A Chance Encounter

I want to take a break from the Baseball field and pay some respect to two friends who are walking down the aisle this weekend and about to take the “plunge” together.

It was about 3 years or so ago when I was at a Bobcats game here in Charlotte. At that time the Bobcats were bad, not nearly as bad as they were last year or as bad as they will probably be this year. I was having a good time with a client in the bar area when we were approached by a pretty blonde ladycat cheerleader in a nice black evening dress. After my client had a long and fairly obnoxious conversation with her about her dating status, I tried to smooth things over by talking about her boyfriend who she continued to bring up. As it turns out he was from the Buffalo, NY area,  played hockey and was an attorney. I CAN ALWAYS USE AN ATTORNEY ON MY SIDE!

So, I passed my business card off to the very nice ladycat in hopes that her boyfriend would call and join our lack luster hockey team here in Charlotte.  Sure enough 2 weeks later he called, and we laughed about the business card incident.

HR and recruiting is so much like that story.  Every day I make calls introducing myself to complete strangers, who I hope to build a relationship with and everyday my phone rings with new candidates hoping that we will find them a fit for a job based on a quick conversation and then an interview. The game of life and succeeding is such a tricky road. That story reminds me every day to give everyone who calls a chance and the benefit of the doubt.  I am so grateful not just to my two friends in that story but the hundreds of people who have given me a chance. I am not sure if I am going to be able to tie this into work this week, but maybe just life. Maybe the next time someone asks you to pass a business card along or say HI to someone for you, you will do it. All of us in HR  are forced to be and gathers of info and sometime it is just plain exhausting. But when something good comes out of it and you were part of it, there is no better feeling!!!

You never know what is going to happen by just saying HI or taking a chance on a complete stranger.  That was one of the best days of my life. I made two amazing friends, who I continue to learn with, laugh with and grow a wee bit older with.