The Resilient Recruiter

A global economic slowdown due to the coronavirus has greatly affected the recruitment industry. What type of “proactive” mindset should a recruiter possess in order to avoid just being “reactive” to the situation? How do you build your business despite economic challenges?  In this episode of the Resilient Recruiter, my special guest, Christy Brown shares her story on how she built a company in 2007, yes, you read it right, during the great recession. Listen to how creativity, technology enablement, and being agile helped her build, scale, and sell her staffing companies. Christy is a serial entrepreneur, investor, startup advisor, mentor, founder, futurist, triathlete.  Prior to becoming a Venture Capitalist, Christy was the Executive Vice President of a Fortune 100 human capital management software company where she led the business transformation and client success organizations globally. Christy has scaled three service-based companies focused on digital marketing, human capital, and security consulting. Episode Outline and Highlights [3:00] A former IRONMAN competitor, Christy shared how her competing translates to business. [6:00] Christy’s staffing journey.  [8:40] What it was like to start a staffing firm during the recession. [10:00] Christy’s two learnings that lead to improvement and innovation. [12:00] Christy’s business model that brought significant success in winning new clients. [15:00] Four factors that led to Christy’s start-up success. [22:45] A monthly meeting with all your placed candidates? Listen to why Christy did it. [27:30] Convincing clients to hire remotely - Christy mentioned least two elements  [30:00] What Christy believes is the number one growth area in recruiting [35:00] Christy talks about “technology enablement”  [38:30] How technology will drive the future of the recruiting industry. [44:00] Listen to Christy’s “regret” from a founder’s perspective. [47:02] Two practical ideas to navigate this challenging economy [53:00] Christy’s view on inclusion and women empowerment  Starting a Business During the Great Recession Back in 2007, Christy started her own staffing firm.  It may not have been the best time to start a new business, and as she mentioned, “For me, it became a firefight.” Comparing the situation before with what we are facing now, this is how she puts it  “It was a very interesting time, we can compare it to some of the things that are happening in this current healthcare crisis today. Massive fallouts to the economy occurring, a large banking crisis that we are still coming out of.” Despite the situation, Christy focused on the opportunity being presented to build her business. Christy laid out her mistakes and learnings, her business model, and the factors that led to her start-up success. Technology Will Drive the Future of the Recruiting Industry Christy gave her take on “technology enablement” and how technology will drive the future of the recruiting industry. As she puts it, “I think technology enablement and recruiting is probably the number one growth area that I look even from an investment lens. It is one of those things that has to grow, it has to accelerate, and we have to influence it.” Listen to her philosophy on how utilizing technology will help recruiters stay relevant. Inclusion and Woman Empowerment One of the biggest challenges Christy faced is, “Sometimes, being the only female in the room of technologists.” Hear her meaningful thoughts about inclusion and women empowerment in a corporate setting.  Christy Brown Bio and Contact Info Christy has held a number of executive leadership roles over the past 20 years but in 2019, became the Managing Executive Partner of a venture capital firm focused on pairing venture capital with shared services in a studio environment to scale rapidly with services to support early-stage startups.  Prior to assuming the executive investment role, Christy was the Executive Vice President at a Fortune 100 human capital management software company where she leads the business transformation & client success organization globally. Christy is a serial entrepreneur and founder and has scaled three service-based companies focused on digital marketing, human capital and security consulting which she exited across a 12-year interval.  Following the last exit, she became a consummate innovator and aligned to multiple startups incubators as a mentor and advisor.  She also serves as a board member across the Atlanta ecosystem including the Entrepreneur's Organization, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, American Cancer Society,  Technology Association of Georgia and various advisor and board roles across early and series stage startups in technology.    Christy’s website Christy on LinkedIn Christy on Twitter @downtown_CB Tone Networks website Launchpad2x on LinkedIn People and Resources Mentioned IRONMAN website AJ Anderson on LinkedIn Lee Charles on LinkedIn Kat Cole on LinkedIn Jordan Lawrence on LinkedIn Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Mark on YouTube Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter      

With many countries in “lockdown” in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus, businesses have been forced to adopt a remote work model.  If you own a recruitment business, managing recruiters remotely presents some significant challenges.  How do you keep your team members motivated and engaged?  How can you ensure people are productive without physically being there to supervise them?  In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter my very special guest, Ann Zaslow-Rethaber joins me to share her insights on running a successful team based on 20+ years of experience managing remote recruiters. Ann has been a recruiter since 1996 and she is the President of the International Search Consultants (ISC), a global executive recruitment firm. Ann launched ISC in 1999 her company has become one of the most reputable search firms in the United States, earning more recommendations on LinkedIn than any third party recruitment agency in the country.  Episode Outline and Highlights [2:30] Ann talks about visiting Mark in Scotland and shares her philosophy of investing in experiences and relationships instead of collecting “things.”  [5:17] Why Ann considers the Pandemic situation a “golden opportunity.”  [14:47] Two business principles to help you and your remote team stay on top of things. [22:52] How to hold your remote team accountable -- Ann explains two significant factors. [28:52] Praise vs Criticism: which is better for increasing your team’s performance? [35:17] A very powerful approach to help managers create accountability.  [41:43] Three things that Ann would have done differently if she knew then what she knows today. [45:43] Ann’s story -- from flight attendant to top producing recruiter; how being a working mother forced her to become super-productive Successful Remote Working Even Prior to the Pandemic Ann was already set-up for remote working prior to the coronavirus pandemic. If you want to listen to her strategy and how she achieved $142,000 in billing in one month, you may want to listen to our previous interview - look for the link below under People and Resources.  