Answer the following two questions honestly:
(1) When did you find your company's best talent?
(2) If you're in the real estate industry, did you find them during the real estate heyday when anyone could sell a house and everyone wanted to be a Realtor? 
My favorite Uncle, Byron Cobb, loves to beachcomb. "Beachcombing" involves searching the beach regularly for rare and interesting valuables that have been washed ashore. In doing this, he has found some valuable articles over the years.
While Uncle Byron can be found "combing" on any given day, he claims the best time is the morning after a huge and dangerous storm. On these mornings, the ocean spills out all sorts of interesting treasures. It may not be the most comfortable time to search, but it is the most rewarding.
Finding talent is no different. If you survey your own company, you might find that your best performers were "found" during the last recession. Three of our clients have confirmed this theory recently. I bet many of your most reliable, lowest maintenance, and most consistent producers were found during the early 1980's.
The reason is quite simple: When people lose their jobs or are shaken to their core due to some devastating life change, they tend to re-evaluate the direction of their lives, asking themselves: Have I really enjoyed what I'm doing? Is this consistent with who I am and what I want to achieve? During down times, you are much more likely to hire someone who has given the change a lot of thought. It's during this angst and hardship that talented people emerge and begin to make these life altering decisions.
During economic booms, you're more likely to attract people who are after the latest vocation fad. These are the people who jump from job to job trying to chase easy money rather than determining to work hard and persist. Others, who you may really want are too fat and happy where they are. The golden handcuffs are more difficult to cut when things are going well. People are too complacent and life is too easy during those times to consider a new call.
So ask yourself – Am I going to delay my beach combing for talent until the weather is nice and I'm competing with everyone else who combs when the weather is nice? Or, am I going to put on my rain slicker now and find gems that are being washed up?
Those who invest resources to search now, will be the ones who are rewarded later…
