Reinventing Your Career When the Stakes Are High: A Recruiter’s Playbook for the New Economy

Free Agent Podcast with Meg Schmitz – Guest: Leah Rosen 

Meg Schmitz: Hello everyone, and welcome to, or welcome back to, my podcast, The Free Agent.

My name is Meg Schmitz, and the discussion here is all about free agency and taking control over your financial future.

The mission of my show is to share inspiring conversations with real people who took the leap into self-employment, business ownership, sometimes franchising, but more importantly, freedom.

From corporate refugees and executives tired of the desk job, to entrepreneurs and investors looking to share camaraderie and inspiration through their own business journey, my podcast aims to spotlight on real people who stepped into the unknown, took control over their destiny, and became their own boss.

And today, I have the great pleasure of having my good friend Leah join me.

From New York, all the way from New York, live from New York, is Leah.

Leah: Setting, you know, not that New York, but…

Meg: Well, how are you doing today?

Leah: I’m good, I’m good. I’ve been, busy with many different things going on, as always, juggling a lot, and, you know, trying to keep warm in the frigid winter that we’re having here, as everybody is, and even in the South. You know?

And then it’s the weekend, so we’ll relax over the weekend. No, I’ll probably work this weekend.

Meg: Well, probably me too. Well, so, for my guests, Leah is a multifaceted career coach and she and I got to know each other during the pandemic. When people were saying, you can’t create real relationships with people virtually. Leah and I did it, and we’ve had a delightful couple of… well, it’s more than a couple of years now, it’s more like four…

Leah: Worf? Going on 5 minutes.

Meg: I know! Oh my gosh! And now we’re both grandmothers, so we’ve got that to share. But what’s been lovely about working with Leah.

And for those of you free agents who decided during a career search or transition, that you wanted to take the leap into business ownership, Leah and I work together with people who have curiosity about possibly owning their own business, and possibly creating an avenue for diversification, or financial freedom, or fill-in-the-blank, whatever that might be.

And so, Leah and I met because of… I think it was Sales Navigator on LinkedIn, and I had sent you a message and said your… your, profile looked really interesting, could we have a conversation? And so, obviously, we did. And the…

Leah: The rest is history.

Meg: The rest is history. It’s just been so much fun over the years, and I’ve been asking you for a while to come on the podcast, but you’ve been a little camera shy, and I… let’s jump into it. Who is Leah, and who are you working with, and… well, gosh, and then all the different career facets, or not career facets, but yeah, career facets that you’ve got going on right now. You’re multidimensional.

Leah: Always. Well, thank you, I’m really excited. Two people mentioned in one day that I should do a podcast, and I said, okay, I guess it’s… I guess it’s time.

So that was… that was the jump into here, and I’m really glad to be here. Thank you for having me, and thank you for your friendship and… and this work all these years. It’s really… it’s really been fun. Yeah.

Right now, I’m doing a couple of things. Right now, I’m doing career coaching at a technology bootcamp called Triple 10. And what they do, what we do is, folks come…

From all walks of life, from all careers, at all age groups, when they decide that they want something new, and they want to go into tech.

And this organization provides them with education, and they get certified in data science, or software engineering, or now cyber and AI. Lots of cyber and AI happening.

With their… with their curriculum, they get 6 months of free career coaching with someone like myself. And we have all kinds of programs and plans and talk and meet with them frequently and help them with their resume and networking and all of that.

I have met… and I’ve talked to a few people here about your program, too. It’s not the right population, but it doesn’t… every time I can, I’d bring it up, because you just never know who might be interested, you know, and that’s how I have approached it all these years.

The other thing that I’m doing is, I have joined a, recruiter organization. We are all independent contractors. We all work… have our own independent recruiting organizations, businesses.

But we work collaboratively. There are over 130 of us, all U.S.-based, and we all have different areas of expertise, so I get people who are working on lawyer opportunities, or sales, or accounting and finance, or a lot of construction, or real estate, a wide range. And because everybody has different expertise.

