Max Ehman wrote in his unforgettable poem Desiderata, 'with all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.'

The diamonds in the rough do still exist in recruitment. We've just got to take the time and find them. Having said that, there are times in this game when I too, feel the need to resort to violence when things don't work out.

In the discussion I wrote about My Future in Recruiting, I referred to those "Black Arm Band days" when EVERYTHING goes wrong. Sometimes those days are enough to make me want to tear my hair out and go live in an igloo in Canada's north. I even have days when I just want to scream "I HATE EVERYBODY!"

(In fact, on days like those back in Melbourne, I'd jump on a tram, and go to my training sessions with a certified Muay-Thai coach, with the sole intent to beat the crap out of my trainer. Mostly for therapeutic reasons. And it was wonderful!)


But In the past week, I have changed two lives by offering them their dream jobs. All for the better. And it's an overwhelmingly-awesome feeling.

We can be the people that create hope. Sometimes we can present our candidates with dream jobs AND our clients with the best possible resources for their needs. We can be the facilitators of change.

We can, and do, change lives.

I am going to put out a challenge to all my friends in recruitment. How many lives can YOU change between now and the end of the year?

Now I don't have any cool contacts, like Ed Newman or anything like that, but if all of us changed just two lives between now and the end of 2009, it would still feel pretty great, wouldn't it?

Of course, I understand that there is only so much we can do, with the resources available to us. I can only work the job requirements that our Account Managers bring in. But, it's not going to stop me from trying just that little bit harder, to find my next diamond.

So get trying! Pick up the phone. Call a candidate. Help someone for an extra five minutes with their resume. Push a wee bit harder, and see what happens. You could have that candidate thanking you for finding them their job of a lifetime. And that ALWAYS feels good.