Recruiting Trailblazers

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This week, Marcus Edwardes discusses his mindset and methodology around metrics and KPIs.
Instead of mandating KPIs - he describes how to achieve total buy-in from an activity standpoint - by helping recruiters set their very own, meaningful activity targets - that reconcile accurately with their quarterly revenue goals.
 
If you like what you hear - and you are interested in implementing this methodology - reach out to Marcus on LinkedIn to set up an intro call.

Connect with Marcus https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusedwardes/

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In this episode -  Marcus Edwardes shares his own conversational framework for having the first conversation with a candidate or prospect - using the acronym REACT to define the steps you need to take to prioritize relationship over role.
REACT is: Rapport, Explore, Acknowledge, Confirm, That's Right.

Connect with Marcus https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusedwardes/

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In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Zack Gallinger, President at Talent Hero, a recruitment marketing agency. He helps recruiters with strategies that help them find new clients and new candidates without cold calling, attending networking events, or simply sitting around and waiting for a word-of-mouth referral.

Listen in as Zack discusses how the ability to scale has completely transformed the recruitment industry, and how a smaller agency can stand above this incredibly noisy market by becoming a subject matter expert.

Zack discusses the importance of being a well-branded recruiter, and shares some tips on speaking your audience’s language, getting to know the persona you are communicating to, and improving the quality of your recruiter website.

He then dives into his best practices for creating an effective SEO strategy and finding the right balance between personalization and automation when employing an email marketing strategy.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [01:42] How recruiting has changed from a marketing perspective

●      [05:12] Questions to ask before creating a digital marketing strategy

●      [08:30] Opportunities for well-branded recruiters

●      [13:45] The main problem with most recruiter websites

●      [16:16] The point of inbound websites

●      [21:16] Where to publish content other than your website

●      [22:41] Best practices when writing LinkedIn articles

●      [25:51] Typical results to expect from having a SEO strategy

●      [30:42] Who benefits from Talent Hero’s SEO strategies

●      [32:17] Using email marketing to drive candidate and client traffic to your business

●      [38:19] Outreach messaging tips

●      [41:35] Recommended SEO research and email outreach tools

Key quotes:

●      “The opportunities for a well-branded recruiter are actually quite significant, and the reason is that most players in the recruiting industry are not thinking about brand, even at a basic level. So, simply by doing the bare minimum, you’re often outcompeting.”

●      “In 2022, we’ve all seen thousands of websites in our lives. We have an ability to look at a website for one second and make a decision as to, ‘Is this a professional company, or is this amateur hour?’”

●      “The more you personalize, the fewer emails you can send out.”

Connect with Marcus https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusedwardes/

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In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Kelli Schutrop, VP of Sales at Parqa Digital Marketing Agency, where she helps staffing industry clients optimize and scale their organizations by implementing world-class marketing, technology, and automation strategies.

Listen in as Kelli discusses how Parqa works with staffing and recruiting agency leaders in growing their businesses by increasing brand credibility, online visibility, and lead generation.

Probably the most important step that these leaders can take is that of promoting transparency and collaboration within their organizations. In this new digital transformation area, a company cannot separate specialists into silos. While it still greatly helps to have distinct experts in different areas, there also needs to be oversight that leads to greater efficiency.

Kelli also explains how, through automation and branding, a firm can stand out and build a more authentic relationship and experience with clients, as well as how metrics-driven recruiters can cross the bridge to become a marketing-driven recruiter.

Among the strategies she recommends is creating a visual representation of the application process using a journey workflow. Through a strong personal brand combined with the use of the right automation tools, recruiters can easily make twice as many placements in half the time.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [01:44] Executive search versus staffing common practices today

●      [02:37] How Parqa frames is value proposition with new clients

●      [05:27] Educating metrics-driven staffing professionals to take a longer-term view

●      [08:42] Why revisit your tech stack

●      [10:02] Communicating the most desirable outcome to staffing firms

●      [11:48] Common objections by medium-to-large staffing firms

●      [14:00] Improving brand credibility and visibility

●      [16:55] Putting together a content strategy

●      [20:20] Making sure your marketing and technology strategy aligns

●      [22:35] What it really means to know your target audience

●      [26:29] Building a personal brand as a recruiter

●      [30:57] Elevating the candidate experience using marketing automation

●      [45:04] The limits of automation

●      [48:07] How smaller firms and independent recruiters can embrace automation tools

●      [50:32] What recruiters can look forward to beyond 2022

Key quotes:

●      “We move from strategy all the way through the implementation, because when you jump straight to implementation, you have a lot of good activities in the market, but they may not ultimately lead to what you’re trying to accomplish.”

