Recruiting burn out, any suggestions?

Quick background on myself, I am a Degreed Electrical Engineer who left Engineering back in 2001 due to the premature birth of my first son to be a stay at home dad, my wife is also an Engineer and continued to work. I have friends and family in recruiting and was on the college recruiting team at Motorola so I decided to start recruiting independently out of my home and I did so starting right away. Starting cold and getting established right after 9/11 was not easy but thankfully my wives income was enough to suffice until I could get things up and moving.

As time went on, things got better and it is now 7+ years later, I have raised 2 sons (5 & 7, both now in school) all while running a recruiting business out of my home. I have no complaints and have enjoyed the freedom that it has offered me and the extra source of income.

Everyone thinks that working out of your home would be great and it is, but after 7 years of nothing more than kids and the dog on a daily basis I would like to try something else, the question is what?

I could get back into Engineering but everything has been full time and the salary would be similar to what I am making now so there is not much incentive there. Plus if I went back full time my salary would be much less than my wife makes so it is not like we could change positions.

With my wife still working I drop the kids off at school (8:10 AM) and pick them up (3:00 PM) so I am in a position where full time employment is not really an option due to these obligations. Plus I really enjoy the flexibility that recruiting offers me, I never miss a baseball practice and have a lot of free time with my kids that people would love to have.

My numbers are down a bit this year and I know it is mostly due to lack of motivation and recruiting burn out. Throw in an e-mail I got this morning from a company where I had a candidate start August 4th and he is not working out as they hoped, they loved him at the start and this is the first I heard of it. I have dealt with this before but this time it is more of a downer than normal.

Any insight would be much appreciated but at this point I will keep plugging away with the marketing and recruiting but would like the opportunity to consider something else, related to recruiting or not.

Thanks in advance,
Jason

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Permalink Reply by pam claughton on August 29, 2008 at 1:39pm

Jason,

Do you work with any other recruiters doing splits? If not, you might want to reach out and develop some working relationships with local recruiters in your space. This would give you extra leverage to place your people and fill your jobs, but more importantly it would give you more social connection with colleagues. You might also consider getting out of the house and working a few hours a week at a local Starbucks or Panera or any coffee shop that offers free wifi. I do this every week or two and my local coffee shop is packed with people working on their laptops, both business and creative types and the buzz is energizing.

You might also consider taking on a trainee, someone you can train your way and who will help you fill your jobs.

:) Pam

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on August 29, 2008 at 1:52pm

Jason - you've come to the right place! First things first. Congratulations on being there for your children. Words can not convey just how important having a mom or dad home with the kids during their early years. Bravo!

Now on to business. Sounds like you've done well with carving out your piece of our world. Congratulations for that also. You've really put yourself in limited company. Very few can make a go of things from home....without coworkers to bounce ideas off....or the time to unwind on the way home from the office.....it's tough.

A little about me. I opened my business in my home office in 1998. Things have been better each year than the previous year and I'm grateful for that. But I do miss comraderie and the things that go along with working in a team environment. Thankfully RBC came along so those of us out here doing our thing can connect!

You've been at this long enough so I'm sure you know - but it's worth saying it "out loud". Fall offs happen. No. Matter. What. And each one - whether we saw it coming or not - is like a punch right in the gut!

We all have our ratios and numbers. Those ratios and numbers MUST include the bad stuff. So look at it this way - you're getting your fall off out of the way! It's clear sailing on the horizon for you!

There is no way in H.....L working for anyone else after so much freedom would work for me! Maybe you could go back into corporate America but I sure couldn't.

Either way - don't worry about your fall off today. Take a break from the desk and go out and enjoy this holiday weekend. And good luck!