Recession. Election.
Slumping Job Index.
Increasing Unemployment Rate.
Diving Dow.

It is tough to stay the course when media messaging is telling us everything around our economy is calling for a slow down; and, in reality, the only real choice any of us have is to stay the course. While the course might shift and change a bit, the course we know – the work hard, stay focused, make contacts course remains the same. When the going gets tough, the real men and women of the staffing industry get tougher. As in the past, a recession serves as a course correction and, as in the past, the strong will get stronger, better, faster; and the weak will go find something else to do.

The Strong Company, Recruiter, Staffing agents’ job is to analyze their business, what is working, what is not; it is their job to analyze their clients businesses and fully understand what is happening with their end users, as it is the end user that provides all of us with work in the first place. It is the astute staffing and business person’s responsibility to look out to the future with a curious and open eye and accept the changes that are occurring in business overall – both at home and globally. It is the discerning and strategic staffing industry thinker’s job to deal with the reality of the changing FLAT world; from globalization, out sourcing and off shoring to RPO, Selection, HR Consulting and everything in between. When conditions for change are right, the astute staffing industry business person has a tremendous opportunity to make their stake and claim their market share; if they are indeed open, astute, innovative and grounded in the reality of the world 2020.

It is the innovative business minded staffing leader’s job to pave the way for the needed transformation that is required to compete, sustain and grow in the next 5-10 years. It is the responsibility of each of us as industry professionals to own our power, heighten our awareness of the business world at large and make course corrections that strengthen our personal and our industries position in the global war for talent. It is our job to improve and expand our industries viability, marketability and service offerings.

The time is NOW to THINK and ACT out of the box.

I just had the opportunity to speak and participate in the Staffing Industry Analysts Executive Forum. Over 700 Staffing Leaders from all over the world participated in this 3 day strategic advancement event. Even with the challenging business outlook; from economic issues, labor issues, insurance issues, a key theme among the leaders I spent time with was to manage the present while planning for and taking action for the future.

Between the sessions, the coffee talk, the round tables, the speed networking, the cocktail conversations I met some remarkable people. Several new RPO & Off Shore start ups; and who was running them, people like me and you who saw the future and went out and took some of it for themselves. Over and over again, the statistical data was clear – Temp Staffing/Contract is not predicted to grow, Perm is predicted to grow, RPO growing and capitalizing on the economy as well as their internal economies of scale. HR Consulting is growing.

All of the major staffing players’ stock shrank in the past year; yet the ones that continue to look strong are the ones offering Professional level Direct Hire (Perm) like Executive Search, Accounting and Finance, Health Care and the ones offering services like RPO, Off Shoring entire departments, and Out Sourcing entire departments. Off course Light Industrial and Office Support/Clerical are not growing, they are clearly shrinking and if the author, Thomas L. Friedman of the World is Flat was right, they might eventually be shrinking to the point that companies actually completely outsource their entire LI operation to other countries or local outsourcing companies. These companies would manage the whole thing from start to finish. In Office Support we see it with Xerox to name one; they used to sell copiers now they manage wholly the copy, mail clerical, and reception areas within a company and they are considered part of facilities budget.

While there are certainly staffing doors shutting for some in our industry; there are certainly many more doors opening in several new and innovative capacities; if we open our eyes and accept that the change is inevitable. It is very inspiring to see companies that are taking advantage of the world’s economic condition, the global climate and stepping in and making things happen to serve their clients’ needs. These strategic thinkers are taking the future into their own hands and claiming their stake in the ground. While they are opening up new offerings, they are demonstrating their business savvy and they are making a statement to the business world that they are strategic advocates and advisors in the human capital and workforce management field.

Given I just sold my office support staffing and placement company to a Light industrial company who was seeking to raise their margins and service offerings; I saw, heard and felt first hand how one door closes for one person and opens for another. Even though it was time for me to move on, for my buyer this was his answer to building his company’s economic profile as well as reputation. He is so energized by the changes in the industry, he is adding office support, direct hire, off shoring and eventually professional placement.

