Interviewing is an assessment of four key areas:

1.  Skills

2.  Fit

3.  Verbal communication

4.  Non-verbal communication

Preparation is key!  In recent years, the way we conduct business has become less formal and so have interviews.  Because of this trend, people seem to be letting their guard down and communicating their accomplishments as well as the overall scope of their job/experience in a less formal way.  Many job seekers are mirroring the communications style or relaxed nature of the interviewer and unknowingly falling short.  The unfortunate side is that there is no second chance and the person doesn’t even realize they’ve done it.  You want to have a solid conversation with someone, while not letting your guard down or sharing too much.

The moment you enter the company’s parking lot, assume that someone is peeking out and already framing their initial impression.  Your communication from start to finish should be positive and upbeat.  If traffic was awful and you’re asked about it, don’t lie just say it was a little backed up but it was nice to look at the Cherry Blossom trees on the way in.  Follow the negative with a positive.

This information is a good reminder to those looking for entry-level positions as well as those seeking corporate leadership roles.  This is a common topic of discussion among recruiters and business leaders right now and it’s something that everyone who is interviewing should be cognizant of.

Your goal when interviewing is to leave a positive and lasting impression in the time allotted.  And please remember to button up and don’t let your guard down.

Recruiting is a Business Function

I don’t think anyone who knows me, sees me speak, or reads anything I write would argue the fact that I love the Recruiting Profession. In business, Recruiting is one of the most important functions that ANY of us do — it is the building of our teams, it is how we achieve our goals, our success.  Unless in your work, you only need to count on yourself, a business cannot be successful without doing Recruiting well.  But what does Recruiting have to do with Retention?  I say it has a lot to do with it.

Why Discuss Retention?

Maybe retention is not one of your MBO’s or tied to your fee, but if you want to be the best, if you want to be different from the rest, if you want to last in this industry as the world changes, you should recruit with retention in mind!

What is On the Line? Having “Skin in the Game”

I remember the first time I introduced retention – keeping employees employed with your company – as a performance goal to one of my recruiting teams and they looked at me like I was crazy. I understood their questions — they had no control, they weren’t making hiring decisions, they weren’t managing them or their environment, etc.  The fact is – no one has total control — or as my friend Ed Newman says, hiring is always a crap shoot. But I wanted them to go beyond what other recruiters did – I wanted them to have skin in the game – and that was exactly my purpose.

Recruiters Need to Own their Work.

I talk a lot about how we elevate the Recruiting Profession to match the importance of the function itself. I believe we do that by truly owning it — and by becoming as much a part of the business as the people we are helping to build their teams.  To do that, we have to know the industry, the business, and even the teams — maybe even better than they know (or want to know) themselves. It is not enough to understand the required and desired skills of the job specs and expect to find the right candidate/fit for the role. You also have to go beyond the resume — get to know your applicants and candidates, beyond the check-boxed skill sets. If you take the time, they will often share more with you, the recruiter, than they will with the hiring manager/team, whom they know are the ultimate decision makers.

So, What Does This Have to Do with Retention?

People don’t leave jobs; they leave bosses or companies that don’t fit. There is so much that has to be uncovered to find a fit. You can take an A-player in one company and put them in a similar position in another company and it could be a disaster. Different environment, culture, players, organizational structure, challenges, objectives, performance measures — shall I go on? As a Recruiter, you should know these things about your organization/teams. Do these things align with what the candidate needs or what motivates him? To know all this, one must take the time, be curious, pay attention, listen, ask questions — as well as having the confidence and credibility to advise and consult those who depend upon your expertise.

What Really Matters -

The simple fact is it does not matter if the company thinks the candidate is a perfect fit for them, if the company is not a fit for the candidate — and vice versa. Unfortunately, neither side (jobseeker nor recruiter) usually takes the time to make sure it is a fit on both sides. The Recruiter can play that devil’s advocate or objective party — that person who is not too emotionally (or conveniently) invested in filling the seat or getting the job. I am by no means saying that this is how it happens — I am simply saying that in order to elevate this profession – that is how it should happen. Where there is fit, there is retention – so I ask, why wouldn’t recruiting be relative to retention?

