Recently, Smith Magazine invited writers “famous and obscure” to distill their own life stories into exactly six words. It All Changed in an Instant is a collection of very, very brief life stories from Smith. The six word memoirs are “both a moving peek at the minutia of humanity and the most inspirational toilet reading you’ll ever find.”

While clearly an autobiography in six words is the ultimate challenge, I thought it would be really interesting if, in the spirit of Recruitment Process Outsourcing, our readers and friends could share their RPO story in exactly six words.

Here’s my stab at it:

Pinstripe’s RPO is Uncatchable – Unmatchable – Unbeatable.

It takes a lot to astonish me. I hang out and work with extremely talented people so I’m used to keen observations, witty comments, and insightful assertions. After awhile you just take it for granted. It is as if you build up a tolerance for excellence and each new revelation must exceed the previous. Sometimes I feel desensitized to things that should astound me.

So when my cousin, Debra, sent me a link to her new website I routinely clicked on it. By the way, Debra is an artist and is very talented. However, it was probably a sense of obligation that got me to check out her website. After all she is my cousin.

For the first time in a long time, I paused to appreciate something extraordinary. Her photography, sculpture, and art amazed me. I didn’t realize her incredible gift until I saw her collection of work aggregated in one place. I was able to look at the world as Debra sees it. It was remarkable and I’d like to share it with you.

Next week will be my 1 year RPOlosophy blogging anniversary.  I truly enjoy the opportunity to share my unsolicited thoughts with you and I really appreciate your opinions, comments, and feedback.

Sometimes when work is overwhelming (like this week) blogging is truly difficult. However, it also seems to come together by some sort of divine intervention.

Here is a case in point. Yesterday, I heard a great piece on NPR by Barbara Bradley Hagerty entitled Blog Tips For Pope: Give Us This Day Thy Daily Post .

Clearly this story has nothing to do with Recruitment Process Outsourcing.  It’s all about communication and sharing your message. But wait….isn’t promoting the Pinstripe brand and extending the RPO dialogue my goal? Maybe this article has everthing to do with RPO.

Most importantly, after listening to this story, I now recognize that each of Ten Commandments would be perfect for Twitter’s 140 character limit.  Someone was really thinking ahead!

We have a mantra at our company: “Be more like Pinstripe…and less like everyone else.”

I must hear this 10 or more times a day. So I got to thinking, how does “Be more like Pinstripe…and less like everyone else” impact the RPO sales process?

In the RPO industry, it seems as if suppliers are sounding more and more alike. I frequently check out the competition. I go through their websites, read their brochures and case studies, and check them out at trade shows. From these activities, I have observed a uniformity of sorts. I am losing my ability to distinguish one Recruitment Process supplier from another. Also, it must be getting more and more difficult for potential buyers to make decisions if all their down selected suppliers sound and look and alike.

Pinstripe has chosen not to conform. Some might think we are being different just for the sake of being different, but that is far from true. We chose to follow our own path because that is who we are and, hopefully, potential clients will both appreciate our authenticity and further realize that our uniqueness will carry over into their RPO programs.

It is probably an unconventional strategy to “stick out” as much we do; however, in the long run, it is a benefit. The benefit is that potential buyers can quickly determine if we are the kind of RPO supplier they want to partner with. If they want bold and innovative, then Pinstripe is a yes. If they want gradual evolution and are philosophical late adopters, then Pinstripe is probably not a match.

It is about culture and culture fit. And this is our way of helping organizations in their RPO selection process.

The tragedy in Haiti is horrific.

It is beyond belief that anyone would try to exploit this suffering for any sort of gain. And yet, it didn’t take long for conservative firebrand Rush Limbaugh to use the crisis in Haiti to attack President Obama politically. On his radio show Limbaugh said the earthquake in Haiti will play right into Obama’s hands by allowing him to play up his “compassionate” and “humanitarian” credentials, and that the President will use this crisis to “boost his credibility with the black community.”

While Recruitment Process Outsourcing in no way equates to the plight of Haiti, our industry can learn from Rush Limbaugh’s self serving actions during the past week. We can learn that when other RPO providers falter, lose accounts, and, in a few select situations, go out of business, there is no need to comment or publicize for our own gain. Having compassion and restraint is a sign of maturity and confidence. Successful companies and people have all four. Rush Limbaugh is obviously severely lacking.