We all jump on each other’s jobs and help the others fill them. And this org… this company is called Rim Recruiting, R-I-M Recruiting. They’re based in Toronto. Most of the… most of the team is here in… in the States, though.

And it’s got a very, very broad infrastructure. They have meetings, they have systems, they have CRMs, so we all get the benefit of working as if we’re working in one company, but we’re all independent.

We can work as much as we want, we can work as little as we want. I’m juggling these two jobs right now, and I also have, you know, I go off and spend time with my family when I want to, when I can.

Meg: So…

Leah: That’s why I work on the weekends. And I’ve done that for a very long time, and that’s… being independent has always given me that… that choice, that if I need to do something on my own time.

I’ll just… I’ll just sit down on a Sunday and… and with a cup of coffee, and maybe at Starbucks or something, and… and just work, do sourcing.

Meg: My friend Leah, the free agent, right there. How long have you been more or less self-employed?

Leah: Let me rephrase the answer to that question. I’ve been doing recruiting and coaching, basically, for 30… 25 to 30 years. In all different kinds of companies and setups. Mostly… in the very beginning, I was self-employed, and that was in the late 90s, and I started my own recruiting firm with a landline. A fax machine, and a deck of index cards, and I made phone calls, and within 6 months, I had 3 placements with very, very big companies.

And I built on that. Now, throughout the years, there hasn’t always been all that much work, so I’d have to make changes and working for somebody, and it’s always good, you know, and even do other things. I was in sales. I took a lot of sales roles when… 2008, and then what… everything was going down, and there was no recruiting.

I sold advertising for public radio. I sold, you know, whatever I could get, I did all of those things. And that’s what I talk to my coaching students about, is you have to be flexible. Yes, you can look for your passion, you can look for your dream job.

But you may need to drive Uber for a year while you’re doing that, and some of them get it and some don’t, but… I think it’s very true, especially today in the economy that we’re living in today.

Meg: The gig economy… yeah, so those of us who have been around for a while, you get… you get the highs, and you get the lows, and you have to expect that life is going to change, but you’re a perfect case in point of needing to pivot, you’re a mother to your daughter, and providing for your household, and there’s… there’s nothing like being a single parent to make you get out there and… and scurry, hustle a little bit more.

You’ve always had that, for as long as I’ve known you, it comes right out. You think outside the box, and you’re willing to look at the paradigm a little bit differently, to spin it around a little bit.

I think that’s one of the things I most enjoy about working with you, is that you’re… you’re not just linear. You… you…adapt… I can see it happening… I can hear it happening when we’re talking, how you’re adapting in your brain.

Leah: Thank you.

Meg: Yeah. Well, I think that it’s the tap dancing thing that we learn how to do in order to keep our careers viable and vibrant.

Leah: The interesting thing with the economy and the job market now is there’s so much more opportunity to do that sort of thing. When I talk to my tech students, and there are no jobs, and they’re not getting interviews, and they’re frustrated, I say, okay, well, what industry did you come from? Healthcare.

Are there any apps that you could develop with your, now, your software engineering experience?

So many of them are doing that. It’s not giving them full jobs, but they are doing… they’re doing something that they can turn into a full job, or a company, or a startup, as you well know. And… and many of them… many of them are doing it, and it’s really very, very gratifying to see the enthusiasm

That they bring to the table.

Meg: What are some of the biggest changes? Here we are at the early part of 2026.

What are some… are there… you have your finger on the pulse. What are the biggest shakeups right now? What are… what are the greatest opportunities that you see?

Leah: Well, one interesting thing that I’m finding is that, and I don’t know this to be true from every company in the world, or in the United States, a lot of companies are holding back a bit and hiring full-time direct hire employees. But that’s where all the fractional work comes in, or the contract, or the temp.

