The Resilient Recruiter

Imagine growing your revenue by €100,000,000 in less than 3 years!

How is this possible?

In this interview, my special guest Gerard Koolen explains how he and his business partners at Lugera were able to increase revenue from €130M in 2020 to €234M by 2022.

You’ll discover the critical success factors, which include: leveraging technology - and even developing their own software, constant improvement through training and development, and empowering employees to make decisions.

What’s even more remarkable is that Lugara’s office in Ukraine had their best performance ever in the midst of a war and they’re currently hiring 26 more recruiters. 

Gerard is the Group Managing Partner of Lugera, a multinational recruiting and staffing agency. Gerard started Lugera in Slovakia in 1996 and is now operating in 11 countries in 30 offices with 700 internal staff and 15,000 temps. In fact they’re the biggest independent staffing country in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2022, Herard partnered with James Caan to create Recruitment Entrepreneur CEE.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [02:30] Lugera has grown by €100,000,000 in the last three years.
• [07:30] True resilience - how the Ukraine office has continued growing despite the war.
• [18:57] Increasing revenue through training and coaching.
• [25:45] The benefits and challenges of training and coaching remotely.
• [27:36] Gerard shares how they adapt and leverage technology. 
• [34:30] New Talent Base (NTB) - how their custom ATS builds networks automatically.
• [40:51] How technology is a key factor in Lugera’s success.
• [44:32] With 700 employees, Gerard must empower people to make decisions.
• [46:49] Why Gerard opted to invest and build their own recruitment platform.
• [54:23] NTB’s lead generation feature.
• [58:48] Partnering with James Caan and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

True Resilience: How Lugera’s Ukraine Office Achieved Record Breaking Performance

The most remarkable part of the interview was when Gerard shared the story of his office in Ukraine and what they have achieved in spite of the invasion by Russia.

“This has to be for us a challenge to grow our business. We said to each other when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and let us see what we can do. A miracle happened, and last year was our best year so far in Ukraine. Can you imagine?” This is how Gerard described it: “The team even when there was a bombing in Kiev they were sitting in bomb shelters with internet and they are still working.”

It’s hard to imagine a more challenging scenario. How did Gerard ensure the well-being of his team members? He explains how they relocated their team to Bucharest. Gerard’s business partner in Ukraine did a tremendous job organizing the logistics, from booking hotels to hiring buses to ensure the safety of their team.

People lost their houses and there was a lot of panic and chaos, but luckily all their team members were safely relocated to Bucharest. They did not waste any time and immediately went to work. Their mindset and camaraderie were incredible. 

Due to the invasion, thousands of recruitment agencies in Ukraine closed down. At the same,  thousands of vacancies opened up, especially in factories. That is why Gerard’s team had to step up and support their market, despite a very challenging environment. They were able to achieve their best year so far and have continued growing. They’re even in the process of hiring 26 more recruiters in their Ukraine operations. Truly an inspiring story of resilient recruiters!

Increasing Revenue Through Coaching and Training

Since I last talked with Gerard three years ago, his firm has grown by acquisition, but also organically.

Gerard believes that growing rapidly is the most dangerous period for an agency. "Usually quality goes down, you have to pay a lot of salaries but you get your money later.” To manage this risk, they put emphasis on training and coaching their existing people. 

He elaborated on how they structured their coaching and training. Every country has an extensive 2-week onboarding program, plus ongoing training for the whole company including weekly webinars. 

We discussed the benefits and challenges of training people remotely, and agreed that in many ways it’s easier to train remotely versus in a classroom setting. Gerard suggested mixing up the groups so that people from different teams and countries have the opportunity to meet and learn from each other.

Enhancing the Recruitment Process by Leveraging Technology

Another key success factor for Lugera’s rapid growth is that they embrace and leverage technology. He shared how they are launching new software that focuses on recruitment automation and AI. Gerard knows the value of technology and how it has impacted their business drastically. This is why he is investing so much in developing tools and software that truly fit the needs of recruitment businesses. You will hear about their Automatic Network Builder embedded in their New Talent Base software.

Our Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/vc

Gerard Koolen Bio and Contact Info

Gerard is the owner of Lugera, a multinational recruiting and staffing agency. Gerard started Lugera in Slovakia in 1996 and is now operating in 11 countries from 30 offices with 700 internal staff and 15,000 temps. Lugera is focused on Permanent Staffing, Temporary Staffing, Payroll & Outsourcing. Gerard is crazy about helping as many people as possible get a better job. He is help driven, he thinks that innovation is key and is a front-runner in innovative HR technology.

• Gerard on LinkedIn
• Gerard on Facebook
• Gerard’s blog link
• Lugera website link
• Lugera on Youtube
• STAA website link

If you are interested to be a partner in using STAA, get a 50% discount for listeners from the podcast by emailing [email protected] and mentioning Mark Whitby.

People and Resources Mentioned

• James Caan on LinkedIn
• Bullhorn
• Recruitment Entrepreneur

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

• TRR#25 How to Build a €130M Staffing Business in Emerging Markets, with Gerard Koolen

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Meaningful relationships are foundational to success in recruitment. The challenge is that building a network and earning trust takes time. For many recruiters, it can take years to become established in their market niche. 

What if there was a way to speed up this process and achieve faster results? 

My special guest, Steven Li, has discovered a way to build relationships at scale by organizing meet-ups in his sector. Steven’s strategy has enabled him to progress from a rookie recruiter at Robert Half to the Top Biller in APAC within three years. 

