Showing Up Anyway

This Week’s Breakdown

I’ll be honest with you: I didn’t feel like writing this issue.

I’m sick, my kids have been home all week between camp and school, and I’m staring down the one week countdown to launching my book. The last thing I want to do is sit down and crank out a newsletter.

But here’s the thing, recruiting in 2025 feels a lot like this. Most days, you’re not working at 100%. You’re working tired, distracted, stretched thin, and sometimes outright burned out. Candidates don’t stop applying because you’re sick. Hiring managers don’t stop demanding updates because school’s out. The work keeps coming, and showing up matters even when it’s messy.

We keep waiting for the “perfect” conditions to run a fair, bias-free, efficient, candidate-friendly process. But those conditions never come. There’s always some trade off, some fire drill, some outside noise. And yet, we still show up. We post the job. We screen the resumes. We interview the people. We keep it moving. All while the internet reminds us what terrible people we are.

That’s not because recruiting is perfect. It’s because recruiting, like this newsletter, is about consistency. The point isn’t to be flawless. The point is to be here.

So this week, take the pressure off yourself. You don’t need to build the “perfect” process, or craft the “perfect” outreach, or have the “perfect” interview day. You just need to show up, explain your choices, and keep going.

Because if there’s one thing I know after 15+ years in this work:

The only people who ever win in recruiting are the ones who keep showing up.

Recruited in the Wild

Seen on LinkedIn, overheard in Slack, or posted without shame.

We talk a lot about getting “in the wild” with candidates and recruiters online: polls, posts, comments, DMs, etc… but let’s be honest: the real wild is outside and I want to see more of you outside!

There are a lot of conferences coming up: HR Tech, RecFest, TA Week, and many more, but these are some I’ll be attending or speaking at. These aren’t just excuses to load up on vendor swag (though I definitely do that and my kids accept them as souvenirs from my trip). They’re where ideas actually sharpen, networks deepen, and conversations shift from “I liked your post” to “Let’s be friends.”

For me, conferences have been game changers. Speaking at them has opened doors, expanded my network, and directly led to projects like this newsletter and my upcoming Is This Still a Good Time podcast (breaking news). None of that would’ve happened if I hadn’t shown up.

I know travel budgets are tight. I know it’s tempting to stick to LinkedIn debates and call it networking. But the recruiters who are out there, sharing, learning, talking shop in person are the ones shaping the conversations the rest of us read about later.

So if you’ve been waiting for a nudge to go, consider this it. Book the flight, hit the expo hall, grab a coffee with someone you’ve only known through comments. Because being “in the wild” is where the real shift happens.

I know this sounded like a commercial or something, it wasn’t. I’ve just been making a real effort over the last few years to attend as many events as possible and even as an introvert, have not regretted it!

Horror Stories

True recruiting nightmares from the field.
Want to share yours anonymously for a future issue? 

Submit your story Here - It won’t even ask for your name or email don’t worry!

I loved this week’s story (not for the person who sent it of course), but because we have ALL been there.

A couple of years ago, I was recruiting for a VP-level role and had been at it for over 80 days. I’d sourced three fantastic finalists, all approved to meet with the CEO. One candidate was the clear favorite—qualified, experienced, nailed the assessments, and impressed every stakeholder. Then came the referrals. His were glowing. Shining. A+ material. But the CEO decided to get “one more perspective” and called someone he knew 25 years ago… who had worked with the candidate on one project 15 years ago. That person told the CEO to “run.” And just like that, my front-runner was out.

It’s a short story but such a common one. A role that is impossible to fill and a CEO (it’s always a CEO) just looking for any random reason to say no. Of course a VP hire is important, but if anyone reading this has ever hired someone at that level who came with 0 question marks let me know!

Cope of the Week

Because it’s either this or scream into a pillow.

Lately I’ve been thinking that recruiting in 2025 isn’t just about hiring, it’s about stamina.

Everyone’s coping with something: shrinking budgets, hiring freezes, hiring surges, a pipeline that looks like quicksand. And while we argue online about whether a role should stay open for 7 days or 30, most of us are just trying to get through another week without burning out.

That’s why I’m leaning hard into projects that remind me why I like this work in the first place.

The book launch is days away. - and while it is a job seeking book I do think recruiters will appreciate reading it as well, so please consider picking one up on 8/25!

The “Is This Still a Good Time” podcast is about to drop, think this newsletter but in podcast form, interviewing a recruiter or event organizer every single week about how we can continue to come together as a community.

I’ll be speaking at several conferences over the next few weeks including HR Tech and hopefully running into a lot of you in person.

These things take a ton of energy, but they also give me back some because they make the work feel bigger than “just another req.”

So if this week you feel like you’re dragging yourself across the finish line, same. That’s the cope. But maybe the trick isn’t pretending it’s easier than it is, it’s finding something outside the daily grind that makes the showing up worth it!

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