Here it is July 2007, the halfway point of the year, and my business instinct tells me a shift needs to occur for my contingency staffing and placement practice. 

For twenty-two years I have been placing business professionals in companies, and for twenty-two years I have been getting paid after I make the deal. Some days I feel like the most powerful person on the planet, but other days I feel like one of many mice on a wheel aimlessly chasing an illusion of cheese. 

Recently, I find myself resenting some of my clients, resenting staff that cannot produce fast enough, resenting that eighty percent of my income is based on a contingency fee, and resenting the constant chase for the illusive cheese.  

Why the resentment? Because, over the past two quarters, my contingency placement business has been facing some significant challenges. The type of assignments we had been receiving -and filling with ease- are slowly disintegrating. Today, the types of assignments we are receiving are much harder to fill because of tougher specifications, and the fact that umpteen agencies are working on the same assignments. In a market like this, my experience in the contingency placement business make me feel like we are all a bunch of mice in a cage running on a wheel, and getting nowhere. With a void of candidates facing everyone, I am seriously reevaluating my business and making those necessary shifts.

As the business leader in my company, I ask myself: "What needs to shift?" "What do I want?" "What will it take for me to love what I do everyday, or almost every day?" "What will make us more profitable?" "What will make our work more fun?" "What business am I really in? Is it Retained search? Contingency placement? Employment agency?"