The Resilient Recruiter How a Competitive Bike Racer Turned Recruiter Built a 7-Figure Staffing Firm in 3 Years, With Paul Warner, Ep #143
From professional athlete to 7-figure recruitment business owner, Paul Warner’s journey is quite unique. In this interview, you’ll learn how Paul has gone from a part-time solo recruiter billing $90K per year to building a team that bills over $1M per annum in just three years.
Paul shared his incredible story and breaks down the key factors that he believes contribute to increasing billings by 10x in 3 years including:
- His business model and business development strategies
- How to create a psychologically safe workplace environment to empower your staff
- His passion for hiring the next generation of recruiters - the Gen Z’s.
Paul founded Tamarack Recruiting in 2018 as a lifestyle business that could support his other career as a professional cyclist. He leveraged AI and other technology to allow him to connect companies and candidates quickly in the few hours he had to work between races and traveling. In 2020, the pandemic brought the cycling circuit to a halt, and Paul shifted his focus to scaling his staffing agency.
Episode Outline and Highlights
- [01:49] How Paul started recruiting while being involved in competitive sports.
- [09:12] What moved Paul to start his own business?
- [13:35] Transitioning from a lifestyle business to a high-growth recruitment business.
- [27:45] Tamarack recruiting’s secret sauce to repeat businesses - two key pointers.
- [32:31] From 90k to 1m+ annual billing in 3 years - Paul’s insight on what contributed to this success.
- [34:11] Paul shares their business model and development strategies.
- [39:16] Why Paul is passionate about hiring Gen-Z recruiters and his standards for hiring people.
- [53:33] What it means to empower your people to be successful.
- [1:01:10] After growing to seven people, what is next for Tamarack?
Tamarack’s Key Game Changers
Tamarack recruiting’s growth is so rapid, I really wanted to hear from Paul about the ‘secret sauce’ to their success. From billing 90k to 1m+ in just three years within the pandemic is surely an accomplishment and a feat that thousands of recruiting companies could have not easily achieved. What I observed is his successful sales engine and volumes of repeat businesses.
For this to happen, they had to keep on consistently delivering. What are the game changes that enable them to do so? Paul mentioned two things:
- Creating an emotionally and mentally safe environment to work in means their staff treats clients enormously well.
- When they take a job order, they go into a deep-level discussion with the hiring manager to fully understand their hiring needs.
Paul later on shared how they empower their employees, his passion for hiring Gen-Zs, and business development strategies contribute to their rapid growth.
What Tamarack’s Business Model and Business Development Look Like
Paul shared that they have a dedicated business development resource. The main focus of the BD resource is to set appointments. They are running email campaigns, LinkedIn campaigns, and cold calling campaigns simultaneously.
Once an agreement is signed, they then execute it with a sourcer, the account recruiting manager, and a designated recruiter to work on the process. For Paul, having these three minds work together is a game-changer that enhances the process and brings a better recruitment experience for the hiring manager.
The Passion for Managing Gen-Z Recruiters and Empowering People
“I have decided to go with the growth model of bringing kids fresh out of college to teach them our process and procedures.” Paul’s passion of hiring fresh graduates stemmed from his own experience coming out of college and he felt really vulnerable entering the workforce. He felt that his true potential was not realized especially when he was not treated well, e.g. being yelled at.
This inspired him to create a psychologically safe environment in his organization, even for young people. He is also focused on empowering his employees. The results? He feels that his team is motivated to work ten times harder. He wants to give them an experience that launches them into their professional career, especially for recruitment.
You will pick up golden nuggets in this part of our conversation - actual examples of young people joining their organization full time and doing really well. Paul has clarity on what motivates people - it is not just money but the feeling that you truly care.
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
Paul Warner Bio and Contact Info
Paul’s role within Tamarack Recruiting is to oversee client development, as well as managing candidate pipelines in the Mountain States Regions.
Tamarack Recruiting's slogan "We stand out" comes from the Tamarack Tree. Tamarack Recruiting provides staffing and recruiting in both the Technical and Financial verticals. They differentiate themselves by having our recruiters putting full focus on no more than three client needs at a time.
Just like the tamarack tree that changes colors in the fall, "We Stand Out" is how they approach the saturated staffing and recruiting market. Now a team of seven, Tamarack Recruiting today uses the cutting-edge processes Paul developed to make impactful placements with a fast turn-around. We have become the go-to recruiting partner for many of our clients because of our track record of success in filling urgent openings with in-demand professionals.
People and Resources Mentioned
- Jordan Rayboy on LinkedIn
- Danny Cahill on LinkedIn
- Greg Savage on LinkedIn
- The Five Love Languages, by Gary Chapman
- Drive, by Daniel Pink
- Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call
- Mark on LinkedIn
- Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
- Mark on Facebook
- Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach
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