While I have been up and down in my quest to sell my staffing company and move towards my new passion; it was the commitment I made while setting my annual goals that gave me the fortitude and discipline to march forward in selling my ‘staffing baby’ and launching my ‘Internet, software & consulting baby’ keenhire.com. While the industry is the same, the job is different; and with change comes fear (at least for me). It is interesting to me that I did not even realize that it was fear driving my attitudes and behaviors around selling my business; however after the deal is done I see that the nothingness of walking into a new door somewhat freaked me out. After my week with the Staffing Leaders, any fear that I had about closing a door after a 23 year career was quietly put aside as I continued to hear affirmations and confirmations that my new business is a key component to the industry’s market position going forward.

Everything I have learned and believe in from Organizational Development, Retention, Candidate Selection, Assessments, Behavioral Interviewing, RPO process to the War for Talent, Generational influence, Candidate & Client buying styles, Market dominance and selling systems are absolutely needed services as the business climate shifts and as the world continues to get flatter. Recruiting firms, Direct Hire, RPO, and Staffing Firms who look for market differentiation will seek Keenhire.com for key products and services that aid to their unique selling position and position them as strategic market leaders in the human capital, talent acquisition, and workforce management field. The buzz around the changes, the needs and the staffing worlds future eased my fear of nothingness and catapulted my enthusiasm times ten.

So for you. What are your goals? What are your market shifting ideas? Where are you today? Where do you want to be in 5 -10 years? What is stopping you? What are your overt and or hidden fears that might be running your thoughts? If nothing was in the way, what difference would you be making with your clients? How big?

Take April, and use it as a time to course correct, we are 4 months in and everything around us is swirling. It is up to you to stay your own course, march to your drum beat and achieve what you set out to do, regardless of what is happening outside your door. We have all seen times like this before and we all for the most part make it out better people. So, the question is what will you cause and implement in the year 2008?

Best of Success
Margaret Graziano, Keenhire.com – 1888-keenhire

Now is the time to surround yourself with people who make you shine. One of the most challenging conversations I have engaged in for myself is the conversation of leverage. For those of us who are high-achievers, top individual performers, perfectionists, and control-minded folks, letting go could be one of our most challenging personal development initiatives.

A key element in creating the “Most Amazing Year Yet” is focusing on our strengths and capitalizing on the things we do really well and letting go or delegating those things that are somewhat of a struggle for us. The days of spending countless hours fixing the aspects of our personality or behaviors that don’t forward our success are gone.

Smart people choose to spend their time playing games they can win. They play to their strengths and outsource, offshore, or delegate all those other tasks they don’t receive a significant return on investment from doing themselves.

After all, isn’t that why most of us have jobs anyway? Companies outsource their recruiting to us because they either don’t have the expertise, resources, time, or money to do it effectively themselves.

The first step in leveraging your power and playing to your strengths is to conduct a “strengths inventory” and read Marcus Buckingham’s Go Put Your Strengths to Work. Or you can take one of the many personality inventory assessments on the market today, or you can ask the people closest to you what works and what doesn’t.

Another method is to create a “love/hate” comparison chart about the tasks or functions that you love and hate to do. These are not necessarily the functions you would expect, and they are not always the ones closest to the money. The things in the love category are tasks that, while you are doing them, time becomes invisible. In other words, these things light you up and inspire you. On the other side of the chart are the tasks or functions that when you are doing them, you cringe, get a rash, become a tyrant, or get annoyed with everything and everyone.

Using the leverage conversation in business development is a real differentiator in the sales process. In my recruiting and training business, I train recruiters, both corporate in-house and third-party agents to use the leverage approach when talking to their clients about their staffing needs.

While the average recruiters are taking down specifications of what the ideal candidate’s background needs to look like, I train my Keen Agents to ask the hiring manager provocative, confrontational (with a kiss) questions that immediately differentiate these agents as leading-edge business partners committed to bridging the gap between recruiting and succession planning:

- “How is this new hire’s presence going to forward the manager in attaining their key performance indicators?”

- “What are the strengths and weaknesses of the team?”

- “Who are the key players and what about them do we want to replicate?”

- “What behaviors/competencies are missing on the team that if those behaviors/ competencies were present would make a difference in the team achieving their objectives?”

These are some key questions we ask in the beginning of each and every search. Once the manager does the critical thinking to determine exactly how this person’s employment will affect the department and the company overall in achieving their goals, the search takes a different turn and the recruiter managing the search has a completely altered outlook and new level of power to influence who the right candidate is.

