The Resilient Recruiter

How do you position yourself as the recruiter of choice in your chosen sector? What’s your strategy for building your brand reputation and that of your client to attract talent in a skills short marketplace?     By leveraging digital media and the power of storytelling, you can dominate your market and create a competitive advantage for your clients and your own firm simultaneously.  In this interview, my special guest Joe Mullings explains how recruiters can use video marketing and digital branding strategies to fill jobs faster, and multiply their success.   Joe is the founder and CEO of The Mullings Group - the world’s leading search firm in the medical device industry. The Mullings Group has completed more than 7000 successful searches with more than 600 companies in the medical device industry. Their clients include multi-billion dollar companies like Johnson & Johnson, Google, and Siemens. Recently, Joe was appointed Chief Visionary Officer in the MRI Networks.  How do you position yourself as the recruiter of choice in your chosen sector? What’s your strategy for building your brand reputation and that of your client to attract talent in a skills short marketplace?     By leveraging digital media and the power of storytelling, you can dominate your market and create a competitive advantage for your clients and your own firm simultaneously.  In this interview, my special guest Joe Mullings explains how recruiters can use video marketing and digital branding strategies to fill jobs faster, and multiply their success.     Joe is the founder and CEO of The Mullings Group - the world’s leading search firm in the medical device industry. The Mullings Group has completed more than 7000 successful searches with more than 600 companies in the medical device industry. Their clients include multi-billion dollar companies like Johnson & Johnson, Google, and Siemens. Recently, Joe was appointed Chief Visionary Officer in the MRI Networks.  Episode Outline and Highlights [2:33] Digital branding strategies and why recruiters and recruiting firms should utilize digital platforms. [10:00] What is Price’s Law and why it is important for your recruitment organization. [11:16] Using digital storytelling that led to developing a unique process for Mullings Group. [15:30] Different mindsets of users on each social platform (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and how you can use it to your advantage [21:10] How to have a “construct” when creating content on LinkedIn. [27:40] Joe shares his motivations behind creating a docu-series. [34:39] The 4 key factors to digital media success as explained by Joe. [38:57] Joe shares the challenges he faced on his journey and the ultimate payoff [47:08] Great advice on content marketing and improving your practice and serve your customer on a higher level. [56:33] When is the best time to leverage your video and digital marketing strategies? [1:02:06] Will digital marketing replace the traditional telephone? Leveraging Digital Storytelling for Clients The Mullings Group takes employer branding to new levels. In order to attract talents, their marketing team would create digital publications that are media-rich and descriptive in content. Another way they do customer branding is through video storytelling. These videos are professionally produced for branding, messaging, and storytelling of their clients’ technology and history for market awareness. How did it start? The concept was first introduced in a very large multi-million dollar project they headed for Google and Johnson & Johnson when building out a surgical robotic system. Since they were unable to show the robot or even the inside of the Google / Verily facility, they had to create a digital storytelling strategy on “who you would become” when you went to work there. And the rest is history.  Learn the process and how it actually evolved from long-form videos to short clips, how organic growth was driven, and how the traction they got impacted their business. Joe shared how he believes this is important for headhunters. One example is how Inbound traffic on these videos will shorten the timescales to complete searches. Joe explained “Even when we had to make outbound calls, when we made the outbound calls, we didn’t have to spend the first 30 to 45 seconds of that phone call on who [the client] was, who we were, and why that sort of career part will be a good one for you to consider.” This actually led to them developing a process called Demand Gen they were able to generate fees in 8 figures exclusively on their search business.  The 4 Keys to Success with Digital Media Another phenomenal feat that was shared in our conversation is when Joe and his team travelled across the globe and created an Anthony Bourdain style documentary. Joe revealed that this is out of selflessness with the intention of propping up the health tech industry. The exposure it got was phenomenal. Selflessness is one what Joe considers as ‘keys’ to success, which are: Discipline Strategy Thought Selflessness Hear it from Joe as he gives context to these key factors. He also told me about what drives him, the challenges he encountered and why it was all worth it. He also reveals the ROI from digital media. Joe said, “I have never balanced a chequebook in my life. And what that means is money is never a driver. It is what game are we gonna play and on what field.” Joe Mullings Bio and Contact Info  Career expert Joe Mullings has been building companies and careers since 1989. He founded and is Chairman & CEO of The Mullings Group, the world’s leading search firm in the medical device industry. The Mullings Group is responsible for more than 7000 successful searches with more than 600 companies in the medical device industry. His clients are multi-billion-dollar companies like Johnson & Johnson, Google, Medtronic, Abbott, and Siemens, as well as the emerging startup companies that are bringing futuristic technologies like surgical robotics, telerobotics, artificial intelligence and Deep Learning to the market.  Joe is also the Chief Visionary Officer of MRI Networks, the 3rd largest executive recruitment firm with 300 offices worldwide. He is President & CEO of Dragonfly Stories, which is the production company behind the docu-series, “TrueFuture” of which he is the host and producer. Joe is also the founder of the media platform TMG360, a Medtech news and opinion website. Joe has an engineering degree from The University of Dayton Ohio. Joe’s web page link Joe on LinkedIn Joe on Instagram Joe on YouTube Joe on Twitter @joemullings Joe on Facebook The Mullings Group website link The Mullings Group on Facebook The Mullings Group on YouTube Dragonfly Stories website link TrueFuture docu-series website link Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter  