Pic via SourceCon.com and Lance Haun

I find it interesting how many Recruiters and Recruiting Leaders misunderstand, discount, or just plain avoid developing or adding these skills/tools to their “toolboxes” or their teams.  It is tough to write a post on what level of sourcing any Recruiter can and should be doing – or how a Recruiting Leader, should incorporate this function — or this skillset — into their teams.  So much depends on time, budgets, structure, workloads, resources, talent pool, process, etc.  What you can do is educate yourself and then make that determination of what and how to incorporate sourcing into your own process or teams.  You can start by reading (SourceCon – the site or one of the several outstanding sourcing related blogs, such as my personal favorite Boolean Black Belt by Glen Cathey), hiring a Consultant (*smile*), or attending SourceCon – the conference.

The sourcing talent community comes together once again next week in Atlanta, where it all began — for the conference that has come to represent this incredible community of talent — SourceCon Atlanta February 7-8, 2013.  To understand more, I strongly encourage you to read my post, Examining Talent Communities…SourceCon, as well as SourceCon: The Ultimate Talent Community, by my amazing friend and Recruiting Toolbox colleague, Carmen Hudson.  SourceCon, brought to life by the brilliant Leslie O’Connor in 2007, purchased by ERE Media in 2009, is the premier, must-go-to event dedicated to the art and science of recruitment sourcing.

Pic via booleanblackbelt.com

One little gem I will share with all of you is that usually late in the evening after the first day of the conference has ended, there is a bit of a source-a-thon, a show-and-tell if you please, of tactical, hands-on, let’s-get-real exchange of ideas, tips, and sharing that happens called SourceCon After Dark.  This brain child of my dear friend (and genius) Eric Jaquith was meant to be a time to extend the learning beyond the conference and actually put each others ideas, experiences, and things learned into practice — on actual searches people had or brought to the event.  #SourceConAD is free and open to attendees or any Recruiters/Sourcers that are local and just want to participate.  Bringing your laptops and challenging searches makes the event PRICELESS!  Even if you are just open for some great networking, food and bar specials — consider registering for the event in Atlanta ASAP that I, in conjunction with Eric Jaquith and Ronnie Bratcher, will be hosting the evening of Thursday, Febuary 7th at Park Bar, in downtown Atlanta from 9pm =>

While I am giving props and shout outs, let me just take a moment to talk about Park Bar Atlanta…many of you already know that Park Bar and their sister facility, Sidebar, are my go to venues for any after-parties I host after events going on downtown.  Park Bar has great food, craft beers, and an awesome collection of fine bourbons (even Pappy Van Winkle’s *smile*).  We will have appetizers, but go early and have your dinner there too!!  You will not be sorry!

Bottom line if you want to master Recruiting – if you really want to be the best, different from the rest, and really last in this industry as the world changes, you should learn more about the art and science behind Sourcing.  Talent communities, like Sourcing, are nothing without the contributions of the people who make up that community.  You may know of some of this profession’s visionaries, but there are countless others who also contribute.  As I said before, educate yourself…attend events like these to help you learn and incorporate what you can.  Think about contributing the things you find and how you apply them.  And to that end, if you don’t know SourceCon’s wonderful Editor, Lance Haun, make sure he is at the top of your list to meet if you do attend one or both events next week!

Side note:  For those of you looking for a breakfast or brunch option during your Atlanta stay, hit up Babs in Midtown for the best coffee and food EVAH — tell Randy, Havrilla sent you

Most companies and recruiters are happy with their Applicant Tracking Systems overall – it allows the company to store and track data.  It also organizes the information and spits out shiny reports.  The ATS is a vital part of the great work we do.  While most of us love our ATS, we also love to hate it or wish it had this functionality or that functionality.  Today, I like my ATS but I sit and reflect on tweaks that could enhance it for the masses.

Our firm uses Sendouts and while we don’t use all of the functionality, we use the meat of it.  They have managed to do a good job of integrating basic Social Recruiting but the candidate search function could use a facelift.  I am by no means a Glen Cathey (Boolean Black Belt), heck I’m not even a green belt at Boolean.  I just want to find the data I need using the terms I know and quickly.  The keyword search revolution is over and I’m anxiously awaiting the new revolution – standard built in intelligent search.  I had not really seen a system that could provide accurate data using layman’s terms until Monster.com updated their search capability to 6Sense technology.  I had an opportunity to catch up with their VP of Product Management, Javid Muhammedali and through discussion and several follow up questions I think they have found the ‘secret sauce.’  They listened and came back with the technology recruiters are looking for.  Monster’s SeeMore Recruiting platform gives even the most inept Boolean user a fast and user-friendly interface that is ideal for focusing on finding great talent that’s likely hiding deep down in your ATS.  The gold that I wrote about in this previous post.  Frankly, it’s something so game-changing that it’s at the forefront of the intelligent search revolution.