Using leverage to build your recruiting team is a sure-fire strategy to create a model for success. Many of us who have been around over a long time have learned to run both sides of the desk and have been paid very handsomely as a result. Some of us lean to the side of being ‘job order’ agents while others lean on the side of being candidate-centric. Where and when I was trained, if someone was good at one side of the desk and not the other, they slowly died on the vine. They did not receive the resources, coaching, and leads that those of us filling the hybrid role did. Additionally, many of us “hybrids” left the comfort of someone else’s employ to break out on our own because we could. (We were the alpha and the omega in our minds, or maybe just in mine).

In running my own business over the past 14 years, I have never worked alone. Instead, I chose to surround myself with a support team that allowed me to be a mom, a triathlete, a traveler, and all those other things that we hear are good for us to do in leading a balanced, authentic, and successful life. In the beginning I just hired bodies to handle the volume of business, activity, and noise that I generated. However, after years of dealing with the management pain and misery I finally learned to hire right.

I now hire people who can generate solid business, generate qualified candidates, and who provide incredible service to my existing staffing, recruiting, or consulting clients. If someone can do it all, more power to them. If they can only do two of the above, I leverage that power and they get paid according to their individual contribution.

Offshoring, Outsourcing, and Reframing to Leverage your Power

Reframing. I spent much time in 2007 taking inventory of things that were not working for my business or me. One of the things I did was to alter my company’s recruitment service offerings. We went from being employment generalists to a company that focuses on recruiting entry level management and professional talent for companies that serve the medical and drug industries. We no longer go after or *personally serve (more about that in the next paragraph) businesses in the recruiting capacity outside of that spectrum. This was a huge step in leveraging my personal and professional power and my time. It also has made a monumental difference in having new rookies ramp up and put money on the board in their second month. On the staffing side, we are now only staffing for high-end administrative, recent grads, or medical/clinical business professionals. If it is out of our specialty area, one of our keen certified service providers gets the lead.

Outsourcing. Another step in evaluating my power position was to identify a team of independent specialty recruiters who assist my clients with job requisitions that my company is not equipped to effectively fill. I act as the ‘gate keeper’ for these clients. I field submittals from these recruiters and manage the submittal process and the client relationship so while my company is not using its resources for searches that don’t make sense for us; I solidify, if not deepen, my relationship with my clients by acting as the broker for their recruitment services. (Kind of an RPO model).

In creating my new company, Keenhire.com, I have had to outsource 98% of the work as I know nothing about developing an ASP software, a website, or e-commerce. While I know a little bit about industrial psychology, organizational development, and a little more about branding sales and Internet marketing, I still did not know enough to go it alone. My search for talent ranged from seeking I/O psychologists, behavior analysts, assessment vendors, Web developers, programmers, branding and marketing people, project managers, PowerPoint experts, virtual assistants, bankers, lawyers, etc. The key to my success in building my virtual KeenHire team was knowing what I was good at, admitting what I wasn’t so good at, being clear on what I needed from my teammates and my investment, and then soliciting recommendations from people and business partners who knew me. In knowing me and my style, as well as what I was up to creating, these trusted advisors and partners were people who always made me look good and who produced a solid return on my investment of time and money spent with them. As all referrals are not created equal, the good rose to the top fast, eased my pain, and saved me time. In turn, they got much more work. While the bad caused a few hiccups, wasted my time, and were removed from the virtual team, I learned to react to performance issues quickly. My tolerance for mediocrity went out with the first $100,000 investment in keen. You know what they say – money talks and the other stuff walks.

Offshoring. Another move I made was to eliminate my company’s presence on every major job board but one. We chose to keep Careerbuilder, as that site brings us the type of people we want. As far as searching, my recruiters no longer spend ANY time searching the job boards; that function is outsourced to PSG out of Boston. If my recruiters use that resource the way I would, it will gain them at least 10 more effective hours per week. In the spirit of empowerment, I put the ball in their court to use this gift or not. If they don’t use it wisely it will go away, but if they use it wisely, they will make more money and their job will be much more fulfilling.

Whether running your desk or your business, developing your market or your sales execution, take the time to conduct a personal inventory and a strengths assessment. If appropriate, make the move to leverage your power and move forward with momentum.

