7 Modern Day Ways To Leave A Lasting Impression

Dale Carnegie wrote a fantastic book back in 1936 that really spelled out How to Win Friends and Influence People, and in my view it was so successful and continues to be successful because it contains such a lot of common sense about treating others how we ourselves like to be treated.

Unfortunately, we sometimes forget our common sense due to work and other pressures, and times have changed a little too, so I have put together a quick list with a few examples of both "old" and modern day areas to focus on to leave a lasting impression and be remembered for the right reasons.

1. Pay someone a compliment

If there is a genuine reason to pay someone a compliment, make their day and tell them. The person wearing a great shirt or a nice perfume will always appreciate a positive compliment, and that compliment will stay with them all day. I wear the best shoes I can afford and they get noticed, very often making the topic of conversation.

2. Say thanks often

Show your appreciation by saying thanks when someone holds the door open for you, or goes out of their way to do something. When did you last thank your partner for being awesome or your staff for doing a great job? Appreciation is one of the main drivers for someone staying committed in a relationship or job, don't forget to tell them.

3. Give generously

If you are not the type to get stuck in when manual labor is needed, how else can you give generously? A fellow Rotarian who didn’t have the time for the physical work, gave his expertise generously instead, allowing the club and other charities to benefit from his experience and knowledge.

4. Do what you say you will

Don’t let others think badly of you by not doing what you said you will, even the smallest of things, someone may well be relying on you.

5. Smile

I am a big believer in this. The chap that held the door open for me with a beaming smile made me feel like a princess. How can you pass on such great feelings to others to make their day?

6. Use their name

What was the name of the barista that made your coffee this morning? Next time you order, thank them as usual and follow up with their name, it will be noticed. Using their name really is Dale 101, “the single sweetest sound in any language is a person’s name”.

7. Follow up

The drain layer that came to give me a quote didn’t follow up until 2 months after he visited. Needless to say, someone else did the job and he lost out. Do you follow up 100% of the time in a timely manner before your competitor gets in? You will stand out just by following up every time because so few people do it.

by Linda Coles [read original here]

Just because they sent you an invitation and called it a party doesn't mean you're not at work...

written by Kate Rogers for FOXBusiness

With the holiday season in full swing, many companies will be showing appreciation for their employees with a party, but it's easy to overstep boundaries and present yourself in an unflattering light at these gatherings that may lead to missed promotions and fodder for office gossip.

The invite may say "party," but that doesn’t mean you should go wild and relive your college days, especially with upper-level managers present. Employees should enjoy the party, but use it as a networking opportunity to put your best  foot forward in front of the bosses.

So, before you hit the dance floor with your manager, or drink too much punch, here are some expert tips for what employees should and should not do at this year's holiday office party:

DON'T: Skip the party. Business etiquette expert Patricia Rossi says to consider the office party an extension of the business day.

"You want to make sure you are there and at your very best," she says.

Anna Post, co-author of the 18^th Edition of Emily Post's Etiquette, says even if you don’t like your colleagues or bosses, you still need to show up.

"Just because they are jerks doesn't mean you get to be one," Post says. "It's one night out of the whole year.

DO: Decide if you will drink ahead of time. If you decide to have alcoholic beverages at the party, take cues from the high-ups and be sure to limit yourself, says Dr. Gregg Jantz, founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources.

"A lot of times people don't realize they are being judged and monitored in some instances at a party," he says.

DO: Dress appropriately.  Rossi suggests finding out the dress code for the party and following it.

"Dress in a conservative manner. It's not Halloween or the day to break out the thigh-high disco boots."

Jantz stresses maintaining a sense of professionalism in your wardrobe. If in doubt, follow the golden rule of erring on the side of more formal, rather than showing up under dressed.

DON'T: Over consume…anything. Whether its food, alcohol or people, make sure you are enjoying every aspect of the party in moderation. While it may be fun to kick back with your office buddies, don’t monopolize them, the buffet table or the bar.

"Be aware of appropriate boundaries," Jantz says. "Don't try to just hang out with management because you want to impress them."

Rossi suggests having a goal of having three people you want to connect with at the party. It’s important to be perceived as outgoing and social; use the party as an opportunity to shine among your colleagues.

"Move about the cabin and remember that no matter where you go or what you do, you are representing your company," she says. "You don't want to be seen as grazing the buffet line or bar."

