Welcome back to the Hirewell Hot Corner, where sports and recruitment meet. I am your host, Dan Spittel, joined, as always, by my Ironman co host, Louie Morici. Back in the home studios, back where we belong. Louie, great to see you again. Let’s jump right in. What’s going on in your world and the world of sports today?
Kind of the same old song and dance. Being a Chicago sports fan, Blackhawks, Bears, had its ups, most of its downs. Justin Fields being hurt. Team firing coaches and Blackhawks lost 8-1 to the, Coyotes the other night. But, Connor Berdard looks good, so there’s a bright spot. You know what, that’s the future, so that’s what matters.
Either you’re not enjoying, Tyson Bagent behind center for the Bears. He seems okay. Seems okay. I mean, granted, if you’re a quarterback for the Chicago Bears, that’s probably saying a lot. But, Justin Fields is the guy, that’s my opinion. And, no one can tell me otherwise. At least your offense knows how to score points.
It’s a good start. Yeah, Steelers have another season where it seems like we’re wasting one of the top defensive, teams in the league. They won’t fire their offensive coordinator, is what it is. Let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about baseball. We are in the midst of the World Series. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers, obviously the two heavy hitting favorites we all expected to see in the World Series this year.
The Rangers currently have a 3-1 series lead. Aim 5 in Arizona looking like it could potentially be the end for the Diamondbacks. What a matchup. Yeah, I mean, when you have teams like the Braves, Phillies, Astros, who were more than not, the favorites to at least get there. Seeing these two teams, I think it’s good for baseball, seeing some new teams that have not had success in recent years.
I don’t believe Texas has ever won either. So, being that they’re up 3-1 currently, game five, I believe is tonight. We’re filming on November 1st, which is a Wednesday. I’d like to see them win. You know, we’ll see how it goes. It would be, the Rangers First World Series in team history.
Diamondbacks last won one in 2001. Both teams had over a hundred losses just two seasons ago, and now here they are standing a few games away from greatness, I think gives a lot of hope to some of those smaller teams. You know, teams that might have, overperformed this year. Pirates, you know, for example, played better than I expect them to, but not good enough.
The Reds here in Cincinnati, were in it until the end. And you know, the Diamondbacks were the last team in from the National League. And they kind of adopted the slogan throughout the postseason, embrace the chaos. And I love it. Yeah. And it really speaks to what they’ve been doing as the last team in, led by a 22 year old, a relatively unknown ace kind of coming up.
And they’ve been able to get it done for the most part. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s impressive to watch. And they did kind of take the last spot in the playoffs from the Cubs. So, you know, it’s good to see, though, that we got beat out by a team that got hot at the right time. And, you know, either they lose, but they still made it to the dance, which again, I think they could look at that as a real big stepping stone to hopeful success next year.
Absolutely. And we’ll see what happens. There’s still three games left in the World Series, potentially. But I want to stay on the topic of that slogan, embrace the chaos. And I don’t want to talk about the other chaos in sports. The Las Vegas Raiders franchise as a whole is just chaotic, all the time.
They fired their coaching GM last night. Cause sure. It’s Vegas. It’s Vegas, baby. For sure. But let’s talk about embracing the chaos overall. You know, we keep talking about these episodes, how volatile the job market can be, and how weird the market’s been in 2023, and all that. Let’s kind of look back. You know, let’s talk about embracing the chaos from our own standpoints, Louie.
Yeah. I mean, we’ve seen it from chaos and what you could be looked at as a good way or chaos that- but in a bad way. You know, 2022, or even before that. Maybe five years ago, we were strictly a tech firm. Noticing that, “Hey, we were having success there and we could expand our business out.”
You know, we decided to go into a few different verticals. Sales, marketing, on demand, things of that nature. And 2022 was a great year for Hirewell. We, you know, we killed it. We grew a bunch. I think when I was brought on, maybe it was 2021, but 2022, we saw like 50 to almost a hundred employee, you know, total.
And, you know, we were acquiring companies and really investing in ways to further cater to our clients. 2023 was a bit different. I think you can probably dive a little bit into that. Yeah, so 2022 saw, we were hitting record numbers for internal operations. We had really outpacing the goals we had set for ourselves.
And that kind of set us up for what we thought was going to be another step forward in 2023, much like, you know, these teams you’re talking about in sports, you know, they get-
they have a successful year. They look to build off that, continue to be successful. The market has not been a friend of ours in 2023. So we really haven’t had the same story rewritten as we did in 2022. Market’s slowing down. Other companies laying people off. Less willing to hire a lot of talent, not necessarily bringing in, recruiters, whether it’s from their own internal system or external recruiters. We saw some restructuring within our company. You know, we talked about an earlier episode as well. Just so we can make sure that we’re operating as effectively as possible, given the circumstances.
Now, some things that have kind of grown out of that is we’ve seen a big boom in manufacturing and supply chain hiring. We have a team that’s kind of been built out of that, due to the increased hiring needs for those companies. We’re seeing a manufacturing boom in the US again. So, in some ways, we’re embracing the chaos. But in a lot of ways, 2023 has been rough on us, just like everybody else.
A hundred percent and finding ways to be effective, taking on new initiatives like this manufacturing industry and finding ways to stay resilient, it isn’t easy. It’s not going to just happen overnight. You have to be adaptable. So, you know, what’s nice though, at the end of 2023 here, the last let’s call it month or so. I can only speak, I guess, from the sales and marketing, go to market side of things, but we’re doing intake calls left and right. New clients, clients from the past that are now looking to hire. And we’re embracing the chaos back in a good way. You know, we are busy. Our plates are full.