To be the best recruiter in your chosen sector, you must commit to continuous improvement. That means making learning and development a priority when allocating budgets for your business. My special guest, James Fernandes, believes that every pound invested in L&D will return five-fold.  James is Managing Director and Co-Founder of Carrington West, a recruitment company with over 60 team members specializing in placing technical talents within industries such as in highways, traffic & transportation, town planning, rail, buildings, utilities & water.  In 2020, they won the 'Best Learning and Development' award at the Investors in People Awards. Episode Outline and Highlights [1:34] Growing from a start-up to a team of 60 people in 10 years. [8:08] Setting up a system for scaling - James shared how they prepared for growth in terms of technology, structure, values, and culture. [17:18] Money as a motivator? Digging deeper into the true motivations of your team members. [19:25] What is Work-Life Blend?  [22:06] James shared the key phases of Carrington West’s growth. [32:39] Shifting to a Managing Director role - James shared his learnings. [34:40] Focus on Learning and Development - creating a culture of continuous improvement.  [41:12] Why invest in L&D? Hear why James believes every pound you invest in learning and development will come back five-fold. [45:55] Carrington West’s future vision. [50:29] Practical approach to your team’s well-being. Humble Beginnings in a Garage Carrington West is an award-winning recruitment company that was founded in 2011. James shared their humble beginnings when they started in a converted garage with a makeshift desk and two laptops. Their inspiring story is full of learnings for anyone who wants to start or scale a recruitment business.  James revealed the phases of their growth as well as how they set up their technology, structure, values and culture in preparation for growth.  My takeaway in that part of our interview is James and his co-founder’s clear vision of their WHY. This is how he put it: “You come to understand that you don’t know what you don’t know… We had a very strong why when we started… Really trying to be the best that we could be. That’s continued throughout the business. That is what got us out of bed in the morning. That demanded even harder work from us, we were never stopping… Because we have this fundamental why - we believe we can be better… That was our driving force in the beginning.” The vision statement reflects the founder’s original purpose: “Our Vision is to be the best possible employer and the best possible recruitment partner for all stakeholders within our chosen sectors.” Work-Life Blend  Carrington West’s focus on their people’s development and well-being created a culture with an emphasis on the work-life blend. Why not call it work-life balance? James said, “A lot of people would describe it as work-life balance, to me that seems that would be more like 50-50. You can spend more time at work than at home, so the balance is the wrong term. Blend to me is looking at people’s well-being. I’ve heard an interesting [saying], ‘If you don’t look after your well-being, you’re gonna end up looking after your illness.’ We don’t need people here ‘til 7 o’clock every night burning themselves out. Actually, we’ll get a lot more from them if their well-beings are high, and they’re very healthy and they’re enjoying themselves at work.”  James explained Carrington West’s practical approach to taking care of their team’s well being, such as managing on trust (not micro-managing), offering flexi-time and work from home arrangements. Creating a Culture of Continuous Development When Carrington West started, they had a strong sense of WHY which is focused on trying to be the best they could be. This eventually translated to a culture of continuous improvement and development. In 2020, they won the 'Best Learning and Development' award at the Investors in People Awards. Training isn’t just for new recruiters, it’s ongoing and continuous. Everyone can benefit from coaching to improve their performance, including the directors who really buy into the value of L&D and receive coaching themselves.   James explained, “We are so passionate about continuous improvement. When the leadership team behaves in a certain way, everybody else really follows suit.”  Their comprehensive approach to Learning & Development includes: Leadership development program Internal coaching program Online learning hub which is a rich resource of training videos and materials Regular training sessions Bringing in world-class speakers Giving audio books to their staff Company library of business books What is the ROI of investing so much in the team’s learning and development? James believes that every pound you invest in L&D will come back five times. This investment in people’s development paid off last year during the pandemic when Carrington West not only achieved their targets, they exceeded them. James Fernandes Bio and Contact Info James is Managing Director and co-founder of Carrington West where he is responsible for implementing the vision for the business, the development of the management team and driving growth. He is a passionate recruitment leader whose driving force is to create an outstanding working environment where all employees are able to progress in their careers, be healthy and happy at work and deliver best in class recruitment services to clients and candidates. Since their inception, Carrington West and many of their consultants have won numerous recruitment industry and business excellence awards. Their focus on creating a culture of learning and development extends beyond individual’s careers to include the continual evolution and improvement of company and industry best practices. James has worked in Recruitment for 17 years since graduating from university where he studied Engineering with Business Management. James on LinkedIn Carrington West website link Carrington West on Twitter @CarringtonWest People and Resources Mentioned Find Your Why by Simon Sinek Speed of Trust by Stephen Covey The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

Do you have the ambition to achieve extraordinary success in recruitment? Whether you’re a recruiter building a desk, a manager building a team, or a director building a company, you’ll get tremendous value from my interview with Jonathan Field. Jonathan is the Joint Group CEO of Shilton Sharpe Quarry (SSQ), a leading international legal recruitment business headquartered in London. SSQ has 100 employees and was recently ranked the UK's #1 Professional Services Recruiter by the Recruiter Magazine. With humility and candour, Jonathan shared his own journey from lawyer to recruiter and ultimately to the C-suite. We also discussed hiring, managing and retaining top performers, and what distinguishes a really good recruiter from an exceptional one.  Plus Jonathan revealed how to “step up your game” and become a trusted advisor to your clients. Episode Outline and Highlights [1:41] Jonathan’s story: transition from being a lawyer to falling in love with recruitment and becoming a successful recruiter. [13:24] Key factors to Jonathan’s quick progression in the recruitment industry. [18:30] Transitioning from 100% fee earner to Joint Group CEO. [27:31] Learnings and takeaways from ‘thousands’ of mistakes as CEO. [34:36] When hiring internal talent, what should you look for in a good recruiter? [48:55] Engaging your team and bringing out the best in them.  Rapid Career Progression  Jonathan’s career has involved some key transitions.  Having been a qualified lawyer at a prestigious firm, he fell in love with recruitment and joined SSQ in 2007.  Later he transitioned from being a 100% fee earner to Joint CEO in 2019. He describes how a combination of factors enabled him to progress quickly, including hard work, timing and an element of luck.  Jonathan admitted that transitioning to the Joint CEO role was especially challenging. He shared some of the mistakes he made when he stepped up to the C-suite, and what he learned from them.  