●      “It’s not having technology that makes you stand out anymore. It’s having a cohesive experience that gives everybody a high-touch approach while creating better efficiencies for the staffing firm.”

●      “Everybody can look nice online, but if you sound like a generic robot, you’re not going to stand out.”

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In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Vanessa Raath, a global sourcing trainer and international keynote speaker based in South Africa.

Listen in as Vanessa explains how sourcers may navigate today’s incredibly noisy market and some of the most common issues that outbound recruiters, specifically, are now facing.

Vanessa also gives her tips on becoming the go-to recruiter in today’s  candidate-driven market. She speaks on the unique challenges that agency recruiters face and why it’s so much more imperative that these professionals focus on the relationships they build with clients.

She discusses why sourcers today need to stand out and how to best build a personal brand that gives them that credibility they need to earn clients’ attention from the get-go and, later, trust. Equally important is the ability to tailor your messaging to the individuals you reach out to give that personal touch that is sorely lacking today.

Finally, Vanessa talks about the long-term benefits of nurturing relationships early and how every organization needs a Community Manager.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [02:42] Regional differences in how Vanessa trains clients

●      [05:04] Navigating an incredibly noisy market

●      [07:11] Common problems that outbound recruiters are facing

●      [11:18] Strengthening the relationship between agency and client

●      [13:36] Why solely using LinkedIn Recruiter severely limits reach

●      [16:14] Vanessa’s definition of a “sourcer”

●      [17:15] The key skills Vanessa is equipping her students

●      [22:51] Platforms that Vanessa recommends outside of LinkedIn Recruiter

●      [27:41] Email outreach best practices

●      [30:10] Why it pays to nurture relationships early

●      [32:58] Whether or not it helps to automate relationships

Key quotes:

●      “The recruiters that are going to be really successful in this market are the ones who build outstanding relationships with their candidates.”

●      “As a sourcer, you need to realize that you’ve got the whole internet at your fingertips.”

●      “A good sourcer of talent needs to start developing a good online brand, online kudos, and credibility. And the reason for that is, when you reach out to candidates, you need to look like someone who knows what they’re talking about, because you’re going to be cross-referenced.”

●      “The more that you are active on social media and the more you have a presence, the more people are going to be approaching you. And that’s what it’s all about. It’s hard work sourcing from scratch all the time.”

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In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Sam Brenner, Founder and CEO of CRB Workforce, a recruitment agency headquartered in L.A.

Listen in as Sam looks back on his decision to start his own business three years prior, and gives his encouragement and advice to those looking to start their own agencies. One of the main factors that drove him was his own mission, which is simply to change the industry.

As opposed to those agencies that prioritize KPIs and raw numbers above all else, Sam wants CRB Workforce to put the client and the candidate first in everything they do. In other words, they seek to be an agency that is “high-touch, low-volume.”

He goes on to discuss the attributes that differentiate CRB, their go-to outreach and measuring tools, and what drives their people at a cultural level.

Sam lists autonomy, collaboration, entrepreneurship, attitude, and effort as the traits he looks for in every new hire, and he makes sure to empower employees to become leaders in their own right—to make many of their own important decisions in their day-to-day work.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [02:00] Why Sam decided to start his own recruitment agency

●      [04:30] How Sam differentiated himself in the marketplace

●      [07:26] Which type of client is considered a good match for CRB Workforce

●      [13:59] Why CRB focuses on the long-term

●      [17:14] CRB’s go-to tools

●      [22:31] Nurturing CRB’s culture

●      [28:00] Hiring for attitude, training for skills

●      [30:56] Leadership in a work-from-home culture

●      [34:15] Finding the right employees

●      [38:01] How Sam measures employee productivity

●      [43:32] What keeps Sam up at night regarding this business

Key quotes:

●      “When we look at clients, it’s all about the match. Are they a good match for us? Do they fit into our process? Do we fit into their process? When we’re talking to candidates, it’s all about the match: ‘What are you looking for?’ ‘What’s the right job?’ We rarely, if ever, sell a candidate on the role. The role ends up selling itself because it’s a good match.”

