The phone rings, and you’re delighted to hear from an old candidate, an Accountant in Cincinnati working in retail. But they aren’t happy because they were just let go. You do your best to console them, offer as much help as you can, and grab the exit from the call when your other phone rings. Another candidate, another geography, another industry. And then another call. And then another. Shane had this happen EIGHT times in one day last week.

Let’s be fair, there’s vicarious trauma when you’re dealing with that many devastated people begging for your help, let alone eight in a single day. It can feel demoralizing. Add to it clients taking forever, low balling candidates, and flat out ghosting, and now it can feel like the entire economy is crumbling.

This is a dangerous and cyclical downward spiral. If you have a lot of active candidates calling you for help this isn’t a testament to how bad the market is, it’s a testament to how good of a job you’ve been doing recruiting in recent years. When someone needs a new job, you’re the person they think of. They are calling you.

You can’t help everyone. You also can’t allow the results of your outstanding work effort to negatively impact your perspective. If you think you’re in a bad market, you are. And when you think this way, your clients and prospective clients will hear it. They might not be able to put their finger on it, but they won’t want to do business with you. No commission breath allowed.

If you think you’re in a good market, you are, and you’ll behave appropriately – meaning, you’ll still demand to be paid what you’re worth and you’ll walk away from problem clients because you know your time investment has a higher likelihood of revenue if you’re doing BD vs. servicing a misbehaved client.

Consistent activity takes time to start paying off. Keep at it. Keep making the calls and having conversations. Focus on the activity and the revenue will come.