The Resilient Recruiter (Recruitment Coach Mark Whitby)
Explore every episode of The Resilient Recruiter
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09 Jun 2023 | Recruitment Startup Success: How to Bill $1,200,000 in 15 Months, with Mike Williams, Ep #177 | 01:03:44 | |
Starting a recruitment agency is hard. Being a great recruiter is no guarantee you’ll be a successful business owner. There are thousands of competent, hard working recruiters who struggle when they go out on their own.
That’s why my next guest, Mike Williams, is so remarkable. In his first 12 months, he billed $900,000. He’s now up to $1,200,000 since he started the business 15 months ago.
Mike is the founder and President of Carnegie Partners, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He’s a manufacturing and engineering recruitment specialist. I’m honored to count Mike among our clients here at Recruitment Coach.
You’ll enjoy hearing Mike’s journey because he reveals some of the secrets to his success while being honest about the moments of self-doubt that we can all relate to.
One of the things Mike has mastered is creating original content on LinkedIn as a key part of his business development strategy. In this interview, Mike shares how to generate content ideas and posts consistently on LinkedIn. Plus we discuss the importance of posting videos to engage with your target audience.
Mike has an impressive track record as a top producer. In his first 5 years in agency recruitment, he won "Perm Rookie of the Year" plus President’s Club 5 years in a row. He then founded Carnegie Search in February 2022.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Hitting the Ground Running - Making a Successful Transition from a Recruiter to a Recruitment Business Owner
How was Mike able to hit the ground running so fast in his transition from a top recruiter to a recruitment business owner? “I think the biggest thing was a little more strategic, which was the niche that we defined … and the geographical area where I decided to do it.”
Mike’s approach was very analytical, studying the industry trends and looking at the cities with the highest growth. This research even influenced where they decided to live. He explained, “I knew that I liked working locally and meeting the companies and the candidates in person because I felt like it gave just a leg up on the rapport and relationship building.” I think this was a smart move. When I was a recruiter running a desk, we always insisted on visiting our clients in person. Aside from building rapport, as Mike also mentioned, meeting up with clients is a “good litmus test of how serious they are about working with you.”
Posting on LinkedIn to Build Your Brand and Develop New Business
Mike is good at cold calling and routinely makes cold calls to both clients and candidates. However, he also leverages LinkedIn as a key component of his business development strategy.
Mike is a firm believer that you can win clients through LinkedIn. You will hear an amazing story about how Mike received an inbound enquiry from a VP of HR at a billion-dollar company because of a story he posted on LinkedIn. That senior executive became a client and gave Mike a lot of repeat business, which might never have happened without that LinkedIn post.
Mike also shared how consistent posting helps build a “continued relationship” with potential leads that you may have a cold called before. Here are things that you will find insightful in this section of the episode:
Why You Need to Post Videos on LinkedIn
What I also admire about Mike’s LinkedIn strategy is how he is not shying away from posting videos. What is his thought process in creating video content? He shared two things:
When was the last time that you created and posted a video on LinkedIn? If you want differentiation, increased engagement, and to demonstrate expertise, posting a video is something you can start. In our coaching group, sharing ideas and best practices for posting video content is a recurring discussion topic.
Our Sponsors
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Mike Williams Bio and Contact Info
A former top biller for a publicly traded recruitment firm, Mike successfully built a direct hire practice from scratch, earning Rookie of the Year and Presidents Club honors. He was a perennial top 5 producer nationwide, competing in a group of hundreds of recruiters each year.
An avid networker, passionate career counselor, religious Wall Street Journal reader, and overall headhunting evangelist, Mike has spent years building the skillsets to successfully attract top talent.
Mike founded Carnegie Partners with the vision of a search firm that would have the following differentiators. A Democratized Structure – An employee-owned company where everyone is eligible for equity partnership. A Culture of Success: Core Values of Continuous Self Improvement and a Determination to Succeed. World Class Service: A client-centric approach that aims to fully understand our clients and bring their stories to our candidates.
People and Resources Mentioned
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| 04 May 2021 | Recruiting Success: How to Bill $700k+ While Achieving Work-Life Balance, With John Schlegel, Ep #65 | 01:05:20 | |
Success in your recruitment business requires a lot of effort and commitment. If you’re being honest with yourself, are you working too hard for too little return? What if you can still be successful, and at the same time spend time on things that matter most? My special guest, John Schlegel, openly shared strategies that helped him be truly successful in his solo-practice while “having a life.” From mindset, and utilizing contract recruiters, to building meaningful business relationships, you will hear valuable insights and best practices that may help you balance work with your personal life. John is the CEO and Founder of Stonebridge Search in Austin, Texas. He places professionals in the financial advisory services arena, for global and boutique consulting firms, PE firms, investment banks and accountancy firms. Episode Outline and Highlights
Going Solo and Getting the Right Balance How can a solo practitioner bill $700k+ and still have a life? John started his firm in 2009 and says it took a while to come up with the right mix and balance. Some of the successful strategies he put in place include:
Can you relate to the above practices? In our conversation, John further discussed specific steps he took in applying the above strategies. Establishing Contract Recruiter Relationships One of the major contributors to John’s success as a solo practitioner is his relationships with contract-based specialists. The core idea behind this strategy is to compute your yearly revenue, convert it into an hourly rate, then delegate tasks that would cost less than your own hourly rate, and focus more time on those activities that enable you to earn more revenue. This is how John puts it: “One of the things that I learned from Jordan Rayboy, who is a great friend of mine… He shared this on the episode he is on with you, where he talks about if you make X amount per year, and you extrapolate those hours out that you are gonna work, say $300 an hour, what are the activities that are $300 or less that you are spending your time on every day? And I thought, he is right, I am spending 60% of my time on things that are less meaningful than I should be.” Some of the practices he shared are employing seasoned specialists, utilizing 1099 arrangements, and splitting the fee. Listen to the interview with John for full details. If You Are Working Too Hard... So how do you get things done and spend more time on your personal well-being, family, and other meaningful non-business/work-related activities? I asked John what advice he can give to someone who is able to successfully attain his job targets but is working too hard. John shared two suggestions:
Hear John’s experience on what made him focus only on tasks that are productive. John Schlegel Bio and Contact Info John Schlegel is the CEO and Founder of Stonebridge Search in Austin, TX. He places senior professionals in the financial advisory services arena, with specific expertise in service areas such as Valuation & Opinions, Dispute Consulting, Forensic Services, Restructuring & Turnaround, and Transaction Advisory. His clients include accounting firms, global and boutique consulting firms, private equity firms, and investment banks. In addition to John's search experience, he provides support for mergers and acquisitions within his specialty areas, both on the buy-side and sell-side. John is a member of the prestigious Pinnacle Society, the premier consortium of 80 of the leading recruiters in North America. Membership is based upon the stringent criteria of verifiable industry success, ethical standards, expertise and experience. John holds a B.A. in Public Relations from the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Oklahoma. He lives in Austin with his wife and four children. People and Resources Mentioned Connect with Mark Whitby
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| 17 Aug 2021 | How to Build a World-Class Talent Development Program, with Ann Swain, Ep #90 | 00:54:06 | |
One of the common factors that fast-growing recruitment companies share is that they invest in their people. To attract great recruiters, maximize their performance and retain them as pillars upon which you can build your business, you need a solid career development program in place including excellent training and development. What does a world-class talent development program look like? I can’t think of anyone better qualified to answer that question than my special guest, Ann Swain. Ann is the Global CEO of APSCo, an international trade body representing the recruitment sector with operations in the UK, Germany, Singapore, and Australia. Ann has over 30 years’ recruitment experience, and co-authored the best-selling Professional Recruiter’s Handbook. Episode Outline and Highlights
What Does A World-Class Talent Development Program Look Like? Ann is passionate about talent development and making the recruitment sector into the profession it deserves to be. The two are interrelated, and should be brought together in order to maximize your team’s performance and attract great people. With over 30 years’ career in recruitment and global talent development, what does a world-class career and talent development program look like for Ann? She laid out the following pointers:
To conclude, Ann said, “I think from a development program, it goes beyond training, it goes to mentoring, it goes to personal development across the board in things that are not only about recruitment and skill sets necessary, but as an individual - how you can grow throughout your career.” Creating Pathways to Greater Diversity Working my way through Recruiter Magazine’s Hot 100 List, I noticed that there are only around six women on the list of Founders and CEOs, which I thought as an industry we could do better. I took this chance to ask Ann, as someone who made it to the C-suite, what she believes we can do to create pathways for more women to the top. She shared a very interesting insight. Ann said, “I’ve been involved in ‘Women in Recruitment’ for a very long period of time and we have done research every year, to see whether that figure has changed. It hasn’t changed enough and there are definitely things we can do.” One of the things they found is that “we lose women from the recruitment market, not all of them but a big percentage.” And what could be the reason? Cultural fit. Listen to how Ann further elaborated this aspect and how we can do better as a sector in terms of gender balance and diversity. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Ann Swain Bio and Contact Info Ann Swain is the Global CEO of APSCo, an international trade body representing the professional recruitment sector with operations in the UK, Germany, Singapore and Australia. Ann has over 30 years’ recruitment experience and is co-author of the best-selling Professional Recruiter’s Handbook. In 2009, she was honoured to receive a fellowship from the NSPCC and in 2014 she joined the Executive Committee of Women in Recruitment. In 2018, Ann received the prestigious Leadership Award from the Trader Association Forum and features in Staffing Industry Analysts Global Power List of the most influential women in professional recruitment. An acknowledged thought leader, Ann features regularly in the national, HR, business and recruitment media and is a popular platform speaker at conferences around the world. People and Resources Mentioned
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| 25 Jun 2021 | How to Create a High Performance Culture that Promotes Work Life Balance, with Jonathan Keen, Ep #77 | 00:53:58 | |
How do you build a £20m recruitment business? It starts by hiring, retaining and developing good people, of course. But the glue that holds everything together, and lifts the business from good to great, is company culture. In this interview, Jonathan Keen shared how he creates a high-performance culture while promoting a healthy home-work balance. Jon revealed so many fantastic insights for recruitment leaders, from providing extra holidays, fostering a safe space for people to share their true thoughts and feelings, to adopting a qualitative approach to management. Jon is the CEO of Cognitive Group, a company he founded in 2007 at the age of just 25. Since then, he built Cognitive into a £20m business with a team of 21 and offices in the UK and Germany. Cognitive is a Microsoft talent expert and has placed over 2000 professionals into Microsoft projects on both a permanent and interim basis, building leadership teams and supporting digital transformations. Episode Outline and Highlights
Starting Was Not Easy - Jon’s Journey Jon moved from South Africa to the UK at age 20 - with £1,200 in savings, no degree, or experience. A friend referred him to join the recruitment industry and the rest was history. After five years, at age of 25, he launched Cognitive and eventually built the company to around £20m. It was easier said than done though, and like all successful business owners, he also had to go through some difficulties and challenges which can be a foundation for valuable learnings. Jon shared how he almost lost his business in the early years because of cash flow. He offered an honest and realistic perspective on the stress of running a successful business and how it can affect our physical and mental well-being. Jon also did not hesitate to share his key learnings: never risk everything and beware of being complacent in client relationships. Mental Health Awareness, Work-Life Balance, and Building a High Performance Culture As we went along in our conversation, one of the main topics we discussed is being aware of your mental health - why it is important to both personal and professional aspects of your life. I really admired Jon’s transparency and courage when he shared how he dealt with depression. For sure, we can learn a lot from his journey. I had to ask Jon, how is he able to build a high-performance culture while protecting his team from burnout? He shared very insightful approaches on how he handles work-life balance for his employees. The gist of it, in Jon’s words, is “bringing your physical and mental health to the top of your priority list.” He shared two practices that you may want to consider if you have a recruitment business:
Hear how these approaches actually resulted in a massive increase in their productivity. Bringing the Best Out of Your Team Another interesting thought that Jon mentioned is uncovering your team’s motivation and bringing the best out of them. It is no question that if we know our team’s motivations, we can help them to achieve their goals. So what is Jon’s approach to knowing his team’s motivation? Jon said leaders must “show that your intention is to genuinely help them. When someone can feel that they're in a safe environment to speak openly, that the answer that they might utter isn’t quite the answer between a sales leader and salesperson. It can be “Actually I’m not sure whether this is right for me,” and you can genuinely say ‘let’s talk about it’.” Very well said indeed. Jon further elaborated by sharing two takeaways:
Jonathan Keen Bio and Contact Info Jon is the Founder and CEO of Cognitive Group - a team of experts in Microsoft talent and staffing specialists across Azure, D365, Power Platform, Data, Analytics and AI. Jon is an experienced recruiting leader, 18 years in the Microsoft tech space helping customers build their teams and building a super productive, driven and balanced team at Cognitive. Jon is dedicated to building and inspiring a leadership team that is committed to delivering the best candidate and client hiring experience by nurturing a progressive company culture that not only supports, but actively encourages all forms of diversity and inclusion internally, and in the way they engage with candidates and clients. Connect with Mark Whitby
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| 26 Aug 2022 | How to Grow a Wildly Successful Executive Search Practice, with Somer Hackley, Ep #139 | 00:57:11 | |
To build a thriving executive search practice, you need to be good at winning new business. However, my special guest Somer Hackley realized early in her recruiting career that traditional approaches to business development didn’t work for her. Instead, Somer developed her own way of landing retained searches. Her approach has proven to be highly effective, enabling her to become a top producer at two of the world’s biggest retained executive search firms. Her strategy involves, as Somer puts it, “doing BD by not doing BD.” I was intrigued by the apparent contradiction. Somer explains that while she doesn’t perform pure business development activities, “everything I do is BD.” In this interview, Somer reveals her top three ways of winning work. Somer has been in recruiting for 20 years, the last 14 in executive search. In 2020 she launched her own firm called Distinguished Search. Having worked for some of the biggest executive search firms in the world, she wanted to work with fewer clients and offer more personalized service. Somer is the author of the new book, Search in Plain Sight - Demystifying Executive Search which was published in June. Episode Outline and Highlights
BD by Not Doing BD “I do BD, you can either say a hundred percent all the time or zero percent all the time, depending on how you are looking at it.” For Somer, business development traditionally was transactional - connecting to the higher-ups of potential clients and setting appointments. This formal approach did not work for Somer as she describes her communication style to be more casual. When Somer went on her own, her mindset was “I work with people” – she doesn’t think of them in terms of clients vs candidates. She never contacts executives with the sole intent of getting business. “I just reach out to people and I think every time I am talking to a person, this could be a client in 3 months, it could be a client in 5 years. So, how do I position this conversation so that when that role opens, they think of me for that?” Somer shared her approach to segmenting her clients into three buckets:
For Somer, business development is really simple. She focuses on the human connection and ensuring her processes work for her candidates. She finds that when her candidates have a hiring need, she’s the first recruiter they turn to – even if she didn’t place them. Video Content Idea: Two Distinguished Minutes Creating video content and posting consistently to different platforms such as LinkedIn is the easiest type of content marketing you can do. It does not cost anything - all it takes is for you to start and eventually more ideas will come for your content. This is exactly what Somer has been doing consistently with her videos - Two Distinguished Minutes. The idea came up when she watched Simon Sinek’s TED Talk about starting with WHY. She approached leaders in her network with a compelling idea. Will you record a video interview with me and answer the question, “Why do you do what you do?” It’s a topic that senior leaders were enthusiastic about, and because her videos are only two-minutes long, even the busiest executives could make time for it. I’ve studied and practiced content marketing for 20 years - before it was even called content marketing. So I enjoyed discussing how Somer comes up with her content ideas. I hope it will inspire you to start creating your own original content and positioning yourself as an authority in your market niche. Search in Plain Sight: Demystifying Executive Search Somer is the author of the new book, Search in Plain Sight - Demystifying Executive Search which was published in June. In this book, Somer shares a candid view of the world of executive search. I have read this book and it is fantastic! I am also honored to be interviewed by Somer and be in the few pages of the book (Chapters 6 and 14). I really recommend reading this book - it was really extensively researched with so many case studies and indeed a must-read for executive recruiters. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including: funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, backoffice support, marketing and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.cm/vc Somer Hackley Bio and Contact Info Somer Hackley received her degree in economics from Tufts University in 2002. She has been in recruiting for twenty years, including the last thirteen years in executive search. She spent six years at the seventh-largest global retained search firm, and later ran the North America Digital, Technology, and Commerce Practice at a leading boutique. In 2020 she started her own brand, Distinguished Search, inspired to launch a firm aligned with her core values: working with fewer clients and offering more personalized services. She has placed executives in companies from Fortune 100 to startups, with a focus on technology and digital positions. The need for transparency in executive search led to her debut book, Search in Plain Sight. People and Resources Mentioned Connect with Mark Whitby
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| 20 Apr 2021 | Winning is Everything: How to Grow Your Business by Leveraging Recruitment Technology, with Eloise Sutton Kirkby, Ep #63 | 00:52:49 | |
Are you a small to mid-sized recruiter who wants to beat the big boys and be recognized as a market leader? Or perhaps you’re super-ambitious and dream of expanding your recruitment business nationally or even globally? In either case, you’re in for a treat as I interview Eloise Sutton Kirkby. Eloise is the Co-Founder and Director of Growth at Vincere, a market-leading all-in-one ATS CRM which is run by ex-recruiters. Vincere means “to win” or “conquer” in Latin, and they specialize in weaponizing recruiters through tech. Eloise believes that recruitment technology levels the playing field for scrappy underdogs to win against their bigger competitors. In addition to her knowledge of recruitment technology and automation, Eloise shares her hard-won insights gleaned from scaling her company to 80 employees and offices in 5 countries. Episode Outline and Highlights
What Processes Should Be Automated with Recruitment Technology? Being in the recruitment technology space, I asked Eloise if she can give an example of a workflow or part of the recruitment process that can be successfully automated. This is how she responded, “I think for mid-sized recruitment firms … the area of automation that is weak usually is between the front-middle-back office.” She further elaborated, “Around your pay and bill systems, collecting of time from your candidates. Often what we see is that placement is made in the CRM, pushed out to the pay and bill software, and never seen in the CRM again. So the consultants don’t know if timesheets have been submitted if they are paid on that timesheets coming in and that is kind of important and that is just one example of how data is being siloed between different teams in a mid-sized organization.” Inbound Marketing Strategies Eloise and her team focused really heavily on product development with the sincere belief that word-of-mouth will do the marketing for them. Eloise recalls, “What we have really woken up to is the fact that we don’t really need to spend a lot in marketing. We don’t want to have a massive sales team, that is not us. What we do want to do is to have our customers not see us as a vendor, to see us as a partner and as part of that partnership, they will be our marketers.” So what marketing strategies do they effectively employ? Some are as follows:
Hear our discussion and sharing of practices on how to strategically use LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Resilience in Adversity I also took the opportunity to ask Eloise on what would be the most challenging experience and how she faced the challenge. She shared a very moving personal story which I believe you will find interesting. Best to hear it from Eloise in this episode. Eloise Sutton Kirkby Bio and Contact Info Eloise is the Co-founder and Director of Growth for Vincere, an all-in-one platform for recruitment and staffing agencies worldwide. She started her career in recruitment as a consultant with Michael Page in the financial sector. She had experience working in Leeds, Tokyo, Singapore, and is now based in Saigon. Eloise is also the host of the Contract Recruiter Podcast which focuses on the world of Contract Recruitment. People and Resources Mentioned
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| 26 Jun 2020 | How to Build a €130M Staffing Business in Emerging Markets, with Gerard Koolen, Ep #25 | 00:50:43 | |
If you have ambitions to scale your staffing business, it’s important to understand both the opportunities and challenges involved. Even if you don’t plan to grow a huge recruitment business, I suspect you’ll learn a lot from my special guest, Gerard Koolen. Gerard is the owner of Lugera, a multinational recruiting and staffing agency operating in 9 countries in 30 offices with 400 internal staff. In this interview, he shares the highs and lows of his entrepreneurial journey that lead to building a €130M Staffing Business. Gerard holds nothing back and Gerard reveals his strategies, mindset and philosophy of investing in both people and technology. Episode Outline and Highlights
Marrying Recruitment and Technology Gerard is a firm believer that innovation is key and sees the value of HR technology, especially with his own staff. Instead of focusing on repetitive tasks, technology helps his sales staff to focus on selling. As he puts it: “Technology helps us to do much more than without technology. We really learned the great lesson that when you are in recruitment, even if you have so many great people working for you, help them with great technology.” A great example that Gerard shared in our conversation is how he came about developing STAA, or Sales and Talent Acquisition Application. Nobody in Silicon Valley wanted to invent the technology to cater to the idea Gerard was presenting, and so he was forced to have it developed on their own. After spending more than €1.5M and 4 to 5 years of development, it finally went live. What was the result? In Ukraine alone, they were able to triple the number of placements. Increasing Employee Loyalty Back in 2009, Gerard was forced to let go of 100 employees in Romania due to the economic crisis. The next day, it was amazing 30 people came back, saying that they still want to help and they will work for free. They were eventually rehired, and because of their help, they were able to maintain their revenue. What created such loyalty in the team members that they were willing to work for free? This is what Gerard said: “We are not in it for the money. We are in it for helping people. We really like what we do. Although we are professionals and we need to get paid, but we are there for our people, for the candidates, for the clients. That is why people love to work with us.” Gerard Koolen Bio and Contact Info Gerard is the owner of Lugera, a multinational recruiting and staffing agency. Gerard started Lugera in Slovakia in 1996 and is now operating in 9 countries in 30 offices with 400 internal staff. Lugera is focused on Permanent Staffing, Temporary Staffing, Payroll & Outsourcing generating revenue of €130M. Gerard is crazy about helping as many people as we possibly can with a better job. He is help driven, he thinks that innovation is key and is a front-runner in innovative HR technology.
If you are interested to be a partner in using STAA, get a 50% discount for listeners from the podcast by emailing gerard.koolen@lugera.com and mentioning Mark Whitby People and Resources Mentioned
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| 04 Feb 2020 | Scale Your Recruitment Business Through Team Development and Automation with Mark Smith, Ep #9 | 00:50:01 | |
More and more agencies are proving that you can successfully scale your recruitment business by utilizing team development and automation tools. What does the development process look like? Can automation truly open up your time to focus on revenue-producing activities? Mark Smith, the Managing Director of people2people, has spent the last 15 years implementing these processes. He’s articulated values for the business culture and has developed and retained a team of successful recruiters. people2people has quickly grown into one of the leading agencies in Australia and New Zealand. In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Mark will share some of the strategies that have helped him scale people2people to the point it’s at now. He’ll talk about managing against your values, motivating and developing your team, their automated chatbot “Pete”, and much more. Don’t miss this engaging and educational episode. Outline of This Episode
You need to define your culture’s valuesAs Mark was scaling his business he began to question if his company’s values were staying consistent across their 110 locations. He wanted to definitively know if the culture in his Brisbane office was the same as in Melbourne. After some reflection, he decided his business had reached a point where it was time to articulate their values. While researching, he found was that his offices were relatively consistent—and he was relieved. But Mark wanted to forge ahead with his endeavor to fully define what they strive for as a company. He and his team landed on an acronym—STRIDE: Strength (resilience), Teamwork, Respect, Integrity, Drive, and Enterprise—that they would use to define their values. With a description firmly in place, they could begin to manage everything against their values. They had a way to evaluate if potential hires line up with their beliefs. Mark’s company, people2people has since implemented a monthly meeting to talk about wins and performance. They host a yearly STRIDE awards event where people from each office are nominated. They have STRIDE apparel and posters as visual reminders of their values. They’ve found an effective way to implement their team values internally, and Mark believes it greatly impacts their success externally with customer relationships. Mark has found success in the power of team developmentPeople2people now has 110 staff and 8 different locations in Australia and New Zealand. Mark noted that scaling the business wasn’t easy. When the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) hit, there was a downturn in Australia. He couldn’t attract experienced recruiters and had difficulty hiring externally. So he rallied and decided that he would develop his own team into recruiters. When he chose that path for his business it meant he had to develop a process for training. He wanted the customer experience to be the same across the board. But if he was going to develop his own team from the ground up, he wanted to limit staff turnover and increase longevity. This takes hard work and dedication and fully enforcing the values they built the company on. Because of his effort, 35 of his employees have been with the business for longer than 5 years. Mark develops his team through succession planning. He has staff trained and ready to step up if a senior consultant moves on. How does he achieve that? His preferred method is to assign a para consultant to a senior consultant in the business. They train with the senior recruiter and handle administrative responsibilities. Mark has found this is the best way to implement team development. Keep listening as he shares what the ideal para consultant looks like and the criteria he uses to determine if they’re ready for their own desk. Scaling your business utilizing automationWhile Mark does have a back-office, he’s always striving to keep the bulk of his company’s workforce revenue-producing. For him, that means utilizing the latest technology to take on most administrative duties. Enter Pete—people2people’s chatbot. Previously, Mark had rotated para consultants to answer questions on their website. Now, Pete answers most of the 400+ questions they receive weekly. Of those 400 questions, Pete only transfers approximately 30 conversations to a human being. Implementing a bot to answer questions is just one way Mark has opened up his employees’ time. He also uses his chat-bot to speak with potential hires. They’re able to interact and chat with Pete to knock out some basic questions that would be asked in an interview. Pete can wrap up administrative details and all of the information gathered is input into their system. Mark points out that some people have whole departments to handle processes that his chatbot can do. Implementing automation may be expensive, but can save you money in the long run. It allows you to hire fewer people and gives you a more scalable business. It opens up your time to win new business. With everything he implements, Mark is always questioning whether or not it is scalable and will help grow the business. Keep listening to hear other ways Mark is using automation and how he addresses ongoing challenges he sees in the recruitment industry. The core of the business will always be client relationshipsAlthough Mark wholly believes in implementing technology and automation to streamline his business, he agrees that there will always be a place for the human element. Bots can’t understand motivations, career aspirations, and certainly can’t sell an opportunity. But by implementing bots and technology, Mark has freed up his recruitment team to focus on activities that bring in revenue and the ever important customer relationships. It’s also why he’s focused tirelessly on team development to ensure they’re living out the companies core values. He’s struggled through difficult situations where he’s had to part ways with top-earning recruiters because they didn’t espouse the values he’s built the business on. The rest of the team sees that he has taken action and reinforces those values. They see that he is willing to lose revenue to back those beliefs. Mark states that “Success is not only defined by the numbers of dollars or pounds you put up on the board”—It can also be measured in the ongoing relationships recruiters have developed with clients. Connect with Mark Smith
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| 05 Oct 2021 | How to Partner Successfully with Human Resources, Talent Acquisition and Hiring Managers, with Katrina Collier, Ep #98 | 00:59:42 | |
As agency recruiters, we are often required to collaborate with multiple stakeholders including hiring managers, HR and Talent Acquisition. This can be incredibly challenging and frustrating - especially when there’s a lack of cooperation or a breakdown in communication. To facilitate an efficient and successful recruitment process, we must find a way to engage all the stakeholders. So how could you collaborate effectively with your client’s HR, Talent Acquisition and hiring managers? My special guest, Katrina Collier, will answer this question. Katrina Collier is on a mission to end the collaboration chaos existing between HR, recruiters & hiring managers, to better recruitment and the candidate experience. She is the author of The Robot-Proof Recruiter, a global keynote speaker, and host of The Hiring Partner Perspective (Unedited) podcast. Episode Outline and Highlights
Challenges When Collaborating for Recruiters and Hiring Managers From Katrina’s point of view, what are the underlying challenges that can affect collaboration among these stakeholders? Two points were shared:
How can the above challenges be neutralized? Hear Katrina’s pragmatic advice. Mindset Shift to Partnership and Collaboration Equal and mutually respectful collaboration is the ideal scenario for recruiters and hiring managers. Recruiters need to think of themselves as equal partners in the recruitment process, instead of just focusing on a “customer service” type of mindset. Here is what Katrina said, “Get out of your head and into your heart.” It always goes back to the human factor - we are dealing with humans. Human skills are now more relevant than ever! In this episode, you will hear why. Building and Gaining Trust From Candidates As we are dealing with human beings, we need human skills to connect with candidates. So what’s the best way to build and gain trust as recruiters? Katrina mentioned important factors such as:
Improving Your Response Rate When Contacting Candidates In line with the above, patience is indeed needed when we seem to be getting minimal response from potential clients and candidates. How do we get people to respond? Katrina emphasized the importance of considering your own profile and brand. Do you look like someone who is worth connecting with and speaking to, someone who could add value and provide expert insight? She also mentioned that although LinkedIn is the mainstream platform when searching for candidates, you should leave LinkedIn. I am sure it was an overemphasis, but to Katrina’s point, there are other platforms we can consider when engaging with talents. On top of that, she also gave pointers on how to rethink your approach in engaging your candidates. Hope for Justice Katrina also shared a charity organization that she fully supports, Hope for Justice. She shared how this non-profit organization impacted her life and how it impacts others. If you wish to know more about Hope for Justice, please visit their website in the links below. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Katrina Collier Bio and Contact Info Katrina Collier is the owner of Katrina Collier Limited . She is the author of The Robot-Proof Recruiter, a well-loved global keynote speaker, and host of The Hiring Partner Perspective (Unedited) podcast. Enticed by a newspaper advert in 2003, she started her career in recruitment. She spent 5.5 years in an agency and then 18 months in-house. She started teaching social recruiting and sourcing. Tweeting, blogging and, later, The #SocialRecruiting Show led to unexpected notoriety. This opened up opportunities to work with companies and recruiters all around the world, and even to deliver talks on 5 continents. She is also an Ambassador for Hope for Justice charity, and you’ll find her on LinkedIn and on Instagram & Twitter @KatrinaMCollier.
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| 27 Apr 2022 | How a Recruitment Business Launched, Scaled and Sold for $12,000,000 in 5 Years, with James Caan, Ep # 123 | 00:59:18 | |
Have you ever dreamed of starting and scaling up a recruitment business to the point that you could achieve a successful exit? If so, you’re going to love my interview with James Caan, who joins us for his second time on the show. In this episode, James walks us through how to successfully launch, scale, and exit your business. His insights are backed up by his track record as the founder of Recruitment Entrepreneur, the world’s leading private equity firm specializing in recruitment start-ups and scale-ups. RE has been successfully operating in 60+ countries and has currently invested in 45 recruitment businesses. You will hear a case study of how one of Recruitment Entrepreneur’s partners was able to launched, scale, and sell their business for $12m in just five years! James is an investor, a serial entrepreneur, and a former panellist on the hit TV series Dragon’s Den. He founded two recruitment companies with combined revenue of £1B. Episode Outline and Highlights
Launching, Scaling and Selling a Recruitment Business for $12M in Only Five Years Since its founding in 2014, Recruitment Entrepreneur’s goal is to help founders and owners of recruitment businesses to globally, launch, scale, and exit their recruitment businesses. James shared a superb case study on how they worked side by side with James Absalom, CEO of Walter James recruitment. Below is the chronology of his success:
You will hear James walk you through the process - what do you need to start? What is the thought process in deciding when to scale? How do you grow the billing? How do you attract talent? These are a few of the golden nuggets that you will hear in this episode. If you are strategizing on launching, scaling and exiting your recruitment business, you will enjoy our interview. How to Create and Enhance Your Recruitment Business’ Value James’ recruitment and entrepreneurial experience bring invaluable insights when it comes to enhancing businesses under their portfolio. You will hear James reveal specific key pointers for success. How do they create value and further enhance recruitment businesses to set it up in a profitable exit? “The single factor to success and scale is having the ability to attract and keep people,” James stated. He further elaborates on specific focus areas that founders would need to work on to make their business scalable and successful. James added, “First thing is, we don’t back markets, we don’t back sectors, we don’t back products. We back people, and that has been the mantra of my entire working life and it has never failed me yet.” Must Haves to Make Your Business Scalable and Exit-Able If you plan to scale and exit your recruitment business, you will hear the following key takeaways from our discussion:
You will find James’ take on the above elements definitely insightful.
Our Sponsors
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained James Caan Bio and Contact Info James founded private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw in 2004 and joined the panel of heavyweight investors for BBC’s Dragons' Den in 2007. His main focus is on charity work, current investments, growing Hamilton Bradshaw and mentoring entrepreneurs to help ensure their success. With a passion for building businesses and backing talented people, he has been building and selling businesses since 1985 and thinks it is important to invest in people rather than products or businesses. James is a great believer that it is people who create a successful business through their passion and conviction, with a firm belief that “It’s your attitude, not your aptitude that determines your altitude”.
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| 12 Nov 2022 | Personalized Service as a Success Factor in Recruitment Business Growth, with Frido Diepeveen, Ep #151 | 00:57:16 | |
If you believe in providing personalized customer service, you’ll love my interview with Frido Diepeveen. In this episode, Frido shared his wealth of experience from 17 years in recruitment and how his Dutch-Hungarian upbringing influenced his service-oriented approach toward his clients and candidates. Born in the Netherlands, Frido trained as a lawyer before discovering his true passion in recruitment and executive search in 2005. That’s when he joined a recruitment firm and helped the founder grow to 55 employees before selling it to Randstad in 2010. After the transaction, he remained on the board as Commercial Director and helped the new owner achieve 20-30% year-on-year growth. He stayed with Randstad until 2018 when he decided to start a new recruitment firm from scratch. Frido is now the MD of Diepeveen & Partners, a boutique search firm with a team of 15 based in Budapest, Hungary, and serving clients in North America and Europe. Episode Outline and Highlights
Loving the Recruitment Profession Before becoming a recruiter, Frido worked in banking - first as an in-house counsel and then in a commercial role as an account manager. It was in 2005 that he found his true calling as a recruitment professional. In 2005 he was asked to join a recruitment firm in a start-up phase, called ProfiPower. Founded by Dutch-Hungarian entrepreneur Ilonka Jankovich, he later became an equity partner and they were able to build the business into a market-leading recruitment firm in Hungary. Prior to selling it to Randstad in 2010, they had a team of 55 employees! What were the factors that led to such rapid growth? Frido shared two factors:
What Does Delivering a Personalized Service Look Like? How does Frido define personalized service? Pretty much all recruitment firms will say that they offer personalized service to their customers.
Fido explained their approach, “Many of my clients have become personal friends over the years… Being personal to me means that you should not see an assignment as one of the many but you should consider it as a unique job that you are so lucky to get to work on.”
Frido elaborated on his commitment to client service. For example, he always meets his clients in person regardless of where they’re located. That involves lots of international travel. Why bother jumping on a plane to see a client when he could meet on Zoom or Teams? He explained how his mindset on personalized service builds chemistry and long-term relationships with his clients and candidates which eventually results to repeat business.
Quality Over Quantity In 2018, Frido started his own recruitment firm from scratch - Diepeveen & Partners International. He leveraged his experience and learnings from his previous organizations. His own firm is rooted in the solid philosophy of quality comes before quantity. This philosophy not only guides the organization on the services they provide to their clients but on how they handle their own employees as well. They ensure that their 15 team members are not overworked and assigned reasonable assignments - improving their quality of work and output.
Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including: funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, backoffice support, marketing and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Frido Diepeveen Bio and Contact Info Frido is the founder of Diepeveen & Partners. Having obtained a law degree in international and civil law (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), he started his career in 1998 as an in-house lawyer at the head office of Abn Amro Bank in Amsterdam. In 2001, Frido moved to Hungary, continuing his finance career at another Dutch financial institution, ING Bank. During this time, he had the opportunity to gain a deep understanding of the Hungarian financial sector and to become fluent in the Hungarian language. After four years of back-office as well as front office positions, he found his true calling.
In 2005, he started a career in HR consulting and (executive) search. From 2005 to 2010, Frido co-owned and co-managed the recruitment firm ProfiPower that went on to become Hungary’s market leader in 2008. In 2010, the firm was sold to a listed company, which has since then become the world’s largest HR services company. After selling ProfiPower, for seven successful years, he continued as commercial director of the newly merged company. He then founded Diepeveen & Partners in 2018. They have now expanded globally and specializing in specific fields, such as SCM, Pharma and Professional Services.
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| 29 Dec 2020 | Recruitment Entrepreneur: How to Start-Up and Scale an “Exit-able” Recruitment Business, with Abid Hamid, Ep #48 | 00:50:28 | |
If you had the chance to speak with a highly experienced and successful investor about scaling your recruitment businesses, what questions would you ask? In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, I had the opportunity to interview Abid Hamid, the Group CEO of Recruitment Entrepreneur - one of the most successful investors in start-ups and scaling recruitment businesses. Since 2014, they’ve invested in over 30 talented founders, enabling those founders to launch and scale successful business ventures. The group has annual revenues of £45m and is growing at 140% per annum. From his vantage point, Abid has tremendous insight into why a small minority of recruitment businesses are able to scale successfully and outperform the market. I asked him, “What are you looking for in a founder that then determines whether or not you will invest in them?” Hear his response to this question and all the other insightful answers to topics covering scaling your recruitment business, embracing the new normal and reality, people management, and adapting to technology. Episode Outline and Highlights
Embracing the New Reality Having multiple business portfolios, Abid has a great vantage point on how companies should embrace the new reality after the pandemic. One of the changes he is advocating for is looking at an output contract rather than the hour’s contract. He explained, “I think leadership should change its concept that nine to five is what people do. The hours contract, 40-hour contract, 30-hour contract, I think it’s a thing of the past. What you should have is an output contract.” Although this may appear counter with the way businesses have been running in the last 20 years, he laid out valid points on why this makes sense. Would you consider an output-driven contract versus an hour’s contract setup? “Who makes the cut?” In the last four years, Recruitment Entrepreneur has invested in 30 founders running 22 different businesses. However, that’s a small percentage of the enquiries they receive. In the last 12 months alone, they received 700 business plans from aspiring entrepreneurs and did deals with less than 1% of them. I asked: “What are you looking for in a founder that then determines whether or not you will invest in them?” Abid told me “Number one, it’s the individual. Why are you sitting here? What have you got in your head that you want to create?” Abid used the analogy of building your dream house and how it translates into a founder’s vision for building a business. Abid then described their process for screening a potential business partner. People Management - a very Delicate Balance As obvious as it sounds, people management is a critical part of business success. Abid actually described it as “a very delicate balance of allowing your people to flourish within certain parameters.” He also elaborated on leadership and how to mentor and guide people. Some great examples that he gave are:
Abid Hamid Bio and Contact Info Abid is trained as a lawyer, worked in corporate banking, and has been in the recruitment sector for the last 20 years mainly in management and leadership roles. He had worked globally within the recruitment sector and a highly experienced business leader with a wealth of experience in various industry sectors and difficult geographies around the world. Abid had held various board positions from start-up to FTSE 250 Listed company and is currently Chairman and NED for 19 companies.
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| 23 Jun 2022 | How to Make Better Placements with Performance-Based Hiring, with Lou Adler, Ep #131 | 00:54:59 | |
If you want to make more (and better) placements, you owe it to yourself to study “Performance-based Hiring.” The creator of Performance-based Hiring is Lou Adler, and I’m excited to have him on the podcast to learn from his four decades of recruitment experience. In our interview, you will hear Lou’s philosophy on figuring out the “performance objectives” for each role, instead of simply focusing on the skills that are needed. Lou’s models, examples and anecdotes are rich with insights for agency recruiters who want to gain the respect of hiring managers and get better results for their clients. With over 40 years in the recruiting industry, Lou's company ‘The Adler Group’ has trained over 40,000 hiring managers and placed over 1500 executives for many of the fastest-growing companies with clients including Disney, General Dynamics and Paycom. Lou has over 1.4 Million followers on Linkedin and is one of the top bloggers on LinkedIn’s Influencer program writing about the latest trends in hiring, employment, and recruiting. His articles and research have also been featured in Inc. Magazine, Business Insider, Bloomberg, SHRM, and The Wall Street Journal. Lou is the author of ‘The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired’ and the Amazon top-10 best-seller, ‘Hire With Your Head - Performance-Based Hiring to Build Outstanding Diverse Teams.’ Episode Outline and Highlights
The Sherlock Holmes of Recruitment Lou has had a diverse experience in his career, from becoming a nuclear missiles engineer to running manufacturing companies as a financial analyst. It is in recruitment that he found his calling. Lou’s background gave him a unique perspective when he joined the industry. This led him to invent what’s now known as the ‘Performance-based Hiring' model. In this interview, you will hear out-of-the-box ideas that you may find useful in your own recruiting practice. Some of these are:
His insights are invaluable and I am sure you will find them beneficial. Ask the Right Questions Lou is famous for the concept of the “One Question Interview.” You will hear the interesting story of how Lou came up with this idea. The logic behind it is very straightforward - how would a candidate identify broken processes? How would the candidate solve it? What has the candidate accomplished comparable to how he responded to the two previous questions? Lou used the analogy of peeling an onion when describing this approach which is the basis of the evidenced-based and performance-based hiring. In fact, the process can be outlined as follows:
It does make sense that this pragmatic approach can increase the probability of hiring the right candidate by focusing on accomplishments without emotional bias. The Most Important Piece of Technology in Recruitment You may also be intrigued with Lou’s perspective on the most critical piece of technology in recruitment. With Lou having around 1.4m followers on the platform, is it LinkedIn? Is it high-end CRM platforms? Here is what Lou said: “I did my last LinkedIn Talent Connect where I have thousands of people there. They talked all about this great technology. So I spoke in the afternoon to a sub-group… and I said ‘you know there is one piece of technology that nobody talked about. As far as I am concerned it is the most important and nobody… it is right here. It is the phone. You got to talk to people. To me, high-tech is not going to cut it. You got to combine the best of high-tech with high-touch.” Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting up or scaling up and exiting your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc Lou Adler Bio and Contact Info Lou Adler is the CEO and founder of Performance-based Hiring Learning Systems – a consulting and training firm helping recruiters and hiring managers around the world source, interview and hire the strongest and most diverse talent. Lou is the author of the Amazon top-10 best-seller, Hire With Your Head (John Wiley & Sons, 3rd Edition, 2007), The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired (Workbench Media, 2013) and the Lynda.com Performance-based Hiring video training program (2016). His current “Diversity Hiring without Compromise” initiative is focused on developing a colourblind hiring process that ensures the best people get hired regardless of race, religion, age, sexual preference and physical challenges. Lou is one of the top bloggers on LinkedIn’s Influencer program writing about the latest trends in hiring, employment, and recruiting. His articles, quotes and research can now be found in Inc. Magazine, Business Insider, Bloomberg, SHRM and The Wall Street Journal. The company’s new mobile-ready learning platform – Win-Win Hiring Learning Systems – provides instant access to all of the tools needed to find and hire outstanding talent.
