Explore every episode of the podcast The Resilient Recruiter
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How Recruiters Can Use AI Without Losing Trust or Control with Rebecca Hastings | 08 Jan 2026 | 01:31:27 | |
There’s a lot of noise around AI in recruitment.
Some people are selling it as a silver bullet. Others are predicting a job apocalypse for recruiters.
Neither is true.
In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Mark Whitby sits down with Rebecca Hastings to talk about what’s actually happening inside businesses using AI right now and what recruiters are getting wrong.
Rebecca advises CEOs, boards, and AI leaders on strategy, governance, and implementation. She’s reviewed hundreds of real-world AI transformation case studies and brings a grounded perspective most recruiters never see. Alongside that, she’s built a retained-only executive search firm focused on senior AI leadership and a sales system that consistently books high-quality meetings without volume-driven hustle.
This conversation isn’t about tools or tactics. It’s about judgment, trust, and process.
You’ll hear why AI doesn’t make work faster unless human capability is already in place, how weak sales systems are exposed when automation is added, and why recruiters who can explain how they use AI will earn more trust, not less.
Rebecca also breaks down how she thinks about sales as a system, from market focus and listening time to multichannel outreach and AI-supported preparation. The result is fewer calls, better conversations, and more consistent meetings.
If you want to understand where AI genuinely helps recruiters and where it quietly causes damage, this episode will change how you think about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why there won’t be a job apocalypse for recruiters
How AI shifts bottlenecks instead of removing them
Why trust and psychological safety matter in AI adoption
How to build market expertise AI can amplify
The sales system Rebecca uses to book more meetings with less effort
Episode highlights:
[3:42] How Rebecca billed £360,000 in her first year
[14:08] Lessons from market downturns
[32:17] Why listening time beats talk time
[59:37] What actually happens when AI is introduced
[1:15:26] The multichannel sales system behind consistent meetings
Guest bio:
Rebecca Hastings is the founder of Lucent Search, specialising in senior AI leadership appointments globally. She works with CEOs, CTOs, heads of AI, and boards on AI strategy, governance, and transformation, and is an AI and systems coach with Recruitment Coach. | |||
| The 10 Most Popular Resilient Recruiter Episodes of 2025 | 31 Dec 2025 | 00:59:52 | |
This episode brings together the ten most listened-to conversations of 2025.
They weren’t popular by accident. These episodes resonated because they spoke directly to the challenges recruiters were dealing with day to day. Planning your time. Building pipeline. Positioning retained search. Recovering from burnout. Staying relevant as the market and LinkedIn both shifted.
If you missed any of these conversations the first time around, consider this your shortlist for heading into 2026 with a clearer plan and stronger focus.
In this episode, you’ll hear insights on:
How to plan your day so you stay out of reactive work
How to build business development into your week without burning out
How to position retained search with confidence
Why systems create more consistency than chasing placements
How relationship-building compounds over time
Why LinkedIn's reach dropped and what actually matters now
Episode timestamps:
00:01 Introduction
02:30 Allicia Birch – The 15-minute planning system
09:15 Rachel Filby – One BD day per week
14:20 Carol Wenom – Positioning retained search
21:05 Stuart Barnes – The three-bucket BD model
28:40 Jenny Diaz – Writing your plan by hand
34:10 Deedee Doke – Differentiation and innovation
39:45 Jessica Hamilton – Systems over placements
45:30 Brandon Glyck – Relationship compounding
52:00 Karolina Willis – From breakdown to breakthrough
58:15 Richard van der Blom – Why LinkedIn reach dropped
If you want to future-proof your recruitment business without burning out, this episode is a must-listen. | |||
| How To Generate 100% Inbound Leads and Retained Revenue by Building a Community, with Kyle Winterbottom, Ep #197 | 17 Nov 2023 | 00:53:21 | |
Building a thriving recruitment business in the middle of a global pandemic may be unimaginable to most people, but not for Kyle Winterbottom.
Kyle’s strategy is clear and straightforward: give value, give value, give value! In this episode, Kyle uncovers the story of his journey into the recruitment industry and how the global crisis turned into a pathway of opportunity.
Kyle is the Founder & CEO of Orbition Group, an award-winning talent solutions business. Based in Manchester, they focus exclusively on scaling Data, Analytics, and artificial intelligence teams across the UK, Europe, and the USA.
Kyle is also the Founder/Host of the Driven by Data Community which is comprised of three components; The Roundtable, The Podcast, and The Mentorship. Kyle elaborated on his three proven long-term strategies for boosting engagement and building relationships
Episode Outline and Highlights
Give Value, Give Value, Give Value.
The pandemic can be perceived by many as not the best time to launch a business, but Kyle looked at it as the best time to kick off Orbition. His strategy is clear and straightforward: leverage content marketing and community building to build brand awareness. Give value first, and build relationships after.
“I guess that the whole premise was very simple. Just create a community of people who will ultimately be potential target customers and buying clients. Let's add a load of value to them and from there that'll create relationships. That then I guess the whole premise really is give value, give value, give value.”
Kyle elaborated on his strategies and you will find that there are three main takeaways:
Kyle shared his practices on how they continuously add value: via podcasting, live events, and mentorship programs.
Podcasting and Hosting Events
I was astonished when Kyle shared with me that 100% of their clients are through inbound marketing. I really wanted to pick his brains on their roadmap and the strategies they use.
He shared that podcasting has been a really effective tool in engaging with their target audience. One of the reasons that it is really successful is because it invited guests who they find credible, people of influence and seniority within the marketplace who have something to share. Kyle also reminded the listeners that it can take time to really get engagement and ROI - so it is really important to be patient and consistent.
After the pandemic, Kyle and his team started hosting free live events. These events started to garner more demand than they could facilitate, so they had to find the right balance of content and format in order to scale these events. They get very positive feedback from those who participate in these live events. Kyle and his team are able to bring together Chief Data Officers to share best practices while networking with one another.
Aside from the above engagement components, Kyle also discussed their mentorship program.
Deep Diving Into Their Mentorship Program
“The mentorship program came from a place where I'm continually looking at what is the next thing that we can do for this community that adds value and how can we do something that also strategically aids the direction of the business”
Kyle shared what their mentorship program looks like and how it helps those starting their career in data analytics improve in technical and soft skills. Kyle also revealed that this is not something they are monetizing at the moment. He shared why: “It's more about the brand visibility and having that relationship, because I think for us, in all honesty, what we can earn from you know, charging for a mentorship program will be really insignificant in comparison to what we can earn off having that relationship with those people and obviously, what you know we're again think about the long game. “
This is indeed a wonderful approach to engagement and adding value to the community. If you think about it, the 300+ people joining their mentorship program become their brand ambassadors. Knowing that someday those who were mentored will eventually become decision makers and hiring managers, they will be future 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
Kyle Winterbottom Bio and Contact Info
Kyle is the founder and CEO of Orbition Group, an award-winning talent solutions business that operates exclusively within the Data and Analytics space across the UK, Europe, and USA. Kyle is also the Founder/Host of the Driven by Data Community which is composed of three components: Driven by Data: The Roundtable, Driven by Data: The Podcast, and Driven by Data: The Mentorship.
Kyle is also featured in the Data IQ 100 Most Influential People in Data for 2022 and 2023.
People and Resources Mentioned
Related Podcast You Might Enjoy
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
| |||
| Recruitment Rhythms: How Human Connection Elevates You Above the Competition, with Alex Cooke, Ep #195 | 19 Oct 2023 | 01:01:48 | |
What are the three success factors that would help a musician become a million-dollar biller recruitment business owner? Our special guest, Alex Cooke, shares the journey of his recruitment career from a musician background. You'll get to hear the fascinating parallels he draws between music and recruitment, emphasizing the significance of three success factors:
Alex is a former professional musician who entered the world of recruitment at age 29.
After 18 months with an agency in the UK, he transitioned to NYC and started on a journey that in 3.5 years would see him become a million-dollar/year biller as a biotech recruitment specialist.
Alex is now the CEO of Phase 3 Search, a biotech search firm he founded in 2018. In the last 5 years, he’s retained 95% of his clients and generated $6.5m in sales.
Episode Outline and Highlights
How Human Connection Elevates You Above the Competition
As a musician, Alex believes that creating music is about connecting with the listeners. He sees this as a parallel to recruitment, where human connection can elevate you above the competition. We discussed the importance of networking with people in order to be successful in any career, and how to build connections with people intentionally.
He started with the value of listening to someone’s story. Doing so not only helps you build a meaningful connection, but also puts you in a position where you can assess if they can be good candidates, clients, or business partners. “I think the most interesting thing about anybody you meet is their story, right? So actually being fascinated by someone's journey. And if you take a step back and put your recruitment hats on, what I spend much of my time doing is thinking about is this person a good leader. What characteristics do they bring to the table?”
Adaptability was also emphasized. He talked about how an introvert can connect with an extrovert and vice-versa. We also talked about the style of writing and communication, on how it should be adapted geographically. We also covered their candidate-centric and relationship-driven sales approach.
Minding these little things helps Alex and his team to intentionally create human connections and build relationships.
How Your Ability to Write Changes Everything
Writing skills can help recruiters in a lot of ways, some of which are engaging with candidates, making personalized outreaches, and getting better responses in email campaigns. Alex understands that improving his writing can be a game-changer. Alex was aware that writing was not one of his strengths, so he took proactive steps to level up his game.
“Okay, so you know me and writing. I didn't think I could write even. Even through university. I really struggled to write essays. The whole thing was just a bit of a nightmare, to be honest with you, and there was this point in my career. I'm ultimately going into recruitment and realizing that the very first step of any recruitment process is typically a message sent out.”
The very first step he took was getting a really good book on grammar (reference link below). For Alex, this is critical because “there's nothing worse than receiving a message and it's talking about something deadly serious and sensible and how it's going to advance your life with the spelling mistake or a silly grammatical error in it.”
Alex shared his best practices such as asking people what frustrates them about their job and applying it to his outreach, changing their style to elicit a response from different types of people, and how to use bullet points and paragraphs to make it easier for people to read and respond.
How Your Market Insight Can Be Used to Build Trust
Alex also shared their best practices when it comes to understanding their clients and markets. Some of the key topics on this subject that we covered are:
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
Alex Cooke Bio and Contact Info
Alex is a former professional musician who entered the world of recruitment at age 29. After 18 months with an agency in the UK, he transitioned to NYC and started on a journey that in 3.5 years would see him become a biotech specialist, a million-dollar / year biller, and the owner of a multi-million dollar biotech search firm.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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”. | |||
| How to Consistently Thrive in Strong and Weak Hiring Markets, with Nick Cabral, Ep #194 | 13 Oct 2023 | 00:52:02 | |
“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:
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Related Podcast You Might Enjoy
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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”.
| |||
| How To Recruit With Confidence by Overcoming Imposter Syndrome, with Enric Miquel, Ep #193 | 05 Oct 2023 | 00:55:42 | |
When a life-changing event like the birth of a child happens, it often forces us to re-evaluate our careers and lives. That's exactly what happened to my special guest, Enric Miquel, the founder of Pharma New Talent, a life sciences recruitment firm.
After becoming a father, Enric embarked on a new journey from pharmaceuticals to recruitment, and in this episode, he shares the highs and lows of starting his own recruitment firm. We also delve deep into the world of international recruitment as Enric shares his experiences with hiring a virtual assistant. He discusses the pros and cons of such a move and offers insightful advice for recruiters considering the same path.
Finally, we explore the hard-earned wisdom Enric has gained from his journey. From building confidence as an established leader in the recruitment industry to dealing with the challenges of raising his fees, Enric's story will show you the value of resilience and dedication.
Prior to launching his recruitment company, he was an International Brand Manager in charge of the Middle East and Asia Regions, having launched medical products in 8 different countries. Growing with the company from 500K € in 2014 to 10 million in 2021 I’ve worked with Enric, as a member of our coaching program and he is a massive action taker who has implemented many of the strategies we teach.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Inspiration to Starting and Growing a Recruitment Firm
Enric had no recruitment background when he decided to transition into recruitment. What prompted him to jump out of his comfort zone was when his daughter was born which made him rethink his priorities.
“One of the most important to think about when starting the business was the date of giving birth, or my partner giving birth to my daughter Olivia was to me a way to rethink priorities. What did I want it to do in life? Especially, this came after COVID. Also, this was a period of long reflections on what would I want it to do next. But you are right, I didn't have any recruitment agency background. I haven't been a recruiter on my own. I was a product manager.” There were at least three key factors that propelled Enric to his success:
Business Development Implementations Enric and I covered topics on implementations that would resonate with a lot of recruitment business owners. Given that he has no recruitment background, Enric sees things from a fresh perspective. He is aware that for his recruitment startup to succeed, he must compensate for the lack of experience by working hard and smart. Some of the key takeaways we covered are:
Enric also shared how he had to let go of the safety net of pharmaceutical consulting so he could focus all his energy on recruiting to make it work. Enric believes that mindset and consistent effort led to his success.
Overcoming the Challenge Imposter Syndrome
When we delved into what he considers his biggest challenge, Enric revealed his challenge that a lot of us can relate to.
“I guess I felt kind of the famous imposter syndrome of who are you to become a recruiter overnight and that led to, you know, begin with low fees what I consider now low fees. So overcoming this syndrome, let's say, has been the most challenging... This has been probably the most challenging part that's interesting.”
Enric took proactive steps to build his confidence. He elaborated on his approach to KPIs and metrics and how it gives him confidence by objectively understanding the value that he provides to his 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
Enric Miquel Bio and Contact Info Enric Miquel is a highly accomplished professional with a diverse background in the healthcare and business sectors. He holds a Pharmacy Doctorate from the prestigious University of Barcelona, where he honed his expertise in pharmaceuticals and healthcare.
With a passion for global business development, Enric has excelled in his role as an International Brand Manager, overseeing the Middle East and Asia regions. His career highlights include successfully launching medical products in eight different countries. Under his leadership, the company experienced remarkable growth, with revenues skyrocketing from 500,000 € in 2014 to an impressive 10 million € in 2021.
In July 2021, inspired by a profound life change with the birth of his daughter, Olivia, Enric Miquel took a bold step in his entrepreneurial journey. He founded Pharma New Talent, a pioneering Life Science recruitment firm. This endeavor reflects his passion for talent development and his dedication to shaping the future of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.
Enric's exceptional career trajectory, marked by academic excellence, international business acumen, and a commitment to talent development, makes him a standout figure in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. His journey continues to inspire and empower those around him, propelling innovation and excellence in every endeavor he undertakes.
People and Resources Mentioned Connect with Mark Whitby
Related Podcast You Might Enjoy
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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”.
| |||
| How to Successfully Pivot Your Recruitment Agency into a Thriving Management Consultancy, with Colin Kleine, Ep #192 | 27 Sep 2023 | 01:01:41 | |
Adding management consultancy as a service offering of your recruitment agency can potentially increase your revenue. But the question is, is it easier said than done?