DO: Make proper intros. If you are bringing a date or spouse to the holiday party, be sure you are properly introducing him or her to your bosses and colleagues, Jantz recommends.

"Be prepared ahead of time about how you will make these introductions," he says. "Have the elevator speech prepared. Keep it brief and be consistent. It's also a great time to put in a positive plug for your manager or supervisor."

DON'T: Talk gossip, politics or religion.  No matter who you are talking to at the party, keep conversation light. Staying away from hot-button issues is a must, Jantz stresses, and be sure to steer clear of office gossip.

"Do not talk about personal issues. Be very alert as to what you are saying," he says.

DO: Put away your phone. A holiday party gathering is the perfect opportunity to get some face time with prospective clients and higher-ups, and the last thing you want to do is be tied up on your phone. Post says employees should consider leaving their phones off or at home for the event.

"Make the people your priority," Post says. "You don't want to look distracted. Make sure you are actually taking advantage of that face time."

DO: Say thank you. Rossi says one way to make a good impression is to seek out the party planner and thank him or her. If you want to go one step further, send a thank-you note afterward.

"The planner usually gets overlooked. This will help you really shine and be remembered as a courteous person."

DON'T: Give the boss a gift. Post says it is not appropriate to give your boss an individual gift. The only time gifting a higher-up would be acceptable is when the team chips in to give a collective one.

"Giving a gift from employee to boss.. there's no way to not look like you are kissing up.”

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/12/06/holiday-office-parties-10-dos-and-donts-for-employees/?cmpid=cmty_twitter_foxbusiness_holiday-office-parties-10-dos-and-donts-for-employees#ixzz1fnSadSuE

Email 101: 8 Etiquette Rules for Job Seekers

By Tony Morrison

While it’s probably the most easily forgotten, E-mail is one of the sharpest tools in any job seeker’s toolbox. After all, it is the key to any online membership, keeps you up-to-date with your network, and is home to your Daily Deals newsletters!

While it’s easy to take E-mail for granted, job seekers should remember that E-mail is a powerful tool that should be used appropriately, especially when used with potential employers or networking contacts.

Even if you think you’re on top of E-mail etiquette, refresh your memory with these eight rules:

Pick your name carefully – It was really cute when your E-mail address was “PlayBoyBunny88” in college, but a potential employer or networking contact is going to find it tacky and inappropriate. When in doubt, the best E-mail address is a combination of your first and last name.

Don’t forget the subject line – Would you open an E-mail from someone you don’t know that contains no subject line? Stay out of the spam folder by addressing the topic of your E-mail in your subject line. The more specific you are, the more likely your E-mail will be opened.

Leave the LOL out of it – LOL, JK, ROFL, and other web jargon you have up your sleeve belong on Facebook, Twitter, and SMS not professional E-mails. While E-mail can be casual, resorting to jargon, emoticons, and text slang could be telling a potential employer that you don’t take this seriously.

Keep it short and sweet – Think about how much time you have to read through your E-mails. Between newsletters, daily deals, and personal E-mail, you have a lot to go through in a short amount of time. If you’re E-mailing someone your resume, making a request, or simply introducing yourself, keep it to the point.

Make your signature your own – Your professional E-mail needs a solid signature. Not only does an informative signature make for a good finish to any E-mail message, but it also provides in one location your contact information making you immediately accessible. Everyone’s signature is different, but try to include your name, E-mail address, phone number, web address, and hyperlinks to your social media profiles.

Remember to sign-off – If you have a good professional signature, do you have to include a sign-off as well? Yes! Professional sign-offs include “best wishes” or “sincerely.” Use a phrase that seems most like you.

Attach it first – This has to be the easiest to commit and most common mistake ever. E-mailing your resume and forgetting to attach it to the E-mail. We have all done it! No worries. Mistakes happen. Thankfully, email service providers like Gmail will prompt you, but don’t rely on that. Make a habit of attaching the document before you even start writing the resume.

Follow the 24-hour rule – E-mail is immediate. No need to wait for the postman or scramble for a stamp. It’s a quick click and done! However, procrastination and overflowing inboxes will often slow down the effectiveness of E-mail communication. Follow the 24-hour rule. Make a point to deal with each E-mail message you receive within 24 hours. When an E-mail requires your response, act on it within a day, even if only to acknowledge that you have received their message and need a day or two to compile the requested information. Someone is waiting for you to answer them, and your appreciation of their time and consideration will send a strong message that you value them and will respond as requested.