You know, now it’s just about liningg up some great candidates, locking them in. And, you know, it’s good for both sides. I mean, open roles means candidates are getting jobs. People are getting jobs. There’s not as many layoffs. So chaos is swinging in our favor and we’re loving it. Yeah, it’s not just the go to market team.
You know, we see it in our all company meetings. The last month’s numbers look pretty good. You know, they’re back trending in the right direction. You know, we’re seeing that on the tech side. Seeing it in specific areas too. We had some big booms in HR, and finance and accounting, the past month as well.
Yeah, a lot more clients popping up. I feel like the new job sheet gets longer and longer every week, recently. Locally had some great conversations with seemingly more people in this area are looking to hire as well. So, I think it’s pretty common trend. And maybe all signs are pointing to 2024 being a better year.
I think everyone’s kind of assumed that’s going to be the case. Typically, you know, these downturns in the market tend to last 12 to 18 months, and then it starts to pick back up. So maybe companies are trying to get a head start on that. You know, be well equipped for the first of the year to kind of ride out the full length of the upswing. But like you said, hopefully that leads to more candidates getting offers more jobs going out all around. Everyone’s happy. Yeah, I think, partially we’re seeing the people looking to get the start on 2024, they would rather hire now when the candidate pool is wide open, compared to maybe later when it’s picked over.
I mean, this is all speculation, but, we’re in this stuff every day and it would make sense that you’d rather have your pick of the litter, if you will, compared to waiting and not having top talent available. Granted, there’s always going to be good people, but, when it comes to that, I guess, how can someone embrace the chaos?
When you’re in the good, the bad, the ugly. Yeah, so, I will say you touched on a good point. These companies that are, you know, thinking about hiring, they’re going to be hiring. Don’t sit on the sideline. The talent pool is pretty good right now. And like you said, there will always be good talent, but not as much of it.
So, if you’re a candidate, job seeker, you feel a little distraught. The chaos should be hopefully swinging in your favor as well. So how does someone embrace the chaos from a personal standpoint? Well, that’s a good question. You know, one of the Mike Tomlin-isms, that everyone kind of points to is control the controllables.
You know, you do your part, do what you can. If you’re a job seeker, day in, day out, consistently updating your resume, staying involved on LinkedIn, applying to jobs when they pop up. Talking to recruiters like us. We don’t hate those conversations whatsoever. Showing you’re proactive and reaching out to maybe companies you’re interested in, reaching out to recruiters who’ve been working with a number of clients. But also at the same time, you’ve got to understand that it’s chaos for a reason.
There are things that are out of your control. You kind of got to be willing to ride the wave, go along for the ride, see where the journey takes you. Yeah, I mean, being adaptable first and foremost, having a strategic plan on what you’re looking for in a candidate or what you’re looking for in a job. You know, list the biggest priorities.
And, you know, be patient. That’s something, I think, I speak personally, I struggle with, you know, waiting. Things that are not in my control. And letting those kind of take over a bit of the mental side of the game. But at the same time, putting in the work where I know that it’s kind of the beginning of what could eventually turn into. A placement or finding a new client.
So, you know, be patient. I think that’s probably my biggest, word of advice for anyone. And, you know, on the side of patience, in some areas, maybe you can’t afford to be patient. And that’s okay. You know, there’s scenarios where you’re out of work. You need to find something.
You need to pay the bills. Of course. One of the things I’d recommend for any type job seekers that might be seeing maybe a wall in their specific field. Look at who’s hiring. Look at what roles are being filled right now. Maybe it’s not exactly what you thought you wanted to do with your next step.
It could lead to a whole new path. It might be something worth exploring. Yeah. I mean, understand your skill set and, it might not be the sexy tech industry. But if you have good salesmanship, good craftsmanship, and you can find ways to be valuable in a company that’s stable, for the long term, consider all options.
You don’t have to stray way too far and take less money, but find what you’re good at and find a job that you can mold to your skill set. You know, we touched on these manufacturing supply chain, industrial side, their companies are hiring. We work with- we’ve touched on Cintas. Cintas is a huge company.
It’s not the sexiest job pitch, but wow, is it a lucrative and successful company. Yeah. 8 billion dollars is nothing to shrug your shoulders at. They’re a massive company, take care of their people. People work there and don’t leave. I mean, it’s as good as it gets from a stability standpoint.
So, explore your options, embrace the chaos. Embrace the chaos. Louie two minute drill. Take us home. How’s the World Series going to play out? Being that my brother, lives in Dallas, and he’s been following Texas pretty closely, I’m just going to throw it out there. I hope they close it out, whether it’s tonight or back at home.
I think they have two more home games. So, I’m going to go Texas Rangers. Close it out. I’m going to say in six though, not in five. I’m going to have to agree with you. You know, they have three cracks at winning one game. I’d love to see them do it for the first time in front of their home crowd. I think that’d be really awesome.
Well, you know, everyone loves to see chaos play out in sports. Would it be crazy for the Diamondbacks to storm back and force a Game 7? Yes, it would. If that happens, no idea what’s going to happen with that. I think the rangers get it done, even without Adolis Garcia, I think they can handle it three chances to win one game.
Yeah. I’m with you, rangers in six. Yeah. As game seven is going all sports, they are chaos. So I feel like that almost might be fate that it could go seven. How do you feel about chaos for the Raiders? I think they should have just stuck with Rich Bisaccia when they had the chance. I liked him. I got enough problems as a Chicago Bears fan, but hey, if they want to trade us Davante Adams for a fifth round pick, my ears are open.
Well, you missed out trade deadline, but you got Montez Sweat. There we go. That’s something. We needed help on the edge rush, so that’s never a bad thing. There you go. Well, on behalf of Louie and myself, thank you once again for tuning into the Hirewell Hot Corner. Do join us again in two weeks for our next episode, and as always, stay classy LinkedIn.