●      “We’re high-touch, low-volume.”

●      “What’s keeping me up at night is growth. We’re at an inflection point where we’re ready to go to the next step. I think we’ve been playing in the gig leagues and we’re wearing Little League uniforms. We’ve been hustling.”

Connect with Marcus https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusedwardes/

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In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Bert Miller, Chairman of Protis Global and ace Talent Curators, and President and CEO of MRINetwork, a network-centric recruitment organization that offers consulting, training, contract staffing, and community building to over 325 search firms worldwide.

Bert is an active speaker, mentor, advisor, and investor. He hosts the MRINetwork Podcast and his new video podcast series, Beyond the Bottom Line, on which he interviews CEOs and leaders from across categories on issues impacting the World of Work.

Listen in as Bert discusses the many lessons and paradigm shifts that came his way over the last two years. He speaks on making use of MRINetwork’s personal, professional, financial scorecard and how to “stack credibility blocks” in order to become a trusted advisor to candidates.

Bert also makes the point that it is not a choice between old-school phone calls and using digital tools. Rather, the best in the business understand the value of incorporating both into your recruitment toolkit. Additionally, building a brand and creating multiple touch points is a must for long-term success in this industry.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [04:03] The mindset of a successful recruiter

●      [08:19] Becoming a trusted advisor to your candidates

●      [13:04] Applying personal, professional, financial scorecard across the entire MRINetwork

●      [15:23] Taking advantage of today’s digital tools and platforms

●      [21:10] Outreach best practices

●      [22:55] Recruitment agencies vs internal recruiters

●      [24:14] Driving goodwill to every candidate you speak to, including those who do not get the role

●      [31:56] What’s working for recruitment agencies in the candidate-driven market of the 2020s

●      [37:24] Adjusting to today’s reality of the need to build a brand and creating multiple touchpoints

●      [44:10] How Bert’s leadership has evolved

●      [48:37] Why join MRINetwork?

Key quotes:

●      “The one thing that I think is really interesting around the mindset of a recruiter today versus 10, 15 years ago—we have to keep in mind that the power has really shifted in the industry tremendously: The power has shifted to the individual; less so about the companies.”

●      “The opportunity that recruiters have today is these digital tools. They have the ability to create videos and write copy on LinkedIn—one of the best educational platforms for what we do for information, education, aspiration, and inspiration. They start to build a voice in this space.”

●      “Every engagement and everybody you talk to is a different experience. Every individual has their own tolerance for how quickly they want to engage or get to know somebody or how they build the relationship. You have to really gauge that.”

●      “In the last two-and-a-half years I have never seen anything more unique—and I’ve been in MRINetwork now for 27 years—than the power of the community. It’s always existed. I’ve just never realized the power of it.”

Connect with Marcus https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusedwardes/

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In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Jesse Tinsley, a serial entrepreneur who got his start in tech at the age of 15. In 2012, he dropped out of college to found Job Mobz to provide on-demand recruiting for technology companies.

He is a regular contributor to Forbes and SourceCon, and he hosts The People Podcast, where he interviews HR, recruiting leaders, and tech founders on the latest trends.

Listen in as Jesse discusses Job Mobz’ Recruitment as a Service (RaaS) business model, the approach his team takes towards recruitment as opposed to that of traditional agency or internal teams, and why the company ultimately abides by the ethos: The outcome is what matters, not the path we took to get there.

Jesse talks about the fundamental importance of building a brand that naturally attracts ideal clients, which he believes trumps any sort of outreach campaign. He says that the key to cultivating a powerful brand is to consistently create authentic, engaging, informative content.

Finally, Jesse reacts to a few of his most provocative social media posts.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [02:52] About Job Mobz’ Recruitment as a Service (RaaS) business model

●      [06:45] Training from the ground-up

●      [10:53] Common areas noticed by Jesse in which clients can improve upon

●      [13:38] The power of building a brand

●      [16:46] Jesse’s content strategy and how to “make time” for it

●      [20:26] Engaging with niche communities

●      [24:26] Forging long-term relationships with clients

●      [25:49] Jesse reacts to his best social media posts

Key quotes:

●      “The first thing that we screen for when we hire recruiters is communications, both written and verbal. And the reason is because I think a lot of recruiting comes down to communication for internal hiring.”