In this episode, you will hear insights from Colin Kleine, co-founder of Scalerr. They’re a growth advisory firm that helps Tech companies reach their revenue goals through Strategy, Execution, and People.
Colin discusses why he made the pivot from Recruiter into Management Consultant, and why recruitment was so fundamental in helping him successfully do it. He shared the challenges, key learnings, and how this transition benefits their business.
I have known Colin since 2014, he’s a former client and I’ve tracked his remarkable rise, especially since he launched Scalerr.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Recruitment Skills and Experience Leading to Management Consulting
How Colin pivoted from being just a recruiter to a management consultant is a story that I find fascinating. Aside from talent acquisition, Scalerr helps startup companies scale up and expand globally and increase their valuation. What propelled this shift? Colin shared three takeaways:
The management consulting arm of their business skyrocketed, leading Colin and his team to start a venture arm.
Challenges and Solutions While Building Scalerr
Just like all business owners, Colin faced a multitude of challenges when building Scalerr. I wanted to hear what his top challenges are and how his team was able to overcome them. He shared one particular challenge that resonates with many recruitment business owners:
“Not enough hours in the day, as many entrepreneurs will do, and make this mistake of trying to do too much of it yourself. And I know there's going to be a lot of people listening to this podcast that know exactly what I'm talking about, not realizing when it's now time to start delegating things out and bringing somebody on board to do that, not knowing when to give up control and relinquish.”
Colin emphasized the importance of systemizing and delegating tasks. Not doing so and becoming overwhelmed with tasks you can delegate will be a constraint to scaling your business.
Creating a Flywheel: Pivotal Factors That Propelled Scalerr to Their Current Achievements
Another topic that stood out to me is how Colin and his team were able to create a flywheel - their consultancy work feeds their recruitment segment and vice versa. Instead of solely relying on placements as a revenue stream, they were able to establish their consultancy to the point that it could be a standalone revenue source. Colin described it this way: “I think there's a lot of mutual value added and then you start speaking to them and introducing yourself and building a relationship, and more and more people know you, and guess what? They end up giving you recruitment work.”
Colin also elaborated on the three pivotal factors that he believes contributed greatly to their current achievements:
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
Colin Kleine Bio and Contact Info
Colin specializes in forging innovative revenue streams through strategic channel partnerships, crafting accelerated GTM and Commercialization strategies, and handpicking high-impact teams with a battle-tested background in startup scaling. His expertise spans customized advisory and recruitment services, enabling swift market validation, deft navigation of the intricate APAC landscape, and securing vital venture capital and government grants. With an impressive portfolio of over 150 victorious startups, Colin's results-driven approach guarantees maximum revenue, valuation growth, and a triumphant expansion into the APAC market. As a dedicated investor and seasoned business advisor, Colin puts his money where his mouth is, committed to your success while leveraging his insider knowledge to drive your business forward.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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”. | |||
| Proven Strategies for Building a Successful Lifestyle Recruitment Business, with Gregg Salkovitch, Ep #191 | 20 Sep 2023 | 00:56:13 | |
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.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Related Podcast You Might Enjoy
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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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| 3 Keys to Transition and Thrive From a Corporate Recruiter to Agency Owner, with Pat Corrigan, Ep #190 | 13 Sep 2023 | 00:59:04 | |
Transitioning from a comfortable corporate recruitment career to building an agency is not an obvious choice for many. The risks it entails may even stop some recruiters from considering this transition. Although it may be a significant leap, with the right skills, mindset, and support, it can lead to a rewarding and profitable career change.
My special guest, Pat Corrigan, shares his story of how he successfully transitioned and thrived as a recruitment agency owner from being a corporate recruiter for more than a decade. Pat shares the three key factors to his success, as well as the strategies he continues to implement in building his team and driving revenue.
Pat is the founder of Palladium Point, a leading executive search firm based in St. Louis, serving the commercial insurance industry nationally.
His recruitment career spans fifteen years, and for the past six years has been focused on building high-performing sales teams for leading commercial insurance brokers.
After spending years leading the sales recruitment function for a global insurance broker, Pat pursued his entrepreneurial dreams and started his own firm. Since launching in 2022 they’ve taken off like a rocket.
I’m also honored to have Pat as a member of our Inner Circle coaching program.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Successful Transition From Corporate Recruitment to Becoming an Agency Owner
For 15 years, Pat established himself as a recruitment leader for several corporate staffing firms. He had a colorful career but what resonated with me is his story of how being let go from a previous job was a pivotal moment that led him to where he is today. Pat emphasizes the importance of resilience and learning from every experience.
Pat also revealed what prompted him to leave his corporate gig to set up his firm. His strong work ethic and niche expertise are the foundations that enabled his transition. He shared three critical focus areas that have been key to his success:
This indeed is an inspiring story for corporate or in-house recruiters aspiring to become recruitment business owners someday.
Strategies for Building a Team and Driving Revenue in a Short Span of Time
We then moved on to discuss strategies for building his team and driving revenue in a short span of time. Pat discussed how long he had to work on his own before he started hiring the next person. After around three or four months he started building his team and his first hire was an ops person. How did this decision to hire an operations person impact his business long term?
His logic behind it is, as Pat puts it, “If I want to attract, recruiters, or eventually salespeople into my organization, I want to give them the platform to get out there and kick tail. And I didn't want somebody to come in as the first recruiter and say, well, here's your ATS license and your LinkedIn recruiter and Zoom info …I like kind of linear stuff, and I wanted to not rush it. And as we're bringing on talent, I wanted, like, a real solid business platform that people could access”
This is remarkable insight. Pat hired an operations person to establish a solid foundation for future growth. This strategic move allowed him to attract recruiters and create a platform that would support their success. The hiring process was focused on setting up systems and structures rather than rushing into recruitment because Pat valued organization and long-term growth potential.
Pat then shared strategies in revenue which is focused on his approach to Business Development. Pat shared his perspective on sales which is focused on interaction and relationship building. He also described a Rainmaker Model way of working that enables him to get consistent revenue in running his business.
Creating Systems and Processes for Growth
Pat also emphasized the importance of putting up systems and processes for a smooth start for new hires. We discussed the platforms and tools they are using - such as Slack, to organize his team. He also shared his approach to having an offshore researcher and sources to help in lead generation.
Pat advocates growth not only for his organization but for his team members as well. He highlighted the value of intentionally designing your business’ vision and culture to attract top talents aligned with your core values. He believes that having the right tools and working environment in place will help your team grow exponentially.
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
Pat Corrigan Bio and Contact Info
As the Founder and President of Palladium Point, Pat brings a rich background in recruitment spanning nearly 15 years to the table. His journey began with recruiting top-tier talent for Lockton Companies, the world's largest independent insurance brokerage, where he played a pivotal role in driving industry-leading growth.
Fueled by a desire to revitalize the recruitment and talent acquisition landscape within the insurance sector, Pat embarked on the path to establish his own firm. Recognizing the need for a more dynamic and contemporary approach, he envisioned a search firm that would infuse fresh ideas and perspectives into the industry while maintaining a collaborative, human, and intentional ethos.
Today, Pat and his team at Palladium Point are trusted partners for insurance organizations navigating the intensely competitive landscape, while also serving as advisors to top talent seeking professional fulfillment.
Prior to his venture into the insurance realm, Pat excelled in technology consulting, where he consistently delivered results on challenging recruitment initiatives for global and mid-market organizations. He proudly holds a B.A. in Psychology and Business from the University of Missouri.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Related Podcast You Might Enjoy
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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”.
| |||
| Recruiting the Savage Way: Navigating AI, Metrics, and Mindset for Recruitment Success, with Greg Savage, Ep #189 | 08 Sep 2023 | 01:08:55 | |
Is implementing KPIs and measuring metrics the same as micromanagement? Measuring activities is fundamental to evaluating how effective your strategies are in running your recruitment business. However, there are some recruiters and business owners who are apprehensive about implementing metrics measurements and KPIs. Is that the same for your recruitment business? What are the metrics and KPIs that we should measure? How do we implement a KPI and data-driven environment without giving the vibe that team members are being micromanaged? How do you communicate the intent and purpose of your KPIs to your team members? In this episode, Greg Savage explained why it is not about micromanaging and discusses metrics that empower talents. On top of this, you will also hear insightful takes on critical trends in AI and technology, and why your mindset is the key in your recruitment career success.
I am delighted to welcome the legendary Greg Savage to give us a reality check and revisit the pillars leading to recruitment success. Greg has four decades of experience owning, managing, and growing staffing businesses across the world. He’s the founder of four highly successful businesses; Recruitment Solutions (took to IPO). Firebrand Talent Search (trade sale), Eloquent Staffing (trade sale), and People2People.
Greg still takes an active interest in founding and growing recruitment businesses, investing in recruitment start-ups in Australia and the UK. He’s a LinkedIn Top Voices and has been inducted into the Recruiter International Hall of Fame. He’s founder of The Savage Recruitment Academy, and author of the best-selling book, The Savage Truth, and has recently published a new book called Recruit The Savage Way.
Episode Outline and Highlights
The Mindset, Attitude, and Resilience to Become a Successful Recruiter
I have always valued Greg as a mentor all these years. With over four decades of phenomenal success in the recruitment industry, he is an established authority when it comes to sharing wisdom with aspiring recruiters and business owners. He has recently published a book, Recruit the Savage Way, which offers “practical advice, skills, and attitudes and will give rookies an excellent grounding to thrive in their new career and help veterans brush up and add new competencies.”
We have talked about the first section which is on mindset and attitude. Greg said that one of the big reasons for the high turnover in the staffing and recruitment industry is because of the wrong attitude and mindset towards the industry. He mentioned the fallacy of believing that “recruitment is not rocket science,” because it is a complex, sophisticated job.
Greg believes that the mindset and attitude factors are something that can be corrected early on. Like skills and competencies, mindset and attitude can also be honed and trained. He emphasized four factors:
Greg also shared insightful principles on what true resilience looks like for recruiters. He elaborated on the value of emotions and moving on with positivity. You will also appreciate how he defines complacency in the recruitment field.
Activities and KPIs are Critical For Recruitment Success There is a section in Greg’s new book about the reality check on the importance of activities and KPIs to recruitment success. Greg elaborated on the two fundamental things to be successful in the business:
Greg and I talked about the myth that measuring your metrics and KPIs is synonymous with micromanagement. As Greg said, “There is no sports person or academic or anyone who doesn't measure their outputs and then try to work on improving them. So I mean, the problem with... most KPIs is that they are foisted on people with no consideration to where those people are up to, not explained why they're important.”
Greg shared his advice to recruitment business owners on how to implement KPIs in a healthy working environment.
Insightful Take on Career Development for Recruiters
Greg also discussed a topic that deeply resonated with me: career development for recruiters and recruitment business owners. You will hear his thoughts on the threat of complacency. As he simply puts it, 10 years of experience is just 1 year of recruitment experience repeated 10 times if you are complacent. How do we overcome the trap of complacency and move forward with development?
Greg Savage Bio and Contact Info
With a career spanning four decades, Greg is a founder of 4 highly successful businesses, a trusted advisor and respected voice across the global recruitment and professional services industries, and a regular keynote speaker at conferences around the world.
Throughout his fascinating career, Greg has learned countless lessons in leadership, business, and life. One of his greatest achievements is his success as a communicator. An early adopter of social media for recruiters, Greg’s industry blog, The Savage Truth, is a must-read in the recruitment industry. In November 2018, he was named one of LinkedIn’s ‘Top Voices’.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Related Podcast You Might Enjoy
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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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| How to Conquer Burnout and Overwhelm for Recruitment Entrepreneurs, with Tina Hazlett, Ep #188 | 01 Sep 2023 | 00:54:12 | |
Recruitment entrepreneurship can be immensely rewarding, but also brings the risk of burnout and overwhelm. New entrepreneurs can be vulnerable to workaholism, which can lead to negative consequences on physical and mental health, as well as personal relationships. We need to recognize the signs of workaholism and take steps to maintain a healthy work-life balance
My special guest, Tina Hazlett, founder of Spectrum Recruiting Solutions, shares her tips for success while maintaining a work-life balance. She gave at least four intentional steps that she took to overcome burnout, and I am sure you will find value in exploring the same steps.
Tina also shared the journey of how she transitioned from being a recruiter to a business owner, and how she navigated unpredictable market conditions. She also walked me through her advocacy of addressing the gender gap in her industry, and the steps they took to be successful in taking small steps forwards.
Tina has 22 years of experience in recruitment and started her own firm, Spectrum Recruiting Solutions, in 2018. They’ve since grown to a team of 14, based in the Salt Lake City area, Spectrum supports engineering and manufacturing companies in Utah through a combination of Direct-hire recruitment, RPO, and Consulting.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Overcoming Burnout as a New Entrepreneur
New entrepreneurs can be vulnerable to workaholism for various reasons: passion and drive, new responsibilities, and adjusting to the learning curve of managing a new business. This was exactly how Tina felt when she founded Spectrum.
“If I'm being very honest about a couple years into starting spectrum, I hit a wall and I hit it hard and was so super burned out. And there was about at least a three-week period that I struggled to get out of bed. I was so tired.”
If you are feeling the same way, do not just ignore it. Workaholism leading to burnout can have many negative consequences. Tina was well aware of this fact, so she took action in order to build herself back up. We discussed the four steps she took to overcome overwhelm:
Gender Balance and Diversity Within the Engineering & Manufacturing Field in Utah
Tina talked me through her advocacy when she was planning to launch her recruitment firm. She said, “We really struggle in terms of our reputation and women's rights. That's one thing that I really wanted to promote. Where we focus on engineering and manufacturing in Utah, there's not a ton of representation for females out here, especially when it comes to equality, politically and professionally. Our goal was to really make sure women have a seat at the table.”
Her team took intentional steps to reach their objectives. They created channel partnerships and pipelines of candidates. They go beyond social media platforms through face-to-face networking. She elaborated on how they would align with a group with similar mission and values for mutual support. This resulted in having females in 41% of their placement, which is an astonishing feat in their industry.
Business Development Strategies
We also discussed Tina’s most influential business development strategy. How are they able to develop their client base? She explains, “Through a lot of our networking events is our number one way to do it where we can get in front of people. For example, we just did a hosted roundtable with the Utah Outdoor Association which does a lot of product development for outdoors like kayaks, canoes, tables, and that type of thing. So if we can get in and present, be the experts, be that resource, then we have people coming to us with questions that evolve into those strategic conversations. And what's been the most successful for us is getting that FaceTime. We're not cold callers.”