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| 30 Jun 2021 | From Recruiter to CEO: How to Fast Track Your Recruitment Career, with Jonathan Field, Ep # 78 | 00:57:05 | |
Do you have the ambition to achieve extraordinary success in recruitment? Whether you’re a recruiter building a desk, a manager building a team, or a director building a company, you’ll get tremendous value from my interview with Jonathan Field. Jonathan is the Joint Group CEO of Shilton Sharpe Quarry (SSQ), a leading international legal recruitment business headquartered in London. SSQ has 100 employees and was recently ranked the UK's #1 Professional Services Recruiter by the Recruiter Magazine. With humility and candour, Jonathan shared his own journey from lawyer to recruiter and ultimately to the C-suite. We also discussed hiring, managing and retaining top performers, and what distinguishes a really good recruiter from an exceptional one. Plus Jonathan revealed how to “step up your game” and become a trusted advisor to your clients. Episode Outline and Highlights
Rapid Career Progression Jonathan’s career has involved some key transitions. Having been a qualified lawyer at a prestigious firm, he fell in love with recruitment and joined SSQ in 2007. Later he transitioned from being a 100% fee earner to Joint CEO in 2019. He describes how a combination of factors enabled him to progress quickly, including hard work, timing and an element of luck. Jonathan admitted that transitioning to the Joint CEO role was especially challenging. He shared some of the mistakes he made when he stepped up to the C-suite, and what he learned from them. For example, at first he tried to do everything himself instead of leveraging his very capable management team. Once he learned to let go, he got better results with less stress. Hiring Recruiters - What Should You Look For? With a team of excellent recruiters, SSQ recently ranked as the UK’s no.1 Professional Services Recruiter by the Recruiter Magazine. So I asked Jonathan what we should be looking for when hiring internally? He stated a number of mandatory criteria, such as:
Building a High Performing Team with Multiple 7-Figure Billers Jonathan shared that SSQ has multiple consultants billing seven figures. So what distinguishes a really good recruiter from an exceptional one? For Jonathan, there is a thin line between a really good recruiter and an excellent, brilliant recruiter. He said, “The bit that will then separate good recruiters from brilliant recruiters is their ability to be more than just recruiters.” He then further elaborated, “They have the ability to digest, organize and synthesize information that allows them to be more than just transactional recruiters for their clients. And the way for you to get the best client relationships and get the highest value of work, and really become advisors to your clients is to make sure that you’re doing more than just bringing them good people. You’re offering them analysis on the market and you’re a reservoir of information on your particular market and that you can talk coherently and credibly and with insight into what’s going on.” To simplify the secret to their firm’s success, the advice he would give is to “just become the expert in what you do.” How to Retain Top Talent Having brilliant recruiters can be challenging, but engaging and retaining these top talents can also present some difficulties especially in a competitive market. So, how does SSQ do it? As Joint CEO, Jonathan found that what works best for them are the following:
Hear from Jonathan how this works for them and see how it can also be applied in your current set-up. Jonathan Field Bio and Contact Info Jonathan is the Joint Group CEO of SSQ - a leading international legal recruitment business headquartered in London with offices in Paris, Munich, Frankfurt, Madrid, Dubai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. Launched in 2003, SSQ has c.100 employees and was recently ranked the UK#'s #1 Professional Services Recruiter by the Recruiter Magazine. Born and raised in London, Jonathan trained and qualified as a lawyer in 2006 before leaving the law firm Allen & Overy to join SSQ in 2007. For several years, he was responsible for running part of the London business. He was later appointed Joint Group CEO in 2019 following a management buyout/group re-organisation. Jonathan still splits his time between running the business and advising the world's top law firms on their most senior and strategic lateral hiring People and Resources Mentioned
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| 04 Nov 2021 | How to Smash Your Targets and Become a Top Biller in 6 Months, with Zach Mayner, Ep #103 | 00:46:20 | |
This email instantly got my attention: “Since listening to your podcast, I’ve had an exponential increase in my billings numbers. The past 64 days, I’ve billed $286,550. I just wanted you to know that your podcasts add value, and have been life changing from a commissions perspective for me.” Usually I interview recruitment business owners. But based on Zach’s incredible results, it was obvious that I had to invite him onto the show and hear his story. Zach’s enthusiasm is infectious and I am sure you will find insight from both the perspective of a recruiter and a billing manager (Zach has recently hired two recruiters onto his team). If you are a business owner, you will be interested to hear how Zach’s current employer set him up for success. Zach has only been in the recruitment industry for six years and this year he has absolutely taken off like a rocket. He even had a four-month stretch where he billed an average of $100k per month! Zach is a Director at iRiS Recruiting Solutions out of Indiana and places travelling superintendents with Contractors across the United States. iRiS specializes in assisting companies hire top talent for Construction, Warehouse/Distribution, Power & Electronics, Retail, and Manufacturing. Episode Outline and Highlights
Confidence Changes Everything Zach shared how confidence helped him to put up big billing numbers. It helped him approach his day and business in a way where he can set his own table and choose clients he works with. “I am handling objections better on the phone, handling negotiations better, I don’t go below 25%,” Zach described. His no-nonsense attitude of “This is how I work - are you in or are you out” stems from his methodology and ability to deliver. During our interview, Zach shared key takeaways from his experience that greatly contributed to his success:
Sell Retainers by Creating the Demand Making 40+ placements already this year, one of the things Zach is doing differently is retainers. He moved from contingency model to what he calls “Resource Dedication Fees” and was able to secure four retainers this year. Why call it Resource Dedication Fees? It is a creative approach to rebranding retainers. Aside from overcoming any negative connotation that some clients may relate to the term “retainers”, their clients would have a clearer understanding of the retainer model from the term “resource dedication”. Another factor that Zach shared on why he sells retainers easily is by creating demand by putting forth high-level candidates. Hear the details from Zach in this episode. Stop Wasting Time - Focus on the Right Candidate Recruiters typically waste a lot of time working the wrong jobs on the wrong candidate. Zach’s philosophy is to try and cut that time out enabling him to focus on the right candidate for the right job. Zach shared a situation where many recruiters can relate - pulling a candidate out of the hiring process to stop wasting time and focus on more decided candidates. Zach said, “I think recruiters spend a lot of time … ‘I got two final interviews today, I wonder how it will go.’ You are just worrying about it. My thought is, hey, go hit the phone, the interview for today is from work you did yesterday or the week before. Let’s focus on what we're doing today for tomorrow and next week.” Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Zach Mayner Bio and Contact Info Zach works iRiS Recruiting Solutions out of Carmel, Indiana. iRiS specializes in assisting companies hire top talent for the following industries: Construction, Warehouse/Distribution, Power & Electronics, Retail, and Manufacturing. iRiS is one of the Top Recruiting Firm’s in the United States. Out of the 10 Account Executives currently on Staff, 5 have Billed over $400,000, 1 has billed over $500,000 and 2 are North of $600,000 since January of this year. Zach has been in the recruiting industry for 6 years, and started listening to the Resilient Recruiter podcast at the beginning of 2021. Since tuning in and heading the advice from industry leaders, Zach has made minor tweaks to his approach, and has increased his 2021 billings exponentially. This year, he’s had a 4 month stretch where he averaged over $100K in billings per month. Zach is currently scaling his business and has added 2 Recruiters to his team. He has a unique perspective on transitioning from one of the Top Billers at his company to managing a team of 2. He celebrated his 4th wedding anniversary in September with his beautiful wife Felicia. He has an almost 3 year old daughter named Estabelle, and another baby girl due in November. In Zach’s free time, he runs a Disaster Relief Ministry at his church that specializes in traveling to areas within the United States to provide financial support to families that have been affected by natural disasters. People and Resources Mentioned
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| 16 Sep 2021 | How to Scale Your Recruitment Business Through Innovation and Constant Improvement, with Edward Chamberlain, Ep #95 | 01:01:40 | |
For a lot of recruitment business owners, going to the next level and scaling their business can present unexpected challenges. But no matter how difficult you’re finding it to grow your recruitment business, I hope today’s episode will inspire you to never give up! My special guest, Edward Chamberlain, shared that by far his biggest challenge was scaling the business. In this episode, he shared how he was able to overcome a lot of obstacles you may also be facing now and build a really successful recruitment business from scratch, with no external investment. Ed is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Altus Partners, a market leader in Private Equity search with a team of 30 people. Ed also co-founded C&C search with his sister Lucy, an HR and business support recruiting firm. Both of these firms generate multi-million pounds in revenue. Previously, Ed was a founding member of Investigo (a Virgin fast-track business), which grew from a team of 4 to over 250 people, before its sale. He recently launched Stryve, an ATS that can help SMEs grow their businesses faster. Episode Outline and Highlights
Innovative Tools to Add Rigor to the Process As we talked about best practices, one thing I noticed is how Ed is constantly innovating and striving to add rigor to the recruiting process on behalf of the client. Ed breaks down his unique search methodology and highlights a few of the key elements:
You will definitely enjoy learning about how Edward’s focus on constant improvement has helped with client acquisition and scaling his businesses. The Challenge of Scaling A Business Ed is definitely a serial entrepreneur, but you might be surprised that one of the biggest challenges he had to overcome was scaling his business. He was very open about sharing his failures and learnings. You may be able to relate to some of these challenges. You will hear Ed’s advice on how to create a robust People Plan, replicating your effectiveness as a recruiter to your team, and why the retained approach works best for you and the client. Ed’s Advice If You Want to Scale So if there was one key piece of advice he would give to a business owner who wants to scale, what would that be? Ed said, “If you are going to start a recruitment firm, generally speaking you are going to be a salesperson or recruiter before that. Inherently what goes hand in hand in that is individuals that don’t like planning and often don’t like the administration piece. The bit of advice I would give to anyone is to make sure to go back and do that. Put it together, put your finances together, put a really good business plan.” Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Edward Chamberlain Bio and Contact Info Ed is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Altus Partners and has built an enviable track-record, over many years within Private Equity search. He has placed from Partner to Analyst level with a range of high-profile funds to emerging managers. His guiding principles of honesty and integrity have enabled him to build long-standing, trusted relationships with key figures in the Private Equity industry. Ed graduated with a BA Hons in Architecture before starting his career in Search in 2002. He was a founding member of Investigo (a Virgin fast-track business), which grew from a team of 4 to over 250 people, before its sale. He helped establish another search firm in 2006 (rather this name isn't mentioned ;) One Search) – before identifying a gap in the market and setting up Altus Partners in 2009. Altus Partners has become a market leader in Private Equity Search and continues to thrive today, placing c-suite professionals into Private Equity Backed Companies and also Investment Professionals into the funds themselves. Further to this he co-founded C&C Search with his sister in 2014, which places HR and Support Staff Professionals and has a training academy (launched to counter the pandemic), which has seen over 5,000 people enroll in their courses and has won corporate training contracts with the likes of Sony, Warner Brothers, Amazon and Campbell Soup. More latterly, and out of a desire to see small and growing companies recruit better, he launched an ATS - Stryve. He raised seed funding of £500k in March 2021 and launches the Beta product this month!
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| 06 Aug 2021 | How to Achieve Phenomenal Recruitment Business Growth Through Strategic Acquisitions, with Ross Eades, Ep # 88 | 00:58:35 | |
Business acquisitions can be a hassle and can present a lot of challenges - especially when it comes to the integration of management, culture, and way of working. My special guest, Ross Eades, believes that as challenging as it may be, strategic acquisitions can effectively lead your business to phenomenal growth! Hear his experience and approach on how he built recruitment powerhouse businesses and how he kept his current organization’s business growing despite the pandemic. Ross is the CEO of RED Commerce, a global leader in placing SAP professionals with 250 employees and six locations around the world. Prior to joining RED Commerce in 2018, Ross was the CEO of Horton Group International - a global executive search and leadership firm with 50 offices in 32 countries. Ross has a phenomenal track record as a CEO within the recruiting and staffing industry. Episode Outline and Highlights
Increasing the Business by Ten Times in Five Years One of Ross’s amazing feats when he was with InterQuest was growing the business from 10M to 100M USD in five years. So I had to ask him, what were the key success factors that enabled him to achieve that phenomenal growth rate? Ross responded, “I put a lot of it down to the focus of the teams we had and the businesses we bought in. The idea was to have a selection of specialist teams.” This ‘specialist approach’ contributed highly to the growth and success of InterQuest. Ross also added his thoughts and practices in growing a business through acquisitions. Mainly in three areas:
He also elaborated on the benefits and value of growing through strategic acquisitions. It is not easy to integrate new businesses, so best-practices and learnings from personal experiences to overcome difficulties were shared. Best to hear all these pieces of gems from Ross himself. Steering Through the Pandemic Ross eventually joined RED SAP Solutions. One of his notable accomplishments as CEO is steering the organization to success during the pandemic. The company is still doing an amazing job during the crisis and continues to grow. Were there any things they would have done differently? Ross answered, “I have not given it that much thought to be honest. There isn’t anything… I can’t identify anything that we haven’t done that if I had our time again last year we would have done. I think we were very quick to put the right things in place and to try and protect the business and as many people’s job as we possibly can.” So now things that are ‘normalizing’, what learnings or changes could organizations adapt to retain post-pandemic? I asked this question to Ross for RED, and his answer was definitely insightful. Hear his thoughts on a hybrid model of working in the office and remotely. Retaining Amazing Talents A key factor when growing your recruitment business is attracting and retaining great talent. This is definitely a challenge, ironically, to the recruitment industry. So if you ask Ross of the secrets in attracting and retaining talent, he mentioned these key factors:
In this episode, you’ll hear Ross explain these points in detail. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Ross Eades Bio and Contact Info Ross Eades is the Chief Executive Officer of RED Commerce and holds a seat on the RED Board of Directors. Ross joined RED in May 2018, with a wealth of recruitment experience in international blue-chip organisations. He has a successful track record spanning 24 years (as a CEO), creating growth, both organically and via strategic acquisitions, within the technology sector. Prior to assuming the Chief Executive Officer role at RED, Ross held the post of Chief Executive Officer of Horton Group International – a global executive search and leadership firm, with 50 offices in 32 countries. Ross spent several years building Modis Professional Services Group International into a £300m turnover, 800+ staff, European professional services organisation, with key brands Modis and Badenoch & Clark. Ross has taken a private business through an IPO to successful flotation and listing on the London Stock Exchange, as well as achieving a significant trade sale at a premium price. Previous successes include five years developing InterQuest Group plc from £10m to £100m+ in revenues, achieving all analyst profit expectations and four years completing the turnaround of UK staffing organization, Kellan Group plc.
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| 12 May 2022 | What’s the Secret to Sustainable and Profitable Recruitment Business Growth, with Mark Skinner, Ep #125 | 01:02:16 | |
An ironic fact about the recruitment industry is that we have a very high attrition rate and so much churn, which can often translate into a massive drain on profit and can be an impediment to growth. My special guest, Mark Skinner, shares how they set up a work culture which has led to their recruitment team having an average tenure of more than eight years.
Mark is the Co-Founder & Managing Director of CSC Recruitment, a construction recruitment firm founded in 2005. CSC has 25 employees with 3 offices and specialist teams dealing with freelance, permanent, and executive search with a thriving international division. Mark began his recruiting career in 1998. Episode Outline and Highlights
The Key to Having An Average Tenure of Eight Years If there is a secret to having a sustainable and profitable business that grows over time, holding on to your team members - especially the ones performing well - is important. Mark and I discussed how they take care of their people leading to their average tenure of eight years. Some of the key highlights of our discussion on this topic are as follows:
The last item is a very interesting topic we covered which is about building a culture of achievement. Building a Culture of Achievement via Company Conferences On top of hosting sales meetings six times a year to recognize top billers, Mark’s company also do what they call ‘company conferences’. Over 17 years, they have done around 40 overseas trips where they take everyone. These conferences are a testament to how they value the contributions of their respective teams. The basis of where they are going or how expensive the trip is going to be will depend not only on individual achievements but also on overall group performance. It Is Okay Not to Be Okay - Taking Care of Your Team’s Mental Health Another theme that stood out in our interview is how Mark is taking care of their team’s mental health. “Let’s face it millions of people said it before, the stigma is about it, a lot of people don’t understand it… when we found people that we think are happy go lucky… and you found out, hang on one second, they’re not and you try and help them. When the business was new, we didn’t have a lot of things in our toolbox,” is how Mark described how it was when they were just starting their business. Their commitment to their principle of “people come first” ensures that they have sufficient support from professionals. They made it possible for the people in their team to have someone to talk to 24/7 and if needed, therapists to give help. What if people are not covered by their healthcare provider because of pre-existing conditions? Mark’s company pay a significant amount to help that person. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
We’re excited to announce that Recruitment Entrepreneur will be sponsoring the podcast! If you’ve dreamed of starting up or scaling up and exiting your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Mark Skinner Bio and Contact Info Mark is the Co-founder & Managing Director of CSC Recruitment. He spent four years with Hays and Hill McGlynn (now Randstad) before setting up a construction division for a boutique agency and then establishing CSC 2 years later. A graduate in Economics and Politics from the University of Kent, Mark founded CSC Recruitment as a consultancy-led construction business to work with clients looking for a recruitment partner rather than a supplier.
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| 30 Jul 2021 | Recruiters Making an Impact - How to Sell the Value of What You Do, with Charles Cameron, Ep #86 | 00:46:57 | |
From changing people’s lives to creating positive social and economic impact, a career in recruitment can be a truly fulfilling experience. Despite the best intentions, you may still face the frustration of being perceived as a salesperson who is just after the fee, rather than what is the best for your candidate and your client. How do you change this perception? For Charles Cameron, it is all about defining and selling the value of what you do.
My special guest Charles is the CEO of RCSA Australia and New Zealand and Vice President of the World Employment Confederation, the global lobby group for the recruitment, staffing and HR services industry. In our discussion, you will hear Charles’ insights on the importance of genuinely professional recruitment consultants and how to sell that value to your clients. Charles also shared why recruiters will always remain relevant despite the continued rise of online and AI platforms and why cooperation in our industry will make us stronger and more influential. Episode Outline and Highlights
The Importance of Genuinely Professional Recruitment and Staffing Consultants A passionate advocate for labour market intermediaries and consultants, Charles is driven by the role professional recruitment consultants can play in inspiring people to be better through work. I took the opportunity to ask him about his thoughts on the importance of genuinely professional recruitment. As CEO of RCSA Australia and New Zealand and Vice President of the World Employment Confederation, his insights are remarkably relevant especially in today's economy. Charles stated, “I think great recruitment professionals have this ability to get inside the minds of individuals and find something that they didn’t themselves know was there.” He further explained that although it may appear easy on the surface - finding someone who needs a job and marrying them to the right client - it actually involves more than just that. “Getting inside their minds, understanding what it is that they have, how it is that we can assist them to transition skills from old economy jobs to new economy jobs, really then supporting them” Charles added. Hear more about how Charles wants to change the way in which people look at recruitment agents. Selling the Value of What We Do Charles firmly believes that what we as recruitment professionals change people's lives for the better. But the problem he sees is that we are unable to consistently sell the value of what we do as an industry. How do we sell the value of what we do as professional recruiters? He explained that we must first address why “You just don’t define your value particularly well… I think this all comes back to this notion that we sometimes don’t believe in that value ourselves.” Charles emphasized the importance to “[Not] stand back and just allow others to dictate who we are.” It requires stories about candidates involving human connection. In line with that, Charles shared the “NextGen campaign”, where they create materials for their members to use digital assets and stories to compel people to “change people’s lives while making good money along the way…”. Challenges and Opportunities Post-COVID Going back to Charles’ unique vantage point as Vice President of the World Employment Confederation and CEO of RCSA, I had to ask his thoughts on the biggest challenges and opportunities we have as an industry post-COVID. Charles shared a couple:
Hear why these are two important elements post-COVID and what we should do as recruiters to adapt. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro® -- the retained recruitment platform and methodology that allows recruiters to win more retained business, increase their fees and boost productivity. Mention The Resilient Recruiter podcast for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: http://resources.i-intro.co.uk/markwhitby Charles Cameron Bio and Contact Info Charles is CEO of RCSA Australia & New Zealand and Vice President of the World Employment Confederation, the global lobby group for the recruitment, staffing and HR services industry. With qualifications in economics and labour law, Charles has specialised in advising to, and representing, the recruitment and staffing industry for over 20 years. A passionate advocate for labour market intermediaries and consultants, Charles is driven by the role professional recruitment consultants can play in inspiring people to be better through work.
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| 02 Sep 2021 | The Top 10 Factors that Fast-Growing Recruitment Companies Share in Common, with Hishem Azzouz and Mark Whitby, Ep #93 | 00:49:52 | |
If you enjoy listening to the Resilient Recruiter podcast, I have a special treat for you. In this episode, I am collaborating with fellow podcaster, Hishem Azzouz, host of the Recruitment Mentors podcast. Between us, Hishem and I have interviewed hundreds of recruitment business owners. We decided to compare notes and discuss the key factors that the most successful recruitment companies share in common. We both came up with five things, so you are about to hear the top ten success factors for growing your business. Episode Outline and Highlights
The Top Ten Success Factors for Growing Your Recruitment Business
The vast majority of the firm owners I’ve interviewed or worked with who have been the most successful are specialists in a particular field. Hear the reasons why focusing on a particular niche is building your marketplace rather than limiting it.
Being open-minded to trying new things, learning, and getting out of your comfort zone are qualities that make a successful recruitment leader. Successful leaders do not romanticize what worked for them 10 or 15 years ago. They are always thinking, learning, and trying to understand what more they could be doing.
Internal recruitment strategy is critical. The companies that scale are really good at recruiting recruiters. In contrast, the companies that remain small may not be able to figure that important piece out.
Investing heavily in talent development is an important key to scaling your business. Having a mindset of nurturing current employees is a successful recruiter leader’s way of thinking.
Complementary with the above previous points mentioned, having a serious commitment to establishing a career ladder within your organization is key to growing your business. Hishem added, “I’ve been interviewing people in their first year in recruitment, second year in recruitment, and they are all people who have graduated in the last two years. I just ask them a direct question like, ‘what type of company are you excited to work for?’ The number one thing is progression.
Genuinely, most scaling recruitment agencies that you may know in the market are guaranteed to have clarity on what they want and where they are going. This inspires confidence in your existing team members and attracts great people to join your company.
The question is have you designed your culture? Or do you just have a culture by default? The most important defining feature of the culture comes down to the values.
“For me personally in my own experience, most recruitment business leaders I speak to have humility in abundance,” explained Hishem. This enables leaders to have an open mind to learn and grow.
Recruiting is a sales business, and like my friend Greg Savage says, your sixth, or seventh hire should be a full-time marketing person. Visibility as a thought leader and someone who adds value to your industry is ultimately good for business. Investing in marketing is significant to achieve this goal. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Hishem Azzouz Bio and Contact Info An underperforming recruiter that turned his fortunes 180 degrees in six months using the power of personal branding and the launch of the Recruitment Mentors podcast. Over 100 episodes, and 20,000 monthly listeners later he founded Azzouz Branding to help recruiters leverage personal branding & social selling. He helped 200+ agencies and consultants build their brands. Recruitment Mentors is the brainchild of Hishem Azzouz. People and Resources Mentioned
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| 21 Jan 2022 | Why Top Billers Don’t Want to Join Your Recruitment Agency, with Dandan Zhu, Ep #110 | 01:14:30 | |
Whether you’re a recruitment agency owner who wants to scale, or a recruiter looking to progress their career, you will benefit from listening to my informative and entertaining discussion with Dandan Zhu. Dandan is the Founder and CEO of DG Recruit, established in 2018 to connect top-billers within agency recruitment with top recruitment firms. As such, she has a valuable perspective on what characteristics make both parties attractive to one another. In this interview, Dandan shared her thought process and interviewing techniques. By the way, she does not pull her punches - if you have a fragile ego, don’t listen to this episode! Dandan started recruiting right out of college as a full-desk pharma headhunter with 3S Group, a top UK recruitment firm that was rapidly expanding in the US. She became a top rookie/top biller internationally and parlayed her success in technical and executive recruitment into aggressive savings strategies converted into largely real estate investments, retiring at age 28. After 2 years off, Dandan re-entered the recruitment scene by establishing DG Recruit in 2018, a recruitment firm that only services agency recruiters. Episode Outline and Highlights
Characteristics Dandan Looks For When Interviewing Recruiters “Our candidate speaks for us, if the candidate is not performing well, is not driven… we don’t want to do the deal.” That is how Dandan’s summarized their guiding principle when it comes to identifying candidates for their clients. She laid out the following non-negotiable characteristics when looking for great placeable recruiters:
For her, the biggest piece is getting to know if the candidate really understands what recruitment is. Dandan gives direct and hard hitting advice on how she assesses candidates. Why Some Recruitment Agencies Will Never Attract Top Recruiters I asked Dandan about common mistakes that recruitment agencies make when it comes to recruiting recruiters. She was quite blunt in her appraisal of the industry and explained that most agency owners are unrealistic about the sort of person they’re going to attract. For example, if the owner isn’t a big biller then in Dandan’s view it’s unlikely they’ll attract big billers to join their team. In Dandan’s words, why would a top biller join an environment where they’re not going to learn and be challenged? She believes that if you’re a small firm with only average billings, then you can forget about hiring experienced top-producers. Instead, you’ll find more success by hiring recent graduates and training them from the ground up. She also described certain “must-haves” for recruitment agencies who want to hire the best recruiters. She believes most agencies just aren’t very attractive and wouldn’t qualify for representation by a rec-to-rec agency like DG recruit. Some critical must-haves are: excellent employee benefits (such as health insurance), and the ability to work remotely. She also emphasized the importance of having an excellent platform - in other words, you must provide people with all the right tools for them to be successful. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Dandan Zhu Bio and Contact Info Dandan fell in love with the recruitment business in 2011 when she started her career at a top international headhunting firm for 5 years where she built out multiple niche & executive search divisions and teams before retiring a week after her 5th year anniversary as a global top producer. As an entrepreneur, Dandan built career coaching business Dandan Global in 2016 and DG Recruit in 2018 while accumulating a robust portfolio of rental properties and crypto investment assets. Dandan travels frequently to coach top recruitment professionals and firms in every major city and speak about topics including sales, personal development, and strategies for life and career success. Dandan also hosts 2 podcasts, the DG Recruit Podcast and Daily DANDAN Podcast, to help job-seekers and recruiters get ahead in their life and careers. While working on DGR and real estate investing is Dandan’s primary passion and focus, she is also a huge Harry Potter nerd, dog-lover, avid traveler, foodie, and snowboarder.
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| 28 Jun 2024 | How to Win Multi-Hire Team Build Projects in Executive Search, with Paul Press, Ep # 221 | 01:07:04 | |
Multi-hire team-build projects can be profitable if strategized clearly and executed effectively. Where do you find opportunities to engage in multi-hire team-build projects? What should be your main areas of focus for successfully implementing? Our guest, Paul Press, is here to give insights!
Paul is the Managing Partner and Founder of Press & Associates, a leading executive search firm specializing in recruiting top technology talent for private equity firms and their portfolio companies. Before founding Press & Associates, Paul Press built a well-rounded career with experience in an executive search firm and an in-house talent acquisition position.
In this episode, you will hear valuable insights into leveraging experience as an in-house recruiter, applying MPC marketing strategies, and successfully navigating the complexities of multi-hire team-build projects.
Episode Outline and Highlights
03:25 Paul’s recruiting backstory and how he launched his own firm. 06:37 Learnings from working in-house translating to running his own agency. 12:30 When to consider hiring a third-party recruiter from an in-house recruitment perspective. 18:35 Transitioning to Private Equity expertise. 23:11 Two main areas on winning multi-hire team build projects. 35:59 The risks of handling large-sized projects and how to mitigate them. 40:15 Paul shares the story of his $450k fee and MPC strategy discussion. 51:47 What Paul’s MPC marketing strategy looks like. 58:04 Upcoming exciting times for Paul and Press Associates acquisition.
Leveraging Experience as an In-House Recruiter
Before founding Press & Associates, Paul built a well-rounded career in an executive search firm and an in-house talent acquisition position. He has always aspired to set up his own agency, and this experience was a stepping stone that gave him a complete perspective on what a successful search firm should look like.
Paul gave his insights and compared the approach from an in-house to an agency perspective. He emphasized the value of building and nurturing relationships on the in-house side while investing heavily in business development on the other. From an in-house perspective, I also wanted to know the primary considerations when hiring a third-party recruiter. Who are the most successful ones? What companies really did poorly? Paul gave his answer:
“I would say the biggest thing is the ones who took the time to be personalized, to make a very human approach and connection, and who were very empathetic; those were the ones that really stood out. It's amazing how transparent people's approaches are and how easy it is to tell when there's an email sequencing campaign going on, with an email coming out to you every kind of two or three … So it is very easy to tell kind of what's being automated, what's actual human touch and who are people that want to be in it for the long run versus, hey, I've got my monthly targets to hear.”
Two Areas of Focus to Win Multi-Hire Team Build Projects
A key topic Paul and I discussed is his success in doing multi-hire team-build projects. The main takeaway is this: multi-hire team build results from placing a key executive. By ensuring that great relationships are built and the best experience for the executive is provided, a potential opportunity to then build out the team underneath them will likely happen.
This idea came about based on Paul’s previous in-house experience. “I'd say it kind of goes back to lessons learned when I went in-house and was building those relationships and understanding the big picture behind those hires and what those companies were trying to achieve. And that, combined with the private equity space, really kind of mesh well together.”
Paul shared two main areas of focus to be successful in this approach:
Paul also shared the most common challenges you will experience in multi-hire team-build projects and the steps they took to mitigate them.
MPC Strategy Resulting to a $450k Fee
An achievement Paul shared with me is how he was able to make a placement with a $450k fee. He made a placement using the MPC (Most Placeable Candidate) marketing approach. Many recruiters will find this part of our conversation relatable because although this may be familiar to many recruiters, some will tell you that you can’t apply MPC marketing to executive recruitment.
We discussed Paul’s mindset on this strategy, and he shared how he executes it. We discussed proactive candidate representation and effective KPIs, such as making 5 introductions daily. We also agreed on this critical point: the goal is not to place the candidate. The goal is primarily to get your foot in the door to start a conversation, demonstrate the caliber of your network and the people you represent, and come to them with interesting ideas that could bring value to their business.
Our Sponsor
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Paul Press Bio and Contact Info
Paul is the Managing Partner and Founder of Press & Associates. Paul started Press & Associates in 2016 with the goal of building the number one search firm hiring technology talent for Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies. Since its inception, Paul has built close and long-lasting partnerships with numerous globally renowned private equity firms, helping them make key hires in their value creation team and numerous c-suite appointments across their portfolio companies - all within the technology function.
Prior to founding Press & Associates, Paul built a well-rounded career in executive search working for a boutique search firm (Mackinnon Bruce), one of the largest talent acquisition firms in the world (Hays), as well as an in-house talent acquisition position with Murphy Oil looking after hiring key positions across North America.
Paul has a BA (Hons) in Managing Performance from the University of Leeds and is accredited by the Institute of Retrained Search.
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| 10 Nov 2021 | International Recruitment: Hard Won Insights From Placing People Around the World for 25 Years, Ep #104 | 00:48:26 | |
If you’ve ever wondered what’s involved in running an international recruiting firm and placing people all over the world, here’s your chance to find out. You’ll enjoy listening to my interview with Abigail Stevens, founder of Think Global Recruitment, who has 25 years of experience assisting accounting and finance professionals to not only change jobs, but to relocate from one country to another. I’ve known and admired Abigail for almost 20 years -- she was one of my very first clients when I started my recruitment training business back in 2001. As you’ll hear, Abigail has been hugely successful, both as a top biller and as a business owner. But what was special about this interview is that Abigail talked not only about the high points, but the lows as well. Having survived four downturns / recessions, she’s had some heart breaking moments. You’ll benefit from knowing what she’s learned along the way, and how these experiences have shaped her current strategy for growth. Episode Outline and Highlights
Think Global’s Wildly Successful Candidate Generation Strategy Abigail shared her fascinating journey including how she started her first business very young, then went travelling around the world, before falling into recruitment and eventually setting up Think Global Recruitment at the age of 28. You will enjoy listening to her best learning moments - as well as some of the innovative recruitment strategies she pioneered. An example is how they used international recruitment conferences in the UK, South Africa, and Australia to attract top talent for consulting firms such as PwC, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, BDO, Grant Thornton. Pearls of Wisdom on Talent Retention The other part of our conversation is how Abigail was able to take her company through four economic recessions, including the current pandemic situation. The resilience and planning enabled her firm to withstand the difficulties. Of course, there are things that she would have done differently, which she humbly shared for the benefit of other business owners. One main takeaway was on retaining top recruiters. Abigail shared:
Hear how Abigail elaborated on the above takeaways in our conversation. Growing During the Pandemic In the middle of the pandemic, Think Global Recruitment decided to expand. What makes successful companies such as Think Global thrive during this difficult time? Abigail explained, “Our thought process was, we know from the previous recessions that we’ve been through, that after recession usually there is a shortage of people,” she explained. “So we knew that there is going to be a high demand for our candidates at the end of all of this.” Indeed, being a step ahead and maintaining a growth mindset is definitely a differentiator in success. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Abigail Stevens Bio and Contact Info Abigail Stevens is the Founder and Managing Director of Think Global Recruitment, which she established in 2000. Abigail herself has 25 years experience as a specialist in global accountancy and finance recruitment. She has been assisting Accountancy & Finance professionals to secure new roles throughout the globe and employers to recruit the best accountants in the world, since 1995.
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| 01 Mar 2023 | Why Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone is Key to Success in Recruitment, with Mike O'Riordan, Ep #163 | 00:59:01 | |
Is fear and self-doubt preventing you from building your personal brand and growing your recruitment business?
In this episode, you’ll discover how my guest Mike O’Riordan overcomes his tendency to be a perfectionist, pushes outside his comfort zone and gets things done. Mike is the founder of Blackwater Search & Advisory, a global executive search and advisory firm focused on the ETF and Digital Assets market. I’ve known Mike for almost 3 years and have witnessed his rapid growth from a one-man band with no recruitment industry experience to running a hugely successful boutique.
Get ready to be inspired by Mike's story and learn how to overcome the pitfalls of perfectionism in your recruitment business.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Perfectionism Can Cost You Millions of Dollars
Mike and I first spoke back in March 2020, and he was one of the first people who enrolled in my Billings Accelerator program, which has evolved into our Inner Circle community of recruitment business owners.
Despite having less recruitment experience, Mike made faster progress than many others in his cohort. The reason? Mike is someone who implements like crazy. I remember asking him how he was doing that, achieving so much in a short time. His answer: “Mark, I am just executing the shit out of this stuff.” What a catchphrase!
Mike is now successfully running a global ETF and Digital Assets consulting and executive search firm. In retrospect, Mike never would have imagined achieving so much after spending 20 years as a salaryman in financial institutions. To what does he attribute his success? For Mike, it is about just getting it done. It does not have to be perfect. The most important thing is just to do it. You can always improve it later.
I agree with this a hundred percent! I’m certain that perfectionism has personally cost me a million dollars or more. Looking back on my 21 years as a coach, I can truly relate to how perfectionism - another word for procrastination - has lost me so much potential. That is why this interview with Mike is an eye-opener to so many recruitment business owners out there. Whatever business strategy you are struggling to implement, it doesn’t have to be perfect, what matters is you go out and do it.
Effective Recruitment Marketing is a Game Changer
Another area that we explored in our conversation is the importance of having an effective marketing person on your team. For Mike, this has been a game-changer. You will hear how their marketing strategies have enabled them to leapfrog ahead of their competition and win business with clients that are household names.
Some of the marketing implementations that were discussed by Mike are:
We discussed what changed Mike’s mind about recording videos, as to begin with it was not his cup of tea. Just like most of us, he hated to hear his own voice. But he didn’t let the fact he was uncomfortable stop him from taking action.
Get Comfortable in Being Uncomfortable
A known enemy of success is being too comfortable, which may hinder you from stepping out of your comfort zone. Mike and I believe that getting comfortable with being uncomfortable relates to everything in life. If you are not uncomfortable, you may not be trying hard enough, or not pushing yourself enough.
“When our back sets to the wall, that is when we really realize that there is stuff we can do we never really imagined,” as Mike puts it. The same with a recruitment business, stepping outside of your comfort zone is key to your success.
Our Sponsors
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Mike O’Riordan Bio and Contact Info
Mike has over 20 years Financial Services experience. He started his career in Investment Banking working at Deutsche Bank and RBS before moving to Credit Suisse where he began his Asset Management career. He has worked at Credit Suisse, HSBC, BlackRock, and JP Morgan in various product roles covering Mutual Funds and ETFs. Michael launched Blackwater Search & Advisory in May 2019. Blackwater is a global recruiting and consulting company focused on the ETF and Digital Assets market.
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| 27 Sep 2024 | How to Achieve Rapid Success in a New Recruitment Market, with Alec Borlin, Ep #230 | 00:53:17 | |
How does a recruiter go from new to market to Champions Club in just two years? For Alec Borlin, the answer lies in the power of disciplined planning and relentless consistency.
Alec is a CPA turned recruiter. He started with one of the world’s largest recruiting & staffing companies, where he did extremely well before starting his own firm BGC Search in 2022.
He places accounting and finance professionals with privately held middle-market companies in the Greater Cleveland Area.
Alec recently launched The Recruiter’s CPA which provides bookkeeping and tax services for recruiting and staffing companies.
In this episode, you will hear how Alec structures his day with daily habits and strategies that result in consistent billings. He also shared the concept of having an ideas bank, how to utilize AI when enhancing content, and why LinkedIn is still his trusted platform for lead generation.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Planning and Strategies That Set Alec Apart In his second full year as a recruiter, Alec became part of the “Champions Club” for two consecutive years despite being new to the market. What sets him apart is his work ethic which includes consistency in planning. Alec sets himself apart by maintaining a consistent and disciplined approach to daily activities. His early career success was rooted in structured habits, such as waking up early, exercising, planning his day the night before, and following a rigorous schedule that included conducting at least 10 interviews and 3 client meetings per week.
Here are the key takeaways from Alec's approach as a successful recruiter:
Trusting LinkedIn as a Relevant Tool in Generating Leads How much do you invest in LinkedIn as a lead-generating platform? Alec shared an interesting case study about how they were able to build more than $100k from inbound leads in the first quarter of this year using LinkedIn.
“Twelve months of consistently posting on LinkedIn and not seeing a result. Right. So that was, it was posting videos, it was posting copy. So just words, just word posts, posting images, carousels, and constantly trying to interact with my audience and give them the insights that they're looking for… All you can do is continue to post and try to provide value to the people that are in your network and then eventually you'll get this random, beautiful message, hey, we have this need.” What was his thought process that made him persistent?
“So I just, I think it's, it's the belief that LinkedIn is a place that will continue to be very important. We see Fortune 500 companies starting to develop their LinkedIn presence and marketing, if you will, on platforms like that. So just kind of trusting that there are people smarter than me investing their time and resources into the platform.”
I encourage you to visit Alec’s LinkedIn profile to see the type of posts and content he shares with his audience.
Do You Have an Ideas Bank? Somehow related to the topic of consistent posting and content creation, I wanted to pick Alec’s brain on how he can always come up with fresh ideas. He mentioned the concept of an ideas bank. He also shared how he utilizes AI when translating these ideas into content or posts. To summarize:
Alec draws a lot of his content ideas from the conversations he has during the day or moments of inspiration, such as while at the gym. He captures these ideas quickly by emailing them to himself or storing them in Asana or Google Docs. He then organizes these ideas by different content pillars like sales, marketing, and operations. On uninspired days, he revisits these ideas for fresh content.
When it comes to using AI such as ChatGPT, Alec envisions creating a personal "copywriter" by training AI on his best-performing content, allowing it to generate new posts or ideas based on his style and tone. He believes that AI is a starting point and not a replacement. Hence, personalizing AI-generated content by avoiding generic languages and creating a unique tone by adding personal context is necessary so that your content does not sound artificial.
Alec Borlin Bio and Contact Info Alec Borlin is a CPA turned recruiter. He got his start with Parker + Lynch, now LHH before starting BGC Search back in 2022. He places accounting and finance professionals with privately held middle-market companies in the Greater Cleveland Area.
As a multi-award-winning Senior Executive Recruiter with a Global Fortune 500, Alec has used his passion for recruiting and accounting to place over 100 candidates throughout the United States with large publicly traded companies and smaller privately held businesses, ensuring a sound match for both parties.
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| 18 Jun 2020 | Father's Day Special: Bringing Honour Back to the Recruiting Profession, with Richard Hoon | 00:55:29 | |
How does having a sense of honour help you build relationships at the highest level in your recruitment business? In this episode of the Resilient Recruiter, my guest Richard Hoon will share his perspective gained from a successful 25-year career in recruitment. Richard is the founder and CEO of I Search Worldwide and has been a C-Suite search practitioner for over two decades. He is also co-founder and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Validus, a fintech company that is now worth more than $100m. Richard is also the Chairman of the Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life, a 20-year-old charity in Singapore. This is very timely for our parent listeners for the upcoming Father’s Day weekend. Although not related to recruiting, if you are a parent or planning to be a parent sometime in the future, I am sure you will find value in Richard’s wisdom on this topic. Episode Outline and Highlights
Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life Richard is the current Chairman of the Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life, a 20-year-old charity in Singapore. What is the charity about? In Richard’s words: “The goal is to eradicate fatherlessness. Every child born has a father, but the father is not present, is not engaged, not actively contributing to the family. So the child grows up fatherless. Our job is to encourage fathers to be more active and engaged with their children.” In order for them to address fatherlessness and the negative impact on children, they take preventative and intervention approaches. “We do events, we do programs, we do training, we do father and child bonding camp, we encourage national events like eating with your family.” Bringing Honour Back to the Recruitment Agency Richard believes that having partners that you can trust with the same long-term philosophy is important when you are managing your business, and so is being honourable. For Richard, having those who value honour in the recruitment business is really a minority. “The recruitment business is high grounding... They say things they don’t mean, they say things they don’t know, and probably get a lot of untruths.” He added, “I don’t want a recruiter’s name, one day, being associated with a second-hand car salesman.” This is how Richard puts it on how it should be addressed: “This is a very honourable business because when you put people together, you have got to really be responsible for their career, for their future, but you are also responsible for the company... Unfortunately, the lack of training in the recruitment industry probably gets a lot of just short term results.” He added, “If you always say good things, you are already propagating a lie. If there’s anything I would like to do, it’s to bring honour back to the recruiting industry. By making sure recruiters go back to a centered sense of morality.” Never too late to start At the age of 60, Richard Co-founded a fintech company, Validus. For him, it is never too late to start from scratch. Starting from zero, the company today is worth over $100million dollars. Richard Hoon Bio and Contact Info Richard Hoon is the founder and CEO of I Search Worldwide and has been a C-Suite search practitioner for over two decades. He was the Managing Director of Asia for an international executive search franchise and was the General Manager of International SOS. He has held senior and regional roles with companies such as American Express, Tourism Victoria, and Pall Corporation. Richard is the current Chairman of the Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life, a registered charity, and IPC in Singapore. He is a co-founder and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Validus, a fintech company that has received series A funding from a major financial institution. He is the President of the Circumnavigators’ Club and the President of the Palm Island Club. He is also a fellow of the Singapore Institute of Directors. People and Resources Mentioned Connect with Mark Whitby
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| 03 May 2024 | Why Modern Recruiters Must Embrace Cold Calling to Stay Competitive, with Danny Cahill, Ep # 215 | 00:58:16 | |
In the evolving recruitment landscape where LinkedIn and ChatGPT dominate the conversation, one tool stands resilient: the humble phone call. Is cold calling still a critical part of your recruitment and selling process? Can you be a successful modern recruiter while making zero cold calls? I am thrilled to be joined by a veteran and successful recruiter, Danny Cahill. You will enjoy his insights based on his decades-long expertise in recruitment approach with a spotlight on the importance of using the phone for cold calls. Danny started his recruiting career right out of college at Hobson Associates. He became its rookie of the year and went on to become a top producer and the general manager by the age of 26. At 27, he bought the company and built it into one of the country's largest search firms. Danny was the educational chairperson of the Pinnacle Society, 75 of the highest achievers in the industry. Episode Outline and Highlights
How Veteran Recruiters Should Approach the Current Industry Landscape
I have known Danny for decades - he is a legendary recruiter and you can just imagine my delight when I had the chance to meet him in person at a Pinnacle Society conference last year. We discussed the talk he gave about using old-school cold-calling. Danny believes that using the phone is a critical skill for recruiters, especially before the advent of the internet. We recalled how exciting it was to not know in detail who you would be talking to, how skillful you should be when carrying conversations, and of course, going through gatekeepers before reaching your actual target.
