Thank You Notes

johnsumser — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 18:20:02 +0000

(December 21, 2007) There are a lot of people to thank for this past year. Starting and building the momentum of the Recruiting Roadshow took a lot of effort from a lot of people. Shifting from my comfortable home at interbiznet took support and energy. Bearing up under the new scrutiny at Recruiting.com took some patience and the muffling of two layers of duct tape.

A number of good friends fed me with a straws (through the tape) at the difficult times. It’s good to have and build friendship as a part of making a living. My work is colored by the people who nourish me with their stories about the recruiting world, their ideas about what it could be like and their hopes for bigger and better times.

I’ve always been fortunate to have relationships with people who start companies. As an entrepreneur who thinks about strategy, it seems pretty normal to inhabit a world that mostly includes other leaders who build businesses for a living.

Over the years, I have seen a thousand good tricks for making things happen. This year, though, I may have been shown the ultimate trick.

Steven Rothberg, you may know, is the hard working founder of CollegeRecruiter.com. Very, very few people in our industry work as hard or as persistently as Steven. Through sheer tenacity, he built CollegeRecruiter into the powerhouse it is today. Steven spoke at both the Dallas and Atlanta Recruiting Roadshows.

Somewhere along the line, Steven sent me a wonderful had written Thank You note. It was short, sweet and very thoughtful. I was astonished by the way it changed my perception.

As far as I can remember, it was the first time ever that I had received one. Writing thank you notes is part of the conventional wisdom about doing business. I assumed that it was theory from people with no experience until I got Steven’s note.

As you can see, I remember the note very clearly almost six months later.

Steven got me started. I’ve been following his lead and hand writing Thank You notes. What’s amazing is the effect it has on me.

Thank you, Steven.

Gassing Up

johnsumser — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 23:16:05 +0000

As we gear up for the next Recruiting Roadshow in Dallas on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 it is tempting to stay focused on the road ahead, not look back. But that’s not how it is.

By most estimates the Atlanta Recruiting Roadshow was a success. The people who turned up left with a variety of things that ran the gamut of positive impressions, affirmations and lessons learned, acquaintances made and friendship renewed.

That’s how it was meant to be and how it is hoped it can continue.

I cannot talk to most people’s experience when it comes to delivering the Recruiting Roadshow’s promise of “bringing physical community to social networks” but for those who I have spoken to I am told the day was a force multiplier for their networking efforts.

For me I can say that the value of this collaboration with John Sumser has been immense and continues to grow. My personal network has been enriched and expanded. I’m excited about the road ahead.

More, my whole view of the intrinsic value of networking – as well as the mechanics of it – is changing. I will be documenting that process as this journey progresses. Also, I will be exploring other aspects of networking that dovetail with the Recruiting Roadshow’s underlying theme of building physical community and enfranchising more local recruiters. So, stay posted for that and the continuing updates for Atlanta!

There were some great lessons learned for John and me as we sat back and weighed the Atlanta Recruiting Roadshow in the balance. As we move forward on the next leg of the tour we will be applying some of those lessons and further testing our assumptions. After all, it is an experiment.

John Sumser Presents The Recruiting Roadshow » Atlanta

Thank You Notes

Gassing Up