It used to be called 10, now it’s called fractional, or whichever level you’re at maybe defines… defines the term, but…

It’s a really good opportunity, because you go in, you have an opportunity to network with a company, may not work out, but you’ve met a dozen new people who have a lot of other connections.

And that’s how I sell it to my students also. Don’t ever turn down an interview because you think the job’s not right. Go in and talk to these people, right? You look at your videos.

You never know who you’re gonna meet.

Meg: I was at a conference a women’s entrepreneurial conference about a year and a half ago. And so a conference for women, and there was a panel discussion that was all men.

And it was fascinating to hear

One gentleman in particular, he was asked, what is the difference between how a man does his career search and how a woman does? He said, oh, that’s easy.

Guys will look at an opening and say, yeah, I’m about halfway qualified for that, I’ll apply. Where a woman will look at it and say.

I need… I don’t have all the right skill sets, so I’m not gonna apply.

I thought that was a fascinating observation.

Leah: I’d be curious as to where they are in their career, in their life cycle, and… because, yes, maybe that was true

10, 15 years ago, I don’t know that that’s true anymore.

Meg: Oh, interesting.

Leah: Yeah, I would… I would be very curious to see what that… see, I always like to see where a person’s coming from when they… especially a statement like that. Well, why would you say something like that? And then you get that that person has worked in one company forever, and very different kind of trajectory in their career, don’t you think?

Meg: Well, I’m delighted that you see it differently. There’s so much conversation, Leah, around women in the workforce, and the income disparity, the opportunity.

Leah: Still, right? Still? Yeah, still, it’s amazing. It’s frustrating, but it’s really, truly amazing.

Meg: And you do see that.

Leah: Some, yeah. I don’t see it as much as I used to. I hear about people talking about it, but when I the jobs are people getting, I don’t see that being a disparity. If somebody comes out with some software experience, and they get similar jobs. I don’t see that. However, when they go out to network, there are so many networking groups, women in tech, women who code, women who blah blah blah, you know, write. There are many, still many of those, because it took so long for women to grow into tech the way, you know, it is now.

So there’s a lot of women coming out and being together, and, you know, helping each other out, find the job… find jobs.

Meg: I’m glad to hear that Well, we’re… we’re dispelling myths right here today.

Leah: You and I, Meg and Leah.

Meg: I do hear about it from women, and I had a conversation earlier today with a woman in finance, Who is a wealth manager.

And how few women there are in her field. and how much education she’s doing now for the men in her firm to have greater sensitivity. And in the case she… the example she brought up, which I thought was interesting, women are outliving men.

And men tend to, or women hand off the financial responsibility

And then when the husband is no longer able to manage those funds, or passes away, then who’s left? Well, I think you’re talking about an age bracket, let’s call it 60 to 80?

And that’s… that’s old-school thinking. I don’t think that way, and I don’t think you do, and I believe that younger women don’t… think…

Leah: I don’t think the younger gen… I don’t want to categorize, but I don’t think they think that way either. I think that that was, you know, a boomer thing, and, you know parental thing that was going on. I don’t think people think that that way anymore. Or at least…It depends, again, it depends who you’re talking to, what their upbringing is, and where they, you know, where they’re from, and how they’ve come up through their career.

Meg: And so, in tech, which has historically been more male-dominated.

Are you seeing a good rise of women in tech?

Leah: My students, oh, yeah. I see a lot of females coming up through the ranks that many of them have been…

Bartenders, or medical assistants, or all kinds of industries, and they get the bug to do debugging, to go into tech.

And… and they take this… this course. There are a lot, they’re a lot. I don’t really even see a divide between men and women in the program I’m working on.

Meg: Well, and here’s a maybe controversial question for you. Are you seeing a rise of American women in tech?

Leah: Both.

Meg: Okay.

Leah: both. There are a lot of people who, have come to this country. And had tech careers overseas, and are staying in software, or tech, or tech-related.

Meg: Okay. On our meeting this morning, the first Friday meeting, networking meeting, there were 3 people in particular who were… we fell into conversation about the trades.