Best of success,
Margaret
Keenhire.com

Margaret Graziano, CPC, CTS, and mother of three, has been a top producer in the staffing and recruiting industry for the past 20 years and had owned her own firm since 1991. She prides herself on client retention and making the right hires. She has earned over $5 million in personal “desk production” income and has placed over 2,000 candidates in direct-hire positions. With the competitive business world and the war for talent in full force, Margaret’s company, Alliance HR Network, has ventured into new realms of talent acquisition, organizational development, and human capital consulting services, thus diversifying Alliance’s revenue streams and gaining new and exciting talent acquisition and assessment consulting opportunities. Margaret’s email is mgraziano@alliancehrnetwork.com, and her phone number is (847) 690-0077. The strategic planning forms are listed under a Strategic Planning Downloads section at http://www. alliancehrnetwork.com/employers/industry_training.asp.

The goals are set, they are in writing and are posted where I can see them – it is time to jump into the year, full steam ahead. For me, the thrill of the game, the anticipation, the excitement, and the anxiety that accompanies executing a plan are all fuel for the engine. A key for me is staying in tune with my future achievements and being very well in tune with when I am on track or off track; and self-correcting as necessary.

Discernment is a learned skill or a natural talent required for most of us who call recruiting our career. In my work as a behavioral selection expert, I often recommend that my clients not attempt to coach or train an employee or a candidate in developing discernment. The only person who can impact one’s discernment is oneself. The need or the pain has to be so strong that a person can no longer tolerate his or her lack of discernment and then chooses to get better.

Unfortunately in our business, typically newbies or rookies, as we call them, tend to take the route of flight versus fight. This is why it is so critical to hire people with a fire in their belly so strong that no matter what their weakness, they take the case of improvement as the only option.

Dictionary.com defines discernment in the following manner:

Dis·cern·ment

1. the faculty of discerning; discrimination; acuteness of judgment and understanding.
2. the act or an instance of discerning.

-Synonyms 1. judgment, perspicacity, penetration, insight.

KeenHire’s behavioral selection software describes “discernment” as the ability to sort the critical from the superfluous. We branded the term discernment as astuteness. Being astute is a critical behavior not only in our industry, but also to succeed in business in general.

In selecting future employees, new searches, new customers, and new candidates, discernment is required. In developing your brand, discernment is required; in marketing and in selling, discernment is required. You cannot get around it – critical, quick thinking is a trait that comes with the game of achieving your goals, staying on track, and running your book of business.

While in a search and selection process for a new employee, a recruiter, a researcher, a sales rep, or the hybrid do-it-all, “run a full desk” person, it is mandatory that you set yourself up to win. Proactively setting yourself up to win is what it is all about.

Start by defining the role. As all of the previously mentioned roles are different, know what you will and won’t compromise on and then stick to your guns. Utilize your common sense. You know that you cannot force someone or inspire someone to want success. They either have that ambition or they don’t, and no matter who you think you are or how great your numbers say you are, you absolutely cannot instill long-term passion in another human being, even your children. You can guide and coach, and that is about it.

There are some traits that can be coached and some that can be taught. The question is, “Are you patient enough to train someone, and then train them again, and then again?” Studies on performance data highlight that it takes an average human being 24 months to learn a new competency. This means that every time you train a new person who is ill-equipped with the natural strengths to do the job, you are committing to spending 24 months to get them effective. If you are up for that game, good. If you are not, don’t hire the person.

Selling is a large part of our world, and choosing who you prospect is critical to your success. Only while selling office supplies is everyone a potential customer. Once you brand yourself or your company properly, your ideal prospect is revealed with clarity. Now it is time to target those ideal prospects with discipline and precision. Staying focused on what you offer that is different and better than anyone else is a surefire way to tailor your research, your plan, and your conversations.

While email marketing, make sure that you are using a program like Targetware, so you can follow up with people who clicked through your email and had some level of interest versus attempting to contact all recipients. A good prospecting script, with probing questions that reveal if a potential customer has the pain your service can relieve, is a smart tool for the discerning salesperson. Practicing discernment means wanting to receive the no. No is one step closer to yes. Prospects that were mistakenly identified automatically self-select out, and you no longer need to waste your time calling them. A salesperson with discernment wants to end each call with a no, a yes, or a lesson learned.

