Who says business luncheons are a waste of time? Recently, I enjoyed one of the most productive business luncheons of my career. In February, I was dining with two senior-level professionals at an IT staffing firm. After the usual chitchat about the recent snowstorms and traffic snarls, we started to talk about business. I asked some opening questions.

“How is business? What's going well for you right now?”

The branch manager responded, “The market for entry-level IT professionals who have strong problem-solving skills is very strong. We're running pretty hard now.”

Next I asked, "What is the biggest pain point preventing you from taking the business to the next level?"

The branch manager immediately replied, “We need more qualified people to generate more business.”

“Really," I said. “Could you share in more detail why you need more qualified people?”

The sales manager stated, “We need more people to help us process more candidates through the hiring pipeline.”

My next question was, “How long does it take to process a candidate from opening to placement?”

 …