Talent Hunters

The staffing industry isn't immune to economic ups and downs, dips in demand, and challenging years. Since 2020, we've seen both competitive record breaking years and lean years where business was a bit of a struggle.

The good thing about a slow season is that we can learn lessons, leverage new strategies and create new opportunities. The most important thing about business dips is how they allow us to refocus on the basics that led us to success in the first place.

In the recruiting business, the one thing that never goes out of style is nurturing relationships with clients, candidates and our teams. As long as we're working to stay in front of the people we serve, we'll recover when the market bounces back. How do we stick with the basics, even when business gets hard? How is the construction industry doing?

In this episode, we're joined by franchise owner at HireQuest Direct and TradeCorp, Jolene Tate. She talks about second chance employment, technology and how to handle market highs and lows in the staffing industry.

Guest Bio

Jolene Tate is a franchise owner at HireQuest Direct and TradeCorp in Arizona, Indiana and Tennessee. She has been positively affecting lives by believing in people and connecting businesses to job seekers for over 20 years. Jolene leads a team of "A" players who are committed to building long-term client relationships and providing quality customer service in various industries, such as construction, hospitality, light industrial, and special events. Jolene's franchise group is one of the top producers among HireQuest Direct franchises nationwide, thanks to their core values, flexibility, and workforce solutions on demand. They are certified by the Governor's office as a Women Owned Business Enterprise (WBE), a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), and a Small Business Enterprise (SBE).

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

About Your Host

Vince Holt is the founder and CEO of Management Recruiters of Mercer Island. With 35+ years industry experience, he is the only MRINetwork team member to win CSAM of the Year, Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards. In addition to spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, Vince has raced motorcycles for over 50 years, winning 5 National Championships.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

Ever since covid, every employer has been grappling with the same trilemma - work remotely, return to office or do a bit of both.

While there are benefits to the bullpen environment, post-pandemic, we can't put that genie back in the bottle - employees don't want to go back to the past.

There are unseen benefits to remote work that leaders often overlook. For a lot of employers, the fear of lost productivity and accountability makes it hard for them to see the good things about the model.

There's good news though…we have many ways to replicate what people got in the office right at home. There are ways to measure remote productivity for an employee that didn't exist before the pandemic.

Technology has circumvented the need for everybody to be face to face. We can implement hybrid variations to train people well. And the real secret to a successful remote team? Hiring the right people from the start.

In this episode, we're joined by a recruiter and leader whose team is thriving remotely. How did they take remote work to the next level? How do they maintain accountability and quality training? In this episode, founder and CEO of Intalegence, Ron Godier shares what leaders need to do to build thriving remote work environments.

Guest Bio

Ron Godier is the founder and CEO of Intalegence. For over 30 years, he has been passionate about the intersection of talent, intelligence, technology and innovation, and people and business objectives. Ron has helped Private Equity and Venture Capital firms and their portfolio companies solve their unique People Equation, attract, hire, retain, and grow and develop their teams, and achieve their goals. As the Founder and CEO of Intalegence, Ron leads a mission-driven company that provides a variety of services and solutions PE and VC firms and their portfolio companies as well as select organizations in the SMB space.

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

About Your Host

Vince Holt is the founder and CEO of Management Recruiters of Mercer Island. With 35+ years industry experience, he is the only MRINetwork team member to win CSAM of the Year, Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards. In addition to spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, Vince has raced motorcycles for over 50 years, winning 5 National Championships.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

Over the last decade, the workplace has changed dramatically. From covid and the work-from-home trilemma, to an increased emphasis on fostering a more inclusive culture - leaders are faced with huge decisions that can make or break their teams.

How do we cultivate workplaces where everyone feels seen, valued, and trusted to execute? How do we create environments that help people thrive? How can we make sure our people are the best professionals they can possibly be?

When this is absent in an organization, doing great work is impossible, even if you have the most talented people in the room.

Great work culture doesn't just happen - it has to be cultivated and maintained and sustained. And for leaders, there might be some hard truths they need to hear in order to make it happen. In this episode, we're joined by an expert who helps organizations cultivate better workplaces.

CEO of workplace culture consulting firm, Mariana Strategies, Audrey Roofeh shares how leaders can build connected, collaborative teams. She also reveals a unique concept companies can use to solve the work-from-home/in-office/hybrid trilemma.

