The 2010 NEAPS recruiting conference had some great nuggets of information this year. I always look forward to walking away from the conference with a handful of new ideas to implement the following week. Topics covered:

* working through the recession and changes needed to come through strong on the other end

* Social networking and recruiting... how are they best married and why

* Sales is not sales. It's having a solution to a problem.

* How to come to a win / win in negotiating.

Good news! With 2009 coming to an end, we've started the process of paring down our client list based on various factors. We're excited about creating room for new partnerships and to represent clients that are poised for growth in 2010. 

In the past few weeks there has been an increase in VC funding flowing into Life Sciences (LS). It's a well needed infusion that is going to boost the recruiting environment that has dropped off since January 2009 when fresh capital was abruptly pinched off. With the DOW back up over 10,000, I imagine that investors with a high threshold for risk have come back to the market looking for a higher rate of return on their investments, which the LS industry is happy to provide. The next hurdle to overcome in order to bring VC funded roaring back LS is a rewarding exit stategy.

http://www.biospace.com/news_story.aspx?NewsEntityId=150658

High fives all around our firm yesterday for another job well done! Our latest placement falls under the type of search we like to call a "clean up job". If you've ever seen Pulp Fiction, we have fun with a lot of "Cleaner" references when we do these searches. That's when we come late into the process, after the client or other firms have been unsuccessful making a hire, and then we bring closure to the search.

This year has been a learning great experience so far and according to the calender we're about to hit the halfway mark. Gone early in the year were the great expectations, lofty aspirations, and the goals that were the game plan for the year 2009. They were replaced mid year with actions such as scaling back, realigning expectations, and survival. It's no secret there was a downward slide in the staffing industry, but trick for management has been to make it a controlled slide instead of a auto motive industry-esque free fall.

After talking with various agencies in the area, the consensus is that it's not as bad as it was, but it still has a long way to go to be better. As crazy as this may sound, I'm enjoying this downturn. Is it harder? Yes.  Is it impossible? No. If you work hard, pay attention to detail, then there is reward on the other side. I happen to like the challenge. I'm just curious to see when this ends and who comes through. I guess we'll see in 6 to 12 months...