It seems like such a simple thing, but it is because E-mail is so simple that the quality of our communication suffers.  We sometimes forget common courtesies and dismiss E-mails with a single click.  Be careful.  You could be dismissing your next job.

Read more: https://www.publish2.com/organizations/4413/newswires/571/stories/4941041#ixzz1dijjM1oB

Yesterday Influences Your Performance Today in Surprising Ways

 by Heidi Grant Halvorson at Forbes

It probably won’t surprise you if I tell you that thinking about your past successes and failures can influence your performance in the here and now.  There’s nothing like a winning season to give a player confidence going into that last game, and nothing like a string of awkward dates to make you nervous about how the next one is going to turn out.  But thanks to new research, it’s become clear that the relationship between our past and present isn’t as obvious as you might think.

Imagine you are about to take a difficult test, or undergo a grueling interview.  Before you begin, you take a few moments to reflect on some of your past successes – moments where you really shined.  This turns out to be a really good idea, because when you think about the many times in the past when you reached your goals, you start feeling like you’ve really got something that makes you a successful person.

In other words, reflecting on past successes (plural) leads your brain to unconsciously, and quite naturally, assume that since you are the common denominator in all of those successes, your traits (e.g., your intelligence, creativity, charm) are the reason for your success.

Believing that you’ve got it, whatever it is, makes you more confident, and provides a very real boost to your performance.

Of course the same kind of process occurs when you reflect on many past failures before embarking on a new task – you unconsciously assume that something about you is to blame for your bad track record, and as a consequence your performance in the here and now suffers.

No real surprises there, right?  But what if instead of reflecting on your past successes and failures plural, you just thought about a single success or failure?  What does your brain do with just one particular memory?  The answer:  it unconsciously draws the opposite conclusion!  That’s right – remembering a single episode of success can make you doubt yourself, just as the memory of a single instance of failure can leave you feeling more confident.  But why?

General memories, or memories about a group of similar behaviors (like many games won, or many dates gone wrong) lead you to make unconscious inferences about your own traits, because they seem to reflect what youtypically do.

Specific memories, on the other hand, are about a single event (e.g., that one win against Central High, that one bad date with Brad).  When you focus on a single event, you are less likely to see yourself as responsible for whatever happened, and more likely to unconsciously conclude that it was all due to the situation you were in.  (You beat Central High because their team isn’t that strong.  Your date with Brad was awkward because Brad isn’t really your type.)

In other words, memories of a single occurrence in our lives can easily feel like the exception, rather than the rule.

This was nicely illustrated in a set of recent studies.  Some of the participants were asked to reflect on a number of their past successes or failures by completing the sentence: “In general, I’m successful (I fail) when….”

The other participants were focused instead on a single episode of success or failure, by completing the sentence: “I succeeded (failed) once when I had to….”

The results were remarkable.  People who were asked to reflect on their many past successes or a specific failure scored roughly 10% better on tests of mathematical ability, as well as verbal, spatial, and abstract reasoning, than those who reflected on either many past failures or a single specific success.