Let’s face it, there are a million seminars, training sessions and webinars that we can attend as TA professionals.  At the end of the day, I want to be able to focus on finding amazing talent and recruiting them to my organization’s client companies.  I was not destined to be in this great profession to figure out the latest X-Ray search string, boolean logic or the 10 million ways I can search for an engineer using words besides engineer.  Recruiting compliance, employment law updates, jobs report trends and overall efficiencies – yes!  Needless to say, this is the very reason my ATS is driving me crazy.

I absolutely love my job, I have known that I was born to be in this field since I was a teenager.  Now, let’s continue to push the envelope, get the right people on the right bus and make all of our lives easier and most importantly, efficient.

I recently had the opportunity to do just that -  and as a bonus, collaborating with my friend, Kevin Grossman, an executive at BraveNewTalent, a leading social learning career platform and author of the book, “Tech Job Hunt Handbook”.  For some great advice on the art of the post interview(s) follow up, please check out our contribution, How To: Follow Up After a Job Interview, on the HR Bartender blog — and be sure to add HR Bartender to your Reader if you haven’t already!  You will be better for it

Thanks Sharlyn — as always it was an honor and a privilege to be included in your post — especially with such esteemed company!!

Please feel free to share any advice you have as well – it takes a village

Is it actually some kind of skill(s) — or is it how or why you used that skill(s)?  One of my favorite SuperHeroes growing up was Wonder Woman.  She had superhuman strength and combat skills, but what made her different was her compassion and pursuit of justice — and of course, the awesome Golden Lasso of Truth she used so that true justice would be served.

I have an unusual background — people look at my profile or resume and wonder how/why I got from point A (Software Engineer) to point B (Recruiter Chick).  Some think my techy/geeky roots are what give me an edge at what I do.  However, as different as my current and past roles may look, the truth is, there is very little difference in the successes I have achieved.  Simply put, I solve problems.  I have a relentless curiosity about how people and things work — what they are all about, why, and what could/should be different or better.  To me, it’s like a puzzle to put together or solve.  I don’t look at myself as a jack of all trades and a master of none — I see myself as resourceful — able to to find and tap into numerous areas of experience, resources, contacts, network, etc. to get problems solved.

Why is this useful?  These are the things that go beyond the tools or skills you are utilizing, to how you actually perform — how you get results.  As a recruiter, I’m amazed at how much I have had to push people, all the different questions I have to ask, to try and figure this out.  This is where you as a Recruiter should gain — or you as a Candidate should provide — insights into ability to perform and at what level.  Or if this is a career change, how transferable the skills and abilities really are.  As a Recruiter or Interviewer, are you asking the right questions to find this out?  As a Candidate, are you making sure a company knows what makes what you do and how you work special?  This is also a great way to identify/determine if an environment fits how a Candidate works and is motivated.

What is your SuperPower(s)?  I want to hear from you – please share!!

As promised, for the final part of this series on elevating or Supersizing your recruiting function, I will step through a past hiring project as a case study on how data and knowledge were used to fund and drive a successful recruiting project.

Let me set the stage.  In consulting, people are your product – so your target headcount number is extremely important to achieve your revenue numbers.  As such, we knew from a recruiting perspective what we needed to hire above our current headcount number to achieve our planned book of business.  However, we also had a group of third party consultants that were being subbed on projects to cover increased demand for services – which offered us an opportunity save $2M YOY in costs that affected our margins – direct $’s to the bottom line — if we replaced them with full time employees.  And of course we still had to cover attrition that had occurred or would likely occur during this process.  Lastly, we didn’t have a lot of time to do it.  Shocker, I know.

Our Exec came fully prepared, and even expecting, to have to pay costly third party fees to achieve this goal – especially a very hard to find skill set — in a very tight time frame.  My job at this point is to tell them if this “project” was doable, what it would take, and what it would cost.  Guessing should not be an option – and it doesn’t need to be.  The data doesn’t lie – and I needed it to not only give me these answers, but to help me tell the story.  This is business – I can’t rely on guesses, my credibility, my charm, or even my good looks (*smile*).