But the landscape now changed. On average, you will only reach 5% of your prospects by phone. Danny believes that although it should be a combination of tools and platforms, making phone calls is more relevant than ever, as it can be a differentiator. This is how Danny puts it:
“If this helps you with your identity crisis, the thing that made you great is going to be more important than ever because you're not someone who just makes phone calls. The phone is your conduit to who you are, which is a storyteller, a persuader, an enabler of aspiration. We sell dreams. That's what we do. And companies are going to always use us. If you have a level of contact and subject matter expertise so that I feel like you can get candidates I can't get in a faster way.”
Flipping the Order – Why the Phone Should Come Before Email
On Hobson Associates’ website, you will see the line “We’re Always Available to You. By Phone. Online. Or in person.” This is aligned with how Danny wants the order in which their recruiters would reach out to prospects via phone before mail. I tried to pick Danny’s brain for this approach, and he explained the logic.
“Yeah, well, because I think the phone has some real advantages and it is direct. You know, people often say, well, email is faster. Oh, no, it's not. I see email exchanges all the time between clients.”
Danny also emphasized that the phone has some power to engage with prospects. “The power of the pause; the power of someone sighing. The thing about text, is that young people like text, because text can be filtered, text can be edited, right? You can wait and you can make a draft of it. Whereas with the phone, you can't skim a phone call. Right. You're on it. You're on the hot seat.”
Can You Be a Successful Recruiter With Zero Cold Calls? We have members of our coaching group who are not really into making cold calls. We see recruiters who are making consistent placements without making a single cold call. With the power of LinkedIn, Social Media platforms, & AI, you can do a lot of business development that can translate to end-to-end sourcing and placements. The question is, can you be a successful recruiter without making cold calls?
Danny shared a fact from SourceWhale: 60% of meetings come from the phone call. It may not be the primary way of reaching prospects anymore, but possessing the skill of doing cold calls is a critical part of becoming a successful recruiter. But of course, Danny pointed out that there are so many ways of doing business. Those who can make it work without the need to do cold calls should keep doing what they are doing.
Our Sponsor
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Danny Cahill Bio and Contact Info
Danny Cahill started at Hobson Associates right out of college. He became its Rookie of the Year, top producer, and general manager by the age of 26. At 27 he bought the company and built it into one of the country's largest search firms specializing in Software Sales, Bio-Tech Sales, and Industrial Sales talent. He is the only industry “guru” that runs a search firm every day. He does what you do.
He was the Educational Chairperson of the Pinnacle Society, 75 of the highest achievers in the industry, and he still personally mentors many members. He also owns and runs AccordingToDanny.com, an online training and mentoring company dedicated to enhancing the skills and jumpstarting the spirits of recruiters worldwide. His keynote presentations have made him one of the most sought-after speakers in the country.
He was elected to the NAPS Hall of Fame in 2006 and also received the Dave Knutson Lifetime Achievement Award. HireAbility overwhelmingly voted him the industry’s most popular speaker. AccordingToDanny.com was awarded “Best-In-Class” for Training Excellence from MRINetwork.
In his other life, as a playwright, he has had works produced off-Broadway and won both the Maxwell Anderson and the CAB Theatre Award for playwrights. He has written for CBS Television, Muscle and Fitness Magazine, as well as numerous magazines. He received his Master’s Degree in Literature from Wesleyan University and believes salespeople enjoy the world's only job security. Danny’s book, “Harper’s Rules”, a business novel/parable, which of course features a headhunter, won the 2011 Axiom Award for Best Business Parable. His screenplay, “Breakpoint” was optioned by Dialogue Pictures, and his new memoir, "Aging Disgracefully" is available now in bookstores and on Kindle.
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| 21 Feb 2025 | How I Incorporated a Digital Recruiter in Our Hiring Process, with Betsy Robinson, Ep #247 | 01:00:34 | |
Would you be apprehensive about adding a recruitment bot in your hiring process at the risk of losing the ‘human’ factor? Our special guest, Betsy Robinson, explains how they utilize AI trends and other tech stacks to enhance their client and candidate experience.
Betsy Robinson is the Founder & CEO of Tier4 Group, a woman-owned, diversity-certified talent acquisition firm headquartered in Atlanta.
The company specializes in connecting exceptional talent with top-tier employers for technology and executive roles, combining advanced recruitment automation with a personalized approach.
Under her leadership, Tier4 Group has achieved remarkable recognition, including six consecutive years on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies (2019-2024) and five appearances on the Atlanta Pacesetters list.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Incorporating a Digital Recruiter in the Hiring Process
Would you consider incorporating a recruitment ‘bot’ in your hiring process? A lot of recruitment business owners might be apprehensive about doing so, as it poses the risk of diminishing the ‘human touch’ in the process.
On the other hand, Betsy's team is leveraging a "digital employee," specifically a digital recruiter, to enhance their hiring process. This AI-powered recruiter can call and chat with candidates, helping to screen large volumes of applicants more efficiently while maintaining a personalized experience. Unlike traditional chatbots or automated emails, this digital recruiter has a live voice and engages in real conversations, making it feel more human-like.
Some of the outlined advantages of this investment include:
Tech Stack and AI Trends
Betsy and I also talked about the tech stacks they are using and the recent trends in technology that recruiters can use to either improve and simplify their processes, improve candidate and client engagement, and manage performance and KPIs for their employees.
We have listed below some tools that you may already be familiar with or others you might consider exploring:
Applicant Tracking & CRM Systems
AI-Powered Communication Tools
Note-Takers & Meeting Assistants
AI-Driven Data Management & Automation
AI for Remote Team Collaboration & Coaching
These tools collectively enhance efficiency, automation, and candidate engagement in recruitment businesses.
Creating a Culture of Strong Team Collaboration
Despite being tech-heavy, Betsy and her team still invest in ensuring that their connection and culture as a team is as collaborative as can be. With a team of 30, mostly working remotely, seamless collaboration and teamwork are essential.
This is how she summarizes their collaboration: “We, I will say, first of all, we welcome all ideas. It doesn't matter if you are someone who's been on our team for one week or someone who's been on our team for one year or you've been our first employee who's been here 10 years. Everybody brings unique at different perspective perspectives. And I would say we are much more collaborative in our decision-making.”
She also added the value of transparency: “We also communicate to the best of our ability the why behind a lot of our decisions that we're making.”
Lastly, she emphasized the value of accountability: “So we're also working on a culture of, you know, pure accountability.”
The key factors are critical in Betsy’s successful culture-building. Do you have similar values in terms of your business culture?
Betsy Robinson Bio and Contact Info
Betsy Robinson is the Founder & CEO of Tier4 Group. Headquartered in Atlanta, Tier4 Group is a woman-owned and diversity-certified talent acquisition firm specializing in connecting exceptional talent with top-tier employers seeking to fill technology and executive roles. By combining advanced recruitment automation with a personalized approach, Tier4 strives to identify the best fit for both the customer and the candidate.
Tier4 Group has been recognized for six consecutive years (2019-2024) as one of the fastest-growing companies in the nation on the prestigious Inc. 5000 list, as well as being named for a 5th time in 2024 to the Atlanta Pacesetters list of the fastest growing privately-held companies in GA. Additionally, the company is a four-time Bulldog 100 Honoree. The Bulldog 100 recognizes the 100 fastest-growing businesses owned or operated by UGA Alumni.
Betsy was named LGBTQ Businessperson of the Year in Georgia in 2023 and recognized to the inaugural Inc Magazine 30 Under 30-ish list in 2023. She was also named to the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2019. Betsy holds a B.B.A. from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. She is an active volunteer with Women in Technology (WIT), currently serving on the Board of Directors. Betsy has also served on the Board of Directors for the Technology Association of Georgia’s Diversity & Inclusion Society, as well as the Business Advisory Board for ITT Technical Institute.
Outside of work, Betsy is active in outreach within the community as a volunteer supporting several non-profits. Her most important jobs are as a wife and mom. On weekends, you can find her cheering on her son on the soccer field, boating on the lake, or cheering loudly in the stands for the Atlanta sports team as well as the Georgia Bulldogs.
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| 21 Oct 2022 | Values-Driven Leadership: How to Grow a Search Firm to 7-Figures in One Year, With David Fleming, Ep #149 | 01:04:09 | |
It always fascinates me to hear stories of recruitment business owners who succeed despite the most challenging circumstances. My special guest, David Fleming, shares an astounding story of both personal resilience and recruitment success.
David is the Managing Partner of Acuity Partners, the search brand from Stanton House. David established the business this year and is already on track for a 7 figure Net Fee Income in their first full year. Acuity Partners delivers leadership searches for C-Suite and Director level mandates within technology-led businesses and investors. David has 25 years of experience in recruitment and has run multi-million-pound P&L managing teams of over 100 consultants.
In this episode, David shares how having a set of clear values embedded in each team member plays a vital role in their success. Also, you will hear David’s story of resilience and how it influenced the way he leads his team and how it moved him to prioritize taking care of their mental health.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Four Key Factors for Rapid Growth When David started Acuity Partners in February this year, their vision is crystal clear: To enable individuals and businesses to outperform by relentlessly connecting brilliant people. Starting with 3 staff, they now have 8 people in their team and are on track to reach 7 figures in net fee income. What is the secret sauce leading up to this success? He gave four factors:
Values that Influence Success David also shared the values that drive their culture and underpin their search methodology. He revealed how their recruiters embody the values and how it motivates them to be curious and interested in their clients. Here is the outline of the values he shared:
Taking Care of Mental Health David just had their second child when he started with Stanton House. After three months, their newborn son was diagnosed with a condition called Hydrocephalus (water on the brain). The baby required 25 different instances of emergency brain surgery, 6 of which were during David’s first year with Stanton House. David would frequently spend all night in the hospital and then make his way to the office in the morning and try and build a desk, something he hadn't done for 10 years.
This had a monumental impact on his mental health, self-confidence, and ability to bring his best self to work. Seeing his kid battle this over the last 11 years has impacted how David leads his team and how he looks after his own and his team’s mental health. The team at Stanton House created what they call the Empathy Series. It is a program that was launched in their wider business to support their people in understanding each other as they seek to appreciate the anxieties and challenges their people are dealing with.
Our Sponsors
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including: funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, backoffice support, marketing and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
David Fleming Bio and Contact Info David Fleming has been in recruitment for 25 years across two businesses. Badenoch & Clark and since then Stanton House. He started as a consultant placing interim finance professionals into Telecoms clients and quickly went on to lead and grow that team to become a leading performer in the company. Before taking on more teams and running the London business before taking on further regional responsibilities, he was promoted to Director at that time, helped by starting up the Transformation and Marketing practices (multi-million NFI P&Ls) for the company, and led teams of over 100 consultants.
David left B+C shortly after the Adecoo acquisition and joined Nick and Neil at Stanton House. His time at Stanton House has seen him grow and lead many parts of the business (A&F, Transformation, our business in London) before setting up Acuity Partners.
He have always been motivated by building businesses and through speaking to and connecting with interesting people. Setting up the Acuity business allows David to combine working with some exceptional clients who are making a huge impact in the world.
People and Resources Mentioned
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Related Podcast You Might Enjoy
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| 24 Mar 2021 | How to Build a Multi-Million Dollar Team of Recruitment Rockstars, with Monte Merz, Ep # 59 | 00:55:47 | |
“The big hypocrisy of our industry is that we hire all these people for our clients yet we suck at hiring people for ourselves.” If you agree with this statement, then you’ll love the directness and honesty of my podcast guest Monte Merz. Listen in as he shares his secrets to hiring recruitment rockstars - from the interview process, training, coaching and compensation. Hear why his firm has won multiple awards for being one of the best companies to work for in Denver and one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States. Monte is the managing partner of High Country Group in Denver, Colorado. The group has 23 members of staff including 18 fee earners and is comprised of several different divisions: Energy Search, Executive Search, Tech Search and Staffing. Prior to launching the business in 2002, Monte spent 8 years working for some of the biggest recruiting firms in the world - from running a desk to becoming a Regional VP. Episode Outline and Highlights
How Monte Started Monte considers himself an accidental tourist when it comes to his recruitment career. A farm kid in Nebraska, he wanted to move to Colorado. An interview for a recruitment job gave him the opportunity he was looking for. He started running a desk and soon became a top biller in the region. What made him perform so well? The same qualities made him successful as a high-level college wrestler. His work ethic, ability to learn, leadership qualities, and having a logical approach when dealing with people. Hear his story of how he managed to get himself hired, promoted, and fired on the same day. The “Leaky Bucket” Theory How much do you spend on marketing for your recruitment firm? Monte believes that what makes his business successful is being really good at what they do, which is finding people. He then explained the “leaky bucket” theory: “If you are just going out at full speed, like a, name the national, you know they’ve got 10 to 20 holes in their buckets where they are just constantly losing their clients by not delivering. You are always gonna be losing a client but if you only have like, one or two holes in your bucket, you just do really good work, and you are doing direct source recruiting and referral-based recruiting and just doing it right, there is always gonna be a spot for that.” The Funnel-Pound-Plus Approach Every recruiter and business owner has a business system that works for them. When hiring someone, his training is focused on keeping it short and would focus on his system or approach. Here is how Monte shared his funnel # + approach, summarized verbally:
During our conversation, he explains in detail how this system works and how he does the knowledge transfer to his new team members. When coaching and communicating with his recruiters, he has always been objective but solution-oriented. A Sustainable Compensation Plan Monte shared a simple, yet very effective approach to compensation: “My comp plan is, I have a very aggressive comp plan. I figure that I want to pay people at such a high level that I’m never gonna lose somebody because somebody else offers them more. If you are successful, you will never leave. If you are not being successful after a year or so … I am not the “hire slow, fire fast” guy. I am a “hire slow, fire slow” person. You can’t get fired around here for not billing. You can resign if you are not making the money you want. You don’t get fired for not billing, you can only be fired for being an A-hole.” And the key to success? “if you do enough interviews, enough send-outs, and enough job orders, you will be successful.” How to Look for a Rockstar I am sure you would agree with Monte’s statement: “The big hypocrisy of our industry is that we hire all these people for people yet we suck in hiring people.” Monte’s average tenure is 18 years, and a big proportion of his people are in the “excellent” range. He shared some of his practices:
Listen to how he interviews potential team members. Monte Merz Bio and Contact Info Monte Merz is the Founder and Managing Partner of The High Country Search Group. Originally from Nebraska, he moved to Denver in 1994 and got started in the Recruiting Industry at the tender age of 25. Recruiting came pretty naturally and after three years of being the top Finance and Accounting biller for the national recruiting firm everyone knows, he chose to move into a management role with another national recruiting firm everyone knows. Five years of management experience there resulted in explosive growth, unbelievable experience (good and bad), and a series of promotions that brought him responsibility for multiple offices and a Regional VP title…. as well as some internal intellectual conflict as to whether continuing down the path of the large National Recruiting firm model was really the best long term solution for him (or his teams). In February of 2002, Monte managed to get himself promoted and subsequently fired for lack of enthusiasm for the aforementioned promotion, all in the same day… and The High Country Search Group was born. Having sworn off management and being responsible for people for good, Monte embarked on a solo recruiting career he promised would expand no further than the breakfast nook in his kitchen. Fifteen years later, High Country has 23 employees, three Perm Groups, a Staffing Group, and multiple local and national awards for both “Fastest Growing” and “Best Company to Work For” and Monte has clearly failed on his promise to stay a simple little one-man shop. How did this happen? He kept his promise to stay simple, it just didn’t stay a one-man shop. Simple rules, consistent execution, and almost zero turnovers lead to slow but steady growth and a local shop doing more than 10 Million Dollars in annual Revenue… and a 15-year overnight success story sort of just happened. A farm kid from Nebraska, Monte was a 2-time All-American and 2-time Academic All-American Collegiate wrestler. He was a Volunteer Graduate Assistant Wrestling Coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes, and in 2016 at age 46, clocked his first sub-3 hour marathon at the 2016 Boston Marathon. Don’t be overly fooled by the country jargon, he’s about as laid back as it comes, but at the end of the day, he’s an incredibly competitive, process-driven, numbers guy. And, if you give him a listen, you might just find some simple wisdom that resonates. People and Resources Mentioned
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| 01 Mar 2023 | Is the 120° Recruitment Model More Effective Than the Old 360° Model?, with Pree Sarkar, Ep #164 | 01:09:42 | |
If you’re building a recruitment business, you might want to consider replacing the 360 degree “full desk” model with a 120-120-120 model.
In this fascinating interview, Pree Sarkar shares why he believes it’s easier to scale a recruitment business with a 120 degree model. You’ll hear how it gives his firm a competitive advantage in the market. Plus, Pree reveals their entire end-to-end recruitment process including the KPIs and metrics of a successful search firm leveraging the 120 business model.
You’ll be inspired by Pree’s story of resilience, from losing his job during the Great Financial Crisis to starting a successful recruitment company and making a positive impact locally and globally.
Pree Sarkar is the Founder and Director of Switch Recruitment, specializing in recruiting for start-ups and SaaS companies in the APAC region. LinkedIn rated him as a Top 1% Recruiter, Amazon rated his book Switch, a #1 bestseller in Careers and Job Hunting and he is a member of The Pinnacle Society, a select group of industry-leading recruiters globally.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Inflection Points Leading to Recruitment Business Success
Pree shares an amazing story on how he got into the recruitment business. On the eve of the Great Financial Crisis, he ended up losing his job. Determined to provide for his family, he believed that from that point onward that no matter how dark it was, serendipity can change the course of his life.
The first three months were really hard with two kids under five while being a single-income family. They had just recently purchased a house, and they had to break open the piggy bank in order to survive. I am sure you will be amazed at how one thing led to another for Pree, which can be attributed to his mindset and resilience.
There are four distinct inflection points in his journey that he elaborated on:
Experiencing difficulties first hand moved Pree to give back to the community by means of sponsoring a child for every placement. They currently sponsor 21 children across the planet and provide food, medication, clothing, and education through their partnership with Watoto and Compassion Australia.
Why Pree Believes the 120 Degree Model Is More Effective
In discussing how Pree built Switch Recruitment, we covered the topic of Switch’s 120-120-120 model, which they find more effective than a 360 model. Pree believes that recruiters must have situational awareness in three areas: who are the companies, what are the jobs, and who are the candidates? With this in mind, there should be team effort involving:
This minimized risks for everyone on the team as the specialization allows each person to embrace their skills and build expertise. Part of Switch’s value proposition is that they offer a “relay race” with three recruiters working on each project resulting in faster placements.
How to Build Your Reputation as a Trusted Advisor
A series of events lead to Pree becoming a trusted advisor in his industry - to the point of being recognized by the Australian government and publishing his book, “Switch”. To summarize, Pree likes having conversations with executives, listening to their problems, and genuinely wanting to solve them even if it may or may not result in a transaction. These conversations built the foundation for him to be more visible, and lead to him published his book, Switch: Stand Out, Get The Right Job And Accelerate Your Career.
When the pandemic hit, the book was really timely as a lot of people needed help. Pree shipped 200 copies of the book for free, and they ran 40 workshops and recorded an online course. They then approached companies offering outplacement support for employees who were losing their job. This lead to Pree being awarded a Certificate of Outstanding Service by the New South Wales Government.
Our Sponsors
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Pree Sarkar Bio and Contact Info
Pree Sarkar is an executive recruiter and career coach. LinkedIn rated him in the Top 1% of Recruiters for Search Excellence and Talent Pipelining. Prior to recruitment, he was a top-performing account executive and sales director with Fortune 500 companies, including Xerox and FedEx.
Since 2008 he has been advising leaders and professionals at global technology companies and pre-IPO start-ups to help them build winning teams and great careers.
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| 07 Sep 2021 | How to Create a Unique Value Proposition and Sell Retained Executive Search, with Chris Schoettelkotte, Ep #94 | 01:10:34 | |
If you want your clients to work with you on a retained basis, you need a strong value proposition and an effective sales process. In this episode, my special guest, Chris Schoettelkotte, gives a masterclass on selling retained search, including how he developed his unique value proposition. He shares how he transitioned his firm from contingent search to a retained business model. Chris and I discussed in detail why retained search is usually a better solution for the client and how to explain the benefits. You’ll even hear us deliver an impromptu training session on how to pitch exclusivity. Chris is the President and Founder of Manhattan Resources, an executive search firm based in Houston. Chris has been incredibly successful in the search business and he’s consistently one of the top recruiters in the United States. In his best year, Chris collected $2.3M dollars in placement fees -- that’s personal production not including his team’s billings. In this interview, you’ll discover what it takes to perform at the highest level in our industry. Episode Outline and Highlights
How Manhattan Partners Convert 95% of Their Clients Into Repeat Customers On top of being ranked as one of Houston’s top search firms for 18 straight years, another outstanding feat of Manhattan Resources is having a minimum 95% of clients becoming repeat customers. What is their secret? Chris shared, “It is all about investing in long term relationships.” For Chris, this means having the proper value proposition for your clients and candidates as well as going above and beyond what is expected. He shared how his approach works for most of his clients - jumping on a flight and visiting every potential client to get to know them. “There is not a time where the client said, ‘Hey you’re in Houston, I’m in New Jersey, and we want to hire you, you don’t need to come.’ Yes we do. So we are going to get on a plane, we are going to fly to New Jersey, we are going to get a hotel, we are going to spend a couple of days in your office, I want to interview all the stakeholders involved in this position… At the end of this before I get back on a plane I am going to go to whoever the primary stakeholder is… I’m going to say, this is what I know...” Isn’t it risky to invest time and money up front? What if the deal doesn’t materialize? Chris admitted this can sometimes happen, and shared a couple of actual experiences. But this is immaterial compared to the relationship built and the long term benefits produced. How to Sell Exclusivity Manhattan Resources started out as a contingent search firm because, in Chris’s words, he simply didn’t know any better at the time. However, they quickly evolved into a retained executive search business. Chris explains how and why they switched to the retained model not just because it’s more profitable, but also because it benefits the client as well. In this part of our conversation, you will hear verbiage that you can use to sell the true benefit of retained search. Chris indeed shared how he was able to convert his contingent clients into embracing the retained approach. The Two Things All Recruiters Must Understand Another golden nugget of wisdom shared is the two things all recruiters must understand:
Chris further elaborated on the second point, which is actually a brilliant approach in establishing a potential business relationship in the future. What Does it Take to be Successful in Recruitment? Chris’ longevity and accomplishments in the recruitment industry gives him credibility to give advice on what it takes to be successful in this business. He mentioned insightful advice and here are some takeaways:
Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Chris Schoettelkotte Bio and Contact Info Chris Schoettelkotte founded Manhattan Resources in 1999 after serving in various leadership positions with Union Pacific, Olsten Corporation and Corporate Express. His background in business strategy, integration, high performance team development and business turnarounds in both corporate and private equity environments uniquely prepared Chris to look at Executive Search differently. Chris determined from the beginning that the value proposition in the search industry wasn’t strong enough or aligned properly with the needs of the client. Building and refining a robust and transparent search process that enables our client’s to make strategic hiring decisions confidently has always been his primary focus. Chris believes that helping our clients build high performance teams is our mission. We do this by working with our clients to understand our client’s business and the specific needs of the team. We work with our clients to fill the intellectual capital needs of the team while carefully keeping in mind the individual cultures of our client companies. Chris has his B.A. in Business from Western Illinois University and his MBA in International Business from the University of Houston Bauer College of Business. Chris enjoys coaching Boys Varsity Basketball in Houston, Texas where he resides with his wife Anna and their four children.
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| 15 Mar 2024 | 3 Key Steps to Boost Your Recruitment Team's Performance, with Manan Shah, Ep #210 | 00:59:51 | |
Do you need help building lasting relationships with candidates after placement? Scaling a recruitment business and manually nurturing relationships can be overwhelming, leaving little room for other essential tasks. But what if there is a way to automate this process?
To answer this question, we discuss how recruiters can automate their recruiting process, workflow, and campaigns with a special guest, Manan Shah. Manan is a Co-founder at Recruiterflow. He has scaled Recruiterflow to a 50-person team working remotely while staying profitable from day one. Manan has a long history of building software businesses and a wealth of knowledge on recruitment technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and automation.
Tune in and get invaluable recruiting and sales tactics, philosophies, and tools for building teams and relationships for scale. This is an opportunity to revolutionize your recruiting process, build relationships with a large pool of top candidates, and create a funnel of repeat customers. Episode Outline And Highlights
5 Essential Strategies for Building High-Performing Recruitment Teams
Manan and I discussed his secrets to success at Recruiterflow, and he shared five essentials for building teams in a growing recruitment business.
These strategies serve as a roadmap for recruiters seeking to build resilient and agile teams capable of thriving in a rapidly evolving industry landscape.
The Power of Nurturing Candidate Relationships
Manan highlights two primary motivations that drive hiring managers to enlist the help of recruitment agencies. Firstly, time is often a critical factor. Many hiring managers face the urgent need to fill roles swiftly, sometimes within weeks or months, while the internal hiring process could take considerably longer—up to two months. Secondly, recruitment agencies offer access to valuable relationships. Recruitment agencies provide a distinct advantage in a landscape where job information is readily available, and individuals can easily connect on platforms like LinkedIn. They possess a vantage view of the industry and collaborate with diverse clients, enabling them to offer candidates various opportunities across different companies and positions. This breadth of choice enriches the candidate experience, fostering stronger relationships, which, in turn, presents an invaluable resource for clients who struggle to cultivate such connections independently.
Manan also shares the importance of nurturing candidate relationships beyond the initial placement. He observes a common oversight among recruiters who must maintain contact with candidates once they secure a position. However, this represents a missed opportunity. Cultivating candidate relationships extends far beyond the immediate placement, offering substantial potential for scalability. As candidates progress in their careers and are promoted to decision-making roles or become hiring managers, the recruiter can benefit from additional revenue streams without requiring extensive new business development efforts. This emphasis on relationship-building creates a cycle of repeat customers, illustrating how continuous engagement with candidates can yield long-term dividends for recruitment agencies.
Our Sponsor
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Manan Shah Bio and Contact Info
Manan is the Co-founder of Recruiterflow, an ATS and CRM built specifically for recruiting and executive search businesses. He has scaled Recruiterflow to a 50-person team working remotely while staying profitable from day one. Manan has a long history of building software businesses, starting his first in 2013, which he successfully scaled and exited at 26. He has a wealth of knowledge about recruitment technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and automation.
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| 20 Sep 2023 | Proven Strategies for Building a Successful Lifestyle Recruitment Business, with Gregg Salkovitch, Ep #191 | 00:56:11 | |
Working 100+ hours a week nearly burned Gregg out. If running your recruitment business is stressing you out, Gregg’s story may be able to help you.
I am pleased to be joined by Gregg Salkovitch. Gregg is intentionally growing his recruitment firm to become a lifestyle business. Along the way, he learned a lot of things to achieve his goal while gaining more lifestyle freedom. You will hear insightful strategies on how Gregg is building his team and delegating tasks. We also discussed why it is critical to hire a COO to help you in scaling your business.
After a career as a top sales performer for 3 consecutive companies, Gregg co-founded a sales recruitment agency to combine the 2 things he loves most in business: sales and helping people. In 6 years, Gregg grew his company organically with no outside funding to 60 employees, reaching the Inc. 5000 for fastest growing companies 3 consecutive times. He then started a separate recruiting company, Right Choice Resources, which specifically focuses on the placement of salespeople, executives, marketing, account management, and customer success.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Getting Laid Off Pushed Gregg Into a Recruiting Career
Gregg shared an amazing story of resilience on how he got into the recruiting industry. Getting laid off unexpectedly pushed Gregg into a recruiting career. He loved his sales job and was blindsided when he was laid off after 4 years as a top performer. This made interviewing difficult as he had to overcome the perception that he must have underperformed despite being an actual top performer. He also had non-compete from his old company which prevented him from staying in the same industry.
Facing these challenges pushed Greg to explore a new path by using his sales skills to transition into recruiting. This pivot into recruiting ended up being life-changing for Greg's career. You will hear how he used skills he learned from sales to be an effective recruiter. He even leverages his experience of being laid off to engage with candidates. “I think when I speak to candidates and we're seeing more layoffs right now, I have major empathy for them because it's not just like, I've sold like you. I've stood at trade shows for 5 hours like you. I've been laid off like you. And that really helps me, in my opinion, become a better recruiter because I've actually lived it.”
Though difficult, getting laid off opened new opportunities that Greg capitalized on. In his words, “It was a blessing in disguise. It was probably the best thing that ever happened.”
Character Over Credentials: Building an All-Star Team to Scale
Another topic that will also resonate with a lot of business owners is strategies for hiring recruiters and team members to scale. Gregg focuses on hiring people based on character and shared values over resume credentials. He wants people he genuinely enjoys working with. He told the story of how hiring a trusted person without recruiting experience worked well for their business.
This strategy works well for Gregg and his team. He has grown his first recruiting company (with no outside funding) to 60 employees, reaching the Inc. 5000 for Fastest-Growing Companies 3 times! These are some of my takeaways from their strategy:
Why Hiring a COO is Critical
If you are a solo recruitment entrepreneur and planning to scale, hiring a COO is critical. This has been true for both Gregg and me, where hiring an effective COO became a game changer.
A lot of us may be able to relate to what Gregg said:
“I've been doing it by myself for twelve years and I've never really had help. And it's been exhausting. I mean, it's been an amazing ride, but it's been exhausting. And I like to have my recruiters focus on recruiting. I mean, that's what keeps the lights on and not worrying about doing side projects and onboarding employees and dealing with maybe a tough client, which I know is going to wear them down a little bit. So that's why I decided to hire somebody in operations, is that I have my recruiters recruiting. I'm doing everything else, and to do everything else, it's a lot. I just need a helping hand.”
Gregg is intentionally growing his firm slowly to have a lifestyle business. Hiring a COO helps him to focus on sales while delegating operations. Offloading operational tasks and delegating things that he does not enjoy doing creates more freedom and a better lifestyle. This resonates well with me. Some business owners may be apprehensive to take this approach because paying someone else can translate to lesser profit. But keep in mind that making less in the short term creates more freedom to earn much more in the long term.
Our Sponsor
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Gregg Salkovitch Bio and Contact Info
After being a top sales performer for 3 consecutive companies, Gregg decided to co-found a company combining the 2 things he loved most in business, sales and helping people. Over 6 year period, Gregg grew this bootstrapped company with no outside funding to 60 employees, reaching the Inc. 5000 for fastest growing companies 3 consecutive times. He then started a separate recruiting company, Right Choice Resources, which specifically focuses on the placement of salespeople, executives, marketing, account management, and customer success.
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Related Podcast You Might Enjoy
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| 05 Mar 2021 | Top Biller and Former MMA Fighter Reveals How He Defeated Depression and Anxiety, with Will Bourne, Ep #56 | 00:56:50 | |
If you’ve ever faced major challenges, disappointments or setbacks in your recruitment career, you’ll really relate to and enjoy my interview with Will Bourne. Will is the founder of Rekall Consulting, a recruiting firm based in Birmingham specializing in talent acquisition outsourcing for startup and scaleup technology companies. He is a former competitive martial artist, he has been in the recruiting industry for 10 years and recently launched his own business. He’s the author of a new book, “The Fight for Your Life.” In this conversation, Will is totally open and honest about his struggle with mental health issues. Although it’s slowly getting better, the recruitment industry's competitive culture hasn’t always been conducive to mental health and wellbeing. To hear more about this very important topic, listen in as Will reveals how the biggest fight of his life wasn’t in the dojo or in the ring - it was with depression and anxiety. He hopes that by sharing his personal experience, it might help at least one person. Maybe that person is you? Episode Outline and Highlights
From Leaving School Early to Succeeding in Recruitment Interesting is an understatement to discuss Will’s story on how he got to his current recruitment career path. Will left school early, feeling that the traditional education system wasn’t for him. His first job was washing cars. Motivated by his brother, he went back to college and completed his high-school education and enrolled in university. At the time that he was also competing in martial arts - he still felt that university life was not for him and left after a year. He then landed a job at a bank, from a telesales position to being promoted to a management role. He then left a very secure position with the bank to pursue a recruitment career, starting back at the bottom as a candidate sourcer. Was all the risk he took to walk away from everything and re-start his career worth it at that point? What were the mistakes he made and what did he learn from them? A Healthy Discussion on Mental Health “I never really gave mental health a second thought… it wasn’t even on my radar. One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that nobody’s safe from it… mental health is still one of the most sensitive things that you can try and protect.” Recalling his experience, Will shares the three separate life events that knocked him sideways and in combination contributed to his mental health crisis. Firstly, the breakdown of a relationship. Secondly, a big setback financially. Finally, the death of his stepdad, which was completely unexpected. All of it just culminated and he fell into a deep depression. He also added, “I didn’t understand it for quite a while. Everybody was saying to me, ‘just snap out of it’, ‘what’s wrong with you...’ I didn’t know what was going on and I went to speak to the doctor, I filled out a questionnaire which was like 10 questions. And after that questionnaire, it was a case of ‘anxiety depression.’” Back then, Will felt that there was not much great mental health care available. This is why he believes it is important to talk about this topic and make it a lot more accessible and have people talk about it openly. This moved Will to write a book, “The Fight for Your Life”. Hear Will talk about how he came about writing this book and see the link below on where you can get it. Mind Charity Will supports the mental health charity, Mind. He does consultation and supports helping organizations through seminars in creating a better mental health environment in the workplace. Will said, “I learned a lot from that. What you get back from volunteering, I can’t recommend enough to anybody listening, if you got time and if you got the mental capacity to volunteer on something, what you get out of it is insurmountable.” If you want to know more about this organization, you may refer to the link in the below section. Will Bourne Bio and Contact Info Will started his journey in recruitment after an injury put a stop to his developing career in competitive martial arts. Since then Will has been a top biller, top-performing team manager, has launched as a funded startup, been the MD of one of the UK's biggest fintech recruitment companies and more recently Will has decided to do the startup journey all over again, this time with his own money, during a pandemic. Not to mention during the above process having a mental breakdown, being diagnosed and medicated for anxiety depression but ultimately bouncing back to the man you hear speaking today. Depression anxiety and medication-free, and missing some of his ribs...
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| 26 Oct 2021 | How SourceBreaker Grew to 63 Employees in 3½ Years, with Steve Beckitt, Ep #101 | 00:50:37 | |
If you’re an ambitious recruitment company director looking to scale your business, then you’ll definitely want to listen to my interview with entrepreneur Steve Beckitt. In this conversation, Steve revealed how he was able to grow his recruitment technology business to 63 employees in just three and a half years. At the same time, they have created a high performance culture and were recognized as one of the best places to work. In this episode, Steve did not hold back in sharing the learnings and key factors that contributed to his success. Steve is the founder of SourceBreaker, an award-winning recruitment technology company. Having spent six years at Sthree Group, Steve took the leap to launch SourceBreaker in 2014. They have absolutely taken the industry by storm, growing from three people at the beginning to 70 people today. In fact, SourceBreaker has been listed by the Financial Times as one of the top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Europe. Episode Outline and Highlights
Key Factor to Growth: Strategic Marketing + Hard Work If you are starting and scaling your business from scratch, what should be your priority? For Steve, getting invoices out the door should be your top priority. As a technology business, how did SourceBreaker strategize their marketing to reach as many clients? “Very much just getting on the phone and calling people up to sell the products to sell the services we offer,” Steve shared. He also emphasized that while others who are also starting might be spending too much time honing their website and messaging, the old-school approach of hard work and making a high volume of calls to sell their product worked for them. When starting your own recruitment business, how do you feel about potential candidates and clients saying “I’ve never heard of you”? Although this can present itself as a challenge, Steve mentioned that you can also push this to your advantage. Hear how. Key Factor to Growth: Building Your Team and Successful Hiring Another factor that contributed to SourceBreaker’s rapid scaling success is how they build their team. There are three primary qualities that they look for when hiring:
Among the three, Steve gives priority to humility. This is how he puts it: “The reason why we think humility is our key, is we have an obsession with always wanting to be better, always wanting to learn. I feel that a new graduate or a new hire to SourceBreaker can teach me things and I am open to hearing their feedback and learning from them.” Key Factor to Growth: Learning and Talent Development To retain your talents, it is important to remember that the people you hire, as Steve pointed out, “are obsessed with their own personal development.” It makes perfect sense to invest in your team’s development, may it be personal or professional. That is why you might find it fascinating how SourceBreaker implements an approach on mentoring and coaching. Also, hear about their book club and how everyone even from top management gets involved. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Steve Beckitt Bio and Contact Info Steve is the Founder and Director of SourceBreaker, a multi-award winning tech platform that helps recruitment companies accelerate their growth. Prior to founding SourceBreaker, Steve worked as Head of Infrastructure Recruitment with Sthree PLC. Steve then took the leap to set up SourceBreaker with the aim of making genuine difference for recruiters.
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| 27 Sep 2022 | How to Become the Leading Recruiter in Your Market Niche, with Brooke Ziolo, Ep #145 | 00:50:59 | |
Imagine if you were a dominant recruiter in your industry with a portfolio of clients who come to you for all their hiring needs. That doesn’t happen overnight and requires persistence. As you’ll hear in my interview with Brooke Ziolo, it’s certainly achievable with the right mindset and methodology. Brooke is the President of Egret Consulting, and has been an Executive Recruiter for 14 years. She and her team have become the Go-To recruiters for the lighting industry covering positions in sales, marketing, engineering, and operations from mid-level to C-Suite. In this episode, she shares how they became the market leading recruiters within the lighting industry. She describes in detail how they reach out to clients and candidates with a blend of manual and automated processes plus an attitude of polite and professional persistence. Brooke’s history of how and when she started her recruiting career is a resounding story of resilience, leading to her becoming a Partner of Egret in 2013, the Managing Director in 2016, and purchasing the firm in 2019. She was inducted into the Pinnacle Society, the premier consortium of industry-leading recruiters in North America, in 2016. Episode Outline and Highlights
Starting Her Recruitment Career During the 2008 Recession Brooke started her recruitment career in 2008, during the Great Recession. As you can imagine, it was extremely challenging. She only made 2 placements that whole year! But Brooke’s mindset and strategy during that turbulent time lead to her being successful when people started hiring again. Reminiscing her early days, Brook explained, “The only thing I control is how many calls I make. So if I keep making more calls than everybody in the office… that is all I can do right now. I kept just pounding the phones until somebody told me no or I am sick of you.” For Brooke, it is all about her polite persistence. She understood the balance of not harassing anyone but staying within professional boundaries to put her name out there even if she was not making many placements. The result? People remembered her! Making all those phone calls enabled her to build her network of industry connections so people thought of her when they started hiring again. Blended Approach to Marketing and Business Development Cold calling and polite persistence laid the foundation for Brooke to become a top-producing recruiter and billing manager. But how has her approach to business development and marketing evolved over the last 14 years? Here are some of the strategies she shared in this episode:
We also shared tips and ways on cold text messaging. Many recruiters are afraid of sending unsolicited text messages and are concerned about receiving a negative reaction from the recipient. On the other hand, texting is a very effective way to communicate and typically gets a much faster response compared to other platforms such as email. Brooke shared how she does it and how much response she gets in doing so. Brooke’s Success Mindset In 2019, Brooke purchased the firm from her father who was the founder of Egrit Consulting. Acquiring the business wasn’t something she had initially set out to accomplish. But after falling in love with recruitment and becoming a top recruiter in the firm, she started being able to imagine the possibility of taking over the business. I asked Brooke’s recipe for success. In addition to her persistence and also being niche-focused, she shared three keys: :
I have always aimed to understand recruitment owners’ formulas for success. And Brooke certainly delivered in this episode. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including: funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, backoffice support, marketing and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc Brooke Ziolo Bio and Contact Info Brooke Ziolo has been an Executive Recruiter with Egret Consulting for 14 years. Brooke works exclusively in the lighting industry with manufacturers, rep agencies, ESCOs, and design firms. She works in positions in sales, marketing, engineering, and operations from mid-level to C-Suite. She was inducted into the Pinnacle Society, the premier consortium of industry-leading recruiters in North America, in 2016. Brooke became a Partner of Egret in 2013, the Managing Director in 2016, and purchased the firm in 2019. People and Resources Mentioned
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| 22 Dec 2023 | Top Private Equity Recruiter Reveals How He Built a $1,000,000 Practice, with Nate Zimmerman, Ep #202 | 01:02:34 | |
With over a million dollars billed consecutively for the last two years, and career billings surpassing $6.6 million, Nate Zimmerman is a Senior Partner and Executive Recruiter at High Country Private Equity Search, based in Denver.
In this episode, Nate shares his journey from breaking into recruitment by cold-calling the firm owner to becoming the youngest Partner in the firm’s history. He breaks down the key milestones along the way from hitting $400K, to breaking 7-figures, to building a team.
Nate has distinguished himself in the competitive world of recruiting with his relentless focus on putting the relationship before the transaction. You’ll discover the work ethic, strategy, and mindset required to reach $1M in annual billings.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Laying the Groundwork for Future Success
Nate’s success can be attributed to his work ethic and belief in investing time and effort to develop his skills. “Knowing the underlying fundamentals, that is what I focused on initially,” explained Nate. “How to recruit people, how to interview people, how to take a job order, how to get a job order. Those things you got to put in the time and effort.”
A major differentiator that Nate shared is how he makes the most of his time - “On the weekends, spend two to three hours, Saturday and Sunday, every weekend during the first couple of years into this industry doing that really basic research. It's contributing long-term to your market mastery. Every hour that you are spending… it's all going to pay dividends.”
He shared his typical day looking at job boards. He emphasized the importance of quality , leading to talk about his MPC and targeted marketing strategies. He also elaborated on his thought process and what is going on in his mind as he achieve his milestones. The important takeaways from this part of our conversation are the value of discipline, consistency, and having a clear vision to align your habits and processes in achieving your goals.
Billing A Million Dollars for the First Time
One of Nate’s significant milestones is when he billed a million dollars for the first time. I had to probe for what he did differently on top of his discipline in planning, allotting extra time to research, conducting weekly internal training, and so on. He successfully laid down his groundwork for success and meeting the seven-digit billing is an astonishing achievement.
Here is what Nate had to say: “You always have to figure out, okay, who's going to be my honeypot next year? And if it's the same client as your best client multiple years in a row, I can assure you that's not going to continue, right? The fees stop coming. So that was a big thing. And frankly, a lot of that did come through referrals. I was very fortunate, but I've gotten to a point now where I'm realizing that, hey, that luck, that it's not forever. So you're gonna have to go out and make that luck next year. Go get that next big client. Don't wait for one of your clients that you're doing such a great job for. You deserve those referrals, but that doesn't mean they're gonna come.”
Deep-diving on this topic further, Nate also shared several important key factors to help recruiters and recruitment business owners meet their billing goals:
Critical Learnings from 2023
It may sound like Nate has the Midas touch, where he turns everything he touches into gold. On the contrary, it was never a walk in the park. Nate even shared why they are currently at an inflection point this year because of a setback in terms of expected versus actual revenue. So I wanted to hear the learnings from his perspective that he is willing to share for the benefit of our listeners. Nate shared that even if the market is unpredictable and can be difficult, we should focus on the things we can control. He mentioned a few action items that they will implement, such as leveraging technology, doing roadshows, and setting up email campaigns.
I admire Nate’s resilience this is a recurring topic in our coaching calls. Focusing on things you can control and influence is one of the many ways to make your recruitment business recession and future-proof.
Our Sponsor
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Nate Zimmerman Bio and Contact Info
Nate specializes in finding ultra-high-performing talent for private equity firms, real estate investment firms, asset managers, and family offices. Nate believes it’s fundamentally valuable, regardless of the search, to focus always on the relationship before the transaction. First and foremost, his mission is to deliver excellence to his clients and candidates and purposefully build long-term relationships that produce value for years.
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| 26 Jul 2024 | How Can AI Drive Sustainable Growth in Your Recruitment Business, with Julie McGrath, Ep #224 | 01:05:42 | |
Already exploring AI but unsure how to maximize its potential to elevate your recruitment business?
In this episode, our coach and Client Services Director, Julie McGrath, shares how you can further embrace AI when creating content specific to your niche market. Julie shares insights on how you can use AI to drive sustainable growth for your recruitment business.
Julie is a highly experienced coach with 15 years of experience in the recruitment industry, including 8 years as a solo recruiter specializing in Tech and Executive recruitment. Before her career in recruitment, Julie worked in large-scale operations and managed 200 people.
You will also get a preview of an AI Program she designed explicitly for Recruiters and recruitment business owners, including a Training program for recruiters to help with Business Development, account management, and candidate sourcing.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Common Success Qualities of Recruiters and Recruitment Business Owners
Julie’s experience as a recruiter, business owner, and recruitment coach puts her in a position to work with some top-performing recruiters and business owners. She shared great insights and observations on the most common challenges and critical success factors.
“I'm very fortunate to be in this position where I get a peek behind the curtain of the top-performing recruiters. And then also those that are maybe new to the industry that are just starting and trying to define their feet, like we all did it at one point or another in our career.”
Here are the critical success factors that she shared:
Julie believes these key factors can help business owners achieve high performance, build sustainable businesses, and effectively navigate industry challenges.
Leveraging AI to Enhance Your Recruitment Business
During our Live Summit in Edinburgh last year, Julie delivered a fascinating session on leveraging AI to improve recruitment businesses. ChatGPT was pretty new at that time, and she was able to provide an amazing take on why the recruitment community needs to embrace AI.
The world will look so different in the next 3-5 years, and I think that understanding AI as early as now can enable recruiters to contribute a more profound impact to their industries. Julie and I discussed her passion for AI, and how it can help recruiters and business owners further engage with their clients and candidates.
Julie pointed out that AI isn’t a new player on the field; it’s just that Generative AI, ChatGPT, and OpenAI have recently brought it into the limelight. She explained that while AI has been used for decades, primarily in automation, it’s now becoming more accessible to individuals and small businesses.
Julie’s passion for AI is driven by its potential to revolutionize the recruitment industry, and she believes that getting ahead of the curve will have a more positive impact. Julie underscored that even small businesses can compete effectively by creating targeted content and using AI to understand and meet the needs of their clients and candidates.
If you want to know more about how we can integrate AI into our recruitment process, you may check the link below for a free training session developed by Juli and our colleague Leanne.
Creating AI Content That Is Specific to Your Client and Candidate Needs
Julie also touched upon creating content with AI while focusing on providing a great experience for your clients and candidates. This is how she puts it: “And if you can spend your time and your skills more focused on providing a great experience for your clients and your candidate, using the emotional intelligence side of things that can't be replaced by AI just yet, and being able to use AI as a crutch to make you work faster and smarter with the data-driven insights and information that it can give you, I can only see this being a positive change in our world and the world of recruiting overall.”
She outlined a straightforward process when creating AI content with a human touch:
Julie McGrath Bio and Contact Info
Julie McGrath is a highly experienced coach and conducts our 1-2-1 monthly calls with members. She has 15 years of experience in the recruitment industry both in large-scale operations and running a solopreneur agency specializing in Tech and Executive recruitment.
She is an active STEM ambassador and panel judge for various socio-economic and diversity initiatives. She currently manages her own digital skills agency that supports businesses to embrace new technological processes and upskill staff for the new digital world of work.
Julie is also an NLP practitioner and this means she can help business owners break through mental and physical barriers so they can live a life of abundance and release the restrictions of mediocrity. Julie is well versed in helping recruitment business owners with business burnout, stress, loss of purpose and direction, and also those business owners who are doing well and want to continue achieving and attracting success into their lives.
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| 14 Jan 2020 | Habits of a Million-Dollar Biller, with Rich Rosen, Ep #6 | 00:48:33 | |
It’s tough work being a solo recruiter. Everything in your recruitment firm depends on you. Many in the industry choose to remain solo and struggle while others who make that same choice do extraordinarily well. Rich Rosen fits into that latter category. He consistently bills $1M per year and has lots of repeat business and clients. What’s his secret? I wanted to talk with him to find out and we recorded this episode as a result. You’ll hear Rich transparently share how 2019 was one of his worst years in the industry in over 20 years—and how he made a comeback to close out the year with right around $700,000 in placements. You’ll also learn how he sets goals, prioritizes his time, and sets himself up for success every day. I hope you listen. This is a fun conversation full of insights from an everyday guy with a successful track record of recruiting success. Outline of This Episode
2019 was a disastrous year but Rich rebounded nicely2019 was a perfect storm for Rich’s recruitment firm. Market conditions, industry trends, and outright strange events combined to prevent him from progressing at a normal rate. He started the year with only $30,000 billed within the first 4 months, which was far below his normal average for that time of year. Many deals fell apart at the last minute and $522,000 in billings evaporated. Rich says that among those losses were a handful of clients who rescinded deals weeks away from hiring the candidates Rich had provided. He says he’s only seen that happen a handful of times in over 20 years in the industry. But by the time we recorded this conversation—early November 2019—Rich had rebounded to a hopeful $700,000 year-end revenue total. It was still shy of his $1M average but far above what many recruiters realize even in good years. How did he do it? Part of the recovery came from restructuring of his fees. Up until that point, his business operated 99% of the time on a contingent fee structure. He pivoted to a partial retainer model and included up-front fees of $8,000 to $16,000 for many clients. He said this change helped him discern which opportunities were serious and which would likely turn out to be a waste of his efforts. It also enabled him to attract clients who were truly serious about their search. Listen to hear the details of how Rich learned to scrutinize opportunities, increase his cold calling, and reconnect with old clients to overcome his early deficit. Setting ground rules for good communication is key to success as a solo recruiterEvery client's situation will be different but Rich has learned that there are fundamental understandings that need to exist if a recruiter is going to work efficiently and effectively for the client. The most important of those ground rules is good communication. As an example, Rich communicates deadlines to his clients to impress on them the degree to which he’s willing to help them accomplish their hiring goals quickly. He routinely says to clients that if he sends a message or piece of information to them and does not hear from them within 48 hours, he will put his work for them on hold and send any candidates for their position that he’s communicating about to others in his database. This urgency tells his clients that if they truly want to get things done, they need to communicate. Rich realizes this might sound extreme but he’s found it essential to deliver on what clients want and expect and to help them be accountable for those results. At the very least he expects a text from the client with basic information about the things he’s sent to them. He sends them information for a reason and expects them to help him streamline the process and be effective on their behalf. Key ingredients to becoming a million-dollar billerNo recruiter bills $1M annually by accident. I wanted to hear from Rich himself what he thinks goes into being such a consistently successful person. His tips were pure gold. Here’s what he had to say:
When you’re selling your services to a potential client, mastering these areas adds credibility. Rich notes that by doing your job well you are enhancing the hiring manager’s career—and you need to portray that to them. Find out exactly what they’re looking for in a candidate. Tell them this is your niche and that you’ll always bring them the right person. If you don’t, you don’t get paid. When they can see it in those simple terms, they tend to commit and get the process moving. Tips for being as productive as possible and planning effectivelyRich has proven that he is an effective recruiter. But how does he do it? A lot of grunt work. Rich believes phone calls are king. He makes at least 50 a day, whether it be to previous candidates, old clients, or people he’s just added to his database. Rich works from home and his typical workday starts at 8 am with making and returning phone calls. He’ll spend time returning emails and is always sure to leave at least an hour for VP calls. Unlike many recruiters, he takes time to respond to everyone. Because he works nationwide, he structures his calls as such: East coast calls first thing in the morning, then Central time, then he works on those living in the Pacific time zone. Something Rich does—that many recruiters might not have the drive for—is research in the evenings and on the weekends. He’ll look for candidates on LinkedIn or in his database and gather their email and phone number. He’ll then shoot them an email the night before letting them know to expect a call from him the next day. It’s time-consuming, it’s grunt-work, but he admits that you learn a lot in the process and it turns potential “cold calls” into “warmer” calls.. Rich is a no-excuses and no wasted time type of guy and it’s part of why he’s found so much success. To hear how he fully maximizes his time to be the most efficient and effective recruiter he can possibly be, be sure to listen to the whole episode. Connect with Rich Rosen
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| 13 Apr 2021 | The Recruiter On a Mission to Increase Female Representation at Board Level, with Venesa Klein, Ep #62 | 00:56:15 | |
Why do companies struggle to hire female executives? How can we, as recruiting professionals, help our clients to address the gender-gap particularly in C-suite level searches? What steps can be taken toward a long-term solution? By sharing her own experience, my special guest Venesa Klein gives her take on how businesses and organizations can make a meaningful, long-term impact on the gender-gap at executive levels. Venesa is a partner at Calibre One, a leading executive search boutique with offices in San Francisco, London, New York, and Singapore. Based in LA, Venesa manages the Women Board Member Recruiting as well as Diversity Recruiting specializing in VP and C-level searches for consumer internet, e-commerce, CPG and category-defining tech companies. Episode Outline and Highlights
Addressing the Gender Gap: Small Steps for a Long-Term Strategy As businesses and companies focus on gender diversity, it can be a challenge to close the gender gap. The reason? Venesa said, “That is the important question, what is the strategy? What is the long game? I think that’s the piece that companies are missing, is it’s very reactionary to pressure from aboard, you know social media pressure...We need to think much bigger than that.” Although it can be difficult, Venesa laid out a few solutions as a starting point to address the challenge of closing the gender gap, especially in C-suite levels by creating pathways for women to progress within their respective organizations. Some of the pointers are as follows:
Venesa also added, “You have to have a strong HR function that is thinking this through with you.” A Roller-Coaster Ride One of the life-changing events that Venesa shared is her “jolting experience” of motherhood and how she was able to balance it with work. While everybody has a different experience, becoming a mom (especially during the pandemic) was a wake-up call for Venesa. This is how she describes it, “I know that when I became a mom, it had felt like it wasn’t talked about. I don’t know whether because I didn’t have children or I wasn’t just tuned in to the conversation or that the conversations just weren’t happening.” Some of the challenges she relayed, on which some of our listeners may be able to strongly relate to are:
Have you had the same struggles when juggling work with motherhood? Business Best Practices to Attain Female Top Talent What can give a business an edge in terms of employing female top talents? Based on Venesa’s experience, it really is important for a business to take care not only of their female employees but also their employees’ relationships with their children. Some of the best practices mentioned would be offering reimbursement for childcare or offering childcare onsite. Also, measuring success and accomplishment based on outcome rather than time spent is a significant factor to offer them flexibility. Venesa Klein Bio and Contact Info Venesa Klein is an executive talent recruiter and Partner at Calibre One, a leading transatlantic executive search boutique. Since 2007, Venesa has helped some of the world's most successful companies build out the critical leadership teams that drive their success. Her robust network of C-Suite and VP-level executives make her a highly sought-after full-cycle recruiter across a portfolio of consumer internet, eCommerce, CPG, and category-defining technology companies. As a Partner at Calibre One, Venesa founded its Purpose-Driven Practice, which focuses on placing executives in growing organizations seeking to create innovation with meaningful impact. Her empathy-forward personality along with her strategic thinking has enabled her to work with Google, Thinx, Rev.com, Mixbook, among others, to identify and recruit essential leaders in operations, marketing, and human resources. Before joining Calibre One, Venesa was the Senior Recruiter at MarketTools a 500 person enterprise technology and services company where she was responsible for the recruiting function internationally. She was also a consultant at Google where she was responsible for building out their internal executive search function and was The Consumer Practice Leader at The Pacific Firm. Outside of work, Venesa is actively involved in various roles within a number of animal welfare, environmental, and educational charities. Her commitment to philanthropy and her two young children keep her quite busy. She splits her time between Northern and Southern California. People and Resources Mentioned
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| 22 Jan 2025 | The Human Connection: Why Top Recruiters Lead with Phone Calls, with Rachel Filby, Ep # 243 | 01:08:26 | |
Not everyone is born to become a recruiter, but this may be the case for our special guest, Rachel Filby. When her father convinced her to pursue a career in recruitment, she never hesitated and firmly believed that it was one of the best decisions of her life. In her first year with Michael Page, she became a top biller, and she now runs her own recruitment agency, RF Recruitment. In this episode, you will hear about the very specific success factors that led to her becoming a top performer and how she successfully transitioned to becoming a consistently successful solopreneur. Rachel has 20 years of recruitment experience, initially working for one of the largest recruitment agencies in the world. In the Financial Times Survey 2024, Rachel Filby was recognized as one of the top 150 recruiters in the UK. Episode Outline and Highlights
Five Success Factors of Becoming the Top Biller in Her First Year as a Recruiter Rachel initially wanted a career in media, but her father recommended that she take recruitment as a career path. At 21, she started her career with Michael Page and became a top biller in her first year! Although she primarily attributes her success to the great training she received from Michael Page, I found five success factors that could resonate well with many aspiring recruiters who also plan to become future recruitment business owners:
Together, these factors, along with the right mindset and strategy, propelled Rachel to outstanding success in her first year as a recruiter. This also led to a strong career trajectory, with her getting an early promotion as a manager.
Using the Past-Present-Future Approach in Day-to-Day Business
As a recruitment solopreneur, it can be challenging for Rachel to handle the end-to-end process of her business due to capacity challenges. This is also on top of her duty as a mother, as she places high value on taking care of her kids. I wanted to know her day-to-day process and how she can sustain her momentum in successfully running her business with consistent billing and client acquisition.
She explained, “I kind of separate my, my thought process and on my business in kind of three areas. So it's past, present, and future.”
She elaborated that the “past” means protecting the money she made or existing relationships. This entails a lot of aftercare and ensuring that relationships are continuously maintained.
The “present” is explained as “Then I have kind of the present, which is jobs I'm currently recruiting, candidates I'm currently working with. That's my kind of here-and-now. So, you know, I guess there's a bit of a sweet spot of how many jobs, you know, you have that you can do a really good job on within the time that you have. And you don't really want too many more than that or too many less than that.”
The “future” refers to business development and lead generation to secure the source of the next job.
Do you also apply the same approach to your business?
Best Practices on Lead Generation and Business Development
When discussing the “future” principle, I wanted to pick Rachel’s brains on her approach to business development and lead generation as well as how much time she spends in this aspect of her business. Below are some takeaways:
1. Proactive and Low-Pressure Engagement
Rachel consistently monitors her niche market, staying updated on who’s hiring and when they might need her services. She engages early in the recruitment process with no expectation of immediately winning the job, allowing her to build rapport without pressuring the client.
2. Intentional Targeting and Tailored Communication
Her outreach is bespoke and personal—whether it’s a phone call, LinkedIn message, or email—avoiding generic marketing materials in favor of tailored communication that resonates with potential clients.
3. Prioritizing Connection Through Calls
Despite the prevalence of digital communication, Rachel emphasizes the power of phone calls as the foundation of strong client relationships. She supplements this with follow-ups via voicemail, email, and LinkedIn to ensure she remains on their radar.
Rachel Filby Bio & Contact Info
Rachel Filby has 20 years of recruitment experience working initially for one of the largest recruitment agencies in the world and now runs her recruitment agency specializing in Facilities Management Recruitment. Rachel Filby is recognized as one of the top 150 recruiters in the UK in the Financial Times Survey 2024.
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| 04 Feb 2022 | Secrets to Surviving Four Financial Crises and Growing Revenue to £56 Million, with Mark Brown, Ep #112 | 01:02:16 | |
Imagine starting your own recruitment business with zero experience in recruitment and only 10 days later the world comes to a standstill with 9/11. This is how the story of Mark Brown, co-founder and director of Worldwide Recruitment Solutions (WRS) started. However, this wasn’t the last obstacle in his way. Their niche field was financial institutions with a specific focus on the mortgage market when the 2008 financial collapse took place. From there they transitioned their business into serving the oil and gas industry and 2014 came along, seeing the oil industry plummeting. In this podcast, Mark expands on how they still managed to grow WRS to revenue of £56 million and EBITA of £1.7M with 4 international offices (UK, Singapore, Iraq & Uganda), becoming the 3rd fastest growing recruitment company in the UK. Episode Outline and Highlights:
Cash Is King “You talk about systems but there weren’t any systems. The reality was that this was a decision that I’d taken on the back of good advice. I think the advice I was given besides that cash is king is to make sure you’ve always got a minimum of 6 and ideally 9 months worth of working capital, business as usual working capital so that you can keep the lights on,” Mark explains how they managed to survive and thrive through 4 major global financial crises. How to Scale Your Business to 30 People In a matter of three years, WRS grew from 5 to 30 people. On top of that, they also have an employee retention rate of 90%. Mark compared their system to that of Jack and the Beanstalk where they had four department heads and added new team members underneath each one. The following factors all influenced their success in hiring the right people to fall underneath these heads:
However, what added more value to the business was the high retention rate that sometimes was above 90%. As WRS always gave their staff the perfect runway to grow within, staff would very seldom leave the business. Mark also pointed out that they created a clear path for everyone joining the firm and they offered a space without any glass ceilings and where the opinion of employees was respected. Why Did WRS Win The Sunday Times Best Small Company to Work for Award? Mark states that even though the company has grown tremendously since its early days, they’ve maintained the same kind of culture. The management team, the L&D team and the culture of the business never changed. “I refer back to respect, fair environment, an environment where people feel they belong, feel they have a voice, feel they have an input, they understand the purpose of the company and the direction of travel and that is through constant communication,” Mark shares why he believes they won the award for being the best small company to work for. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Mark Brown Bio and Contact Info Mark Brown is the co-founder of Worldwide Recruitments Solutions (WRS) and has 20 years experience as a recruitment business owner and CEO. Involved in the start up of two recruitment brands - KCMB (2001-08) & WRS (2008 to date). WRS is a global recruitment consultancy and workforce solutions company serving the oil and gas, mining, marine and power industries. In 2021, WRS achieved revenue of £56M with an EBITDA of £1.7M. The brand has a global presence with offices in UK, Singapore, Iraq and Uganda. They currently have a headcount of 65 (peaked at 120 in 2015). WRS was recently named by Recruiter Magazine as the 3rd fastest growing recruitment company in the UK. He and his team have a long list of awards that includes being the Sunday Times Best Small Company to Work for, WRS enjoys a place on the Version Fast Track List and they’ve received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise and International Trade. Mark brings expertise in international trade and global expansion and is an advocate of technology innovation and digitisation to improve business process and efficiency. Married for 20 years, he has twin daughters (aged 22). A keen supporter of football (30 years a season ticket holder at Man United) and horse racing as a spectator sport.
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| 03 Aug 2020 | How to Build a 7-Figure Search Firm with a Small Virtual Team, with Rob Bowerman, Ep #32 | 00:46:32 | |
When I ask recruiting and search firm owners, “what is your Vision for your business?” the answer is often a variation on the following theme. They tell me, “Mark, I don’t want to build a large firm with hundreds of employees and huge overheads. I’d much rather have a small, high-performing team so we can generate 7-figures while keeping overheads low and staff management issues to a minimum.” Of course, that’s easier said than done. Few in our industry manage to make the leap from 6-figure solo practitioner to the 7-figure firm owner. After all, hiring and managing remote employees can be a real challenge. For many, the additional hassles and headaches involved are not worth the effort. Yet if you get it right, the rewards are obvious. How do you set things up so the business runs like a well-oiled machine? To answer that question, I invited Rob Bowerman to share his experiences as someone who’s successfully made that journey. In this episode, Rob talks about his transition from being an executive recruiter to building his own recruitment team. Rob shares his best practices and as well as the hurdles he’s faced, giving practical insights on several key business issues, from managing your workload to managing staff turnover. Rob started The Bowerman Group (TBG) in 2009 after having been a successful Executive Recruiter since 1994. TBG serves the retail industry, particularly specialty on luxury brands, and has developed long-standing relationships with many respected American and European designer apparel, accessory, jewelry, and home furnishing companies. Rob currently serves as the President of The Pinnacle Society, the premier consortium of industry-leading recruiters in North America. Episode Outline and Highlights
Effectively Managing a Small Virtual Team Even before the pandemic, Rob has been successfully running a small virtual team. When discussing best practices on managing a team virtually, he gave two key pointers: (1) Stay connected as a team, (2) Stay involved and support them as you can. “It’s daily setting out what are your goals for the day, and on Monday what your goals for the week, and holding people accountable for that. So I think honestly that morning time together is the most important function. Like everyone sharing, “this is what I’m doing,” “this is my focus,” “this is where I need support,” And how is this affecting the team relationship? “We actually only physically see each other, even in good times, three or four times a year but we feel like we see each other every day.” The Formula for Deciding When to Outsource Certain Tasks Managing a small recruitment team can also be daunting. As a business owner, you have to run the company, run your desk, and you are also a manager - you have to do training, coaching, on top of process management. How should you juggle all those responsibilities? Rob shared a very practical formula. “Figure out first and foremost what you can outsource… If you do the simple math… look at your annual earnings, what you want it to be. Divide it to calculate your hourly rate. Say that comes out to be $400. Then, anything that’s not worth $400 an hour, somebody else should be doing that.” Rob Bowerman Bio and Contact Info Rob started The Bowerman Group in 2009 after having been a successful Executive Recruiter since 1994. He discovered his passion for Search following a career in merchandising and shares his love for the industry with his team, clients, and candidates every day. Carving out a unique niche that focused on specialty and luxe brands, he has developed long-standing relationships with many respected American and European designer apparel, accessory, jewelry, and home furnishing companies. Rob had a vision of creating a boutique firm that matched the unique profile of this niche—excellence, brand heritage, and an unwavering dedication to quality. This vision has manifested itself into a dynamic group that is experiencing consistent year-over-year increases in successfully completed searches within TBG’s unique niche. Rob currently serves as the President of The Pinnacle Society, the premier consortium of industry-leading recruiters in North America. He is proud of his association with this group of the “best and brightest” within the search profession as well as honored to be the only “retail guy” in the organization.
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| 27 Apr 2023 | 4 Essential Skills that All Recruitment Business Owners Need to Be Successful, with Chris Dinaso, Ep #171 | 01:00:48 | |
When you run your own business, you wear many hats and need to be competent across a number of areas. But which skills make the biggest difference to your success?
In this episode, my special guest Chris Dinaso and I discuss the top 4 skills that are absolutely fundamental to building a profitable recruitment business. We also delve into Chris’s philosophy of “always doing the right thing” which is key to sustainable, long-term success.
It will come as no surprise that selling skills are crucial for recruitment businesses to grow and succeed in a competitive market. A critical component of this is establishing relationships with potential candidates and clients, which starts with an effective elevator pitch.
Chris will be sharing his best practices for selling and business development in running his own recruitment practice. You will hear how he structures his ‘Million-Dollar Paragraph’ and how he effectively reaches out to potential candidates by calling them at their work number.
Chris has been in the recruiting industry for almost three decades and has founded Plumbline Staffing Solutions, a boutique recruitment firm focusing on insurance and general staffing solutions, with offices in Chicago, Illinois, and Austin, Texas.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Doing the Right Thing is a Differentiator
Chris shared an interesting principle as a success contributor: his mindset of always doing the right thing. Influenced by his faith and his experience in his ministry, his aim is to always provide a transcendent experience to his candidates and clients. As he explained, “I want every interaction I have with clients and candidates, I want that to extend beyond just the limits of ordinary experience.”
We discussed the perspective of having integrity, building character, and treating people right in the world of recruiting should be a basic expectation. However, Chris is regular told that he’s different from other recruiters. Chris finds this surprising because, in his view, he didn’t do anything special - he just did the right thing. Which suggests that unfortunately many people don’t have a positive experience of dealing with recruiters.
Although Chris’ reason for doing the right thing isn’t money motivated, the outcome is that it is good for business. I am sure this will resonate with a lot of our listeners - if there is one differentiator for successful recruiters or business owners, it will always come down to how they have treated their clients and candidates.
The Best Way to Sell is to Not Sell
A key strength of Chris is his selling skills, which is one of the reasons he got into the recruiting business way back in 1995. When I asked him about business development, his no-nonsense approach is to sell by not selling. You will hear how Chris starts his conversation with potential clients and candidates, focused on building trust and with the intention of building relationships. I find it really interesting, as customers just don’t respond to a hard sell approach. Coming across too aggressive can backfire. Here are the two things that Chris and I discussed on this topic:
Four Essential Skills for Starting and Scaling a Recruitment Business
Chris was a successful salesperson and manager prior to setting up his own recruitment firm. I was keen to understand how he applied those skills to grow his own business. “When you start a business, you have to learn how to do everything,” was how Chirs described it.
If you are a recruiter listening and aiming to start your own business, these are four must-haves skills that Chris shared:
To understand why those four skills in particular are the most important, be sure to listen to the full episode.
Our Sponsors
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Chris DiNaso Bio and Contact Info
Chris is the founder of Plumbline Staffing Solutions, with offices in both Austin and Chicago. Chris started in the recruiting industry in 1995 as an Account Executive. Since then he’s worked for small and large staffing companies, becoming a top-producing salesperson and manager prior to launching his own recruitment business in 2013. Chris is also on the Board of Directors for the National Insurance Recruiters Association.
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| 19 Oct 2021 | The 7 Habits of Million-Dollar Billers | 00:16:51 | |
I am proud and excited to share with you the 100th episode of the Resilient Recruiter Podcast! I would like to thank you for listening and following my show, for all the fantastic reviews which I really appreciate. I am humbled by how much people seem to love this show and I don’t take your support for granted - it motivates me to provide really more meaningful content each week. This podcast has given me a platform to meet truly exceptional people which has been an absolute privilege. For the 100th episode, let me share the seven common habits of million-dollar billers who unselfishly shared their stories of humble beginnings, resilience, and success. Episode Outline and Highlights
Three Factors That Are Not in Common From Million-Dollar Billers I Interviewed Before I dive into the seven common habits of million-dollar billers I interviewed, allow me to share the factors that were not common among them. The first one is their market sector. The million-dollar billers who I have interviewed come from very different specializations and industries. The next one is personality: from extremely dynamic and extroverted people to some who are confidently quiet and introverted, and of course everything in between. Lastly, this one surprises me the most, some working like machines working 12-15 hours a day while some work way fewer hours than others. 7 Common Habits of Million-Dollar Billers At least 25 of the 96 people I interviewed in this show are solo million-dollar billers. So if it is not about the market sector, personality, or number of hours they work, what are the common factors? Here then are the seven common habits of million-dollar billers I interviewed:
I will not deep dive on each of these habits, but I am looking forward to covering it in my subsequent episodes. About Our Inner Circle Program Speaking of growth mindset and continuous learning and development, I can give you a proven process to double or triple your billings and to generate a consistent predictable flow of placements. If you’d like to learn more, go ahead and book a free Strategy Session here. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained People and Resources Mentioned
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| 19 Feb 2024 | TRR Bitesize #001 Mike Williams LinkedIn Strategy To Win Business | 00:03:01 | |
Mike is a firm believer that you can win clients through LinkedIn. You will hear an amazing story about how Mike received an inbound enquiry from a VP of HR at a billion-dollar company because of a story he posted on LinkedIn. That senior executive became a client, and gave Mike a lot of repeat business, which might never have happened without that LinkedIn post. Mike also shared how consistent posting helps build a “continued relationship” with potential leads that you may have a cold called before. Here are things that you will find insightful in this section of the episode:
----------------------- Follow Mike Williams on LinkedIn: Carnegie Partners website link ------------------------- Connect with Mark Whitby
If you have been enjoying the podcast, please take a moment to leave a review. Your feedback is much appreciated as it helps us reach a wider audience and assist more recruiters. Here is the link to leave a review: https://lovethepodcast.com/theresilientrecruiter
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| 08 Jun 2021 | Saying Yes: Applying Theatre Skills to Building a Inc. 1000 Staffing Company, with Jared Coseglia, Ep #72 | 00:54:58 | |
When 9/11 happened, Jared Coseglia had to give up his career as a theatre director and landed an admin job in a recruitment company. Twenty years later, he’s the CEO of an award-winning staffing business that not only survived but actually thrived during the pandemic. In this interview, Jared shares his experience of building a highly successful recruiting and staffing company. One of the keys to growing your recruitment business is identifying, recruiting, mentoring and retaining the best people. Jared gave specific suggestions on how to recruit recruiters and then create an environment where they can achieve their potential. He also revealed his secrets to building a brand through thought-leadership and PR. Jared is the founder and CEO of TRU Staffing Partners, an award-winning staffing company representing talent and opportunities in the data privacy, e-discovery, and cybersecurity verticals since 2010. Jared has successfully placed over 3000 professionals in full-time and temporary positions at the Fortune 1000, Am Law 200, and throughout the global consultancy, service and software provider community. His ability to identify, deliver, mentor, and help retain talent has given him the privilege of quickly becoming the globally recognized “go-to” individual for hiring managers and job seekers in need of staffing solutions or career guidance and management in legal technology and data protection. Episode Outline and Highlights
Transferring Skills as a Theatre Director to Talent Representation and Interview Preparation Jared started his career in the theatre industry - which sadly became difficult when 9/11 happened. He then shifted to the recruitment and staffing business, which he started as a temp doing admin tasks. He eventually learned to source and successfully applied the skills he developed in the theatre. As Jared said, “I likened it to casting. Because when you’re a director you’re always casting shows. I do think there are quite a lot of similarities to being a theatre director where at the end of the day your mission is to harmonize the human capital of all the different disciplines that go into making the work of art.” Aside from the comparison of sourcing to casting, he also believes that clarity and articulation of thoughts, as well as appreciation and access of the human condition from the inside, contributed greatly to his success, which he gives credit to his theatre background. Prepping Your Candidates How do you prep your candidates to set them up for success? Jared shared a lot of commonalities with his previous career in the theatre. Some key pointers are:
Jared explained, “Think of it this way, when you’re an actor, you have ideas. But mainly you don’t share those ideas or you don’t try those ideas out on stage without permission. So a good rehearsal process, when you’re a theatre director, is giving actors permission and creating a safe space for people to make mistakes, say the wrong things, try things that don’t work so that you could guide them to the ones that do.” How to Successfully Recruit Recruiters When Jared was scaling his business, he recognized the challenge in hiring skilled recruiters. He actually hired around one-third of his people through an agency. He also revealed some of his secrets to acquiring great talents. In his words, “You have to find great people to invest in at a young point in their career, not age, but a young point in their career in this space.” He backed up his advice by sharing amazing real-life examples of people he’s hired. Jared argued that recruiting for your team is somewhat similar to doing improv. “You know there is a saying in theatre, that when you’re doing improvisation, you have to say yes.” He then elaborated on how saying “yes” applies to recruiting good recruiters. Jared Coseglia Bio and Contact Info Jared Michael Coseglia is the founder and CEO of TRU Staffing Partners, an award-winning staffing company representing talent and opportunities in the data privacy, e-discovery, and cybersecurity verticals since 2010. Jared’s unique style of representation, a vast network of relationships, and subject matter expertise have helped earn him and TRU a host of awards including the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America rankings two years in a row, #1043 in 2016 and #1189 in 2017. TRU has been voted a top three legal and/or litigation support staffing agency for seven consecutive years in both the National Law Journal and the New York Law Journal, winning first place for National Law Journal’s 2018 Legal Outplacement/Career Transition Coaching and Corporate Counsel Magazine’s Best Legal Outplacement/Career Transition Coaching in 2016. TRU was also recognized in 2019 as a Hall of Fame recipient in NLJ’s Best Legal Recruiter category. Jared is an active member of the legal and cybersecurity community and, in addition to his role on the Board of Editors for Cybersecurity Law & Strategy (an ALM Law Journal Newsletter), he has authored over ninety articles, regularly appeared on a dozen podcasts and webinars, and spoken at over fifty conferences. Coseglia was awarded Best Reviewed e-Discovery Session at Enfuse 2017 for his lecture and Q&A on “Transitioning Your Career from ESI to Cybersecurity” and was the recipient of a 2017 ILTA (International Legal Technology Association) Publication Award for Outstanding Magazine Article by a Business Partner for the article “Moving into Management: What You Need To Get From Here to There.” Coseglia is currently writing a regular series on cybersecurity, e-discovery, and privacy certifications for Legaltech News as well as a bi-monthly column about Chief Privacy Officers for CPO Magazine which can be read, along with all his original content, at www.trustaffingpartners.com.
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| 09 Aug 2024 | How to Build a Recruitment Dream Team of 27 Top Performers, with Trey Hugley, Ep #225 | 01:03:51 | |
“You can't manage people and lead them at the same time… You're managing a task. You're leading people”
Do you apply the same principles when running your recruitment firm? How do you develop leaders and managers to establish a succession plan when you are scaling it?
My special guest, Trey Hugley, shares his insights on fostering an environment in his recruitment business that not only grew his team in numbers but professionally as well. Trey is the President of Genesis Resources based in Dallas Forth Worth. Trey is a leader in executive search for the insurance industry, with over 28 years of experience.
Having launched and sold a recruiting firm, Trey founded Genesis Resources in 2004 with a commitment to bringing a consultative approach to recruitment. Trey also founded a sister business, Genesis Industries, in 2014, expanding consultancy practices into the Manufacturing, Engineering, Accounting & Finance, and Healthcare sectors.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Scaling His Recruitment Firm Successfully A key achievement of Trey that I wanted to pick his brains on is how he progressed in building his business from just him to having 27 team members. “I could have made a lot more money over the last 15 years if I was just doing it on my own. Mine is an end game. If I build it, I think my mentality is a little different. I enjoy the concept of building. I like the idea of growing something.”
Trey shared his practices when looking for someone to join his team. He mentioned hiring competitive individuals, often with a background in team sports, who can thrive in a competitive environment. He stressed the importance of training and creating an environment where his staff can support and learn from each other. We covered two focus areas when scaling: taking responsibility and ownership for hiring decisions and training to ensure that the right people are in the right roles.
Deciding When to Let Go of a Team Member It can be challenging to let go of team members. A recruitment business owner could have invested so much time and resources in hiring and training, and the relationship built over time can make it difficult to let go.
Although difficult, Trey explained that it is part of scaling your business effectively, especially if the overall fit of your recruiter is not aligned with your organizational goals. He outlined the following objective factors that can help you decide when it is time to transition your team member to a new career:
1. If they're not meeting their metrics, like having consistent candidate or client conversations, it’s a red flag. 2. Their ability to generate revenue is crucial; it's a concern if they're not producing at least $20,000 a month (in the case of Trey’s organization). 3. Assessing their pending deals and interview activities can predict future performance; if these numbers are low, they indicate potential issues. 4. If they lack the drive and initiative to meet basic expectations consistently, it may be time to let go.
Trey ended it by saying, “We'll, you know, we'll call it a career transition is what we call it. We're gonna transition you. If you can't succeed here, we don't think you're gonna be able to succeed in recruiting.”
Developing Leaders Engaging your staff and making them leaders is another achievement that Trey is proud of. He has not only grown his team in size, but he grew them professionally into team leaders and managers. He described his approach and mindset well, “There's a certain humility that comes with managing and, leadership, and I think those are two different, two completely different things. Management is the day-to-day, task-oriented. Have you met your numbers? Leading is, how do I make someone better? … But the concept is, you can't manage people and lead them at the same time. Right? You're managing a task. You're leading people, at least in my mind.”
One thing that Trey shared is fostering an environment where asking questions and continuous learning are supported. He said, “I think the biggest piece is that there is no dumb question. And those who are most inquisitive tend to grow quicker than the others in nurturing a lot of that.”
He also shared an integrated approach (egalitarian versus a top-down model), where his staff can always approach him for ideas, scenarios, and proposals. This is except for metrics and numbers, for which clear expectations are in place.
Aside from very competitive compensation, Trey also shared their setup for working onsite and working from home, which offers practical benefits to his employees.
Trey Hugley Bio and Contact Info
An Executive Leader in the Insurance Recruiting Field for over 28 years. Trey Hugley launched and sold a recruiting firm and then began building Genesis Resources in 2004 as the premier example of partnership in the industry. Launched as an Executive Search firm, Genesis quickly moved to a full-service recruiting organization focused on the recruitment of passive candidates for several of its premier clients in the insurance industry.
Trey graduated from Texas A&M University in 1994 with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Upon graduating, he began his career in Recruitment with a boutique recruiting firm out of college and a focus on multiple disciplines. Soon after, he joined his partner in a start-up dedicated solely to the property & casualty insurance industry. After 8 years, Trey sold to his partner to start a more consultative approach to recruitment; one that was more dedicated toward executive search methodologies with an overall consultative approach that highlighted his passion for successful recruitment and the improvement of individual careers. In 2004, with a focus on “new beginnings” as the name Genesis implies, Trey launched his new company – Genesis Resources. Trey focused on integrating true consultation efforts into recruitment and building relationships with every professional with whom he interacted. Genesis Resources today focuses on passive candidate recruitment while staying at the forefront of the insurance industry.
Trey’s career includes over twenty-nine years of furthering the careers of others. He has developed a variety of leaders and helped them grow to their full potential in the insurance industry. Not only has he achieved this externally, but his current employees have followed in his footsteps, and within a span of the last ten years, Genesis Resources now has several leaders and Executive Recruiters who elevate the careers of all those with whom they come in contact.
In 2014, several of Trey’s HR leadership relationships moved outside the industry. Together, they built a recruitment offering that would highlight the best practices of Genesis Resources while focusing on several new industries; Genesis Industries was born. From a national project to building out an internal recruiting team, revamping an entire sales organization, and multiple other leadership placements along the way, Genesis Industries has become its own “go-to” consultative and recruiting firm with its staff of experts. Genesis Industries has a primary focus on Manufacturing, Engineering, Accounting & Finance, and Healthcare.
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| 13 Oct 2023 | How to Consistently Thrive in Strong and Weak Hiring Markets, with Nick Cabral, Ep #194 | 00:52:00 | |
“Everything is cyclical.” Recruiters and recruitment business owners who have been in the industry for many years understand that no matter how bad the hiring market is, things will get better. This is exactly the approach and mindset of Nick Cabral, our special guest, that enabled them to navigate the 2008-09 recession successfully.
Nick is the Principal of Boston Investment Staffing Group. He specializes in permanent and contract placements within the investment and financial services industry. They focus on working with boutique investment managers and becoming an integral partner in their hiring process.
He has carved out a successful entrepreneurial path, starting his business amidst the challenges of 2009, and weathering the storm of the 2008 recession. Nick’s tales of waiting for the first deal and his survival strategies are packed with priceless insights and advice that a lot of recruitment business owners will find valuable today.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Navigating the Uncertainties of the 2008-09 Recession
Being in the industry for more than two decades, Nick has built an outstanding career as a recruiter and a recruitment business owner. In our conversation, he was more than generous and shared the significant learnings he had when he worked with his previous employer. He also gave context on what prompted him to launch his own recruitment firm, during the 2008-09 recession.
His experience resonates well with me as Nick and I had the same experience during those unfavorable market conditions. I admire his mindset and resilience. He believes that everything is cyclical, and eventually, things will start to pick up again. He also emphasized, “So I think my mindset was keep doing the work, keep making sure that you are contacting clients and candidates and staying on their radar. You're not going anywhere. This is what you're going to do, and I think because of that kind of never-equipped mentality. It led to all right, 2010 got better, and then 11 was even better, and then 12 was a banner year, and so it was hard but manageable. I think you just got to kind of stay grounded in the fact that if you do the work, it will get where you want it to go.”
I know that 2023 is not like the 2008-09 recession, but it appears to be a weird year for some markets. If you are experiencing a slowdown in the industry you are supporting, Nick’s advice of just staying in the course, keeping doing the work, and focusing on what you can control can help. Remember that this is cyclical.
Building Relationships and Asking Reflective Questions
Nick and I also discussed critical topics on relationship-building which includes the value of meeting in person as well as asking the right questions to your clients and candidates. He also emphasized the importance of the ‘respect component’ in the recruitment process. He shared these three factors that contribute greatly to his success, and it was an astonishing discussion because, in the end, you will find that these are interrelated to one another.
Applying the Rule of Ten
Nick also shared his 'rule of 10' which helps him to stay on track with his goals and activities. Basically, the premise is that in every ten pieces of activity, you will have one placement. This is how he described it: “In the rule of ten, if you have ten pieces of activity, it's going to lead to one placement, right, so that could be a candidate, so say it's your candidate and your client will count that as two, right, but if you have ten pieces of activity, odds are you're going to, you're going to have one placement and you could get lucky and hit three or four, you could be unlucky and you don't hit any. And where it really gets exciting is if you have, say, when you get up to 20 or 25 pieces of activity all at once.”
He uses this goal-oriented way of thinking when training junior recruiters and so far it has been effective in motivating their team to stay on track with activities.
Our Sponsor
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Nick Cabral Bio and Contact Info
Nick started his recruiting career in 2003 and has significant experience working with permanent and contract financial services professionals. Nick has worked with many large financial institutions and small boutique investment managers and has become an integral part of their hiring process. Nick graduated from Bentley University with a degree in Finance and a minor in Philosophy.
Non-Profit Organizations that Nick supports:
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If you’ve been enjoying the podcast, please take two minutes to leave a review. Your review is greatly appreciated because it helps us attract a bigger audience and help more recruiters. “Support the podcast and leave a review here”.
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| 06 Jun 2023 | How to Unlock Extraordinary Growth Through Technology and Empowering Your Team, with Gerard Koolen, Ep #176 | 01:04:22 | |
Imagine growing your revenue by €100,000,000 in less than 3 years! How is this possible? In this interview, my special guest Gerard Koolen explains how he and his business partners at Lugera were able to increase revenue from €130M in 2020 to €234M by 2022. You’ll discover the critical success factors, which include: leveraging technology - and even developing their own software, constant improvement through training and development, and empowering employees to make decisions. What’s even more remarkable is that Lugara’s office in Ukraine had their best performance ever in the midst of a war and they’re currently hiring 26 more recruiters. Gerard is the Group Managing Partner of Lugera, a multinational recruiting and staffing agency. Gerard started Lugera in Slovakia in 1996 and is now operating in 11 countries in 30 offices with 700 internal staff and 15,000 temps. In fact they’re the biggest independent staffing country in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2022, Herard partnered with James Caan to create Recruitment Entrepreneur CEE.
Episode Outline and Highlights
True Resilience: How Lugera’s Ukraine Office Achieved Record Breaking Performance
The most remarkable part of the interview was when Gerard shared the story of his office in Ukraine and what they have achieved in spite of the invasion by Russia. “This has to be for us a challenge to grow our business. We said to each other when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and let us see what we can do. A miracle happened, and last year was our best year so far in Ukraine. Can you imagine?” This is how Gerard described it: “The team even when there was a bombing in Kiev they were sitting in bomb shelters with internet and they are still working.”
It’s hard to imagine a more challenging scenario. How did Gerard ensure the well-being of his team members? He explains how they relocated their team to Bucharest. Gerard’s business partner in Ukraine did a tremendous job organizing the logistics, from booking hotels to hiring buses to ensure the safety of their team.
People lost their houses and there was a lot of panic and chaos, but luckily all their team members were safely relocated to Bucharest. They did not waste any time and immediately went to work. Their mindset and camaraderie were incredible.
Due to the invasion, thousands of recruitment agencies in Ukraine closed down. At the same, thousands of vacancies opened up, especially in factories. That is why Gerard’s team had to step up and support their market, despite a very challenging environment. They were able to achieve their best year so far and have continued growing. They’re even in the process of hiring 26 more recruiters in their Ukraine operations. Truly an inspiring story of resilient recruiters!
Increasing Revenue Through Coaching and Training Since I last talked with Gerard three years ago, his firm has grown by acquisition, but also organically.
Gerard believes that growing rapidly is the most dangerous period for an agency. "Usually quality goes down, you have to pay a lot of salaries but you get your money later.” To manage this risk, they put emphasis on training and coaching their existing people.
He elaborated on how they structured their coaching and training. Every country has an extensive 2-week onboarding program, plus ongoing training for the whole company including weekly webinars.
We discussed the benefits and challenges of training people remotely, and agreed that in many ways it’s easier to train remotely versus in a classroom setting. Gerard suggested mixing up the groups so that people from different teams and countries have the opportunity to meet and learn from each other.
Enhancing the Recruitment Process by Leveraging Technology Another key success factor for Lugera’s rapid growth is that they embrace and leverage technology. He shared how they are launching new software that focuses on recruitment automation and AI. Gerard knows the value of technology and how it has impacted their business drastically. This is why he is investing so much in developing tools and software that truly fit the needs of recruitment businesses. You will hear about their Automatic Network Builder embedded in their New Talent Base software.
Our Sponsors
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Gerard Koolen Bio and Contact Info
Gerard is the owner of Lugera, a multinational recruiting and staffing agency. Gerard started Lugera in Slovakia in 1996 and is now operating in 11 countries from 30 offices with 700 internal staff and 15,000 temps. Lugera is focused on Permanent Staffing, Temporary Staffing, Payroll & Outsourcing. Gerard is crazy about helping as many people as possible get a better job. He is help driven, he thinks that innovation is key and is a front-runner in innovative HR technology.
If you are interested to be a partner in using STAA, get a 50% discount for listeners from the podcast by emailing gerard.koolen@lugera.com and mentioning Mark Whitby.
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| 04 Oct 2024 | How Clear Expectations and Delegation Built a £3 Million Recruitment Team, with Mike Stirton, Ep #231 | 01:00:11 | |
As a billing manager, managing your billings and supporting your team and their individual billings can be overwhelming. Our special guest will explain how this can be achieved and what he learned from his decades of experience in recruiting.
In this episode, Mike Stirton discussed two key factors in building a high-performing team: clear expectations and delegation.
Mike is a seasoned recruitment leader who has led high-performing teams within Scotland's Financial & Professional Services sectors.
Mike has excelled in producing some of the best and high-performing recruiters within his sector while running a personal desk of £1m+.
He has recently joined forces with Be-IT and is currently working on launching their new professional and financial services recruitment business.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Key Ingredients to Build High-Performing Teams A remarkable achievement Mike shared is creating a £3M + team of recruiters (5 consultants) in a niche market. This is amazing considering he is a billing manager creating at least £1m+. I wanted to pick Mike’s brains and hear his insights on what are the key ingredients when building a high-performing team. Mike mentioned at least seven key factors:
Effective Approach to Developing Top Billers
For Mike, his getting big billings is not the best achievement, but rather, when his team members are starting to bill like him: “The best achievement was actually when, you know, some of my other team members were also starting to get to those numbers as well.”
An effective billing manager does not always translate into a good mentor or sales coach. So, what steps should you take if you want to develop your team members to be like you and bill significantly? Mike emphasized the importance of clarity and respect.
“And it's pretty much the way I parent my children as well, so it's no different. So, yeah, that's kind of been the cornerstone. It's just treat people with respect, be very clear with them, be very honest, and take the pressure off them when they're.”
Scottish recruiters tend to use football analogies a lot, so I am sure you will enjoy how Mike described his approach to team development as the same way football coaches approach their teams.
The Power of Delegation
It is not easy to guide a team of big billers while you yourself need to ensure you are producing—that is why many billing managers find it challenging to maintain consistent team performance.
Mike shared his secret: delegation.
He uses delegation thoughtfully and strategically. Here’s how he approaches it:
Delegate for Development: Mike views delegation as providing team members with learning experiences. He emphasizes that delegation is a win-win because it allows others to gain experience while easing their workload.
Match Tasks to Strengths: Mike assigns tasks based on his team members' strengths and preferences when delegating. He selects the right person for each job, ensuring that the task aligns with the individual's skills and mindset. For example, he delegates a report task to someone who enjoys working with spreadsheets, not to the more social team members.
Motivation: He incorporates positive reinforcement by motivating the team members when delegating. This boosts their confidence and makes them feel valued and capable.
Clear Expectations: Mike is very clear about his expectations when delegating, especially regarding deadlines. He sets the task, communicates the deadline, and ensures the person knows exactly what is required.
This approach ensures that delegation is effective, motivational, and aligned with the strengths and capacities of his team members.
Mike Stirton Bio and Contact Info Mike is a seasoned recruitment leader who has led high-performing teams within the Financial & Professional Services sectors in Scotland. Mike has excelled in producing some of the best and high-performing recruiters within his sector whilst at the same time running a personal desk of £1m+. He has recently joined forces with Be-IT and is currently working on launching their new professional and financial services recruitment business.
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| 22 Mar 2024 | How to Scale Multiple Staffing Companies to Consistent 8-Figure Revenues, with Aaron Opalewski, EP #211 | 01:00:59 | |
Growing a recruitment business to 7 or 8-figure portfolio companies might be much simpler than you think. Few firm owners achieve this, but Aaron Opalewski stands as an example of this entrepreneurial success. He co-founded his first staffing company at just 24 and has nurtured his second venture into a portfolio of seven staffing companies across various industries. Remarkably, three companies consistently make 8-figure revenues, while one of them, Spark Packaging, hit 7-figures within its first year.
In this episode, we discuss invaluable insights on how recruiters can fortify their businesses for growth with a special guest, Aaron Opalewski. Aaron is the CEO and founder of Spark Talent Acquisition, a company he launched in 2013 at the age of 29. He is also a partner in two other companies outside of staffing and holds investments in the food and beverage industry.
Join us as we explore strategies for structuring businesses, optimizing operations, boosting gross profit, delegating tasks, nurturing client relationships, and building successful partnerships. Tune in for a wealth of wisdom and actionable advice from Aaron's journey of entrepreneurial triumph. Episode Outline And Highlights
How Recruiters Can Structure Their Firms for Lifetime Value
During our conversation, Aaron and I discussed Spark Talent and how he has steered it into a thriving portfolio comprising seven staffing companies across different sectors over the past decade. Aaron shares that everyone assumes the role of recruiters within his business. As the founder, he personally interviews prospective team members, positioning himself as the primary recruiter across all his ventures. He emphasized the importance of this role, asserting that as a business owner, one must take charge of internal recruitment, honing recruitment skills as diligently as serving clients. Aaron firmly believes that sourcing and nurturing the right talent through extensive training, coaching, and support makes success almost inevitable. He stressed that while failures may occur in other aspects, assembling the right team and fostering their growth ensures a solid foundation for success.
Discussing the organizational structure, Aaron outlined the various roles within their teams and business setup, which include recruiters, account managers, business developers, internal and external apps teams, and portfolio managers overseeing the seven companies. Aaron underscored that recruiting forms the cornerstone of their operations, extending to every area of their business, even extending to the front-end relationship with business development personnel. However, in the early stages, Aaron recalled a time when salespeople juggled multiple roles, from accounting to business development and recruitment. However, he acknowledged that this approach diluted the customer experience and diminished lifetime value, prompting them to restructure and specialize roles for optimal efficiency and client customers' lifetime value. Nurturing Client and Building Longterm RelationshipsAaron shares the importance of nurturing clients and building long-term relationships. He explains how customers' value has changed over time. In 2018, they were actively building with 80 to 90 clients every week, focusing heavily on business development. By 2019, they had signed over a hundred new service agreements, but their active clients remained the same. In 2020, their active clients started to decrease, making Aaron realize they needed to do a better job to improve.
To address this, Aaron explains that they had to shut down new business development from March 2020 to the end of 2022 to concentrate on building their client base. It wasn't until 2023 that they resumed the new business development lever, raising their active service agreements to over 50%. However, Aaron acknowledged they still have much work to improve further.
Aaron then shared strategies for building and nurturing clients:
Our Sponsor This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training, enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Aaron Opalewski Bio and Contact Info Aaron is a true entrepreneur; he cofounded his first stuffing company at just 24. He is now the CEO and founder of Spark Talent Acquisition, a company launched in 2013 at the age of 29. Since then, the business has grown to a portfolio of seven staffing companies in diverse industries. Three of the stuffing companies he built consistently generated 8-figure revenues, and one of the Spark Packaging companies achieved 7-figures in its first year. Aaron's entrepreneurial spirit does not stop there; he is also a partner in two other companies outside of staffing and holds investments in the food and beverage industry.
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| 21 Jan 2020 | From Ballerina to Recruiter: What Drives Erin Devlin’s Success? Ep #7 | 00:43:51 | |
How do you build a successful recruiting agency? What mindsets are needed to thrive as a business? When Erin Devlin became the managing director of people2people in the state of Victoria, Australia, she achieved 70% growth in a 3-year timespan. Erin humbly claims that when she merged her firm, Devlin Alliance with people2people that they had already established a brand with amazing leadership and accomplished recruiters. She simply built on their success when she launched their Melbourne division. Join me as I talk with Erin about how her company plays to the strengths of its recruiters, their hiring process, and their staff development strategies. Erin also talks about the characteristics from her professional career as a ballerina that led to her success as a recruiter. Don’t miss her unusual and inspiring story! Outline of This Episode
Celebrating wins and leveraging strengths is the backbone of people2peopleErin points out that in order to be successful as a recruitment team, you must provide adequate recognition for the accomplishments of your team in every stage of success. It can be as simple as verbal recognition for a job well done—or a spa day for the whole team. Telling people they’ve done a great job is a wonderful motivator for success. How does people2people accomplish that? On Mondays they highlight the successes of the previous week in their team meetings. Perhaps placements that occurred, targets reached, or company growth. On Fridays, they celebrate together and talk about the best thing that happened and what they enjoyed the most that week. People show up and do their best when they’re rewarded for it, even in the smallest of ways. At people2people they allow their team to play to their strengths. They set goals and have a general guideline of what the process to reach those goals could look like. But when it comes down to the nitty-gritty work, they allow their staff to accomplish it in a way that fits them best. They don’t dictate how things get done. Erin states, “We definitely do have a high-performance culture, but there is that flexibility and autonomy in how they achieve the outcome”. What sets their hiring and development standards apart from the rest?When hiring recruiters, Erin notes that they don’t always hire the most experienced person in the industry. Instead, they look for people who have demonstrated commitment, shown that they’re responsible, and demonstrate success—whether it was as an athlete or in academics. They want someone empathetic, intellectual, and team-oriented. Above all, they look for people who have strong interpersonal and communication skills and a positive attitude. Once hired, their new team member has a plethora of growth opportunities available to them. They have structured classroom-style training, access to Recruitment Juice, RCSA courses—as well as on-the-job training. They have weekly mini-training lunches where a topic is chosen and discussed for half an hour. These opportunities are very simple, yet so effective for continuous learning. To hear how Erin assesses experienced recruiters, what their interview process is like, and the unique way they vet applicants—listen to our whole conversation. Erin’s story from accomplished Ballerina to Managing Director and CEOErin wasn’t always in the recruiting field. She got her start as a professional ballerina with the Australian Ballet. After 7 years, she found herself burned out. She ended up traveling the world but was soon ready for her next challenge—a transition into a long-term career. She started as a temp at a company but was hired full-time within an hour of starting. After observing their recruiting department, she asked if they’d allow her to give it a shot. With that leap of faith, she found a role that resonated with her and fit her unique skill set. Being a ballerina had encompassed her whole world. It was all-consuming, and there was no balance in her life. But it taught her discipline and drive. She cultivated the ability to work as a team, mastered empathy, and learned to understand people's emotions. These are all skills that transition well into recruiting. In 2010, Erin launched Devlin Alliance, a recruiting firm that specialized in sales and marketing recruitment. 5 years later, her firm merged with people2people and she transitioned into her role as Managing Director. Erin also serves as CEO with Infront Sports Consulting, which people2people is the parent company of. They specialize in helping professional athletes transition out of sports and into a long-term career. We talk more about this role and why it is close to Erin’s heart, so keep listening. How mentoring someone else is a win for everyone involvedErin has had the opportunity to be part of the RCSA’s mentoring program. She was mentored by many successful recruiters, including Greg Savage and Mark Smith. Erin had a great experience and wanted to give back herself, so she started mentoring others. She feels it is a privilege to help grow the next generation of leaders. Erin and I agree that mentoring positively impacts both the mentee and mentor and that both can learn from each other. There is also an informal mentoring program at people2people where members are encouraged to seek out a mentor. The company’s only ask is that anyone being mentored, in turn, is willing to mentor someone else. It’s a once-a-month commitment where the individual gets to pick their mentor's brain and learn industry tools and strategies. The most successful people are those who are always learning and growing. And according to Erin, “If you want to be successful you have to invest in your development”—something she is always striving to do. Erin’s company firmly believes in giving back to the community. You've likely seen the recent devastation from the Australian bushfires that have been painted across the news worldwide. Erin and I wanted to take this opportunity to share the Recruiters for Fire Relief GoFundMe, linked below in the notes. If you feel inclined, check out their cause and donate. Connect with Erin DevlinResources & People Mentioned
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| 20 Dec 2024 | Why Video Content is No Longer Optional in Building a Successful Recruitment Brand, with Sunjay Vyas | 00:45:36 | |
If there is one thing more certain in marketing and branding, it is this: Making videos is no longer optional for building a successful recruitment business brand. How do you overcome the common barriers, misconceptions, and complexities of creating effective video content? What are the proven ROI and benefits of doing so? In this episode, we are joined by Sunjay Vyas, an accomplished videographer, video podcast producer, and content creator based in the UK. He prides himself on producing compelling video content. Episode Outline and Highlights:
The Three Common Misconceptions or Barriers to Creating Video Content
Some recruitment business owners find creating videos or audio content difficult when building their brand. Sunjay and I agreed on the three most common misconceptions, and if you can relate to any of these, then you will enjoy this episode as we explain why the benefits and return on investment outweigh the barriers.
It’s Too Complicated or Overwhelming
Why It’s a Misconception:
Recruitment business owners often see video production as a technical, complex, and time-consuming process. Many start as solopreneurs already juggling multiple roles, making video creation feel like an enormous task.
Why It Shouldn’t Be:
Modern tools and platforms have simplified video production. With minimal equipment and basic editing software, creating professional-looking videos is accessible and manageable even for beginners. Starting small and scaling up can reduce overwhelm.
It’s Too Expensive with Unclear ROI
Why It’s a Misconception:
The cost of video production can seem prohibitive, especially if the return on investment (ROI) is uncertain. Business owners might struggle to see how content creation directly translates into revenue.
Why It Shouldn’t Be:
Video content builds brand visibility, trust, and long-term customer relationships, indirectly boosting sales and recruitment opportunities. Even low-cost content can yield significant returns through consistent engagement and brand presence.
Feeling Uncomfortable or Experiencing Imposter Syndrome
Why It’s a Misconception:
Though confident in conversations, recruitment business owners might feel uneasy in front of the camera. Self-doubt creeps in, raising fears of judgment, embarrassment, or not being perceived as valuable.
Why It Shouldn’t Be:
Authenticity resonates more than perfection. Audiences appreciate real, relatable content. Over time, regular practice helps overcome camera shyness and builds confidence, making the process more natural.
The Three ROIs of Video Content and Podcasting
The three benefits below, which can bring an exponential ROI to your recruitment business, counter the three common misconceptions about creating video content. Many of our previous guests, as well as many from our existing coaching community, have proven and shared these benefits.
1. Building an Audience Video content and podcasting allow businesses to reach a broader audience beyond one-on-one interactions. By sharing valuable insights online, companies can connect with potential clients and candidates they might never meet otherwise. Even if viewers or listeners don’t engage directly, the content can still impact their decisions, creating a ripple effect. Consistency is key—regularly publishing content builds trust, credibility, and a loyal following, transforming businesses from being the best-kept secret to a well-known industry authority.
2. Becoming an Authority in Your Space Creating content positions businesses as experts in their field. Companies can demonstrate expertise by sharing knowledge, insights, and solutions to industry challenges rather than just claiming it. This visibility helps potential clients associate the business with industry leadership and up-to-date insights. People trust brands that consistently showcase their know-how, making them the go-to resource when prospects need help or advice.
3. Generating Leads Podcasts and videos serve as powerful lead-generation tools. They create touchpoints that nurture relationships and keep businesses top-of-mind for potential clients. A well-executed content strategy can convert casual listeners or viewers into paying customers. Testimonials from businesses gaining clients through podcasts illustrate this, showing how content can be a direct revenue driver and a long-term business development asset. Best Practices and Tips Sunjay shared a few best practices and pragmatic approaches to creating content without adversely affecting your day-to-day schedule. Some of the core practices he discussed are:
Sunjay said, "People want to see you... when you see this person, you see them interacting with someone else on camera and you see the engagement, I think that builds trust quicker than anything else." One of our success stories is our coaching community member Jodi, who went from refusing to do videos to winning new business through her video content and podcast. Her story demonstrates how video content can transform a recruitment business's lead generation strategy from constant outbound activity to attracting pre-qualified, inbound leads. Sunjay Vyas Bio and Contact Info Sunjay Vyas is an accomplished videographer, video podcast producer, and content creator based in the UK. He prides himself on producing compelling video content. Whether he's hosting his own show or working with clients, Sunjay brings creativity and professionalism to every project. He is passionate about leveraging the power of video to tell impactful stories and engage audiences. In addition to video production, Sunjay has experience managing, recruiting, and training teams earlier in his career. He spent several years in recruitment across London and the Middle East, specializing in financial markets technology. Sunjay studied Exercise and Sports Science and holds qualifications in personal training and fitness coaching. Outside of work, he enjoys staying active and spending time with his family. With his dedication to creating compelling content, strong technical skills, ability to connect with audiences, and over a decade working in recruitment Sunjay is an asset and we are happy to have him on board. Visit my Amazon storefront at Anisha & Sunjay. Remember, these are affiliate links - you don't pay any extra, but Amazon sends me a few pennies for the referral.
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| 06 Jul 2020 | Recruiter Midlife Crisis: Boredom, Burnout and Reigniting Your Passion, with Sharon Hulce, Ep #28 | 00:56:07 | |
In these unprecedented and challenging times, a recruiter can easily lose sight of the “why” and fall into the trap of boredom and burnout. How do you recover from burnout and reignite your passion? My special guest, Sharon Hulce explains how creativity and continuously reinventing yourself can help you overcome these challenges. Sharon is the president of Employment Resource Group Inc. (ERG) in Wisconsin and has twenty-four years of expertise in Executive Search specializing in placing outstanding leaders. She has won numerous awards including MRI’s Person of the Year and also Account Executive of the Decade. She is also a Forbes Author who recently published her book, “A Well Done Professional Midlife Crisis: How To Bleed Passion & Energy Back Into Your Career”. Episode Outline and Highlights
Resilience in This Time of Crisis In this challenging environment, many recruiters can easily forget their “why.” What helped Sharon operate during times of crisis? As she puts it, “I have been through two recessions, 9/11, and now a pandemic. So, in my career, I’ve been through a lot. The one thing that I think has made us resilient and stay optimistic and energetic, and actually continue to build through all of this is really understanding what does value mean for your customers.” Hear three specific steps she took to stay in shape during times of crisis.
Shifting to a Retained Search Business Model Sharon has been doing a retained search business model for 18 years. I am an evangelist of the retained model for the benefits it brings to the client, candidate, and the recruiter. However, shifting to this model from a contingent business model can be challenging to some recruiters especially if their client would prefer the former. How did Sharon come about shifting to the retained search? “I had worked a contingent desk for just shy 17 years… The day I decided I wasn’t doing it any other way [shifting to retained] I lost my top 3 clients. So fifty percent of my business went away. And I held my ground… I said listen, “You have changed your value proposition multiple times since we’ve started working together. I am now changing mine. I am good at what I do. I am a top 5 construction practice in the country. If you want to work with me as the owner of this organization and have my work on your searches, you need to pay me to do it.” Listen to how being firm and being able to deliver helped Sharon shift to the retained business model.
Sharon Hulce Bio and Contact Info Sharon is the President and CEO of Employment Resource Group Inc. and has twenty-four years of expertise in Executive Search specializing in placing outstanding leaders. Her unique approach to business is as follows: “A business and community’s most valuable asset is the people within. For our clients, our role is to understand the necessary competencies, knowledge, social interaction, and personality critical for integration and outstanding performance within their organization. For our candidates, our purpose is to help them define their purpose, attain goals, and find their life’s vocation. We are proud of the emotional intelligence we have been able to share with our clients and candidates alike” She has won numerous awards including MRI Person of the Year 2019, Champion of the Chamber Award Winner (Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce 2019), 2019 Walter L. Rugland Community Service award, just to name a few. She was also inducted into the Pinnacle Society in 2015 and is a Forbes Author for “A Well Done Professional Midlife Crisis”.
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| 16 Oct 2024 | How to Leverage Video Content to Boost Your Recruiting Business, with Sarah Englade, Ep #232 | 01:02:52 | |
As a new recruitment business owner, how much do you invest in marketing and personal branding? Is the ROI worth it?
Our special guest, Sarah Englade, explained how she scaled to $1.5m in revenue in 18 months with the help of LinkedIn personal branding. She shared her strategies and how she overcame struggles when creating content, which can be helpful if you also find value in content creation.
Sarah Englade is the Owner & Founder of Monarch Talent Solutions, a boutique executive search firm specializing in senior roles in accounting, finance, and human resources throughout Houston, TX.
Before launching Monarch Talent Solutions in 2020, Sarah gained nearly a decade of recruiting and leadership experience at two global recruiting firms. Between 2012-2020, she successfully placing over 2,800 candidates and generating millions in revenue.
Now, Sarah is focused on humanizing the recruiting process, driven by her firm’s core values.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Three Steps That Keep Monarch On-Track in the First Six Months When Sarah launched Monarch during the pandemic, things were not as smooth sailing as expected. Most people would think that the first three months would get them positive traction, but for Sarah, it had already been around six months, and still, not much was happening. She started the company without a book of business and minimal business development experience.
If you are a new recruitment business owner, Sarah’s insights on the three things that kept her going can be helpful. Sarah focused on three key things to keep her business going for the first six months:
Strategies for Building a Personal Brand Through LinkedIn
A key discussion topic that resonated with me was Sarah's emphasis on personal branding and her strategies for building a brand through LinkedIn.
“As a new business owner you have to really be very smart with your money. But I always say this to people that scared money doesn't make money. As you know you have to spend money to make it. Like part of my budget and part of what's worked for me and my business model over the years has 100% been investing in marketing.”
Sarah was not a LinkedIn expert, as she had just explored it as recently as she started her business. She also is not as fond of being in videos as many of us are. She even gets a lot of bashers and trolls. Nevertheless, it doesn’t stop her from consistently posting meaningful content!
Here are some takeaways shared in terms of strategies and processes Sarah used for creating and posting LinkedIn videos:
Long-term ROI from Content and Personal Brand Marketing
How much Sarah invested in marketing and building her personal brand benefited her business tremendously. It leads to client relationship building and trust from candidates that the best headhunter in their niche is handling them. Beyond that, Sarah and I believe personal branding has a more long-term ROI than you can measure. I think that Sarah explained it well:
“I think it varies on what you look at as the return on that investment. So for me, I'm a new business owner. I'm just coming up to four years. You know, many people think there's overnight success when you start any kind of company, especially in terms of staff and space, especially if you have experience. And I'm telling the truth about, you know, branding, you have to have the brand now because the first thing we all do is when we're looking up anything, whether it's a doctor, a restaurant, whatever it is, we google things, right? So we google to see credibility and that builds trust when we start seeing the reviews and people and all that good stuff. So in the very beginning, it is going to seem exhausting. You're going to be like, what is this even bringing to me? Over time, it's going to help people find you. So that's the return. So it's not overnight. There is literally no elevator here to success. You have to take the stairs and this is part of that now. So I can honestly say that in the very beginning, I saw the return almost immediately and then it started to go like this a little and then it started to blow up again. And that's recruiting. It's like this. So the biggest thing for me is the reason why I continue and commit to creating this content. It's because we're in a down market, and we're not staying here. So when the market goes like this, I want them to remember my face, my name, my brand, and my company. And hopefully, with putting out as much content as I'm putting out, they do. So that's the whole return on it, which is making sure that you're staying front and center, no matter what kind of market we're actually in. “
Sarah Englade Bio & Contact Info
Sarah Englade is the Owner & Founder of Monarch Talent Solutions, a boutique executive search firm specializing in senior-level and mid-executive-level direct-hire roles in accounting, finance, and human resources throughout Houston, TX. Sarah serves as an executive headhunter within the firm, partnering with local high-performing companies to grow their teams. She also offers candidates career resources, including resume, interview support, job market trend updates, local continuing education opportunities, and more.
Before launching Monarch Talent Solutions in 2020, Sarah gained nearly a decade of recruiting and leadership experience at two global recruiting firms. In her roles, she was regularly recognized as a top producer, successfully placing over 2,800 candidates between 2012 and 2020 and generating millions in revenue. Now, Sarah is focused on humanizing the recruiting process, driven by her firm’s core values.
Sarah volunteers at Dress for Success Houston, is a Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce (GHWCC) member and has been a nominee for Houston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 from 2022-2024. Sarah has also been featured in several media outlets, including Shoutout HTX, Voyage Houston, GoSolo, CanvasRebel Magazine, Houston Made, Forbes Magazine for Houston’s Extraordinary Women in Business, and LFN Network’s Breaking The Silence Talk Show.
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| 23 Feb 2021 | How to Build (or Rebuild) Your Recruitment Firm to 7-Figures From Scratch, with Joe Rice, Ep #55 | 00:55:11 | |
When the NBA shut down due to the Coronavirus on March 11, 2020, Joe Rice knew immediately that his hospitality search firm, Joseph David International, would soon be in serious trouble. He also knew that he wasn’t going down without a fight! In this episode, listen into my conversation with Joe as he describes how they immediately pivoted to a brand new market sector and finished out the year on their best-ever quarterly performance. Joe’s story is highly relevant and relatable, and he doesn’t hold back. Listen in to discover his biggest lessons and takeaways that can be applied by any recruitment business owner who aspires to build (or rebuild) a 7-figure firm. Episode Outline and Highlights
A Difficult but Necessary Pivot Joe started his recruitment career around 2005 and with a core focus on the hospitality industry. With the implementation of lockdowns and mobility restrictions, hospitality is one of the most impacted industries during the pandemic. How was Joe able to deal with this sudden change? He started “I didn’t go full time recruiting until ‘06 but it was all hospitality then… I worked for hospitality from that point, until last year. That is all I ever did.” A critical moment hit him around February 2020 when he attended a conference called ALIS (American Lodging Investment Summit) and CEO Chris Cahill of Accor Hotel connected with him. In a call, he was told by Chris, “Joe, I can’t believe nobody’s paying attention to this thing… the coronavirus… Joe, it’s unreal to me, nobody is paying attention. The hotel industry is not paying attention. No one. And it’s coming, it is coming I promise.” This got Joe asking around and realized not many people he knew at that time was aware of what was coming. This realization helped to prepare Joe and his team. A point came when he dropped everything in hospitality and pivoted to healthcare. His actions were timely and it proved valuable when clients from the hotel industry started telling them that their services were no longer needed. “Barbaric, Caveman-like Recruiting” and Going Back to the Fundamentals Joe and I had a discussion about the definition of ‘hard work’ in a recruiter’s field. Transitioning from hiring hospitality professionals to hiring healthcare professionals, what Joe realized is the importance of hard work and going back to the fundamentals. This is how he revealed his realizations, “I get to have a very stark contrast when I did jump back into full desk eventually. This business hasn’t really changed that much. It’s eerie, that it is one of the few businesses that has not really innovated much. They tried to innovate, but they really haven't. And the way that we made this turn, was good old-fashioned hard work. There was nothing scientific or magical beyond getting the data and at that point, it was phone calls, email, and activity.” Joe added, “It was just, barbaric, caveman-like recruiting.” A typical day for Joe was making 70 phone calls to try to get business and sending out email campaigns. A lot may have forgotten the fundamentals of recruitment - persistence, hustle and grind. Hear how this approach worked out for Joe. A Change in Paradigm and Valuable Learnings Undergoing trying times during this pandemic, hear Joe reveal his valuable learnings and realizations. Some of them are:
Trust me, you will want to hear it from Joe. His firsthand experience is definitely relatable to a lot of recruiters who have been adversely affected by the pandemic. Joe Rice Bio and Contact Info Joe is a Managing Partner and Founder of Joseph David International (JDI), twice recognized by Forbes as one of the best executive recruiting firms in America. He is also a partner in MogulRecruiter, a technology platform that provides recruiting, booking and talent solutions for service leaders. His recruiting career started in 2005 with Snelling Hospitality with a specialty in executive search, consulting, talent acquisition, and organizational leadership.
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| 16 Aug 2023 | How to Leverage the 5 Pillars of Emotional Intelligence for Effective Recruiting, with James Elliot, Ep #186 | 01:02:35 | |
Recruiting is not only sales and data-driven. It encompasses a broader range of skills, qualities, and considerations which is mainly focused on building relationships and human connection. Effective recruiting involves understanding people's motivations, aspirations, and personalities.
That is why it is important for recruiters and business owners to understand the value of Emotional Intelligence. Emotional intelligence empowers recruiters to navigate the intricacies of human interaction, fostering trust, rapport, and success within the recruitment industry.
In this episode, my special guest, James Elliot, shares the 5 pillars of emotional intelligence which are critical components in becoming effective recruiters. James is very different from my usual guests in that he does not come from a recruiting background.
James joined the British Army in 2006, deploying around the world including to Afghanistan.
After his own issues with mental health, James became a strength and conditioning coach at a national league rugby team, where he learned the power of mentoring. He was then asked to help establish the first-ever British Army Parachute Jumping Instructors Platoon.
At RAF Brize Norton, James also attended several courses in mental health, becoming an instructor, and also broke 2 Guinness world records in feats of endurance in rugby.
In 2018, James became a Mental Resilience Coach for the British Army, where he helped develop and deliver mental resilience training, including to special forces. In 2020, James left the army to take his mental resilience training to a wider audience including high-performing individuals and teams, such as the Paralympic Rowing team.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Understanding Resilience and Human Behaviour to Become an Effective Recruiter
James explains his approach to mental resilience which focused on adapting to adversity. We discussed key topics o human behavior that can contribute to your success as a recruiter or recruitment business owner. The takeaways that well resonated with me are the following:
Embracing Human Behaviour Insight: He zoomed in on the value of understanding human behavior, which he believes is a massive part of being an effective recruiter. When dealing with your team, a candidate, or a client, this life skill is critical to becoming effective.
Leveraging Human Connection James also elaborated on the importance of engaging with someone on a very human level to bring out the very best of their performance. This is useful when coaching your team. James relayed very specific examples of how this has worked for him and his coachees and how this can work for you.
Thriving Through Resilience The principle of resilience is about turning surviving into thriving. For you to become resilient, it is not always about being the strongest or the sharpest. It is about learning to adapt. For James, it is about changing quicker and adapting faster than everybody.
Unveiling Emotional Intelligence James reveals his thought process about emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and understanding your emotions. These topics are relevant to the recruitment field, which is a people business.
How Emotional Intelligence Influences Your Decision Making
When we say resilience, we do not only refer to overcoming drastic events and momentous situations. For example, recruitment on its own is challenging as is due to its demanding and stressful nature, punctuated by daily rejection. You are dealing with human beings, who don't always do what they say or communicate transparently. A strong will and resilient mindset are critical components to be successful in recruitment.
I had to ask James’ viewpoint on how to develop mental resilience. James argues that resilience isn't about suppressing emotions but understanding them through emotional intelligence. We talked about practical steps that can help you develop emotional intelligence. A good example is when dealing with people, may it be a candidate or your own team member. Emotional maturity includes overcoming conscious and unconscious biases to deal with your stakeholders effectively. James says our biases often make us see people as we want, not objectively. Look at their actions by making an objective timeline of people's actual behaviors to see their true patterns.
We also discussed modern-day communication and how to deal with ghosting, which is becoming a more common trend nowadays. James gave his perspective on what prompts other people to ghost others and how this can be dealt with in the field of recruiting.
The 5 Pillars of Emotional Intelligence James breaks emotional intelligence into 5 pillars: Self-awareness, emotional control, empathy, social awareness, and motivation.
He elaborated on each of these pillars and shared insights on how their application. He talked about the biggest obstacles to motivation and self-improvement. James also shared his motto: "Leave every room slightly better than you found it".
Our Sponsors
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
James Elliot Bio and Contact Info A psychotherapist and resilience coach, who takes a close look at the scientific methods of the development of resilience, from observable neurobiological reactions to psychotherapeutic processes and proven psychological techniques to develop an individual's emotional resilience.
Having served 14 years in the British Army's Airborne Forces, including as the second in command of the British Army's Mental Resilience Training Team, as part of the British Army's first Army Parachute Jumping Instructors platoon, operational deployment to Afghanistan, and two seasons as a strength and conditioning coach to a National League rugby team.
Now working as a psychotherapist who works with a broad spectrum of high-achieving individuals including trail-blazing athletes, special forces operators, blue light services, CEOs, politicians, and vulnerable veterans to help the individual find their subjective fulfillment and state of emotional resilience.
Fighting through childhood abuse, instability, poor mental health, and poverty, James Elliott uses his lived experiences to help relate the complicated psychological principles to his audience.
Currently living in Essex, where he is still an avid supporter of his local rugby team, dedicated to a healthy lifestyle and developing his health and strength, James continues his studies currently at King's College London and is a father to a charismatic daughter.
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| 25 Jan 2023 | Recruiter Mistakes #6: Not Posting Original Content on LinkedIn, with Mark Whitby and Leanne Jones Hunt, Ep #159 | 00:28:51 | |
Posting original LinkedIn content is an effective way to build your brand, create top-of-mind awareness and become the go-to recruiter in your niche.
Yet according to LinkedIn, only 1% of active users create content on the platform. Why aren’t more recruitment firm owners seizing this opportunity? Perhaps they’re suffering from “imposter syndrome” or maybe they just don’t know where to start.
In the 6th installment of our Recruiter Mistakes series, we explain the benefits of posting original content on Linkedin consistently. We want to get you motivated to become a content creator! You’ll also hear some ideas on what to post and how to get started.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Three Reasons Why You Should Post Original Content
What do we mean by original content? Well a lot of the stuff you see in your news feed is curated content (sharing or reposting) instead of original content. We want you to be a content creator, not a content distributor!
Why should it matter if the content is original or curated? Aside from the fact that LinkedIn’s algorithm will enable you to get more organic engagement via original content, here are three reasons:
What Might Hold You Back and Why You Should Post Anyway
Here are some of the reasons that might hold you back from starting or keeping up posting original content regularly, and why the reason can be superficial and must be overcome:
A post won't do well and it might be a flop - There is no such thing! Even if your posts average 500-1000 views that’s fantastic. That means 1000 people have been exposed to your brand and your ideas. If you post 5 times per week, that’s 5000 impressions per week ... 260,000 in a year. Think of the impact that could have on the success of your business.
Feeling Uncomfortable - If you feel that maybe people might not like what you post, or maybe you will get trolled, this should not hold you back from posting original content. I used to feel that way and even felt anxiety when I first starting on posting years ago. But nothing bad ever happened, only tons of good things. People responded and the posts resonated. It took quite a while for the anxiety to die away, but now I don’t think twice.
Impostor Syndrome - Do you feel that you do not know what to say that can be worthy to share out there? Keep in mind that as a successful recruitment business owner, you are doing a disservice to your market if you are now sharing your expertise on the market. You are qualified to help people in your niche, and you can bring value by sharing your own insights and knowledge.
What and When to Publish?
There are different formats when posting, for example a poll, text only, or image. In terms of getting started, a good example is presenting ideas or insights based on your own experience and the conversations you’re already having every day in your market.
Although entertainment posts such as GIFs or memes tend to perform well, just relying on entertainment won’t cut it if you are wanting to be seen as an expert in your space.
It’s best to share a mixture of personal and professional content. Let’s focus on Authority Content - as this should be at least 50% of the content you share. What are the topics you want to be known as an expert in?
A brilliant copywriter in history, Gary Halbert, once said: "Find out what your audience is hungry for and then serve it to them hot."
How often should you be posting? Whatever will be sustainable for you. We recommend posting at least 3-4 times per week. We compare this to going to the gym. It’s easy to be enthusiastic at the start but will you stay consistent 6-12 months from now? Set a pace that you can maintain rather than go all in for a few weeks only to fizzle out.
This is an investment that will pay compound interest over time. You might not see results overnight, but you will indeed see those results in the long run.
Our Sponsors
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
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| 31 Jan 2025 | Zero to $5M: A Nordic Recruitment Agency's Organic Growth Blueprint, with Rickard Fritjofsson, Ep #244 | 01:00:42 | |
In this episode, we are joined by Rickard Fritjofsson. He’s the founder and CEO of a successful multi-brand recruitment company, Worldwiders, that has placed over 5,000 people in 40 countries.
Rickard discussed key elements of their company culture, influenced by sports principles, including clear career paths and collaborative goal-setting. As a recruitment business owner, it will also resonate with you how he addressed challenges such as downsizing due to market fluctuations which is a great business case of how being resilient will allow you to turn around unfavorable situations into learnings and advantages.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Targeting International Jobs as a Niche
A unique selling proposition of Rickard and his team is their focus on international jobs as a niche. “So I did some research and figured out that no company in the world, even if the recruitment industry is big, is doing the niche of language recruitment of Nordics… So we were the first to step into that niche in 2016. So Norwegian, Swedish Danish, and Finnish were the specialization, and the business developed there. And we decided also to build it organically, like stone by stone.”
Being observant of industry needs, Rickard came up with an impactful solution and built their business from there. He shared their three main objectives when launching their recruitment business: build a company organically, scale the business, and be the best in what they do. So far, Rickard and his team are on track to achieving these three main goals since starting their business in 2016.
Key Success Factors Contributing to Rapid Growth
An astonishing feat that Rickard and his team have accomplished is the rapid sustainable growth of their company since its inception. He grew the company from 0 to $5m in just six years. They have placed over 5000 people in 40 countries and they have 400+ clients worldwide. What would Rickard consider as a success factor contributing to this growth? Here are some takeaways:
Rickard said, “From day one, when we started the business, we also put up core values and they are still active in the company. We also have three keywords: courage, trust, and result. So it's like having the courage to climb Mount Everest and call it taking strategic risks, putting the trust in the people we are hiring, and from that getting the results”
Overcoming Challenges - From Scaling to Downsizing
Rickard has also been very generous in sharing their resilience mindset when overcoming challenges. The last two years have been challenging: from scaling from 0-90 employees to downsizing to 60 again and cutting costs to meet the market situation is a scenario that Rickard is not used to.
However, you will hear in our conversation his resilient recruiter mindset and how getting out of his comfort zone makes him a strong CEO who can turn around unfavorable situations. He was specific in action points that they are doing differently such as implementation of stricter financial controls and a return to foundational recruitment practices, with plans to scale responsibly with improved processes.
If you are a recruitment entrepreneur and leader, you will surely be able to relate to what he shared in his experience. Have you navigated a similar scenario as a leader before?
Rickard Fritjofsson Bio & Contact Info
Rickard Fritjofsson is a Swedish citizen living in Norway for the past 15 years, with an apartment in Málaga, Spain that allows him to enjoy both northern and southern European lifestyles. He is the founder of Worldwiders, a multi-brand recruitment company specializing in Language Recruitment, IT, and Executive Search, serving 400+ clients across 40+ countries. Passionate about the blend of sports and business. Former bandy player, now the national coach for Team Norway, leading them to a World Cup bronze medal.
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| 15 May 2020 | How to Build Your Business During a Recession, with Christy Brown, Ep #18 | 01:00:30 | |
A global economic slowdown due to the coronavirus has greatly affected the recruitment industry. What type of “proactive” mindset should a recruiter possess in order to avoid just being “reactive” to the situation? How do you build your business despite economic challenges? In this episode of the Resilient Recruiter, my special guest, Christy Brown shares her story on how she built a company in 2007, yes, you read it right, during the great recession. Listen to how creativity, technology enablement, and being agile helped her build, scale, and sell her staffing companies. Christy is a serial entrepreneur, investor, startup advisor, mentor, founder, futurist, triathlete. Prior to becoming a Venture Capitalist, Christy was the Executive Vice President of a Fortune 100 human capital management software company where she led the business transformation and client success organizations globally. Christy has scaled three service-based companies focused on digital marketing, human capital, and security consulting. Episode Outline and Highlights
Starting a Business During the Great Recession Back in 2007, Christy started her own staffing firm. It may not have been the best time to start a new business, and as she mentioned, “For me, it became a firefight.” Comparing the situation before with what we are facing now, this is how she puts it “It was a very interesting time, we can compare it to some of the things that are happening in this current healthcare crisis today. Massive fallouts to the economy occurring, a large banking crisis that we are still coming out of.” Despite the situation, Christy focused on the opportunity being presented to build her business. Christy laid out her mistakes and learnings, her business model, and the factors that led to her start-up success. Technology Will Drive the Future of the Recruiting Industry Christy gave her take on “technology enablement” and how technology will drive the future of the recruiting industry. As she puts it, “I think technology enablement and recruiting is probably the number one growth area that I look even from an investment lens. It is one of those things that has to grow, it has to accelerate, and we have to influence it.” Listen to her philosophy on how utilizing technology will help recruiters stay relevant. Inclusion and Woman Empowerment One of the biggest challenges Christy faced is, “Sometimes, being the only female in the room of technologists.” Hear her meaningful thoughts about inclusion and women empowerment in a corporate setting. Christy Brown Bio and Contact Info Christy has held a number of executive leadership roles over the past 20 years but in 2019, became the Managing Executive Partner of a venture capital firm focused on pairing venture capital with shared services in a studio environment to scale rapidly with services to support early-stage startups. Prior to assuming the executive investment role, Christy was the Executive Vice President at a Fortune 100 human capital management software company where she leads the business transformation & client success organization globally. Christy is a serial entrepreneur and founder and has scaled three service-based companies focused on digital marketing, human capital and security consulting which she exited across a 12-year interval. Following the last exit, she became a consummate innovator and aligned to multiple startups incubators as a mentor and advisor. She also serves as a board member across the Atlanta ecosystem including the Entrepreneur's Organization, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, American Cancer Society, Technology Association of Georgia and various advisor and board roles across early and series stage startups in technology.
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| 02 Feb 2024 | How Recruiters Can Help Clients Achieve Employer Branding Success, with Bryan Adams, Ep #206 | 00:57:02 | |
Effective employer branding is not just about attracting candidates but also about retaining existing employees. A positive work environment and reputation increase employee satisfaction and reduced turnover. As a recruiter, how can you partner with your client companies to achieve employer branding objectives?
To answer this question, I am delighted to have a very special guest, Bryan Adams, CEO and founder of Ph.Creative, an award-winning employer branding agency with offices in Liverpool, London, San Diego, and Auckland. Bryan shares insights and strategies on creating an effective storytelling framework to apply this branding philosophy: repel the many and compel the few.
Bryan helps his clients define their essence as a company, both in its uniqueness and what it stands for, and then crafts and aligns those aspirations with the people his clients are looking to attract. They’ve worked with famous brands such as Apple and Nike. He is also a two-time best-selling author. His latest book is Give & Get:Repel the Many and Compel the Few with Impact, Purpose, and Belonging. He has written for the Harvard Business Review, Inc.com, the Entrepreneur magazine, and has been featured in Forbes.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Repel the Many and Compel the Few - A Guide on Employer Branding
Recruiters are ambassadors of their clients. Understanding the employer brand of the company they represent is crucial to attracting the right candidates. Effective employer branding is critical for attracting, engaging, and retaining top talent. It goes beyond just salary and benefits; it encompasses the company's values, culture, work environment, opportunities for growth, and overall employee experience.
Contrary to the notion that the correct branding should attract as many candidates as possible, Bryan believes that doing it right should only compel a few, well-screened candidates. He said:
“And it's interesting still in a recent survey, 70% of employer brand leaders still cite an increase in volume of applicants and traffic to their career site as a success metric when delivering an employer brand. I've never met a TA leader, a talent attraction leader who just wants more applicants, more noise, more admin, and more work to get to the people who are ideally matched.”
Bryan shared case studies of corporations and small-medium businesses they worked with and how the right employer branding worked well to find the right people. Bryan pretty much defined the right approach to branding when he said “The idea is, if you're confident and clear enough to know your culture and what it takes to drive the organization forward, and you also can answer some fundamental questions of not just why people join, but why they stay, then you can craft a give and get proposition which is a two-way value exchange of not just what you stand to get as an employer but actually what you're willing to give in return candidates and employees alike can make very informed career decisions as to whether it's an ideal match.”
How to Strategize a Good Employer Brand
Bryan shared the mistakes companies make when envisioning and strategizing their employer brand. He also shared vital pointers and elements to consider in designing and marketing effective talent branding. It leads to creating a communication framework, which should include the following:
Bryan also discussed the importance of storytelling. He mentioned that this is part of what makes their company successful and also shared books and references that you can look into if you plan to begin engaging in this skill.
How Can Recruiters Promote Their Client’s Employer Brand?
How can recruiters partner with their client companies in achieving the objectives of employer branding? I was interested in picking Bryan’s brains on this question and he was able to give insightful advice which is to focus on creating a compelling story structure.
“The formula is this: empathy, curiosity, surprise, insight, and action,” Bryan said. This approach to creating a story structure he shared is interesting as it is backed up by psychology.
This is how he explained it: “Empathy is an emotional immediate connection to the organization, what they're trying to do, and the purpose and vision of the organization. Curiosity is something that differentiates you from everybody else and gets people to lean in. So there's an emotional connection and now we're leaning in. Surprise is here's three things that you didn't know. You weren't expecting this. So what we're doing is we're playing with, we're opening the right side of the mind now, the right side of the brain, such that you're now ready to receive facts and information, insights and specific that you can deliver about the role. So we've talked about the company, maybe there's curiosity about the team and the specific objectives in that team, then insight around the specific role, and then we make a call to action. Usually, the call to action ties everything together from a purpose perspective. And if you walk through that formula, it's incredibly powerful if you have a proposition that's compelling and true that plays on all of the strengths that we've talked about.”
Our Sponsor
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Bryan Adams Bio and Contact Info
Bryan is the CEO and founder of Ph.Creative, recognized as one of the leading employer brand agencies in the world with clients such as Apple, American Airlines, and Entain. Bryan is also a bestselling author, podcaster, creative strategist, and specialist speaker.
Bryan has interviewed over 50 of the world's greatest storytellers including Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Robert McKee to strengthen knowledge and fuel a passion for what it means to effectively move people with language.
He is considered a prominent employer brand thought leader and his creative, unconventional, and even controversial methodologies are said to regularly change the way people think about employer branding and EVP.
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| 01 Feb 2021 | The End of Jobs: Recruiting in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, with Jeff Wald, Ep #52 | 00:55:11 | |
Recruiters, are you prepared for the threats and opportunities that will affect our industry as we enter the early stages of a fourth industrial revolution, characterized by the rise of robots and Artificial Intelligence? As the trend towards automation gathers pace, there will be seismic shifts in the global labor market. Many jobs will disappear completely while entirely new types of jobs will be created. How will these changes affect you as a recruiter or recruitment business owner? To help answer this question, I asked Jeff Wald, best-selling author of The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations, to share his insights with listeners of my podcast. Jeff is an angel investor and startup advisor, having built and sold multiple technology companies. He was the founder of WorkMarket, an enterprise software platform that enables companies to manage their freelancers which he sold to ADP in 2018. He is also the founder of Spinback which he sold to salesforce.com. Jeff frequently speaks at conferences and in media on the future of work. Episode Outline and Highlights
A Firm Believer of the Growth Mindset In our conversation, Jeff shared one of the most significant backstories in his career: a business failure that bankrupted him to his last dollar. As you listen to the details, you will also feel Jeff’s frustration. Despite having beautiful concepts and business plans, the fallout was caused by stakeholders not getting along. It was really difficult to see the learnings while you are in the midst of the storm. As he said, “I’m a huge believer in the growth mindset… this is a learning experience, it’s tough to see when you’re in it… Everybody was saying, ‘oh you’re gonna look back at this and think it’s so great’ and I was like, ‘Ah, shut up! I don’t want to hear that.’ Because you don’t want to hear it at the time but it is certainly true.” A lot of recruiters and recruitment business owners might have experienced the same since last year because of the challenges brought about by the pandemic. If Jeff could give any advice to struggling recruiters, what would it be? Below are the highlights:
The Future of the Work Market Given the current situation and that we are in the early stages of what many are calling ‘fourth industrial revolution (robots and AI)’, what predictions can Jeff make about the future of work? He gave really interesting and insightful inputs. “I will say this, history tends to rhyme…” is how he started his response. A valid point he raised: it is best to look at how we reacted to the first three industrial revolutions to see how society might react to the fourth revolution. For the past three industrial revolutions (mechanization, electrification, computerization) this is what was seen:
Jeff concludes, “And so as we look at the fourth… I am confident that there will be many differences in this industrial revolution. It will happen quicker, it will be more global, productivity increases might actually be greater, I am very confident that we will see higher standards of living, more jobs, and people working fewer hours.” Jeff Wald Bio and Contact Info Jeff is a serial entrepreneur, Board Member, Best Selling Author, Keynote speaker and investor. Jeff’s most recent company, Work Market, an enterprise software platform that enables companies to manage freelancers was acquired by ADP in 2018. Jeff has founded several other technology companies, including Spinback, a social sharing platform (eventually purchased by salesforce.com). He began his career in finance, serving as Managing Director at activist hedge fund Barington Capital Group, a Vice President at venture capital firm GlenRock and various roles in the M&A Group at JP Morgan. Jeff has served on numerous public and private Boards of Directors including Steel Connect (NASDAQ: STCN), Costar Technologies (OTC: CSTI) and venture-backed TransfrVR. Jeff serves as an adviser to several companies and entities including the X-Prize’s Rapid Reskilling Initiative. Jeff is the author of the #1 Amazon Best Seller, The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations and The Birthday Rules: A Fun and Flexible Framework for Raising Children in a Technology Enabled World. Jeff frequently speaks at conferences and in media on startups and the future of work. He was named several times as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Staffing by the Staffing Industry Analysts. He is a producer of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and the full-length feature film, Inez & Doug & Kira, which won Best Picture at several film festivals. Jeff formerly served as an officer in the Auxiliary Unit of the New York Police Department. Jeff holds an MBA from Harvard University and an MS and BS from Cornell University
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| 09 Dec 2024 | How to Win New Clients Using a Monthly Partnership Model, with Julia Arpag, Ep #237 | 00:58:33 | |
From being laid off at 5 weeks postpartum to generating nearly $700K in 14 months, Julia Arpag demonstrates how embracing change can lead to extraordinary success. After launching Aligned Recruitment, she developed a unique retainer model that transformed client relationships and created predictable revenue while building a remote team that serves clients internationally. Julia founded Aligned Recruitment, specializing in tech recruitment for small and medium-sized businesses. Join us as she shares her journey from unexpected layoffs to building a thriving recruitment practice.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Reimagining the Recruitment Business Model Julia developed a distinctive monthly retainer model that transformed how she partners with clients: "A lot of recruiters only charge fee-based. So they're like, wait, you want me to pay you before you've given me a hire? Like, that's psychotic... I want to be your go-to recruitment partner for the entirety of the existence of your business." Julia's retainer model in recruitment operates on a monthly subscription-like approach, charging clients based on the number of roles they need to fill rather than per placement. Here's how it works and its unique benefits: How the Retainer Model Works:
This approach translates to unique relationships, repeat business, and client trust building as summarized below:
Building a Systematic Sales Campaign Despite never closing a deal before launching her business, Julia developed a systematic sales approach that helped her reach nearly $700K in 14 months. She shares her exact process: Lead Research: "I have someone on Fiverr... charges me 10 bucks for 50 lead needs" with clear parameters:
Multi-Channel Campaign:
"My theory is it's more personal... I think LinkedIn selfies are reminiscent of more personal messaging platforms where people feel like it's like their buddy Julia just dropping in to check in how their Tuesday's going." When running active campaigns, Julia commits to sending 20 personalized outreach videos daily or 100 per week. She also runs a separate automated Dripify messaging campaign targeting past client contacts, doubling down on what's working since many of her clients come from previous relationships. This systematic approach, combined with genuine relationship building, has helped her consistently win new business without traditional hard-selling techniques.
Remote Team Building and International Recruitment From solo founder to a team of four, Julia has built a remote-first practice that serves clients internationally. Starting with contract recruiters during her maternity leave, she strategically evolved her team structure based on business growth. Today, her team includes a Director of Talent Acquisition managing client delivery, an Operations Manager, and a Sourcer based in South Africa (hired through Remote First as EOR), all working virtually. "I employ them through an employer of record, an EOR. And I use Remote First... my entire team is remote. No one else is based here in Atlanta." This flexible team structure allows Julia to scale based on client needs while maintaining quality delivery through specialized roles - proving you can build a successful recruitment business without a traditional office-based team. Are you also interested in building a remote setup for your recruitment business?
Julia Arpag Bio and Contact Info Julia Arpag is the CEO & Founder of tech recruitment firm Aligned Recruitment. We've been in business since August 2023, are fully bootstrapped, have closed over $500k in new business, and are scaling fast.
We specialize in hiring for SMBs (10-200 employees) in the tech industry. We have clients in custom software development, platform management, real estate investment, and security hardware, to name a few. I'm also a foster parent to two teen boys, a mom to two little boys, a wife, and a proud transplant to Atlanta from upstate NY.
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| 26 May 2023 | How to Build Trust and Relationships at Scale by Hosting Meet-up Events, with Steven Li, Ep #175 | 01:04:18 | |
Meaningful relationships are foundational to success in recruitment. The challenge is that building a network and earning trust takes time. For many recruiters, it can take years to become established in their market niche.
What if there was a way to speed up this process and achieve faster results?
My special guest, Steven Li, has discovered a way to build relationships at scale by organizing meet-ups in his sector. Steven’s strategy has enabled him to progress from a rookie recruiter at Robert Half to the Top Biller in APAC within three years.
Hosting events isn’t a new concept, but Steven has really taken this strategy to the next level. In fact, Steven is renowned for his cybersecurity events in Tokyo and they’ve become so popular that he holds a lottery to determine who gets to attend.
In this episode, Steven shares his learnings and best practices on how to organize events that add value to his sector. He revealed his process for running successful meet-ups, the mistakes he’s made and insights gleaned along the way.
Steven is a Senior Division Director at Robert Half Japan and specializes in Cyber Security recruiting. In 2022, Steven was recognized as the top biller across APAC, as well as managing the number one perm team.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Building Relationships at Scale by Organizing Meet-Up Events
Steven is a Gen Y recruiter who believes in the value of working smart. In 2019, he quit his job in the Financial Markets and moved to Tokyo to become a recruiter. He thought it was going to be easy but when the pandemic came in 2020, his resilience was tested which drove him to work smarter.
Steven took inspiration from Greg Savage’s advice on branding and becoming a micro-celebrity in your marketplace. He connected this to the idea of building relationships at scale in recruitment, and that is when they started doing these meet-up events.
He shared his learnings on hosting events and how to make the most of them. Here are some takeaways that we covered:
How did this benefit Steven and Rober Half? He became the APAC top-biller in 2022, which was only his third year in recruitment. Plus, Steven’s strategy has now been adopted by other divisions. Robert Half Japan is now hosting community meetup events for Cyber Security, Data, Developers, Consulting, and Executive Search
Having a Clear Mission That Goes Beyond You
Steven has a “mission that goes beyond himself,” which is to build a stronger cybersecurity community in Japan, by giving people the platform to share the best ideas and thoughts. This is something that I also firmly believe: if you have a clear mission, that is bigger than you or your company goals but is one that everyone in your market can get behind, then people will go out of their way to help you.
Having this clarity on your “WHY” and purpose, and how you are able to connect it to how you will add value to your community is a vital key driver to success. Like so many of our guests, successful recruiters and recruitment business owners find ways to add value to their community. Hearing Steven’s story on how he is able to tie up his marketing with his mission can inspire a lot in our industry to do the same.
Developing Leadership Skills
Steven is still ‘young’ as a recruiter, but what I also admire about him is how he takes ownership of his development. Top billers don’t necessarily make good managers. Steven has fast-tracked his career because he’s taking responsibility for his own development, proactively seeking to refine his leadership skills through books, mentorship, and coaching.
This is true with tenured and seasoned recruitment business leaders that I know - they never stop learning and developing. Leadership is a lifelong journey, and there is always room for growth and improvement, regardless of experience.
Our Sponsors
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Steven Li Bio and Contact Info
Steven is the Senior Division Director at Robert Half Japan specializing in cybersecurity Recruiting. In 2022, Steven was recognized as the top biller across APAC, affirming his position as a leader in the field. With a passion for creating a safer cybersecurity community in Japan, Steven is renowned for his cybersecurity events. These events, hosted at prestigious venues such as Microsoft, Google, The British Embassy, and Deloitte unite industry professionals to share knowledge and insights. Prior to his successful recruitment career, Steven gained valuable experience in Market Risk oversight within the Financial Markets Sector in Australia.
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| 18 Aug 2022 | The Marathon of Recruitment Business Success and How to Double Revenue in One Year, with Helen Plumridge, Ep # 137 | 01:05:04 | |
My next guest, Helen Plumridge, doubled her revenue last year and is on course to double again this year. But she didn’t achieve success overnight - it’s been more of a marathon than a sprint. Over a 20 year career, Helen’s experienced her share of setbacks and disappointments including the failure of her first recruitment business startup. Other areas of huge learning include choosing the right business model, hiring the right people and growing into leadership. Plus, the usual challenges of balancing business, fitness goals and family life. In this episode, you will hear Helen’s story of resilience and how she grew her recruitment business with the right combination of motivation, strategy, team, and partners. She discusses her partnership with Recruitment Entrepreneur and shares the key factors that contributed to doubling her revenue in the last year. Helen is the founder of King Recruit and King Executive, a partnership-led recruitment and search industry working with high-growth, small and medium sized companies in the South-West of England. Episode Outline and Highlights
Articulating the ROI of Hiring Your Candidate One of Helen’s incredible success stories is how they won a large account when they were just starting as a small business. On her 40th birthday, they signed up a fast-growing client with whom they ultimately placed over 200 people. You will hear from Helen how they won that account - including how they got their foot in the door. Helen revealed best practices for marketing your hot candidates and how to articulate the potential return-on-investment when presenting them to clients. The following takeaways were elaborated in our discussion:
How They Doubled Revenue Last Year Another key highlight of this interview is how they doubled their turnover last year and are on the way to again double their turnover this year, after partnering with Recruitment Entrepreneur. What were the key factors that led to this momentum? “Setting that bar higher,” is how it was described by Helen. It involves understanding the P&L (Profit and Loss) in more detail, looking at performance per head, and being more strategic by using real-time data. Setting the bar higher and believing that it is achievable is what moves Helen’s team. By joining the Recruitment Entrepreneur platform, Helen also found that it is far more achievable to reach the next level. A Culture of Building a Business Within a Business Helen also fosters a culture of hiring highly motivated people and giving them the freedom to run their desk in their way. This culture of ‘building a business within a business does not in any way compromise the King Recruiting’s way of doing things. As Helen explained, “It is not without systems and processes and vision.” Helen is not a fan of micro-managing. They empower their recruiters in business development, marketing, and client approach so long as it is aligned with King Recruiting’s way of working. This is also one of the reasons why they are more inclined to hire seasoned and mature recruiters - on which we discussed the pros and cons in this call. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including: funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, backoffice support, marketing and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc Helen Plumridge and Contact Info Helen Plumridge, Founder, and Owner of King Recruit and King Executive. We're a partnership-led recruitment and search agency working with high-growth SMEs in the South West. I've enjoyed a 20-year career in recruitment, I started my business 5 years ago and last year, partnered with Recruitment Entrepreneur - to grow, scale and exit my business - in the next 5 years. People and Resources Mentioned Connect with Mark Whitby
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| 04 Mar 2025 | How to Design Recruitment Training People Actually Enjoy, with David Bloxham, Ep #249 | 01:02:35 | |
What if your next training session became the highlight of your recruiters' week rather than just another calendar obligation? We explore how innovative recruitment leaders transform traditional onboarding into engaging experiences that drive performance and retention. In this episode, a tenured recruiter and recruitment business owner shares his experience in training hundreds of recruiters in this career. For David, “training and developing people is fun!” David Bloxham is the CEO of GCS Recruitment. With over 30 years of experience, David is passionate about connecting innovative technology companies with the expert talent they need to drive their businesses forward. In 2017, he led a successful management buyout (MBO) with nGAGE Talent, further solidifying his leadership in the industry. Under his guidance, GCS Recruitment has expanded globally with a team of 100 consultants and 7 offices including London, Reading, Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, Orlando and Philadelphia.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Training and Developing People is Fun!
David started in the recruiting industry in 1996, and both of us agree that training back then was almost as simple as “here is a phonebook, and a phone, start calling.” We both understand the value of effective training as a key ingredient to successful recruiting results.
Having hired and developed hundreds of recruiters over the years, what is David’s approach to training, especially in this age where technology can overwhelm the human factor of a new recruiter? For David, it is about going back to basics and focusing on what a recruiter really does. Phone first, and building a network. He utilizes existing technology and tech stack, especially when monitoring and gamifying performance as part of training and development. Most importantly, his mindset says a lot about his success, “Training and developing people is fun!”
Below are some of the takeaways he shared on this topic:
What Does a Recruiter Do? Despite technological advances in AI, David strongly believes that focusing on the human factor by understanding what a recruiter does is still the key success factor in this field. He believes that two things are essential:
Regardless of what AI or other tools can do to improve your recruitment process, it is still a recruiter’s human factor of connecting with candidates and clients that drives the decision of whether you will win the business or not. As he puts it, “And, and that's really where I kind of come to with, with what does a recruiter do? What a recruiter does is it has the human interaction, the human touch, right? And if we can really get that into the heads of recruiters, this is where your value is. This is what you do, right? You meet people, you talk to people, you network, you find out things.”
Indeed, recruiters who rely too much on automation risk becoming replaceable. But those who master the human side of the business—building relationships, influencing decisions, and adding personal value—will always be in demand.
Learnings from an MBO (Management Buyout) As one of the first employees at GCS, David was deeply invested in the company’s growth. When it reached an eight-figure valuation, the decision was made to exit certain owners and transition leadership. Since David didn’t have the capital to buy out the founder, they sought backing from nGAGE, an investment company that specializes in recruitment businesses. The process involved intense due diligence, financial scrutiny, and planning to make GCS an attractive investment.
David's learnings also apply to recruitment business owners who plan to exit and sell their business through acquisition. You may be interested in the following topics that David elaborated on:
David Bloxham Bio and Contact Info
David Bloxham is a seasoned recruitment professional and the CEO of GCS Recruitment. With over 30 years of experience, David has a passion for connecting innovative technology companies with the expert talent they need to drive their businesses forward. In 2017, he led a successful management buyout (MBO) with nGAGE Talent, further solidifying his leadership in the industry. Under his guidance, GCS Recruitment has grown significantly on a global scale, helping clients to "Employ the Future to Create it." David's expertise in the recruitment industry and his dedication to fostering strong client relationships have made him a respected figure in the field.
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| 30 Oct 2020 | Want to Bill a Million Dollars? Master These Old-School Techniques, with Douglas Johnson, Ep # 40 | 00:57:49 | |
In this episode, I grill Doug Johnson on the secrets to his extraordinary success in recruitment. Listen in as I persuade him to reveal the strategies, skills and techniques he’s developed over the years that have enabled him to generate millions of dollars in placement fees. Old-school sales and recruiting techniques are coming back in vogue during the Covid-19 environment. Out of necessity, recruiters are going “back to basics” with their business development and candidate generation. Unfortunately, these classic skills have become something of a lost art. Especially if you started your recruitment career after 2003 (when LinkedIn was founded). Most recruiters would profit from the wisdom and insights of a veteran who developed their skills pre-LinkedIn era. Doug is the president of Valor Partners, an executive search firm he founded in 2002. Doug specializes in recruiting leaders in sales, marketing and strategy within enterprise software. He has a particular focus on working with and placing female leaders in tech. Over the last 20 years Doug has placed 600 high performers with companies such as SAP, Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Honeywell, GE, and numerous startups. Prior to founding Valor Partners, Doug spent six years at MRI where he was a five-time top ten account executive of the year, and two-time national account executive of the year. Episode Outline and Highlights
Doing it Old School - How to be Good at Getting Referrals Recalling the early years of his career that started in 1997, Doug shared the story of how they looked for referrals before LinkedIn or even before the internet was widely used in the recruitment industry. “Let’s also remember that way back when you and I got started, the internet was not necessarily a thing. Cell phones were not a thing. LinkedIn wasn’t even an idea. So when I started, I would have to go home at night and I would have to do my research where I had an internet connection… If I wasn’t doing my research at night, [the office] had this big thick book called Corptech and there were about three volumes of it to find companies. I had to look through and find these phone numbers and then call.” He added, “It wasn’t like I could flip through LinkedIn and find the next sales guy in Chicago or the marketing guy in Detroit. I couldn’t do that. So you had to get really really good at asking for referrals and networking and getting information from the people so you could maximize these phone calls.” Listen further as Doug revealed his secret on how to be good at getting referrals in this episode. Douglas Johnson Bio and Contact Info Doug founded Valor Partners in 2002. He has been working with enterprise software executives to identify and recruit the people who lead, build and manage top sales and marketing teams for over 20 years. His expertise is in SaaS software. His practice focuses on helping his clients with the unique challenges of building the revenue side of their businesses- sales, marketing and customer success. He has one other unique aspect to his practice; working with and placing female leaders in tech. "Discretion, exceptional judgment and over 20 years of industry expertise (with a heavy dose of humor and humility) allow me a network, relationships and market knowledge rivaled by very few people." Away from the office, Doug is a single dad with two kids, Grace and Murphy, and two dogs (Ash and Moose). He is a competitive tennis player (played in college), he runs Spartan races and is a year and a half into learning to salsa dance (so frustrating). He feels very fortunate that his career in search has allowed him the opportunity to travel the world with his kids- highlights have included reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro and watching the Northern Lights in Iceland.
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| 22 Aug 2024 | Why Relentless Work Ethic is Key to Executive Search Success, with Vince Dunne, Ep #227 | 01:12:43 | |
When he started his search firm, Vince was told that you would make 100 grand in year one if you're lucky. In his first year, he did more than $600k in revenue! Was that just a lucky year? Definitely not. He would not even consider his 12 years in business his best year. What are Vince’s key strategies in achieving this phenomenal result? In this episode, he shares two things: his belief system and his hard work.
Vince Dunne is the President of Dunne Search Group, an executive search firm based in South Carolina. For the last 12 years, he’s specialized in recruiting salespeople for the biotech industry and has helped build some of the most important companies in cancer testing.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Pulling off $600k Revenue in His First Year Vince and I talked about his motivation to transition from being a top recruiter to launching his search group. “But I noticed I was getting my clients. Nothing was handed to me, and I thought it was because ‘Vince will figure it out. You know, he's. He's doing well. He's rookie of the year.’ I'm hitting all my numbers every quarter… So I was getting my clients anyway. So why am I splitting my business? And so I felt like I was ready. I've got enough clients out there of people that want to do business with me.” Knowing that he was ready, he took on the challenge of becoming a recruitment business owner, leveraging the skills he learned and the relationships he built over the years. Remarkably, he was able to make more than $600k in revenue in his first year!
I wanted to dive deep into the causal factors of this phenomenal success. Vince believed that he was just lucky. But you will find out as we continue our conversation that there are two main ingredients for his secret sauce: his belief system & hard work. Vince was really competitive and strictly adhered to his no-fail mindset. He would reach out to ten people before 9:00 AM daily to generate leads. These traits enabled him to shorten his learning curve when he was just a rookie and surely contributed to his success as a business owner.
How to “Make a Name” For Yourself Another topic that resonates with me is Vince’s emphasis on building a reputation and making a name for yourself. Vince’s niche is in the Biotech industry, a very competitive circle, which means that your reputation is a huge deal. Vince shared insights on how he makes a name for himself and that people know him within the sales biotech world.
Building Relationships is Always Better in the Long Run
Vince shared an insightful take on building relationships versus burning bridges. If you have been unfairly treated by a client before, you will most likely relate to his story. I asked Vince about the biggest adversity in his career, and he shared that it was learning not to burn bridges. His aggressive, competitive nature sometimes led to conflicts with clients, particularly when he felt he wasn’t fairly compensated or recognized for his work.
Vince acknowledges that, in hindsight, there were times he should have taken the high road instead of standing his ground, which ultimately damaged relationships with some clients. He overcame this challenge by realizing the importance of choosing his battles wisely and maintaining long-term relationships, even if it meant compromising on smaller issues. He now prioritizes staying loyal to clients who treat him well, even if it means turning down business from competitors.
A key takeaway is that maintaining a positive image and strong relationships is crucial in the long run. Vince balances his competitive nature with a more strategic approach, focusing on clients who value and respect him while still holding onto the principles that have made him successful.
Vince Dunne Bio and Contact Info A graduate of the Coles College of Business, Vince Dunne brings his keen business acumen and 12 years of accomplished biotech search experience placing the most qualified candidates in both established corporations and start-up companies. Vince utilizes his proven, unique business model to conduct his search to locate and refer the ideal candidate(s) to meet the tailored, strategic needs of an organization, conserving their company resources and increasing corporate efficiencies.
Vince has helped build out some of the most important companies in cancer testing. Having focused on many areas in biotech, the oncology and women's health space is where we spend most of our time. We pride ourselves on being very well-known and trusted in the market.
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| 14 Feb 2025 | Recruitment Business Growth: How to Transition from Junior to Executive Search, with Jeff Cox, Ep #246 | 00:58:45 | |
A 25-year recruiting veteran! Our special guest, Jeff Cox, shares his journey and insights on how he made two transitions to up his recruitment game: From placing junior to senior roles and switching from contingent to retainer model.
These shifts can be challenging, and so it takes the right mindset and preparation for your to have the power to transition. Jeff shared how he did it!
Jeff specializes in assisting biotech and pharmaceutical companies in building transformative leadership teams.
As a member of the prestigious Pinnacle Society, Jeff is one of the top-producing recruiters in the country. But he believes success in this industry is less about the money and more about the people we impact and the life-changing projects we advance.
Episode Outline and Highlights
What Success Looked Like
What would Jeff consider a success factor in his success as a recruitment business owner? For him, it is no magic ingredient.
“It's just showing up every day and being, you know, you know, like my dad says. We used to say, “Dad, I don't know what to do.” You know, pick up the phone. That's what you do. “Dad, I don't have enough job orders.” Pick up the phone. If you work every day, it works out.”
Jeff emphasized the value of being consistent and showing up every day as a key factor in his longevity and success in the recruiting field. He also shared how his background as an actor helped him learn a lot about being human - which is a key ingredient when building relationships with clients and candidates.
“I mean, I think that's the foundation, of why I'm a good recruiter. Because, you know, the most important thing to do as an actor is to listen. To listen and to live in the moment, you know, not, not to let things get ahead of yourself… I guess also the ability, you know, when you play a lot of different characters, you have to be able to jump into other people's skin. You have to be able to understand.”
On top of the above, he also had the foundation of working in his father’s recruitment firm. This led him to eventually build his desk and the rest is history.
Transitioning to Place Executive Senior Roles
Jeff initially worked in lower-level positions such as associates and clinical chemists. When he started his firm, he made two key decisions that positively impacted his revenue.
The first item above is not an easy transition. Jeff decided to no longer accept managerial placements but rather focus on executive-level positions. Here are the two takeaways:
Making a Conscious, Strategic Shift – He decided to position himself exclusively for senior director-level and above roles. This meant actively telling the market, "No, I don't work at that level; I only recruit senior executives." By consistently reinforcing this message, he established himself as a specialist in executive recruitment.
Leveraging Long-Term Relationships – Over time, the professionals he had placed in junior roles advanced in their careers, moving into managerial and director positions. He capitalized on these relationships, using his existing network to transition into higher-level placements.
He also had the same mindset when he switched from a contingent to a retained search model. He shared that for him to have the ability to make strong choices such as this decision to switch, he had to ensure that he kept his housekeeping in order. “I made a strategic choice to live within my means. And when I made. When I made these choices, I was like, okay, you've got enough. You've got enough Runway where you can do it.”
Why Going Back to the Basics is Essential in This Market
A key topic that resonates with me is how Jeff deals with the current market difficulty in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
“I think the pharmaceutical and biotech industry has had a rough year and there's this balancing act that I'm going through in my brain. Do I go back to contingency when times are tough? Like, like what do you know? What do I do?”
If you can relate to how Jeff felt, I am sure you will appreciate his strong sense of accountability and self-awareness.
“And I, and I have found that I'm not, I'm not doing my job as well as I should. So it's now for me it's a time to get back to the basics. And I think that's what 2025 is. It's getting back to doing the job properly, you know, and, and you know, and I fault myself because I should have known this, but sometimes you don't see it, but really like sitting here now, it's just getting back to the basics. So I'm excited and that's exciting to me. It's like the realization is I gotta go back to the basics. I gotta start hammering out the phone calls and it's exciting.”
Such an admirable mindset!
Jeff Cox Bio & Contact Info
With over 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical recruitment, Jeff has built a career connecting top talent with leading companies. The journey began in 1995 with a first placement made in just 16 days—a milestone that set the stage for decades of success.
Starting with roles such as Clinical Research Associates, Analytical Chemists, and Regulatory Affairs Associates, Jeff steadily progressed to placing Managers, Senior Managers, Associate Directors, and Directors. Today, the focus is on VP-level and executive placements, a natural evolution earned through years of dedication and expertise.
More than just a recruiter, Jeff is a builder—helping biotech and pharmaceutical companies strengthen their leadership teams with experienced professionals who have climbed the ranks step by step. At this level, recruitment goes beyond compensation; it’s about aligning the right people with the right projects to drive innovation and impact.
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| 23 Dec 2022 | The 3 Keys to Growing a Startup Recruitment Agency to $950,000 in the First Year, with Ben Cross, Ep #157 | 01:10:28 | |
Imagine starting your own recruitment agency with no recruiting experience and growing it to almost a million dollars in the first year. Sounds unbelievable, right? Yet that’s exactly what my special guest, Ben Cross, has accomplished in his first year in recruitment. In this interview, we break down exactly how he achieved those remarkable results. Ben is the founder and CEO of GLOMO based in Dallas. GLOMO specializes in the global mobility industry providing talent search as well as consulting services in sales and marketing plus mergers and acquisitions.
So what’s the secret to Ben’s success? It comes down to an intangible asset that doesn’t appear on a balance sheet – his personal brand. Ben was already extremely well-known in his industry prior to launching his own business. In this episode, you’ll learn how Ben became a micro-celebrity within his niche using the 3R formula: Reach, Relevance and Relationship.
Episode Outline and Highlights
LOVE + RELO - Hosting Daily LinkedIn Live Streams During the Pandemic Ben is a genius when it comes to personal branding - a skill that has translated well to his recruitment firm’s success. Ben has been creating content on LinkedIn since 2006. When the platform rolled out a Live Feature, he was one of the Beta testers to utilize the feature. It became his resolution on January 1st, 2020 to go live every day!
You will hear how their program - Love + Relo came about. It’s a LinkedIn Live stream for the Global Mobility industry where they interview leaders while responding to audience questions. In retrospect, his timing could not have been better. When this pandemic hit in March 2020, people were seeking that sense of connection and community that LOVE + RELO provided.
Ben’s live stream attracted speaking opportunities and invitations to host virtual conferences (and later in-person conferences) for trade associations in the global mobility space.
You will also hear about their Get Talent! Podcast - which has been a valuable way to connect with both clients and candidates. Ben explained the 3 keys when it comes to personal branding: Reach, Relevancy, and Relationships.
Secrets of Starting a Successful Recruitment Agency How did GLOMO’s startup recruitment business perform in its first year?
Ben revealed, “We're coming on the end of the calendar year 2022, I think we are gonna be in the $950k range, I am proud of that.”
There could be several explanations for Ben’s rapid growth. For one, GLOMO was founded in June 2020 as a consulting firm. So Ben was adding recruiting and executive search to an already established business. Secondly, prior to launching GLOMO Ben was the VP of Sales for a moving company so he has a deep knowledge and understanding of the industry he serves. But that alone doesn’t explain his outstanding results.
Here are some of the factors that Ben attributes GLOMO’s success to:
We also get into the nitty-gritty of starting a recruitment agency, from getting an ATS/CRM, building the systems and processes, LinkedIn Recruiter, and more.
Ben’s Perspective on Failing Daily I asked Ben about the challenges and struggles he encountered and what he would have done differently.
What really resonated with me is Ben’s perspective on the importance of failure: “We fail daily, like every day, all day… If you are not failing, you are not trying. As business owners or professionals, we think that success is avoiding failures. It is not. It is about embracing them, learning from them, and even memorializing them in our mind palace and saying ‘I'm gonna pay homage to this ridiculous epic failure that I had’... We are really big in celebrating failures.”
Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including: funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, backoffice support, marketing and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Ben Cross Bio and Contact Info After 15 year career in the moving and relocation industry, Ben Cross quit his job to start a consulting and recruitment firm called GLOMO. In his first full year of recruiting, this small startup has billed over $1 million US dollars. Over the past three years, Ben has hosted over 400 episodes of his podcast "Love + Relo" which has become "the voice of the relocation industry". He has also co-hosted a recruitment podcast called the Get Talent! Podcast which shares recruitment insights for hiring managers. Ben's approach is to build reach, relevancy and relationships through Linkedin Live streams and hosting in-person events where he and his team build their personal brand's social capital. He also hosts conferences within his niche industries and speaks on numerous panels.
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| 22 Apr 2022 | The Four Pillars of Success in Growing Your Recruitment Business, with Doug Baird, Ep #122 | 00:56:28 | |
I am always fascinated by hearing how recruitment business owners navigate their journeys through difficulties to grow their practices. That’s why I am very much delighted to share this episode with you on how my special guest, Doug Baird focused on four strategic pillars to successfully grow his small contract recruitment firm into a leading consultancy group today. Doug is the CEO at New Street Consulting Group (NSCG), a people advisory firm that helps their clients find, assess, build and accelerate teams and leaders who are as good in practice as they are on paper. NSC has been ranked as one of the best small companies in the UK, previously ranked in the Sunday Times’ Fast Track 100, and Doug himself has been a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Award. Episode Outline and Highlights
The Four Pillars of Success in Growing Your Recruitment Business Doug shared his story beginning in 2003 when he started Interim Partners. They started off as an interim management provider and contracting recruitment business. In this interview, you will hear how he was able to lead his company to growth which ultimately led him to establish a professional services consulting firm, the NSC Group. I asked for his critical success factors and you will certainly enjoy how he laid the foundation of his business growth on four pillars: talent, structure, governance, and technology. You will also hear us discuss each of these and I am confident that you will be able to pick up several golden nuggets of wisdom to use in your own journey of scaling your business. Using the Sense of Dissatisfaction to Your Advantage Tony Robbins once said that being dissatisfied is one of the best ways to achieve more and stay motivated. This is definitely the same with Doug. He believes that having a sense of dissatisfaction and having the courage to walk away from what you are famous for can work to your advantage. He revealed how this mindset gave him a clear vision of his end goal. Related to this idea, you will hear from this interview why growing your business via acquisition makes sense in certain situations. Strengthening the Pillar of Technology to Scale Your Business We also covered utilizing technology to effectively manage your recruitment business. Doug shared how they had to let go of some legacy systems they were using and how they adapted by using contemporary technology. We were very specific with some tools such as SalesForce, Bullhorn, Marketo, Cascade for HR, and others. An interesting thing that Doug shared is how they are using Salesforce and Bullhorn at the same time despite the potential overlap. You may be able to relate with some of the technologies mentioned. What Would Have Doug Done Differently? What I consider to be the best part of my conversation with Doug in this episode is when he responded to the question of what he would have done differently. “I would probably have tried to have held onto people, some of them that I’ve had at the very beginning,” is how Doug puts it. When you listen to this part, you will hear Doug’s sincerity as he further elaborates on what he meant. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Doug Baird Bio and Contact Info Doug has 25 plus years in recruitment and professional services where he created and managed companies operating within Interim Management, Executive Search and Leadership Consulting. Outside of work, his four children keep him busy. With his family, Doug loves traveling, skiing and cinema. He enjoys rugby, plays golf badly and loves learning new things - fortunate to be heading to Harvard in May.
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| 20 Jun 2024 | How Purpose-Driven Business Models Help a Female Founder Achieve Acquisition Success, with Helen McGuire, Ep #220 | 00:40:23 | |
Helen joined us three years ago to share how to attract 70% more diverse talent by leveraging DEI - diversity, equity and inclusion. This time, she returns as a special guest to share an amazing feat - the platform she co-founded, Diversely.io, has just been recently acquired. This means more sourcing and recruitment firms can now access the platform, meaning more recruiters and sourcing firms can embed DEI in their hiring process. What fascinates me more is Helen’s strategies and lessons learned from exiting Diversely.io. She shared strategies and things she would have done differently, which I am sure many of us will also learn from. Overall, Helen believes that the key to success is following a purpose-driven business model. Helen McGuire is an exited founder, author, advisor, mother, podcast host and DEI changemaker. Helen is a leading figure in DEI and business strategy and is renowned for her impactful initiatives. She founded Hopscotch. work, the first women's careers platform in the Middle East and Asia, and her journey led to the creation of Diversely.io, a groundbreaking AI platform acquired by The Access Group in 2023.
As the host of The D&Igest podcast and author of the upcoming book 'The Female Scale', Helen's expertise extends to coaching female founders and advocating for purposeful businesses globally.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Embedding DEI Into the Business Strategy
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are critical in the hiring process. This is essential because it is the right thing to do and a strategic business decision that can lead to more innovative and successful organizations.
I had Helen as a guest three years ago, and I am fascinated by her current position on championing DEI in the recruitment industry. She is a great example of an astounding business leader who advocates equity and opportunity for lesser-represented groups. As a female founder, you will hear insightful perspectives on how underrepresentation affects certain groups and how to empower more women to launch their own businesses.
She is about to finish a new book, The Female Scale, which will provide insights on this issue. “It's not written specifically for women, but it's written with a very female lens. You know, the challenges that you encounter as a woman setting up a business, and there are, you know, so many female-led businesses, startups, smaller businesses out there.”
In this episode, Helen shared an astounding feat: They could exit Diversely.io, an end-to-end hiring platform that uses tech to reduce bias in businesses' hiring processes. By being acquired, she believes this platform will be more accessible to a much larger audience of sourcing and recruitment firms.
Learnings on Being Acquired and Exit Strategies
As a business owner, you may relate with me if you are also fascinated with stories of how exits and acquisitions work. I wanted Helen to walk me through what was involved in their acquisition process. She shared detailed stories of how it started, what was expected, and what happened. She also shared curve balls and how their expertise and networks played major roles in making the exit happen.
In hindsight, here are some learnings that Helen shared if you ever plan to exit or scale your business:
What resonated with me the most was Helen’s idea of the exit. It has always been purpose-driven.
“And you have to kind of, so when you're thinking about selling your business, it's not just about what I need from it as a dollar value. What can I also achieve off the back of that? What does that give me as a founder, as someone who's going on this journey?”
Building a Purpose-Driven Business Model
Building a business, especially focusing on recruiting and sourcing, is not always profit-focused. The vision and mission statements need to be clear, as the impact we can have on people can be life-changing.
This aligns with what Helen believes when creating a purpose-driven business model. This is how she described it:
“And it wasn't all about the dollar value. I think when you set up a purpose-driven business, it's very important to keep profit and profitability in mind because it's hard to create impact without that. It's not sustainable as a business or as an idea. But equally, you've got to balance it with, you know, what am I doing here to solve this problem, and how can I solve this problem? And we would have taken another god knows how many years to try and get to the scale that…”
When Helen co-founded Diversely.io, it was to solve her own frustrations as a female in a male-dominated industry. Her purpose was clear from the start - to help women and under-represented groups gain fair opportunities. This purpose-driven business model contributes well to her current successes and future aspirations.
Our Sponsor
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Helen McGuire Bio and Contact Info
Founded the first women’s careers platform in the Middle East and Asia—Hopscotch.work—in 2015, Helen has won numerous industry awards for her work and led part of UN Women’s efforts to increase gender representation in the UAE.
To scale the impact of her mission beyond gender, Helen joined the tech start-up accelerator Antler in January 2020 with a vision to conquer the issues around DEI in the workplace through the use of technology. Diversely.io was that solution; a multi-awarded global AI-driven platform built alongside her co-founder, Hayley Bakker, and with the support of industry investors over four years. One of the world’s leading software companies, The Access Group, acquired the platform for an undisclosed amount in 2023 and continues to be integrated across its portfolio.
As host of The D&Igest podcast, Helen now utilises her formidable communications skills to give those who are making a difference in the global DEI space a voice. Professionally, she focuses on ensuring DEI is at the forefront of business strategy and coaches female founders on holistic business strategy. Her first book - ‘The Female Scale’ - is due in 2024, and she speaks and advises globally on the topic of DEI and creating purposeful businesses.
A communications professional of twenty years, Helen began her career in London, achieving her dream role at BBC Radio 1 in her early twenties, going on to produce, DJ and present for the music industry in over
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| 29 Mar 2023 | How to Become More Valuable and Influential as a Recruiter, with Michael Goldman, Ep # 168 | 00:57:27 | |
Do you wish you had more influence with your clients and candidates?
The last time Michael Goldman joined our podcast, he shared the secrets of enjoying a long-term career in recruiting. In this interview, he reveals how we as recruiters and business owners can create more value and enjoy greater influence with our clients and candidates.
Michael started his recruiting career in 1980 and founded his own firm, Strategic Associates, in 1988. Michael has built an excellent reputation as an executive recruiter in manufacturing and supply chains nationwide on both a contingency and retained basis.
Michael is a Founding Member and former president of the Pinnacle Society. Having run a successful desk for 42 years, and been a consistent top producer, Michael also speaks on and teaches recruiting tactics and strategies to recruiters globally.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Focus on Influencing Rather Than Selling
A key insight that Michael discussed is why he advocates recruiters to influence, rather than sell. According to Michael, “A lot of people in our industry, especially newbies in the first 5 years or so are trained to throw up as much as against the wall as possible… What I do in the beginning is ask questions to determine the quality of the thought process that a prospect would have. I will understand what it takes to influence them as opposed to selling them…Because that is the key to unlock their retention.”
How does this translate to your role as a recruiter or a recruitment business owner? This is how Micheal explained it: “They expect you to be interesting… You have to realize, these people in the marketplace every day are in storms. They are constantly trying to sweep back the water on the deck of the boat and they are dealing with daily and weekly challenges… If you can tap into their perception of what success is in their life and you can do it in an interesting way, that will lead you toward providing significant influence with prospective candidates and clients.”
Integrating a Branding Philosophy to Engage Your Clients and Candidates
Michael discussed what differentiates a transactional recruiter from a consultative recruiter. He believes it’s about integrating a branding philosophy to establish trust and influence, especially when engaging with candidates and clients. From a branding perspective, there are parallel activities that Michael shared from both the candidate and client’s side. From the candidate side, he helps them identify their unique value proposition and helps them re-write their CVs to make them more powerful and aligned with their personal branding. On the client side, Michael helps his clients align their job descriptions in line with the employer's brand and vision of opportunity to make it attractive to the right sort of people.
Our Sponsors
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Michael Goldman Bio and Contact Info
Since 1980, both in his native New York and Austin, Texas, Michael Goldman has cultivated a respected reputation for achievement in nationwide manufacturing/supply chain executive recruitment on both a contingency and retained basis. In 1988, he founded Strategic Associates with the purpose of creating a highly specialized firm encompassing talent in the areas of the supply chain, procurement, quality/regulatory affairs, and operations (plant and corporate). Clients span industries from medical devices to consumer packaged goods to industrial to high technology products–from perishable goods to durable–from food products to computers and personal communication devices to biomedical technology to capital equipment. They are from Fortune 500 and 50 to mid-sized privately-held firms.
Michael is an original Founding Member of the Pinnacle Society and, from 1991 to 1995, served two consecutive terms as its second president. He was awarded the Honorary Lifetime Membership in recognition of both his accomplishments in recruiting and service to Pinnacle. In addition, he has earned his CPC through the National Association of Personnel Services.
Along with continuously maintaining his consistent success as a “desk-running” recruiter for over 40 years (and currently), Michael also speaks on and teaches domestically and internationally advanced and basic recruiting tactics and strategies. He has been requested to provide grass-roots recruitment seminars and speaking engagements to American state and national organizations as well as international audiences. To date, he has personally educated recruitment professionals in the US, Ireland, England, and South Africa. In addition, he has conducted webinars for state recruiting organizations and Pinnacle Society meetings, and Pinnacle Panel events.
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| 11 Aug 2021 | How to Bill Half a Million and Work Less Than 15 Hours a Week, with Michelle Parchman, Ep #89 | 00:54:59 | |
Is it really possible to work less and make more? It seems counter-intuitive and the majority of big billers I know advocate the “hustle and grind” approach. But what if you could work smarter rather than harder? My special guest, Michelle Parchman, has been doing this for years - billing half a million dollars per annum by working 2 to 3 hours a day. Like me, you will find her thought process revolutionary! Listening to our conversation may move you to revisit your way of working, your values and how you define success. Michelle is originally a CPA and began her public accounting career in auditing with Anderson in Dallas. After 17 years in Big Four public accounting plus seven years with the largest executive search firm in San Antonio, she founded Parchman and Parchman Executive Search in 2009, specializing in accounting, finance, tax, legal and C-level searches. Parchman and Parchman was named by Forbes as one of America’s best recruiting firms and Michelle has been described as one of San Antonio’s Most Inspiring and Influential Women. She is also a Board Director for the Pinnacle Society, the premier consortium of 80 leading recruiters in North America. Episode Outline and Highlights
From Public Accounting to Executive Search Michelle revealed her journey and transition from being a public accountant for 17 years to becoming an owner of an executive search business. If you are just starting your career as a recruiter, you will definitely relate to her story. It was not all rainbows and butterflies, as she also relayed how it was challenging for her at the outset. The recruitment firm she initially worked for did not fully fit with her way of working, which led her to create systems and processes. “It was very challenging in the first six months, I didn’t think that I was going to like it, I didn’t think I was going to succeed, but once I was able to kind of roll up my sleeves and lay out processes like ‘this is how we are going to strategize to get new clients’… It was great!” With her current success, what were really her daily thoughts during the painstaking first six months? “I think I typically persevere and I want to succeed and I am motivated. I’m just not willing to not let this work.” Indeed, an inspiring story for our new recruiters out there, or anyone facing adversity and overwhelm. Bill Half Million and Work Less Than 15 Hours a Week Is it possible to hit half a million dollars in billings by working only 15 hours a week? “It is 100 percent possible, and I have been doing it for years and years,” Michelle confirmed. The foundation is her thought process. She evaluates and prioritizes all her work activities based on ROI (return on investment). “It is because I look at everything as ROI. So every single thing I do, I think in my head, what is the return on my investment? For me it’s time. Time and then money. I try to make sure that everything I do is going to take me the least amount of time and give me the highest amount of money.” Some of my key takeaways of our conversation:
The Power of Network Another key factor for success that Michelle revealed in our conversation was her network. She said, “I just feel blessed in the sense that I know really smart people.” Her network is based on two foundational principles - relationship building and ethics. Ethics plays a major role when selecting her network. Also knowing that the people she surrounds herself with are so trusted and credentialed, it makes her job really easy when she gets referrals because she knows that they would only refer her people who also have the same level of ethics and professionalism. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Michelle Parchman Bio and Contact Info Michelle is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Personnel Consultant. She graduated with distinction from Oklahoma University with a BBA, concentration in accounting. Michelle began her public accounting career in auditing with Andersen in Dallas. During her 17-year successful tenure with Andersen, Michelle worked in Audit, Tax, Business Development, and Recruiting. Michelle has received numerous awards and recognition:
In 2009, Michelle founded Parchman + Parchman, Executive Search Experts, a highly specialized, niche recruiting firm specializing in Accounting, Finance, Tax, Legal, and C-Level searches. The primary function of the firm is to locate and present the best-qualified talent the current market has to offer. Michelle brings more than 20 years collective experience in the recruitment and placement of qualified professionals. Michelle is also Current Board of Director for The Pinnacle Society, the premier Consortium of 80 Industry-Leading Recruiters in North America. People and Resources Mentioned Connect with Mark Whitby
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| 05 Oct 2022 | Recruiter Mistakes #4: Doing Everything Yourself Instead of Delegating and Outsourcing, with Mark Whitby and Leanne Jones Hunt, Ep #: 146 | 00:12:20 | |
Does your recruitment business feel like you’re running on a hamster wheel? That everything depends on your efforts and you can’t ever slow down or stop because your delivery to customers (and your revenue) would also come grinding to a halt? No matter how talented and hard-working you are, trying to do everything yourself is unsustainable. It leads to inconsistent results, frustration and burnout. But what if you could get a lot of tasks off your plate and free up your time to focus on high-value, revenue-generating activities? The good news is that you can! In this episode, we discuss WHY you shouldn’t be the one spinning all of the plates even if you are a solo recruiter. We will also cover HOW to get started with delegating and outsourcing parts of your recruitment process. Our goal is to increase your time spent on high-value, revenue-generating activities, and the parts of the job you do best. This is the fourth of a series of episodes where Leanne and I will share insights that we have gained from working with hundreds of successful recruitment business owners. Episode Outline and Highlights
Should You Hire a Virtual Assistant (VA)? Two Questions to Consider Here are the two questions you need to answer:
This is a great exercise - calculating your hourly rate will give you the insight to see what tasks are indeed worth delegating. You may simply choose your billings per annum and divide by 1800 which is the average hours of someone who works full time during the course of the year. Your job is to figure out how you can spend more time and focus on high-value activities and how to delegate or outsource those activities where you will not be earning your dollar per hour. The Three Downsides of Trying to Do Everything by Yourself Why you should not be doing everything by yourself? Here are three reasons why.
This is not going to happen overnight, but I want you to think about outsourcing some parts of your business. This will take one step at a time and will be an ongoing process. Simple Actions You Can Take to Start The main thing is to not overcomplicate things. Look at your end-to-end process and analyze things you can delegate in the aspects of sourcing, business development, and account management piece. Look at what you don’t enjoy doing, the tasks that are recurring, and what tasks you are currently spending time on that realistically someone else could do for you. Keep in mind that as a business owner, your focus should be on high-level activities. We recommend that you hire a full-time VA to support you. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc Connect with Mark Whitby
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| 31 Mar 2022 | How to Achieve an Amazing Customer Experience for Both Clients and Candidates, with Nick Eaves, Ep #119 | 01:00:39 | |
Many recruiters claim to provide excellent customer service. Certainly, nobody sets out with the goal of delivering bad service. But is customer satisfaction built into your recruitment process, and most importantly do you actually measure it? My podcast guest, Nick Eaves, is the Chief Customer Officer of Stanton House. As his job title suggests, customer experience is something they take very seriously indeed. They’ve made customer satisfaction central to the way they engage with clients and candidates. Nick believes it’s a key differentiator and one of the secrets to their success. The results speak for themselves - Stanton House is one of the UK’s fastest-growing recruitment companies. Since launching in 2010, they have scaled to £35m and a team of 80 people with offices in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and the US. Episode Outline and Highlights:
Candidates and Clients Both Deserve Outstanding Customer Service “When we started the company, right from the start, the one thing that we were adamant was going to be different about Stanton House was that we are passionate about the customer experience and that was going to be the heart of everything we did. It is part of the DNA and it remained true until today,” Nick expands on how much value their brand attaches to ensuring that both clients and candidates enjoy the level of service they deserve. He states that the recruitment industry often treats clients very well but not candidates so much. Yet, both are just people and the investment that a candidate has with a recruitment company has a far greater impact on the candidate than on the client. Therefore, Stanton House has a comprehensive system in place to ensure that they always deliver on customer satisfaction and this is the foundation of their success. Exploring the Factors that Contributed to Their Success When Nick and co-founder Neil Wilson founded Stanton House, they didn’t have any clients and could only rely on their networks. They were determined to make their venture a success and create a brand that values customer service. One challenge was that neither had actively run a recruitment desk for a while. Their solution was to get funding from investors so they could hire excellent people from the beginning. Nick highlights the following factors as the keys to the success they enjoy:
Why Experience Isn’t the Most Important Criteria When Recruiting Recruiters When hiring internally, values fit is essential. It is why Stanton House often employs people without recruitment experience and then provides excellent training to give them the skills to be successful in the industry. Nick states that one of the most important things they are looking for in candidates for internal employment is the ability to overcome adversity. They prefer candidates who had to face severe challenges in their past and managed to overcome these challenges. They’re looking for individuals who will care about the customer experience and are not only concerned with making money. Work ethic and shared values are what bind their team and not age, gender, background or experience. This is how they manage to remain a team that achieves greatness. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Nick Eaves Bio and Contact Info Nick Co-Founded Stanton House back in 2010 and has played his part in building the Business to the 80+ people it is today. Stanton House operates in the UK, Asia and the US in a range of professional service verticals and the vision for the Business is to Achieve Outstanding Performance through exceptional customer experiences. This balance of ambitious business success, a focus on the Customer and a true commitment to strong values go to the heart of Stanton House. As Chief Customer Officer, Nick is the custodian of measuring and enhancing that customer offering.
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| 15 Dec 2022 | How a Recruitment Firm Owner Attained Billings of $1.2M While Growing a Team, with Darwin Shurig, Ep #156 | 00:50:50 | |
If you’ve ever tried to grow a recruitment firm, you understand the crazy balancing act of being an effective billing manager. It’s extremely challenging to hire, train and manage a team while at the same time maintaining your personal production.
That’s why I’m especially excited to share this interview with Darwin Shurig.
In addition to building a team of 11 people, Darwin is personally responsible for over $1.2M million in 2022. Darwin founded Shurig Solutions Inc. in 2015; based in Plainfield, Indiana, specializing in recruiting regulatory affairs, quality and engineering talent for the medical device and pharma industries.
Darwin was listed as an MRI Top 10 Managing Partner for 2020 and is the number 2 cash biller for revenue as a franchise owner within the MRI Network in 2022. Prior to joining the recruitment industry, Darwin has a clinical background of over 20 years of sales, operations and management within medical devices, diagnostics, medical distribution, and sleep therapy.
Episode Outline and Highlights
How Darwin Achieved Consistent Growth in 7 Years Never in a million years did Darwin imagine he would eventually become a recruiter. He joined the industry relatively late in his career - after 20 years experience in sales, management and operations roles in the medical device industry.
Darwin’s success in recruitment is astonishing given that he only joined the recruitment industry 7 years ago. Since 2015, he has incrementally increased his firm’s billings to $2.2m, with Darwin personally contributing $1.2M in 2022. At the same time, he has grown a team of 11 people.
I asked Darwin what he considers his success factors. Below is the recap of what he shared:
The Importance of Adding Value to the Industry You Serve Darwin mentioned one of the challenges in approach when joining the recruitment world is whether he wanted to be a generalist or a serious subject matter expert within the industry. He obviously went for the latter which resulted in leverage to scale his business. This is how he puts it:
“I think that is so important - you should never make decisions solely on money… You are bringing value to many people and I think that the Pinnacle Society is a great example of this… It is about what you can bring to the table and the value that you bring.”
Darwin shared how he started the SSI Educational Webinar Series as a way to add value to his ecosystem.
Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including: funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, backoffice support, marketing and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Darwin Shurig Bio and Contact Info Darwin understands the key qualities that companies look for in candidates to grow market share while enhancing their positive culture and team environment. He has a clinical background of over 20 years, including 15 years of sales experience within: medical devices, diagnostics, medical distribution, and sleep therapy; 8 years in sales management success; 3 years in operations; and extensive experience in negotiations and business development before starting SSI. He founded Shurig Solutions, Inc. in 2015; Darwin is responsible for business development, contracting, marketing, and recruiting strategy, personally responsible for over $3.8 Million in revenue generation, created the SSI Educational Webinar series, created the “Candidate Experience- Best Practices Prep”, is a conference presenter for Talent Management Best Practices, a member of the esteemed Pinnacle Society, and leads the SSI team in daily marketing, BD and recruiting activities. Darwin was recently highlighted in the Creative Classics book “The American Entrepreneur” published in 2020, was listed as an MRI Top 10 Managing Partner for 2020, and is the number 2 cash biller for revenue as a franchise owner within the MRI Network in 2022. When Darwin is not in the office, Darwin loves sports, music, nature, charity, traveling, and spending time with his 3 children and wife, Jamie. He additionally has a serious addiction to anything with Peanut Butter!
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| 30 Nov 2020 | How to Prevent and Detect Back Door Hires Then Recover Your Fees, with Barry Cullen, Ep # 44 | 01:14:00 | |
Imagine this - you’ve worked really hard to deliver talent for your client’s urgent requirement. It was a tough spec but you found the perfect candidate. You managed to contact them, get them interested in the job, conduct a full screening interview, and submit the candidate's CV. Sadly your client changed their mind. They would not be hiring the candidate you’ve introduced, therefore no placement fee unfortunately. But after some time, you discovered that they’ve actually hired the candidate. Sound familiar? Yes, backdoor hires can be frustrating to you as a recruiter or a recruitment business owner. Today’s episode actually deals with this dilemma as our special guest, Barry Cullen, offers very practical advice and solutions to prevent, detect, and recover losses resulting from fee disputes and backdoor hires. Barry is the Founder and Director of introPROTECT, a London based law firm who are experts in backdoor hire and fee disputes. Barry has a unique and interesting background. Prior to training as a solicitor, he started his career as a recruiter. Episode Outline and Highlights
Law Practice and Recruitment What do law practitioners and recruiters have in common? “I came to realize actually, that being a litigator which is what I do, is basically recruitment,” Barry’s realization came about when he transitioned from being a recruiter to becoming a solicitor. He further explained, “If you are a recruiter you’ve got a candidate. If you are a litigator you’ve got a case. They are fairly similar things, right? I’m having to convince the other side, no matter how good my case is, I’ve got to convince the other side that my case is better than theirs. So a recruiter, even if their candidate is the best candidate they have for the job, they have to convince the client that they have the best person for them. So that’s very similar.” Of course, having multiple stakeholders, putting deals together, trying to influence people’s perception, and managing expectations are some of the things that make recruiters similar to law professionals. Barry’s experience as a recruiter enables him to marry his law expertise with the needs of his clients who are recruiters and recruitment business owners. What can you do to Prevent Backdoor Hires? Backdoor hires can happen. But there are some things within our control to protect our clients, ourselves, and our recruitment business. Here are some practical tips from Barry:
Sending Out an MPC Email? Don’t Send a Spec CV. For a lot of recruiters, sending out an MPC email is one of the most challenging arenas in getting their fee paid. What should you do to avoid this situation? As you’ve read in the subtitle, do not send a specific CV. Instead, you may want to consider Barry’s advice: “If you happen to send a CV to a hiring manager and somebody in that company ultimately hires that person, it is much harder to show that you should get paid and that can be an issue...Take the time to craft the summary. Here is a very brief summary of why this candidate is worth working with. Not enough to identify who they are, but enough to wet the whistle.” Essentially a summary or teaser of the candidate’s key achievements and selling point should be sufficient. And if the client is interested, then they come back and have a conversation before you send the CV. Barry added, “The really nice thing about that as well, is if that summary is going out with your terms attach, and the hiring manager then responding to you ‘Yes please send me the CV’, your terms will probably have a provision in there that requesting CVs from the agency is deemed an acceptance provision.” Barry Cullen Bio and Contact Info Barry is a solicitor, specialist in recruitment, and the founder of introPROTECT, UK's leading experts on recruitment fee disputes. With over 19 years in the recruitment industry - now as a solicitor and previously at the coal face as a recruiter and agency owner, Barry has a complete understanding of the industry, its key players, and the pressures affecting them. Barry’s personal specialism is avoiding or resolving litigation by the education of opponents so that they pay or brokerage of deals to ensure the best outcome for our recruitment clients. Preventing and successfully resolving backdoor hire, rebate, and other introduction fee disputes is where Barry really thrives. Whether advising in the background, brokering a deal directly with end clients, or enforcing through the courts, Barry’s focus is on getting the best overall outcome for clients, whether by way of payment, guaranteed future business, or both. Connect with Mark Whitby
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| 12 Feb 2020 | How to Build Your Personal Brand as a Recruiter, with Lauren Stiebing, Ep #10 | 00:38:03 | |
Developing a strong personal brand is becoming increasingly important to your success as a recruiter. That applies to all recruitment consultants but is especially critical for independent recruiters and owners of small recruiting and staffing agencies. My guest today—Lauren Stiebing—is a great example of a recruiter who has embraced personal branding as a way to differentiate herself in a crowded market. Lauren started her search firm, LS International, in Barcelona in 2015 and has built a thriving global practice in the CPG/FMCG space. There were many factors that contributed to her success, including her relentless persistence. In our conversation, we talk about the challenge of building a client base from scratch and the learning curve associated with mastering the ins and outs of business development. She shares the unique challenges she faced and the different strategies she’s used to successfully build her recruitment business. She’s one of my superstar clients and it’s a wonderful privilege to welcome her to the show. Outline of This Episode
Building a recruitment agency from the ground upWhen Lauren launched her business 4.5 years ago, she had little to no experience with business development. She knew she wanted to go out on her own and had the drive to make it happen. She gave herself a deadline of one year to get the business off the ground. If it didn’t work out as she anticipated, then she would begin searching for a job. Fortunately, she turned a profit in her first year and has never looked back. Starting a recruitment agency is not for the faint of heart, and Lauren’s journey was far from straightforward. From the start, Lauren knew that she wanted to operate a retained search practice. Yet 6 months in, she had zero revenue coming in. Lauren and I started working together at this point. After a month, she made her first placement. She pointed out that making your first placement is the hardest, after that things start to get easier. Lauren has achieved what many haven’t - starting a recruitment agency and growing her billings year after year, while 80% of new recruitment companies fail within the first two years. She provides exceptional service and is unrelenting in her ability to make good on her promises, as evidenced by the fact she’s successfully completed 90% of her search assignments. The values Lauren’s personal brand embracesLauren knew she faced a significant challenge in the industry, going up against well-known established firms. She recommends building a brand for yourself to differentiate in the industry. One strategy she leveraged to build her personal brand was launching her podcast, LS International Career Success. She was adding value to the industry and this helped her build relationships with clients and candidates. But that wasn’t the only thing that set her apart. Lauren places a high level of importance on professionalism and confidentiality. She explains that clients NEED to know that she takes their confidence seriously. She also believes that you need to have an impeccable response rate—which is sorely lacking in the industry. Even if you can’t answer every question, you can point them in the right direction. This keeps you from burning bridges. Above all, you must be honest and genuine and willing to give hard feedback where others won’t. Lauren points out that providing hard feedback doesn’t always go over well but ultimately gains their respect and engages people on a deeper level. She shares an example of how she challenges her candidates by asking probing questions. Strategies and tactics to grow your businessBeing a young entrepreneur, Lauren knew that persistence was going to be the key to her success. As she began breaking into the industry she learned she must keep knocking on the proverbial door. For her, this looked like leveraging multiple channels of communication: email, phone calls, text messaging, and LinkedIn messaging. She tried whatever she could use to get her foot in the door with candidates and clients. One strategy she uses—which I find compelling—is using conferences to build relationships. This involves identifying which conferences you want to go to and why. Is there a conference that you can attend to connect with decision-makers in your market sector? She notes that it can be a big financial commitment, not to mention the time involved, so you have to do your due diligence and make sure it’s the right move. Another way to build your personal brand and place yourself as an expert in the industry is by speaking at events. Lauren most recently spoke about creating a more diverse workforce at a LEAD Network event. Not only did she position herself as a leader and an expert in her market, but she also learned a lot and met people relevant to her industry. How does LS International compete with established agencies?Other than building a personal brand that stands out from the competition, there are a couple of key ways Lauren believes her agency differentiates itself: 1. Her competitors may have a podcast, but it doesn’t compare to hers. Lauren notes that many of the big-name firms come across as unrelatable. Their podcasts—if they have one at all—are informational and stuffy, often geared towards those at the executive level. She strives to make her podcast (and her business) relatable to everyone looking to advance their career. 2. Lauren is the first to acknowledge that she faces steep competition. But there is an upside to being a small, boutique search firm—flexibility. Her agency can adapt to each client’s needs from one day to the next. They are small enough to be able to change processes or utilize different tools midway through the process. LS International is able to keep the business customer-focused because it can be adaptable. She can split-fees with other recruiters as-needed, work with multiple people, or do whatever is necessary to ensure client happiness. Lauren shares how she got her foot in the door with blue-chip multinational companies, the value she’s found in launching her podcast, and much more. Be sure to listen to our engaging conversation. Connect with Lauren Stiebing
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| 23 Jul 2021 | Recruitment Agency Growth: From Startup to 40 People in 18 Months, with Alex Zoboli & Matt Nicholls, Ep #84 | 00:48:39 | |
I love hearing success stories, don’t you? I’m especially fascinated by fast-growing recruitment companies. Alex Zoboli and Matt Nichols have a track record of successfully building teams and creating rapid growth. In our conversation, you will hear them share the success factors that enabled them to grow a recruitment business from 50 to 200 staff in just four years. They also shared how they started their business during the pandemic and scaled up to 40 people in 18 months. We discussed a number of critical components in building your business for growth, such as goal setting, hiring, internal growth, and teaching moments from mistakes and failures. Alex and Matt are the founders of Cornerstone Recruitment Japan. Cornerstone is focused on placing bi-lingual professionals in a wide range of market-leading companies across all sectors. They are one of the fastest growing recruitment companies in Japan with a team of 40 and the only recruitment firm with backing from a major investment bank in Tokyo. Prior to founding Cornerstone Recruitment Japan, they were Directors with RGF Professional Recruitment Japan for four years. Episode Outline and Highlights
Scaling From 50 to 200 in Four Years After sharing what motivated them to launch their business in Japan, I asked Alex and Matt on the critical success factors when scaling a business. They are pretty much specialists when growing a recruitment business - with a proven track record of having grown a previous business from 50 to 200 staff in four years! Matt said, “For me the key is you gotta set the goal of what you want to achieve for the business really early, and you really got to commit to it. It’s got to stay part of the fabric of the business every single step of the way.” Matt added, “The other thing for me also is, your first 50 people are absolutely crucial if you’re gonna scale a big business. Your first 50 people should contain most of your future senior leadership team.” Alex shared a third factor, “I think in general you have to have the ambition to do it. I think not everybody wants to have a big business. Having a big business and scaling in a short period of time is extremely stressful and a lot of hard work… You’re doing it really because you really want to do it. I think that is our success factor. The fact that we just really want to do it, that’s it.” My takeaway is that they went into scaling their business by having a very specific vision that they want to achieve from day one. Knowing that it is going to be challenging, stressful and difficult, for Alex and Matt it is entirely deciding that they want to make that commitment and make it happen. Establishing the Dynamics and Finding the Team Player When growing your business, it is important to establish the dynamics of your team. Part of choosing a talent is to not only consider their performance but rather how he or she can affect the entire dynamics with the tenured members. You would want people who are ambitious and want to achieve and those who want to be team players, but those two don’t always go hand in hand. So, I asked Matt and Alex on how they would usually deal with this element. Matt explained, “We would avoid the lone wolf type of person. They are pretty easy to spot… Some of the top billers from a competitor, they’re not a team player at all and those are lone wolves. We’re not interested, we can do without the billing basically.” Matt and Alex mentioned some of the characteristics of who they would consider as team players:
In line with the above, Matt further elaborates on the characteristics of a smooth, functional and high-performing team. Alex Zoboli & Matt Nicholls Bio and Contact Info Alex and Matt are the founders of Cornerstone Recruitment Japan, the only recruitment firm with backing from a major investment bank in Tokyo and the fastest growing recruitment company in Japan. Matt has been in the recruitment industry for more than 15 years, starting as a Director with Nichole Lindsay in 2006. Alex started as a recruitment consultant with StaffBank recruitment in 2009. Both of them are now Managing Directors of Cornerstone Recruitment Japan and are aiming to be a major player in the Tokyo recruitment market and we are doing it by hiring the best recruiters in Japan and overseas. Connect with Mark Whitby
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| 31 Aug 2021 | How to Enjoy a Rewarding, Long-term Career in Recruitment, with Michael Goldman, Ep #92 | 00:55:32 | |
When you started in your recruitment career, how long did you visualize yourself doing this for? Many recruiters get into this profession because of the earning potential but don’t necessarily see recruiting as a long-term career. There’s no question that recruitment is challenging. The failure rate among rookie recruiters is high and many experienced recruiters suffer from burnout. Is it possible to make recruitment a rewarding career for the long term? My special guest, Michael Goldman, is an example of someone who has enjoyed longevity and sustained success in recruitment. Michael started his recruitment career in 1980 and founded his own firm, Strategic Associates, in 1988. Michael has built an excellent reputation as an executive recruiter in manufacturing and supply chain nationwide, in both contingency and retained basis. He is a Founding Member and former President of the Pinnacle Society. Having run a successful desk for over 40 years, and being consistently a top producer, he also speaks on, and enjoys teaching, recruiting tactics and strategies to recruiters globally. In this episode, Michael shares his passion, learning, and what makes his recruitment career a fulfilling and rewarding path. Episode Outline and Highlights
The 3 Keys to Long Term Success and Fulfilment as a Recruiter Successfully running his desk as a consistent top biller for 40 years, I wanted to ask Michael on what can young recruiters learn from a seasoned veteran like him. He responded, “understand what it means to bring value.” MIchael is passionate about helping recruiters develop themselves as "counseling" rather than "transactional" recruiters. He has helped a lot of recruiters, candidates, and clients as well as changed people’s lives with this clear mission of bringing value. He further expanded on what this means and outlined three keys:
What It Means to Add Value What does it mean to add value as a recruiter? Michael explained, “Providing expertise, a counsel to help guide people not just on where they want to get to from point A to point Z. But how to put tools and tactics and strategies together to get to that point. We are not about just transactionally being traffic cops and sending out resumes and setting up interviews. The better among us, the most self-fulfilled among us are ones that can tap into what will help motivate people for success. It is not just on the candidate’s side it is on the client’s side too.” I absolutely agree with this mindset. Recruiting is indeed not about being too transactional as engaging with your stakeholders and motivating them. I believe this approach is the secret to Michael’s longevity in this industry. Why Michael Does Things that Scare Him Michael shared a fantastic quote from the Founder of Southwest Airlines: “I love to do things that scare me because without fear there is no courage.” He cut this quote out of a newspaper years ago and it’s wisdom drives him to this day. This philosophy has helped Michael face challenges, adapt to changes and always stay out of his comfort zone. Do you have a favourite motivational quote you can share? Let me know in the comments below! Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Michael Goldman Bio and Contact Info Since 1980, both in his native New York and Austin, Texas, Michael Goldman has cultivated a respected reputation for achievement in nationwide manufacturing/supply chain executive recruitment on both a contingency and retained basis. In 1988, he founded Strategic Associates with the purpose of creating a highly specialized firm encompassing talent in the areas of supply chain, procurement, quality/regulatory affairs and operations (plant and corporate). Clients span industries from medical devices to consumer packaged goods to industrial to high technology products–from perishable goods to durable–from food products to computers and personal communication devices to biomedical technology to capital equipment. They are from Fortune 500 and 50 to mid-sized privately-held firms. Michael is an original Founding Member of the Pinnacle Society and, from 1991 to 1995, served two consecutive terms as its second president. He was awarded the Honorary Lifetime Membership in recognition of both his accomplishments in recruiting and service to Pinnacle. In addition, he has earned his CPC through the National Association of Personnel Services. Along with continuously maintaining his consistent success as a “desk-running” recruiter for over 40 years (and currently), Michael also speaks on and teaches domestically and internationally advanced and basic recruiting tactics and strategies. He has been requested to provide grass-roots recruitment seminars and speaking engagements to American state and national organizations as well as international audiences. To date he has personally educated recruitment professionals in the US, Ireland, England and South Africa. In addition, he has conducted webinars for state recruiting organizations and Pinnacle Society meetings and Pinnacle Panel events. People and Resources Mentioned
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| 12 Jan 2024 | Why Prioritizing Health and Well-Being is Essential for Recruitment Success, with Scott Eastin, Ep #204 | 00:59:42 | |
In the fast-paced world of recruitment, you’re under constant pressure to deliver results for your clients and achieve sales targets. So what’s the secret to maintaining peak performance without burning out? In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, our special guest, Scott Eastin, provides a fresh perspective on achieving sustainable, long-lasting success in recruitment. Drawing from his own successful career, having navigating many ups and downs, Scott emphasizes the pivotal relationship between prioritizing health and recruitment success. Scott is the Director of Eastin IT Security. Over the last 13 years established himself as a leading Microsoft Security consultant. He’s worked with major organizations such as Coca-Cola, American Express as well as state and local governments. For the last 5 years, he’s built an IT consulting and staffing firm winning high-value, long-term projects that generate recurring revenue. In this episode, Scott unpacks his remarkable transition from being a software developer to becoming a successful recruiter. He divulges his four cornerstone strategies for business development. Most importantly, emphasizes why prioritizing physical health is a non-negotiable component in maintaining his overall productivity.
Episode Outline and Highlights
The Advantages of a Consulting Business in the IT Space
Is it easier to manage an IT consulting business model versus a permanent direct hire practice? For Scott, having a consulting business model works well for him for the following reasons:
If you are running an executive search firm or permanent hire practice, you might want to consider exploring the option of a consulting or contract service as an additional revenue stream. Scott believes that this is a great time for such a business model:
“Quite frankly, if you look at the statistics that are coming out now, more and more people are interested in contracting and independent consulting work. I know I was reading an article from the staffing industry where I think they said literally 38% of the U.S. workforce has done some type of gig work.”
Of course, there are also challenges in this type of business model, such as cash flow management - sometimes you would have to pay your contractors before the client even pays you. Scott shared how he solves this. He also elaborated on his approach to business development.
The 4 Cornerstones of Scott’s Business Development Strategy
Scott describes himself as a “reluctant salesman.” Before becoming a recruitment business owner, he had this preconceived notion about salespeople: “Selling is somewhat, maybe a dirty word for some people in the technical industry.”
Part of his journey is getting over that mindset. Scott’s primary principle regarding selling and business development is “Great service, great people, and great value.” He shared four key pointers about this topic and elaborated on how this helps him to get continued repeat businesses:
Mindfulness, Health, and Well-Being
Being a one-man shop is not easy and can be stressful. Scott shared how he manages stress by prioritizing his health and consistently implementing healthy habits.
“I learned my lesson over the years where when I did not take my fitness or health very seriously, I was not at my best.”
Scott does P90X training, distance running, and regular functional gym sessions. As a recruiter or business owner, prioritizing health is not only essential for your well-being, but it also contributes to a more productive, positive, and sustainable work environment. Scott shared, “I'm just so much stronger, so much fitter. And so it's one of those where it's very cliche to say health is your first wealth, but you know, no matter how much success you've got, if you don't have your health, it's not worth anything.”
Our Sponsor
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Scott Eastin Bio and Contact Info
Scott Eastin was a leading Microsoft security consultant for the last thirteen years. Scott has worked with major organizations including Coca-Cola, American Express, and numerous other global firms as well as state and local governments.
Over the last five years, Scott has moved away from development and now spends most of his day helping the Microsoft business partner community find top-tier independent Azure consultants. Scott’s network of Azure security consultants spans North America along with world-class talent from Central Europe.
Scott resides in Decatur, GA with his wife, two dogs, and two teenagers who he hopes will move out once they graduate.
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| 18 Nov 2020 | Childhood Friends Who Are Building a Global Recruitment Empire with Offices in 10 Countries, with Dan Matthews and Justin McGuire, Ep # 42 | 01:00:15 | |
“Our mums were best friends...” When Dan Matthews and Justin McGuire played together as children, nobody could have predicted that they would one day build a global recruitment company with offices in Amsterdam, Brisbane, Dubai, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, London, New York, Perth and Singapore. What makes this story even more remarkable is that as they grew up, Dan and Justin lost touch with one another but both ended up working in recruitment. By a remarkable coincidence, they both ended up recruiting in the same industry -- advertising, creative, marketing, communications and ultimately they both ended up starting their own businesses, independently of each other. Years later, living in different parts of the world, they reconnected and realized there were incredible synergies to be had by merging their business to become a truly global organization. Episode Outline and Highlights
A Radical Remodelling Dan explained how DMCG Global is reinventing their business to encourage peer autonomy, reduce cost and increase revenue. Instead of “employees” they have “partners” -- self-employed recruiters who are effectively running their own business with the benefit of being part of a global brand. Partners are provided with the technology, systems, back-office support and a dedicated marketing team. Plus ongoing mentoring and a peer community/support network. centralized support team including digital marketing and back-office functions, and providing a The support team enables the partners to focus only on recruitment - further motivated by an increased commission structure where they keep 60 - 80% of their billings. The rationale behind this change? Dan explained: “Under the new scheme, even if someone isn’t billing that much due to the pandemic, they still take home enough to get by. But at the top end, the 80% margin, that’s a lot of money. And we worked it out, our team in London and New York were making double or three times as much as they would have made on the original model.” Justin added, “The goal really is… we are building budding entrepreneurs. And this is a great way of them still feeling part of a family. But also being able to take away the maximum out of their earning as well. It just seems to tick all the boxes. And also, we wanted to create something that was a point of difference for our consultants ” Definitely an exciting and interesting model, this has been very successful for DMCG so far. Dealing with Anxiety and Burnout When talking about the greatest adversity that they have ever faced, Justin shared that recent circumstances in this period of the pandemic has caused him to feel burnout and anxiety. He admitted that this is not something that he had experienced previously. As Justin said, “Looking back at it, I think it's just a series of small things that started to build up over time.” How did he get through this feeling of burnout? He mentioned activities that give him a sense of normalcy and continuity. “Making sure the teams are motivated...Making sure my family was safe, secure, and happy…” He eventually felt things were going back to normal. To be open about this is truly admirable. A lot of people are going through the same situation. If you are a recruitment business owner or recruiter, becoming aware of this feeling of overwhelm is a good starting point. As Dan also pointed out, “As a business owner... the last six months, 9 months, has been a very challenging period for everyone on the recruitment, or anyone all over the world right now. People are dealing with it in their own way. Justin has been great in actually noticing it, recognizing that, and actually dealing with it. And now coming to the other side and talking about it, that is admirable.” DMCG Global Background and Contact Info DMCG Global is a new recruitment agency created by the Founders of Daniel Marks, MCG&Co & SEVENTWENTY. It has 10 global offices in Brisbane, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Singapore, New York, Amsterdam, Perth, Sydney, and Los Angeles. DMCG has global recruitment specialists for the advertising, creative, marketing, communications and technology industries. Co-founder Justin McGuire and Dan Matthews used to be childhood friends. Dan has twenty years of experience in Marketing, Advertising, Creative & Digital recruitment and has worked extensively throughout the UK, Europe, USA and Globally to deliver solutions to a broad array of leading blue-chip brands, consultancies and creative agencies. Justin began his professional career in London at the start of the digital boom, working in client servicing for a communications agency. He joined a headhunting firm based in London, setting up and leading the advertising and media business. Justin was then approached by a leading multi-national recruitment company and invited to relocate to Dubai. Following a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding two years, his experience in the communication industry combined with recruitment, training, and market knowledge, positioned him to set-up his own enterprise. MCG&Co (now DMCG Global) was born in Dubai in 2010 with a single vision: to connect the best businesses with the brightest talent in the marketing, communications and digital space
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| 10 Jan 2025 | The Science of Strategic Trust: Building Long-Term Recruitment Success, with Mary Morton, Ep #242 | 01:04:02 | |
Mary Morton reveals how converting scientific research into strategic relationships revolutionized her recruitment approach. A biology major turned pharmaceutical recruiter, she leverages investor presentations and company pipelines to identify opportunities before her competitors. This research-driven strategy and building deep client trust helped her agency thrive from its 2008 recession launch through today's market challenges.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Critical Foundations in Billing $10M Mary's 30+ years of experience demonstrates how becoming an industry expert enables proactive rather than reactive recruiting. Her biology degree and pharmaceutical specialization became powerful advantages in building a $10M+ billing desk. Her longevity in the industry and accomplishments in the pharmaceutical niche can be attributed to several foundational elements:
These factors, combined with her adaptability, niche specialization, and focus on continuous learning, have solidified her position as a leader in the recruitment industry.
How to Add Value to Your Niche as a Recruitment Organization
“Well, if they're already niched, I think they owe it to themselves as well as to the candidates and clients that they're serving to be an expert in the space that they're niched in or that they claim to be niched in. You know, I think that's where the value comes it.” This statement summarizes Mary’s mindset on adding value to your industry niche as a recruitment organization.
By investing in niche-specific knowledge and preparation, recruitment organizations can elevate their effectiveness and differentiate themselves in competitive markets. It also brings about the following benefits that Mary elaborated on in our discussion:
One way Mary builds her credibility in her relevant niche (in addition to her longevity) is by hosting a podcast.
Comprehensive Information Gathering as Competitive Advantage Mary's approach to information gathering goes far beyond standard job requirements. This thorough preparation becomes a key differentiator in her market. She can easily engage with potential clients' primary decision-makers, which results in optimum connection rates.
She shared the essential elements of her process:
These strategies directly contributed to Mary's ability to build a sustainable business that has thrived through multiple market downturns while maintaining premium fees averaging $50,000.
Mary Morton Bio & Contact Info
Mary began her recruiting career 30 years ago this coming March. For the last 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry. She owns SEMbio, a niche recruiting firm in field-based medical affairs, that she founded in 2008 with her longtime colleague and business partner, Nicole Evans. She has been a member of the Pinnacle Society for 7 years and runs a 360 desk that is primarily focused on account management, with personal billings above $10M over the last 15 years. (I only have billing records going back to 2011!)
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| 02 Jun 2022 | How to Attract Inbound Client Leads and Win Engaged Search Assignments, with Skip Freeman, Ep #128 | 00:59:49 | |
Want to attract inbound client leads and convert them into engaged search assignments, where the client pays part of the fee up front? Then you’ll love my interview with Skip Freeman, founder of Smart Buildings Talent. Skip shared that he’s currently working on 13 engaged searches simultaneously at 25% fees. Of those 13 searches, 12 of them were inbound leads meaning the client approached Skip instead of the other way around.
Skip reveals some of his most effective tactics and strategies, including a detailed masterclass on how to be “prominent and visible” in your chosen niche. You’ll also hear his fascinating story of resilience - from building a business, overcoming prostate cancer, and restarting from the ground up.
Skip is the Founder and President of Smart Buildings Talent, specializing in Buildings Automation and Smart Industry. Skip graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, in 1976, with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and has almost 20 years of experience as a recruitment business owner.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Finding a Super-Focused Niche A recent achievement that Skip shared is when a global IT consulting and contract staffing firm, Emerge360, reached out to acquire his brand, Smart Building Talent. This is an outstanding accomplishment for a business of its size - and what made it possible are three things:
On the topic of finding a critical niche, Skip’s background in mechanical engineering served as a foundation to look at focusing on automation and discovering the talent behind this industry. He then focused on his mastery in this specialty which was a critical game-changer in his business. Skip also revealed what made him prominent and visible in his chosen niche.
Your Recruitment "Sequence of Operations" Another topic that Skip shared is the system he discovered, which he refers to as his sequence of recruitment operations. “A system is going to be a consistent process that everybody understands, and you have the tools as well as needed. Every time you get a job order, it enters into the system,” is how he describes it.
Inspired by Mike Pietrack and Scott Adams, you will hear his four major steps to the job order fulfilment process:
How to Be Prominent and Visible in Your Chosen Niche Choosing the niche and area of specialisation is the first step, but how do you become prominent and visible in your chosen niche? How do you generate inbound leads? Skip shared how he does it. From his experience, he explained how he attends trade shows, creates articles and content specifically for his industry, and how he has become a “community leader” on LinkedIn. You will hear how to use polls to your advantage and how to generate inbound leads from LinkedIn.
Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
We’re excited to announce that Recruitment Entrepreneur will be sponsoring the podcast! If you’ve dreamed of starting up or scaling up and exiting your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Skip Freeman Bio and Contact Info
Skip Freeman graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, in 1976, with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. He served in the US Army Corps of Engineers, more specifically the Combat Engineers, after which he moved into industry as a chemical sales rep for a major speciality chemical company.
He progressed from field sales into sales management. As a Sales Manager, Skip had started using one particular recruiter for all of his hiring needs. That relationship began with none other than an MPC marketing call. And while that candidate wasn't hired, many were over the next several years.
Then Skip's firm was purchased. To stay with the company, he was going to have to relocate. That not being an option due to family reasons, he called his recruiter this time saying, "I don't need a candidate, I'm going to need a job." After some contemplation, his recruiter said, "Have you ever thought about running your own business? Skip said, "Tell me more..." and that's how Skip's recruiting career began.
With some of Skip's recruitment work helping to hire chemists and chemical engineers, he was contacted by an agency in Washington, DC, which led to an interesting parallel journey. in which Skip recruited for the CIA for 4-years.
In 2013, he started building a recruiting firm and his wife joined him in the business. His firm reached a size of 8 people when he suffered a personal setback, prostate cancer, which, more or less, took him out of the game for 3-years. One by one everyone in the firm dwindled away or needed to be fired until it was just Skip again along with his wife. Since then he’s completely rebuilt his business as the founder and president of Smart Buildings Talent, focused on buildings automation and smart industry. Today he is back with an exciting story that illustrates perseverance, discipline, and a will to win.
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| 28 May 2021 | Recruitment Legends: Leadership and Life Lessons From 40 Years in the Global Recruiting Industry, with Doug Bugie, Ep #69 | 00:35:15 | |
For almost 40 years, Doug Bugie has travelled the globe in search of the big billers and recruitment leaders of the future. He’s personally sold 800 recruitment franchises in 40 countries that collectively have filled over 100,000 assignments. It’s a great privilege to interview Doug for the second time. In this episode, Doug shares his unique experience of helping James Caan, of Dragon’s Den fame, launch Humana International. In 7 years, they grew Humana to 200 offices in 27 countries and $90m before the business was acquired by MRI in 2001. Doug reveals some of the insights gained and lessons learned from working closely with James and other recruitment industry legends. You will hear a comparison between recruiting in the UK and the US, plus Doug’s insightful perspective on the future of the recruitment industry, the need to balance between humanity and technology, and much more. Doug represents FPC, a top 1% performer in the recruitment industry as ranked by Forbes, and ranked top 50 in franchisee satisfaction by Franchise Business Review. Outside the US, Doug represents Antal International, ranked by Recruiter Magazine as one of the UK’s fastest-growing recruitment companies and listed on the Sunday Times International Fast Track. Episode Outline and Highlights
Bouncing Back From Failure to Build a Business with James Caan In our interview, Doug describes his colourful career in executive search starting in the 80’s with MRI (Management Recruiters International) and how a failure to achieve one of his life’s ambitions ultimately led to him building a business with James Caan. Doug describes how he put his entire life savings into running for a seat in the US Congress and lost everything. While this was a crushing disappointment at the time, this setback opened the door to a new opportunity -- one he most likely would never have entertained had his congressional ambitions been fulfilled. When James Caan invited him to move to the UK in 1992 to start a new business, it didn’t seem on the surface like the incredible, career-defining moment that it later proved to be. At the time, James was a charismatic young “upstart” with an office above a Fish and Chip shop. However, Doug recognized the leadership qualities that would eventually enable James to achieve spectacular success in building and scaling companies globally. As Doug puts it, “James could attract people and get them to buy into the mission and get them to really want it.” A Solid Career of Wisdom and Experience Doug’s more than three decades of career in recruitment enabled him to gain experience and learnings you will find valuable in today’s competitive environment. In our conversation, you will hear him share how James Caan revolutionised the executive search industry in the UK and pioneered the ‘rec to rec’ sector. He highlights one of the keys to James’ extraordinary success -- a philosophy that Doug believes still resonates today: “Observe the masses, and do the opposite.” The Differences Between the US and UK Recruitment Industry and the Invention of the ‘Recruitment to Recruitment’ Having worked and lived in both the UK and the US, Doug shared his observations and personal opinion on the differences between recruiting in both markets. In particular, we discussed the “rec to rec” space since Doug witnessed the birth of that industry. Hear his insights about this subject and how it is relevant to the ongoing evolution of the recruitment industry. Doug Bugie Bio and Contact Info Doug Bugie’s career in recruitment spans over three decades where he’s mainly worked in the niche of recruitment franchising. He is the president of Next Wave Global Franchise Systems LLC, which has formed a strategic partnership with FPC National to exclusively sell FPC Franchises. Doug has extensive experience in the recruitment franchise industry - from being an investor, top executive, to becoming a consultant. He was CEO and president of Antal International Network - an executive recruiting company with 130 offices spanning 33 countries, with Tony Goodwin. He was the CEO of Norman Broadbent, based in the UK. Arriving in London in 1992, Doug also co-founded the recruitment franchise Humana International with James Caan, the entrepreneur on the well known UK TV show Dragons Den. Humana, in only 7 years, grew to over 200 offices in 27 countries and over $90m. Humana was awarded the top international franchise in the UK by the British Franchise Association.
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| 08 Jun 2020 | Craig Picken's Journey From Naval Aviator to Big Billing Solo Recruiter, Ep #22 | 01:01:42 | |
If the ability to perform under pressure is a pre-requisite for success in recruitment, then it’s no surprise that Craig Picken has reached the peak of our profession as one of the top-producing recruiters in the United States. Eight years’ experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – was perhaps the ideal proving ground for Craig’s later career in recruitment. Craig is the co-founder and the managing partner for the Northstar Group which is a boutique executive search firm based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Since 2009 Craig has concluded several hundred executive-level searches in leadership, sales, and operations for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industries. Episode Outline and Highlights
“ How to Fly When Your Airplane is on Fire” During the interview, Craig recalls several instances where sudden unexpected airplane system malfunctions endangered the lives of his co-pilots. He then added, “The one thing that the navy teaches you well is not how to fly. It is how to fly when your airplane is on fire. And all your systems are going to hell.” He strongly believes in keeping an open mind rather than being a control freak. When things are not going the way they should be, it should be about the ability to be flexible. Translating it to recruitment, he says “That is where recruiters got to understand. What are you doing when everything is going to hell? It’s a very emotional business, you can’t control people. A lot of recruiters talk about control. I don’t try to control anybody.” Being a Value in these Difficult Times With the significant impact of the coronavirus to the aviation and aerospace industry, what is Craig currently doing to maintain his momentum? “Building my network, talking, and being a value.” Craig’s perspective is helping people get to where they need to be. And when their business comes back, he is the person they will be thinking about. Strategically, he looks at the long term rather than immediate results. “I take everybody’s call… And my only goal is to be a value.” Hear his philosophy on how the recruitment business is a business of helping people. Where there is Chaos, there is Opportunity Just when Craig and his wife are expecting the birth of their twins, something terrible happened - he got fired from his job. This caused them monumental stress, but as Craig puts it, “where there is chaos, there is an opportunity.” For him, getting fired taught him to be more entrepreneurial and to be more on moving forward. Giving back to the Community Aside from rescuing dogs, Craig is also a big contributor to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Ltd (JDRF), a charity focused on eradicating juvenile type 1 Diabetes. If you wish to know more about this organization, you may refer to the link in the below section. Craig Picken Bio and Contact Info Co-founder and Managing Partner for Northstar Group, a boutique executive search firm based in Wilmington, NC, Craig is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industry. Clients include well-known aircraft OEM’s, aircraft operators, leasing / financial organizations, and Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul (MRO) providers. Since 2009 he has personally concluded several hundred executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines.
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| 15 Jun 2020 | Reinventing Recruitment: Fixed Fee and Pay Hourly Pricing Models, with Craig Watson, Ep #23 | 01:07:13 | |
As a recruiter, it is important to have a unique value proposition to be successful. In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, my special guest Craig Watson is challenging the accepted paradigm of how recruitment services are sold and delivered. His business model is disruptive, either you are going to love it or hate it. If you are a third-party staffing and recruiting agency, you may feel threatened by Craig’s business model. But setting emotions aside, listen to how his innovative thinking is reimagining the talent acquisition process. Craig Watson is Founder & Director of Recstra, which to his words, “a community of freelance recruiters who are changing the face of recruitment forever.” Craig actually comes from a traditional agency background with over 20 years of recruitment & sales industry experience. Episode Outline and Highlights
“Hey, Can I Buy You a Coffee?” Craig and I believe in the value of learning and how being exposed to topnotch people with great ideas adds value. As Craig puts it, “If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room... It is important to find people who are doing a really good idea or really good ways of doing it, ask to buy them a coffee, sit down and be honest and try to get some more information and learn something.” Relating his experience with Max Walker, a Cricket celebrity in Australia, and Max’s philosophy on why he always makes time for people. “You know what Craig? If anybody ever asks me for coffee, I would bite the handoff to take it. The worst thing I am ever going to get out of that is free coffee, and the best thing is I might learn something.” Getting Recstra from Concept to Reality Recstra is a platform with a community of experienced, freelance recruitment consultants. Clients receive high-quality recruitment services while achieving significant cost savings. How did he come up with that concept? Craig said that “Recstra was born out of a need to have a point of difference for me to be successful.” After doing a data study of why recruiters are leaving the industry, he found out that 28% of recruiters left because they either wanted more work-life balance and flexibility, or they didn’t want to sell. From there, he was able to come up with a business model of remote working and flexibility, instead of a traditional agency environment on which recruiters are traditionally working from 8-5. Another way Craig is challenging the norms in the agency recruitment business is through his billing model - an hourly rate, based on activity. In a general sense, it is pay per service not pay per outcome. How is that working for him? They’ve broken down the recruitment process and an average perm role has around 15 to 17 hours of dedicated activity. For an average role, they are able to complete a placement for about under AUD3000. In comparison, the average placement fee in Australia is within AUD12,000-15,000. This did not go down well with some of his competitors. “Straightaway, the recruitment agency industry which I was so immersed in got their hackles up and said, ‘You are undercutting us, you are diluting it, what are you doing?’ I’m not on here to upset people, all I can do is talk about my experience and the research that I have done which I am happy for it to be challenged in any way.” Lifesaving Work Craig is President of Venus Bay Surf Lifesaving Club that achieved the Australian Lifesaving Club of the Year in 2019 in a field of over 370 Clubs. Running a small club of 600 volunteer members gives him the opportunity to learn a lot of leadership skills when it comes to inspiring and motivating people. This also enables him to have an active lifestyle and the opportunity to save lives. Craig Watson Bio and Contact Info Craig Watson is Founder & Director of Recstra and Co-host of the Tapod podcast. He is extremely proud of the Recstra revolution - a community of freelance recruiters who are changing the face of recruitment forever. TaPod is ranked in the top 10 of Career Podcasts in ANZ and its informal and informative style has seen it become a staple amongst TA Leaders and professionals in the region. With over 20 years of recruitment & sales industry experience, he is a trainer and consultant to a number of Industries and Corporate groups - specializing in social media, building businesses, building your TA Tech Stack, managing process, leadership skills, business modeling, attraction, engagement, and retention. Craig has presented keynotes to Global Conferences and was recently named in the Top 50 Global HR & Recruitment influencers.
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| 14 Nov 2024 | Systems That Scale: How To Grow From Solo Practice to Successful Team, with Amanda Brandenburg, Ep #235 | 00:58:04 | |
How do you prep your business to be growth-ready? What are the key factors you must consider when adapting your business model and processes and hiring the right people when building your business? What would be the biggest challenge when scaling your recruitment business?
We had Amanda Brandenburg as a guest three years ago to share her winning formula for growing her firm to $2M in three years. This time, you'll hear a realistic and relatable story of how Amanda has grown her practice from a small team of three to a growing team of six.
Amanda Brandenburg is the Founding Principal at OpusLex Partners, a legal recruiting boutique servicing law firms and corporate legal departments throughout the country. For over a decade, she was a top producer at two of the country’s largest legal staffing firms, where she provided interim solutions and direct-hire placements for law firms and corporations within the continental U.S.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Systems and Process for Upscaling Your Recruitment Firm
Since we last had Amanda as a guest, she has doubled her team to six. She has adapted his business model to align with the EOS - Entrepreneurial Operating System for Businesses. She shared some of the highlights and changes in how she runs things differently. To adapt her business to EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), Amanda has been implementing several key changes:
These adjustments reflect Amanda’s commitment to EOS principles, enhancing her team's efficiency, communication, and service consistency as they scale.
Critical Elements When Hiring to Upscale Your Team
When growing your recruitment business, hiring the right person to fill critical roles can be challenging. Do you go for a full 360-degree or 180-degree model? I wanted to pick Amanda’s brain about her learnings as she started to hire and grow her team.
Amanda prioritizes understanding how a potential team member aligns with their values. “I think going back to those core values in terms of some of our core values, intellectual curiosity, earnestness, relationships first. And so really trying to stay quality over quantity, really trying to imbue those values throughout our hiring process.”
Rather than adhering to a rigid “full desk” model, she has implemented a flexible, team-based structure that allows employees to specialize and focus on specific roles, attracting diverse skill sets and reducing turnover by placing people where they can excel. Her model also enables creating specialized, replicable teams that can focus on distinct practice areas or client needs, such as intellectual property law or retained searches, allowing team members to build practices around their interests and expertise. Additionally, Amanda’s focus on transparent, day-to-day communication enhances team alignment, with updates to revenue and compensation models supporting this collaborative framework. She shared the tech stack they use to collaborate effectively and consistently.
What is the Biggest Challenge In Growing Your Recruitment Business?
What will be the biggest challenge if you set your business up for scale? For Amanda, “I think giving new ideas and systems time to work is challenging. And not having. Or you know, and also like giving myself some grace.”
Amanda’s greatest challenge in building her business is balancing the patience to allow new ideas and systems time to prove their effectiveness with the need to make strategic adjustments if things aren't working. She acknowledges that this uncertainty—knowing when to persist and when to pivot—can be especially difficult. To overcome this, we acknowledge the importance of resilience and an unwavering commitment to the long-term goal, alongside the willingness to assess whether issues stem from the process, the people involved, or just the natural time required for new initiatives to take hold. Cultivating patience and maintaining a mindset focused on progress over perfection are key practices she uses to navigate the uncertainty and keep pushing forward.
Amanda Brandenburg Bio and Contact Info
In 2018, Amanda founded OpusLex Partners to bring a hands-on, customized, and personalized approach back to legal recruiting. At OpusLex, which translates to “legal body of work,” our body of work includes finding the very best for every search.
Amanda is passionate about her work and enjoys the challenges and competitive nature of the business. When she’s not sourcing top legal talent for her clients, you can find her spending time with her husband, their three children, and two rescue dogs at home in Atlanta. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia.
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| 15 Dec 2020 | How to Run a Million Dollar Recruiting Firm From Your RV, with Jordan Rayboy, Ep #46 | 00:57:56 | |
Imagine having total freedom to run your recruitment business from anywhere. Instead of postponing your dreams of travel and adventure until retirement, what if you could create the ultimate lifestyle business and live life on your terms? That’s what Jordan Rayboy set out to do in 2006 when he launched his search firm, Rayboy Insider Search. When he went out on his own, Jordan had a non-compete agreement with a 200-mile radius. He got around it by getting an RV and running his business from the road. Since then he’s billed millions in placement fees by leveraging technology and managing a virtual team way before Covid-19 forced the world to embrace remote working. In this episode, Jordan shares his inspiring and practical advice on planning, productivity, and the importance of having a peer group. Plus how he manages a remote team working across different time zones. Jordan’s a popular speaker at recruiting conferences and has been interviewed many times. What’s unique and special about this interview is that Jordan speaks publicly for the first time since the pandemic started about his own struggles with mental health in 2020. Episode Outline and Highlights
Mental Health During the Pandemic Recruiting can be stressful at the best of times. During the pandemic, most people’s stress levels have gone through the roof. It’s no wonder there’s been a rise in anxiety and depression around the world. In this interview, Jordan shares his own struggles with mental health coinciding with the onset of the pandemic. Jordan’s courage in speaking openly about his dark times is remarkable. “I’ve been struggling lately. It's not that I've been struggling in billing… I have just been struggling on the mental health part. Probably just reading way too much bad news, believing all the fear that I’ve been feeding into my mind” said Jordan. He said he was willing to proceed with the podcast in case by sharing his story it could help others who are going through tough times to know they’re not alone. Fortunately, things are slowly starting to get better. Jordan shared, “I kinda feel like I'm turning a corner. Just in the past couple of days, I talked to my good buddy Monte Merz … I was talking about some of these things and he asked if I want to be part of their touchdown club. It’s like you got a point every day for working out... and you get a point every day if you don’t drink or smoke. And so the goal is to get seven points a week… I just started yesterday after I talked to him. I got out on my bike, didn’t drink anything yesterday, woke up at 5am this morning, got on my trainer bike inside… and I’m doing it, I got 3 points on the board. Just like that, I already feel more empowered because I am making better choices.” If there are takeaways from our conversation on the subject of mental health, here they are:
The Power of the Peer Group According to Jordan, you need to surround yourself with the right peer group -- people who will have a positive influence on you and push you to get outside your comfort zone. He said, “It is kind of easy when you are all by yourself to lower your standards and allow yourself to say, ‘hey I am comfortable I have everything I need’… It is really easy to settle into that comfort zone.” Jordan concluded, “The power of the peer group - if you are struggling, surround yourself with other badasses who are living a higher quality of life. If you want to get stronger, work out in the gym with someone stronger than you. When I was getting faster and fitter on my bike because I was getting on group rides with people who are faster and fitter than me. You run with a higher level peer group, it is going to force you to grow.” Very well-said indeed. Planning and Success Jordan is an advocate for what he terms “Power Planning.” Part of his success in getting his business mobile while managing a virtual team in different time zones is attributed to how he plans and his focus in executing such plans. “Force yourself to execute on your plans, and see the results. That success will reinforce the habit.” Jordan Rayboy Bio and Contact Info Jordan Rayboy believes life is short, so play hard! He began recruiting in 2000 after his sophomore year of college. Six years later, he struck out on his own, forming Rayboy Insider Search. Being an impatient type-A recruiter, Jordan long ago abandoned the deferred life plan (slave, save, retire). By building an effective virtual team & leveraging technology, Jordan has run his search firm since 2006 while traveling in a tour-bus RV with his wife Jeska. They’ve raised three dogs along the way, which prepared them (kinda) for traveling with their two young children – Ryder and Hunter. They’ve covered the majority of the US and Canada during their adventure while living their dream every day (as long as the RV works). Jordan is a 3-time Regional AE of the Year and 3 time national top-10 AE at MRI.
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| 20 Jul 2023 | Growth Mindset: How to Conquer Self Doubt and Become a Top Biller, with Fernando Espinosa, Ep #182 | 00:58:41 | |
The most successful recruiters and recruitment business owners are constantly learning and evolving. While average performers often think they know it all, the top 10% are never satisfied in their quest for continuous improvement. Someone who has reinvented himself multiple times over his 30-year recruitment career is my special guest, Fernando Espinosa. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did. Fernando is an incredible recruiter who’s filled as many as 500 roles in one year - that’s more than a placement per day! But the reason I most admire and respect Fernando is his humility. Fernando has navigated several economic recessions and business setbacks. In the process, he has overcome self-doubt and limiting beliefs numerous times throughout his career. His passion for personal growth and development stems from his sincere desire to become the best version of himself on a daily basis. Fernando is the President and CEO of Top Notch Finders, Inc., a member of Sanford Rose Associates (SRA) Network. With over 3 decades of excellence in the field, Fernando’s firm recruits top-tier executives for manufacturing sites in Mexico, LATAM, and the United States. He also has expertise in executive roles across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Fernando’s been a member of The Pinnacle Society since 2007, a collective of the top 80 headhunters in North America.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Become a Successful Recruiter by Overcoming Self-Limiting Beliefs A key topic that really resonated with me in this conversation with Fernando is his mindset on limiting beliefs.
He shared his story of resilience when the 2008-09 Global Financial Crisis hit their recruitment business: “We went from $6 million to about $500,000 in sales. So we had to let go of many people. It was a brutal experience. We felt like we were, we had imposter syndrome because we weren't what we thought we were.”
He had to part ways with his business partner and he had to start over by setting up his solo shop. This is how he described the situation: “I had to start all over again… And of course, also the limiting beliefs. When you have limiting beliefs and you don't know that you have limiting beliefs, that affects your ability to reinvent yourself, to create a better version of yourself. And I have tons of limiting beliefs, self-limiting beliefs.”
Can you relate to Fernando’s experience? Have you faced a setback so hard that it affected your mindset and you would not know where to start? You will likely be inspired by how Fernando overcame this hurdle by reinventing himself throughout the years and improving in many different ways.
Evolving from Contingency to Retained Recruiter - and Billing $700,000 in 8 Months with One Client I have always advocated the value of the retained or engaged search model as a win-win solution for both clients and recruiters. That is why I was interested to hear how Fernando transitioned from 100% contingent to retained search. He shared mainly two key pointers in doing so:
Fernando shared his first retainer project and how he started to engage his clients in this new approach by working on positions that most competitors and talent acquisition teams are struggling to fill. He then asked for a low retainer - of one to two thousand dollars, just to get the commitment of the client. He then turned it into an incredible $700k billings in eight months!
At the time that this episode is published, Fernando is getting a 60% success rate in his retained search.
Continuously Reinventing Yourself in a 30-Year Recruiting Career
My main takeaways from this episode are Fernado’s astounding humility and appetite for learning. As he mentioned, he has reinvented himself continuously in his 30-year recruitment career. We actually recently started working together as part of our coaching group. This is despite him already billing $1M+ yearly, having already extensive training from SRA, being a member of Pinnacle, and doing so many things right in his recruitment business. This is how he concluded our conversation: “I believe that it is very critical to develop the best version of yourself on a daily basis. When you settle with the version of yourself, you automatically put a stop to your growing and your developing. I always believe that I don't have all the answers… I always know that there are people with different perspectives, different ideas, and different thought processes that I can learn from and that I can enrich myself. And I'm willing to do that. I'm willing to listen to an expert recruiting coach that has been very successful helping other recruiting owners.”
Our Sponsor This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Fernando Espinosa Bio and Contact Info Fernando has more than three decades of search experience in search. Since 1994 involved in assisting clients from North America, Europe, and Asia to solve a variety of dedicated search, recruiting, outplacement, employee engagement and retention, cultural sensitivity, and other human-resource-related issues in their Mexico, Latin America, and US/Mexico border region operations. He is the first credentialed member of The Pinnacle Society from Mexico. Membership in The Pinnacle Society is limited to 75 of the highest-performing recruiters in North America. Membership is attained only by meeting an exceptionally high standard of recruiting production and after a thorough review and approval process by its Board of Directors. Member of the Board of Directors for NAPS (National Association of Personnel Services). District Director for the US West Coast.
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| 22 Aug 2022 | Recruiter Mistakes #2: Working with the Wrong Clients with Mark Whitby and Leanne Sara Jones Hunt, Ep #138 | 00:16:31 | |
If you’re like many recruiters we speak to, you’re extremely busy right now with more job orders than you can handle. However, are you working with the right clients? Many recruiters delude themselves by thinking they’re “too busy” to do business development when in reality they’re working on low-probability searches. So they end up doing a lot of work you don’t get paid for. Another common scenario is recruiters who rely on repeat business from the same legacy clients. Sure you’ve got a good relationship, but have you gotten into a comfort zone with them? When was the last time you reviewed your terms of business with your existing clients? Or asked them for a retainer? Perhaps you’re reluctant to rock the boat because you get a lot of business from them. If you can identify with either of these scenarios, pay close attention. In this episode, Leanne and I will share tips on how to increase your billings by working with your ideal clients - the ones who are willing to work with you exclusively at higher fees, and who treat you as a trusted advisor and true partners. This is the second of a series of episodes where Leanne and I will share insights that we have gained from working with hundreds of successful recruitment business owners.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Audit Your Existing Client with the Job Order Scorecard
When was the last time you audited your clients and measured the quality of jobs you are working on to make sure you are investing your time wisely? One of the first exercises we do with our new clients is to get them to do an audit on their existing clients and actually grade their jobs. Failing to do so can mean that you end up working with the wrong clients in ways that are not effective or efficient. A useful exercise is to look at your job-to-placement ratio. In this call, you will hear a scientific approach to using a diagnostic tool we call the Job Order Scorecard. This tool was designed to audit your existing live job - looking at measurable factors and criteria to work from when starting new partnerships or when analyzing your current clients. Some of the factors being looked at are:
If you want to steal our Job Order Scorecard you can download it here: http://www.recruitmentcoach.com/scorecard Challenge Your Self-Limiting Beliefs The idea of grading your jobs can lead to better outcomes for both you and your client. However, the fear of change and some limiting beliefs may stop us from taking the leap of faith to switching from contingent to the retained model, for example. Another thing we hear a lot is “In my market, it is very price sensitive, there is no way our clients will pay a higher fee.” If you hear yourself saying this, it may be a sign that there are underlying limiting beliefs that we may need to challenge. We want you to go out of your comfort zone and look at it from a different perspective. The success stories of our coaching group members should nudge you to overcome the fear of asking for higher fees and more commitment. Three Simple Actions You Can Take Now If there are key takeaways from this episode, it is taking action now and doing the simple steps below:
Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc People and Resources Mentioned
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| 24 Aug 2021 | How to Start, Scale and Sell Your Recruitment Business in 7 Years, with Karla Reffold, Ep #91 | 00:58:29 | |
Starting a recruitment business isn’t easy. Scaling a recruitment business is even harder, as evidenced by the fact that 73% of recruitment companies never grow beyond 10 employees. Selling a recruitment business is rare indeed -- according to BDO there are only 20-40 M&A deals done per year in the UK recruitment sector. Accomplishing all of this in 7 years while still in your 30’s is practically unheard of. Yet that’s exactly what my special guest, Karla Reffold, has achieved. I had so much fun interviewing Karla about her entrepreneurial journey as a young, female founder. She shared the challenges she faced and the crazy ups and downs she experienced. You’ll hear what she learned from having founded, scaled and sold her recruitment business in the tech space -- traditionally a male-dominated sector. Karla founded the international recruitment business, BeecherMadden in 2010 before overseeing the acquisition by Nicoll Curtin. In 2020 she joined Orpheus Cyber as COO. Karla is also an experienced speaker on cyber security and was included in SC Magazine’s Top 50 Women in Security in 2019. Episode Outline and Highlights
Increase Your Success in Winning Businesses A critical part of Karla’s success as a founder is how she consistently wins businesses which immensely contributed to her company’s growth. What are the keys to increasing your success in winning clients? Karla shared at least three.
What if Things Don’t Go Your Way? As a young founder, things wobbled a bit when she was expanding quickly. In fact, she believed that one of her learnings as a business owner is that growing too quickly can create a lot of problems. Another huge challenge is stepping back from the day to day management, which she attempted to do after her second child was born. Karla told me the story of hiring a Managing Director to run the business while she was on maternity leave, which turned out to be a disaster. Listen to how she was able to get things back on track after this major setback. Hear her other stories as well as her key learnings on never underestimating her value. If you are a business owner or someone who is just starting, you may find this one truly relevant. Careers Beyond Recruitment - Becoming a Senior Executive in the Tech Space Karla is now a COO at Orpheus, a leading cyber threat intelligence and cyber risk rating company and is respected in her industry. Unfortunately, that respect wasn’t always there. What were the challenges she faced as a young woman in tech? Karla recalled, “I was in my 20’s when I started... I remember people would literally say things like, “you’re very young aren’t you?” Fortunately, Karla believes the industry has changed for the better and the tech space is gradually becoming more diverse. In 2020, Karla transitioned from the recruitment industry to cyber security, which brings a new set of challenges. One question she now gets asked is “Wow, how does a recruiter become a COO?” Her response: “I founded a 7-figure business and sold it for a really decent multiple - that’s how.” Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Karla Reffold Bio and Contact Info An experienced business owner and leader, Karla is passionate about values-led leadership and people development. Karla founded the international recruitment business, BeecherMadden in 2010 before overseeing the acquisition by Nicoll Curtin. In 2020 she joined Orpheus Cyber as COO. Orpheus is a threat intelligence company with a SAAS platform that helps organisations manage their own risk, and that of their third parties, with an easy-to-understand cyber risk score. Karla is an industry awards judge, the host of industry interviews on the Cyber Talks media platform and the Zero Hour Podcast. She is also an experienced speaker, on the topic of cyber security and women in technology. Karla was included in SC Magazine’s Top 50 Women in Security in 2019. She was a finalist at the Women of the Future awards in 2016, for Entrepreneur of the Year and a finalist in The Future Ladies Awards for Mentor of the Year in 2019.
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| 30 Nov 2022 | How to Improve Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Your Recruitment Process, with Jo Major, Ep #154 | 01:08:08 | |
Most recruiters say that Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is important but haven’t actually updated their recruitment process accordingly. There’s a big difference between talking about ED&I and making a real commitment to implement it. This is why a lot of the discussion around this topic is performative while in reality the candidate shortlists recruiters are presenting to clients are largely made up of the “usual suspects.” In this challenging episode, it was my pleasure to interview a prominent champion of ED&I, Jo Major. Jo brings 22 years of recruitment industry experience and founded Diversity in Recruitment because of her drive to get ED&I on the agenda of recruitment teams. She believes recruiters can influence and lead the change needed to tackle underrepresentation in UK employment. Through training and advice, she helps recruiters get to grips with ED&I and gives them the insight, tools, and confidence to attract diverse talent, make their processes equitable and accessible, and recruit inclusively and confidently partner with their clients and hiring managers. Jo believes that a candidate's identity, background, and circumstances should never be the reason they don't make it into the recruitment process. If you are on the quest of helping your candidates, clients, and your own team, to align with ED&I principles, Jo’s insights and practical advice will be of help to you. Episode Outline and Highlights
How Diversity in Recruitment Supports Recruitment Businesses Jo’s two decades of recruitment industry experience gives her a valuable perspective on how diversity, inclusion, and equity should be aligned with the profession of recruitment. She also has a strong drive and passion for this topic.
This was the motivation behind launching her training business, Diversity in Recruitment. How does her organization support recruitment firms to include ED&I in their agenda? “I tend to take a training and advisory approach rather than a consultancy,” stated Jo. “I am a massive fan of module learning - bite-sized accessible training rather than days and days talking about new concepts to recruiters.” Below are some ways in which they can help recruitment businesses:
ED&I - Is Making a Difference Really Worth It? Let’s face it - making a difference can be challenging and overwhelming, especially for smaller businesses. In an environment where recruitment businesses have targets and placements to meet, the task of embedding ED&I in the core of their businesses can seem enormous. So you may ask, is it worth undertaking this challenge?
This is how Jo puts it, which for me makes perfect sense. “This will help you be better at your job. This will help you reach more candidates and increase your talent pools. This will help you win more business. This will help you develop long-term relationships with your clients. This will differentiate you from your competitors. It will get you to think about additional products and services.”
The next question is, how do you help your team to be aligned with the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion? And how do you support your clients in doing the same? Jo has provided several meaningful ideas that can help you as a recruiter and recruitment business owner.
My biggest takeaway from the interview with Jo is that recruitment leaders must start their ED&I journey with their own internal recruitment process. Take a look at your existing team and internal hiring practices. Before you start advising clients on ED&I, make sure you’ve taking steps to implement it within your own business.
Our Sponsors
This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including: funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, backoffice support, marketing and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Jo Major Bio and Contact Info
Jo has a twenty-year+ career in the recruitment space behind her. Her work has helped to grow businesses, schools, charities, and enterprises, and has shaped the careers of some outstanding humans.
Jo has developed strategic D&I, Social Mobility & CSR programs that build and improve recruitment team culture, engage employees, attract underrepresented talent and make recruitment businesses better places to work and partner with.
She founded Diversity in Recruitment because of her absolute drive to get D&I on the agenda of recruitment teams, no matter what their size and capacity – Jo believes that recruiters have the opportunity to influence and lead real change
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| 26 Nov 2021 | How to Bill $12,800,000 in 14 Years, with Michael Pietrack, Ep #106 | 00:56:34 | |
What is the secret to billing $28,000,000 in 14 years, including $12,800,000 in personal production? If your goal is to become a top biller or billing manager, you’re going to love my interview with Michael Pietrack. Michael was recommended to me on five separate occasions by previous podcast guests, so I made it my mission to get him on the show. He’s the Vice President of TMAC Direct which is the executive recruiting arm of The Medical Affairs Company based in Atlanta. On top of being a consistent top producer, Michael’s achievements include becoming MRI's #1 Worldwide solo recruiter, being elected into the Pinnacle Society and becoming PharmaVoice’s Top 100 Most Inspiring People in Pharma. Michael generously shared his approach and best practices as well as his mindset that drives him to success. Enjoy listening! Episode Outline and Highlights
The Value of Failure Upon realizing that Michael had previous playing and coaching experience in baseball before transitioning to recruitment, I recalled what my friend Joel Slenning said about hiring athletes as recruiters. I have also interviewed successful recruiters and business owners who applied discipline from sports or even combat sports in their recruiting careers. I asked Michael’s perspective, what is it about the athletic background that can add chances for success in recruiting? He gave his insights, “I would say the biggest commonality between all athletes is this ego drive that despite failure, you are going to succeed next time.” Michael added, “That’s very important if you are going to be a resilient recruiter, you got to have that ingrained in you.” This is golden, considering that actual success is just the tip of the iceberg. What most people don’t see are the number of times a recruiter or business owner must fail in order to learn and move forward. Michael’s Success Factors Michael also shared differentiating factors contributing to his success. Billing $12,800,000 in 14 years is more than just hard work. As Michael stated, it is a “compounding variety of things.” He gave two primary takeaways:
Candidate and Client Outreach Best Practices On top of what Michael shared on sticking to your niche and being consistent with branding, he also shared practical approaches that can significantly increase your chances of success. From overcoming the fear of cold outreach, how to seek out candidates and earn exclusivity, to how he manages his time to make the most out of each day. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro®. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Our technology and methodology allows recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter for a 25% discount. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained Michael Pietrack Bio and Contact Info Michael Pietrack is a leading Pharmaceutical Industry recruiter from the US. His firm is called TMAC Direct, the executive recruiting arm of The Medical Affairs Company, which is the international leader in direct-hire and contract staffing for Medical Affairs. Michael is known as one of the top five billers in the US, and because of that, he is a sought after speaker and trainer. He runs a high performing desk, while overseeing several teams. His hobbies include creative writing, Bible study, and spending time with his wife and three daughters.
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| 06 Nov 2024 | How Niching Down Turned a Recruitment Business from Zero to 6-Figure Success, with Tyler Rossi, Ep # 234 | 00:49:00 | |
Going smaller to go bigger might sound counter-intuitive, but this mindset helped Tyler Rossi transform his newly launched recruitment business from zero to $250k revenue!
In this episode, you will hear Tyler’s approach to niching down and the strategies that helped him win the majority of inbound clients and establish himself as one of the leading authorities in the metals and steel recruitment industry.
Tyler is the President of American Dream Search and Host of The Recruiter of Steel podcast. He's one of the top headhunters in America for sales talent in the Steel and Metals Industry.
Tyler's story is one of determination and success in the face of adversity, and I’m excited to dive into his experiences and insights today.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Go Smaller to Go Bigger - Top Benefits of Niching Down to a Specific Industry
When Tyler attempted to broaden his scope as a sales recruiter - he felt overwhelmed and things did not work out. He recalled how he already established his network in the steel industry and decided to focus on this niche. It was indeed a game-changer for Tyler!
His conclusion is “The riches are in the niches!” He highlighted below benefits and how niching down worked for him:
How to Establish Yourself as the Go-To Expert in Your Niche
Tyler's reputation grew as he focused on the metal and steel sector, allowing him to generate trust and recognition in the metals industry. He started his podcast, The Recruiter of Steel, to bring added value to the industry. He also utilized LinkedIn by consistently posting content related to the industry which has gained traction, especially to decision-makers. Out of his 7000 connections, around 75% are in the metal and steel industry.
Consistency in these actions made Tyler a recognizable authority in his niche. As he shared, “As far as an ROI … I would say the majority of my business now, I would say is inbound. Most of it is coming inbound to me. I haven't run an MPC campaign in probably three, or four months because all of this is coming to me and I have enough business with it. It's because I've established myself as that authority. It's brought in multiple six figures for me just doing posting and just interacting on LinkedIn.”
Other Action Items That Turned Around His Business
The first six months of Tyler’s business brought in no revenue. However, he had a breakthrough that transformed it from zero to a $250k profit. That is niching down, and establishing himself as an authority. However, there are also other action items he shared that helped him, which I am sure a lot of listeners can relate to:
Full Commitment and Resilience: When Tyler was laid off, he committed entirely to his recruitment business, even though it took six months of effort without income to gain traction.
Mentorship and Continuous Learning: Seeking guidance, Tyler connected with Scott Tuttle, a successful recruiter who provided critical advice on areas like contract terms and marketing strategies. This mentorship helped Tyler refine his approach, close deals, and streamline his operations.
Effective Use of Technology: Tyler used a tailored tech stack, including LinkedIn automation through Skylead, Sales Navigator, Apollo for marketing, and Crelate for CRM management. These tools allowed him to be targeted and efficient in his outreach, helping him reach the right clients and candidates without resorting to mass emails.
Tyler Rossi Bio and Contact Info
Tyler Rossi is the President of American Dream Search and Host of the Let's Talk Talent podcast (now rebranded as The Recruiter of Steel podcast). He is one of the top headhunters in America for sales talent in the Steel/Metals Industry.
But it wasn't always this way.
For the longest time, Tyler put off going into business full-time. While he had his LLC on the side, Tyler never had the guts to go all in. He had the six-figure tech sales job and the job security and benefits that came with it. He had the house, and the marriage, and his daughter was soon on the way.
Fast forward to September of 2023, Tyler was forced to take the leap of faith he was putting off for so long. He was abruptly laid off from his job. There was no warning, no severance…nothing.
Six-figure paycheck? Poof 💨
Oh, and his wife was 32 weeks pregnant 😳
That next Monday, he fired up his laptop and dove full-time into his recruiting business.
The first 6 months were brutal he made $0.
Rejection after rejection. Set back after set back.
But he never gave up.
Fast forward to now and Tyler has scaled American Dream Search to over 10 clients and has billed multiple six-figures in its first year. He has established himself as a premier recruiter in the Metals Industry and he's just getting started.
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| 09 Aug 2022 | Recruitment Agency Growth: How to Scale From Startup to £10M in 10 Years, with Ed Steer, Ep #135 | 00:55:24 | |
Imagine growing your recruitment business from zero to 10,000,000 in net fee income in just 10 years! That growth trajectory is highly unusual in recruitment. Yet Sphere Digital has achieved it. I was keen to uncover the key factors that enabled them to scale the business successfully so I interviewed Sphere co-founder, Ed Steer What I learned is that they always had the mindset and intention to scale, so they set up the company for growth from the very start. Over the past decade, they’ve managed to build a high-performing team of 70 employees but it wasn’t a walk in the park! Ed generously shared the things that worked, such as a real focus on training and creating career pathways for their people to be promoted internally. He also revealed the growing pains, mistakes and hard lessons they learned - especially as scaling rapidly can present a multitude of challenges. Ed is the CEO of Sphere Digital Recruitment, a multi-award-winning agency specialising in recruiting marketing, sales, analytics, product & creative talent in the UK, Europe and North America. Winner of Best Small Company in the UK and London at Best Company Awards 2022, Sphere works with clients like Amazon, TikTok, Facebook and a whole host of house hold brands and innovative tech start-ups. Episode Outline and Highlights
Organically Growing the Leadership Team with Trust and Enablement Starting with two founders in 2012 in a small office in London, they now have more than 70 key employees covering not only the UK but also the US market. We discussed the milestones leading up to this growth as we all key success factors that enabled Ed to effectively transition from a billing manager to a business owner.
One outstanding takeaway I appreciate from this part of the interview is how they are growing leaders organically. To retain great talents and put clear developmental plans for their employees, internal growth is in place. You will hear how trust and enablement are practiced within their firm. Ed also shared about PROGRESS - a development plan for associates, consultants, directors, and beyond. Rapid Growth Has Its Challenges Just like with other organizations rapidly scaling, there will always be growing pains. This is the same for Sphere Recruitment as shared by Ed. Elaborating on some things that went wrong, Ed said, “Lots of junior managers hiring lots of junior people probably too fast.” He also added, “Maybe expanding the headcount when we didn’t have the job flow to support it.” To summarize, he felt that they were successful in growing but business but did not have the experience or the know-how to make it as good as they were when they were just 10 people. What did they do to turn it around? Getting back to basics is the key. Focusing on their principles and repeating what makes them successful - business development and training. The Formula to Success When Expanding to New Territories Despite being pushed back because of the pandemic, Sphere Digital have recently expanded into the United States with an office in New York City. By allowing a senior member from the main office to facilitate the growth and manage the business in the US, they were able to retain the culture and values to the new office. This interesting approach is the same playbook I’ve observed with companies expanding into different regions and becoming successful in doing so: Having a client base in the new territory and sending someone from the main office to ‘evangelize’ the culture, processes, and way of working. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.
i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained
Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including: funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, backoffice support, marketing and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc
Ed Steer Bio and Contact Info Ed is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sphere Digital Recruitment, a multi-award-winning Digital Media, Marketing, and Technology firm with offices in London and New York. Before starting Sphere, Ed worked with PFJ - from a consultant position to being an Associate Director in seven years. Ed and his wife also enjoy volunteering with Fun in Action for Children, where they work as "befrienders" and mentors since May 2013. They spend one day a week (a Saturday or Sunday) spending time with a brilliant and talented person who needed some additional support, away from challenging home life.
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| 22 Dec 2020 | How to Define Your Recruitment Company’s Culture, with Bretton Putter, Ep #47 | 00:51:59 | |
If you have ambitions to scale your recruiting and staffing business, then developing your company culture needs to be one of your top priorities. On The Resilient Recruiter podcast, I’ve interviewed many founders of fast-growing recruitment companies and they all agree on the importance of creating the right culture. But what does that really mean and how do we achieve it? “Nine out of ten companies do not have a strong functional culture.” My special guest, Bretton Putter of CultureGene explains what makes a company culture strong and functional and why it should matter to you as a recruitment business owner. Brett also explains how to address a degrading company culture environment, especially in this challenging time of the pandemic where most employees are forced to work remotely. Brett is an expert on company culture development. He is the founder and CEO of CultureGene, a Culture Leadership Platform helping high-growth companies build strong, functional cultures. Episode Outline and Highlights
“The way we do things right here” Our conversation started off with how Brett would define “company culture.” He gave a straightforward response, “My definition, or the definition I like of company culture, is the way we do things around here. Which is like an all-encompassing thing, but that is deliberate. Because company culture really is the DNA of your organization and it drives everything.” Brett also raised very two important points when talking about its importance.
Listen to the whole conversation as Brett and I drill down further on these key points. Invest Time to Design Your Culture If you are a small startup, you might have hesitations about investing time to design and codify your culture. Why does it make sense to not just settle for a default culture and way of working and be proactive in designing your company culture? After doing deep-dive interviews with 50+ leaders who took it upon themselves to build a functional culture, Brett mentioned a number of solid benefits. Some of the payoffs that were mentioned are:
The CEO Must Get It Taking the culture-building journey starts with the most important step: the CEO must get it. Culture starts from the top and trickles down below. Brett discussed the critical parts of creating a functional and strong culture:
Listen to how Brett illustrates the above critical points as well as their practical application. Bretton Putter Bio and Contact Info Prior to founding CultureGene Brett ran an international executive search firm working with high-growth tech companies to expand their senior executive teams in Europe and the US. His first book Culture Decks Decoded was published in 2018 and his second book, Own Your Culture: How to Define, Embed and Manage your Company Culture was published in September 2020. He writes a popular blog on culture-driven companies and is a sought-after speaker.
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