Guest Bio

Audrey Roofeh is the CEO of Mariana Strategies, a workplace culture consulting firm focused on creating safe and inclusive workplaces. They make it possible for organizations to have the important, difficult conversations that drive change. What sets Mariana Strategies apart are services and offerings tailored to the unique needs of every client. Their methodology and materials are rooted in social science research, incorporating change models that have proven empirical success. This approach helps their clients institutionalize DEI progress for long-term success. Mariana Strategies take a human-centered approach to their work – focused on empowering individuals to build robust inclusive policies, processes and culture within their organization(s).

Website: https://www.marianastrategies.com/

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

About Your Host

Vince Holt is the founder and CEO of Management Recruiters of Mercer Island. With 35+ years industry experience, he is the only MRINetwork team member to win CSAM of the Year, Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards. In addition to spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, Vince has raced motorcycles for over 50 years, winning 5 National Championships.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

The interview has always been our primary way of evaluating candidates and their abilities. But let's face it: the time we have in an interview is limited so it's hard to know how someone will fit in the team and whether they'll excel in the role.

This is especially true in a space like sustainability, where the right hire isn't just about being a technical fit. It's about having passion for solving one of the biggest challenges on the planet today.

In this environment, the right candidate is a lot more than what you see on a resume or hear in an interview. Hiring authorities are looking for the soft skills that seem inconsequential in the interview process but are critical in doing the job.

How do you look for those skills in the interview process? What kinds of questions do great candidates ask hiring authorities?

In this episode, we're joined by Dave Cook, a Senior Sustainability Leader at Owens Corning. He shares how Owens Corning is working towards their zero-waste in landfill aspiration and the large role talent plays in that.

Guest Bio

Dave Cook is a Senior Sustainability Leader at Owens Corning. He is a passionate energy innovator dedicated to driving sustainable engineering solutions. Dave excels in leading cross-functional teams to tackle complex, high-impact techno-economic challenges using data-driven strategies. With a proven track record of inspiring and guiding teams, he consistently delivers results that make a difference.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-cook-solar/

About Your Host

Vince Holt is the founder and CEO of Management Recruiters of Mercer Island. With 35+ years industry experience, he is the only MRINetwork team member to win CSAM of the Year, Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards. In addition to spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, Vince has raced motorcycles for over 50 years, winning 5 National Championships.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

We might think technology is the greatest threat to the recruiting industry, but it isn't. The real issues we're facing as an industry are a lot closer to home.

There are two types of jobs: can't-help job orders and search assignments, and the majority of the industry can't tell the difference.

Success comes from chasing the 4% of companies who truly need our services and recruiters are stuck chasing the 96% that waste their time.

Finding "Ace of Spades" clients and placements is the foundation of a solid desk. But most recruiters are avoiding the easiest way to find them - picking up the phone.

If we correct these 3 major issues, we can build businesses that last decades, and getting replaced by technology will never be an issue.

How do you separate bad job orders from the best opportunities? What's the one question recruiters should ask more? How do you treat your desk as a manufacturing plant?

In this episode, we're joined by 45-year recruiting veteran, founder of The Marshall Plan and author of "The Phone Rang", Bob Marshall. He shares where to focus our efforts if we want to thrive in this industry.

Guest Bio

Bob Marshall is a 45-year recruiting industry veteran, consultant, trainer, founder of The Marshall Plan and author of The Phone Rang. He started in search and recruiting on June 15, 1980 with the Management Recruiters franchise in Reno, NV. In September 1986, Bob went into business for himself founding The Bob Marshall Group (based on The Marshall Plan). He has traveled extensively throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, Malta and Cyprus training recruiters. To this day, Bob continues to coach and train recruiters as well as working his desk on a daily basis from his Atlanta headquarters.

To learn more visit: https://www.themarshallplan.org/.

Phone: 770.898.550

Email: [email protected]

About Your Host

Vince Holt is the founder and CEO of Management Recruiters of Mercer Island. With 35+ years industry experience, he is the only MRINetwork team member to win CSAM of the Year, Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards. In addition to spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, Vince has raced motorcycles for over 50 years, winning 5 National Championships.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

For the last few years, the US workforce has been experiencing a severe labor shortage. With over 8 million jobs in need of talent, there just aren't enough skilled workers to fill the jobs available on the market. There are many factors driving this challenge in finding and retaining talent.

