One of the things I like best about being both a recruiter and a journalist, is that in each role I get to meet/interview remarkable (def. worthy of notice or attention) people.
You see, remarkable people always have great stories to tell. And great stories, in case you've forgotten, always contain an element of conflict. People don't generally become great without having something to overcome.
So, if you're not yet great (or if you want to become even more great than you already are) AND if you're un/under-employed , this recession could be your precipice. Cliche as it may be to say, it's not what happens to you but how you respond to what happens to you, that is the differentiating factor.
Take MeetUp founder and CEO Scott Heiferman as an example.
He went from graduating from the University of Iowa, to a job at Sony, to founding i-traffic which he sold to agency.com, to becoming a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work the counter at McDonald's.
Did he get a job as a counter-boy for the bucks? "I felt like working, but I didn't want to hang out with any lawyers or accountants or investment bankers anymore," said Heiferman.
And times weren't exactly jolly; a recession began in March 2001; then the September 11 attacks happened in New York City, where Heiferman lives. As he roamed the streets during the aftermath, he was struck by the sense of community he witnessed in the city's neighborhoods; "People looked up from their screens and faced one another," said Heiferman. It was through that realization that the idea for MeetUp was born.
Not too long after, Heiferman recruited a few under-employed friends, rented some space at the corner of Lafayette and Spring, and spent three months building a computer platform that would help people with similar interests find one another.
Their result? At last report, the well-known and frequently visited MeetUp.com boasted 5 million monthly visitors, 4.7 million members, 4,916 Meetup topics in more than 3601 different cities.