Continue reading

Your Background Check Is Now with Facebook

The next time you apply for a job, don't be surprised if you have to agree to a social-media background check. Many U.S. companies and recruiters are now looking at yourFacebook-Inc" target="_blank">Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other accounts and blogs -- even YouTube -- to paint a clearer picture of who you are.
"Almost all employers do some form of background screening because they have to avoid negligent hiring," said Max Drucker, chief executive of Social Intelligence, a consumer-reporting agency. "An employer has an obligation to make the best effort to protect their employees and customers when they hire."
And now the Federal Trade Commission has decided that companies that research how you spend your personal time and what your passions and hobbies are do not violate your privacy. The agency recently investigated Social Intelligence, which scours the Internet for the information, pictures and comments you freely share with the world and sells that data to your potential employers. The FTC found the company compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In other words, the Internet is fair game.
"When someone puts their public life out there publicly, it's there to be evaluated," said Kim Harmer, a partner at Harmer Associates, a Chicago-based recruiting firm. "You find out lots of things about people just by Googling them."
It's not the party photos
You can breathe a sigh of relief about those party pictures plastered all over your Facebook -- most employers and consumer-reporting agencies will look past them, unless, of course, you're underage.
"I look at their Facebook and see how they approach what they put on it," Harmer said. "Is it immature? Appropriate or inappropriate? I'm not judging their activity but looking at how they communicate what they do and their thoughts and their judgments to the public as a reflection of what they will do with clients and team members."
Drucker said he only searches for what the companies direct him to find and stays away from giving employers information that might be considered discriminatory to the hiring process. Employers, for example, cannot legally make hiring decisions based on race, religion, marital status or disability. But they can make decisions based on whether or not they like your attitude or your ethics.
A Social Intelligence report to a company would include racist remarks, sexually explicit photos or videos, or flagrant displays of weapons or illegal activity, Drucker said. And your decision to post a naked picture of yourself might not go over well with a potential employer.
"That might not be relevant to the job, but an employer gets to determine if that's the kind of person he wants representing his company," Drucker said."We don't make the decisions. We just generate the reports."
He said he has been surprised by how many racist comments and flagrant displays of drug use people post online. "It's not just smoking marijuana. It's snorting cocaine, talking about doing Ecstasy on Twitter or a forum or message board, showing it in photos or video-sharing sites," he said.
Some companies are mining photo- and video-gathering sites using facial-recognition software. If you were among those rioting in the streets of Vancouver after the National Hockey League championship, for example, a potential boss could find you the same way the police tracked down those responsible for some of the bedlam -- in the pictures.
"We are going from the Web being a place of extraordinary anonymity to a place where your every movement could be traced if someone's taking pictures of you and posting them," said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement-consulting firm. "Job seekers need to be careful because of that," so they don't make a mistake and lose a job as a result, he said.
They also need to know that not all companies use reporting agencies like Social Intelligence. Some take a hodgepodge approach to mining your data.
"People are slowly becoming aware of the consequences of posting too much information on the Web," Challenger said. "But they shouldn't wait until they make a mistake and lose a job because of it."
What you should do
Here are some tips:
-- Make every effort to find out what's out there about you. Anything that may be taken out of context should be taken down.
-- Be concerned about the accuracy of what's gathered. Drucker said his company looks at layers of social media to determine if the John Brown it is looking at is the same John Brown that the company is considering hiring. If his identity was stolen, John Brown's information could be "correct" but inaccurate.
-- Remember that bits and pieces of you are at a number of other sites, like LinkedIn, Craigslist or Foursquare, not to mention blogs, forums and wikis that you might visit.
-- Check -- and frequently recheck -- your privacy settings on social-media accounts like Facebook and Twitter.
-- Create a positive online presence by putting up your resume on a site with your domain name or getting it on forums of charitable organizations that you support.
-- If in doubt, consider hiring a company like Reputation.com to help you present, well, a better you.
Jennifer Waters is a reporter for MarketWatch, where this story originally appeared. Write to herhere.

Weekly Wisdom: 9 Snap Judgments Managers Make in Job Interviews

taken from an article by Jeff Haden published at www.bnet.com
I've interviewed thousands of potential employees and hired hundreds of them.  Over time I developed the ability to quickly size up a candidate, sometimes even within a minute or two, based on one or two actions or comments.  My snap judgments were rarely wrong.  (Although I didn't always avoid making one of the biggest hiring mistakes.)  I know what you're probably thinking: "But that is so unfair.  You owed it to every candidate to wait until the interview is over to draw an overall conclusion.  You can't make a hiring decision based on one or two minutes out of an hour-long interview."

Fair enough. But keep in mind most interviewers do the same thing. In fact, the more experienced the interviewer the more likely they are to make snap judgments. Fair or unfair, we’re heavily influenced by first impressions or by what experience indicates are pivotal moments. If you’re the job candidate you can either complain about the unfairness of it all and blow the interview, or accept that fact and use it to your advantage.

