Please help me welcome Luke Brown as the newest Sr. Business Development Manager to the Harmer family.  Luke joins us out of Brilliant after having a very successful 10-year career run with Apex in Chicago.  Luke has come full circle in the industry from Recruiting to Account Management to Leadership, thus creating several solid long term relationships that he will continue to leverage to help grow our Harmer Consultants business.  Luke attended the University of Denver, is originally from Rhode Island, grew up a huge Patriots fan and lives in Lake Bluff with his girlfriend Sara and his two children Cole and Madi.

We’re giving you a special chance to get to know one of our key 2017 hires –

Harmer: What’s the most interesting thing about you that we wouldn’t learn from your resume alone?

I was fortunate enough to play for the Mount Saint Charles Academy men’s hockey team between 1993-1996.  Mount hockey is not only a local/regional powerhouse out of Woonsocket, RI but is also considered one of the best high school hockey programs in the country. Our program won twenty-six consecutive state titles from 1978-2003 along with six national titles and saw twenty Mounties drafted into the NHL (I was not one of them-hence the staffing gig). The team has been coached by the famous Bill Belisle for the past 42 season, and he is still behind the bench at the age of 87, capturing his 1,000th victory in February 2017.  For your viewing pleasure, you can watch the documentary Ice Kings that was released in 2006.

While my high school days get farther and farther in the rearview mirror, I do find that the older I get, the more I appreciate how unique it was to be part of a legacy and to achieve at the highest level at such a young age and its certainly shaped who I am as an adult and a sales professional.

Harmer: Who do you aspire to be like in life?

I have looked up too many different people throughout my life, but without question I would say my mother.  Her hard work, her unconditional love, her passion, loyalty, and dedication are all traits that I try to uphold consistently in my life. 

Harmer: We hear you’re a big Rush fan, what would you name their next album?

Oh, man, the greatest prog rock band of all time.  This is tough so I sought help from my 10-year-old son.  The next Rush album coming out in October of 2018 will be titled:  FutUres

Harmer: What led you into tech and recruiting back in the day?

Back in 2006 I was working at a Chase bank, retail location, and my previous boss had come into the branch looking to transfer over all his accounts.  We got to talking and hit it off. I found out what he did for a living, and the next thing I knew I had an interview lined up with him and his team.  Before I knew it I found myself screening .NET and Java developers in a recruiting chair!

Harmer: Growing up, did you ever envision yourself working in the staffing industry? What was your dream job when you we’re little?

Upon graduating college, I moved to Boston.  I went to a staffing firm by the name of L&L Associates seeking assistance in finding employment and they ended up offering me a job on the spot.  The company specialized in placing administrative and executive assistants. I accepted the offer and began my staffing career.

When I was little I dreamed of being a professional hockey player playing for the Edmonton Oilers and lacing them up with the likes of Gretzky, Kurri, and Fuhr.

Harmer: How do you work in the IT Staffing Industry and not drink coffee?

Good question! I don’t touch the stuff! I find more satisfaction in complaining about being tired all the time.

Harmer: What’s one thing you would do to change the staffing industry?

I would eliminate the VMS/MSP Programs that are NO Manager contact programs.  In all my years of selling IT professionals to my clients I have found that building strong trusted relationships with direct hiring managers is the goal.  This is 100% a relationship business and without that you are just another vendor in the vendor pool.

Harmer: What’s the weirdest job you’ve ever had?

I was a trash man for a summer in Denver.  I worked for a company called Trashbusters.com.  I would go to people’s homes all over the Greater Denver area and remove unwanted items.  Strangest thing, an elderly woman had her garbage in a nice neat pile in her driveway, I’m thinking I can just back the truck up and this will be a quick and easy job. There was large sheet in the middle of some larger items, I went to grab the sheet and it was heavier than expected.  I lifted the sheet and it was her dead German Shepard.  I had to let the customer know that we do not remove pets that had passed away.

Harmer: How do you define success?

By contributing to something that is bigger than you. Making an impact on growth or maturity of a team or organization.

Harmer: If you could live on an island with 3 of your sports heroes, who would they be and why?

Wayne Gretzky—Because he is the Great One!  He was my idol for years and It would be a blast to just sit and talk with him about his life and career.  We could also play a bunch of golf together on this Island.

Tom Brady—Because I am a huge Pats fan and he does everything right.

Leo Messi—The Greatest footballer of all time-playing soccer on the island with him would be an unforgettable experience.  What a foursome on the golf course that would be!