The Importance of Investing in a Great Working Relationship With the current difficult situation we are facing with the Pandemic, there is a tendency for some recruiters to become radio silent with their clients. On the contrary, now is the time to be close and to stay in contact with clients. Ann is doing just that. She believes that now is the golden opportunity to walk the talk. She ensured to have her team message their clients, with the focus on saying  “I'm just touching base, and letting you know that we’re here.” Ann also shared her thoughts on why “time is the most valuable thing that any of us have.” As Ann puts it, “Just human compassion. You don’t always have to make money off a relationship, you can just have the working relationship because you like the person and you want to check on them. I think it’s a golden opportunity to walk that walk.” Overcoming Remote Working Challenges Remote working is now becoming more and more common. “The negatives in the past have always been synergy and making people accountable.” as Ann recalled. However, with the current technology available, working virtually is actually resulting in a lot of good results. Ann said, “There are so many benefits from working virtually and not requiring people to get in cars or to get in planes to drive from one place to the other.” Would it be possible to manage a virtual team as if you are managing people in the same location? Ann stated, “Twice a week meetings, daily meetings, touching base, anything that you can do live just about you can do online with this amazing technology that we all have.” Learning from the Past You’ll enjoy Ann’s story on how she went from being a flight attendant to becoming a top biller in the recruitment industry. Also, hear her insights on three things that she considers she would have done differently when building her business if she knew then what she knows now.  Connect with Ann Zaslow-Rethaber: Ann on LinkedIn Ann on Twitter @annzaslow International Search Consultants (ISC) website International Search Consultants (ISC) on LinkedIn International Search Consultants (ISC) on Facebook International Search Consultants (ISC) on Twitter @iscjobs People and Resources Mentioned: JobAdder on LinkedIn GeekSquad on LinkedIn Case Study: Recruiting Firm Owner Achieves New Personal Best, Billing $142,000 in One Month, by Mark Whitby. The Ideal Praise-to-Criticism Ratio, Harvard Business Review. Article Link. Connect With Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Mark on YouTube Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

The Coronavirus Pandemic has definitely impacted the jobs market and most likely presented new challenges to your recruitment business. Are you looking for alternatives to pivot your recruitment marketing strategies? Then you will definitely want to listen to my interview with Yosef Colish, Managing Director of Leah Yosef International, an executive search firm in the wealth-management space.   In this episode, Yosef shared how he adapted his approach and strategy when reaching out to potential clients given the current pandemic situation. You will also hear Yosef’s story, techniques, habits, and most importantly his mindset which will give you a clear picture of what it takes to be a million-dollar producer. Episode Outline and Highlights [3:00] 10 Before 10:00 Principle [7:00] Focus on Messaging and Approach  [11:19] “The pool is cold and just figure out a way to jump in” [14:20] Pivot and Changing Focus [19:00] “What is my Why?” [24:00] On managing your business: What do you personally focus your time on and what do you delegate to your assistants or offshore researchers? [33:18] Yosef’s story: From a research associate to a top producer [42:30] Work-Life Balance 10 Before 10:00 Principle  Leah Yosef International is a member of the Sanford Rose Associates network of offices. One thing that SRA President Jeff Kaye said that resonated with Yosef is, “There are certain clients out there that need you right now.” So Yosef decided to apply the 10 before 10:00 principle. Listen as he discusses the three simple steps he is taking that has resulted in a lead every single day - and in one case he got 7 jobs!   If you want to read more about the 10 before 10:00 formula, read my blog article “How to Increase Your Sales Activity”  and increase your sales activity by clicking on this link. Focus on Messaging and Approach  Focus on approach and messaging helped Yosef reach out to his leads and client positively. He was able to converse with the intention concentrated on caring and making human connection rather than just trying to sell something. In his words, “You already have the icebreaker. It’s just ‘How are you?’”.  He also shared an overview of at least three phases when reaching out to their leads in a nine-day cycle, as well as what tools they are using. “The pool is cold and just figure out a way to jump in” Reaching out to leads can be difficult sometimes. Yosef shared a really motivating success story of how overcoming negative thoughts in his head got him a contingent job order. Definitely worth hearing. Pivot and Changing Focus Reallocating his time to improve his business, Yosef shifted his strategy to add Consulting as a service offering to complement his existing Perm/Direct Hire business.  Same market, same prospect, same relationship, providing a different solution that may be relevant is really good thinking. Yosef shared how his move is taking traction.  “What is my Why?” In the middle of our conversation, a very interesting mindset was shared by Yosef: “Just one thing I struggled with for a very long time was ‘What’s my why?’”     Being a father and a breadwinner, money is a pretty big WHY. But it didn’t feel good to Yosef if that was the only reason. Yosef believes that it is not just about money. It is about changing people’s lives.     Inspired by Michael Jackson’s song “Heal the World”, Yosef used to be a medical student. With his present role, listen to his thoughts on how he contributes to “heal the world and make it a better place”. Hear his insights on how his business fits with his mission and what he is trying to build.  On managing your business: What do you personally focus your time on and what do you delegate to your assistants or offshore researchers? A recruiter professional’s tasks can be daunting. How does Yosef manage his time by effective delegation? In his words: “I focus my time on anything that has to do with deals and interacting with my clients. Reaching out to candidates if I know that they are interested.”   For him to focus on interacting with his clients, tasks that take a lot of time and effort and energy can be delegated.  “Anything that anyone else can possibly do, that I can give 20 minutes of training and they can do it for 25 hours over the course of the year, that is awesome!”   But with all these tasks, how does he manage and keep track of all that’s happening? There are four things on his desk that help him keep track. He also shared four software/tools that help him manage these tasks.    Yosef’s story: From a research associate to a top producer Yosef recalls the time he started as a part-time executive assistant, becoming a research associate rising as a big biller and a partner in his firm. What he achieved in a relatively short period of time is remarkable. His account just shows how driving and taking responsibility for your development lead to success.  Work-Life Balance Having very clear parameters around things, how do Yosef balance being a dad and doing other things? Hear his one effective technique in managing all different aspects.  Connect with Yosef Colish: Yosef on LinkedIn     Yosef on Twitter: @yosef_colish Leah Yossef International            Connect With Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Mark on YouTube Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter   People & Resources Mentioned Jeff Kaye on LinkedIn Erin Bent on LinkedIn Karen Schmidt on LinkedIn Todd Camp on LinkedIn 10 Before 10:00 / How to Increase Your Sales Activity by Mark Whitby BOOK: Start with Why by Simon Senik BOOK: Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss BOOK: Start With No by Jim Camp SRA / Sandford Rose Associates Website Next Level Exchange Website Call Logic Website WoodPecker Website Tony Robbins Life Coaching Website Headhunting 247 Website Get Vyral Website MPC Email Template Kolbe Test Website

There are very few women in recruitment management positions in the global power sector—for years, Katie Howard Cross was one of them. You see more gender disparity as you climb up the ladder and both Katie and I agree that needs to change. In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Katie and I chat about how she found success. We’ll delve into her strategies, her positive mindset, and talk about her new business endeavor—Eva Connections. Katie has a strong entrepreneurial spirit that shines through whatever she takes on. Her goal is to empower women working in recruitment—in any industry, truly—to help them reach success.  Outline of This Episode [2:55] The message Katie is sharing with her community [5:28] Career advancement, family, and tough decisions [10:15] Katie’s lightbulb moment that changed everything [14:26] The freedom and flexibility of running your own business [17:04] How Katie billed €600,000 while managing a large team [24:09] Katie shares how to sell a retainer model to clients [31:35] What Katie has learned building her business [34:08] We take a deep-dive into Katie’s business—Eva Connections Women in recruitment are forced to make tough decisions Katie shares she was focused on career advancement well into her 30’s—it wasn’t until then she decided to have kids. She worked long hours in a global sector that included constant world-wide travel. When she had her daughter, she knew her work practices needed to shift. She began leaving work at 5:30 every day which—for some recruiters—is the middle of the day. After having her 2nd child, she knew she needed to leave Amoria Bond, and they parted ways amicably. But she was left feeling as if she was having an identity crisis, and found herself asking “Who am I? What's my identity? Where do I fit in the world?”.  Why Katie launched her own business Before Katie had kids, she had worked with an executive coach to narrow down her values, which were found in career advancement/progression and seeking out adventure. After kids, her values drastically switched to finding autonomy, freedom, and flexibility. She still wanted a career and knew she could couple it with being a Mom. So Katie started her own business. She launched into career-coaching for women and focused on recruitment training—because she excelled at it. She met her current business partner 8 months into the process and found that they complemented each other’s abilities. They put their heads together and Eva Connections was born. Suddenly, Katie had the freedom to choose her own hours and structure her day how she pleased. She had the flexibility to make appointments when it suited her. She points out that the traditional 9-5 is becoming outdated and old-fashioned and found herself questioning, “What works for me and makes me happy? As long as that’s working I know my business will flourish”.  How Katie billed €600,000 while managing a large team Katie has been in the recruiting industry for 19 years and reached a point where she completed 10 deals a month while managing a team. It took years of learning from the experts, working with candidates to understand the industry and soak in all the knowledge she could. She didn’t reinvent the wheel but followed a process she knew worked. 10 years later, she became the expert. She attributes some of her success to choosing a niche and diligence with market-mapping. She wasn’t afraid to get on the phone and speak to candidates and clients. She qualified her leads and minimized the event of a candidate not accepting a position. She firmly believes—as do I—in the retainer model. Above all, she believes in the value of her service. Katie goes into detail about what she did that works and continues to work—listen to this section carefully to benefit from her vast knowledge.  Retainer versus contingency: selling it to clients The average conversion of job order to placement across the industry is a mere 19%. So the recruiters who work on a contingency basis are working for free 80% of the time. This isn’t a way to make a living and provide for a family. You should be paid upfront for the work you do. Your time is precious—don’t waste it.  Katie believes that recruiters don’t challenge their clients enough and that you need to fight for yourself. You’re a specialist working in a particular niche and an expert in your industry. You must have confidence in yourself and your abilities and be willing to push back when necessary.  Katie states you must focus on “finding those clients that appreciate the value in the service that you offer, the skills and the expertise you can bring, and the quality and the caliber of candidates that may then add significant value to [their] business”. In the remainder of the episode, Katie also talks in-depth about her business, Eva Connections, and the community they’ve built for women. She continues to find ways to invest in women in recruitment Katie Howard Cross Bio and Contact Info Katie is the co-founder of Eva Connections and has more than 18 years of experience in executive recruitment, training and development, and career coaching. She's worked extensively in the energy and heavy engineering sectors and she's passionate about developing a company culture that supports women to rise to the top of their profession.  She has worked and operated within international business environments and built multi-million revenue-generating provisions from scratch. She's got a very entrepreneurial mindset and is always seeking out and has a talent for spotting creative opportunities from nothing where none previously existed. Katie's helped her teams to win several awards along the way, including Best Executive Search Firm at the RBA Awards for four consecutive years. Eva Connections Katie on LinkedIn Katie on Twitter Resources & People Mentioned Amoria Bond Connect With Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Mark on YouTube Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter Audio Production and Show notes by PODCAST FAST TRACK

How do you demonstrate leadership in times of crisis? How do you protect your business and lead your team through the Coronavirus Pandemic? We are living through a very uncertain period of time where we must stay relevant and resilient. In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, my friend and coaching client Greg Benadiba joins me to share his thoughts.  Greg shares his strategy for screening recruiters and hiring the right people for the position. He also shares the leadership principles he’s built his business on. We share a hopeful viewpoint, one in which your recruiting business can emerge stronger than ever.  Outline of This Episode [2:11] Greg Benadiba shares how to work smarter—not harder [4:48] Lessons and takeaways from the last recession [6:57] How to help your business survive the Coronavirus pandemic [10:33] How to build and maintain relationships with clients [17:15] The unique way Greg interviews and hires recruiters [26:49] The targeted and probing questions to decipher the best candidate [30:49] The 5 principles Greg has adapted for his recruiting business How to stay resilient through adversity At the time of recording this podcast, Ontario had declared a state of emergency. Major outlets, stores, banks, restaurants, and bars closed on St. Patrick's Day. Greg ‘s team went from having 120 jobs to fill down to 72. Greg believes there will be a significant decrease in job orders across the board. But notes it is possible in this day and age to interview, hire and work remotely.  Greg points out that regardless of the pandemic, there will still be positions that need to be filled. So you must stay level-headed and position yourself for the upswing that will come. I work with each of my clients to have a plan of action to get them through this pandemic—you need to have one as well. Keep listening as Greg and I talk about having a contingency plan in place and where he’s focusing his business right now. We also talk about tough decisions you may have to make as a manager.  