Here are some positive thin-slices:

• The candidate immediately thanks me for the interview and says they’re excited about the opportunity. I want you to be glad you’re here. I want you to be excited about the job. If you’re not thankful and excited now you definitely won’t be thrilled after six months on the job. Plus an overt “let me see if this job is a good fit for me” interview can often be painful for the interviewer; even if over the course of the interview you realize you really want the job, you probably already lost us. Emotion — positive emotion — is good.
• The candidate needs to make “truck payments.” Years ago I was in charge of part-time employees at a manufacturing plant. Full-time employees were required to work heavy overtime but part-time employees were not, making coverage (and my job) difficult. When I asked a part-time candidate about their willingness to work overtime I loved the guys who said, “I’ll work all the overtime I can get. I bought a new truck and the payments are killing me.” Every job has a hot button requirement: Maybe it’s frequent travel, maybe it’s last-minute overtime, maybe it’s a particular skill… a candidate who finds out the position’s hot button and meets it is 90% home.
• The candidate is late — but doesn’t tell me why. Say you’re late for an interview. Don’t tell me about traffic or bad directions or parking problems. Just say, “I’m sorry I’m late. If I’ve thrown off your day I will be glad to reschedule whenever it’s convenient for you.” Take ownership, don’t make excuses, and offer ways to make things better. Nothing ever goes perfectly, and knowing you will take responsibility and work to fix problems is impressive.
• The candidate asks for the job. Salespeople ask for the sale, and candidates should ask for the job. Just say, “Thanks for the interview. I really enjoyed speaking with you. And I would really love to work here.” Why should I offer you something you’re not willing to ask for?

And some negative thin-slices:

• The candidate complains. Most people know not to complain about their present employer, but any complaint is a downer. Say you notice a photo of my family standing front of the Colosseum. You say, “Wow, I’ve always wanted to go to Italy… I’ve just never been able to afford it.” Even gentle whining is a bummer. Don’t complain about anything, no matter how justified. Negatives always stand out.
• The candidate isn’t ready. Don’t you hate when you’re standing in line at the grocery store and the person in front of you waits until all their items have been scanned and bagged before they reach into their wallet for their checkbook? The same is true in an interview: Have your resume and everything else you need all set to go. Hit the ground running and immediately focus on the interviewer. “Work” is a verb. Make “interview” a verb too.
• The candidate tries to take charge. Everyone likes a leader… just not in an interview. Feel free to subtly shape the interview and lead the conversation into areas that showcase your strengths, but don’t try to take over. Employers need people who can lead and follow. Plus, be honest, you trying to take over is really irritating.
• The candidate gets “comfortable.” I want you to be relaxed and at ease during the interview, but I also want you to sit up, sit forward, and show the interview matters to you. Kicking back says you don’t really care.
• The candidate asks throw-away questions. Here’s the golden rule: When asked if you have any questions, don’t make a few up to try to impress me. If you have no questions, say so. Don’t ask about something you could have easily learned on your own. Don’t ask questions designed to make you look good. In short, don’t ask what you think I want to hear. Interviewers can tell, and it ends the interview on a down note.

Weekly Wisdom: The 10 Worst Things to Put in Your Cover Letter

by Sindhu Sundar at www.fins.com

It's never too early to make a bad impression.

A cover letter or introductory email is often the first thing a potential employer sees when reviewing a job applicant. It's the first opportunity to impress recruiters and hiring managers and, therefore, the first opportunity to disappoint them. Everything from copy mistakes to inappropriate jokes in a cover letter could derail an application.

Here are the top ten worst things to put on a cover letter:

1. Next to Nothing

2. Criticism of a Prospective Employer

3. Personal Stories

4. Awkward Language

5. Someone Else's Words

6. Irrelevant Experience

7. Arrogance

8. Wrong Company Name/Wrong Cover Letter

9. Cultural Preferences

10. Jokes

See the full article here...

Weekly Wisdom: Six Keys to Being Excellent at Anything

by Tony Schwartz

If you want to be really good at something, it's going to involve relentlessly pushing past your comfort zone, along with frustration, struggle, setbacks and failures. That's true as long as you want to continue to improve, or even maintain a high level of excellence. The reward is that being really good at something you've earned through your own hard work can be immensely satisfying.

Here, then, are the six keys to achieving excellence we've found are most effective for our clients:

1. Pursue what you love. Passion is an incredible motivator. It fuels focus, resilience, and perseverance.
2. Do the hardest work first. We all move instinctively toward pleasure and away from pain. Most great performers, Ericsson and others have found, delay gratificationand take on the difficult work of practice in the mornings, before they do anything else. That's when most of us have the most energy and the fewest distractions.
3. Practice intensely, without interruption for short periods of no longer than 90 minutes and then take a break. Ninety minutes appears to be the maximum amount of time that we can bring the highest level of focus to any given activity. The evidence is equally strong that great performers practice no more than 4 ½ hours a day.
4. Seek expert feedback, in intermittent doses. The simpler and more precise the feedback, the more equipped you are to make adjustments. Too much feedback, too continuously, however, can create cognitive overload, increase anxiety, and interfere with learning.
5. Take regular renewal breaks. Relaxing after intense effort not only provides an opportunity to rejuvenate, but also to metabolize and embed learning. It's also during rest that the right hemisphere becomes more dominant, which can lead to creative breakthroughs.
6. Ritualize practice. Will and discipline are wildly overrated. As the researcher Roy Baumeister has found, none of us have very much of it. The best way to insure you'll take on difficult tasks is to ritualize them--build specific, inviolable times at which you do them, so that over time you do them without having to squander energy thinking about them.

I have practiced tennis deliberately over the years, but never for the several hours a day required to achieve a truly high level of excellence. What's changed is that I don't berate myself any longer for falling short. I know exactly what it would take to get to that level.

I've got too many other higher priorities to give tennis that attention right now. But I find it incredibly exciting to know that I'm still capable of getting far better at tennis--or at anything else--and so are you.

read the rest of the article:  http://www.fastcompany.com/1686337/six-keys-to-being-excellent-at-anything

Weekly Wisdom: What All Hiring Managers Need To Know About Contingency Search Assignments

Clients tend to view agency recruiters one of two ways: as trusted advisors and partners or as opportunists to be avoided whenever possible.  The recruiting industry has gotten a pretty bad rap but it’s not hard to understand why: unkept promises, unreturned phone calls, unanswered emails, resume “slinging” and poor adherence to best practices impaired even further by the high rate of employee turnover all damage the rest of the world’s perception of who we are, what we do and why we do it.

When the recruiter you’re working with seems to drop the ball, there is absolutely a good chance that the individual/firm you hired is a poor representation of our industry; however, there is also a chance that the root of the problem is a mutual failure to set appropriate expectations or one party’s failure to understand how the other does business.  

If you hire a firm on a contingency basis, (certainly not always, but) more often than not, you’ll get what you paid for: nothing.  And that’s not your recruiter’s fault.  We’re in a business where we are often expected to work for free and as a function of that, we are put in a position to re-evaluate the cost of doing business with individual clients on a daily basis.  Here are a few of the most common ways clients unwittingly “de-prioritize” their own searches:

Bargain Hunting

·   everyone loves a discount, but recruiters provide a valuable service and if you don’t feel the work warrants the fee, you don’t need our help yet

·   if you’re working within a budget, don’t try to negotiate the recruiter down to a below-market rate; instead agree to a fair fee and limit your searches to your team’s most urgent, most vital needs—we would rather work on two jobs we know you intend to fill than twenty we don’t

Radio Silence

·   if we have questions, answer them—take the time to help us collect the correct data before we begin the search so we don’t waste our time, your time or candidates’ time

·   when we submit candidates, evaluate them and respond with feedback promptly (24 hours or less); or at a minimum, acknowledge the receipt and set expectations for your reply

Slow Motion

·   time kills all deals; good candidates don’t stay on the market very long and when they decide to make a change they will explore all of their options—we need to be able to prepare candidates for any potential delays, but remember that no amount of preparation will save the hire if your top candidate receives another offer first (an actual offer beats a potential offer 100% of the time)

·   interview processes are a lot like dating; you can’t be afraid to show that you’re interested—the moment a candidate has reason to question your level of interest is the moment s/he begins talking her/himself out of wanting the job

When the client makes no cash investment in securing our services we are taking a gamble; that means if your job isn’t a safe bet, it gets less attention.  The best (FREE) way to mitigate that risk and get your job the attention you feel it deserves is to be more responsive than other clients—the second best way is to agree to a higher fee.  A good recruiter is motivated by the promise of results first; money comes in a close second.  Two for two pushes you to the front of the line.

And finally…

We only place as much importance on your search as you do.  If you need the job filled, you will make yourself available to us, you will make speaking with candidates and moving them through the process a priority and in return, you will see more recruiting activity, stronger candidates and faster turnaround.  The next time you don’t feel that your search is getting the appropriate response, evaluate what you could be doing differently to demonstrate the urgency of your need and put it to the test—the results might surprise you.