New Year – New Uncertainties – and That’s Ok

There is a certain comfort in having the deep-seated belief that, even if your future is uncertain, if you work brutally hard at what is in front of you, the work will allow you to progress in ways you did not think were possible.

I don’t know what the market of 2024 will dictate in recruiting – we had a lot of uncertainty with clients having hiring freezes, clients affording to be pickier with candidates, and at times an oversaturated market (many staffing agencies vying for a finite amount of business) in 2023, but many recruiters still found ways to succeed.

The actions and qualities that have always made recruiters and salespeople successful – active outreach, good listening skills, value providing, and assertiveness, will only prove to be more valuable in today’s market.

If you do those things consistently, if you embody those qualities of the persistent, yet humble recruiter – how can you not ultimately achieve success when the market picks back up? Or even during a slower time?

There is no shortcut or secret to success, and sometimes, the harsh reality is that sometimes we can do everything in our power to do the right things, and we end up just treading water to buy time until conditions improve. We may not make massive leaps on paper during those times, but what we learn through a little bit of struggle is worth its weight in gold.

And that’s ok.

If you kick, scratch, and claw your way over barriers, what type of recruiter do you think you can become in the long run?

Hardened, resilient, crafty, strategic, and confident.

All we can do is take some type of positive action towards our goal and trust that the forward momentum will eventually build enough steam to move the needle. That’s how it has always been.

After having a devastating injury, some athletes can barely put their foot on the playing field. However, slowly but surely, many make a full recovery back to the playing stage and success using the principles of graded exposure and amassing small wins.

Similarly, everyday heroes recover from massive setbacks and detours all the time – sickness, divorce, job loss, or worse. The reason for this is the power of positive momentum. Crawling turns into slow walking, which eventually turns into faster walking, which eventually turns into jogging, which eventually turns into an all-out sprint (or whatever the end goal may be). ?

The same concept can apply to the recruiter’s morning. Sometimes, that first call of the day can feel like moving a Ford-150 out of the mud by hand.

But we eventually made that first dial. 1 call turns into 2, which turns into 5, which turns into 20, which turns into 50.

That first rejection of the day feels like a bucket of cold water poured over your face, but after 10 rejections that week, those rejections start to roll off like water off a duck’s back.

It all starts with the belief that the small action you take today will have some effect for a positive outcome later. You just must believe and keep the momentum going. ?

If you are coming back from the holidays with a new mindset, I urge you to keep an open mind as you go through this process of working sometimes without immediate results. If you are a recruiter, make your calls, talk to candidates, get SOME type of action going to grow the snowball. What you will find is that each time you are able to make bigger and bigger traction.

I don’t write this as a motivational piece, but rather a realistic plea to look at what is in front of you and find ways to grow it. If you look closely enough, you will find opportunity buried amidst the chaos of the day to day grind.

Sometimes when we look back at our successful times in life, or periods of growth, we tend to romanticize it like it was all done without hurdles, aches, and pains – would you like to go back to that time?

There is a very human element of romanticizing the past, and even overlooking the uglier aspects of time periods of growth because we made progress on the whole. That is fine. If you are in a hard spot now, I want you to look ahead to the future and think how a seasoned older version of yourself would view what you are going through now.

Would the older you think bitterly? Or would you think that it was noble that you had to struggle a little bit to get your footing?

Who knows, you may even be grateful for having gone through this hard period.

Try to keep that perspective at the top of your mind as you go through any adversity this year. The past does not matter – all that you can do is focus on what you must work with now, whether it be an older database, a non-urgent client, or a string of "No's" and do what you can. If you do so with effort, intensity, and thoroughness, I promise you that you will be shocked at what you are capable of.

Here’s to an uncertain 2024!