A Bear Necessity

The economy is in the tank, unemployment is rising and the financial services industry is in mid collapse.

Ahhh, it reminds me of 2001.  You see, 7 short years ago I was a the heart of the last “collapse” – the dot.com industry was collapsing, 9/11 had rocked our economy and faith in all things good, the stock market was plunging and people were losing jobs at an alarming rate.

Like then, our situation today is simply a Bear necessity.  When markets are oversold they correct themselves.  An internet company with no revenues can not support a $300 per share stock price and no, people who make $40K a year can not afford a $500K home.  No matter how we try to break the natural order of things, the world corrects itself.

But this is a recruiting blog, not an economics lesson so what does this bear necessity mean for YOU as a corporate Recruiter?

• You will see a lot of your friends get laid off.  When I left a company in 2000 called CommerceOne (dot.com) we had 32 people in our department.  4 months later, there were 4. 
• You will be asked to do more with less.  Tight budgets mean a return to basics; headhunting, free recruitment solutions, networking etc. All the things great recruiters use when the paid subscriptions dry up.
• You will FINALLY have time to be a consultant.  With less open positions, now is the time to get face to face with the executives in the company and teach them a few things about recruiting!!  Don’t hide!
• New and improved technologies and strategies will emerge.  Before the last collapse, we had no Linkedin, Facebook or YouTube so spend this time researching and experimenting with new techniques and technologies and be on the lookout for innovation.

To survive this bear market correction, be sure you are adding value to the process.  Put yourself in the CEO’s shoes; If you are simply pushing paper to hiring managers and creating offer letters – are you worth keeping in this economy?