I read your article here about having to change Niches and would have to say it was the most succint and well explained way of how and when you should switch gears. I would like to talk more about your experiences in this regard and may be open to discussion possible split assignments given your background.

If your open to any of the above, please feel free to contact me at your earliest convience.

Sincerely,

mip43@hotmail.com

After the dot com crash, I decided to take a stab at Biotechnology. This was not a long thought out decision; I merely looked at what industries were hot at that time and decided to take the plunge. I did my research and decided to be very specialized and focused on one area of Biotech. Sales positions in capital equipment. I further refined the niche; to only deal with companies that were selling mass spectrometers (don’t ask me to explain this). Here comes the testing of my theory. The best way to enter a niche is to find a most placeable candidate (mpc) and market them. I got on the phone- cold called several sales people in the niche-(side note- I did not have any background or insight in biotechnology, I knew none of the buzz words nor had any hard core knowledge of the industry).

I learned as I spoke with several sales people in the niche. As I asked a series of standard questions, I would ask the candidates to explain the technology to me. I was upfront with the candidate about my lack of technical knowledge, but more than made up for this by the line of questioning. You see I was still confident in my approach and I could smell talent no matter where it came from! I finally landed the fish I was looking for. A stand out accomplished sales person with outstanding numbers and a dynamic personality to boot. When I asked this person who were the leaders in her industry she respected, she told me. Five minutes after this conversation, I contacted 5 of those companies she gave me. I presented her background, set up 3 interviews. Two weeks later I had an offer and I was off to the races. I was able to build this niche over the next two years, and at the end I had a reputation and was known as the expert in recruiting sales people in this narrow niche. Problem- the niche was so narrow and eventually I exhausted all the companies in that niche… Time to retool again… I could have stayed with Biotechnology- but mortgage banking and homebuilding caught my attention. I decided to test my theory once again. This time one month into this new practice I landed a large homebuilder account and collected a $250,000 fee and billed over 1 million with this one client over a 3 year period!!

D?j? vu- MORTGAGE BANKING IS IN THE TOILET?Time to retool?? At this juncture I saw this one coming so I retooled- by teaching someone else the basics and process of our industry- in yet another industry ?nonprofit. The moral of the story is- don?t forget the basics of this great profession. Practice them religiously, don?t take short cuts, have faith and confidence in your ability and make sure everyone on the other end of the phone can feel your power! Incidentally, I have not given up on mortgage banking still doing some business?

Officially we may not know until the 1st look at Q2 (if it and Q-1 are minus), in July, as Q4 will be OK (#s were good thru November) - probably 2%+.

For us, 3 of the last 5 weeks were the busiest in years, yet more companies have a cautious approach, until they look at all their planned but unmanned projects. -Jon

We periodically elect conservatives on the promise to exercise fiscal restraint, and minimize the largess of taxpayer money to ‘the people’ who are often characterized as lazy and irresponsible. Yet, as you note, there is always enough tax money to support whatever industry is in trouble regardless of how culpable in their predicament. I only wish to point out that there is only an illusion of philosophical difference. The true difference is in who benefits.

When all is said and done, you vote for ‘the people’ or the corporations. That we can vote and choose is what makes America great. I encourage everyone to vote in November.

Recession is commonly defined by government agencies as follows:

Recession: Two consecutive quarters of declining GDP.

That’s it. That’s six months total. Some last longer.

What goes up comes down. To have life you need death. To have night requires day and male requires female (except in San Francisco and the Greenwich Village district of Manhattan but I digress).

Recession and economic booms go hand in hand just like a dance on the dance floor.

If you are a savvy long-term business person (such as the person that made the previous post stated) this should be a non-event worthy of nothing more than ONE BIG GAPING YAWN.

I knew this was coming. Anyone with half a brain observing service station attendants and Quick-Check cashiers earnign $12.00/hour buying condos with no documentation mortgages could see that someone would soon have to pay the piper.

Everyone was ‘passing the buck’ in the mortgage ponzi scheme and now the tax payers (through HUD) are left holding the hot potatoe which infuriates me that these affected people feel the ‘government’ (me) should fork up money to ‘help them’. If I had my druthers they would not get one dime.

By the way the same mortgage meltdown occurence took place in 1990 … the year before I launched IRES my search firm. Back then the RTC (Resolution Trust Corporation) had to take over S&L’s that were melting down all over the country for their inpropriety … who paid?

No … not the government. YOU AND I the taxpayer paid to the tune of billions of dollars in HUD guaranteed and FDIC payouts. It disgusts me that companies can behave so inappropriately and the bag is left to the taxpayer.

I’ve planned for this for two years and have enough reserves to drink margaritas through the storm — and If I have to I will use the remaining tequila to fuel my car instead of gas.

If you have not yet prepared … there’s still time to bank away your next several placements in your cash reserve bank account - you will most likely need it. Better to address the issue than live in denial.

And yes, after the storm … those of us that did not get scathed will be here to ‘clean up’ all over again as has been the case during every other ‘recession’.

I’ve been through several of these now and have it down to a science.

Yawn.

Back to work.

Recruiters and TA Leaders, If you want to stay ahead of the game, review their original work and you’ll effectively become consultants in your own regard!

As a side note, being a recruiter since 1978, some of my best (and worst)years have been during recessions.

We have been doing that successfully since 1991 and the approach dates back to the 1960s.

This is not rocket science but it does appear to be well kept secret. I guess the cat is now out of the bag–assessing for talent works.

gately@csi.com
508-634-7748