There are less people participating in the labor force. Entrepreneurship has exploded in America, and of course there's the impact of covid, which we're still feeling today.

So the question is: how do we fill these jobs and get people back into the workforce? Well the answer is simple: we have to widen the pool and look at the talent that's right under our nose. How do we start building tomorrow's workforce right now? How do we connect talent to great opportunities?

In this episode, I'm joined by Senior Director of Workforce and International Labor Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Stephanie Ferguson Melhorn. She gives valuable insights on our nation's labor shortage and how to solve it.

Guest Bio

Stephanie Ferguson Melhorn is the Senior Director of Workforce and International Labor Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Stephanie's portfolio comprises unemployment insurance and international labor policy. Additionally, she directs the U.S. Chamber's data center initiative.In this role, Stephanie keeps the Chamber's members and audience informed about the current state of the workforce. Her work on the labor shortage has been cited in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Associated Press. Stephanie is a staunch advocate for unemployment insurance modernization and serves on the U.S. employer delegation to the International Labor Conference. Connect with Stephanie on LinkedIn.

About Your Host

Vince Holt is the founder and CEO of Management Recruiters of Mercer Island. With 35+ years industry experience, he is the only MRINetwork team member to win CSAM of the Year, Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards. In addition to spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, Vince has raced motorcycles for over 50 years, winning 5 National Championships.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

One of the greatest threats to company culture is growth. Even though expansion is usually a good thing, it's easy to rock the status quo and lose your grasp on culture as you bring more people.

This gives growing companies a huge challenge: how do you make sure employee 6 and employee 206 have the same experience? It's all about building a culture that can accommodate growth without getting diluted right from the start.

It's also about having the right filter for talent and making sure that culture is felt from the first interview. How do you create the right hopper for talent? Can tech replace a human in the recruiting process?

How do you make sure your company lives up to what people experience in interviews? In this episode, I'm joined by the Chief Operating Officer at Daemon, Jane Lockwood. She shares how they are maintaining culture in a high growth business and their approach to recruiting.

Guest BioJane Lockwood is the Chief Operating Officer at Daemon. Daemon is a technology consultancy that puts people first. They believe that technology can help people to do better work in the world. Making that happen for business isn't always easy, Daemon helps companies bridge the gap between where they are now and where they want to be. Connect with Jane on LinkedIn.

About Your Host

Vince Holt is the founder and CEO of Management Recruiters of Mercer Island. With 35+ years industry experience, he is the only MRINetwork team member to win CSAM of the Year, Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards. In addition to spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, Vince has raced motorcycles for over 50 years, winning 5 National Championships.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

Picking up the phone might be the oldest recruiting method in the book but in recent years, it's been outperforming modern strategies by a massive margin.

With more recruiters choosing tech tools, the phone lines that used to be crowded are now wide open for the taking, making the phone the ultimate differentiator.

A few years ago, the market was so good that just about any recruiter could get a placement without even talking to people. You could get away with not spending time on the phone.

Unfortunately, we got so used to this that recruiters have lost the vital skill of phoning people when it's more necessary than ever before.

The essence of this job is simple: we interrupt people to introduce them to life changing opportunities, and that's impossible to do with email or social media. That's why the phone has made a real comeback.

How do leaders get their recruiters back in the habit of cold calling? Why do leaders have to spend more time with their tenured recruiters, not the brand new ones? In this episode, I'm joined by the President of Hobson Associates and the owner of AccordingToDanny.com, Danny Cahill.

He talks about how he started coaching recruiters, running a highly successful recruiting business and the strategies driving success in today's market.

Guest Bio

Danny Cahill is the President and Managing Partner at Hobson Associates and the owner of AccordingToDanny.com. Hobson Associates is one of the nation's largest privately held search firms and According to Danny, is the largest online coaching system in the staffing industry. He is also a winner of the Industry's Highest Honor, The NAPS Lifetime Achievement Award and he's also a best selling author. To learn more visit https://www.accordingtodanny.com/.

About Your Host

Vince Holt is the founder and CEO of Management Recruiters of Mercer Island. With 35+ years industry experience, he is the only MRINetwork team member to win CSAM of the Year, Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards. In addition to spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, Vince has raced motorcycles for over 50 years, winning 5 National Championships.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

In today's influencer-driven world, recruiting is as much a branding and marketing job as it is a sales one.

