After 23 years as a CVS Health executive, Jennifer Chavez bought a recruiting franchise. No warm pipeline, no corporate brand behind her. What got her first clients and candidates? She kept reaching out with messages intentionally written to make people laugh, and kept going back to the same people until they picked up. When they finally did, the most common response was: "I wanted to reply, I was just busy."

Jennifer also makes the case that skilled trades are the most undersupplied talent pool in the market right now, not tech. She's watching small manufacturing companies in Arizona, machine shops and clean air technology firms, struggle to find CNC machinists and technicians in ways that semiconductor companies with major PR budgets never have to. The shortage is not about willingness to hire. It is about not having enough people who know what the work is or want to do it.

Topics discussed:

• Transitioning from Fortune 500 executive to solo franchise owner

• Outreach tactics that generated responses without a recognizable brand name

• How Jennifer selects clients before committing recruiter time to a search

• Building day one onboarding steps into the recruiting process itself

• Why skilled trades are outpacing tech in unfilled demand right now

• AI policy gaps in small and mid-size businesses and who owns that problem

• Advanced manufacturing, med device, and biotech hiring trends in Arizona