Recruiting Trailblazers

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Julie was my first guest on Recruiting Trailblazers - where she revealed she was leaving her position as Global Head of TA at Glassdoor.
Find out how she's been getting on over the summer and how her quest for a new role is progressing!

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

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In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Matt Allen, founder of Verticalmove, a 20-year-old high-end boutique technical and executive search firm based in Seattle, now moving into the Phoenix area. Verticalmove specializes in the placement of senior level software engineering and tech positions, both on contract and permanent.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Verticalmove has seen a drastic shift from hiring primarily on a full-time to a contract-to-hire basis. It is a shift embraced by many other recruitment firms due to the flexibility and cost-saving benefits of contractors—factors that companies value today more than ever.

While there is a thick air of caution around full-time recruiting in today’s climate, Matt discovered a gradual resurgence in Q3 as some companies have begun to hire for the long-term once again, especially as news of a possible vaccine is becoming more hopeful. He likens it to how the economy played out in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, in that a number of major stakeholders and executives saw a “land grab” moving forward while many other companies are struggling to recover from the recession.

For Verticalmove, Matt realizes that, if nothing else, building relationships with potential new hiring managers is “the key to getting through these economic upheavals.” Contrary to what most might think, more people are actually picking up the phone today. And more often than not, they are picking up the phone from home, which opens up new opportunities to form a more personal connection with leads compared to before the outbreak. By taking the time to reach out during these uncertain times, and leading with value, any business can quickly set itself apart in the market as a reliable and trustworthy partner.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [1:22] A primer on Verticalmove

●      [5:41] How Vertical Move is faring amid COVID-19

●      [8:08] Switching from recruiting on a full-time to a contract-to-hire basis

●      [13:09] Why companies are now recruiting less and how they are adapting

●      [19:06] How to give clients the confidence to pay a retained firm upfront for hiring whole teams

●      [27:34] Dealing with fewer job applicants during the pandemic

●      [34:07] Building an application tracking system

●      [37:48] Stand out in the market by becoming a subject matter expert

●      [43:10] Desire to add as much value to your constituents as you can

Key quotes:

●      “Full-time recruiting is definitely down. However, we are seeing, as we progress into Q3, something that is very similar to what we saw during the 2008 financial crisis. It was a pause, and a lot of companies started to absorb the bad news and figure out ways to move forward. [...] I think the types of companies that we tend to service are forward-thinking enough that they want to get ahead of the land grab.”

●      “Our business is a very relationship-driven business, so other than going out and focusing on the ‘net new’, the expectations we’re setting for ourselves is that we’re planting seeds, we’re establishing relationships. [...] The relationships are the key to getting through these economic upheavals.”

●      “We have started to think of ourselves as a sales organization who happens to recruit.”

●      “If we reach out with value rather than solicitations, if companies need us, they’re going to opt in.”

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

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In this episode of Recruiting Trailblazers – Marcus interviews Bruce Morton about his role at Allegis as Chief Strategy Officer and his book “Redesigning the Way Work Works”

Bruce shares how he advises Clients on workforce design and TA in the future - as well as actually leading the design of most suited services for the Allegis client portfolio.
Allegis Largest privately held staffing firm in world (owns Aerotek) and operates in all the usual talent verticals – technology, manufacturing, financial services, energy and healthcare.

On the subject of the Covid disruption - Allegis were able to get 20k people employees working from home in 2 days plus 500k workers WFH! A lot of perm hiring came to a stop. Bruce thinks it’s going to be a “tick mark recession” (quick entry and slow exit), and also thinks that the contract markets will expand due to lack of confidence – probably indefinitely. Plus we may reach a 50-50 mix of perm to on-demand workers in the not too distant future.
Marcus and Bruce discuss the cornerstones of his book – “Redesigning the Way Work Works”

What is Organizational readiness? 

What are Work Design Architects and why do all (big) companies need one?

What is a Talentsumer?

(Bruce describes how todays workers “consume” jobs in the same way that they might purchase any product or service.)

Deconstructing the work – what is the need for it? (basing your hiring decisions on your achievement goals rather than duties and responsibilities)

One of the highlight of the conversation - Bruce shares a great story about Ronald Reagan visiting NASA – asking a cleaner what do you do? 

He responded – “I helped put a man on the moon!”

Other key questions answered:

To what extent do companies have a properly mapped out mission and strategy – to increase the value of their offering to their clients?

Talent Architecture – can Companies check their egos at the door to allow the new workers to choose how best to engage with an employer to perform a specific set of tasks.

