- female, probably young given the unique spelling of her name, honest and likable like most gatekeepers. She’s in the business to answer people’s questions, regardless of stupidity at times, and to be sweet about it. Forever helpful to you this sunny day, my name is Nichole; what is your command?

- she simply answered your deliberate, direct, easy question. You gave her a precise number. Ah, she knows that number. Ding! Here ya go, Shariby!!

- you mimicked her tone, inflection, pitch. You so know you did. She liked you. You always sound like mom. Nichole likes her mom.

- 2 simple questions = 2 simple answers and she gets back to figuring out how to do summations in Excel using that dang Sigma symbol.

- Bet you sounded a bit ‘tired’, a bit weary from no one, including Delores, really trying to help you. She knows Delores and where Delores hides to smoke during each of her breaks. Oh, nasty habit she thinks in the back of her mind. Oh, but I like Delores and I’m helpful so I can help Delores with this one.

- people (especially us women) have an innate ‘need’ to help people. So, when people preface… well, just about anything with “Can you please help me?” Or, just simply asking “Who is yada, yada, yada?” people will answer you.

-Maureen, when was the last time you asked someone “Can you please help me?” and they looked at you and replied curtly, “No.”? It doesn’t happen. Although, we sourcers always have the inborn (inbred??!) FEAR of rejection. It’s just part of our nature. Yikes.

- so, like you told me… over my shoulder while in my (very small, glad you gave me a breathmint ;->) Walmart cube “Teresa, if something happens that scares you, hang up.”

- You waited for sweet Nichole to ‘spill’ till you hit Abudanza. So, I wrote the word on a piece of paper and taped it above my phone. S-P-I-L-L. So, after you asked Nichole a very concise question, you just shutup, didn’t you? And, that’s a bit hard for you. But, you do it in a very powerful and commanding fashion. Silence scares people, especially on the phone. (okay fine, OR on a first date)

- Randy Maez, Senior Management Recruiter at Walmart fortified this for EXACTLY the Nichole’s of our sourcing world. He told me to tell him exactly what I was saying when a person answered. We had worked out this little deal and we were diggin it. When, I would hit Abudanza, I would put the person on hold, stand up on my chair, and peek over my cube wall to Randy. Hey boss, gots me a live one here. Take it! Line two! We rocked as a team. He GOT sourcing. So, as any good employee, (great boss though!) I told him. I muttered something and he commanded me to shutup. Yes, the person in the adjacent cube peered over. Oh my, my boss just told me to shutup. Nichole answered your question because you poised yourself, shot your arrow, and shutup, right? Am I gettin’ close her, Maureen… cause its the middle of the night and I’ve been dialing for dollars??! I digress. And when Nichole went silent on ya (think submarine here), you thought the word ‘spill’ in your weary mind, over and over. I don’t utter another word. Now, don’t me wrong, I’m doin’ your ‘stinkin’ thinkin’ in that Nichole is transfering me to legal where they will call my boss and demand my death. No, Nichole is simply reviewing her handy lil’ roster (Sweet Delores made a copy for her on Nichole’s first day in engineering! Do I hear ‘promotion’?)

- Nichole answered your question because, come on, engineering doesn’t get a whole lot of calls, especially from women. And usually, Nichole has no clue what the answer is…. Ah, but this. Oh, she’s got this. Snap!

Maureen, your answer is this. Nichole answered your question because you understand, on an integral level, the science of social engineering. We are social engineers and this CAN NOT be taught; it can only be honed and gently refined. That being said, you can teach someone tools. But, if they won’t pick up the phone, you can’t make them. Been there, tried it. No can do.

I’ll shutup and head home now; very little progress this night:

I once called into a company looking for someone in IT. Finally, a guy in the IT dept. picked up. Ugh. “Hi, Greg. Boy, I’m sure hopin’ you can help me out here. I’m almost at my wit’s end and my boss needs this info SO yesterday. Are you the only one left over there too on this Friday afternoon? I’m with ya, brother. So, who is the manager of IT network security?”

Then, I shutup, like a good sourcer should. Silence awaited me. Wait… easy… wait for it… steady now, easy as we go. But, there was an unusually long pause. Yikes! Then, I received a response which in my 14 years of recruiting, had never received.

Greg told me this. “Teresa, you are a social engineer.” Then, HE shutup.
Oh my! Mayday, mayday. Cap… over here, SOS. I repeat, SAVE OUR SHIP. Abort, abort. But I didn’t. I was too shocked to hangup, honestly. Someone out there had just called my bluff. Who this be???

Greg was a very highly skilled, top security-clearance full-on IT Network Security officer for a very formidable company in constant fear of many… countries… of being hacked. Then he told me that for years he had been awaiting this type of call. No headhunters (hate that term) had ever reached his phone before. And then, he detailed for me this social engineering thing. What it was, what it’s all about, and how he’d finally encountered a ying to his yang. “Teresa, allow me to be blunt here. And no, don’t be scared. We’re cool. I get this… might dare I add, probably better than you will ever know, understand, and comprehend. I stake my entire career … and reputation… on keeping people like you, Teresa, OUT of my company. And, I will endeavor to always do it, continually. I, like you, am passionate about what I do. You’ve been doing this for some time but you’re still a bit scared. Yes, I heard it in your voice. I’m trained to listen… and to think. I am also a social engineer. But, I’m your enemy and well, that’s okay. Neither of us would have a job if we thought otherwise, right?” Greg and I became very good friends. Even tried dating for a bit! When I would wear out at 4 in the morning, Greg was the person I called. And, he got through EVERY SINGLE time. He taught me to keep being passionate about what makes me happy and gives me kicks. SOURCING. And, to do it each and every time with abundant ferocity. And then, as quickly as he came, Greg vanished. Yep, into thin air. No trace.

(Shally and I might argue on Skype tomorrow on if that is truly possible).

Wow.

So Maureen, you NEVER know if Greg or Nichole is going to pick up. And, we are in a social and inprecise discipline. There are really no guarantees to this type of work. Sometimes, it’s the first call or first email or first online search, etc. And then sometimes, you pull an all-nighter, completely lost (yes, it’s 3:24A.M.). And, you’re in the middle of nowhere. Alone and a bit forgotten. And no one has a clue as to the places you’ve been, the sites you’ve seen that day.

Ah, but we always come back for more, don’t we Maureen? And you call sweet Nichole yet again… tomorrow morning (right after her first cup of coffee at about… 8:43A.M. Deliberately before she has a chance to remember that dang Sigma icon in Excel) Watch the clock, Maureen. Wait for it… steady. Okay now! Pick up the phone! (thx. greg)