This strategy of hosting and speaking at events builds the credibility of Tina and her team. This gives them the opportunity to have a consultative approach instead of just selling.
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
Tina Hazlett Bio and Contact Info
Tina started Spectrum Recruiting Solutions in 2018 after serving 17 years in the Talent Acquisition industry. A professional sabbatical and personal desire to travel helped to provide the mental space she needed to create her vision of the ideal Talent Acquisition Firm. She and her entire family spent a full year traveling across the United States in a Winnebago, on purpose. She fulfilled her soul as well as her contractual non-compete agreement.
With sheer determination and a dream, she built a successful recruiting, consulting & outplacement company that is thriving today. Amongst historic levels of economic uncertainty and geopolitical turmoil, she began a recruiting revolution!
When she’s not putting her blood, sweat, and tears into Spectrum, she is active in the community fighting for gender pay equality and managing her family's annual "Backpack Project" which provides basic necessities to underprivileged kids within our community. Somehow Tina still finds time to continue exploring her soul and her world, traveling, hiking, biking, teaching yoga, and living life to the absolute fullest with her AMAZING family.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Related Podcast You Might Enjoy
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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”.
| |||
| How to Propel a Cybersecurity Recruitment Venture to $1,500,000 in Year One, with Stuart Mitchell, Ep # 187 | 23 Aug 2023 | 01:07:21 | |
Starting a cybersecurity recruitment business during a tech market downturn can be exceptionally challenging for several reasons: reduced demand, intense competition, financial constraints, and talent availability. Despite these challenges, it's not impossible to succeed in launching a cybersecurity recruitment business during a downturn, as proven by my special guest, Stuart Mitchell. Stu founded Hampton North in 2022 with the goal of building the most trusted cybersecurity search firm in the united states. Despite the downturn in the tech market, they’re on pace to bill $1.5-2M in their first year. In this episode, Stu shared his insights into key topics that help him succeed: finding the right people to surround you, attracting and retaining the best people, and how to build a personal brand, and becoming a recognized industry leader. With over a decade of experience, Stu has been a successful billing manager, having personally billed over a million dollars while building a multi-million dollar team who achieved an EBITA of $1m. He’s placed some of the most well-known cyber security executives into Financial Services Companies, Retail Brands, and Tech Giants alike. He has built cyber security programs from 0-20+ on multiple occasions, including one of these scale-ups in less than 8 weeks.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Overcoming a Tech Market Downturn - Launching Hampton North and Billing 7 Digits on Their First Year
A remarkable achievement that I wanted to discuss with Stu is how he launched his cybersecurity recruitment business, Hampton North in 2022. What makes it amazing is that despite the downturn in the tech market, they are on pace to bill $2M in their first year! I am excited to share in this episode Stu’s insights on the things that contributed to this success. We zoomed in on three key factors:
The third topic resonated well with me as I feel the impact of having the right team members to support my business. For many recruitment business owners, especially those who are just starting, hiring someone can be like a roll of the dice. Stu shared how he was able to get the top talents and retain them. It can probably be summarized with a question that serves as his guiding principle when hiring: “Who are the best people that I know, and why aren't they already working here?”
Becoming a Recognized Industry Leader and Consistent in Sharing Relevant Content
Stu also did a phenomenal job in establishing a reputation in the cybersecurity space as a recognized thought and industry leader. With more than 40,000 LinkedIn followers, he is consistent in posting industry-relevant content. I also enjoy the posts that he shares, so I wanted to get his thought process on how he is consistently coming up with ideas.
We discussed the following subjects:
Stu described his thought process this way, “I think I kind of see this as t kind of the writer's strike in Hollywood, right? The more you force it and try and make things rigid and structured like it's really hard to force great ideas. Great ideas are free-flowing.”
Surrounding Yourself with the Right People
Before becoming a recruitment business owner, Stu has always been a consistently successful billing manager. He billed over a million dollars while building a multi-million dollar team that achieved an EBITA of $1m.
He revealed what can turn a good recruiter into a great recruiter: “I think it goes back, there's a saying of yours, your collective sum of the five closest people around you.”
Stu mentioned great recruiters where he learned to shift his perspectives in terms of what is possible. Surrounding yourself with the right people can shift your whole belief system to drive you to reach your potential.
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
Stuart Mitchell Bio and Contact Info
Stuart is a seasoned professional with over a decade of global expertise in technical recruiting.
Stuart's influence extends deep into the heart of America's cybersecurity landscape, where he has been instrumental in securing top-tier executives for prominent Financial Services Companies, Retail Brands, and Technology Giants. His achievements also include the remarkable feat of independently establishing cybersecurity programs from the ground up, often growing them from zero to over 20 employees in astonishingly short periods, with one such endeavor completed within just eight weeks.
With a track record of building and expanding technical recruitment enterprises, Stuart embarked on the journey to establish Hampton North. His mission is to forge Hampton North into the foremost trusted name in cybersecurity recruitment throughout the United States.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Related Podcast You Might Enjoy
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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”. | |||
| How to Leverage the 5 Pillars of Emotional Intelligence for Effective Recruiting, with James Elliot, Ep #186 | 16 Aug 2023 | 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.
People and Resources Mentioned
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| How to Scale Your Recruitment Business While Becoming the Employer of Choice, with Joe Curtis, Ep #185 | 11 Aug 2023 | 01:01:18 | |
Fostering a workplace where everyone wants to work can translate to positive employer branding. This is a critical factor if you wish to build your recruitment business to scale.
Joe Curtis, my special guest, will tell us how they can launch and scale recruitment companies while building those as businesses that people want to work for. The first recruitment business Joe and his cofounders built, 3Search, launched in 2014, and currently employs 40 people. With the successful scaling of 3Search, Joe turned his attention to building the 11 Investments Group, now at 100 heads, with 6 recruitment companies within the group.
In this episode, Joe shared his insights on they are able to have 900+ 5-star Google Reviews across their group, which is phenomenal for a recruitment company. We also discussed the value of diversity and inclusivity, as well as his take on the work-from-home and hybrid setup which is a recently hot topic.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Critical Components When Launching and Scaling Recruitment Businesses
Joe co-founded his first recruitment business, 3Search, in 2014 which currently employs 40 people. With the successful scaling of 3Search, Joe turned his attention to building the 11 Investments Group, now at 100 heads. I wanted to pick his brains on the core components needed to build and scale a recruitment business.
From a strategic point of view, Joe tells the story of why they invested in startups. “Because we didn't want a multi-discipline business. We wanted a group of specialists,” he continued, “we champion small business, we champion entrepreneurship. and growth of small companies. And we have a platform that enables significant ownership to the guys that come in and found the businesses with us. We know how to scale and grow a recruitment business today in 2023, and we bring in founders who know their market well.”
What does the roadmap look like when it comes to scaling a recruitment business? Joe explained how they use an investment model to adapt to the market. He also mentioned how important it is to be hands-on. You will also hear strategies for handling operational tasks such as accounting and marketing on a centralized approach. Most importantly, Joe also shared the mistakes and learnings that they had to take for the past 9 years and how they are leveraging them to help out recruitment businesses investing in their group.
Running a Recruitment Business with Multiple Co-Owners
Running a recruitment business with multiple co-owners can be challenging for several reasons such as decision-making, division of responsibilities, and communication. But what I think is most common is the lack of a shared vision. Leaders can have different ideas of what they're trying to accomplish. What advice would Joe give to recruitment business owners who are working with multiple or other partners? He discussed the following two key principles:
As Joe describes it, “And these days, you know, we don't spend an awful lot of time together as a three talking about stuff, making decisions. So if you're not careful, you can start planning the future. on your own and then one of the others is planning a slightly different future. And as you kind of, as time goes on, those plans get further and further and further apart. So it's important to keep talking about what we're building.”
Creating a Business That People Want to Work For
Recently featured in The Sunday Times, Best Places to Work 2023, 11investment’s efforts have been recognized among the top-rated employers. This is an amazing feat, especially in the recruitment industry. Joe and his partners recognized that “hiring people is going to be hard in the recruitment industry and keeping people was going to be hard in their doing what we're doing.” They took proactive steps to ensure that they retain their valuable talents.
Joe revealed the things that they are doing differently to foster an environment where people want to work. “This employer brand we're building is all based around us really striving to provide the best benefits package we possibly can as a holistic package for people. It's really important that we consider everybody's needs collectively rather than just paying as much commission as we possibly can or having an amazing holiday benefit or, yeah, we're trying to put everything together. So we do have an amazing commission structure, I believe. We do have a good holiday. We've got unlimited holidays… The goal is to provide the best environment we possibly can that enables everybody to flourish both professionally and personally.”
We also discussed topics relating to hybrid and work-from-home setups, as well as what it takes to become a B-Corp-certified company.
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
Joe Curtis Bio and Contact Info
Joe is a recruiter, founder of multiple businesses, and now a recruitment investor who is helping to build and scale recruitment businesses.
Joe is the Director & Co-Founder at 11 Investments Director & Co-Founder at Recruiter Labs Director at 3Search
11 Investments was named The Sunday Times' Top Place To Work for 16-34 year-olds in 2023.
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| Differentiating Through Inclusivity: How to Achieve an Impressive 75% Diversity Placements, with Alexis Alvarez | 04 Aug 2023 | 01:03:12 | |
“Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a priority to the next generation of employees. Their expectation is to see leaders who look like them and to know organizations are committed to DEI long-term — not only during times of social crisis.” The Future of Recruiting 2023 LinkedIn Report Embracing diversity in the recruitment industry is a progressive move that not only brings commercial benefits. It is a long-term commitment that aligns with the values of the current and future employees. I am delighted to share this episode with a very special guest, Alexis Alvarez. Alexis is a diversity advocate and the founder of Career Rockstars, a boutique talent and diversity search firm that partners with lower and middle-market PE firms in the United States and Europe. In this episode, she shared how they became diversity recruitment specialists for lower and middle-market private equity firms, with diversity hires of 60-75%. Alexis has over 10 years of recruiting experience and is also a podcast host. Her show is called Take the Stage - Ladies Who Rock, conversations with rockstar women from the world of private equity. Episode Outline and Highlights
Truly Embracing Diversity as a Key Differentiator
Career Rockstars’ unique selling point is its commitment to diversity and inclusion. Alexis has a remarkable 60 to 75% diversity placement rate in her company. They prioritize diversity in their searches. This approach attracts like-minded firms that are also committed to diversity.
What led Alexis to adopt this approach? She explained, “And I don't know why, maybe it's being, growing up in LA, you're in a really diverse setting... It was really like in 2020 when the world was falling apart. I'm seeing everything happen in the US. I just thought, what's happening, like, I could be doing more… I just thought, okay, well, what can I do? And that's really when I decided to double down on increasing the number of diverse candidates that are in my pipeline, at least. And that's really how it started.”
Like me, you will also be inspired by Alexis’ passion and positive energy while sharing her story. How are you embracing diversity in your recruitment firm? Doing so is a progressive move that brings significant advantages. By fostering an inclusive culture and actively seeking diverse talent, recruitment companies create a more dynamic and forward-thinking business mindset.
Operating Under the Patience, Purpose, and Intention Framework
Alex shared her work framework involving patience, purpose, and intention. This is aligned with her business model and also a no-nonsense approach to coming up with solutions for her clients. Some valuable insights that Alexis shared are:
This benefits Alexis both personally and professionally. She explains, “So not only with the clients that I work with and telling them how to help them and what they need to do and what patience in their context means and purpose and intention in their context means, but like with candidates who want to make a move, it's the same simple concepts that are applied, but just you're adapting them to different scenarios.”
Dislodging Self-Limiting Beliefs
A lot of us can relate to another key topic that Alexis and I discussed: overcoming self-doubt. When I asked her about the biggest challenges she had to face, she mentioned that her biggest obstacle is self-limiting beliefs. I admired how Alexis transparently laid out how she felt when she had to deal with insecurity, an impostor mindset, and self-doubts. We then discussed how she is able to greatly improve her confidence with the support of her husband. She also talked about the value of joining a coaching group.
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
Alexis Alvarez Bio and Contact Info
Career Rockstars Founder, recruitment expert, and diversity advocate, Alexis Alvarez is a steward of capital...human capital. She delivers value-creating impact working with L&MM PE firms who want to increase their diverse hires and broaden their talent pools.
With 15 years of recruitment experience, Alexis knows that firms simply cannot hire high-caliber diverse talent with a low-caliber, or non-existent, diversity strategy. She understands that attracting, and retaining, diverse talent requires patience, purpose, conscious effort, and intention. This approach, together with her positive energy and ability to find and attract outstanding talent, make her a true talent partner.
Alexis’ commitment to diversity started as a child growing up in Los Angeles. As a first-generation American, she was raised to embrace different cultures, races, and religions, understanding from a very early age that being different was not a weakness but a strength. That upbringing has served as a guiding principle throughout her life: different is good and more often than not, great!
Prior to founding Career Rockstars, Alexis led recruitment efforts in the European and Middle Eastern digital TV spaces, working with HBO Europe and StarzPlay Arabia. She holds an MBA from IE Business School in Madrid, Spain, and a BS in International Business from CSU Northridge. She is a lover of languages and considers herself a hard-core Godfather fan, and when not playing referee to her three young children, tries to squeeze in time for reading and sewing.
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| Mentoring Mavericks: How to Build a Winning Team of Top Billers, with Mike Silverstein, Ep #183 | 28 Jul 2023 | 00:50:06 | |
"Selling without selling" refers to an approach or technique that focuses on building authentic relationships with potential customers and meeting their needs without resorting to pushy sales tactics. The goal is to create a positive and genuine interaction with prospects, building long-lasting relationships.
This can be easier said than done, that is why our special guest, Mike Silverstein of Direct Recruiters, Inc shares how he applies this to his practice and he has helped developed multi-million dollar billers.
Mike is the Managing Partner of DRI's healthcare IT and life sciences practice. In 2014, Mike was inducted into the Pinnacle Society, which is the nation's premier consortium of top recruiters within the direct placement and search industry. In 2016, Mike was named one of the most influential millennials by Staffing Industry Analysts.
Episode Outline and Highlights
“Never Sell on the First Call!”
Mike revealed the best advice he got when he was just starting as a recruiter.
He shared, “I learned that if you can resist the urge to sell on the first call … you're going to land in the friend or, you know, consultant bucket versus the person that five minutes into a call is asking for something. And if you can resist the urge to sell on the first call, you'll have carte blanche to ask for stuff for the rest of your relationship because you've established yourself in the right part of somebody's brain.”
I believe that this approach has contributed greatly to Mike’s success. Understanding the value of being genuine and authentic allowed him to gain respect from potential clients and other stakeholders. Mike shared how he applied these principles to grow a multi-million dollar practice.