Every person on the planet makes buying decisions the same way. From restaurants to products we buy, we look for credibility, external validation, reviews and ratings before we spend our money.

Hiring authorities are no different - they are looking for recruiters who have a visible track record of providing value and getting results. The problem is: most recruiters don't even know their clients' buying journey, how they make decisions or how to influence them with methods that work now.

That's why we need to invest in building strong personal and business brands. In the past, we were told that staying on the phone would lead to results. Today, we know that the "smile and dial" approach just doesn't work anymore.

Could we get better results if we approached recruiting a little more like marketing, and put effort into creating strong brands? How do we become staffing thought leaders in our niches?

In this episode, Tom Kosnik, President of Visus Group, shares what it takes to connect with hiring authorities today, and how to build a brand in recruiting.

Guest Bio

Tom Kosnik, President of Visus Group., is a recognized business consultant specializing in organizational development, profitability improvement and work culture transformation. For over two decades, he has facilitated the Presidents RoundTable, working with companies of all sizes and functions. As a recognized consultant, Tom has coached & consulted with hundreds of corporate leaders and organizations throughout the continental USA in effective business development using his empirical-based "Organizational Development Business Model" (ODBM). Tom and his team of consultants at Visus Group shift organizations into high gear and increase bottom-line profits with customized consulting services and training programs, internal diagnostic assessments, whole system performance management, supply chain management analyses, and P&L Assessments. These high-impact tools create an "Action Research Model" (ARM) to get progressive companies and organizations moving toward growth and productivity. Tom resides in Chicago, IL, is married, and has three children. He holds a Masters of Divinity Degree from Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, IL and a Masters Degree in Organizational Development from Bowling Green State University, OH. To learn more, visit https://www.visusgroup.com/ or connect with Tom on LinkedIn.

About Your Host

Vince Holt is the founder and CEO of Management Recruiters of Mercer Island. With 35+ years industry experience, he is the only MRINetwork team member to win CSAM of the Year, Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards. In addition to spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, Vince has raced motorcycles for over 50 years, winning 5 National Championships.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

A successful acquisition takes place when an organization that sees something special to invest in meets a company that will be propelled further through a partnership.

It's a perfect marriage allowing both sides to achieve more together than they would separately.

This is what HireQuest looks for when they're looking to acquire a business. It's not about money - in a people-facing service-based industry like recruiting, the true asset of a business is its employees.

An acquisition is about empowering and pouring into organizations that are bringing value to the industry. That's why HireQuest focuses on not only investing into great companies, but also into talented employees who have the potential to become leaders in their own right.

For the target company, the acquisition is an opportunity to escape the corporate administrative burden a lot of businesses are cursed with, which fuels even more growth!

Today we're joined by two people who were on each side of an acquisition - HireQuest Direct and Snelling franchise owner, Kevin Semerad and HireQuest's VP of Corporate Development, David Hartley. They share why this partnership is the perfect marriage in the recruiting and staffing space.

Guest Bio

Kevin Semerad is a Franchise Owner at HireQuest Direct and Snelling. He has 35 years experience in multi-unit growth and management within the staffing industry and 11 of those years were in independent and franchise operations and 14 were in a public setting. Initially, Kevin built a regional staffing company from the ground up (1 to 16 units) that he sold in 2006. His experience is that consistent execution is achieved by hiring the right people for the right positions, clearly communicating goals and expectations, and empowering them while continually providing the training, tools, and support that is required to be #1. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.

David Hartley is the Vice President of Corporate Development at HireQuest Inc., specializing in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), strategic growth initiatives, and corporate strategy. With nearly a decade of investment banking experience prior to joining HireQuest, including the 2019 HireQuest-Command Center merger, David brings a wealth of expertise in deal execution, valuation, and integration strategies. At HireQuest he has led 13 acquisitions of staffing/recruiting companies and franchisors significantly expanding the size and breadth of HireQuest's franchise network. Before investment banking, David honed his skills in corporate development within the medical device industry. He holds an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business and a BA from Johns Hopkins University. Connect with David on LinkedIn.

About Your Host

Vince Holt is the founder and CEO of Management Recruiters of Mercer Island. With 35+ years industry experience, he is the only MRINetwork team member to win CSAM of the Year, Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards. In addition to spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, Vince has raced motorcycles for over 50 years, winning 5 National Championships.

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!