Recruiting and selection is our world. It is what we do. The days of finding a good résumé and submitting to a client are long over. Success in this business is contingent on our ability to recruit and select the people our clients believe are worth a placement fee. Whether it is said or not, most astute companies are analyzing return on their investment for their staffing expense and placement fees. Being discerning is asking the right questions when establishing a foundation for the search. It is critical to making the right placement and is even more critical to building a long-term partnership with growing companies. It means uncovering the reasons why a good person might or might not fit. It means discovering why past candidates were hired or rejected. It means uncovering the fundamentals of why certain employees are deemed top performers and/or are promoted or why past employees were low-level performers and/or were terminated. It means finding the answer and then probing further, uncovering more than the customer was expecting you to uncover or even more than they even thought to uncover. It is the asking of the tough and challenging questions that separates you from just another recruiter trying to make a buck.

Being discerning when taking on a search is a lot like the Sesame Street game “One of these things just doesn’t belong here,” and we learned that type of deductive reasoning in preschool. Utilizing it as an adult is absolutely mandatory in creating a name for ourselves as a selection expert.

Using your discernment and staying in tune with the end game is one of the best behaviors that you can practice. Hanging out with the right people, learning from people who are where you want to be, opening yourself up to new ideas that challenge you at the core, and saying no to people, places, and things that are a distraction – all are tactics that will forward your success both on your desk and in your life.

Margaret Graziano, CPC, CTS, and mother of three, has been a top producer in the staffing and recruiting industry for the past 20 years and had owned her own firm since 1991. She prides herself on client retention and making the right hires. She has earned over $5 million in personal “desk production” income and has placed over 2,000 candidates in direct-hire positions. With the competitive business world and the war for talent in full force, Margaret’s company, Alliance HR Network, has ventured into new realms of talent acquisition, organizational development, and human capital consulting services, thus diversifying Alliance’s revenue streams and gaining new and exciting talent acquisition and assessment consulting opportunities. Margaret’s email is mgraziano@alliancehrnetwork.com, and her phone number is (847) 690-0077. The strategic planning forms are listed under a Strategic Planning Downloads section at http://www.alliancehrnetwork.com/employers/industry_training.asp.

So here it is, New Year of 2008, and I am reflecting on what a fabulous year I had, everything I accomplished, what I learned, and how I have grown.

Wouldn’t that be a pretty incredible way to start the year, already visualizing what you intended on accomplishing already happening?

A few years ago I was introduced to a goal-setting format called the “Best Year Yet” that, along with the work I have done with Jack Canfield and the law of attraction, has really given me access to setting clear goals and defining a strategy to get there. Another key was taking responsibility for who I am in the matter of being accountable to myself and to my goals.

A fundamental aspect to being accountable for achieving my goals is aligning myself with a coach who can deal with the “Magi” in me as well as the “Margaret” in me. There is this fun, crazy side that if someone calls and the opportunity sounds good enough, I am in, even if it is a Monday. And then there is this part of me that is the “don’t mess with me – I am working.” I suppose my greatest challenge is finding the medium between the high I (fun and creative side) and the high D (dominant and intense side).

In creating what is next for you, it is a good idea to complete what was last for you – what worked, what didn’t. Doing this exercise and being 100% responsible for what you accomplished and what you didn’t will allow you to experience freedom, joy, and power.

For me, 2007 was a year when I had too many goals, of too much magnitude, and my reaction to attaining those goals had me flailing more than sailing through my 43rd year. Lesson 1 learned.

Not having a coach who was on board with my goals and who was checking in with me on the attainment of those goals is my Lesson 2. I chose a coach who would help me access things other than business goals, and in the process, I allowed myself to get sidetracked.

Lesson 3 – Create a purpose worth giving your life for. Through thick and thin, and there has been a lot of both this year, it is my core purpose that has continued to ground me during those tough times.

Work, play, lead, and follow with authentic shared values. Lesson 4 – Surround yourself with people who share your core values. Every time I have compromised myself and what is important to me, the consequences have been disastrous.

Whether it is hiring that one person whom I shouldn’t have, giving someone far too many extra chances after they have already proven they cannot do the job, waiving a process for that perfect candidate, or not holding my ground for the retainer I wanted, or even going on a third date when one was surely enough, it always comes back to me in the form of a wakeup call to bring me back to who I really am and what is really important to me.

To be great in the recruiting business or even good, we have to have a solid combination of instinct and logic, and on those tough days when nothing seems to be going right, it is easy to enter into the gruesome world of self-doubt. Lesson 5 for me is to stay home on those days, make no important decisions, and get coaching immediately. After 22 years in this business, consistently earning at the top of my game, I find that what my common sense and instinct tells me is usually right, and I know that compromising either just doesn’t work.

My lessons are my lessons. What are yours? Take a day, half a day at least, and mentally complete 2007. Acknowledge what worked, and have a martini to celebrate; acknowledge what didn’t work, and deal with why and share that with the person in the mirror or your coach, your therapist, or Mom. Then set a theme for the year. What will you say about the year when it is complete? What will you be celebrating on December 31, 2008? Next, set a theme for each area of life that is important to you: firm, fitness, family, friends, finances, etc., then set one or two goals in each of those areas. Next, set in advance a structure for accountability, because a goal with no status checkpoint is simply a pipe dream. Last, find a coach whom you trust and respect, and who shares your values, and then be vulnerable enough to hear them when they coach you.

Here is to a wonderful 2008.

Margaret Graziano, CPC, CTS, and mother of three, has been a top producer in the staffing and recruiting industry for the past 20 years and owned her own firm since 1991. She prides herself on client retention and making the right hires. She has earned over $5 million in personal “desk production” income and has placed over 2,000 candidates in direct-hire positions. With the competitive business world and the war on talent in full force, Margaret’s company, Alliance HR Network, has ventured into new realms of talent acquisition, organizational development, and human capital consulting services, thus diversifying Alliance’s revenue streams and gaining new and exciting talent acquisition and assessment consulting opportunities. Margaret’s email is mgraziano@alliancehrnetwork.com, and her phone number is (847) 690-0077. The strategic planning forms are listed under a Strategic Planning Downloads section at http://www.alliancehrnetwork.com/employers/industry_training.asp.

Freedom versus security. My coach once asked me to rate which was more important to me. I continually re-ask myself this question every time I embark on a new endeavor.

It’s been about 14 years since I became a business owner. Owning a staffing business was not really something I had planned on. It was something I did in reaction to my employer going out of business. I was more than eight months pregnant, and had two small children already at home, a new mortgage, and a marriage that was definitely not set up for the trials and tribulations of business owner-ship.

I often hear young rookies, as well as seasoned veterans, speak about how great it would be to own their own firm or break out on their own and go independent. These days, it seems, “being my own boss” is some-thing of an American dream. However, I can’t help but wonder if I knew then what I know now, would I have done it, or would I have done it the way I did it?

In Robert Kiyosaki’s book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” he writes that there are four financial quad-rants: employee, self-employed, business owner, and investor. Many of us in this industry, even if working for someone else, are considered self-employed. Some of us who run contract staffing operations could also be considered business owners even if we work for a parent company. The point is that we are in a unique, lucrative, and rewarding profession that promises financial freedom for anyone who buckles down, masters the game, and stays in it for the long haul.

The question many recruiters ponder at one point or another is “Where should I do this wonderful work of recruiting? Should I work as part of a high-performing group like Hobson Associates, or as a free agent member of Agent HR, or as an independent member of Hire-Ability or Top Echelon, or should I do it better than anyone else and start my own firm?” The answers to these career-defining questions often come out of a response to what one is facing at the moment rather than what is the best move for an individual’s personality, work style, lifestyle, goals, and objectives.

When I look back at my career in recruiting, I am blessed to have had the privilege of working in three of the four financial quadrants about which Kiyosaki speaks and I am planning on working in the fourth sooner rather than later. Given that I am about to close one chapter of my life in recruiting and open another, it seems as good a time as any to share my experience of working in these quadrants; my intention is that maybe you can learn from some of my road bumps and spare yourself the pain of making the wrong move for you and your family.

As I look back, I remember significant attributes and problems with the four companies (including my own) and work situations – a.k.a. quadrants – that I have been part of.

