Quote:
Originally Posted by JMondrow
I have been a recruiter for a few years now contemplating the generalist vs. focus on legal (my background). I feel like I am a great recruiter and sales person so why not open up opportunity. Otherwise I would have continued building legal teams.
On the other hand, it sure would make life easier to focus on legal since I have the contacts and jargon down.
These posts have been incredibly helpful already. May I ask an additional question?
The job market is slowing and may for a while. How do I survive?
|
Hi. You've asked an extremely important and complex question with absolute precision. How do I survive!?
I think you are in some really good company here in the forum. Although that sounds like a play on words in this forum, doesn't it? I was a recruiter for a year in San Francisco. I worked for one of the best firms to recruit and hire software engineers in Silicon Valley. Wow, did I learn alot! But that's a story for another time. You've asked an important question, and I can offer a point of view now that is the hindsight of 7 years. Mind you, I wasn't a recruiter for a long time. I was a recruiter for a year during the burst of the bubble. So, I hope I have street cred in your eyes. I will say that I landed big deals out of the gate, and the training I got was the best I've received anywhere. I did watch deal after deal after deal (sigh) fall apart. I think this event in my life turned out to be one of the biggest personal branding events I've ever experienced. But I did take the train home feeling deeply sad, and resentful. (one of my many humbling lessons on how to keep my mind on the big picture and not think the world was out to get me and to be grateful for what I had—easier said than done, and an everyday practice that constantly needs reinforcement) Gore and Bush had just debated and the bubble popped. It wasn't a recession, it was a depression in SF. Whole corporate campuses became ghost towns.
It was eerie. I walked around resentful about how hard I had worked. But life has no room for that. I decided to sell something else. Something I loved. And success in my next venture turned my head around. I was embarrassed to be 31 years old and selling computers in a computer store. But it was Apple. It was Berkeley. It was the best selling experience I ever had. I developed an entire corporate sales team and was enthralled with how excited people were with buying a computer and doing something great with it. I sold like crazy. And had fun. 100K in hardware at least per month. The big wigs from corporate drove up to ask me what in the world I was doing...
What did I learn from that job that I could have applied to recruiting? Well, lots. But more than just keeping a genuine interest in the lives of others, there is one thing that happed to the firm in San Francisco that allowed them to survive and from what I hear, absolutely thrive. (later, mind you when the horrible storm began to clear 22 months later after the elections)
So, when I joined there were 23 people working there. When the recession hit, there were 3 people left! Even two of the old timers with 17 years earning over 200k plus, pulled the plug! Whoa!!!
Here's what firm learned. Quit just selling engineers. Diversify.
Somebody somewhere always needs somebody.
Now, in 2008, that firm represents all kinds of talent. They were able to leverage the ability to do so. So if you are going to specialize, that's great! but I think some eggs in different baskets are important right now. I think it's important to get some second and third opinions here, and I'm not recommending you just up and change whatever it is you are doing without consulting other experts in the field, but I think it's the start of a discussion. My experience is only one experience. But imagine being good at what you specialize in, but finding that you can parlay that expertise into other opportunities? And when we run into constant roadblocks, we get weirdly convinced that our microcosm of the world is the entire world at hand.
So, something to think about. After all, when you recruit you are helping others find talent that they cannot find themselves and need in order to stay competitive. That's your power. And sometimes recruiters lose that power when the companies they are searching for are convinced that they can find all the people they need. Other industries aren't so smug. That's the major advantage that will buy you sales time to convince them that you can prove your candidate can open doors for them. (provided he/she really can, of course)
We should get some more comments from the field!!!
Best,
Joseph