Their passion about their work and its message kept them going. Passion kept Disney and Einstein and Kipling going, too. That's because passion is most powerful self-motivator any of us can have. It's what drives us to use our talents and abilities. It's one criteria I've found most helpful when selecting people in my twenty years of management. You can teach most skills. But you can't teach passion.

People who are winning at working believe in themselves and their dreams. They're not likely to view setbacks as failures, roadblocks as dead-ends, or negative critique as fatal. It's their passion that keeps them going when others give up. It's their passion that provides strength of purpose, resilience, persistence and confidence to keep trying. It's their passion that helps them differentiate between opinion and fact about who they are and what they can do with their life. It's their passion that guides them.

Like Babe Ruth said, "It's hard to beat a person who never gives up." When you are passionate about your work, your dreams and your life, you don't give up.

(c) 2005 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved.

Q: What about follow-up?

A: Yes, there is, of course, follow-up required after every interview, both with client and with prospect. It's a busy job.

Q: So how does Internet make life easier for an executive recruiter?

A: Now you have online communities and bulletin boards, such as Monster.com, where you can place ads for positions. This makes it somewhat easier to cast one's net. Directories like ours help head hunters attract clients, so they can spend more recruiting and less time on business development.

Q: Don't online bulletin boards and directories just mean head hunter has to spend more time in more places?

A: Yes and no. Online resources are more easily searched than, say, paper. Our recruiter directory gives employers chance to search by geography or by vocation, or by type of position. This means they can find a recruiter that specializes in pharmaceutical sales, or who specializes in accounting, or whatever field. The head hunter spends less time answering questions from people who will never be their clients.

Q: And I assume it works both ways?

A: Yes, recruiter gets resumes from only those people who are likely candidates for types of positions he works on. The pharmaceutical recruiter, for example will not get a resume from someone whose background is in aeronautical engineering.

Q: Wow, that's a mouthful. I don't know if I could even repeat that.

A: Many executive recruiters could not repeat it, either. So Internet is making it easier for them to receive resumes targeted to their field of expertise, saving them time...not to mention overexertion of their tongues.

On that humorous note, we thank Esther for taking time to explain how Internet is making life both more complex and easier for executive recruiters and head hunters.