●      “We’ll take somebody who is ambitious and has strong communications versus has worse comms and a lot of experience, because a lot of it comes down not only to stakeholder management, but also candidate experience.”

●      “We care about outcomes, not how we get there.”

●      “The number one candidate channel in 2022 and beyond is none of the above. It’s creating a brand, and having that brand funnel you candidates.”

Connect with Marcus https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusedwardes/

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In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Rich Rosen, an executive recruiter in the software sales industry with over 20 years experience. He is the Founder and Owner of Cornerstone Search, and for the past two years has been named by Forbes as a Top 20 Executive Recruiter in America.

Listen in as Rich discusses his typical day-in-the-life as a practitioner in the software sales niche and how he does business with startup CEOs and other gatekeepers in this space. He also discusses why it’s vital for recruiters to become specialists instead of generalists if they have any ambition for great success in this space.

He then shares his process for ensuring that each client he takes on is worth his time and why it literally pays to have confidence every step of the way when interacting with those clients, particularly when working with them on a container basis.

Finally, Rich dives into the tools of his trade. He explains why he has a lean tech stack, sticks to the free version of LinkedIn, has no aversion to automation, and swears by the phone.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [02:56] Rich’s billing success since 2020

●      [04:25] Doing business in the software sales niche

●      [08:31] Rich’s mindset going into 2022

●      [11:51] How Rich decides whether or not a client will be worth the time

●      [18:04] Helping clients see the value of working with Rich on a container basis

●      [20:53] The type of people who “make it” in the recruitment agency world

●      [24:05] Rich’s tech stack

●      [27:46] The limitations of LinkedIn and the continued value of phone calls

●      [31:05] Rich’s thoughts on automation

●      [36:54] How Rich approaches his phone calls for the day

●      [40:05] Keys to a successful phone call

●      [46:16] Attributes of a successful recruiter

Key quotes:

●      “My days are jam-packed and every call I make, I can send someone three, four, or five roles. If I’m a generalist, these are one-offs I may never use again. It’s a waste of my time. It’s very challenging to make a lot of money as a generalist.”

●      “Confidence is absolutely everything in this business. If you sound confident, clients will do what you want.”

●      “Recruiters are always trying to find the ‘shortcut’. There are no shortcuts in this business. You may get lucky, but it will catch up with you eventually.”

Connect with Marcus https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusedwardes/

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In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Nicole Thomsen Hirsch, an internal recruiting leader with a specialization in sales, who began her career at Aerotek in 2008. Via Segment—which was recently acquired by Twilio—she now works at Lattice as a Recruiting Manager.

Listen in as Nicole discusses the evolution of the recruiting industry over the last two turbulent years, with one of the biggest shifts being that candidates and employees have more influence in the hiring process as well as their work environment.

She says that, today, recruiting should never be an afterthought, but a top consideration. If companies seek to grow in 2022 and beyond, talent acquisition must be at the forefront. Recruiters themselves have an edge in today’s market if they focus on developing empathy, creativity, resilience, adaptability, and business acumen.

In the latter half of the conversation, Nicole speaks on the importance of cultivating culture at every stage of the employee experience, and communication both between recruiters and candidates and between internal stakeholders.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [02:26] How the industry has changed in the last two years

●      [06:19] Ways in which companies can invest in recruiters and the TA function as a whole

●      [14:05] Top skills recruiters need in today’s market

●      [20:40] Maximizing the follow-up

●      [24:18] Culture from the point of view of recruiters

●      [28:50] How recruiters should consider retention

●      [31:46] How companies can do a better job at engaging and retaining employees

●      [34:40] The importance of internal communication

●      [39:43] How internal recruiters can differentiate themselves

Key quotes:

●      “Recruiting needs to be culture squared.”

●      “I have very strong feelings that recruiters should have the opportunity to specialize. It shouldn’t only ever be focused on one specific area. Some cross-pollination seeds greater understanding.”

●      “I don’t think [the first conversation] is the most important thing. I think the most important thing is the ongoing follow-up.”

●      “I think engaging and retaining employees is [about] setting expectations and writing it down.”

Connect with Marcus https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusedwardes/