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If you're an agency recruiter and have hit a wall, in a rut or just feel like you are spinning your wheels, this episode should help put you on-track. I had the pleasure to interview Levi Pells, an ex-agency recruiter here in Japan who got into recruiting with no experience and was rejected many times but was finally able to land a job at an agency that helped him take his mediocre billings to well over 100M JPY in just a few years.

Levi shares his insight into the market and the importance of perseverance, determination and focusing on what matters. Even if you are not in the recruiting sector, Levi has some really good advice and support for anyone struggling in their career, business or personal life. So watch through all the way and hopefully there are some good points or insight that can help you.

Reach out to Levi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/levipells/

Check out our website here: https://coffee-for-closers.com/

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In this episode of "Coffee for Closers," Brad interviews Axel Lieber, founder of Career Zeus, who shares his insights into helping executives strategically manage their careers, particularly focusing on LinkedIn optimization and resume writing. Axel highlights his 20+ years of experience in recruitment and how his services help seasoned professionals position themselves better in the job market, especially at the executive level.

https://career-zeus.com/

The conversation centers around the nuances of executive-level job transitions, emphasizing the importance of a well-crafted resume, strategic LinkedIn presence, and career advisory tailored to executives looking for a job change. Axel's services include comprehensive resume creation and job change advisory, helping clients navigate complex compensation packages, negotiations, and job offers.

Axel shares common struggles executives face, such as not knowing what a good resume looks like or understanding how to position themselves on LinkedIn. He stresses the importance of LinkedIn recommendations, active engagement, and taking a professional yet strong stance in posts. He advises senior professionals to start a side hustle, even if it's small, to stay mentally engaged and enhance their resumes.

Key takeaways for executives include the need for a polished, impactful resume that opens conversations rather than closes them, leveraging LinkedIn as a branding tool, and understanding the value of advisory services during career transitions. Axel also advises against relying too heavily on AI filtering systems for job applications, as they are not fully reliable, particularly at the senior executive level.

For professionals looking to make a career shift, Axel's practical advice underscores the importance of standing out in a competitive job market and using every tool—like LinkedIn and networking—to one's advantage.

For more insight into recruiting, the Japan job market and more, access the following websites:

www.motionworks.co.jp
www.motionworks-careers.com
www.coffee-for-closers.com

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Overview: This is the first module in the Recruitment Bootcamp 101 podcast series.  This module covers the core competencies and skill sets needed to be an effective recruiter whether you want to be an in-house or an agency recruiter.  The following topics are covered in this module:  Recruiting Skills, Performance Traits and Search & Business Skills.

If you are interested in getting into recruiting or brushing up your recruiting career, I highly recommend doing the Recruitment Bootcamp 101 course or just pick and choose some of the modules to reinforce your skills.

You can download all the modules via podcast and access this and other paid video modules and webinars on our website and social media channels:
www.coffee-for-closers.com

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We had the pleasure to interview Timothy Trahan, Senior Technical Recruiter at Woven by Toyota at his office in Nihonbashi, Tokyo recently.   Tim shared his experience working as an in-house recruiter at Woven by Toyota and their unique culture around hiring the right people for their mission and purpose, particularly focused on creating something new and the Woven City Project.

00:00:34    What is your background and role at Woven?
00:01:29    What are some of the challenging positions your working on?
00:02:18    How many employees do you have at Woven?
00:02:41    What are some of the perks at Woven?
00:04:41    What are candidates looking for now in a company?
00:06:09   What social media channels are you using to engage with talent?
00:06:55   What works and what doesn't work anymore in recruiting today?
00:08:23   How much emphasis do you put on employer branding?
00:09:42   What are you doing as a veteran recruiter to stay competitive in this market?
00:10:44   What qualities do you look for when selecting agencies to work with?
00:11:59   What is the best way for candidates to learn more about opportunities at Woven?

To learn more about opportunities at Woven by Toyota, check out their Careers page here:  https://woven.toyota/en/careers/

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This is a podcast of a recent blog we posted talking about the top 5 reasons good recruiters leave an agency.  

Here are my top 5 reasons why recruiters want to leave an agency.

1.  Compensation Schemes Change

When most agencies start out, they create a comp scheme that works for the short to medium-term but often not for the long-term. Most comp schemes are simple, clear and fair but they may outgrow their original purpose. Agencies often need to change their comp schemes because of their manpower, preparing for a slow market or because their recruiters aren’t performing as well as before or their fundamental model shifted from an individual biller focus to a team billing focus. For whatever the reason, it can mean people are looking for another option.

2.  Leadership/Management Changes

This is probably the most common when a new leader or manager comes in and turns the environment into something they are not used to. It always happens and is not always a bad thing. Sometimes, turning up the heat shakes the tree to lose the leaves that don’t belong. Other times, it is just a fundamental flaw in culture shift. In either case, this can lead to a drop in retention.