Also, I think White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded appropriately to Limbaugh when he said: “I think in times of great crisis, there are always people that say really stupid things. I don’t know how anybody could sit where he does, having enjoyed the success that he has, and not feel some measure of sorrow for what has happened in Haiti.”

My daily commute to Pinstripe is about 18 miles each way.  Last week while driving into work, I got stuck in a major traffic jam. It wasn’t due to severe weather or an unfortunate accident. It was just because there were lots of cars commuting to work. The highway was simply congested with vehicles.

I was sitting on Interstate 94 West (by the Petit National Ice Center) with nothing but my lukewarm coffee in my cup holder and NPR on the radio. I had lots of work waiting for me at the office and if things didn’t get moving soon I was going to be late or miss my 1st meeting of the day.

As nothing was happening, I began to get more and more aggravated.  I was wasting so much valuable time. Time that could be spent selling Recruitment Process Outsourcing  to people truly in need of our services.  My daily mission and routine was being interrupted. It seemed all I could do was look at the unwashed Quadruple A Plumbing van directly in front of me and wait impatiently for something to happen.

And then, if by some divine intervention it happened. The topic on NPR turned to traffic. No, it was not a traffic report. Instead it was a discussion about why we need to appreciate traffic. The premise of the story was that traffic is a sign of economic recovery.  If people are working, then they are commuting. If they are commuting, then there is going to be more traffic and traffic jams. If you go somewhere at 8 AM and there is no traffic, then there are probably no jobs either.

So, if traffic equals more jobs and more jobs means more hiring and more hiring means RPO companies will be in greater demand, then one can deduce that traffic is good for RPO.

Instantly all my angry and frustration dissipated. I was happy once again. I picked up my cell phone, dialed Quadruple A plumbing, and scheduled a service call to fix my leaky tub faucet.

I started writing the below blog back in early December and just can’t seem to finish it. It seemed so promising when I started, but the more I worked on it, the worse it got.

I have about 1/2 dozen of these partially completed blogs sitting in a folder on my desktop. I think this Popeye one is salvageable.

Can someone help me? Here is the intro. Please feel free to write an ending. Thank you for the collaboration!

Popeye had Spinach. What does a Recruitment Process Outsourcing salesperson have?

December 8th 2009 was the birthday of E.C. Segar. Segar died in 1938; however his best known work, Popeye the Sailor, has lived on for more than 80 years.

Popeye’s strange and comic adventures take him all over the world, and place him in conflict with his archenemy Bluto. Popeye when faced with adversity (and losing Olive Oyl to Bluto) is able to summon extraordinary strength by eating spinach. This spinach consumption inevitably leads Popeye to victory and a happy ending.

Often in the Pinstripe RPO sales process, like Popeye, I am faced with challenges and adversity. While I don’t use spinach to overcome my obstacles and prevail, I do have…..

It is the beginning of another year, my 12th in Recruitment Process Outsourcing. The holidays are over, the celebrations are done, and our SalesForce CRM is reset to zero.  The opportunity to pause and reflect on the past year is gone, and I need to set my 2010 RPO sales resolutions into action.

Normally, I keep my RPO sales resolutions private; however, I decide that if I went public then it would increase my likelihood of success.  When I talk about my goals it helps make it more of a reality and I’m also more likely to hold myself accountable for reaching them if I’ve mentioned them to others. Also, this year I’m going to put my list someplace where it’s visible. Hopefully, looking at my goals will help me keep them top of mind and remind me to work towards them every day.

So here are my top 5 RPO New Year’s pledges:

1. My list of resolutions will be finite and achievable and yet still a stretch.  2010 will be about increased focus. Increased focus on those industries and organizations where Pinstripe can make the most impact and be most successful.

2. I will not talk myself into participating in RPO Request for Proposals (RFPs) that are impossible to win. If the required scope or requirements don’t make sense, then I will politely decline to take part. I need to be much better at making “go / no go” decisions. In addition, I will take my newly saved time from not partaking in fruitless endeavors and invest it in more productive sales and marketing activities that will result in greater success and more new clients.