I don’t have any regrets, just grist for the mill, and with grist it is always a good idea to put it to use; so I share what worked and share what didn’t, and if one person can learn just one thing from me, then my sharing has made a difference.

My first job, in 1983, was probably my best job. I was considered an employee, but I was really self-employed in an employee/employer setting. It was a place where everyone who made it out of training (1 out of 30) had to earn a minimum of $68,000 their first year on a desk or they were not welcome to stay. I did not know it then, but I know now what a gift it is being in an environment where everyone is committed to working hard and winning the game, to a recruiter, or for that matter, to anyone. The other thing I remember about the good old days is that work was for work and we were all there to make things happen, for ourselves and for each other. What did not work for me was that I was very young, in my early 20s, and when after three years I grew bored with placing secretaries, rather than dealing with my boredom and creating new challenges for me, my manager poked fun at me. It was that firm’s lack of harnessing and leveraging their talent that eventually made 90% of their top producers walk away after three to five years and take their book of business with them.

The second job took me 22 phone interviews and nine offers to find. I wanted Utopia. I wanted a professional environment, good mentoring, a strong team, flexible hours (after all, I had kids), and I wanted freedom from territories and I wanted ongoing training, great Christmas parties, four weeks off, and a great bonus. To find this job, I did what I did for candidates and got on the phone and marketed my MPC – which this time was me. Much to my dismay, no one operated even remotely like my previous employer. By the end of my first week in the search, I realized that the only way I could create my past was to work for myself, and I resolved that one day, I would start my own place when the timing was right. Then someone gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse. A higher commission and flextime. WOW. My big list was boiled down to two deal breakers. (Good lesson to keep in mind for those candidates who want it all.)

What my youthful mind could not foresee was that the level of flexibility in the pay and hours came at a high cost. No two people in that organization worked the same. There were no systems, processes, or policies, the place was a free-for-all, and my credibility that I had worked so hard to build was constantly being challenged by the level of talent with whom I was partnered. The average recruiter income at this company was $45K. I stayed for four years, and even though I worked fewer hours for a bit more money, I remember that my stress and unhappiness level increased tenfold.

And then came the dream-come-true opportunity, or was it? I had never made a recruiting call, let alone received one – and then it happened. A woman had called one of my staff, a rookie, and was trying to recruit her. The rookie was scared, so she handed me the phone and the woman on the other end said, “Margaret, Margaret Graziano, you are the one I was looking for.” (Flatter me some more.) She went on to tell me that several of my “alma maters” were currently on her team, and that they wanted me to join them. She told me that everyone on the team billed in excess of $300K (in 1990 that was pretty significant for office-support placement), so I would be among peers. Best part – she told me that I could join if I paid a fee for rent, phones, to be with the best, and then I could keep 90% of the take. WOW, everything I ever dreamed of, the RE/MAX of recruiting. How could I say no?

I quit my job and the next thing I knew, America was going to war. With a new mortgage, a new marriage, and a kid on the way, I was scared, freaked out, to say the least. I walked in on my first day and made more phone calls than anyone in all three offices. I got to my desk, smiled and dialed until I had enough workable job orders to produce $30K per month. I needed to succeed and nothing was going to stop me. This is the way it was here for four years. The only problem was that there was only one other person in the entire enterprise with my level of billings, commitment, and client list. In the beginning that didn’t bother me entirely because I always had candidates to fill my jobs and felt like I had total freedom, I came and went as I pleased, and I was raking in the dough. Life could not get any better, or so I thought.

Turns out that that perception is not always real. The problem with having only two people out of 40 who were actually making enough money to pay the rent was that the company was in major financial crisis. Even though the RE/MAX program was a good concept in theory, because of poor management and execution, it was a bad concept in reality. There were serious integrity issues and serious money issues.

One by one, people were leaving and opening up their own firms, and when they left they took things that didn’t belong to them. Contacts, job orders, contracts were downloaded, copied, and pillaged. With everyone deemed a free agent, and no noncompetes in place, it got really ugly and eventually the business imploded, and what had started out as a dreamy situation turned into a lot of ugly lawsuits and wage claims.

And there I was: Another 22 phone interviews or Go Start Utopia. I chose Utopia and boy, oh boy, was I not prepared for the journey.

Employees, leases, bank loans, rent, commission plans, non-competes, training programs, policies, temp service agreements, more employees, more clients, not enough candidates, more employees, overhead, quality issues . . . Calgon, take me away.

And it got better, and it got worse, and then it got really great, and then it got really bad, and then it got better.

Business ownership is not for everyone. Often many of us have the dream of being our own boss, as Michael E. Gerber states, because we want to right our previous bosses’ wrongs, or because we want freedom and control. There are many reasons to become a business owner, and one of them can be to escape the boss, but that reason is often one that leads to failure. The reason has to be big enough to carry you through a recession, a job-order shortage, a candidate shortage, through failures, through lost clients and unhappy or unproductive employees – the reason has got to be compelling enough to give your life to it, or it’s not worth doing.

If it is freedom you’re looking for, I recommend becoming self-employed as a better solution than choosing business ownership. With business ownership, true freedom does not come into play until you turn into more of the investor and you have strong management in place to run the day-to-day operations. Without strong management in place, you are most likely working for someone much worse than your last boss. You are working for yourself! The time you used to spend producing is now spent doing things that don’t provide any immediate return on investment, and your time is often squandered by people, tasks, and issues that do not provide the same thrill as being in the trenches closing a full-fee placement.

If it is power and control that you are after, whether you want to be an independent or a new business owner, I recommend doing a lot of strategizing and planning. I recommend building a network of people to play with that can leverage your already proven talents.

I recommend you get flat on your values, your non-negotiables in your work style and service offerings, and make certain that the people you bring into your circle as employees or split partners share your fundamental beliefs about how to operate in the business. The wrong people doing the wrong things can destroy your reputation, your passion, and can cloud your vision.

As I review the past 14 years of being a staffing business owner, I can remember feeling at times a little like Citizen Kane did when all he wanted was to get back to the simple life. The reality is that some of the very best times I have had in this business were when I was working for someone else. There was always a steady stream of job orders, someone else paid the rent, someone else funded the 401(k). I came in, did my work, and left. Maybe I matched or contacted a few candidates at night, but all in all I had it made. I made more money than anyone I knew. I had virtually no stress, my weekends were mine, and when I left at 5, everything else was someone else’s problem. Security has its perks.

So before you go out and start your own bonfire club (as Danny Cahill so eloquently demonstrated in his NAPS presentation), do some real thinking. If your boss is demanding, remember that you will someday be that demanding boss. If you like doing splits, then you need people with whom to do splits. If you’re a better recruiter than a job-order person, then know that you will always need job orders and without them you will starve. If you hate research, figure the solution to that before you go out on your own.

Being a business owner has been one of the very best growth experiences of my life, I have made a lot of money, have developed as a leader, manager, and overall business person, and it has not been easy.

If you are up to it – all of it – GO FOR IT. If you are not, save yourself the 80-hour workweeks, save yourself the fights with your spouse or significant other, save yourself the agony of having to terminate someone because they have not made placements in 120 days, save yourself the pain of having to choose work (or not) over your kid’s 3 p.m. basketball games.

Being a business owner is not for the weak of heart, it is not for someone trying to escape the wrath of a demanding boss. It is for someone out to cause something extraordinary – someone who has the skill, the will, the desire, and the discipline to create an environment where people can choose to thrive.

Whether you are happy working for someone, happy being an independent, happy being a business owner, or have created a situation where you are the happy investor and someone else is dealing with the day-to-day, cherish what you have, honor your strengths, and leverage your power right where you are, every day.

Best in Success

Margaret Graziano, CPC, CTS, and mother of three, has been a top producer in the staffing and recruiting industry for the past 20 years and has owned her own firm since 1991. She prides herself on client retention and making the right hires. She has earned over $5 million in personal “desk production” income and has placed over 2,000 candidates in direct-hire positions. With the competitive business world and the war on talent in full force, Margaret’s company, Alliance HR Network, has ventured into new realms of talent acquisition, organizational development, and human capital consulting services, thus diversifying Alliance’s revenue streams and gaining new and exciting talent acquisition and assessment consulting opportunities. Margaret’s email is mgraziano@alliancehrnetwork.com, and her phone number is (847) 690-0077. The strategic planning forms are listed under a Strategic Planning Downloads section at http://www. alliancehrnetwork.com/employers/industry_training.asp.