For example, at first he tried to do everything himself instead of leveraging his very capable management team. Once he learned to let go, he got better results with less stress. Hiring Recruiters - What Should You Look For? With a team of excellent recruiters, SSQ recently ranked as the UK’s no.1 Professional Services Recruiter by the Recruiter Magazine. So I asked Jonathan what we should be looking for when hiring internally? He stated a number of mandatory criteria, such as: Given that recruitment is a sales job, you should look for hunger, ambition, and drive. Good foundations such as work ethic and sales ability. Test for cultural fit. Building a High Performing Team with Multiple 7-Figure Billers Jonathan shared that SSQ has multiple consultants billing seven figures. So what distinguishes a really good recruiter from an exceptional one? For Jonathan, there is a thin line between a really good recruiter and an excellent, brilliant recruiter. He said, “The bit that will then separate good recruiters from brilliant recruiters is their ability to be more than just recruiters.”  He then further elaborated, “They have the ability to digest, organize and synthesize information that allows them to be more than just transactional recruiters for their clients. And the way for you to get the best client relationships and get the highest value of work, and really become advisors to your clients is to make sure that you’re doing more than just bringing them good people. You’re offering them analysis on the market and you’re a reservoir of information on your particular market and that you can talk coherently and credibly and with insight into what’s going on.”  To simplify the secret to their firm’s success, the advice he would give is to “just become the expert in what you do.” How to Retain Top Talent Having brilliant recruiters can be challenging, but engaging and retaining these top talents can also present some difficulties especially in a competitive market. So, how does SSQ do it? As Joint CEO, Jonathan found that what works best for them are the following: Offering a variety of tasks and providing opportunities to develop and take on more responsibilities, such as running a team.  Incentives such as having equity within the local business and bonuses tied into the performance of the group. Hear from Jonathan how this works for them and see how it can also be applied in your current set-up. Jonathan Field Bio and Contact Info Jonathan is the Joint Group CEO of SSQ - a leading international legal recruitment business headquartered in London with offices in Paris, Munich, Frankfurt, Madrid, Dubai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. Launched in 2003, SSQ has c.100 employees and was recently ranked the UK#'s #1 Professional Services Recruiter by the Recruiter Magazine. Born and raised in London, Jonathan trained and qualified as a lawyer in 2006 before leaving the law firm Allen & Overy to join SSQ in 2007. For several years, he was responsible for running part of the London business. He was later appointed Joint Group CEO in 2019 following a management buyout/group re-organisation.  Jonathan still splits his time between running the business and advising the world's top law firms on their most senior and strategic lateral hiring Jonathan on LinkedIn SSQ website link SSQ on Twitter @SSQlegal  SSQ on Youtube  SSQ on Instagram  People and Resources Mentioned Greg Savage on LinkedIn Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Related Podcast You Might Enjoy TRR#64  The Recruiter Roadmap to Recovery: How to Thrive in a Post-Pandemic World, with Greg Savage TRR#1 The Future of Recruitment: Strategies To Stay Relevant and Effective, with Greg Savage  Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter  

How do you build a £20m recruitment business? It starts by hiring, retaining and developing good people, of course. But the glue that holds everything together, and lifts the business from good to great, is company culture. In this interview, Jonathan Keen shared how he creates a high-performance culture while promoting a healthy home-work balance. Jon revealed so many fantastic insights for recruitment leaders, from providing extra holidays, fostering a safe space for people to share their true thoughts and feelings, to adopting a qualitative approach to management. Jon is the CEO of Cognitive Group, a company he founded in 2007 at the age of just 25. Since then, he built Cognitive into a £20m business with a team of 21 and offices in the UK and Germany. Cognitive is a Microsoft talent expert and has placed over 2000 professionals into Microsoft projects on both a permanent and interim basis, building leadership teams and supporting digital transformations.  Episode Outline and Highlights [1:15] Moving from South Africa to the UK with £1,200 in savings, aged 20 with no degree or experience. Hear Jon’s astonishing story. [6:30] On handling objections - how training at a young age impacted Jon’s career. [8:54] Challenges when starting - Jon shared key learnings on nearly losing the business in the early years because of cash flow.  [14:00] Mental health awareness: Jon shared his valuable takeaways from depression and what we can learn from his journey.  [28:00] Massive jump in productivity - Jon revealed the positive effects of providing extra-long weekends to their employees. [34:49] How to uncover your team’s motivations and bring the best out of them.  [47:58] Optimistically looking forward to the succeeding years after the pandemic - what is next for Cognitive Group. Starting Was Not Easy - Jon’s Journey Jon moved from South Africa to the UK at age 20 - with £1,200 in savings, no degree, or experience. A friend referred him to join the recruitment industry and the rest was history. After five years, at age of 25, he launched Cognitive and eventually built the company to around £20m.  It was easier said than done though, and like all successful business owners, he also had to go through some difficulties and challenges which can be a foundation for valuable learnings. Jon shared how he almost lost his business in the early years because of cash flow. He offered an honest and realistic perspective on the stress of running a successful business and how it can affect our physical and mental well-being. Jon also did not hesitate to share his key learnings: never risk everything and beware of being complacent in client relationships. Mental Health Awareness, Work-Life Balance, and Building a High Performance Culture As we went along in our conversation, one of the main topics we discussed is being aware of your mental health - why it is important to both personal and professional aspects of your life. I really admired Jon’s transparency and courage when he shared how he dealt with depression. For sure, we can learn a lot from his journey.  