Hiring, Mentoring, and Developing Million Dollar Billers
A fulfilling accomplishment in Mike’s career is how he hired and developed million dollar billers in their firm. Some of the talent he hired as rookies have gone on to become Partners. What are the key factors in build a team of high performers?
Here are some insights that Mike shared:
Complement Your Strengths with the Right Team Members
Another topic that resonated with me is our discussion on the value of hiring the right team members. A lot of solo recruiters and recruitment entrepreneurs tend to attemp to do everything on their own. But the most successful business owners I know are those who know how to delegate and hire team members that complement their strengths.
Mike shared how this has been a game-changer for him when he hired an experienced partner to complement his strengths and weaknesses. He said, “And if recruiting is a combination of art and science, I'm the artist and she's the scientist.”
If you are a solo practitioner, you might be missing out on opportunities by not building a team. If you're in a boat rowing by yourself,you can only go so fast and so far. But if you have a whole crew who are rowing in the same direction, man, you can really motor!
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
Mike Silverstein Bio and Contact Info
Mike Silverstein is the Managing Partner of DRI's Healthcare IT Division and Life Sciences Practice. In 2014, Mike was inducted into The Pinnacle Society, the nation’s premier consortium of top recruiters within the direct placement and search industry. In 2016, Mike was named one of the most "" by Staffing Industry Analysts, the global advisor of staffing and workforce solutions.
Mike founded the Healthcare IT practice in 2008. Under his leadership, the Life Sciences Practice has expanded and the HIT practice area has grown significantly year-over-year. Additionally, in 2011, Mike helped found what is now DRI's Hospital IT group as a Managing Partner, which is concentrated largely on Hospital IT staffing and consulting. With a focus on recruiting from the Executive Level and C-Suite through individual contributor roles within healthcare software and services organizations nationwide, Mike's diverse background helps him to identify exceptional individuals from startup companies to Fortune 500 corporations. Mike’s consultative style along with his personable approach enables him to develop trusted relationships with clients and investors in order to deliver high-caliber talent capable of leading companies in competitive and fast-changing business environments. Mike Silverstein is known as one of the top healthcare IT recruiters and life sciences recruiters in the United States.
Mike graduated Cum Laude in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He is a Cleveland sports fan, and enjoys music, socializing with friends, and discussing politics.
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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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| Growth Mindset: How to Conquer Self Doubt and Become a Top Biller, with Fernando Espinosa, Ep #182 | 20 Jul 2023 | 00:57:01 | |
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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| The 4 Core Sales Processes that Drive an Effective Client Acquisition Strategy, with Alex Elliott, Ep #181 | 12 Jul 2023 | 01:01:10 | |
Sales is the lifeblood of every business. It’s almost impossible to scale your recruitment company without a consistent flow of new business. Yet many recruitment agencies are lacking an effective and repeatable sales process.
My next guest, Alex Elliott, has designed an effective client acquisition system that yields consistent, predictable results. It enables him and his team to focus their efforts on the right things, optimize the customer experience, and make data-driven decisions to drive revenue growth and business success.
However, designing and executing an effective business development system is easier said than done! In this episode, Alex reveals how they designed their client acquisition funnel around four core sales processes.
Alex also shared best practices and tips on how to consistently share value-adding LinkedIn posts, and how to structure your business for scale.
This is Alex’s second time on the show. The last time was way back in December 2019, before the pandemic. He shared the story of co-founding Liquid Personnel with Jonathan Coxon and how they scaled to a 100M revenue business and became the number one market leader in their space before exiting via a sale to Private Equity.
Alex is now an investor and Strategic Advisor with Strive, headquartered in Manchester. Strive provides Go To Market professionals for disruptive VC-backed tech startups and scaleups across EMEA and the US.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Consistently Sharing Value-Adding Linked Content with a Strong Opening Hook
Posting on LinkedIn consistently can build your professional brand, expand your network, attract top talent, engage with your audience, and promote your organization. If you are a recruitment business leader, you should set an example for your team.
Alex shared his thought process on why he consistently posts:
“I think because I've gone into the SaaS space … one of the things I noticed early on sort of going into that industry, a lot of the leaders, the sales leaders, the go-to-market leaders, and also just the CEOs within that space take personal responsibility for building their own brand. Which in turn has a huge, potentially huge positive impact on the business's brand. So I think I saw that and I was kind of motivated to see whether we could do the same.”
Alex revealed his three steps to be consistent in creating good LinkedIn posts:
He elaborated on how he formulates his content using the AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) principle. We also talked about our perspectives on the return on effort on LinkedIn posting.
How to Structure Your Recruitment Agency for Scale with Career Pathways
“We have multiple career pathways… If you want to scale a recruitment business, you can’t just keep adding heads and heads and heads. You have to build some of the infrastructure which is going to support that growth. One of those things is career pathways.”
I am 100% aligned with Alex regarding the importance of creating a well defined career path for your team members. For Strive - it is about ensuring that a framework or path is in place for their new joiners. Specifically, they design these paths to ensure that they work on their team’s strengths, rather than the usual progression of biller to manager.
Alex shared the career path layout for their team members covering delivery, business development, account management, technical, and management routes. We also discussed how the 360, 270, or 180 models fit their organization.
How to Design an Effective Sales Strategy and Funnel
Another topic that I love in this conversation is how Strive have designed their client acquisition and sales funnel. Focusing on business development and marketing is an absolute must for building a sustainable and resilient recruitment business. Doing this minimizes the chance of getting into a feast and famine rollercoaster that many in the industry are experiencing.
You will find value in Elliott’s explanation of the four core sales processes:
Alex also generously shared the platforms or media that they mostly focus on for their business development campaigns.
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
Alex Elliott Bio and Contact Info
Alex is an Investor and Strategic Director at Strive. Following the sale of his recruitment firm, Liquid Personnel, in 2016 (PE sale), he has now joined the Strive Board of Directors to help scale the business and support our international expansion. A Quote Alex lives by is "Excellence is achieved by mastery of the fundamentals".
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| How to Build an Executive Search Firm that Can Be Sold to a Successor, with Stephan Aschenbrenner, Ep #180 | 03 Jul 2023 | 01:01:00 | |
Is it possible to exit a small, boutique search practice where the owner is one of the primary billers? My special guest, Stephan Aschenbrenner, has found a way of making it possible.
Stephan is the CEO of EO Executives, a franchise network with offices throughout Europe. In 2011, he joined EO executives to build out their German territory. And after four years, they became one of Germany's top 50 executive search and selection firms. Stefan became the managing director of EO International Group in 2016 and became the owner in 2019.
Stephan’s goal is to help executive search professionals to build and scale a partner-led executive search firm and achieve annual billings of 2-4 million. The idea is to build a sustainable business that could be sold to a successor with a significant equity value.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Enhancing Small Boutique Firms' Growth through the Power of Franchising
Scaling an executive search firm is very challenging. Stephan described from his own experience how it can be disappointing to invest time and an immense amount of funding to train and onboard new consultants who will end up leaving your business.
As Stephan shared, “You're always putting the money from the strong builders and investing in the newcomers. And then the other thing is that's what we learned in the UK especially…the better the people are, the sooner they just go for a higher paycheck. So it always was a kind of high turnover. We spent so much time training the people and the people said, ‘thank you for the training. This was probably the best training I ever got. But sorry, now I go to London, for a bigger paycheck.’ So it was a constant turnover in the company.”
I think this is the experience for many owners who want to grow - the frustration and difficulty can cause many to give up pursuing their dreams of building their businesses. In our coaching program called Apex, we have dedicated business owners who are looking to scale their recruitment business between 5-25 people. We know the difficulty of achieving a strong successful company - but it is absolutely doable!
Stephan shared another solution - that is through a partner-led franchise business model. This business model is where they find committed recruitment entrepreneurs who are senior executives themselves, train them, and give them the processes to run a successful search firm.
The value they provide, as discussed by Stephan throughout this episode is helping recruitment-business owners to:
Why Business Leaders Should Embrace Coaching
Stephan and I discussed the value of business owners and leaders embracing coaching. That is, being coachable and becoming coaches themselves. Stephan says, “Coaching is one of our favorite themes in EO… I am a certified business coach now… We are now training all of our leaders in this coaching habit as well.”
If you are a recruitment business owner, I most certainly believe that coaching is a top priority. It is a skill that can be developed and improved, and can certainly be a game–changer for your business.
Leveraging Technology to Support Partners
On top of training, EO also provides technology platforms to its partners. Stephan shared about Executive Intro (their white label version of i-intro), a technology platform that allows their partners to differentiate their service and win retained searches. They also provide CRM and ATS platforms for all their partners, allowing them and all their partners to work on the same systems and leverage each other’s networks to make more placements.
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
Stephan Aschenbrenner Bio and Contact Info Stephan used to work in large international companies as an employed executive. He loved all the benefits and the “security” such firms could provide him. Then the dot-com bubble burst, the world went into recession, and he and his wife found themselves unemployed at the same time.
This was the time he decided to change his career and Stephan started his first company. In the following 10 years, Stephan and his team helped more than 2.000 entrepreneurs to find their right business idea and actually get started. During the financial crisis of 2009 he started EO Executives in Germany and within 4 years had built it into one of the TOP 50 Executive Search Firms in Germany.
In 2016 he became CEO of EO International and in 2019 he became the owner of the EO Group. Stephan is a certified business coach and during the Covid Crisis, he became a partner in the biggest business coaching network worldwide.
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| How to Build a $6M+ Practice by Hiring and Training Top Performers, with Norman Volsky, Ep #179 | 21 Jun 2023 | 01:10:32 | |
Billing $6M+ in 2022 is no small feat, and my special guest, Norman Volsky revealed how his team of 10 was able to achieve a phenomenal per-desk average. Norman shared valuable insights on building your team and attracting high-potential recruiters, using an internship program to establish a talent pipeline, and how to approach the challenging role of a billing manager.
Norman is a managing partner at DRI. Since 2011, he's led the digital health practice at DRI and has built a 10-person team billing $6M+ in revenue in 2022. The Pinnacle Society welcomed Norm as a member in 2021. And interestingly, in 2022, DRI managing partners merged with Kay Bassman and Sanford Rose Associates to form Starfish Partners.
Episode Outline and Highlights
How to Adopt the Internship Model to Build Recruitment Teams It may be a rare practice in the recruitment industry, but it’s worth exploring how an internship program could benefit your business. Norman shared the story of how he got into recruitment - from starting as an intern with no salary to becoming a Managing Partner. As the first intern in the history of DRI, his firsthand experience shows that an internship is effective in finding recruiters with the highest potential.
He revealed how they are using this model in building their team, which has proven to be very successful. Norman’s team of 10 is billing more than $6m, which is phenomenal per desk average. He shared their thought process in implementing their internship program:
“I was the first and only unpaid intern, but it ended up working out well, so no hard feelings. But our paid internship program is purely in our opinion an opportunity for us to get some talented. individuals exposed to recruiting and for them to get a couple of months of experience and to know whether it's for them. I think a lot of recruiting, it's a great career for a lot of people, but it's not for everyone. It is a lot of rejection. It is a lot of hard work. It is a lot of betting on yourself. Some people want more security than that. Some people want a little bit more of a defined career path as opposed to a lot of ambiguity. So for the right people... It's an amazing career and we want people exposed to that.”
Would you consider creating an internship program for your recruitment business? This could help you build your team, create a solid talent pipeline, and even boost your branding as an employer.
Juggling the Tasks as a Billing Manager Norman functions as a Managing Partner and a billing manager - which I believe is the toughest job in recruiting. You're managing your own workload, your own client base, and doing deals. And at the same time, you're also training, coaching, mentoring, managing your team, and trying to get that balance right is challenging. Norman walked me through how he is able to cover these tasks with great success. Here are the takeaways:
As Norman puts it, “I think hiring the right people makes your life a lot easier. So that definitely stacks the deck in your favor. I think the other thing is you've got to practice what you preach. You got to lead from the front. You got to show a work ethic and the standard of excellence and the importance of quality. And if you lead by example, you know, people want to rise to that standard. I think that's really, really important. “
The Three Focus Areas When Scaling Your Business Norman also revealed the three focus areas which are key to his team’s success. You will hear him discuss the importance of finding top clients and why it matters as much as finding top candidates. He also shared how to attract the right talent when it comes to internal recruitment and the value of delivering the best training, coaching, and mentoring. Lastly, we talked about being strategic when allocating assignments to your team members and ensuring that you are making great matches for your clients.
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
Norman Volsky Bio and Contact Info
Norman is a Managing Partner at DRI (2011-Present). Norm built the Digital Health team at DRI beginning in 2017 and his 10-person team has scaled it to over $6M in revenue in 2022. The Pinnacle Society welcomed Norm as a member in 2021. Along w/ the rest of the DRI Managing Partners, DRI merged w/ Kaye Bassman and Sanford Rose Associates in 2022 to form Starfish Partners. Norm spoke at the SRA Conference in 2022 (the topic was Best Practices working w/ Venture Capital backed companies) and will be speaking on the Pinnacle Society Panel at NAPS in 2023.
People and Resources Mentioned
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Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| Top Producing Recruiter Reveals How to Win and Develop Key Accounts, with Katherine Jerald, Ep #178 | 16 Jun 2023 | 01:01:57 | |
Top billers typically have one or more “cornerstone clients.”
These key accounts are ones you can build your business on because they use you exclusively and give you lots of repeat business. My special guest, Katherine Jerald, is someone who’s mastered the art of client development.
Katherine is the founder of Elray Search, a firm that is committed to solving the biggest talent needs of middle-market clients in the aerospace, satellite, and defense firm. She’s also a member of the Pinnacle Society.
What’s fascinating about Katherine’s story is that she’s a second-generation recruiter. She remembers the first day her father opened a recruiting firm. She actually got to skip school at the age of 12 to help set up the office computers.
Katherine later rejoined her father's search firm, FPC Portland in 2015 as an executive recruiter, and opened an FPC office in Lake Oswego, Washington. During her tenure within the FPC franchise network, Katherine was the five-time winner of FPC's “Top Recruiter” Award.
In this episode, Katherine shares the skillset and mindset that enabled her to become a top producer and successful business owner. She reveals some killer strategies for winning and developing clients, plus how she transitioned from contingency to 100% engaged search.
Episode Outline and Highlights
How to Become a Top Recruiter: Hustle, Grind and Focus on Client Development
During her tenure at FPC, Katherine was the five-time winner of FPC’s top recruiter award. What’s her secret?
According to Katherine, “The baseline is you gotta hustle and you gotta grind. And most people do not want to work that hard.” But of course, that can't be all there is to it because I also have seen recruiters work really hard but still not get the same results that Katherine does.
She then revealed the differentiator: “I would say it's been really connecting and developing the client side.” Katherine is aware of the importance of client development. She shared her strategies for finding the right account, landing that business, and caring for the relationship. This strategy leads to her getting referrals which leads to more businesses and clients.
Katherine also gave tips on how to pitch without being too salesy, how to establish relationships during a recruitment call instead of being purely transactional, and her process for developing those accounts.
Transitioning From Contingency to an Engaged Search
The most exciting part of Katherine’s story is how she recently launched her own recruitment firm, Elray Search. They officially launched on April 1 of this year, and in their first quarter they’ve taken off like a rocket ship, which is fitting since they specialize in aerospace and defence.
One of the key shifts that Katherine made when she started on her own is that she hasn’t accepted any contingent searches since their launch. How does she pitch this engaged search to her clients? Here’s some of her verbiage:
Katherine added, “Guess how many have asked for it (the $10k deposit) back? Zero!”
Katherine also discussed how she started to build her team - having just hired their third member very recently, and how it helped her be free from the 360 model.
Pitching it the Right Way
I love Katherine’s mindset when it comes to pitching: “So the whole like the premise is, nobody likes a hard sell anymore. And this is totally contradictory to what we, you know, how it was taught 20 years ago, where you're trying to say, ‘Hey, can I accept on your behalf?’ That doesn't work anymore.”
For Katherine, it is all about attraction rather than promotion. By asking the right questions, she is able to nudge a candidate to start talking and building a relationship, which eventually leads to successful placements. Katherine added, “I tell them, ‘Hey, I'm never gonna try to talk you into something. At the end of the day, you're always gonna do what's best for you and your family, and everybody should understand that. And if they don't, they don't have the right intentions’.”
Katherine shared so many golden nuggets, but that little script was my absolute favourite. Could the same approach be effective for you and your 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: 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
Katherine Jerald Bio and Contact Info
Katherine is a second-generation recruiter. She remembered the first day her father opened a recruiting firm; she got to skip school at the age of 12 to set up office computers. She received her bachelor’s in business from the University of Oregon in 2004 and her MBA in finance from Washington State University in 2015.
She rejoined her father’s search firm, FPC Portland, in 2015 as an executive recruiter and opened an FPC office in Lake Chelan, Washington. She specializes in defense, satellite, and aerospace technologies. During her tenure at FPC, she was the five-time winner of FPC’s Top Recruiter award.
In 2022, Katherine launched Elray Search, LLC, a firm that is committed to solving the biggest talent needs of middle market clients in the aerospace, satellite, and defense firm. Katherine is a member of the Pinnacle Society.
She was a 2022 Pinnacle Conference Speaker and a 2022 Whitman Partners Conference Speaker. She is also an active member of SSPI (Space & Satellite Professionals International) and Leading Ladies of Aerospace.
People and Resources Mentioned
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| Recruitment Startup Success: How to Bill $1,200,000 in 15 Months, with Mike Williams, Ep #177 | 09 Jun 2023 | 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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| The 3 Ingredients Every Recruitment Agency Needs for Long Term Success, with Kevin Burch, Ep #174 | 06 Jun 2023 | 01:09:10 | |
What are the factors that drive short-term results while ensuring the long term success of your recruitment business?
If you have ambitions to grow your recruitment agency, you’ll enjoy my conversation with Kevin Burch the CEO and co-founder of Questpro Consultants. Since they opened in 1996, Questpro has grown to a team of 35 people providing four service offerings: temp, retained/contingency, executive search, and college graduate placement.
In this episode, Kevin shares three of the secrets that have contributed to sustainable growth for the long run:
QuestPro, a staffing and recruiting firm based in Dallas, Texas specializing in the insurance and risk management industry nationwide.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Protecting Your Business Culture From Toxic People
Over the last 25 years, Kevin has built a team of 35 people which is already an achievement on its own. But the thing that stood out to me is how he is able to retain these talents. He has 3 or 4 people with a tenure of 20 years, several more in the 10-15 range, and some between 5-10 years. Out of his 35 team members, only 11 are under the 2-year tenure. If there is a key factor contributing to this phenomenal achievement, it is Questpro’s working culture. Kevin shared how they celebrate little things and big things, initiate fun contests, and reward and recognize performers. These engagement activities in Questpro are actually initiatives from the top management. For Kevin, the culture that they have is a culture not only of achievement but also of caring and empathy.
Kevin also discussed the importance of protecting their culture by letting go of toxic members that can disrupt team dynamics. He shared their story where they had to let go of large producers for the greater good of the group. Despite being a small company at the time, he was willing to let go of a big revenue contributor for the well-being of others. You will hear how making this move led to their company hitting their best revenues the following year that they made that decision.
Diversify Your Revenue Streams
Kevin has a tremendous experience with permanent, retained, contingency, and contract staffing. He shared a very interesting mix in his business that includes 50-50 on temp and permanent (direct hire). They have four service offerings, namely:
Questpro – Contingency and Retained Search QTemps – Temporary and Temp-to-Hire Contract Staffing as well as Payroll Services QGrads – Internships, Entry-Level, and College Graduate Placement QExecs – Executive Placement through Seasoned Contract Executives
As Kevin said, “The theory that if you are a temp company you surely can’t be a permanent staffing partner, or you can’t be a retained partner is not true.” They even offer a “Grad Division” which helps keep the industry they serve full of fresh talent.
For recruitment business owners, the idea of diversifying your revenue stream is critical for success. If you are currently doing only direct hire or perm placements, for example, consider adding recurring revenue streams such as temporary, contract, or interim.
Keep on Learning and Embracing Technology
Another takeaway from this episode is how Kevin and his team embrace technology. Being a recruiter for more than two decades, Kevin finds the last few years have been interesting and they have seen a big flip in how business is done. We discussed how they are staying at the forefront of their market, such as:
For Kevin, re-learning and embracing technology is an advantage that contributes to his longevity in the industry.
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
Kevin Burch Bio and Contact Info
Kevin co-founded Questpro Consultants in August 1996. Kevin went from the next great sportscaster and play-by-play man to sitting behind a desk and dialing for dollars! Now 25 Years later, he can safely say that it is the best decision he ever made. From coast to coast, Kevin and his team match top-notch insurance talent with the absolute best Insurance Carriers, Brokers, TPA, and more.
When he’s not playing KOAR (King of All Recruiters), Kevin is at home with his lovely wife, Lauren, and three sons, that continue to challenge and keep him young: Parker, Owen, and Taylor. Kevin is also addicted and frustrated all at once by golf but loves the game.
People and Resources Mentioned
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| How to Unlock Extraordinary Growth Through Technology and Empowering Your Team, with Gerard Koolen, Ep #176 | 06 Jun 2023 | 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.
People and Resources Mentioned
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| How to Build Trust and Relationships at Scale by Hosting Meet-up Events, with Steven Li, Ep #175 | 26 May 2023 | 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.
People and Resources Mentioned
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Related Podcast You Might Enjoy
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| Are You Ready for the 3 Big Meta Trends That Are Revolutionizing Recruitment?, with Rob Green, Ep #173 | 18 May 2023 | 01:05:47 | |
What are the biggest trends that affect the future of agency recruitment? Are you positioned for success in the rapidly evolving world of work?
With advances in Open AI and the growing popularity of remote work and the gig economy, the recruitment industry is set for a major transformation in the next 5-10 years. This shift might cause fear and uncertainty among recruiters, however if you’re aware of the trends, remain agile and are willing to adapt, you can capitalize on the tremendous new opportunities that will be created.
Join us in this episode with special guest, Rob Green, as we explore the future of agency recruitment amidst the rapidly changing technological landscape. Rob reveals his insights based on extensive research and shares the specific steps his company is taking to stay relevant. Rob Green is the CEO and Founder of The GRM Group, a holding company that combines leading recruitment, research, recruitment tech, and management consulting brands, all servicing the global legal industry. With 20 years of experience in the recruitment industry and having placed lawyers in 40 countries, Rob brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the discussion. Episode Outline and Highlights
The Three Meta Trends That Are Changing the Recruitment Industry
Recruiters and recruitment business owners are always interested to know how technology such as Opan AI will affect the industry. You’ll enjoy hearing Rob’s fascinating insights about the future of work, based on the research report that he commissioned. His research team identified three trends that will transform the way people work and how companies recruit:
Rob urged the listeners to zoom out from the world of recruitment for a minute and realize how the world is changing based on the above three meta trends. We also discussed the growing “gig economy,” and how talents prefer to work from anywhere in the world and would prefer project-based instead of full-time. If you fear that AI will take a majority of jobs in the future, that is not the crazy part. Rob cited a report by Dell Technologies which it states that “80% of all the jobs in the next decade that we'll all be working in haven't even been invented yet.”
What does it mean for you as a recruiter or a recruitment business owner? As Rob very well puts it, “There's going to be a whole new way of recruiting, a whole new skill set of recruiting. And we can prepare for this.”
Leveraging Skill-Matching Platforms for Recruitment
Rob dived into how they are adapting to the trends of the shared economy and shared data by means of technology. They are using the platform StiiNT.iT (Stint It) - to simplify their process and maximize potential. The platform is a private-labelled recruitment technology where “Professionals across the world are vetted and skills verified creating anonymous profiles. These profiles will be searchable and accessible, whether it sits on someone else’s platform or your own – building a collaborative talent pool, ensuring 100% matches, and removing unconscious biases.”
Rob’s team has white-labeled the Stint It platform to create Umbiie (umbiie.com), a global skills-matching platform for legal professionals. It’s not a perfect comparison, but this is the equivalent of Bumble for recruiting - the idea is that candidates choose which employers can unlock their profile.
Rob shared how they deal with data privacy and how the platform can be monetized. As he stated, “This is really not a pitch because I don't get anything out of this. This is just, do you wanna prepare for the future? Do you believe that there's going to be pressure on contingency recruitment? If you do, there is a solution out there.”
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
Rob Green Bio and Contact Info
With two decades’ experience in the recruitment industry, Rob has recruited lawyers in 40 countries, working with firms and companies from the biggest in DLA Piper, Bank of America, Facebook, Alibaba, and such like, to small one-person law firms, looking to double in size. Rob launched his career with the leading financial services agency, Badenoch & Clark, in London. Following his relocation to the Cayman Islands in 2005, he joined one of the Caribbean’s top recruitment companies, CML, to establish the region’s leading legal recruitment provider. In 2009, Rob became a partner in the business and moved to Hong Kong to grow the business and become one of the top consultancies in Asia. He took full ownership of the Hong Kong branch and rebranded as GRM Search in 2013, winning 15 industry awards in 8 years and working with some of the most coveted legal firms, MNCs, and financial institutions in the world. Enticed by the link between Africa and Asia, Rob opened GRM Search’s first office in South Africa in Johannesburg in 2014. He moved with his family to settle in Cape Town and spearhead the growth of the business into the African continent in 2017. GRM has had notable successes in Asia, Africa, and Australia, with some failures along the way to keep him humble. Rob regularly shares his views on the legal job market with industry publications, business radio shows, HR seminars, and law graduates at HKU, Stellenbosch University, and UWC. He is renowned for his global outlook, experience, legal market knowledge, and down-to-earth approach. In his spare time, Rob is the proud founder and chairman of South Africa’s first soccer program for special needs children (GPS Vikings FC) and a part-time boxing ring announcer as well as a doting father and husband.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| How to Attract Your Ideal Clients with Content Marketing, with Mark Whitby, Ep #172 | 04 May 2023 | 00:33:05 | |
Do you want to attract new clients and grow your recruitment practice, regardless of market conditions?
In this episode, you’ll hear me being interviewed by Tom Burkinshaw, the Group Marketing Director at Recruitment Entrepreneur, the world’s leading investor in recruitment start-ups and scale-ups. James Caan’s team invited me to London to record an in-person interview for The Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast.
You’ll learn how to leverage content marketing to build your brand, attract more of your ideal clients, and be treated as a trusted advisor. In particular, Tom grills me about the secrets of starting and growing a successful podcast. I also share our Expert Interview Strategy, which enables you to become a thought leader in your industry, produce high-quality content consistently and develop new business at the same time.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Why I Transitioned From Recruiting to Coaching Recruiters
Tom asked me a question I often get asked, “why did you become a coach instead of continuing as a recruitment consultant?”
I shared the story of how I got started in the recruiting industry, experiencing the same struggles and challenges that a lot of recruiters can relate to. Despite working incredibly hard, I was only an average biller, hitting my sales targets but stuck around the middle of the leader board. Being quite money motivated at the time, I wasn’t satisfied with my performance, so I hired a coach to help me maximize my results. He helped me to double my billings in 90 days and I quickly become the top-producer in my team of 8 and climbed to the top 15% of 200 recruiters.
This was such a life-changing experience that it inspired me to become a coach myself, which I consider to be my true calling. Since launching Recruitment Coach in 2001, I’ve helped more than 10,000 recruiters in 34 countries to maximize performance and increase their billings.
In the course of the interview, I also revealed how the ‘08 recession was a devastating experience. I shared how I came back from the brink of bankruptcy to turn things around by leveraging content marketing.
We also discussed the difference between being self-employed from being a true entrepreneur. After being a solopreneur for many years, I’m finally scaling my business. We discussed the benefits of building a team and that it’s often fear and limiting beliefs that hold us back from growing our business.
How to Grow a Successful Podcast
The Resilient Recruiter podcast will exceed 200+ episodes this year. I’m so happy that this podcast has reached recruiters across the globe with more than 150,000 downloads. One of the reasons I started the podcast is that I love learning and sharing ideas with like-minded people. I get so much value, personally, from interviewing successful recruiters and recruitment business owners that I would do this even if there was no direct benefit to my business.
Because my podcast has been so successful, recruiters started asking us for help to launch their own podcast. So we created an online course for our coaching clients and in the last few months, we’ve helped multiple recruitment and executive search firm owners to start a podcast. One of our clients won a new client before even launching, simply by inviting them to be a guest on her show! The benefit is that our clients can learn from all the mistakes we’ve made over the last 3 years. Plus, we have a 38-step process for producing, publishing and promoting the podcast so our clients have a blueprint to follow. In this conversation with Tom, I revealed a few of the best practices for running a successful podcast. The number one key is to keep working on it and never give up.
How Recruiters Can Build Their Brand with Content Marketing
Tom and I discussed how imposter syndrome is one of the biggest barriers to becoming a thought leader. Content marketing requires recruiters to have confidence in their own market knowledge and believe in the value their own insights can bring to their audience. We talked about the benefit of delivering value-adding content to your network in terms of establishing credibility and trust within the community of your potential clients and candidates.
Mark elaborated on how recruitment business owners can do this with the expert interview strategy. This strategy works for podcasts, videos and even in written article format. You will hear Mark explain how this strategy combines business development with inbound marketing. You will also learn how this can be a differentiator for your recruitment business when it comes to creating high-quality, industry specific content.
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
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| 4 Essential Skills that All Recruitment Business Owners Need to Be Successful, with Chris Dinaso, Ep #171 | 27 Apr 2023 | 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.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Related Podcast You Might Enjoy
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| How to Increase Your Executive Search Firm’s Billings by 600% in 2.5 Years, with Callum Collins, Ep #170 | 19 Apr 2023 | 01:06:07 | |
In this episode, we uncover the keys to G&E Partners' rapid growth from $1 million to $6 million in just 2.5 years. Discover the business development strategies, hiring processes, tools, and technology that fueled this spectacular success.
My guest, Callum Collins, joined G&E Partners straight after university as a graduate trainee and within 3 years he had progressed to Managing Director. During the following 2.5 years, G&E Partners grew from 8 people to a team of 30 and increased billings by 600%.
G&E Partners is a boutique organization with a number of specialist practices including Pharmaceuticals/Biotech, Medical Devices, Logistics & Supply Chain, Commercial Construction, Civil Engineering, and Energy & Renewables.
Episode Outline and Highlights
How to Hire Fresh Grads and Make Them Successful 360 Billers
When scaling your recruitment business, it can be challenging to find good people for your own team. Most owners assume that the easiest way to grow is by hiring experienced recruiters from your competitors. G&E prefers to hire Graduates with no prior recruitment experience. They are then trained up to G&E’s way of working.
How do they assess candidates to find the high-performers? Callum talked about their hiring process which includes asking the applicants to prepare and deliver a presentation, plus psychometric testing.
Callum also explained that although they have a 360-degree model, they train new hires on the candidate side first. They want new joiners get a taste of success quickly.
How to Win Key Accounts with Continuous Hiring Needs
One of the reasons G&E has scaled so quickly is that they’re successful at winning key accounts – companies who are continuously hiring. Having an abundance of roles is the perfect opportunity to grow your team. It means you’ll have plenty of orders for them to fulfill and they’ll start contributing from day one.
I asked Callum about his approach to business development. He explained that they focus on identifying the top 1% of executive talent in their niche, connecting with those individuals and nurturing them by keeping in touch with them consistently - even if they don’t have an job opportunity for them immediately. Because of the trust and credibility they establish, some of those candidate contacts turn into clients. This has been Callum’s most effective business development strategy.
How an Automated Reminder System Prompts You to Follow Up Consistently
As stated above, a critical factor of G&E’s success is how they nurture candidate relationships. It’s a deceptively simple idea. Yet the reality is that while all recruiters understand the importance of building relationships, very few have a system for following up consistently.
Callum reveals how he and his team organize themselves to continuously touch base, building trust and build credibility with top candidates. You’ll hear about the specific tools they use that automatically prompt them to follow up at the right time so nobody slips through the cracks.
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
Callum Collins Bio and Contact Info
Callum is the Managing Director of G&E Partners and is personally responsible for the growth and performance of the business. He was promoted to Managing Director in 2019 and this time has seen significant growth across all areas of business. He currently leads the day-to-day operations and activity of the business and in addition to his management responsibilities, Callum also leads retained search and selection projects in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech markets, specializing in C Suite, VP/SVP, and Board level assignments.
Callum has been with the business since joining as a Trainee Consultant and progressed to Managing Director & Partner in under 7 years.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| Productivity Queen: How to Achieve a New Personal Best, Billing $1.4M, with Kimberly Laipple, Ep #169 | 05 Apr 2023 | 01:02:03 | |
We all have the same number of hours in a day. How do top recruiters, like Kimberley Laipple, bill five times more than average performers in the same amount of time?
For Kim’s entire career, she’s sought out ways to increase her income without working longer hours. Her focus on productivity has paid off. Last year, Kim personally billed over $1,400,000 while managing a team of 28 recruiters.
What is the secret behind this astonishing achievement? In this interview, you’ll learn the 4 keys to Kim’s productivity including effective delegation, team empowerment, consistent client development and automation technology.
Kimberly is the SVP and Managing Director of Scientific Search. In addition to her operational function, she still runs a full desk along with managing a team of 28 recruiters. Kim is a member of Pinnacle Society which is a consortium of the top 80 recruiters in the country. Kim’s consultative approach and client development skills have allowed her to continue to grow with the organization and increase her client base year after year.
Episode Outline and Highlights
How to Forge Your Own Career Path
Kim is an inspiring example of how resilience and hard work pay off. She shared her experience of becoming a single mom at 18 and having to find a way to make a life for herself and her kids. “When you’re in that situation you really don’t know what you’re gonna do. But I knew one thing: I needed to find a way to make a living where my income didn’t depend on someone else’s choices.”
Joining Scientific Search almost 15 years ago, Kim has created her own career path. She earned her promotion to Managing Director as a result of constantly growing her client base while developing and mentoring junior recruiters.
Kim is a proponent of constant, never ending improvement. She’s always looking for ways to improve their delivery and increase productivity so they can increase billings within the same amount of hours. Some of the pivotal changes that she introduced were:
This resulted in a lot of collaboration within their team and gave the clients all the support that they need.
The Key Factors that Helped Kim Reach Record Billings of $1.4m
In 2022, Kim had a record year billing over $1.4M personally in addition to onboarding and developing junior recruiters. What were the success factors that lead to this astonishing achievement? The key ingredients we discussed include:
Leveraging Automation Technology to Save Time and Increase Revenue
If you’re interested in leveraging automation to increase your billings, you’ll enjoy listening to Kim discuss her tech stack. Kim is on the Technology Committee of the Pinnacle Society, and is excited to share platforms that they are using to save time and generate more revenue. Some of the platforms she discussed are:
Kim shared how these technologies fit together in their current processes.
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
Kimberly Laipple Bio and Contact Info
Kimberly Laipple is the SVP and Managing Director of Scientific Search. In addition to her operational function, she still runs a full desk along with managing a team of 28 recruiters. Kim was also nominated and joined the Pinnacle Society which is a consortium of the top 80 recruiters in the country! Kim’s consultative approach and client development skills have allowed her to continue to grow with the organization and increase her client base year after year. During the 14 years that Kim has been with Scientific Search, she has successfully placed people in clinical and commercial operations, manufacturing, engineering, R&D, and analytics as well as many other areas in pharmaceutical, life science medical device, healthcare, technology, and CPG companies.
Outside of work, Kim enjoys spending time with her 2 daughters and 4 grandkids. She is also passionate about animal rescue and has a house full of furry kids to keep her busy.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| How to Become More Valuable and Influential as a Recruiter, with Michael Goldman, Ep # 168 | 29 Mar 2023 | 00:54:35 | |
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.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| 3 Simple Steps to Increase Your Billings from 6 to 7-Figures, with Andrea Colabella, Ep # 167 | 22 Mar 2023 | 01:00:18 | |
What does it take to level up your billings from six figures per year to seven figures?
To answer this question, I asked my friend Andrea Colabella of the Cardea Group, to share her journey and the key changes she made to increase her billings from $550-750k per year to over $1.2m.
Andrea shared relatable insights and learnings from running a successful search firm including both her wins and losses. She presented golden nuggets about exclusivity, how to prepare for critical conversations, as well as the value of learning to say no to some searches.
Andrea has been recruiting since 2005 and has placed over 800 individuals throughout her career. She started her own agency, Cardea Group, in 2009 and is a member of the Pinnacle Society, the premier consortium of Industry-Leading recruiters in North America.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Key Learnings as a Recruitment Firm Owner
Andrea’s journey as a recruitment business owner is a colourful one, full of learnings and challenges that a lot of recruitment firm owners can relate to. She shared how they won major accounts as a boutique agency against well-known and established larger retained and contingency firms. She also revealed key learnings when they fail, doing retrospectives when they lose a pitch.
Highlights of lessons that she shared are:
The 3 Changes That Enabled Her to Increase Billings to Over $1,000,000
Andrea and I discussed how she was able to level up from being a consistent biller in the $550-750K range to finally passing $1M+ per annum for the past two years. She acknowledges that it is also market driven but highlighted a few steps they took to make this happen.
So what are the 3 most important changes that enabled her to level up her billings?
Listen to the full episode to hear Andrea elaborate on how she almost doubled her average fee!
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
Andrea Colabella Bio and Contact Info
Andrea is a Johns Hopkins alumnus with bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She has been recruiting since 2005, initially across all industries, and over the past decade with a focus on the investment management space. Her excellence in the industry is highlighted through her admittance into The Pinnacle Society, an influential group of industry-leading recruiters. She started her own firebrand agency, Cardea Group, in 2009 focused on assisting private equity firms, hedge funds, venture capital funds, family offices, and traditional asset managers in staffing their non-investment functions. Based in New York City, Andrea is also an active board member of several not-for-profits.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| How to Bill $1,000,000 For Ten Years Straight and Grow a Successful Team, with Allan Fisher, Ep #166 | 16 Mar 2023 | 01:04:14 | |
Running a desk while growing and managing a team can be extremely challenging. Someone who has managed to pull it off is Allan Fisher, founder of Premier Financial Search.
Allan’s got an amazing track record of personally billing over a million dollars for ten years straight. Then during Covid, Allan decided to turn a threat into an opportunity and grow his practice from a small, office-based team of 4 people to a remote team of 15 people based across the country.
According to Allan, the secret to his success involves excellent an operational support team, robust systems and processes, leveraging automation technology and commit to ongoing staff training & development.
In his long recruiting career, Allan has faced his share of adversity. As a recruiter and recruitment business owner, he went through the 9/11, the dot com bubble, the 2008/9 great recession, COVID and now the economic uncertainty and slowdown of 2023. However, Allan believes that after every recession, prosperity follows.
Some of the key highlights that you will hear in this episode are:
Episode Outline and Highlights
Insulating Your Team During Downturns
“If we are consistent with what we do, if we never change the quality that we present, we are really trying to make ourselves the firm of choice in any market. So it is not gonna make us recession-proof, but it will insulate us.” This is how Allan summarized how they have dealt with economic downturns and recessions since he started his recruitment business.
Allan started his recruitment business just around 2001, prior to the 9/11 attack. However, he had been a recruiter since 1988. So you can just imagine how many downturns Allan had undergone as a recruiter and business owner - the dot com bubble, the 9/11 attack, the real-estate bubble leading to the 2008 recession, and COVID. Now that we are all facing a similar uncertainty it is invaluable to hear Allan’s thought process and insight, and below are the takeaways:
Why Having an “Integrator” is Key to Operational Success
Being a successful business owner is not the same as being a successful recruiter. On the other hand, the best recruiters are not necessarily always the best business owners. The best business owners are actually the ones who are good at marketing, sales, and leadership. Hence, if you are a successful recruiter transitioning to becoming a business owner, hiring someone complementary to your technical skills is a key to success.
This is the case with Allan, and he shared his journey of discovering this logical approach with his team. By finding his and his team’s strengths, he was able to find the best role for his members. From within his team, he was able to find an integrator who is very effective in operational execution.
As a recruitment business owner, things you may need to ask yourself: Do you have an integrator to help in the operational aspects of your business? Are you able to set up your team for success by having them work primarily on their strengths?
Growing Your Business by Building a Team in a Remote Working Environment
A key highlight when growing Allan’s business is when they started to grow the team from 4 to 15 members in a couple of years by hiring people remotely. “A couple of years ago when we realize that location was not really a factor for our clients. Then I realized, maybe it should not be a factor for us,” he recalled. So Allan started to work on building his team, by first running a search. He looked for candidates that have been doing what they do for 3-4 years and ran a national search. He was able to find rockstar team members in doing so. Given that this is a remote setup, Allan also revealed how they adjusted their training methodology in order to accommodate their new team members. Lastly, Allan also shared how he works on the team’s dynamics and culture despite the differences in proximity.
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
Allan Fisher Bio and Contact Info
Allan Fisher has been the recruiter of choice to elite local, regional, and national accounting firms for 25 years. Leveraging his extensive industry expertise, Allan is driven to facilitate transformative change for organizations and candidates, alike. With a mission to further client strategic visions and goals, Allan has keen insight into accounting talent market trends and forces, enabling him to make placements that surpass industry averages for engagement and retention.
Allan originally began his career in accounting, spending two years with a professional services firm. From there, he moved to a division of a $500 million publicly traded software manufacturer. In January 1998, seeking to utilize his accounting background in service to others, Allan made the jump to recruiting and joining Accounting Principals, a national staffing firm. In his three and a half years with Accounting Principals, he was ranked as one of the top executive recruiters nationwide, winning the “Consultant Of The Year” award by the California Staffing Professionals Association (CSP) in 2000.
Today, Allan has established himself as an industry thought leader and has spoken at meetings of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants, the California State Board of Accountancy, The Westside Firm Administrators Group, and ProVisors. He has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| Is the 120° Recruitment Model More Effective Than the Old 360° Model?, with Pree Sarkar, Ep #164 | 01 Mar 2023 | 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.
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| Why Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone is Key to Success in Recruitment, with Mike O'Riordan, Ep #163 | 01 Mar 2023 | 00:55:14 | |
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.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| Recruiter Mistakes #7: Being a Generalist, Not a Niche-Market Specialist, with Mark Whitby and Leanne Jones Hunt, Ep #162 | 15 Feb 2023 | 00:17:01 | |
In the 7th installment of our Recruiter Mistakes series, we delve into the benefits of specializing in a niche market and how it can lead to shorter recruitment cycles, clearer messaging, and increased profits.
By focusing on a specific niche, you can tailor your message, build a strong candidate pool, and become the go-to expert in your field. However, choosing a niche can be challenging. Some recruiters may feel hesitant due to the fear of missing out on opportunities or letting go of legacy clients.
We know that specialists usually bill more than generalists and in this session Leanne and I hope to address any fear or hesitation you may have in committing to a niche market.
Episode Outline and Highlights
The Benefits of Specializing
Specializing, in the long run, can help you shorten your recruitment cycle, leading to more placements which ultimately translates to maximized profits. Consider this: how long does it take for you to fill a job on average? If you’re not focusing on a specific niche, you are starting from scratch every time you take on a new search.
Here is how specializing makes things easier:
Specializing is a proven approach. We would estimate that more than 90% of the million-dollar recruitment business owners we’ve had as guests on this podcast are specialists.
What Could Stop You from Committing to a Niche?
Some can feel hesitant to commit to a niche for two reasons: psychologically you may feel that you are turning down profit because you may feel that you are missing out on other opportunities, and you feel that you can’t let go of your ‘legacy’ clients.
If you take a second and think about it, the fear of missing out on other opportunities is quite the opposite of reality. Being a specialist means you will make more money. Although it feels like you are reducing the amount of business you are considering, focusing on a niche gives you more opportunities for repeat businesses and becoming top of mind when it comes to your specific field.
We are not saying that you forgo your legacy clients and leave them behind. A workaround is having a transition period and setting the right expectations with your existing core clients. You can still work with your legacy clients without compromising your commitment to a specific niche.
What Are the Steps That You Should Take
In our coaching program, we guide you to define or re-define your niche through our market-mapping exercise. Thinking about the parameters of how to define a niche, we use the acronym FILL (Function, Industry, Level, Location). Look back over your last 12-24 months of placements. Where have you been the most successful? That is a good starting point to decide your specialty.
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
Connect with Mark Whitby
| |||
| How to Replace Self-Doubt with Courage and Stay Motivated During a Slump, with Michael Pietrack, Ep #161 | 08 Feb 2023 | 00:51:54 | |
No one is immune from challenging economic downturns and it is certainly the case for my special guest, Michael Pietrack. Making his second appearance on the show, Michael humbly shares his experience of dealing with a severe slump in his market.
Michael’s shares his strategy for surviving tough times and emerging as a market leader. In this inspiring interview, Michael explains how he navigated past recessions and his approach during the current climate. There are lessons for leaders and recruiters alike, including how Michael keeps a healthy mental space for himself and his team, remains relevant and brings value to his customers in a downturn.
You’ll discover the proactive steps to overcome a slump, including best practices and strategies for MPC marketing and cold-calling. You will also hear about Michael’s new book, Legacy, which is about values that guide the choices we make in life and in business.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Focusing on Doing the Right Things During a Downturn
Since last time I spoke to Michael, the market he serves has contracted significantly.
“The market in our particular industry totally flipped. We went from the healthiest market you can imagine in 2021, and it just started to nosedive. The business just evaporated. We went from having 99 recs down to 9 as a firm. We carried over 9 from 2022 to 2023.”
The current economic environment for a lot of recruitment firms can pose an unpredictable challenge to owners, no one is immune to what Michael’s team had experienced. If this were to happen to you, how would you have responded?
Michael, being the resilient leader that he is, possessed a healthy mindset on dealing with a business slump. For him, it is important to keep the team busy and remain relevant. Below are the takeaways that he shared:
A Business Leader’s Guide on Dealing with a Business Slump
Recruiting can be the best job in the world when things are going well, but can also be the worst job in the world if things are not going great. So as a recruitment business owner and leader, how do you ensure that you and your team are able to stay strong?
Michael shared the proactive steps he is implementing in his team:
The most important topic we covered is having the right mindset regarding your business, candidates, clients, and being mentally prepared for what the future holds.
Leaving a Legacy and Being Noble in the Recruitment Field
Michael and I talked about his new book, Legacy: The Saga Begins. This book is an allegory about overcoming fear and self-doubt and finding courage in the face of adversity. Essentially, it’s about values – becoming noble, making choices, and believing in your own abilities. He wrote the book during the pandemic when the world is feeling anxious about an uncertain future. Michael and I discussed how the book’s message is relevant not just for families but also to recruiters - especially as it relates to being noble and making the right choices.
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 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.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| Why Balance is the Key to Unlocking Personal and Business Growth, with Jeremy Sisemore, Ep #160 | 01 Feb 2023 | 00:57:13 | |
Recruiters might need to work a little harder to achieve the same revenue as last year.
“It is not gloom and doom but it is also bringing a little dose of reality that we may need to get our business development hats on, and we may have to ramp up our energy and activity levels a little bit more to generate the same revenues or more.”
These are the words of my special guest, Jeremy Sisemore, who joins us for the second time to share his insight on how to grow your recruitment business in the current market. In this episode, Jeremy talks about the science of having a success mindset, incorporating balance into your personal and recruitment growth, as well as how to set your team up for success.
Jeremy is one of the leading IT executive recruiters in North America and he’s been at the top of his field for the past 20 years. Jeremy has billed over $14 Million in his career and specializes in placing IT executives in SAP, ERP, and Cyber Security at all levels up to and including CIO, CTO, CISO.
Episode Outline and Highlights
The Science of Cultivating a Success Mindset
The last time I interviewed Jeremy, he emphasized the importance of inner grit which allows you to turn challenging experiences into stepping stones for success. This time, he shared insights on the importance of having the right mindset in the recruitment industry as the current market and economic climate may present some challenges.
“I think that people might be able to do the same revenue and numbers, but only if their mind is right and they work a little harder. It may not feel as easy to make the same numbers, I don’t think, in 2023 as it might have felt in 2022…
“It is not gloom and doom but it is also bringing a little dose of reality that we may need to get our business development hats on, we may have to ramp up our energy and activity levels a little bit more to generate the same revenues.”
Our mindset is like a self-fulfilling prophecy - if you expect great things, and great results, then you will go after it! You will be creative, tenacious, and resilient which will translate into great results. The reverse is also true.
“There is science behind the self-fulfilling prophecy,” added Jeremy.
You’ll enjoy Jeremy’s story about his experience as a competitive diver and diving coach and how it relates to the value of having the right mindset - for both beginners and experts in almost any field.
The Concept of Balance and How to Incorporate it Into Your Personal and Business Growth
Aside from having inner grit and possessing the right mindset - Jeremy discussed the concept of balance. “Balance can mean a lot of different things - depending on how you would like to apply that into our world - recruitment, talent acquisition, building a business, getting clients, getting candidates…”
Jeremy went on to explain how the concept of balance applies in a variety of areas:
You will hear how Jeremy applies this principle - especially in the form of self-talk and reflection as well as having the right mental diet.
Setting Up Your Team For Success
We ended our conversation on the topic of onboarding new team members and setting them up for success, even in a remote setup. Here is the outline of the best practices shared by Jeremy:
Jeremy also shared their approach to benchmarking and KPI’s to give each team member a roadmaps to achieving 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
Jeremy Sisemore Bio and Contact Info
Jeremy Sisemore has been one of the leading IT Executive Recruiters throughout North America for the past 20 years. He started his career with MRI and was Rookie of the Year in 2000 and quickly became the go-to resource for SAP & ERP talent acquisition needs nationally. Jeremy billed millions of dollars in placement revenue over 6.5 years with MRI, received a CSAM Certification, and became known for public speaking on “best practices” within the recruiting industry. In his career, Jeremy has over $14 Million in personal production (billings) and has placed IT Executives and Cyber Security talent at all levels up to and including CIO, CTO, CISO levels across all areas of emerging technologies. ASAP Talent serves over 75 major Fortune 500 clients throughout North America and internationally in Singapore, Germany, and the UK.
Today, Jeremy is CPC and CERS Certified and is a former member of the Board of Directors as Education Chair for The Pinnacle Society, a premier consortium of 80 industry-leading recruiters in North America. He speaks regularly at industry conferences such as NAPS, NCASP, The Fordyce Forum, HAAPC, and MASA among others.
Jeremy and his business partner, Erek Gerth, founded ASAP Talent Services in 2006 and haven’t looked back since. Today the ASAP Team of 5 supports well over 75 of the world’s leading companies and generates annual revenues of around $1.7-$2M. Their mission has been to create a boutique talent acquisition firm focused on the highest quality service and to form lasting partnerships with clients that are poised for growth, to be a total solution provider with respect to SAP & Cyber Security Talent. Jeremy writes industry articles and has been quoted in CIO magazine. On a personal level, Jeremy graduated from the University of Missouri where he was on the Swimming & Diving Team. He’s married and is a father to two daughters and a son based out of Houston, Texas.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
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| Beyond the Transaction: How to Achieve Growth in an Uncertain Economy, with Greg Hollis, Ep #158 | 16 Jan 2023 | 00:57:07 | |
Beyond the Transaction: How to Achieve Growth in an Uncertain Economy The key factor that ensures successful recruitment business growth while navigating an uncertain economic climate is having sticky client relationships. My special guest, Greg Hollis, newly appointed Group CEO of Recruitment Entrepreneur, shares how focusing on the 3 Cs (customer, candidate, consultants) and developing a strong client relationship can bring about significant opportunities for growth to your recruitment firm. He shared their practices on how they add value to their clients and establish a relationship beyond the transaction. Greg has 27 years in the recruitment industry, working across multiple sectors and delivery models, he’s launched and managed several businesses, brought an entrepreneurial spirit into a global PLC’s senior leadership team, and successfully lead many high-performance organizations.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Creating a High-Performance Culture and Focusing on the 3 Cs. Greg has a wealth of experience in the recruitment industry and invaluable insight when it comes to managing and scaling your recruitment business. You will hear his thoughts on the importance of having the core focus on the 3 Cs, which stands for Clients, Candidates, and Consultants.
Greg also discussed what is needed to establish a high-performance culture: it is centered around people with clear goals and expectations. However, the main part is having a clear how. A high-performance culture aligns not only with the objectives but also with learning and skill development.
Critical Keys to Client Relationship Development For Greg, focusing on the client is a critical factor to scale successfully. Rather than just becoming transactional, it is important to step back and consider your customer base. Some of the factors you may want to consider, as mentioned by Greg, are as follows:
Who are they as an organization? What are their plans not just now but in the next 12, 18 months, 2 years, or 3 years? When you scale your business, do you consider building your team to support your clients as aligned with their plans? On top of onboarding talents into their organization, what support can you provide to take care of their existing talents by improving their unique value proposition in the marketplace? How do we understand the challenges and pain in their processes?
To summarize, Greg says, “By taking a step back, seeing what we could do differently… starting to think: how we can deliver a service to the customer that is relevant to them?”
With the Current Market Conditions, Are There Significant Opportunities to Scale Your Recruitment Business? Greg also shared his insight on the current market conditions where there is a recessive economy but strong hiring demand and massive skill shortages in many areas. For him, it has been an interesting few years and his advice is to be attentive, agile, and adaptive as we are only able to address the things that we are aware of. But ultimately, get close to your customers by having a sticky client relationship.
Are there still opportunities to hire and scale your business with the current economic climate? For Greg, “the reality is that there are still significant opportunities to scale out there.” It is about focusing on the 3 Cs - Clients, Candidates, and Consultants.
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
Greg Hollis Bio and Contact Info With 27 years in the recruitment industry, working across multiple sectors and delivery models, Greg launched and managed several businesses, brought an entrepreneurial spirit into a global PLC’s senior leadership team, and successfully lead many high-performance organizations. Greg now works with some of the industry’s leading entrepreneurs; helping them to grow consistently and predictably, in both new ventures and scaling businesses. With one goal; to turn equity into personal wealth.
People and Resources Mentioned Connect with Mark Whitby
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| How Agency Owners Can Scale Globally Without Losing Their Culture, with Nicholas Barton | 09 Oct 2025 | 01:07:37 | |
Most recruitment agency owners hit a wall around 10–20 people. The culture that made you successful starts to crack, and the personal touch gets lost.
Nicholas Barton didn’t just avoid that wall he redefined what scaling could look like. From packing boxes in a warehouse to leading a 100-person global firm, Nicholas built The Barton Partnership into one of Forbes’ “World’s Best Management Consulting Firms,” with offices in London, New York, and Singapore.
He built a platform before headcount, gave away 35% of his business through share options, and kept his early hires for nearly two decades. While competitors chased quick wins, Nicholas played the long game scaling internationally without losing the cohesion that made his business special.
In this episode:
[03:40] How Nicholas found his niche in strategy consulting
[10:50] The “spray and pray” moment that launched his career
[13:04] The hires who’ve stayed 18 years — and why
[18:33] Why giving away 35% made his firm stronger
[29:08] The “airport test” and how to hire for culture
[35:20] Build your platform before you scale
[1:04:42] Why great service always beats great selling
🎙️ Hosted by Mark Whitby, The Resilient Recruiter Podcast | |||
| The 3 Keys to Growing a Startup Recruitment Agency to $950,000 in the First Year, with Ben Cross, Ep #157 | 23 Dec 2022 | 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.
People and Resources Mentioned
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| How a Recruitment Firm Owner Attained Billings of $1.2M While Growing a Team, with Darwin Shurig, Ep #156 | 15 Dec 2022 | 00:48:13 | |
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!
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
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| How to Grow a Recruitment Agency from Start-Up to $3M Profit in Two Years, with Emily Rushton, Ep #155 | 09 Dec 2022 | 01:07:08 | |
In this episode, you will hear how Emily Rushton grew her recruitment agency from start-up to $1M in profit in its first year and is on track to reach $3M profit in its second year! What’s her secret? There’s a clue in her company’s name - the keyword here is “integrated.” Emily is the Founder and CEO of Hire Integrated, a fast-growing recruiting agency based in Utah. They launched in January 2021 and in less than two years have scaled to a team of 20 employees. In this fun and informative conversation, Emily shared how specialized recruiting at scale and client integration were key to their success. She also shared how their proactive approach and continuous evolution give them a positive outlook despite challenging market conditions. Emily started her career in staffing at Robert Half where she ranked among the top 20 recruiters out of 11,000 employees. Since then she has built two other boutique firms and also recruited for Netflix, where she helped them write their now industry-leading playbook with best-in-class practices to help them find and hire new talent. Episode Outline and Highlights
Consistent Tenacity in Early Days Emily shared a fascinating story of how she got into recruiting - she had no idea what she wanted to be when she was about to graduate. Following her professor’s advice, she started cold-calling companies to present her skillset in looking for a job. She was at a job fair and she shared what she was doing with a recruiter, which led to her discovering the career of recruitment. From there, Emily started her career in staffing at Robert Half, where she ranked among the top 20 recruiters out of 11,000 employees. Interestingly, she started her career during the recession. Having an awareness that she could lose her job, she was determined that if it will happen, she will have no regrets knowing that she went all out. “There was this level of tenacity that came out early on in my career. In every single opportunity I had, I didn’t lose it. I held on to everything so tight and I made sure that I closed it. During that first recession that I ever worked, I made the most money in my career, I was a top performer.” This mindset of tenacity laid the foundation for Emily’s career as a recruiter and ultimately led to her starting her own recruitment firm in 2021. Getting USD 1M in Profit in Their First Year When Emily made the decision to launch her own business, with her own money, she was committed to going “all in” to making it work. Incredibly, Hire Integrated reached $1M in profit by the end of their first year. Emily outlines the two critical things she ensured to have in place when starting Hire Integrated:
They did not have any business during the first couple of months. Emily really focused on these two items making sure that the foundation is the first time right. In Q3, they were able to hit the USD 1M revenue. With the current market conditions, Emily still shows the same relentless tenacity as it was in the early days of her career. “With the current market conditions, we are proactively making some shifts to make sure that if we continue to shift, we are prepared to have our best years. Because we are so new, we have a lot of runways ahead of us.” Client Integration and Engagement
One key success factor in Hire Integration’s successful trajectory is how they ensure that they understand their clients - offering the best long-term solutions possible. As Emily explains, “As we are putting together these proposals or having these conversations as they go higher and higher in the chain of command… it is hitting on the relevant pain points… We have been successful for a handful of those companies for making it up to chains of command and getting those proposals because we’ve listened, we’ve been more than a recruiter, we understand the evolution to where they are headed, and we put together very appropriate proposals that are going to help them get to where they are going faster.”