Do companies need to bear more responsibility regarding the retention of employees/workers in tough times like Covid?

Are companies finally measuring workers by productivity instead of activity?

Are remote workers in fact getting more work done at home – and isn’t this a big surprise?

Do you think hiring managers do enough to sell the opportunity to a candidate - or spend too much time assessing for fit?

The Glassdoor phenomena – does it work and what impact is it having on the world of work?

 Bruce explains why Allegis is such a great place to work!

 Links:

Bruce’s book “Redesigning the Way Work Works”

https://amzn.to/3iUcPJ3

John Boudreau’s book “Lead the Work”

https://amzn.to/3g6l2rX

Daniel Pink’s Drive – discussion around Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.

https://amzn.to/3iTy7qm

Julie Coucoules https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcoucoules/

Matt Charney https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattcharney/

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

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Andrew Trout is the Head for Talent Acquisition at Gusto. A people platform for small businesses handling everything from payroll to HR and benefits who ramped up to 1400 people last year with 600+ hires. He led his team in transitioning into the COVID period by being empathetic while looking out for the business.

In this episode of Recruiting Trailblazers, Andrew shares the steps Gusto has taken to ensure they remain productive even as they work remotely from home. He talks about how the organization is handling business during the pandemic and touches on the huge impact on businesses during the COVID period, some positive and others negative. Listen in to learn how Gusto is working towards representation and inclusivity as part of the Black Lives Matter initiative. 

Quote:

“Everyone coming into your organization is not going to have the same skillsets. If you’re rewarding impact, you’ve got to be able to train, coach, mentor, and provide your organization with tools to up-level their productivity.” Andrew Trout 

Key Takeaways: 

• How physical activity leads to mental sharpness
• How COVID-19 has forced more communication to happen within an organization
• How to maximize your time working from home even with all the distractions that exist
• The importance of having an impact-oriented team as compared to an hour oriented
• one
• Having the impactful conversations and learning more about the Black Lives Matter initiative

Topics discussed:

 - The steps that Gusto took towards the COVID-19 crisis and how they have changed positively. 
- The factors that led recruiting companies to make the decisions they made during the pandemic.
- What is Gusto’s recruitment scale?
- The process they’re using to hire less this year due to COVID. 
- Why Gusto considers themselves customer friendly especially during the pandemic.
- The distractions that come with working from home. 
- Why the impact is more important than hours worked.
- How the return to work plan looks for Gusto.
- How the Black Lives Matter initiative has created a space to learn in the recruiting world.  - How to find a silver lining when looking at the recruitment industry post-COVID. 
- The opportunities that exist now in the industry for businesses. 

Relevant Links:

Website: https://gusto.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-trout-7913562

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

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In this week's episode of Recruiting Trailblazers - Natasha Katoni, from prominent VC Firm Amplify Partners, shares her mindset, methods and magic during her journey from Agency Recruiter to her current role as Head of Talent.

Natasha explains the difference between the roles as a Talent Partner as opposed to her previous role as a Recruiter. 

Marcus and Natasha discuss the climate inside the VC world - including the remote working paradigm and how it may “stick” as we move forward through the Covid crisis. 

They touch upon the concept of a more distributed, remote workforce - and the opportunities for both Companies and Candidates. 

Natasha talks about demand (in software engineering) outstripping supply - plus she comments on the most recent  and reactive layoffs in the Recruiter community - and ponders the structure of Recruiting departments moving forward. 

Mindset - Natasha shares some her guiding principles on her fast journey to Head of Talent - including making her own luck and the choices she has made, moving from company to company - and the role that some of her mentors have had in her development as a Recruiter. 

Marcus questions Natasha on how she convinced her early employers to take a chance on her as the first Recruiter hired. Natasha underlines the importance of working your network instead of just answering job ads. 

At Segment, a milestone for Natasha, she talks about her need to impact the business as the first recruiter. She explains how she partnered with internal stakeholders to build robust systems and processes. They also talk numbers and growth of the engineering division during her tenure. 

Natasha relates how she managed to build a closing strategy that helped them improve from a 40% to 80% close rate. 

She also shares her “imposter syndrome” and how she worked her way through it, via therapy and internal coaching. (David Clemens) 

They talk lessons learned, mistakes made - and things that Natasha might do differently. 

Natasha drives home the importance of making a true impact on the business and properly understand the driving needs of the business as opposed to focussing solely on the human capital requirements. 