I had to ask Jon, how is he able to build a high-performance culture while protecting his team from burnout? He shared very insightful approaches on how he handles work-life balance for his employees. The gist of it, in Jon’s words, is “bringing your physical and mental health to the top of your priority list.” He shared two practices that you may want to consider if you have a recruitment business: Providing extra holidays: Every 2nd Friday in Cognitive is a free holiday which translates to 25 extra long weekends on top of the usual holiday entitlement. Being a qualitative rather than a quantitative leader. Hear how these approaches actually resulted in a massive increase in their productivity. Bringing the Best Out of Your Team Another interesting thought that Jon mentioned is uncovering your team’s motivation and bringing the best out of them. It is no question that if we know our team’s motivations, we can help them to achieve their goals. So what is Jon’s approach to knowing his team’s motivation? Jon said leaders must “show that your intention is to genuinely help them. When someone can feel that they're in a safe environment to speak openly, that the answer that they might utter isn’t quite the answer between a sales leader and salesperson. It can be “Actually I’m not sure whether this is right for me,” and you can genuinely say ‘let’s talk about it’.” Very well said indeed. Jon further elaborated by sharing two takeaways: Celebrating successes via personalized praise Fostering an environment where people share things  Jonathan Keen Bio and Contact Info Jon is the Founder and CEO of Cognitive Group - a team of experts in Microsoft talent and staffing specialists across Azure, D365, Power Platform, Data, Analytics and AI. Jon is an experienced recruiting leader, 18 years in the Microsoft tech space helping customers build their teams and building a super productive, driven and balanced team at Cognitive. Jon is dedicated to building and inspiring a leadership team that is committed to delivering the best candidate and client hiring experience by nurturing a progressive company culture that not only supports, but actively encourages all forms of diversity and inclusion internally, and in the way they engage with candidates and clients. Jon on LinkedIn Cognitive Group website link Cognitive Group on LinkedIn Cognitive Group on Youtube Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach   Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

Are you allocating enough time and money to marketing?  Recruitment is traditionally a sales-led business.  However, the companies who recognize the power of recruitment marketing to amplify their sales enjoy a massive advantage in the marketplace. In this interview, Matt Walsh reveals why some of the early hires he made in his recruiting business were marketing people. He also shares the specific marketing strategies they implement to attract placeable candidates as well as great clients.  Matt is the CEO, and Founder of Blue Signal, a multi-million dollar, award-winning, Phoenix-based recruitment agency specializing in IT. Some of his agency’s accolades include: Forbes 5-star staffing firm #2 Best places to work in Phoenix (Phoenix Business Journal) Ranked #2 Executive Search Firm 3 years in a row (Ranking AZ) Ranked #4 Technical Placement (Ranking AZ) In this fun and fascinating conversation, Matt also delivers tons of insight on how he scaled his recruitment business to 45 people, including best practices for hiring and retaining great people. Episode Outline and Highlights [2:05] Scaling from a one-man band to a team of 45 staff - Matt reveals his story. [7:51] Hear a game-changing concept that Matt learned from Monte Merz and how it scaled his business drastically. [11:25] Matt shares the hiring decisions that helped him scale the business. [12:48] Brilliant marketing strategy: how Blue Signal uses targeted ads for candidates. [25:33] How Matt’s marketing team supports new client acquisition. [28:33] Retention strategy: Blue Signal’s strategy for retaining awesome recruiters. [30:40] Blue Signal’s internal hiring process - from onboarding, behavioural assessments, to career progression. [45:01] Resilience when scaling - hear Matt’s extraordinary challenge and how it led to trusting and empowering his team. [49:52] Learning from mistakes: Matt shares his key learnings. Using Marketing to Find the Best Candidates and Fill More Jobs While talking about how Matt scaled his business, he mentioned that he invested in hiring two marketing people. You will hear in our conversation why this proved to be really valuable to successfully scale his business. He then shared his strategy on how he uses SEO and targeted marketing to get placeable candidates and great clients. This is how Matt described the impact, “I’m this tiny company that nobody ever heard of. Nobody’s gonna go ‘Oh Blue Signal this, Blue Signal that’, but if I go to CareerBuilder, or Monster, or LinkedIn and some of the others, boom! I’m at the top now. If I post it there everybody sees me. That’s not only candidates but also hiring managers.” Matt also gave details on how they would target candidates for very specific roles using technology. Whenever a new search comes in, the marketing team works hand in hand with the recruiters to fill the job.  Listen as Matt describes the whole process and consider how these strategies can be applied to your recruitment business. Motivation to Becoming a Recruiter and Eventually Scaling His Business Back in 2016, Matt had a successful lifestyle business which meant he did not work too hard to make a living. So I had to ask, why complicate his life by taking on the massive challenge of hiring, managing, leading and training people? Matt shared motivations that really resonated with me.  He believes that there is a big void in recruitment and he is passionate about changing the reputation of recruiting. He also shared an analogy about planting a tree - when is the right time to start hiring and scaling his business? The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second-best time is now. Matt also imparted a game-changing lesson that he learned from another guest we interviewed, Monte Merz. Hear this lesson that actually led to Matt successfully scaling his business and making his business life less stressful. Creating Awareness About Smith-Kingsmore Syndrome Right after Matt started hiring and growing, his youngest son was diagnosed with the Smith-Kingsmore Syndrome (SKS). This was an extremely difficult and challenging time for Matt but also led him to empower and trust his team more than ever, so he could focus on his family.  This leadership philosophy turned out to be one of the success factors that’s had a positive impact on the growth of Blue Signal. If you wish to learn more about SKS and would like to help, visit the Smith-Kingsmore Syndrome Foundation website link below. Matt Walsh Bio and Contact Info Matt Walsh is the CEO, and Founder of Blue Signal, a multimillion-dollar, award-winning, Phoenix-based Recruitment Agency specializing in IT, IoT, Telecom, Wireless, Supply Chain, Food Production, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Accounting & Finance, HR, and Emerging Tech. Matt has over 15 years of experience in recruitment. Matt was born and raised in a small farm community in Illinois. He received his bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University and landed a job at Management Recruiters International in Chicago. At MRI, he won several awards. Matt left MRI in 2010 to consult and started Blue Signal in 2012. Matt relocated to Phoenix and started Blue Signal. Early on as an entrepreneur, he was a one-man shop. Since 2016, he has taken the company from one person to over 40 and the company has made almost 1300 placements with over 100,000 LinkedIn followers. Matt still runs a full desk continuing to be a top biller while also being the CEO.  He thrives on working in the trenches, closing deals, and leading by example. Matt on LinkedIn SKS Foundation website link Blue Signal website link Blue Signal on LinkedIn Blue Signal on Twitter @BlueSignal_ Blue Signal on Facebook Blue Signal on Instagram Blue Signal on YouTube People and Resources mentioned Joe Rice on LinkedIn Jordan Rayboy on LinkedIn Jeremy Sisemore on LinkedIn Monte Merz on LinkedIn John Schlegel on LinkedIn Predictive Index website link The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself by Mike Michalowicz The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Related Podcast You Might Enjoy TRR #65 Recruiting Success: How to Bill $700k+ While Achieving Work-Life Balance, With John Schlegel TRR #59 How to Build a Multi-Million Dollar Team of Recruitment Rockstars, with Monte Merz TRR#55 How to Build (or Rebuild) Your Recruitment Firm to 7-Figures From Scratch, with Joe Rice TRR#46 How to Run a Million Dollar Recruiting Firm From Your RV, with Jordan Rayboy TRR#35 Inner Grit: The Traits of a Big Biller, with Jeremy Sisemore  Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