Armed with my “story”, I demonstrated what we needed to invest and where – and where/how our recruiters time should be spent.  I also looked at all types of data, metrics, and measures and derived knowledge around how to make the process better and faster, more effective and efficient, and provide on target, higher quality candidates.  Things like:

• Job profiling workshops with hiring teams to create an agreed upon profile (by all involved) for recruiting as well as the assessment criteria, for which all parties would be held accountable.  No finding out at interview debriefs what they were really seeking (and increasing time to fill)…
• Baseline interview training for all interviewers  (understanding assessment criteria and how to use interview process to make informed decisions)
• Pre-screening questions (knockout, rankings)
• Behavioral assessment testing to gain predictive data and insights into candidates behavioral tendencies and motivations to be used with our profile
• Pre-scheduled and staffed interview dates and debriefs
• Predefined offer approval and delivery process (if certain candidate process scores and salary ranges were met – boom)
• I looked at source data for “quality” candidates (Tech-screened – meaning a manager reviewed/selected –to hired; Performance)

And not just how the “Sources” (Boards, Referrals, Direct Sourcing, Agencies, internals, candidate pools, pipelines, etc.) performed, but what their capabilities were — and what opportunities there were to make them perform better too.

This is business intelligence 101 – its not just a history lesson – it is decision support.  This is how the plan was formulated and sold.  I admit, they were skeptical – our leadership, and frankly, I think even the recruiters — but I had the data to help me tell my story.  I am not going to show you the data as it is lengthy — and proprietary — but the story it told me was:

1. Search our database and push a personalized email out to selected candidates telling them a little bit about our opportunity and why it might be of interest to them – inviting them to read more via a link to the job on our website.
2. Purchase a “national” job posting on our highest performing job board.  We used carefully crafted verbiage based on messaging geared to the profile of people we were seeking and utilizing high performing keywords we extracted from job board vendor data – also based on the “ideal candidate profile”.  The national scope of the posting – while very costly – allowed for our job to appear where appropriate — regardless of location searched by prospective candidates.  It was still about the same, maybe even a touch less, as one agency fee.
3. Hold a special “hot skill” referral contest for this profile/role only

These three things were geared to drive candidates from our top sources for this role – Employee Referrals and yes, Job Boards (or really just one particular job board in this case).  But most importantly, our own database — which represented no one particular source, but was obviously a huge pool of previously identified talent that already had knowledge of or interest in our organization.

To cover ourselves with any particular doubters, we did also open the search with two of our valued vendor partners.  I was fully comfortable that in this case, based on the data we had (historical, market, capabilities, etc.), that it would not make much of an impact on our recruiters, for redundant efforts or candidate duplication.  We had a vendor portal that they could submit their candidates through, which did a dupe check of our database immediately.  If a candidate was already in there, it would not allow the candidate to be submitted – and we would be none the wiser – eliminating any potential conflict over how a candidate was surfaced.  As it turned out, they were not even a factor.

In each of these cases the candidates were directed to our website to apply – which also had brief screening questions – to help aid the recruiters prioritize the candidates to be reviewed and ultimately screened as appropriate…

As active or “motivated” candidates came in from these marketing efforts, our recruiters could focus on screening them.  Then use the searches they set up initially for the ATS  marketing effort, to focus on direct calls to the hottest candidates surfaced.  This process can also be repeated within Linkedin, referrals, and other sourced candidates.  Using the process we outlined above to get the candidates through the process, we knocked this project out of the park — on time and under budget.  We were able to do what we set out to do, achieving the results we predicted the way we predicted being able to do it.  We met our book of business and saved the company $2M YOY direct to the bottom line.

The success of that project, along with many others, demonstrated our ability to go beyond being order-takers, facilitating butts in seats — such as

Hiring projects and programs
Workforce planning
Succession planning and executive hiring
Talent management/career development
Due diligence during M&A projects and merger integration projects
Scouting new office locations – domestic and global (talent market conditions, availability, trends)

…even determining product lines to offshore.  How can Recruiting know what product could be done in a particular location(s)?  By knowing how many we could realistically hire based on our bandwidth, budget — and the availability of talent, at what we were willing to pay, and other outside factors such as brand awareness in the marketplace.  If you want to elevate –  collect the dots, connect the dots — tell stories with your data, your knowledge — and help drive the business forward.