They talk talent strategy and the cornerstones of implementing an early system to attract and process talent. 

Natasha talks "GEM" messaging - and sourcing through LinkedIn. She stresses the importance of developing an early talent brand - and how to differentiate the brand. 

Other topics they touch on are Covid hiring challenges, founders capping earnings, candidate messaging and candidate experience. 

Natasha reveals what she looks for in a Recruiter and offers some sage advice in how in-house Recruiters might follow in her footsteps into the VC community. 

They talk productivity, metrics and much more!

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

You can connect with Natasha here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-katoni-72440356/
email: [email protected] 

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

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Now is a good time to be working for one of the big brand Recruiting and Services companies and Randstad is one of the biggest, with revenues of 23BN Euros worldwide.

This week's guest on Recruiting Trailblazers is Joel Leege. 

As EVP & Chief Strategy Officer, Joel leads Randstad Technologies’, Engineering and our Centralized Delivery business unit’s sales approach for account portfolio alignment, sales methodology, productivity/growth strategies and execution. Joel is the US lead for M&A and also is involved in joint strategic business initiatives, business concept design and innovation with other Randstad operating companies. 

Joel explains his role in the $1.3Bn Tech and Eng. division - from Go-to-market strategy to operational M&A and partnership development across the firm.

Some of the questions on the table include:

What is the current state of the staffing market - since the Covid crisis began?
What has the impact been on direct hire markets and fees?
Where are you seeing growth? (biotech, healthcare and healthcare services)
Have there been many layoffs in the Direct hire bsuiness?
What's been the impact on "culture" due to the big remote work experiement?
What about morale? Joel says 
What's happening in the world of Recruiting automation and AI?
How do you build sales/recruiting teams in an industry with such high turnover?
What does it take to be successful in the Recruiting business?
Is there an opportunity for in-house recruiters back in the Agnecy contract or services business?

Some of the highlights include:

Getting back into the office: "I just want to see someone else in person!"

The movie “BIG’ and how his role aligns with a particular scene in the movie. 

The Randstad innovation fund - series A and B funding created for companies who disrupt the Talent space. Joel explains the fund and shares some data points.

Great quote: "Better to invest in companies that disrupt - than be disrupted” 

Joel runs through the vision of a fully automated Recruiting workflow -using AI tools. 

On the subject of Marcus says "You can’t automate relationship development" 

Joel talks about being surrounded by people who really know the business inside out- and how he feels the need to be on his A game all the time.  

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelleege/ 

Twitter: @joelleege 

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

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This week, Marcus speaks with Founder/Author, Jeff Wald, about giving away a $10m prize in 2040, the future of jobs and work and his book, The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations. 

Jeff is the founder of Work Market, an enterprise software platform that enables companies to manage freelancers (acquired by ADP). Jeff is the author of The Birthday Rules and The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations. Jeff frequently speaks at conferences and in media on startups and labor issues. Jeff holds an MBA from Harvard University and an MS and BS from Cornell University. 

Jeff is giving away 10m for the Future of Work Prize - he’s a huge X-Prize fan - and explains why, when - and to whom, he will be awarding the $10m.

Jeff talks about the intellectual antecedents (including OnForce) to his startup, Workmarket - the Freelance Management System that was eventually purchased by ADP.

He shares the challenges they faced to raise their first $6m - and the strategy they took. He supports the notion that it’s crucial to get to market as soon as possible - you don’t really know what’s going to happen next until you get the product out to your first 1000 users. Instead of  “The are using it wrong”  they took the position that “They are using it right - we built it wrong”.

Getting going out of the gate with 10-15 enterprise customers allowed them to generate $1.5m in the first year.

The elevator pitch from origination is discussed - Workmarket is enabling corporations to efficiently and compliantly organize, manage and pay freelancers.

Quotes: "Ideas are cheap - the will to execute is expensive”. "Doing it" is what separates people. "Release early, release often”

Jeff thinks that he might change the title of the book given a chance - he was not in love with it, and thinks the irony of the title might be lost due to the economic repercussions of the Covid pandemic. He might have caledl it “The Future of Work is Here"

Jeff shares thoughts on his “Labor equation” to evaluate the shape of the workforce and how to engage labor.

Jeff cites Historic trends, data patterns, corporate decision making and even brings his Mum into the conversation!

The duo talk about regulatory changes due to the pandemic and the impact moving forward.

Jeff does not like “non data-driven” predictions - talks about de-globalization, remote working and Robots and AI.

10-15% of jobs are going to disappear in the next 20 years - but there are plenty of jobs that are going to be created that will come close to balancing the equation.

Marcus asks if the human aspect (in recruiting) can be automated.

Mechanization, electrification and computerization are cited as previous drivers of major shifts in the workforce and the oncoming first services revolution is going to be the catalyst for some major retraining needs.

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

Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffwald/

Get the book: The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations.

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

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On this episode of Recruiting Trailblazers, host Marcus Edwardes speaks with special guest, angel investor and serial entrepreneur, Adriaan Kolff, on job seeker strategies, advanced sourcing as a service - along with some amazing tools and tips that are worth their weight in gold!

Adriaan shares the rollercoaster ride of MatcHR over the last few months - by doubling down on his Business Development efforts - focusing on current clients and by starting tooffer free Sourcing Workshops to showcase their value to existing clients.

Adriaan also talks about his forthcoming Advanced Webinar, to include scraping data, automating the sourcing process, using video for cold outreach to candidates, what are best outreach strategies and how can you collect data to optimize messaging.

Adriaan also reveals that business has taken off again - they've signed five new clients - and managed to rehire most of the people they had to lay off!

Adriaan generously discloses his favorite tools and why he uses them.

“There’s one thing you can’t automate in the recruitment process… and that’s the human connection.”  - Marcus Edwardes

Listen to this episode - there's so much value inside!

Connect with Marcus on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marcusedwardes/

Connect with Adriaan on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/adriaankolff/

Adriaan's Must-Read Articles on Medium:
- https://medium.com/@adriaankolff/the-ultimate-guide-to-finding-a-new-job-fast-efficiently-23ac5a50d2c8
- https://medium.com/@adriaankolff/the-best-and-worst-sourcing-and-recruitment-tools-of-2019-1b6e6f575015

Sourcing Tools Recommended by Adriaan:
- https://amazinghiring.com
- https://phantombuster.com
- Phantombuster Tutorial: https://www.loom.com/share/6c08dfa87fa74db986dc72850ba13176
- https://www.lemlist.com
- https://trinsly.com
- Dux Soup Chrome Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dux-soup-for-linkedin-aut/ppdakpfeaodfophjplfdedpcodkdkbal

00:33 – Introduction and background of Adriaan

01:19 – About Medium article: The Ultimate Guide to Finding a New Job Fast and Efficiently

04:53 – What’s the first thing you should and shouldn’t do when you’ve decided to apply for a job online?

05:50 – Video messages as part of outreach

08:41 – Big takeaways from the article + top tips for securing the job

10:18 – Embracing rejection

11:33 – Finding a job is a full-time job

12:57 – Trust, transparency, and lay-offs during coronavirus

16:29 – Sharing financials with employees

18:13 – What has happened since the pandemic lay-offs?

23:07 – What is your best advice for recruiters and people who are struggling with sourcing people?

29:40 – Important questions for hiring managers + benchmarking

31:14 – Are you going to rerecruit some of your lay-offs or will you rebuild?

32:13 - What did you do to gain your new clients?

34:55 – What’s the talent pool like in Ukraine?

36:25 – Sourcing vs Recruiting as a service

40:42 –

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

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In this episode of Recruiting Trailblazers - Marcus speaks with Casey Jacox about his journey to become the #1 All-time Salesperson for Kforce - one of the top Staffing Firms in the USA.
Casey relates some of the struggles to get to the top and the lessons he learned along the way - stating that the only thing that you can truly control are "Attitude and Effort".
Casey reveals some of the winning strategies that he applied in his 20 year sales career - and the main tenets of his book Win The Relationship, Not the Deal https://bit.ly/Win-Relationship 

These include:

• The Golden Rule: Treat people how you want to be treated
• Patience: don’t plan the wedding on the first date 
• Setting expectations: build credibility by clearly communicating, then delivering on your plan.
• Practice (sports analogies) - why don't salespeople role-play every day?
• Hearing vs listening - listening will give you all the clues you need to reconcile a “tailor-made”, irresistible solution 
• Documentation will set you free - salespeople are notorious for “trying to remember stuff” (Marcus says - treat yourself like a goldfish - write everything down!
• Ditch the Ego/ practice self awareness
• Grit: (includes conscientiousness, patience, perseverance, resilience, passion)

Casey talks about his goal of getting the book into college and university programs and syllabuses.