In this interview, you’ll learn how Logan Naidu built one of the fastest-growing recruitment companies in the UK based on a core set of corporate values: Excellence, Partnership, Knowledge, Diversity and Kindness. You’ll also hear Logan’s amazing story of resilience and how being diagnosed with cancer at age 31 was the catalyst for a significant change in the trajectory of his recruiting career.  Plus he shares his insights on learning and development, assessing culture fit, and successful business models. Named by The Sunday Times as one of Britain’s 500 most influential people, Logan is the founder and CEO of Dartmouth Partners. Over the last 8 years, they've grown from a start-up to one of the UK's fastest-growing recruitment companies, have received private equity backing, and made their first acquisition, Pure search.  Today the group operates as a multi-brand, multi-niche player, 180 employees across 5 Geographies and are listed as FT1000 fastest growing companies in Europe and are set for tremendous continued growth over the coming year. Episode Outline and Highlights [2:05] Logan’s amazing story of resilience and source of motivation. [13:22] The ‘Classroom to Boardroom’ model. [17:32] Logan’s approach to assessing culture fit. [22:30] Success as a Billing Manager - how Logan was able to balance making placements, training a team, and running a business. [27:34] Should the top biller always be promoted to a leadership role? Hear Logan’s deciding factors. [30:52] Kindness as a corporate value? Hear the two aspects of how kindness can be applied in the context of a recruitment business. [35:37] Unlocking real sustainable growth with learning and development - Dartmouth’s world-class aspirations. [46:21] Scaling your business - Logan shared his experience on the constraints and how he overcame them. Million Pound per Year Biller  I asked Logan why he left the first business that he co-founded.  He explained that despite being a million-pound biller for two consecutive years, certain life-changing events made him redefine his purpose and ultimately led to some business decisions.  I can’t help but be astounded and inspired by Logan as he shared his journey. At the age of 31, he experienced three life-changing events - getting married, being diagnosed with cancer a day before their first anniversary, and having a child six months after being diagnosed.  These combined experiences made him realize that although he’d been successful as a big biller in a small boutique, “Life is super short … I don’t want this to be the rest of my working career.” From a personal development perspective, he was more motivated by “business” than by “billing” and wanted to grow a large business. This ambition wasn’t shared by his partners at the time who were happy running a boutique, so he exited his first company to launch Dartmouth Partners. Kindness as a Corporate Value Dartmouth Partners corporate values are Excellence, Partnership, Knowledge, Diversity and Kindness. The one that jumped out to me from this list is ‘kindness.’ I can’t remember seeing this word in a recruitment company’s values statement before. Yet it’s one that resonates with me personally. So what does kindness mean in the context of a recruitment business? Logan explained how kindness could be applied in the way we treat others both external and internal. From an external point of view, Logan elaborated, “Listening to them [candidates] and taking them seriously is really important. I think we forget that in the industry because we think about deals and transactions but this is, fundamentally, a very human job and that’s a real privilege. Actually, you get to know your candidates really well, a lot of them become friends over time and they really trust you.” On an internal relevance, kindness is definitely needed when dealing with your team. “The bit internally, I think talking to people and ultimately treating them in a grown-up manner. Recruitment companies tend to go down the route of micro-management and KPIs. But actually, if we hire bright, good, hard-working people and train them in the right way, you can give them an awful lot of freedom. You don’t need to micro-manage them.” Logan Naidu Bio and Contact Info Logan is the founder and CEO of Dartmouth Partners. He has a notable track record in recruiting across financial services but with a particular focus on M&A and Private Equity. While running the firm from a strategic perspective, Logan uses his recruitment expertise to guide consultants in the execution of roles. He continues to work on the delivery of more senior advisory and investment mandates. Logan studied to Masters level at the University of Birmingham before entering the City in 2000. He began his career at JPMorgan and PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Corporate Finance. Logan co-founded the Cornell Partnership in 2005 before leading a successful exit of the financial services and graduate business to form what is now Dartmouth. Logan has a desire for individuals and businesses to work together to mutually flourish and to enjoy shared success and this is reflected internally at Dartmouth. Dartmouth’s success is partly due to Logan’s drive to succeed. It has also been recognised in numerous industry accolades: Debrett’s People of Today (2017) The Sunday Times as one of Britain’s 500 most influential people (2016) Shortlisted as Recruitment Entrepreneur of the Year and GB Entrepreneur of the Year in the services industry (2015) Growing Business “Young Gun” Awards (2013) Outside of Dartmouth, Logan is a trustee of Thrive Youth Trust, the partner charity to Thrive In Work, a social enterprise enabling young people to gain employment. A committed Christian, he is the father of three noisy children, husband to one ever-supportive wife and a serious tennis and fitness nut. Logan on LinkedIn Dartmouth Partners website link Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