Part 1:  Using Data to Drive Decisions
Part 2: Data vs. Knowledge
Part 3: A Case Study

DATA

Before we can have Knowledge we must take the time to identify and collect the Data first — that is before we can connect the dots, we must collect the dots.  Half the battle will be identifying the data we need — and knowing where to find it in our world of disparate systems and data sources.  Ask yourself the following questions to help with this identification process :

What do you need?
What is important to you, your team, and your organization?
What will help you, your team, and your organization make decisions?
What do you need to provide?

There is data we could collect within our own organizations, such as:

* Experience, Expertise
* Education (where, degree, gpa, test scores,… – who knows what can be important)
* Performance & Development
* Engagement
* Time
* Costs
* Retention/Attrition
* Productivity
* Demographics
* Social

Even data that exists outside of organization could be useful, such as

* Job market data/trends
* Job reports
* Social

I remember  last year, Eric Winegardner, from Monster, absolutely astounding an audience at a Recruiting SIG meeting of TAG (Technology Association of Georgia, a large technology based professional association….) with job market data and trends.  Not just data and statistics, but what it meant and how they could help their organizations prepare – and drive better decisions.  I know it probably set some sort of download record that rest of that week at Monster’s site — and if they were smart they got on the email list for the monthly Monster Employment Index reports – or at least some source of regular job market data.

There really could be sources of very valuable data within your vendor partners as described above, where you least expect it.  I was completely blown away at a briefing I did at SHRM National, back in June in Atlanta, as part of the Press team with a company called TALX (now Equifax Workforce Solutions)…a provider of HR, Payroll, and Tax Management Solutions.  What struck me as fascinating when speaking with their President, Dann Adams, is that outside of the valuable services they provide to their customers, the data they are sitting on is off the chain and they get it.  They are actively looking for ways their data can help arm their HR customers with knowledge to drive better business decisions for their organizations.  For instance, we can tell our leaders we need different or better benefits…but what if you could actually show them that if they offer X, the results would be Y.

KNOWLEDGE

Exercise:  First understand your corporate objectives — then outline by each objective, how does what you or your team do match up?  Now you have focus…

Searching the data

You have your collection of data now – hopefully.  How will you search or extract it?  Make sure you understand how your search tool works – all the ins & outs.  If it doesn’t work well – or you don’t know it, get it in a tool that is better or you know better.

Telling Stories

Interpret – What happened?

I love this line from a post done by Jean Paul Isson:  “Business intelligence (BI) has exactly the same objective as the employment selection process: interpreting past data to forecast results and drive business decisions”.  BI is the heart of what we should be providing to elevate our value to the organization — Tell what happened.

Analysis – Why?

Now that you know what happened — you must look for why.   That is where analysis comes in – so you can then figure out what needs to happen to make it better.  This is where you can start to bring in your historical or performance data as well as information such as market trends, job reports, and any other data that will help…

Forecast/Predict — Like…

* Find/target more and better quality candidates
* Improve candidate assessment and recruiting processes
* Make better hiring decisions

More and more organizations are using assessment tools to help gain insights into a person’s personality, behaviors, work style, motivations, energy, etc – all in an effort to predict performance, fit, even the ability to retain.  And no discussion of this nature would be complete without the implications of Big Data and what impact it will have as time moves forward.  That is for another post, but I will leave you with one recent article to reference, courtesy of the
WSJ online called “Meet the New Boss: Big Data” about companies replacing hunch-based hiring with computer modeling — just to whet your appetite.

Making Decisions

To illustrate this point, I will use a story…

Let’s look at Starbucks – is it the best coffee?  I don’t know… it’s pretty darn good… But have I had better?  Sure.  Have I had worse?  Oh hell yes.  The point is there will always be someone who can take what you have done — product or service — and do as good, maybe better.  But what makes them different?

Their people — you usually have a consistent experience by knowledgeable, well-trained baristas.   I know there are always exceptions, but for the most part their people seem happy, my order never gets screwed up, they have never been out of what I wanted, etc.  Why is that?  Their ability to manage information.  They don’t hold their data and analytics up in their IT depts — or in their C-suites, making unilateral, top down decisions.  No — they push that information down into their cafes, so that their managers can make informed decisions on hiring, staffing, ordering/stocking, etc. based on their unique locations and needs.