Marcus and Casey discuss Casey's podcast (below) and his new sponsor, who has finally encouraged Casey's daughter to eat fish! https://catchsitkaseafoods.com
Use CODE: QBDADAK

Winning The Relationship, LLC – Sales & Leadership Coaching

Author, “Win The Relationship; Not the Deal”
https://bit.ly/Win-Relationship

The Quarterback Dad Cast - Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-quarterback-dadcast/id1492347381

Casey's bio:

With more than 20 years of business experience, Casey’s leadership helps companies emphasize the building of relationships and not just transactional business deals.  He’s a father, a husband, a coach, a podcaster, a speaker and a business leader who is the same person in and out of work.  

Over his entire career, adversity has always made him stronger.  Casey is blessed to have a positive attitude, as he always looks at life through the eyes of an optimist. While at Kforce, Casey was the number one sales rep nationwide for 10 years in row before moving into the President of Client Strategy and partnerships.  In that role, Casey played a key role in driving a sales transformation as well as providing executive level support for large customers.  In April of 2019, Casey left Kforce as the firms all-time leading salesperson in the nearly 60-year company history to begin writing his debut non-fiction book titled, “WIN the RELATIONSHIP – Not the DEAL.”

Casey now is the founder of Winning The Relationship, LLC which is a consulting firm providing sales leadership and coaching.  Additionally, Casey is the host of The Quarterback DadCa

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

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In this pilot episode of Recruiting Trailblazers, Marcus investigates remote recruiting and begins his hunt for producers, leaders, innovators, and pioneers who have made their mark on the Recruiting industry and can’t wait to share their points of view!

In this episode, Marcus is joined by Julie Coucoules, who most recently worked as Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Glassdoor. Julie has spent the last 20 years working in human resources, recruiting and talent acquisition, mostly in the software and video game industry. Join Marcus and Julie as they take a deep dive into the world of remote recruiting, covering topics such as communication and productivity in the workplace, how to succeed in remote recruiting, Glassdoor culture, and advice for Recruiters looking for a job.

Marcus and Julie discuss the Glassdoor platform, including how some people find it unfair that it allows for anonymous employer reviews with no consequences – and Julie responds with some excellent food for thought regarding the Glassdoor mission and culture inside the company.

They talk about corporate culture and specifically Glassdoor's own culture and Marcus's "Big IDEA" theory (Inspire, Develop, Empower, Appreciate) - which states that when you have those four themes securely in place – you’ve got a great culture which is crucial for both attracting and retaining the best talent out there.

Marcus and Julie also discuss the future of Agency recruiting, as well as give some advice for fellow recruiters in the market for a new Recruiting job.

Plus a very important observation for Recruiters looking to cross the bridge (with candidates or clients) from ‘complete stranger’ to ‘trusted advisor’ in order to 'make the sale'. (In a nutshell: you have to establish and flesh out their driving needs - before you can successfully reconcile your open position or solution).

All in all -  a great conversation with Marcus and Julie and a solid kickoff for Recruiting Trailblazers!

In this episode, we discuss Remote Recruiting and...

[00:01] Recruiting Trailblazers Introduction

[00:54] Introducing Our Guest

[01:31] TV suggestions and Being Acquaintances

[03:14] How Julie Has Been Handling Quarantine

[04:15] Staying in Shape During Quarantine

[05:34] Glassdoor Going Remote Recruiting

[07:00] Talent Acquisition Team

[07:22] Transition and Difficulties of Going Remote Recruiting

[08:36] Environmental Challenges of Working at Home

[10:32] Reframing Communication Styles During the Pandemic

[11:38] How to Manage Productivity with Remote Recruiting

[15:39] The New Normal in Cold Calling

[8:16] Leaving Glassdoor

[20:14] Anonymous Reviews and the Need for Feedback

[23:22] Is It Possible to Repair Glassdoor Company Reviews?

[27:35] Glassdoor’s Mission

[28:07] Culture is the Driver of Industry Movement

[28:53] Inspire. Develop. Empower. Appreciate.

[30:59] How to Be a Really Successful Recruiter

[34:42] The Future of Agency Recruitment

[37:38] Adding Value to Agency Recruitment

[40:48] You Cannot Sell Anything to Anybody Until You Establish A Need

[42:41] Mission-Driven Culture

[43:04] Advice for Recruiters Trying to Find a Job

[45:23] Work Your Network

[46:05] Adding Value to Your LinkedIn Profile

[47:28] Closing Thoughts

[49:37] Outro

Fancy connecting on LinkedIn, with Marcus or Julie?

www.linkedin.com/in/marcusedwardes

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcoucoules/

Thanks to https:

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