This year, thank a recruiter!

Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away here in the US, and the thoughts of many are turning to appreciation for the good things in their lives. In addition to personal and family blessings, I often see (with good reason!) people give thanks for their co-workers and clients. What I don’t often see are thanks specifically pointed towards recruiters or recruiting teams. And it occurs to me this is really an oversight.

Twenty years ago, when Alta Vista was the king of internet searching and cell phones were used for talking, I was a college grad with two years of fuzzy work experience and no direction. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, and didn’t feel especially motivated to do it. Then a friend pushed me to go talk to a staffing agency. I resisted for a lot of foolish reasons, but eventually I went and met with a recruiter who interviewed me and had me take a couple of tests. A week later, she sent me to interview for a “Staffing Assistant” job with an IT staffing company, and I got the job.

It turns out, that job turned into a career. And the office manager turned out to be the love of my life. 20 years later, we’re still married, have two boys who are the best part of my day every day, and after a lot of years working for other people last year I launched my own HR staffing firm, TalentEdge. I have a LOT to be thankful for. And when you really think about it, I owe it all to a recruiter.

So, if you like what you do, and you like what you have, you might just need to include a recruiter in your list of “thank-yous” this season. If you don’t like what you do, then maybe it’s time to find a recruiter who can make next year’s list!