Making Improvements

Another example to illustrate this point — Talent shortages are kind of a hot button for me.  But to address, first we have to improve on how we define and target talent.  We can’t make more people magically appear where there are few to be found — especially for most of us who may not have the biggest name, salaries, benefits, etc to compete for that talent against those that do.  To address those shortages or shortfalls — we need to open ourselves to what talent we should be seeking.  This new type of talent may be from a tier 2 or tier 3 school, and they may not have any experience in your industry, or in some cases, any experience at all. If you are trying to grow your  team, use the knowledge you have amassed to create your own definition of talent, identify the traits that they need, and hire and maybe even develop people who fit the bill.

Next Tuesday in Part 3, in the final part of the series, I will actually step through a past hiring project as a case study on how these concepts were used to fund and drive a successful recruiting project.  See you then…

Driving Better Decisions

Sourcing and Recruiting are vital to the success of an organization, yet the function is often undervalued and underfunded — probably because we have not mastered the art of capturing and/or analyzing the right data to help us or our organizations make better decisions around talent. If we learn how to do this right we can have influence and demonstrate value by

• Finding/targeting more and better quality candidates
• Improving candidate assessment and recruiting processes
• Making better hiring decisions
• Building better business cases (budget, headcount, …)
• Providing decision support for the function AND the organization

Those first four bullets are a bit more obvious — and I think you will find, once you have started to really conquer those areas, your Recruiting function will likely have the kind of credibility to use the data/information we can tap into to help drive other critical business decisions across your company. Like what?  Here is an example of other areas where my past teams have had success…

• Workforce planning
• Succession planning and executive hiring
• Talent management/Career development
• Due diligence during M&A projects and merger integration projects
• Scouting locations for a new development center – domestic and global (think talent market conditions, availability, trends)
• Off-shoring product(s)

Yes — even decisions on what products should be considered during off-shoring discussions.  After working with the head of product development to understand how many developers it would take for each product, I used data to demonstrate what we could realistically hire based on our bandwidth, budget, and most importantly the availability of talent — at what we were willing to pay, and  brand awareness in the marketplace.  As a result, informed decisions were made on what products could realistically be transitioned to off-shore location and when.

Without data, you can’t have knowledge — so next Tuesday in Part 2, I will explore both data and knowledge a bit deeper.  On the following Tuesday, in the final part of the series, I will actually step through a past hiring project as a case study on how these concepts were used to fund and drive a successful recruiting project.

I would love to hear from anyone that has other example of business decisions you were able to impact or influence!!

Do you have one?  How long is it – 30 seconds? a minute?  two minutes (GASP)!?!?!  Do you have a business card that reinforces or supports it so they won’t forget you?  Does it cover every single scenario that could potentially need to be addressed?  Try and Google ‘Elevator Speech’ or ‘Elevator Pitch’ some time.  There are pages of tips, outlines, templates, secrets, and must-haves to sham-wow just about anyone.  Yet what happens when you get in an elevator?Exactly.  When is MY number going to be next?  Is some idiot going to stop this elevator and impede my progress further?  How much longer can this possibly take?  I HAVE NO CELL SERVICE – ARGH!!!

But one of the things I love about the South is just how darn friendly we can be…I can tell you that the Recruiter Chicks have never met a stranger.  We get in an elevator, on a plane, waiting for a table, or at whatever game or event is happening — it is an opportunity to smile, say hello, and figure out if the story we have instantaneously crafted in our head about you is anywhere remotely close to reality.

I was riding down the elevator today at my client’s office and sure enough, the elevator stops at the very next floor.  Within 10 seconds I know that my new elevator mate is actually an employee of my client.  Been there 10 years — working in an area of the business I have yet to touch. Next stop, two more join us.  The door shuts just as I start to tell my new friend what kind of work I have been doing with her company.  At which point, our newest elevator mate shares that the other person who has also just joined us, sings — and is amazing.  Random?  Yes…but…guess what?  My new client friend just so happens to really need a singer for an upcoming event.  Numbers are swapped, as is a promise to call this evening at 7pm.

And I have a blog post written in my head by the time I get to my car.  That was a very productive few minutes.

So…my point?  How many of us really ever take any one of the many chances we have to connect with others to do anything like this?  I have a hundred stories like this — and I know my blog partner, Teela Jackson, probably has twice that.   My question to you is — When are you planning on using that Elevator Speech?  Just sayin…

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