Looking Forward: A Look Back

April 1, 2015 will always be a landmark date in my life as the moment I made the greatest and most difficult decision in my career, the decision to make a change. It was more than a “change”, it was a pivot. After 14 years as an “account guy”,  I hit a wall- professionally and personally. First professionally (and this was the hardest): I finally made it to THE agency that I always aspired to be at, the cream of the crop of my trade, the hottest shop around. And I was damn proud of myself for making that happen. However, after a few months in, I realized a couple of things were not quite right. First, chemistry is #1. It is essential that you vibe with the agency culture and your team.  As much as I tried to ration in my head that things were amazing, they were not. I could Monday-morning quarterback this for days, but looking back, net/net, it was not the ideal environment for me to succeed.

Second and I believe this to be the most important, is that I became self-aware of my strengths and weaknesses. While I was always a solid account guy, the younger kids (as I like to call anyone younger than 30), were running circles around me as far as their knowledge of social marketing. Heck, these kids never knew what it was like to grow up without a cell-phone! It’s native to them and they OWN it. I looked at my career trajectory and felt that there were people who were better at their craft and more knowledgeable SME’s than me and I didn’t see myself climbing to the next level any time soon. It was not for fear of hard work, just a reality check by observing what was happening around me. How am I going to advance when the opportunities are less and the competition is superior? This was not about doubting my abilities, more so evaluating them compared to my colleagues.  THIS was a critical moment of true self-awareness and maturity that I had never reached before. AKA Self-Awareness Epiphany!

On a personal level, this is where things got deep. With a new house in the burbs and a young kid, life was getting real, real fast! I took a slight pay cut to land my “dream job” and reality kicked in- that every penny was critical to sustain the baseline of my life (that is not cheap) and my decent salary was not going to cut it. I needed to make a financial jump somehow and a salaried job was not the answer. And that was the second critical moment of self-awareness...How do I make that happen? It became clear that this was going to be a major move and I was about to jump off the cliff head-first into the unknown - but not without the direction and guardrails that were necessary. With the guidance of my boss (and mentor to many) Gary Vaynerchuck, I was bestowed with the most important advice that I have ever received: “Double down on your strengths and stop focusing on your weaknesses.” And that is exactly what I did. I ended my 14  year career as an “ad guy” and took a huge gamble on myself, betting big on my strengths and figuring out how to capitalize on them.

There are moments in life that define you. Moments when need to take a step back, a deep breath and think about what makes you happy. That was my moment. I defined my strengths as having a true passion for building and fostering relationships, creating synergies, always leveraging my deep professional and personal network throughout my career. And despite what I said earlier, I am aptly knowledgeable in the digital/social marketing world. All signs, spirits and vibes pointed me to one place: Recruiting. So, I embarked on a mission to learn everything I can about the field to ensure this was the right move. I spoke with every recruiter I’ve ever engaged with and a ton of new ones, and learned as much as I could about the industry without ever doing it. The more I listened, the more it was clear that this was the path I was set to embark on.

But this revelation did not come without fear and doubts. For those not in the industry, recruiting is a roller-coaster- both financially and emotionally. I went from a stable paycheck to straight commission and for anyone who has never done that, it is scary as shit! But that was part of the bet…if I crush this, the financial upside would be significant. But I knew deep down that I was going to be good at this…I know the industry, I know the players and I can relate with every candidate because I have sat in their seat before or worked with folks like them. So, after interviewing with a few shops, I decided to join Onward Search and looking back, it was a great decision. I work with a fantastic team of pro’s, under great mentors who teach me the art and science of recruiting. They also enable me to operate as essentially my own business (as long as I am doing well) and this has been huge as far as setting me up for success. I am able to leverage all of my marketing and branding experience to build “my business” and more importantly, my brand.

July 6th, 2015 was my first day of being a recruiter. Fucking Rookie. Day 1 at a new job, new career, new company. Starting from zero. That was super-humbling and still is, as technically I am low man on the totem pole. But what’s great about any sales job is that the numbers tell the story. And in the past few months, I have had solid success and have been at the top of the leaderboard. I don’t call this luck, I call it hard work, diligence, patience, learning and listening. A combination of humility, empathy and being steadfast to my mantra of “betting HUGE on myself”. This is a tough business and not everyone is cut out for it – but I truly believe that it is my calling and I would not be here without the last 15 years of experience as  my backbone.

There are days where you can’t lose, everything is going right, candidates are crushing interviews, biz dev is coming to you and the vibe is strong. Then like a flick of a switch, it all goes downhill. You spend 2 months working a position, get a candidate to final round and POOF!, the offer goes to another recruiter’s candidate. It hurts, bad. That has been the toughest part for me, shaking it off, but my skin is getting thicker and with each punch I take, I get stronger.

So 1 year into my pivot, here is what I have learned:

• Always bet on yourself.  
• Recognize your strengths and double down on them!
• Self-awareness is King
• Empathy is Queen
• Relationships are gold, never burn bridges.
• Having a strong spouse/partner is critical to success, always let them know how much you appreciate them. (Love ya babe!)
• Act like a pro, always.
• Be humble but know when to pat yourself on the back.
• Winning is amazing- savor the moment and put it in a special spot so you know what that high feels like and strive for it.
• Losing sucks, shake it off and move on.
• Gratitude, always.
• With great success, comes great Whisky.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story, I really appreciate it. My job is to put people in a position to succeed. To help agencies and brands find the best people who are the right fit. Simple as that and I love it. If you are in the market for a new opportunity or an organization looking for talent, please feel free to reach out. I hope that I’ve inspired you or at least made you think and laugh. Thanks!