3.  Lack of Support and Development

This one I have experienced firsthand and is still very prevalent in many agencies, especially boutique agencies. Boutique agencies need to hire the right kind of people that fit the culture but are also self-sufficient. Boutiques usually do not have the bandwidth to help develop their own people however, I do have work with some agencies that are very good at that, however, for the most part, they simply can’t. Often, the leadership needs to focus more on the bottom line and growth and less on people development. Larger agencies usually have a pretty good training and development program but keeping people engaged and interested is getting much harder for any size agency with remote work. Again, another reason why people start kicking the tires and window shopping. 

4.  No Opportunity to Change Industries

Both boutiques and large agencies often struggle with this one especially when teams specialize in a certain sector. But since the Lehman days and with the COVID era, the stronger agencies found a way to pivot and many recruiters had no choice but to shift industries. For me, I have never really specialized which is both good and bad but in terms of recruiting in general, it’s great and makes you a better recruiter in some cases. I often get motivated when a client asks for some way out in left field search. The process never changes; for me, it’s all the same but many recruiters are reluctant to give up their relationships and hard work to dive into something new. I can respect that but I what I respect more are people who take the plunge into something new.  But again, this is often a reason why some recruiters want to leave because their current agencies are not allowing them to expand professionally. 

5.  Agency to In-house

I often talk to agency recruiters that are just looking to get away from the agency and revenue side of the business and more into an in-house model where they can focus their attention on one client and one mission. Many times, moving over to an in-house role is often much harder than the agency side and can occasionally derail your career but moving from an agency to an in-house role is a big step and you need to assess what type of recruiter you are before making the jump. The market for experienced agency-side recruiters is picking up so this is becoming more of a leave factor than before.

Check out the full blog here: 

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The Recruitment Entrepreneur platform is a well-established investment platform for the recruitment sector started in the UK by James Caan, CBE.  The brand and model has been launched successfully in many countries and is now being launched in Japan.

Daniel McGrath is the CEO and Local Partner for Japan and working with Simon Childs, Non-Executive Director, as well as the backing of James Caan, CBE and the RE team globally to help entrepreneurial-minded recruiters grow and scale their business here in Japan.

Dan talks with Brad Corbet, Managing Director of Motionworks K.K.and host of the Coffee for Closers series about the platform and the business model.

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Had the pleasure to speak with Curtis Mackenzie, Co-Founder of KPI Manager about the launch of their new software tool to help recruiting agencies incentivize activity, motivate and retain teams, and close more deals. We actually use this with our team and it is a great way to reward all the work that leads up to closing deals. A great add-on to any platform or system and easy to get started.

Check out the demo on the site:
https://kpimanager.app/

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We had the pleasure to sit down and immerse ourselves into an epic interview and gaming scenario with Jason De Luca and Paul Roberts of Smarter, Faster Games K.K. who pour their experience and passion into one of the most strategic recruitment training games on the market.

Not only is the game a completely relevant reflection of every situation recruiters will come across in their career but it is a tool where both veteran and novice recruiters can implement strategic ideas related to their specific business and sectors into a collaborative learning and mentorship environment.

The game allows people to experience real-life recruitment situations in a risk-free environment that creates a mentoring and brainstorming session without increasing the risk to relationships with clients, candidates or destroying the agency's brand.

Check out the  full interview videos and podcast here:
https://youtu.be/Cf0vIzkvQ24

More strategic gaming solutions from Smarter, Faster Games K.K.
https://www.smarterfastergames.com/
https://www.smarterfastergames.com/#masters-meisters

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We had the pleasure to sit down and immerse ourselves into an epic interview and gaming scenario with Jason De Luca and Paul Roberts of Smarter, Faster Games K.K. who pour their experience and passion into one of the most strategic recruitment training games on the market.

Not only is the game a completely relevant reflection of every situation recruiters will come across in their career but it is a tool where both veteran and novice recruiters can implement strategic ideas related to their specific business and sectors into a collaborative learning and mentorship environment.

The game allows people to experience real-life recruitment situations in a risk-free environment that creates a mentoring and brainstorming session without increasing the risk to relationships with clients, candidates or destroying the agency's brand. 

Check out the  full gameplay videos and podcast here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/894508/10114057
https://youtu.be/31YWbrxwtWs

More strategic gaming solutions from Smarter, Faster Games K.K.
https://www.smarterfastergames.com/
https://www.smarterfastergames.com/#masters-meisters

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Rocco talks with Brad Corbet, Managing Director of Motionworks and host of the Coffee for Closers interview series about how Career Scout Japan started, their growth plans, some of their unique traditions and why putting your employees first can help improve your bottom line.

Watch the full episode and subscribe to the channel to stay up-to-date on what's happening at Career Scout Japan here:

https://youtu.be/6zq1A2R3oo8
https://www.careerscout.co.jp/

For more great content and videos from Coffee for Closers, visit the site here:
https://closers.tokyo/

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