How to stay in front of your customers It is more important than ever to position yourself to remain in front of your clients. When things pick up again you’ll be at the forefront of their minds. Greg found a unique way to add value for his customers: he made his Zoom account available to customers so that they could still interview potential hires. It was a simple way to help meet their needs and keep their business from screeching to a halt.  We can still facilitate meetings through the tools we have available—email, conference calls, video conferencing, etc. We must be careful not to alienate customers, but stay in touch and offer insight, guidance, and empathy. Greg says to ask the question, “How can we add value considering the current circumstances that our clients are in?” Greg’s unique hiring process Greg doesn’t aim to hire experienced recruiters but prefers to hire candidates from across industries who embody the values he’s looking for. They need to be good with people as well as driven and sales focused. He looks for resiliency and someone who is always learning and finding ways to improve. He asks probing questions, such as “What’s the most difficult thing they’ve ever been through?”.  He notes that you can’t rush the recruiting process. On top of his interview questions and profile testing, they have the recruiter undergo a half-day of job shadowing. In the second part of that day, the potential hire is allowed to jump on the phone to connect with people and flesh out a list of referrals. In this way, the candidate is able to immerse themselves into the job and get a feel for what it will be like.  Greg uses a clearly defined checklist in his hiring process. All of the questions on his checklist are based on mistakes that he’s made in the past. He crafts those mistakes into questions for his screening process. Listen as he shares examples of his questions and how he uses them to decipher who will be the best fit for his business.  The 5 principles Greg incorporates into Bilingual Source Greg was kind enough to share 5 principles that he incorporates into his business:  Principle #1: You are solely responsible for you and your team’s performance. Assume the role of “mini CEO” and take responsibility for performance management, hiring, training, etc.  Principle #2: You must lead by example. “Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t work—we all know it. Be the type of manager and leader that your team looks up to and emulates. Follow the rules, don’t cut corners, and be the role model  Principle #3: Have very clear goals defined for you and your team. Don’t confuse goals with desires. Goals MUST be accomplished, desires are just things you want.  Principle #4: Don’t worry about looking good, worry about achieving your goals. As a leader, you can’t always make the popular choice—but you need to make the right one. If a decision conflicts with achieving a goal, it’s an easy no.  Principle #5: Hone yours and your team's outcomes. Focus on what you CAN control and take ownership of the outcome. This is no place for the blame-game.  Greg believes there is always a process to follow. If you stray from your plan you make yourself susceptible to stupid mistakes. Above all, everything you say and do needs to be congruent with your values. Listen to the rest of the episode as we talk about Greg's vision for the future of Bilingual Source.  Greg Benadiba Bio and Contact Info Greg and his team at Bilingual Source have been in the recruitment space for 35 years. They are the leaders in language search in the Canadian Market and have brokered over 500MM in salaries over those years. Greg has consistently been a top producer for his organization, with record billings of 750K, and has helped double the organization's revenue over the last 4 years. Greg on LinkedIn Bilingual Source Website Bilingual Source on Twitter Bilingual Source on Instagram Resources & People Mentioned Sales Test Online The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone Principles by Ray Dalio Connect With Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Mark on YouTube Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

How do you respond to a recession? I’ve been here before and I’ve learned to recognize the signs—a recession is coming. I recommend to act as if tough times are coming and take massive action—charge forward with total commitment and sell as if your family's financial security is at stake.  I get 100% of my business through digital marketing strategies with 20% of my warm leads coming from LinkedIn. Generating warm leads on LinkedIn is one of the marketing strategies I recommend adopting right now.  The only way to deal with adversity is to increase your commitment and adopt more intelligent strategies. In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, I’m sharing a presentation on how to generate warm leads on LinkedIn. I’ll share the 5 key things it takes to make your profile compelling, how to connect with leads and how to resonate with your audience.  Outline of This Episode [1:16] What motivates me to push harder in times of uncertainty [6:57] How to generate warm leads on LinkedIn during a recession [10:05] I share the 5 keys to creating an effective LinkedIn strategy [13:17] Key #1: Create a compelling LinkedIn profile [24:08] Key #2: Focus on Consistently growing your network [33:08] Key #3: Follow up and start engaging conversations [39:07] BONUS: How to increase your response rate exponentially [42:40] Key #4: In a world where content is king—how do you stand out? [53:47] Key #5: Who do you engage with on LinkedIn? Key #1: Make your LinkedIn profile compelling Your LinkedIn profile should be a lead generation website for your business. Take a look at your LinkedIn profile from the perspective of a potential client or candidate. Does it convey who you are and what you do? There are a few things I recommend making a concerted effort with: Choose a profile image that is professional and inviting.  Do not use the default banner. It is prime real estate and one of the first things someone sees. Ideally, you should use a photograph taken in a professional context. It needs to convey credibility and authority.  Craft a professional headline. Clearly define what you do and what value proposition is. Who do you work with? What kind of results do you get? Signal to your industry and your ideal audience that you speak their language and provide them an incentive to scroll down and get more information. PRO TIP: Adjust your headline using the app on your phone—you’re somehow allowed more words/characters. Use the ‘about’ section to make a human connection. Tell your personal and professional story in a way that is relevant to your business and resonates with your audience. You want a potential client or prospect to relate to you. Share WHY you do what you do.  Listen to the episode for more ideas to create a compelling LinkedIn Profile.  Key #2: Consistently grow your network  Growing your network needs to be a proactive process that you do consistently every day. You need to start by searching for your ideal prospects with a tool such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator. I recommend setting a goal to send 30-50 connection requests a day (allocating 30-60 minutes of your time). I typically see a 40% acceptance rate from people who are warm prospects that are more receptive to engagement.  Secondly, focus on crafting a message that is low-key, non-threatening, with zero sales pitch. Personalize the message when possible with something relevant. You can create a friendly and natural-sounding template to use and interchange the pertinent details. You could use a simple template across the board, but your response rate will likely be lower without a personalized touch. Key #3: It’s all about outreach You need to follow up with leads and start conversations. Send a sequence of messages with the end goal of engaging the lead and having them schedule a call on your calendar. This is a task where you can hire a virtual assistant to help you.  Within the first 24 hours send them a polite note. If you don’t get a reply, send another message from a different angle. You could ask a question or comment on a post or article on their profile. Perhaps you could send them a piece of content or research relevant to their field.  You could send a case study pitch—a soft sell—just sharing a brief snapshot of what you do and the success you’ve found.  Offer a call—ask them when would be a great time to chat about the value you can offer them.  There is ONE thing I’ve found that will get you a higher response rate. One of my clients gets an 80% response rate when they use this tactic. Listen to the whole episode to find out what the strategy is. Key #4: Content is King The easiest way to generate inbound leads is by producing content on LinkedIn. Writing articles is great, but even simply posting a status update is huge. Once you’ve connected with someone, it keeps you on their radar. You become a regular in their newsfeed and they see your face repeatedly.  These are the guidelines that I recommend: Consider posting once daily but the minimum is once a week. It can take as little as 15 minutes to come up with something that can offer value.  Share a video update: You can cover thoughtful and relevant content quickly and it allows your connections to see your personality and connect with a face.  Share your photos: post photos from client meetings, industry conferences, speaking on a panel, etc. with a simple caption.  Share a text-based status update: This is something that you can do daily.  There is an art and a science to status updates. People NEED to engage with your content or LinkedIn won’t share it. Only a small fraction of your audience sees what you post organically. So you need to design your content carefully and put an emphasis on content that will stimulate discussion.  Key #5: Be strategic and intentional about where you’re commenting and liking  There are only TWO reasons you should comment on someone else’s content: 1) If they’re an existing or potential client, or 2) they’re a thought leader in your industry. LinkedIn isn’t Facebook. You can’t scroll, like, and comment on people’s posts without being intentional.  Engage with an existing or potential client. Make what you say directly relevant so that they take notice of you. Engage with a thought leader in your industry. They are interacting with the same audience you want to reach. If you can capture a piece of that audience with your thoughtful comments, you’re headed the right direction. The recruiting industry lives on LinkedIn more than any other platform. It’s important to leverage the social platform as a part of your digital marketing strategy. What you’ve read is just a snapshot of the content I cover in this episode. Make sure you listen for full details on my guide to generating warm leads on LinkedIn.  Resources & People Mentioned LinkedIn Sales Navigator BOOK: Start with Why BOOK: The Million-Pound LinkedIn Message Lee De Souza on LinkedIn Vidyard CloudHQ BombBomb Connect With Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Mark on YouTube Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter Audio Production and Show notes by PODCAST FAST TRACK

Diversity and inclusion is an important topic to discuss in the world of recruitment. Raj Tulsiani and Steve Baggi founded their recruitment firm with the goal and aim of helping organizations broaden their horizons and to hire a more diverse workplace. Doing so not just for diversity’s sake, but to lead to competitive advantage, increased business value, and diverse perspectives to drive innovation.  Raj is uniquely qualified to tackle this subject. Not only is he a minority business owner himself, but a hugely successful entrepreneur. His firm Green Park is the 5th fastest growing recruitment company in the UK, with revenues just over £90,000,000 (about $117m USD). They’re listed by the Financial Times as one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe, and the only recruitment company to make the Sunday Times Fast Track in 2019. Raj Tulsiani has become one of the UK’s leading figures in executive search, interim management, workforce planning, and diversification. He has over 20 years of experience moving the dial on leadership, talent and diversity and is the author of ‘Diversity and Inclusion for Leaders: Making a Difference with the Diversity Headhunter.’ Outline of This Episode [1:41] Raj’s journey in recruitment [3:02] What key milestones facilitated their growth? [10:34] The reality of achieving diversity and inclusion [16:47] What challenging a customer involves [24:37] How Green Park developed its CREED [33:22] Lessons learned from the last recession Diversity and inclusion has been in their DNA since day 1 Raj and his co-founder Steve Baggi “wanted to work for an organization who accepted diversity and inclusion in their actions—not just in their aspirations and in their marketing.” They couldn’t find an employer that embodied their values, so they started their own recruitment firm on the 4th of August in 2006.  They set up their business with the goal of helping people make diversity and inclusion more meaningful. A good customer was someone who wanted diversity but didn’t know how to get it or weren’t as inclusive as they thought. They committed to looking at the world through the intersection between brand, recruitment, and diversity.  They invested in technology and research to back them up. It enabled them to hire and retain better talent and be more relevant in the marketplace. It afforded them a platform to be able to challenge poor behaviors they saw that needed to be corrected.  How do they achieve diversity?  Raj notes that he articulates it more clearly in his book, but for the purpose of a simple definition: when they talk about diversity they mean someone who is an ethnic minority, a woman, or someone who has a physical disability. Green Park placed a new diverse leader on a board every 8 days and their goal is to be able to achieve that daily by 2025.  They have placed 35% ethnic minorities in board roles against a national average of 6% and over 50% women against an average of mid-’40s in the rest of the marketplace. Their goal is to provide a customer with a broader choice than they’d receive anywhere else. They want clients who prefer someone relevant to the problems they’ll face in the future.  There is a high level of institutional prejudice in the marketplace. They are passionate about helping organizations build advocacy and deal with underlying disparities in outcomes. They want to develop relationships and help them understand the world differently. They come with a commitment to being different—and know they won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.  Challenging your customers to new viewpoints They believe that you can’t compete without having a true identity. Green Park’s view is that “forward-thinking, modern organizations require a wider, more considered choice—a diverse group of thinkers with a greater breadth of perspectives to drive ideas and spur innovation”. They want their clients to learn to look at the world in a way that gives them a broader choice. If Raj sees disparities in how someone is treated in the selection process, he won’t hesitate to bring it to their attention and sees it as his duty. He once had a client ask, point-blank, “Why are there so many ethnic minorities on the short-list?”