3. I will invest 1 hour per day in Social Media specific to my industry and my profession. Facebooking my family and friends or tweeting about my St. Monica’s 5th grade boys basketball team doesn’t qualifying.

4. I will trust my instincts more. If something doesn’t seem right then it probably isn’t. When I have that gut feel that it is time to “walk away” or “push back” or “stand up” then I need to take the appropriate action(s).

5. I need to celebrate with my clients and co-workers more often.  I work with exceptional people (both internally and externally) and I need to tell them that I appreciate them more.

So now that I have made my wishes public, I will periodically update you. Maybe this will keep me from getting caught up in the day-to-day and forgetting my resolutions before the month of January is even over (like last year).

Starting fresh is a great feeling and 2010 is going to be a great year.

Feelings probably range from utter relief to wild celebration (but not on company expenses) and certainly 2010 looks like being less troublesome for HR, if not yet entirely predictable.  The “bloodbath” that was predicted a year ago was realised in many businesses, with redundancies and down-sizing rife across the board. Many businesses have changed shape and direction, had to develop new product and service offerings fast and have had to compete much harder with leaner work forces and often with different skill sets. HR has had to respond like at no other time in its history, suddenly back-to-back fire fighting and with less time for strategic planning. Employee engagement and recruitment dropped down the priority list as attrition rates plummeted and organisational development work rose to the fore as businesses tried to fit their new leaner, meaner work force to their new world that was emerging.

In Ochre House’s HR Network events this year we generally saw two types of HR functions emerge: those businesses at the harsh end of the down turn that had stripped HR of resource, and those businesses that were less harshly affected and managed to start to plan for the “new norm” of 2010, often through strategic partnerships to avoid most – or any – capital or fixed cost investment.

This second group mentioned are in the minority but are well placed for the coming year.  They typically have leading products and services that need little immediate modification, let alone complete re-engineering, so the workforce impact has been lessened. They have invested in redeployment of staff, have developed their Employee Value Proposition and have built robust talent programmes from acquisition to development and retention. They have been able to legislate for what we all know is coming; the easing of the employment market and rapid re-mobilisation of the skilled worker.  And this isn’t HR’s fault, or indeed the business’s, this is unavoidable as a false norm had been created for a limited 18 month period, that quite simply will expire in the next six months.

About our guest blogger:

Damien Stork – After starting life as a professional rugby player Damien has developed a highly successful career as a talent management professional and was the co-founder of one of Ochre House’s key divisions.

Several months ago my wife, Barbara, suggested I watch the Fox television series Glee with her. I had seen some previews for the musical comedy-drama about a high school choir, but it didn’t really interest me. I’m more of a Law and Order and Criminal Minds sort of guy. However, like most good spouses, I acquiesced.

With the current season just ending, I have to admit that I have become a fan. For those of you not familiar with the show, here’s a snapshot:  Will Schuester is the head of the Glee Club and struggles to restore it to its former glory. Sue Sylvester is head coach of the cheerleading squad, and views the Glee Club as her arch nemesis.  And I will miss Terri Schuester, Will’s demanding and amoral wife, as she schemes and manipulates her unsuspecting husband and several of his students.

I have to question my attraction to this show. I never was a part of anything musical throughout my school days and even today I not much of a music aficionado. And to be perfectly honest, I’ve never even sang karaoke.

So what is my attraction to this offbeat, quirky television show? After some introspection, I realize a lot of it has to do with the Glee Club’s misfit and underdog status. If I reach back some 20+ years it reminds me of my participation in high school cross-country and track.

If I look for a current analogy then, in some ways, Pinstripe is very similar to the chorale group.

Just as the William McKinley high school Glee Club is not-so-ordinary, Pinstripe is the unmatchable player in the Recruitment Process Outsourcing space. Many times we are not the pre-ordained front runner. We are more like the Glee Club; a cohesive unit of passionate people competing for recognition against the more well-known and more conventional groups. Fortunately, like the Glee Club, we frequently end up being acknowledged and appreciated for Recruitment Process Outsourcing expertise and competency.

I recently read a review of Glee and they used words like optimistic and fresh. These are similar words our clients use to describe Pinstripe.

For 2010, both Glee and Pinstripe are worth watching!