Leah: Oh, that’s a good, good topic.

Meg: Well, go for it, girl. We… well, last month… I’m sorry I missed the meeting today, by the way, but last month we had somebody who was talking about, you know, their kids going to plumber school or the trades.

Leah: And I think it’s such a great idea. I mean, not everybody goes through an academic trajectory, or wants to go into college, but they need to work. Everybody needs to work, pretty much. And if they can get a mentor or somebody that can teach them the trades, who knows? I think one of your contacts, they went into there, they went to trade school, then they bought… bought a business.

And they bought a couple of businesses, and then they started hiring, and they grew their life that way. There’s nothing…

There’s nothing wrong with it. There really isn’t. I think it’s a needed part of our society, but it’s always been discriminated against. Must have a BA degree. You know, you still see that on a lot of job descriptions and requisitions.

Meg: Yeah. That may have been even, jamie White. She has 6 boys. One of them is in the military, and she and her husband are very purposefully, as they call it, unschooling. their boys so that they’re… they become good with their hands. They become better out-of-the-box thinkers. And now that they’ve moved, back to the United States, to Colorado.

Her boys are being discriminated against because she has… she and Kevin homeschooled.

And so the teachers are kind of shaming them into what… what a disservice they’ve done. And Jamie and Kevin couldn’t be more proud of their kids, who are… Entrepreneurial. They’re capable.

And some of them will go maybe to college, and some of them will go into the trades, but good for Jamie and Kevin leading the way, and…

Leah: I know a lot of people who, when I was down in Woodstock, now I’m in Albany, but when I was in Woodstock and Kingston, there were a lot of families there that homeschool their kids.

A lot of them, and one family in particular, they have… they have 7 children, they all were homeschooled, and I knew all of them through… they were friends of my daughter.

And each one went into something to one, you know, one’s teaching, and one is acting, and one is doing this, and one’s doing that, and they’re all doing extremely well. Doesn’t mean the same for everybody.

But that’s, you know, they… that’s what they wanted to do.

Meg: Yeah, I don’t know. Well, give your kids the opportunity to think. For themselves, and explore new skill sets, and that may lead to something that’s not college, and maybe it will.

Leah: Who knows?

Meg: Who knows? We… well, we both have granddaughters now, who are…Little bitty people are a long way off from.

Leah: We’re learning something new every single day. I know, see things… we can’t do this on a podcast. Start talking to Grandma talk.

But I see… I see mine just something every day when I go there, that she’s doing something different.

Meg: Yeah. Yes, we could go down the grandma rabbit hole, and that would be really fun. I’m sure some of our audience… well, some of our audience is in that same position of They’re… they’re first-timers, and watching these little people grow into intelligent human beings, it’s just… it is fascinating to see them connecting the dots.

Leah: It really is, it really is. Again, you know, we did it once, or a couple times, if you had more than one, and now they’re doing it again.

Meg: Yeah.

Leah: We’re doing it again?

Meg: Yeah. So, excuse me, with our… with our weekly conversations and… and updates, I think we’ve gotten to a point in our conversation where we’re both better at who we refer to the other person.

Leah: Bless you. Oh, dear.

Meg: So it’s been really fun to get to know your style.

And… and to come to realize that your leadership style with your people is very similar to how I work with my people in getting clarity to their future opportunities. What are some of your favorite tools to use with your…With your candidates, to help them get clarity.

Leah: I want to step back a minute and say, yes, it’s… we are on the same page, because when I talk to somebody about your… talking to you about franchising. And I am very clear to say she’s not a salesperson, she’s a coach.

She’s not going to sell you something that’s not right for you, she’ll work with you, and even afterwards and forever, you will have this woman in your corner as a networker and a coach, etc. And I’m very clear about that, because sometimes when you go to buy something from somebody, if there’s a… buying something, especially if it’s significant.