. It left Raj's team speechless, after all—isn’t that what people come to them for?  He asked Raj how to address it. His response was “We’ve given you the best people that we’ve found and it happens that 40% of them are ethnic minorities' '. They had done their due diligence and the necessary research and they were all qualified candidates. The Green Park CREED: Courage, Rigor, Empathy, Energy, and Diversity Raj was clear that the business chose the values they operate on. As they built it, it became more apparent what was important to them. They are courageous with candidate and client feedback. Rigor and gaining a deeper understanding of customer’s needs are high on the list. Embodying empathy and the ability to come alongside a candidate dealing with a difficult transition into a placement is crucial. Above all, they want to represent the diversity that is already in the world. We both wholeheartedly agree that inclusion is a basic human right. If an organization doesn’t understand or agree with that fact, they can find someone else to do their search. In Raj’s words,“We don’t want to be a conduit for great talent into leaky buckets”.  To hear our in-depth discussion on diversity and inclusion and how it impacts a business’s competitive advantage and increased business value—listen to the whole episode of the Resilient Recruiter.  Connect with Raj Tulsiani Raj on LinkedIn Green Park Limited Instagram Green Park on LinkedIn Green Park on Twitter Green Park on Facebook Resources & People Mentioned BOOK: Diversity and Inclusion for Leaders Connect With Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Mark on YouTube Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter Audio Production and Show notes by PODCAST FAST TRACK

Recruiting recruiters that are an asset to your business can be challenging. Attracting the right candidates for the position and assessing their competency is no easy task. Retention and longevity of staff seem to be the Achilles heel of the industry. That begs the question, how do we attract, develop, and retrain great recruiters? Is there a secret method that recruitment firms are missing?  Shaun McCambridge with Stellar Recruiting based in Brisbane, Australia joins me to discuss the method they’ve found most successful for recruiting recruiters. We’ll talk about why Shaun started Stellar Recruitment, what he believes the key to their success is, developing genuine relationships with clients—and how to hire and retain the right people for your team. Outline of This Episode [2:33] Why did Shaun McCambridge start Stellar Recruitment? [5:26] Client partnerships is a key element of their success [7:35] How Stellar created longstanding partnerships [13:06] Increasing retention and longevity of staff [17:47] Attributes Shaun looks for when hiring recruiters [19:21] Assessing character during the interview process [22:45] Measuring performance after 12 months [31:15] Shaun’s journey with personal development [33:49] What inspired Shaun to start his podcast?  [35:50] The importance of mindset over talent and ability [39:16] The ‘20,000 Lives Changed’ campaign [42:15] Stoic philosophy thought for the day The key to creating longstanding partnerships with clients Shaun believes that one of the largest factors that differentiate them in the industry is the relationship they build with their clients. 3 of their clients have worked with them from day one— for the last 14 years. Shaun points out that many recruiters can be transactional and focused on ‘closing the deal’. At Stellar, they strive to be genuine and honest while delivering on the promises they’ve made to their clients. Everything they do is relationship-based and they focus on remembering that they are engaging in human-to-human personalized interaction.  In my experience, many of the recruiters I’ve worked with are experienced professionals who are genuine and honest. While there are some bad actors in the industry, I’ve found that many of the transactional recruiters are inexperienced. They are put under immense pressure to perform, to bring in revenue without the proper support or training. Shaun doesn’t want this transactional dynamic in his business, which is why he places high importance on developing and training his recruiters properly. Keep listening as we discuss his methods.  The secret to decreasing turnover and improving staff retention Shaun was fortunate to start his career with Hays, where he learned the ins-and-outs of the sales world among a group of like-minded competitors. When he left, his goal was to replicate the high-performing culture he experienced there in Stellar Recruitment. Retaining a core group of recruiters can be a powerful force in your business. With this goal in mind, he sought to create a culture where their recruiters feel empowered and challenged. They emphasize on-the-job training in their particular methods. They also provide organizational psychologists on staff to coach team members. They believe ongoing development and training is essential to longevity. Stellar helps their recruiters map out their career paths and implement personal goals that coincide with professional goals. Shaun stated that “Stellar should be a vehicle to achieve outside of work”. Finding fulfillment in their roles with personal and professional impact is key to retention. Shaun also stands by the practice of promoting from within. Making progress and growing through the ranks leads to engagement which Shaun points out leads to retention.  Recruiting recruiters: Assessing attributes of a candidate during the interview process There are 3 attributes that Shaun looks for when they’re hiring new staff: character, competitiveness, and above-average intelligence. They want to hire people who are nice human beings that treat people well. But they also want to hire people who are driven and competitive, with a desire to win, succeed, and challenge themselves. People with above-average intelligence tend to be more coachable and capable of articulate conversations. They also try to ascertain whether or not the candidates stack up against their values (greatness, positivity, and leadership).  I was curious—how do they assess some of those character attributes during the interview process? Shaun stated that they observe candidates from the moment they walk into the building. Were they polite and friendly with administrative staff? How are they conducting themselves? They also utilize a 4-step interview process where you can see how they interact with hiring managers and other staff. If there are any “holes” in their stories, they become apparent through this lengthy process.  They also use targeted and specific questions to gauge the character of candidates. One question they like to use is, “What was your relationship with your previous supervisor?”. Some potential hires throw their bosses under-the-bus, which is a clear indicator they didn’t value that relationship. They have a tried and true series of questions to gauge the fit of the candidate. Shaun admits that it isn’t 100% foolproof, but they’ve found great success with their model.  A unique way to judge performance  Numbers are important in this industry and it is imperative that you’re reaching your goals. However, Stellar Recruitment measures against another benchmark they find just as important—client satisfaction. They use Setmetrics to track performance and routinely have clients complete surveys to gauge satisfaction. Customer service in the industry can be poor, so they’ve found that placing importance on it sets them apart. News travels fast if you aren't performing and aren’t keeping your clients happy. So they’ve become passionate about customer service.  They also use metrics to track engagement with their recruiters. If they’re underperforming, or their interaction with clients is leading to a low satisfaction survey score, it’s a warning sign. They use internal surveys to monitor their staff and if there are engagement issues they can remedy them. They want to be sure that their recruiters are still enjoying their work and being challenged.  Shaun and I agree that the best recruiters embrace a growth mindset and that it is critical to success. Those with a growth mindset are resilient, believe in themselves, and embrace challenges as a means of learning and pushing forward in their career. Listen to the entire episode to hear Shaun’s thoughts on mindset, why he started a podcast, and their “20,000 Lives Changed” company campaign.  Connect with Shaun McCambridge Shaun on Twitter Shaun on LinkedIn Stellar Recruitment Resources & People Mentioned BOOK: Mindset by Carol Dweck Stellar Podcast Verne Harnish Setmetrics Connect With Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Mark on YouTube Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter Audio Production and Show notes by PODCAST FAST TRACK

Developing a strong personal brand is becoming increasingly important to your success as a recruiter. That applies to all recruitment consultants but is especially critical for independent recruiters and owners of small recruiting and staffing agencies. My guest today—Lauren Stiebing—is a great example of a recruiter who has embraced personal branding as a way to differentiate herself in a crowded market. Lauren started her search firm, LS International, in Barcelona in 2015 and has built a thriving global practice in the CPG/FMCG space. There were many factors that contributed to her success, including her relentless persistence. In our conversation, we talk about the challenge of building a client base from scratch and the learning curve associated with mastering the ins and outs of business development. She shares the unique challenges she faced and the different strategies she’s used to successfully build her recruitment business. She’s one of my superstar clients and it’s a wonderful privilege to welcome her to the show.  Outline of This Episode [2:43] The background of Lauren Stiebing’s company—LS International [3:53] Key milestones in the development of her business [7:09] What were some of Lauren’s biggest achievements? [8:14] The values she embraces building a personal brand [10:45] What is the concept of giving hard feedback?  [13:08] Developing relationships with blue-chip multinational companies [14:48] What persistence looks like in the recruitment industry [15:48] Using conferences and speaking engagements to network [18:54] The upside of starting a podcast [25:07] Competing with brand-name search firms [28:33] Why large brands choose her over more established firms [31:34] How did Lauren end up in Barcelona? [32:15] Why build a team versus being a single recruiter? [34:24] How Lauren juggles being a billing manager and recruiter [35:41] Lauren’s vision for the future of LS International Building a recruitment agency from the ground up When Lauren launched her business 4.5 years ago, she had little to no experience with business development. She knew she wanted to go out on her own and had the drive to make it happen. She gave herself a deadline of one year to get the business off the ground. If it didn’t work out as she anticipated, then she would begin searching for a job. Fortunately, she turned a profit in her first year and has never looked back. Starting a recruitment agency is not for the faint of heart, and Lauren’s journey was far from straightforward. From the start, Lauren knew that she wanted to operate a retained search practice. Yet 6 months in, she had zero revenue coming in. Lauren and I started working together at this point. After a month, she made her first placement. She pointed out that making your first placement is the hardest, after that things start to get easier. Lauren has achieved what many haven’t - starting a recruitment agency and growing her billings year after year, while 80% of new recruitment companies fail within the first two years. She provides exceptional service and is unrelenting in her ability to make good on her promises, as evidenced by the fact she’s successfully completed 90% of her search assignments.  The values Lauren’s personal brand embraces Lauren knew she faced a significant challenge in the industry, going up against well-known established firms. She recommends building a brand for yourself to differentiate in the industry. One strategy she leveraged to build her personal brand was launching her podcast, LS International Career Success. She was adding value to the industry and this helped her build relationships with clients and candidates. But that wasn’t the only thing that set her apart. Lauren places a high level of importance on professionalism and confidentiality. She explains that clients NEED to know that she takes their confidence seriously. She also believes that you need to have an impeccable response rate—which is sorely lacking in the industry. Even if you can’t answer every question, you can point them in the right direction. This keeps you from burning bridges. Above all, you must be honest and genuine and willing to give hard feedback where others won’t. Lauren points out that providing hard feedback doesn’t always go over well but ultimately gains their respect and engages people on a deeper level. She shares an example of how she challenges her candidates by asking probing questions.  Strategies and tactics to grow your business Being a young entrepreneur, Lauren knew that persistence was going to be the key to her success. As she began breaking into the industry she learned she must keep knocking on the proverbial door. For her, this looked like leveraging multiple channels of communication: email, phone calls, text messaging, and LinkedIn messaging. She tried whatever she could use to get her foot in the door with candidates and clients.  One strategy she uses—which I find compelling—is using conferences to build relationships. This involves identifying which conferences you want to go to and why. Is there a conference that you can attend to connect with decision-makers in your market sector? She notes that it can be a big financial commitment, not to mention the time involved, so you have to do your due diligence and make sure it’s the right move.  Another way to build your personal brand and place yourself as an expert in the industry is by speaking at events. Lauren most recently spoke about creating a more diverse workforce at a LEAD Network event. Not only did she position herself as a leader and an expert in her market, but she also learned a lot and met people relevant to her industry.  How does LS International compete with established agencies?  Other than building a personal brand that stands out from the competition, there are a couple of key ways Lauren believes her agency differentiates itself:  1. Her competitors may have a podcast, but it doesn’t compare to hers. Lauren notes that many of the big-name firms come across as unrelatable. Their podcasts—if they have one at all—are informational and stuffy, often geared towards those at the executive level. She strives to make her podcast (and her business) relatable to everyone looking to advance their career. 2. Lauren is the first to acknowledge that she faces steep competition. But there is an upside to being a small, boutique search firm—flexibility. Her agency can adapt to each client’s needs from one day to the next. They are small enough to be able to change processes or utilize different tools midway through the process.  LS International is able to keep the business customer-focused because it can be adaptable. She can split-fees with other recruiters as-needed, work with multiple people, or do whatever is necessary to ensure client happiness.  Lauren shares how she got her foot in the door with blue-chip multinational companies, the value she’s found in launching her podcast, and much more. Be sure to listen to our engaging conversation. Connect with Lauren Stiebing Lauren on LinkedIn LS International on Twitter LS International LS International Podcast Resources & People Mentioned Upwork The LEAD Network Connect With Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Mark on YouTube    Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter Audio Production and Show notes by PODCAST FAST TRACK

More and more agencies are proving that you can successfully scale your recruitment business by utilizing team development and automation tools. What does the development process look like? Can automation truly open up your time to focus on revenue-producing activities? Mark Smith, the Managing Director of people2people, has spent the last 15 years implementing these processes. He’s articulated values for the business culture and has developed and retained a team of successful recruiters. people2people has quickly grown into one of the leading agencies in Australia and New Zealand.  In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Mark will share some of the strategies that have helped him scale people2people to the point it’s at now. He’ll talk about managing against your values, motivating and developing your team, their automated chatbot “Pete”, and much more. Don’t miss this engaging and educational episode.  Outline of This Episode [3:23] What is the “Valley of Death”? [5:32] You need to define your culture’s values [11:50] How to uphold your values [18:00] Mark’s history with Greg Savage [20:05] Mark attributes his success to team development [27:50] An unconventional way to hire and train recruiters [34:20] Applications for Pete—the people2people chatbot [39:35] Other ways Mark implements automation [44:32] The big challenges recruitment agencies will face You need to define your culture’s values As Mark was scaling his business he began to question if his company’s values were staying consistent across their 110 locations. He wanted to definitively know if the culture in his Brisbane office was the same as in Melbourne. After some reflection, he decided his business had reached a point where it was time to articulate their values.  While researching, he found was that his offices were relatively consistent—and he was relieved. But Mark wanted to forge ahead with his endeavor to fully define what they strive for as a company. He and his team landed on an acronym—STRIDE: Strength (resilience), Teamwork, Respect, Integrity, Drive, and Enterprise—that they would use to define their values. With a description firmly in place, they could begin to manage everything against their values. They had a way to evaluate if potential hires line up with their beliefs. Mark’s company, people2people has since implemented a monthly meeting to talk about wins and performance. They host a yearly STRIDE awards event where people from each office are nominated. They have STRIDE apparel and posters as visual reminders of their values. They’ve found an effective way to implement their team values internally, and Mark believes it greatly impacts their success externally with customer relationships.  Mark has found success in the power of team development People2people now has 110 staff and 8 different locations in Australia and New Zealand. Mark noted that scaling the business wasn’t easy. When the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) hit, there was a downturn in Australia. He couldn’t attract experienced recruiters and had difficulty hiring externally. So he rallied and decided that he would develop his own team into recruiters.  When he chose that path for his business it meant he had to develop a process for training. He wanted the customer experience to be the same across the board. But if he was going to develop his own team from the ground up, he wanted to limit staff turnover and increase longevity. This takes hard work and dedication and fully enforcing the values they built the company on. Because of his effort, 35 of his employees have been with the business for longer than 5 years.  Mark develops his team through succession planning. He has staff trained and ready to step up if a senior consultant moves on. How does he achieve that? His preferred method is to assign a para consultant to a senior consultant in the business. They train with the senior recruiter and handle administrative responsibilities. Mark has found this is the best way to implement team development. Keep listening as he shares what the ideal para consultant looks like and the criteria he uses to determine if they’re ready for their own desk.  Scaling your business utilizing automation While Mark does have a back-office, he’s always striving to keep the bulk of his company’s workforce revenue-producing. For him, that means utilizing the latest technology to take on most administrative duties. Enter Pete—people2people’s chatbot. Previously, Mark had rotated para consultants to answer questions on their website. Now, Pete answers most of the 400+ questions they receive weekly. Of those 400 questions, Pete only transfers approximately 30 conversations to a human being. Implementing a bot to answer questions is just one way Mark has opened up his employees’ time. He also uses his chat-bot to speak with potential hires. They’re able to interact and chat with Pete to knock out some basic questions that would be asked in an interview. Pete can wrap up administrative details and all of the information gathered is input into their system. Mark points out that some people have whole departments to handle processes that his chatbot can do.  Implementing automation may be expensive, but can save you money in the long run. It allows you to hire fewer people and gives you a more scalable business. It opens up your time to win new business. With everything he implements, Mark is always questioning whether or not it is scalable and will help grow the business. Keep listening to hear other ways Mark is using automation and how he addresses ongoing challenges he sees in the recruitment industry.  The core of the business will always be client relationships Although Mark wholly believes in implementing technology and automation to streamline his business, he agrees that there will always be a place for the human element. Bots can’t understand motivations, career aspirations, and certainly can’t sell an opportunity. But by implementing bots and technology, Mark has freed up his recruitment team to focus on activities that bring in revenue and the ever important customer relationships.  It’s also why he’s focused tirelessly on team development to ensure they’re living out the companies core values. He’s struggled through difficult situations where he’s had to part ways with top-earning recruiters because they didn’t espouse the values he’s built the business on. The rest of the team sees that he has taken action and reinforces those values. They see that he is willing to lose revenue to back those beliefs. Mark states that “Success is not only defined by the numbers of dollars or pounds you put up on the board”—It can also be measured in the ongoing relationships recruiters have developed with clients.  Connect with Mark Smith Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter people2people Resources & People Mentioned Fieldglass UiPath Volcanic BOOK: Bad Blood by John Carreyrou BOOK: The Savage Truth by Greg Savage BOOK: Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson M.D. Connect With Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Mark on YouTube Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter Audio Production and Show notes by PODCAST FAST TRACK