I recently had the pleasure of having lunch with one of our clients, the CEO of a very successful corporation. We spoke a lot about the unconventional paths people take to get a leg up in the professional world. He, for example, owned a surf shop at the beginning of his career—something that surprised me. As we continued to recall the hardships of the post graduate job search and high unemployment rate when we were first getting started (not unlike today), we agreed that while not necessarily the norm, our first steps toward our ultimate professional destiny were exceedingly helpful. Owning his own business taught him about sales, staffing, product quality and bookkeeping—in a way he was his own CEO. Most of all it taught it him the value of flexibility.

When I thought about our conversation later on, it made me realize that in today’s job market, career paths can wind and twist in various directions, and part of our jobs as staffing specialists is to advise clients to be open to all opportunities. Even if they aren’t perfect, one thing often leads to another. Ten or twenty years from now, they could be making a great living from strengths they didn’t even know they had when they were first starting out. I started off temping, and wound up launching and running TPG Staffing. It’s not only helpful to be flexible in this economic environment; it’s essential.