Leah: People feel that they’re being, you know, sold. I said, this person doesn’t do that. So that’s part of what I do, I’ve done with everybody.

Meg: Thank you. My pleasure, it’s true, and…

Leah: And I don’t think we’ve… we would have come this far together if that were the case, but I could tell that right away, and that’s… that’s why we’re here.

Do you mean by what tools do I use, like assessments and things? Or just… I talk… I… I just… I talk. I mean, I’ve been doing recruiting so long that I just…

I just start a conversation and then just shut up and listen, and, you know, and we’ll jump in when I hear something interesting. Oh, tell me more about that, go into that in more depth. Why’d you make that decision? And that will give me a lot of information, you know?

Meg: I am asked that question, well, what kind of assessments are you going to do on me, and what kind of… this is a conversation. You can’t get context the kind of context that you and I both want is from storytelling, and getting them to tell us their story. What was their flight of the bumblebee? Where did they go where they really loved their boss? They loved the culture? Maybe they loved the culture and they didn’t love their boss.

Or just the opposite, what about their job? Why… why don’t… why… and when all the people I’ve talked to that I’ve sent to you who are fleeing corporate, why are you not going back? Tell me why… I mean, you’re out of a job, you need to get a job, you need to eat, you need to, you know, provide for your family.

There’s other… there are other options out there, but tell me why you don’t want to go back. It’s not… you know, I try not to… it’s not about shame, it’s about choice, like you said before.

Leah: Yeah.

Meg: Yeah, so it’s not so much about the tools that you or I use, it’s the engagement and trust building to get them to tell their story, which I believe allows both you and me to help them navigate or consider… Opportunities that were otherwise… they were blind towards.

Meg: Yeah.

Leah: Right. Nothing against McDonald’s, but it’s not McDonald’s, you know, nothing… it’s not a fast food restaurant, although you may have some of those, but I don’t think so. But that’s, you know, people have… people have biases towards owning a small business or a franchise, and they will say, oh, I could never do that, I don’t want to do…well, let me just tell you about this. And so then they go, and I don’t even know the whole, you know, range. I know some of your businesses.

But I talk about a few, and I talk about the benefits, and I say, you know, it’s gonna, you know, it’s gonna cost, and you, you know, and I talk about the first person I ever sent you who did so well in her first year that she became… yes, I know, I know, I know.

And…you know, I said, it’s worth… it’s worth conversation, you don’t know. And some people are open, and some people are not. That’s all.

Meg: Yeah, and for those who come to me, and it’s just not the right fit. I… I hope that by the time they come back to you, because I know that you stay engaged with them for a period of time, and sometimes it’s not all that long, but if it’s not right for them to own their own business.

I… I use that tool to get them to tell me something about you that I wouldn’t know from your LinkedIn. Tell me something about your upbringing.

That was eye-opening, that was ground-shaking, that really transformational for you, because you’re not going to put it on your resume. You can’t.

So how can I get to know my people better so that I uncover those layers that are otherwise hidden, because they have to fit in that silo of how the resume is going to get scanned through AI? It totally misses the human element of untapped skills, or long, unused skills.

That they just need the refresher to go, oh yeah, I really did like doing that. Storytelling.

Leah: It’s… everyone has a story. Everybody has a story, you just have to be willing to listen, and not, you know, just sit back and listen.

Meg: Well, that’s what I appreciate about working… working with you on the front end. Hey, I’ve got somebody for you, here’s the backstory.

Leah: Yeah. Well, we have fun, you know, we have fun, and we… I think we appreciate each other a lot, and each other’s perspective.

And we’re not so alike that… we come from different backgrounds, so that we’re able to share different points of view a lot, you know? So…

Meg: Good, clean fun, Leah. It’s good, clean fun.

Leah: Great, Meg! It’s great, it’s been.

Meg: And… How long ago did you join the First Friday Networking meeting, and what are the best things that you’ve gotten from that?

Leah: Hasn’t even been a year, I don’t think.

Meg: Okay.

Leah: Took me a while, maybe just a year.

Well, a couple of things. I love meeting new people, everybody has a story, so when there’s a bunch of new people there, you know, we get the list of email or LinkedIn connections, and I reach out to people.

Because you don’t know what you don’t know about somebody, you don’t know who they know, and you know, and some people are very open and receptive, and like, having a conversation doesn’t go anywhere, and sometimes it does.

Like, one of your contacts.

Referred me into another very, very active Networking group.

I’m… I’m meeting tens of… 20… so far, I’ve only been to, like, 2 or 3 meetings. I’ve met, like, 20 people so far that I… that I’m building my… my line of two things. My pipeline of candidates, my pipeline of perhaps business owners, so I can… I can help them scale their organizations, help them grow their organizations by placing people with them.

Meg: Do you participate in other networking groups?

Leah: Yes, I do.

Meg: And so, in your line of work. How do you keep your… well, I guess, how do you keep your pipeline full?

Leah: I don’t know how I… I don’t always… no. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. What were you asking?

Meg: when you were self-employed, and now as a 1099… I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

Leah: Both.

Meg: Sometimes you… right. So, what do you do? And I’m thinking about one of the gentlemen who was on the networking meeting this morning. He came for the first time.

Leah: Oh, okay.

Meg: And we were talking about intentional networking.

Leah: Oh, I’m sorry, I missed that. I would have jumped all over that.

Meg: And so, I’m going to interview him shortly for the… for this podcast, because it’s something that’s meaningful to both you and me, and as we’re working with our candidates, how are you getting yourself out there? How are you creating…

Leah: meaningful connections with people. I know that the… that my First Friday group.

Meg: provides that for you, to some extent, and you haven’t been there for that long, but we are bringing new people in, and it’s…

Meg: It’s so dynamic and fun to see… I… because I can see it in the chat. I can see who’s connecting.

Leah: Right, right.

Meg: It’s awesome.

Leah: So, how… how do I get myself out there? Well, first of all.

Meg: Yeah.

Leah: LinkedIn, I have 8,500 connections. I mean, it’s a stupid number. It’s a stupid number. I just… it just feels so strange.

But when peop… I am… I am accepting more in…

Leah: Listen, I’m accepting more invitations now. But it’s true, I am meeting… I am meeting more people now, because people will reach out, and in the past, I may not have, you know, accepted, or may not have, you know, responded to having a conversation. I am talking to all of these people now that I’m reaching out. Like, I would say 80% of the people I’m getting invites from

I’m talking to. I mean, if they’re not people I know already, like, people I work with.

And I am meeting a wide range of people, and again, I’m looking at them as a candidate pool, and I’m looking at them as small business owners that can use my services, both, and I pitch that. I definitely, you know, I definitely do, because I know I can help them, and I know in several ways.

So a lot of it is, like, you reached out to me on LinkedIn, a lot of these people reach out, and I just hop on it, and I have, I don’t know, 4 or 5 calls a week. I want to have it… I want to be… I want it to be more.

Then when I go to these networking groups like yours, both happen to be the first day in the month, so they’re the same week every month.

And I… and… and I reach out, or people reach out to me, and we all… you know, everybody’s there for networking. That’s why they’re there. So, we reach out to each other. And it works sometimes, and sometimes it doesn’t.

Meg: But I keep a very long… it’s getting to a very long list spreadsheet, and I just…

Leah: Keep, you know, keep in touch with people. And a few…

Meg: I love that. Yep. I know.

Leah: A few of them I call, you know, I’m trying to keep calling some a few times, just to keep up the relationships, so…

Meg: Another gentleman on the meeting this morning, I was so glad he said it, if you’re not showing up, then you’re gonna be forgotten.

You have to show up.

Leah: Network or no work is what a career coach… I didn’t make that up, somebody else did, I don’t remember who, but network or… a lot of these people coming through my program, so many of them are so… I want to say shy, but they just can’t get out there.