Want to become the ‘go-to’ recruiter in your niche, generate inbound leads, create a high-performance culture, or scale your recruitment agency internationally? Then you’re going to love my interview with Toby Babb. Toby is the founder and CEO of the Harrington Starr Group, an award-winning fintech recruiter with offices in London and New York. Toby had been in the recruitment industry for 21 years and has won Agency Leader of the Year and the Entrepreneur of the Year by Recruiter Magazine.  Toby’s also paving the way for other recruiters with his commitment to digital marketing.  He’s the host of the Fintech Focus podcast, Fintech Focus TV, editor of the Financial Technologist Magazine and Chairman of the Fintech Influencers networking community.  In this interview, Toby reveals the success factors to building one of the UK’s top 100 recruitment companies. He also shares his passion for positioning recruitment as a professional service and the importance of improving the customer experience, standards and overall view of the recruitment sector.  Episode Outline and Highlights [2:30] Toby shares his motivations for hosting a podcast. [7:02] Doing the right thing for your clients by becoming a consultant in the truest sense. [13:04] Increasing the quality of your inbound leads. [18:37] The 3 success factors for building one of the UK’s top 100 recruitment companies. [24:30] Using technology to help your people be ‘faster, better, stronger’ without sacrificing the art of recruitment. [30:45] Staying true to your niche vs the temptation to pursue other opportunities. [35:47] Having offices in the UK and New York, Toby shares differences in the style of recruiting between the two markets?  [42:36] Which works better, 360 or 180? Toby compares both business models, from the perspective of having a hybrid of both. [49:08] Harrington Star’s way of doing things - five keys. [56:51] Toby reveals his biggest mistake in the business and what we can learn from it. Becoming a Consultant in its Truest Sense Toby truly believes in the importance of becoming a “consultant” in its truest sense. He explained, “People are the fuel of everyone’s success. If you are able to be a trusted advisor… if you are a genuine consultant in what you are doing, you are able to garner that trust that excludes competition and it makes your business more efficient.”  Some of the key takeaways from our conversation on this topic include:  How to position yourself as an advisor How to establish your credibility How to increase the quantity and quality of inbound leads Building One of the Most Successful Recruitment Companies in the UK Harrington Starr was listed by Recruiter Magazine as one of the Hot 100 recruitment companies in the UK. That’s out of 30-40,000 recruiting and staffing companies! I asked Toby to explain his top three success factors. Here is what he shared: You can’t do good numbers without good people. You must have something slightly different in the marketplace. Staying true to your niche. You can imagine the challenge given the really saturated situation in the UK.  How did Toby’s organisation come up with a unique value compared to others? He shared some great insights and also talked about the temptation to be opportunistic vs strategic and staying true to his niche.  Toby Babb Bio and Contact Info Toby has worked with the world's leaders in financial services and commodities technology for seventeen years. Having led high performing teams for two listed, global recruitment brands, he saw the opportunity to build a pioneering, values-based company that would work with customers to provide solutions and real value well beyond the traditional models on offer in the sector. He is a keen student of the world's leading teams and brands and passionate about elite performance organisations. Toby is a regular commentator on business, technology, employment and recruitment for the BBC and a blogger on FinTech and Commodities Trading systems. Toby on LinkedIn Toby on Instagram Fintech Focus Podcast link Harrington Starr website link Harrington Starr on Twitter @HarringtonStarr Harrington Starr on Youtube People and Resources Mentioned Leanne Sara Jones Hunt on LinkedIn Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Related Podcast You Might Enjoy TRR#66  How to Grow Your Recruitment Business by Hiring Top Recruiters, with Leanne Sara Jones Hunt   Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

What does the future of recruitment look like?   We’ve all been forced to adapt to new ways of working in recent times.  We’ve experienced a decade’s worth of change compressed into a matter of months.  However, much of that change has been reactive.  According to Bruce Morton, author of “Redesigning the Way Work Works,” there has never been a better opportunity to strategically redesign our way of working.   Bruce is the Global Head of Strategy for Allegis, one of the top 5 largest staffing companies in the world. Bruce has worked at Allegis for 11 years and has over 40 years of experience in the human capital industry. He is well known as a global workforce design and talent acquisition expert. He has designed, implemented and managed some of the largest resourcing solutions across many different parts of the globe.  In this fascinating interview, Bruce explains the emerging role of “work-design architect,” the trend towards “projectizing” tasks, and the concept of “talent anywhere.” He also discussed the enduring impact of Covid on the future of businesses, from car manufacturing to office spaces.  Episode Outline and Highlights [3:46] Bruce’s role as Global Head of Strategy at Allegis Global Solutions [7:42] Discussing Bruce’s 2019 book, “Redesigning the Way Work Works” -- which of his predictions came true and how would he revise the book in light of Covid?  [12:14] What is the “work-design architect” and how is it opening a world of possibilities? [17:59] If, when and how people should return to the office. [22:08] Beyond employer branding: how companies can attract top talent and increase employee engagement by “projectizing” their tasks and introducing “stretch assignments.” [28:20] The trend towards “talent anywhere” and remote working. [32:02] The benefits of “one-click apply” [41:38] Covid realizations and enduring impact on the future of business - from car sales to office space. [43:24] Measuring outcome instead of input. [46:00] Why the opportunity divide is getting bigger and what role we can play as recruiters. “Redesigning the Way Work Works” When Bruce turned 60, coinciding with his 40th anniversary in recruitment, he wrote the book Redesigning the Way Work Works. He considered it as a gift to himself as well as his gift to the industry. The book was published pre-covid in 2019.  I asked Bruce which parts of the book would he revise post-pandemic and which of his key themes or predictions came true? He replied: “If I have time to rewrite it or update it, I would love to be able to do that and just put a big stamp on the front ‘Post Covid’. Because some of the projections that I made in the book that I was saying five to 10 years, actually happened within the first two months of Covid.” Bruce then proceeded to share his thoughts about innovation, how the way of working has significantly changed, and how organizations should think. One of my key takeaways was to “stop being limited by the four walls around you.” That will make more sense once you listen to the interview. Company Branding and How to Attract Top Performers  How do you establish a culture that attracts top talent? The culture used to be based around the office environment.  So how do you establish a brand of being a “great place to work” when most people are working remotely?  We started out discussing ideas you’re already familiar with, like the need to provide great benefits, embrace diversity and inclusion, and social corporate responsibility.  Then Bruce shared a few paradigm-shifting concepts that I’d never heard before.  