Will 2014 Be a Banner Year?

Business is quite robust so far in 2014. Record-level business for me, even as a 25-year recruiter, tripling all of last year's revenues within the first 60 days. I was informed that I have a new offer coming out today, for a candidate I have known and had in my network for at least a decade, finally getting a chance to place him, and he is very excited. Another candidate for another position also successfully submitted his resignation today, and set his start date.

I hope that my colleagues enjoy similar success this year. We have a great and honorable profession and we are very lucky to have the talent, determination and drive to do what we do. It always amazes me how multi-talented recruiters tend to be. In any case, I think the world is large enough that more than one approach to this business makes sense. There is no "one size fits all" solution. There are as many styles of recruiting as there are recruiters.

My advice: Walk your own path. Don't let outsiders tell you how to run your business. Use your head.

Comment by Keith D. Halperin on March 7, 2014 at 8:14pm: Thanks, Nicholas. Hope you were telling recruiters to "use your head". If employers used THEIR heads, there'd be much less need for recruiters (at least 3PRs). Our big secret: it takes a lot fewer people to do recruiting when employers plan, are realistic, and efficient than when they are they way they usually are...

Cheers,

Keith

Comment by Nicholas Meyler on March 7, 2014 at 8:20pm: Indeed. Although, I do disagree a little bit. Employers are often super-smart people who are great at what they do, but not necessarily at finding extremely rare people. The best situation for a recruiter to be in is that of having the skills of sourcing mastered so well that he can always find the Bigfoot or the Unicorn (assuming it exists). Actually, I do like Employers to use their heads, too, because the Employer who uses his head is the one I want to work with to help him find the best possible people. Nonetheless, you are right that many employers are not fully cognizant of the ramifications of the ways they do things being inefficient or incorrect. We exist as consultants to those people, who can hopefully educate them to a better way. If they won't use their heads or won't listen, I need to move on to another Client.

Comment by Keith D. Halperin on March 7, 2014 at 8:33pm: Well-said. High-level 3PRs provide very valuable services which are definitely worth a premium. IMHO: much 3PR hiring is done by low-level agency-newbies dialing for dollars to place people obtained from job boards or off-shore RPOs for 15-20% fees to clients too ignorant to know that they could get the very same people directly for a fraction of the cost, or whose Greed Arrogance, Fear, Ignorance/Incompetence, or Stupidity (GAFIS) put them into a situation which a more rational approach could have handled, also for a fraction of the cost.