And what I tell them is, I say, okay, I like… really love LinkedIn, I’m going to show you a lot of things on LinkedIn that you may not see elsewhere, and I love networking, and I will rant about it. I will rant about it on every call, because in this market, it’s one of the most important ways to… to get connected and to find work.

And… and then I tell them that I’m building a business through networking, and they say, well, you live in the city. I said, no, all my networking so far is online.

I talk about you, and I talk about this… I said, and I met somebody in her group that reintroduced me to another group, and then I went to another group. Everything I’m doing is online.

couldn’t do that before the pandemic. I mean, I hate to say the pandemic was horrible, but…

We created this online… online networking presence.

Meg: Yeah, and to the people who say you cannot create real relationships virtually, then that’s your own head trash, and that’s too bad.

Leah: All you have to do is go to chat, GPT, and say tech networking groups, and it comes up with about 30. And I do that with every single one of my student groups. Okay, now who of you is going to call all… go on and research all of these?

And when I get them back the following two weeks… two weeks later, yeah, I reached out to them, but they were… the meeting’s already happened. Well, what about next month?

You know, right around next month. So… It takes work.

Meg: Yeah!

Leah: work, as we know.

Meg: for anybody listening, if you’re in transition, Leah is my go-to girl. We do have resume people, we’ve got other… other people all the way around, but having referred… now.

Enough people to you who’ve come back to me and said, wow, that was…

Meg: Working with Leah was really awesome.

Leah: It’s really appreciated.

Meg: Yeah.

Leah: But, yeah, no, I have a couple of new ones now. My daughter’s, at her daughter’s birthday, had a friend from college, and she said, you know, I’m really thinking about moving…

Can I call you? I said, of course! You know, you’re one of my daughter’s bridesmaids? Yes, you can call me anytime.

Leah: And we had… and then she referred me to a friend of hers who’s looking. So it’s as easy as opening your mouth and starting the conversation. And I know some people are introverts, or they’re worried about… They’re scared.

Meg: But for the one… work with the willing, is what one of my colleagues says. Work with the willing, and you don’t have to push too hard on it for people to say, okay, I… I will try that. Meaning networking. And it’s not so much…

what’s in it for me is who can I meet, and what relationships can I create where they will become meaningful conversations. So there is a little bit of finesse to it.

Leah: You can keep this on here if you want to, or edit it out if you choose. I moved up to Albany 8 months ago, and I needed a haircut at the time.

And I went into a random place, and I was talking with a young woman behind the counter, and she’s writing down my information, and she’s typing. I said, yes, I just moved here.

And I need, you know, I need, oh, where’d you move from? I said, well, I was in Ulster County, and from where? Oh, Brooklyn. I was like, oh, I’m from Brooklyn. So we started talking, and I said, what brought you up here?

And she said, oh, I just graduated from university in Albany. And I said.

I’m a recruiter. What did you study? And she said, technology. And that’s when I said, I’m a recruiter, I waited, and I said, I’m a recruiter, and she looked at me. She’s typing in my appointment information in a hair salon, and she’s a tech graduate.

And she looked at me, and she right away wrote out her email and handed it to me, and I…

Reached out to her the next day.

Now, I didn’t have anything for her, but that doesn’t matter. It’s the process. You don’t know when you’re going to meet somebody.

Meg: Well, you are… thank you so much for making time for me today. You are a delight, and I love our conversations every week.

Leah: Jim.

Meg: Keeping… thank you. Keeping the conversation going.

We’ll put your contact information, because I know that there are people who are going to listen to this and say, maybe I should be reaching out to Leah, so we’ll make sure that your information gets in there. Okay, wonderful.

And thank you so much for making time for me today, and I hope that you have a phenomenal weekend, and I’ll let you know when this episode is going to launch.

Leah: Okay, thank you so much. It’s a joy to work with you two.

Meg: Thank you. Grandma. Grandma.