He explained, “When you are trying to attract people it used to be all about the company name.” Bruce explained how we’re seeing a shift from being primarily loyal to the company to being loyal to the craft. Given that people are now more loyal to the profession or their expertise, Bruce pointed out that in order to attract strong performers and top talents, companies should focus on two things: “Projectizing” tasks and Giving stretch assignments The Opportunity Divide and What We Can Do A topic that Bruce is passionate about is the “opportunity divide.” He explains, “I think that it is horrendously staggering that the better we get at utilizing technology, the smarter we get as a human race, the opportunity divide is getting bigger and bigger… A CEO now on average earns 320 times more than an employee. Ten years ago the difference was only ten times.”  So how do we as an industry make a positive impact on people’s lives and reduce the opportunity divide? Bruce said, “How do we educate all of our clients to think about opportunity divide and truly give people opportunity? Bruce talked about recruiting based on somebody’s potential versus recruiting based on somebody’s past experience.  Bruce Morton Bio and Contact Info Bruce is in his 40th year in the human capital industry and has been recognized as HR Thought Leader of the Year by HRO both in EMEA and in the US. He is the author of the book ‘Redesigning the Way Work Works.’ As the Head of Strategy for Allegis Global Solutions, Bruce concentrates on adding increased value to clients from new services and product idea generation, digital transformation, internal and external thought leadership through conferences and speaking engagements.  Bruce on LinkedIn Bruce on Twitter @brucetalent Allegis Global Solutions website link People and Resources Mentioned Doug Bugie  Redesigning The Way Work Works: Strong Opinions and Advice from 40 Years in the Business a book by Bruce Morton Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Related Podcast You Might Enjoy TRR # 69 Recruitment Legends: Leadership and Life Lessons From 40 Years in the Global Recruiting Industry, with Doug Bugie Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

When 9/11 happened, Jared Coseglia had to give up his career as a theatre director and landed an admin job in a recruitment company. Twenty years later, he’s the CEO of an award-winning staffing business that not only survived but actually thrived during the pandemic.  In this interview, Jared shares his experience of building a highly successful recruiting and staffing company. One of the keys to growing your recruitment business is identifying, recruiting, mentoring and retaining the best people.  Jared gave specific suggestions on how to recruit recruiters and then create an environment where they can achieve their potential.  He also revealed his secrets to building a brand through thought-leadership and PR.  Jared is the founder and CEO of TRU Staffing Partners, an award-winning staffing company representing talent and opportunities in the data privacy, e-discovery, and cybersecurity verticals since 2010. Jared has successfully placed over 3000 professionals in full-time and temporary positions at the Fortune 1000, Am Law 200, and throughout the global consultancy, service and software provider community. His ability to identify, deliver, mentor, and help retain talent has given him the privilege of quickly becoming the globally recognized “go-to” individual for hiring managers and job seekers in need of staffing solutions or career guidance and management in legal technology and data protection. Episode Outline and Highlights [3:16] From being a theatre director to becoming a recruiter. [7:54] Two valuable tips on candidate preparation - Jared shared how he preps his candidates from a director’s perspective. [12:13] Growing a business from scratch and becoming a market leader [17:56] The benefits of the contract staffing business model. [22:00] Temporary staffing and retained executive search - how to do both! [29:20] Leadership advice: painting a picture and being a visionary. [31:10] Hear two pointers in successfully recruiting recruiters.  [38:00] How sincerity and caring for people have contributed to TRU Staffing Partners’ success. [41:03] Mentoring your staff - making yourself available to your employees [46:30] How to respond when people in your organization make mistakes. [50:11] The importance of hiring agents and experts. Transferring Skills as a Theatre Director to Talent Representation and Interview Preparation Jared started his career in the theatre industry - which sadly became difficult when 9/11 happened. He then shifted to the recruitment and staffing business, which he started as a temp doing admin tasks. He eventually learned to source and successfully applied the skills he developed in the theatre. As Jared said, “I likened it to casting. Because when you’re a director you’re always casting shows. I do think there are quite a lot of similarities to being a theatre director where at the end of the day your mission is to harmonize the human capital of all the different disciplines that go into making the work of art.”  Aside from the comparison of sourcing to casting, he also believes that clarity and articulation of thoughts, as well as appreciation and access of the human condition from the inside, contributed greatly to his success, which he gives credit to his theatre background. Prepping Your Candidates How do you prep your candidates to set them up for success? Jared shared a lot of commonalities with his previous career in the theatre. Some key pointers are: Know the audience Help the candidate shape his performance for that audience It is not just a knowledge transfer, but also creating a safe space for people to make mistakes.  Jared explained, “Think of it this way, when you’re an actor, you have ideas. But mainly you don’t share those ideas or you don’t try those ideas out on stage without permission. So a good rehearsal process, when you’re a theatre director, is giving actors permission and creating a safe space for people to make mistakes, say the wrong things, try things that don’t work so that you could guide them to the ones that do.” How to Successfully Recruit Recruiters When Jared was scaling his business, he recognized the challenge in hiring skilled recruiters. He actually hired around one-third of his people through an agency. He also revealed some of his secrets to acquiring great talents. In his words, “You have to find great people to invest in at a young point in their career, not age, but a young point in their career in this space.” He backed up his advice by sharing amazing real-life examples of people he’s hired. Jared argued that recruiting for your team is somewhat similar to doing improv. “You know there is a saying in theatre, that when you’re doing improvisation, you have to say yes.” He then elaborated on how saying “yes” applies to recruiting good recruiters. Jared Coseglia  Bio and Contact Info Jared Michael Coseglia is the founder and CEO of TRU Staffing Partners, an award-winning staffing company representing talent and opportunities in the data privacy, e-discovery, and cybersecurity verticals since 2010.  