Welcome to The Fordyce Letter:
In President Obama’s recent State of the Union address he said, “We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.” He’s 100% correct, but is the United States prepared to focus its education system on building tomorrow’s generation of engineers and scientists so it can “out-innovate” and “out-build” its competition?
Before you ask, “What this has to do with recruiting?” consider that if America does not invest in education and innovation we as professional recruiters may not have the quality candidates to recruit and place with our clients in the future. This means a potential and significant reduction in fees!
In August 2001, my dream of going back to work for the US Government fell through, and I was subsequently adrift without a backup career plan. At this time I entered graduate school full-time with the goal of becoming better educated while trying to determine the next step in my working life. In December 2001, while feeling the disappointment of not having a definitive career goal, I went to go see my parents’ next-door neighbor, who just happened to own a search firm, seeking career advice. I figured he could point me in the right direction or somehow give me a professional epiphany. Low and behold, after several conversations I was offered a position in his firm. In January 2002 I started my career as a professional recruiter. I worked for this boutique search firm until November 2004 at which time I transitioned onto the corporate side of the “recruiting desk”.
