the career vision I commit to.  And that is how I choose to live my life.  Proactive versus reactive.  Isn't that what staffing greatness is built upon?