Jared’s unique style of representation, a vast network of relationships, and subject matter expertise have helped earn him and TRU a host of awards including the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America rankings two years in a row, #1043 in 2016 and #1189 in 2017. TRU has been voted a top three legal and/or litigation support staffing agency for seven consecutive years in both the National Law Journal and the New York Law Journal, winning first place for National Law Journal’s 2018 Legal Outplacement/Career Transition Coaching and Corporate Counsel Magazine’s Best Legal Outplacement/Career Transition Coaching in 2016. TRU was also recognized in 2019 as a Hall of Fame recipient in NLJ’s Best Legal Recruiter category. Jared is an active member of the legal and cybersecurity community and, in addition to his role on the Board of Editors for Cybersecurity Law & Strategy (an ALM Law Journal Newsletter), he has authored over ninety articles, regularly appeared on a dozen podcasts and webinars, and spoken at over fifty conferences. Coseglia was awarded Best Reviewed e-Discovery Session at Enfuse 2017 for his lecture and Q&A on “Transitioning Your Career from ESI to Cybersecurity” and was the recipient of a 2017 ILTA (International Legal Technology Association) Publication Award for Outstanding Magazine Article by a Business Partner for the article “Moving into Management: What You Need To Get From Here to There.” Coseglia is currently writing a regular series on cybersecurity, e-discovery, and privacy certifications for Legaltech News as well as a bi-monthly column about Chief Privacy Officers for CPO Magazine which can be read, along with all his original content, at www.trustaffingpartners.com. Jared on LinkedIn TRU Staffing Partners website link TRU Staffing Partners on LinkedIn TRU Staffing Partners on Twitter @trustaffingpart People and Resources Mentioned Amanda Brandenburg on LinkedIn Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter  

The toughest job in recruitment is the role of a Billing Manager. You’re trying to build a team and run an office with all that entails -- hiring, training and managing recruiters.  Plus you’re trying to lead by example, looking after clients and making placements.  It’s certainly not easy - but it can be done.   My special guest, Jeff Herzog, has mastered the balancing act of the Billing Manager. Jeff is the President of F-O-R-T-U-N-E Personnel Consultants, an executive search franchisor with 62 offices that has been recognized as one of the top 1% of professional search firms in the United States. He also manages an office, FPC of New York City, recruiting for manufacturing companies nationwide.  On top of all that, he still runs a desk and maintains a high level of personal production. In this interview, Jeff shares his approach to making the most effective use of his time. He reveals how he uses technology combined with “resource allocation” to successfully run a franchising system while managing a recruitment office and running his own desk. Jeff provides lots of practical tips and approaches that really make sense.  Also, Jeff divulged strategies for engaging with candidates and overcoming the challenges of delivering them to your clients.  Episode Outline and Highlights [1:16] Having 62 offices in the US, Jeff shares his perspective in terms of what is happening in the market now and how that compares with last year. [6:30] Turndowns and counteroffers - Jeff shares 3 keys to reduce the risk. [15:10] Overcoming the challenges of delivering candidates with VA & technology.  [20:15] Sharing best technology tools for recruitment (aside from LinkedIn). [22:15] Three strategies for reaching out to candidates that are difficult to engage with.  [27:48] Learn the seven touches in 14 days rule when reaching out. [30:30] Juggling three full-time jobs at a time, how does Jeff do it? Two tips.  [40:27] When is the right time to hire and expand your business?  Overcoming the Challenges of Delivering Candidates After the recent disruption to the market caused by the pandemic, a lot of industries are now bouncing back and hiring a lot of talents. Rather than just getting job orders, Jeff believes that delivering candidates is a more difficult task. How should recruiters overcome this challenge? Jeff mentioned two best practices:  Technology - making sure that they fully utilize their own ATS (applicant tracking system) and CRM (customer relationship management) properly. VAs - Virtual assistant services are used in certain parts effectively. Jeff also gave an interesting insight on how technology should be utilized in the recruitment business. “AI can make us more efficient, but it’s never gonna replace recruiters…” Jeff truly believes that recruitment is a human business. Technology is a tool - having a high tech but high touch process will make us win in the long term. He concluded, “It is really balancing, not overplaying your hand with technology and not underplaying the importance of human connection.” Reach-Out Strategies I also asked Jeff - what has been his most effective strategy for reaching candidates that are difficult to engage with? He gave three key strategies: intuition research brute force Jeff shared, from personal experience, how he applied all three. As he mentioned, “We have so much more information today than we ever had before, but so much less connection.”  Running a Franchise While Managing His Own Desk Jeff is doing something that can be overwhelming to most of us - running a successful franchise operation, running his own desk making placements every month, and having an office with recruiters working for him. How does he manage to pull that off? Hear at least two pointers on resource allocation and working on your business. “Even if you’re a single desk recruiter on this call, right now. You have to look at what you do as a business. It’s not just a desk, you’re not just a recruiter, it is a full-fledged business and you need to have figured out how to be more efficient,” he explained. Hear how he further elaborated his mindset and how he started from scratch.  Jeff Herzog Bio and Contact Info Jeff Herzog, President and Chief Development Officer, F-O-R-T-U-N-E Franchise Corp. (FPC National). Jeff brings over 20 years of experience in recruitment and recruitment advertising from a variety of companies including Update Legal Staffing, CareerBuilder.com and Tribune Corporation. He was promoted to President of F-O-R-T-U-N-E in October 2016. Prior to that, in 2007, Jeff started FPC of New York City – a company owned recruiting office where he spent ten years placing mid to senior-level executives in life sciences companies around the country. Jeff was the Director of Recruitment and Real Estate Advertising for Newsday, a Tribune Publishing Company. There he managed a budget of over $80 million and oversaw a staff of over 70 employees. He was voted Manager of the Year and was one of the youngest employees to be selected to join the exclusive Tribune Leadership Development Program. Jeff came to Newsday via another Tribune subsidiary, CareerBuilder.com where he was the Area Sales Manager for the New York office. Jeff began his career in recruitment as the manager of the New Jersey office of Update Legal Staffing in 1997. Jeff graduated from SUNY Albany and he lives in Old Bethpage, NY with his wife Denise and their three sons, Benjamin, Derek and Chase. Jeff on LinkedIn FPC National website link FPC Franchise website link FPC National on Twitter @FPCnational FPC National on LinkedIn People and Resources Mentioned Doug Bougie on LinkedIn Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Related Podcast You Might Enjoy TRR # 69 Recruitment Legends: Leadership and Life Lessons From 40 Years in the Global Recruiting Industry, with Doug Bugie Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter