Let us now praise non-famous men

Anthony J Meaney wins Mikey's Monkey.

Did I say that Mikey's Monkey was going to be awarded for good blog posts only? If I did, I've changed my mind. I'm going to give it out to anyone I want whenever I want for whatever reason. You can try to stop me but you won't succeed. And, even if you don't want it, if I say you're going to get it, you will.

So, let me now give Mikey's Monkey to an un-famous man. In fact, the reason I'm going to praise him is to make him famous -- as a recruiter.

I'll tell you right off the bat, he's a good friend of mine so you might consider me biased. But I'd argue that this means that I know what I'm talking about because I've had the opportunity to work closely with Anthony J Meaney for many years. And if I had the money, I would hire him tomorrow to work exclusively for me. I'd pay him big bucks and let him make me millions.

You might think I'm joking but I'm not. This is a guy who should be at the executive level of any top executive search firm. The title I would assign would depend on the organization. If I had him doing work himself, I'd call him a recruiter. If he was building a recruiting team, I'd call him VP Operations or something like that.

Anthony J Meaney can sell. He's usually good in a face-to-face and I would advise anyone to give him direct access to clients and prospective clients. But that's not his forte. He's a recruiter.

Two people I respect, Shally Elvis Steckerl and Big Biller Billy Vick have both told me that strong sourcing and networking skills are usually found in different people. But that isn't true here. I've worked on many searches with Anthony J Meaney and he excels at both. However, he is similar to sourcer, Maureen Sharib, in that he doesn't want to to hold people's hands, be they candidates or clients.

I consider that silly because, usually, once you've got the right candidate, the position sells itself and vice versa. (I know that some very smart people would disagree with me and I challenge them to debate it online).

And, on a personal note, did I mention that Anthony's a nice guy? The Recruiting Animal aims to be exactly like our personal conversations, argumentative and funny. But, obviously, Anthony's more business-like than me as when it comes to blogging, a public performance, he chooses to go another way.

And that's not the only area in which we disagree. We piss eachother off. A lot. When we joined Jay-Dee Jason Davis on Recruiting.com, he was concerned that we would gang up on him in business decisions. I told him that he had nothing to worry about and I think he'll agree that I was right.

What else can I tell you? Probably more than Anthony wants me to say. So, I'll put the following up now and delete it if he complains.

I've just said that Anthony J Meaney can recruit at the highest levels. And, yet, he, himself, had a humble birth. He'll tell you quite proudly that he's a Bayman. That's someone who comes from a small fishing village in Newfoundland.

For the longest time, Newfies were considered to be our Canadian hillbillies but Anthony's no Jethro Bodine. Newfies are famous for their rustic accents but you'll notice right away that Anthony doesn't have one. At least, not most of the time. As soon as he came to Toronto, he lost it, deliberately. And, I've only realized this year that this is a trend among young up-and-comers from "the Rock".

In the summer I saw Brad Gushue, the curling champion, profiled on TV. The program cut back and forth from an interview to scenes of his family in his parents' living room watching him compete. He had no accent; they sounded like Irishmen. And, the same is true of Anthony J. His mother's got an accent you cannot miss. Mind you, my theory, unsupported by any serious study, is that he owes much of his success to her.

She was a teacher before she got married. And she ran a tight ship at home. Also, her father, a farmer, subscribed to Time Magazine in the 1940s. Now, I know that I must have big city prejudice having lived in Toronto all my life. But, in my imagination, that's unusual for someone living in a poor, remote area. I see it as a sign of intelligence and an active desire to think and learn. And, it means to me that Anthony had a family tradition to support him.

Now, I've been told that no one reads my longer posts so I assume that I've been talking to myself since paragraph number two. Which means that I might as well stop now since I know the story. But, in case you didn't get my point, I'll say again that this guy is a superstar but an under-valued stock. And if any big players are listening, you'd be wise to bring him aboard, pay him a lot of money and go golfing. I only wish I had the means to do so myself.

But, if you're a good headhunter, you're going to wonder why Anthony hasn't reached the potential I claim is his. Surely, you'll say, the Canadian Headhunter is not such a good judge of talent as the facts, themselves, show him to be wrong.

That's a fair assumption but incorrect because it's based on the point of view of a recruiter who only knows the candidate from the outside. In this case, I've got the inside dope.

And, yet, I myself don't know why Anthony hasn't yet reached his peak. But I have a theory and this is it. Although he's very confident, I think Anthony has a conservative streak that limits his faith in my grandiose vision. For I've conveyed it to him many times.

Also, remember what I said about hand-holding? He's not at all intimidated by the uncertainty inherent in every search. But I don't think he likes to sell, perhaps because of the uncertainty, and, that limits his ability to promote himself.

And, finally, again like Maureen, although he's very sociable, he's also very happy being a lone wolf. This doesn't limit his recruiting skill. What it does is make him an incredible resource for guys (perhaps, like you) who love to sell but don't have the inclination or ability to deliver the goods.

So, now you've got my opinion as a recruiter and as a reference. I say that's enough to make somebody rich. And I'm giving it away for free.

You can read Anthony J Meaney every day on Recruiting.com

Comments

[Madonna]

i quote:

"...if I say you're going to get it, you will."

i did a little song once and i called it human nature - remember that one, animal:

i'm not apologizing
would it sound better if I were a man?
you're the one with the problem
why don't you just deal with it...

i could have written that one for you, baby.

[Canadian Headhunter]

Just in case anybody's wondering, the message above came from i-aint-madonna@yahoo.com. The real Madonna is too busy working out to be reading The Recruiting Animal.

[Anthony Meaney]

Madonna never returns my calls anymore.