The Work Is Simple. The Effort Is Not.

Sometimes I question whether my work is meaningful.

I love recruiting. I love building relationships. I love helping someone find a better opportunity.

But I still have moments when I wonder what it all means.

Then I read an article by Ethan Strauss called How to Make Money in Sports Media Without Really Trying (With a Lot of Effort).

Ethan writes about surviving in a sports media industry that has been falling apart around him for years.

His formula is pretty simple.

Figure out what you do well.

Find something valuable that other people don’t want to do.

Then do it consistently.

He references Mark Cuban selling garbage bags door-to-door when he was young. It wasn’t glamorous work. I doubt Cuban dreamed of becoming a garbage bag salesman.

But people needed garbage bags.

And he was willing to knock on the door.

I know something about that.

I’m a cold caller.

And I’m proud of it.

There. I said it.

Cold calling isn’t sexy.

Nobody is building a personal brand around sitting in an office, dialing strangers, getting sent to voicemail, and hearing “no” repeatedly.

There isn’t much content to create from someone hanging up on you.

It is uncomfortable.

It can be monotonous.

Some days it can beat the hell out of your confidence.

That is exactly why most people don’t want to do it.

And that is exactly why it still matters.

Recruiting has changed.

We have better data, better technology, automated outreach, artificial intelligence, and countless tools designed to make the job easier.

I use some of those tools.

I’m not against technology or AI. That would be ridiculous.

Technology can help me identify the right people. It can organize information, improve research, and save me time.

But it cannot make the call for me.

At least not in the way that matters.

It cannot hear the hesitation in someone’s voice.

It cannot recognize when “I’m happy” really means “I’m scared to consider leaving.”

It cannot understand the history behind a relationship.

It cannot tell when someone needs a pitch and when they just need another human being to listen.

It cannot build trust by continuing to show up long after the first no.

You can automate outreach.

You cannot automate a relationship.

And somewhere along the way, recruiting has become so focused on efficiency that we’ve started trying to remove the most human part of the job.

The actual conversation.

I don’t want to automate the contact out of a contact sport.

There are very few recruiters who are still willing to make cold calls every day.

Not one big call block when management is watching.

Not a burst of activity when the pipeline is empty.

Day after day.

Call after call.

Voicemail after voicemail.

No after no.

Most of the calls don’t lead anywhere immediately.

That’s the truth.

Some people don’t answer.

Some aren’t interested.

Some tell me they’ll never leave their company.

Some of those same people answer a year later and tell me my timing is perfect.

That doesn’t happen because of a clever automated message.

It happens because I made the call.

Then I made another one.

I remembered what they told me.

I stayed connected.

I treated them like a person instead of a production number.

That is the work.

For a long time, I may have been too hesitant to say that with confidence.

Cold calling can feel like the bottom of the recruiting food chain.

It sounds more impressive to talk about strategy, market analysis, talent acquisition systems, artificial intelligence, and recruitment marketing.

Those things have value.

But eventually, someone has to pick up the damn phone.

Someone has to be willing to interrupt a stranger’s day.

Someone has to risk rejection.

Someone has to start the relationship before there is a relationship.

That’s me.

This is what I’m good at.

I know how to talk to people.

I know how to listen.

I know how to recognize when someone is saying one thing but feeling another.

I know how to stay in touch without treating every conversation like it has to end in a hire.

And I’m willing to do it more consistently than most people.

That isn’t arrogance.

It has taken me a long time to say what I’m good at without immediately trying to soften it.

I’m a damn good recruiter.

A major reason is that I’m willing to do the work other people avoid.

There is meaning in that.

Not because every cold call changes someone’s life.

Most don’t.

But occasionally, I reach someone at exactly the right time.

Someone who has been quietly questioning whether they’re still in the right place.

Someone who has lost confidence.

Someone who wants to grow but doesn’t know what opportunities exist.

Someone who needs to hear that another path may be available.

A phone call can become a conversation.

A conversation can become trust.

Trust can change the direction of a career, a family, a branch, or an entire market.

But none of that happens unless someone is willing to make the first call.

Ethan’s article reminded me that meaningful work doesn’t always look meaningful while you’re doing it.

Sometimes meaningful work looks like waking up early and writing when nobody is watching.

Sometimes it looks like selling garbage bags door-to-door.

Sometimes it looks like calling another loan officer after the last five sent you to voicemail.

The work doesn’t have to be sexy to matter.

It has to be needed.

The world will keep finding easier ways to reach people.

I’m good with that.

I’ll use the technology.

I’ll study the data.

I’ll improve my process.

But I’ll keep making the calls.

Day after day.

Because mortgage headhunting is still a contact sport.

Because people still want to talk to real people.

Because relationships still require someone willing to go first.

My name is Matt Wagner.

I’m a cold caller.

And I’m damn proud of it.