Many recruiters find it challenging to engage with the C-Suite, especially if they’re currently dealing with in-house recruiters or mid level hiring managers. Emily shared her strategies and approach to how she reaches the senior stakeholders to present much higher value recruitment solutions. 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 Emily Rushton Bio and Contact Info Emily Rushton started her career with one of the World’s largest staffing firms. Rushton quickly rose through the ranks, placing among the top 20 recruiters, out of approximately 11,000 employees. Rushton was an equity partner at a boutique staffing firm with locations in Tennessee and Utah. Her primary involvement was the implementation of their temporary staffing division which provided a substantial revenue stream for the company. Presented with a rare opportunity to join ownership offerings with a local Utah recruiting company, Rushton spent 6 years of her career creating a new division for the company that increased revenue by 185%. During that time, she was featured by Utah Business Magazine as a Utah Forty Under 40 for her contribution to the Utah employment sector. Rushton attended Brigham Young University – Idaho and is happily married with one beautiful son. Connect with Mark Whitby
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| How to Improve Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Your Recruitment Process, with Jo Major, Ep #154 | 30 Nov 2022 | 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
People and Resources Mentioned Connect with Mark Whitby
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter
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| Meet The Recruiter Who Survived And Thrived Through Four Recessions, with Gail Audibert, Ep #153 | 25 Nov 2022 | 01:01:09 | |
Many recruiters are feeling anxious about the economy. Are you concerned about how a slowdown might affect your billings in 2023?
My special guest, Gail Audibert, has been a recruiter since 1984 and has survived four recessions. In this episode, Gail shares the steps she took in previous downturns to protect her business and achieve consistent, predictable billings.
Gail is a member of the Pinnacle Society and remains one of the top recruiters in the country while only working 20 hours per week. In this interview, she reveals how she designed her business around her family and her secrets to working less and making more.
Gail launched Gail Audibert Associates in 1988, specializing in Commercial Insurance. She’s the VP of the Pinnacle Society and President-elect for 2023. She’s a former president of the National Insurance Recruiting Association and its current education chair. She also served on the Board of the Connecticut Association of Personnel Services for close to 20 years.
Episode Outline and Highlights
Designing Her Business Around Her Family
Given Gail’s career longevity and success in recruitment, it would be easy to assume that she had been working really hard with long hours, making sacrifices for her business and profession. On the contrary, Gail considers it her success that she is able to build her business around her family. She leveraged the flexibility of our industry to raise her family and be there for every sick day, snow day, and other activity of her children. She never let her work to-do list get in the way.
Gail works 20 to 25 hours a week and still manages to be really productive. “I don’t think I waste a lot of time on things that are unnecessary.” That includes positions that she isn’t confident of filling … “If I think that it is unplaceable, I just drop it. I call the company and tell them ‘this isn’t going to fly’.” Gail also believes that this job should get easier over time because you know more people, explaining “I have a very strong database of candidates or people that I know that makes it easier.”
Gail went on and also shared her success factors - making her a consistent top producer and becoming an esteemed member of the Pinnacle Society. Some takeaways are as follows:
How to Sell Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)
Gail revealed that one of her secrets to survive and thrive during a recession. She explained how she pitched an RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) business model to some of her clients. She structured this in a way that was truly a win-win. It was extremely beneficial for her clients’ cashflow while giving Gail predictable revenue during a downturn.
During slow economic times, many recruiters drop their rates. Gail didn’t reduce her fees but instead let her clients spread out the payments over a longer timeframe. That reduced the up-front cost of recruiting for her clients, enabling them to continue hiring. This was a solution that her client’s CFO loved and gave Gail steady cash-flow as well.
Gail still offers an RPO business model - but only if she firmly believes that this model is aligned with her client’s needs. How is she able to identify those opportunities? Listen to the full interview to hear Gail’s insights and actual examples of how it worked for her.
Doing Well During a Recession
If there is a timely topic that all of us can relate to, it is having the right mindset towards a recession. I have experienced a few recessions myself and although it was painful at the time, those experiences were so valuable and enable me to guide our coaching clients through turbulent waters.
Gail has survived and thrived at least four recessions! It is normal to feel anxious and worried. Here are the golden nuggets I took away from my conversation with Gail:
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
Gail Audibert Bio and Contact Info
Gail has been a recruiter since 1984 (having started before the adoption of the fax machine, Personal Computer, cell phones, and the internet). Her specialty is Commercial Insurance. Gail is a member of the Pinnacle Society and is currently the VP and President-elect for 2023. She is also a former president of the National Insurance Recruiting Association and its current education chair. Gail served on the Board of the Connecticut Association of Personnel Services for close to 20 years and was also a "40 under 40" recipient.
People and Resources Mentioned
Connect with Mark Whitby
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| Recruiter Mistakes #5: Doing Everything Manually Instead of Leveraging Automation, with Mark Whitby and Leanne Jones Hunt, Ep #152 | 17 Nov 2022 | 00:32:43 | |
When Leanne ran her own recruitment business, she managed to claw back 25 hours of her time PER WEEK by implementing automation strategies and hiring 4 offshore virtual assistants.
When was the last time you reviewed your full recruiting process and identified the recurring tasks? Are you still manually using spreadsheets and doing everything manually?
Doing everything manually instead of leveraging automation is costing you precious time and constraining your growth. In this episode, we will share the top three benefits of leveraging automation, parts of your business you can automate, and the do’s and don’ts when running automated campaigns.
Episodes Outline and Highlights
The 3 Big Reasons Why You Need to Leverage Automation
In our experience, these are the three reasons why you need to leverage automation ASAP:
We are not saying that automation replaces the more personalized approach when dealing with clients and candidates - picking up the phone, making personalized video messages, and other activities that provide that essential human touch. What automation actually gives you is time to be more personalized as it allows you to invest time in the right areas of your business.
What Can You Automate in Your Recruitment Business
The easiest place to start with by looking at your current recruitment process. What are the repetitive tasks that could potentially be automated?
For example:
You can start by writing all the steps in your sourcing and recruiting process and look at which of those steps you could leverage automation.
Keep in mind that this is not an email broadcast. These are smaller, highly targeted and personalized campaigns that feel like a one-to-one message.
Automation Errors That Cost You Sales and Damage Your Reputation
We’re big believers in the power of automation to grow your business. Having said that, automation done incorrectly can have negative consequences.
Here are two common mistakes to avoid when creating automated campaigns. These tasks need to be done manually either by you or a member of your team:
It sounds obvious, but it’s a complete waste of time sending messages to people who aren’t relevant. It’s essential to inspect the recipient list and confirm that they are relevant recipients before hitting send. Don’t rely completely on automation and get carried away to the point that it loses effectiveness.
If you get personalization wrong, it has the exact opposite effect. It’s becomes obvious your message is automated and elicits a negative response. For example, putting someone’s name in ALL CAPS. Or using their full company name - e.g. International Business Machines Corporation, instead of IBM. (Think about it, if you were writing a personal note to somebody, you probably wouldn’t include Inc, Ltd or LLC in the company name, would you?)
You or ideally your VA need to clean up your spreadsheet to ensure that the job title, name, and other data points are correct and natural sounding before adding anyone to an automated campaign.
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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| Personalized Service as a Success Factor in Recruitment Business Growth, with Frido Diepeveen, Ep #151 | 12 Nov 2022 | 00:54:30 | |
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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| How to Self-Destruct a $4M Search Firm and Re-Build on Stronger Foundations, with Mark Phillips, Ep #150 | 03 Nov 2022 | 01:15:17 | |
Imagine building a search firm from scratch to $4M in billings. An incredible achievement, right? Now imagine that same business suddenly imploding from 14 team members down to just one. How would you bounce back from such a devastating loss? Would you have the heart and will to rebuild?
This is the story of my special guest, Mark Phillips. Mark is the founder and CEO of HireEducation and in this interview, he shares his journey with unflinching honesty and self-reflection. He takes ownership of the behaviours and decisions that led to the decline of the business. Based on the lessons he learned from both his successes and failures, Mark is rebuilding his business and himself - this time on stronger foundations.
Mark got into recruiting in the late 90s and has specialized in the Education Technology industry since 2006. He launched his firm HireEducation in 2010 and by 2019 he built it into a $4M per year business. That same year, he faced his biggest challenge. You will now hear what he’s doing differently to build an even more successful business that he enjoys a whole lot more. Episode Outline and Highlights
Building From Scratch to a $4M Annual Run Rate Mark shared the key success factors that contributed to growing a $4m search firm in 9 years. There were a number of challenges they needed to overcome which anyone growing a recruitment businesses will relate to. The two biggest success factors were:
Hire Someone to Manage You Another significant success factor that Mark mentioned is the value of hiring an assistant. Mark’s longest serving employee, Katie, was originally hired as his assistant and has contributed so much and developed her leadership skills to the point that she was recently promoted to CEO.
What is the added value of his assistant? “Operational details are not my strong suit. I am acknowledging that. When I hired Katie back in 2014, I said ‘your first job is to manage me and your second job is to manage my inbox.’” This actually makes a lot of sense. In our coaching group, we emphasize the value of hiring someone, like a virtual assistant, that can support you on administrative tasks or operational undertakings while you focus on your business’ vision and income-generating tasks. This is how Mark puts it, “Having somebody that I trusted operationally was really key from getting from $1M to $4M.”
Extreme Ownership: Improving Your Results Requires You to Own Your Mistakes
In 2019, Mark’s business imploded, shrinking from 14 people back down to 1. That was a really rough experience for Mark which led to a lot of soul-searching and shifts in personal and business focus. At the height of their success, Mark was really stressed and not sleeping well due to significant issues from his working environment. Due to cultural misalignment, a rift developed between Mark and some of his key employees who he had brought on and promoted to Partner level. Ultimately, this led Mark and his top billers to part ways, which snowballed into losing almost his entire team. It was a truly heartbreaking experience.
In retrospect, Mark is able to analyze the situation and identify his own role in the decline of the business. As Mark described, “When I think about that time, my relationship with those three partners and team members, was not first. Consequently, it was a house of cards… In the end, it was not relationship first”. This lead him to establish a new core value when he rebuilt his business, which is to always protect the team.
You will truly appreciate Mark’s candor and humility in sharing this experience, which can also be a learning moment for all of us.
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
Mark Phillips Bio and Contact Info Mark first into recruiting in the late 90s and then moved into the Education Technology industry in 2006. He built his firm from a solo desk in 2010 to a $4M run rate in 2019. As a member of the SanfordRose Network, Mark has coached recruiters to the following accolades: 3 Rookies of the Year, 2 Top recruiters in the network, and multiple top 10 in the network performances. His firm recruits for education companies, not schools, but companies that sell products and services to PreK, K12, and Higher Education institutions.
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| Values-Driven Leadership: How to Grow a Search Firm to 7-Figures in One Year, With David Fleming, Ep #149 | 21 Oct 2022 | 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.
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| International Expansion: How to Grow a Successful Recruitment Business in MENA and APAC, with Justin McGuire, Ep #148 | 13 Oct 2022 | 01:02:41 | |
Building a recruitment business in the Middle East and Asia presents opportunities as well as challenges. My special guest, Justin McGuire has successfully expanded his firm into MENA and APAC, becoming very knowledgeable about these markets in the process. This is Justin’s second time on the show and I am excited to have him again. In addition to providing fantastic insight into doing business in the MENA and APAC regions, Justin shares his experience growing his team from 12 to 30 people. But there have been plenty of challenges and detours along the way. For example, Justin discusses his failed attempt to open a London office and everything he learned from that experience. Justin is the CEO and co-founder of MCG Talent - a talent consulting firm specializing in creative, communications and marketing people across the Middle East and Asia. Justin spent 8 years working for well-known creative agencies before jumping into recruitment for the last 15 years. MCG Talent have ambitious plans for continued growth and have set their sights on opening offices in new countries and scaling the team to 50 people. Episode Outline and Highlights
Catching Up with Justin - Updates Since His Last Episode Appearance Justin’s last appearance was a couple of years, more than a hundred episodes ago in which he shared radical ideas on their global recruitment offices and how they get to scale. This time, he brings me up to speed on what has changed since then. The last time we spoke, Justin was in Singapore. He has since relocated his family back to Dubai and refocused on the markets they excel in - the Middle East and Asia for roles in the marketing, communications, and technology. He explains, “During COVID we really understood the need for a niche where we were doing well and where people were leaning on us.” This move served them well and they’ve grown from a team of 12, they are now a group of 30 people and still scaling to the 30-50 person stage. Focusing on the Middle East and Asia Territories Justin’s decision to focus on the Marketing Communications and Tech niche in the Middle East and Asia regions brings opportunities as well as challenges. For a lot of my recruiters and recruitment business owner listeners, the MENA and APAC region is unchartered territory. You will be interested to know what recruiting is like in those regions compared to the European or North American territories. What are the cultural differences? What would be Justin’s biggest shocking revelation? But most importantly, I am sure you are interested to know, how did Justin make it work? Business Management Practices When Scaling Internationally Justin shared so many important factors to consider, including:
In addition, we discussed how Justin made the transition from Big Biller to Billing Manager to Business Manager. Most owners aren’t able to navigate these steps and get stuck as a producer with a small team. For example, how and when do you come off a desk? If you’re a big biller, how do you replace your production in order to focus more time on growing the 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 Justin McGuire Bio and Contact Info Justin began my professional career in London at the start of the digital boom, working in client servicing for a fantastic communications agency. During his seven years in the industry, he had the pleasure of working for some of the world’s most celebrated brands alongside some of the most talented and creative people in the industry, many of them have since gone on to become business leaders. Having reached the Director level, he was charged with recruiting talent for his own team as well as playing a key role in developing the agency’s digital offering and taking it to market. It was at this point that his passion for recruitment became apparent and he resolved to change his career. He joined a headhunting firm based in the heart of London, creating and managing the advertising and media division. It was there that opportunity knocked and Justin was approached by a leading multi-national recruitment company and invited to set up their advertising and media business. Following a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding two years, he felt that with my experience in the communication industry combined with my recruitment training and market knowledge, he was perfectly positioned to set up his own enterprise. MCG Talent was born in 2010 with a single vision: to connect the best businesses with the brightest talent in the marketing, communications, and digital space, enabling progress for businesses and individuals alike. Justin lived and worked in London, Singapore, and Dubai. He also spent a year doing charity work in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He proudly invested in diversely.io - a diversity hiring platform and also co-founded and successfully exited a learning and development business called Ampersand.
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