Hosting events isn’t a new concept, but Steven has really taken this strategy to the next level. In fact, Steven is renowned for his cybersecurity events in Tokyo and they’ve become so popular that he holds a lottery to determine who gets to attend.

In this episode, Steven shares his learnings and best practices on how to organize events that add value to his sector. He revealed his process for running successful meet-ups, the mistakes he’s made and insights gleaned along the way. 

Steven is a Senior Division Director at Robert Half Japan and specializes in Cyber Security recruiting. In 2022, Steven was recognized as the top biller across APAC, as well as managing the number one perm team.  

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [02:30] From financial services to recruiting - Steven shares his story.
• [09:00] Why “simple does not always mean easy” and how Steven turned things around after his initial struggles as a recruiter.
• [12:21] Fast-tracking his career to becoming a top biller in just three years.  
• [21:06] Adding value - how Steven organizes events for the cybersecurity community.
• [32:14] Leveraging LinkedIn to make your meet-up a success.
• [40:13] Things to do (and not do) when hosting events.
• [47:01] Steven talks about leadership and innovation.
• [51:00] Making the transition from top producer to billing manager.
• [58:38] Having a mission that goes beyond you as an individual.

Building Relationships at Scale by Organizing Meet-Up Events

Steven is a Gen Y recruiter who believes in the value of working smart. In 2019, he quit his job in the Financial Markets and moved to Tokyo to become a recruiter. He thought it was going to be easy but when the pandemic came in 2020, his resilience was tested which drove him to work smarter. 

Steven took inspiration from Greg Savage’s advice on branding and becoming a micro-celebrity in your marketplace. He connected this to the idea of building relationships at scale in recruitment, and that is when they started doing these meet-up events.

He shared his learnings on hosting events and how to make the most of them. Here are some takeaways that we covered:

• How he hosts invite-only events to build a safer community for cybersecurity experts.
• How they were able to hold these events in prestigious locations such as Google, Microsoft, and even the British Embassy.
• Learning from past mistakes, especially on the logistics.
• Things to watch out for - such as ensuring there’s no selling or pitching at the event.

How did this benefit Steven and Rober Half? He became the APAC top-biller in 2022, which was only his third year in recruitment. Plus, Steven’s strategy has now been adopted by other divisions. Robert Half Japan is now hosting community meetup events for Cyber Security, Data, Developers, Consulting, and Executive Search

Having a Clear Mission That Goes Beyond You

Steven has a “mission that goes beyond himself,” which is to build a stronger cybersecurity community in Japan, by giving people the platform to share the best ideas and thoughts. This is something that I also firmly believe: if you have a clear mission, that is bigger than you or your company goals but is one that everyone in your market can get behind, then people will go out of their way to help you.

Having this clarity on your “WHY” and purpose, and how you are able to connect it to how you will add value to your community is a vital key driver to success. Like so many of our guests, successful recruiters and recruitment business owners find ways to add value to their community. Hearing Steven’s story on how he is able to tie up his marketing with his mission can inspire a lot in our industry to do the same.

Developing Leadership Skills 

Steven is still ‘young’ as a recruiter, but what I also admire about him is how he takes ownership of his development. Top billers don’t necessarily make good managers. Steven has fast-tracked his career because he’s taking responsibility for his own development, proactively seeking to refine his leadership skills through books, mentorship, and coaching. 

This is true with tenured and seasoned recruitment business leaders that I know - they never stop learning and developing. Leadership is a lifelong journey, and there is always room for growth and improvement, regardless of experience. 

Our Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/vc

Steven Li Bio and Contact Info

Steven is the Senior Division Director at Robert Half Japan specializing in cybersecurity Recruiting. In 2022, Steven was recognized as the top biller across APAC, affirming his position as a leader in the field. With a passion for creating a safer cybersecurity community in Japan, Steven is renowned for his cybersecurity events. These events, hosted at prestigious venues such as Microsoft, Google, The British Embassy, and Deloitte unite industry professionals to share knowledge and insights. Prior to his successful recruitment career, Steven gained valuable experience in Market Risk oversight within the Financial Markets Sector in Australia.

• Steven on LinkedIn
• Cyber Risk Meetup website link
• Cyber Risk Meetup on YouTube
• Steven on Twitter @StevenLi1650
• Robert Half website link

People and Resources Mentioned

• Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, by Liz Wiseman
• The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, by Robin Sharma

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

• TRR#64 The Recruiter Roadmap to Recovery: How to Thrive in a Post-Pandemic World, with Greg Savage

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What are the biggest trends that affect the future of agency recruitment? Are you positioned for success in the rapidly evolving world of work? 

With advances in Open AI and the growing popularity of remote work and the gig economy, the recruitment industry is set for a major transformation in the next 5-10 years. This shift might cause fear and uncertainty among recruiters, however if you’re aware of the trends, remain agile and are willing to adapt, you can capitalize on the tremendous new opportunities that will be created.

Join us in this episode with special guest, Rob Green, as we explore the future of agency recruitment amidst the rapidly changing technological landscape. Rob reveals his insights based on extensive research and shares the specific steps his company is taking to stay relevant. 

Rob Green is the CEO and Founder of The GRM Group, a holding company that combines leading recruitment, research, recruitment tech, and management consulting brands, all servicing the global legal industry. With 20 years of experience in the recruitment industry and having placed lawyers in 40 countries, Rob brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the discussion.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [03:05] Why and how Rob’s business model has evolved since we last spoke.
• [08:00] How skill matching platforms will change the recruitment industry.
• [14:57] Why Rob created a research company, GRM Intelligence.
• [26:45] The future of the recruitment industry. 
• [29:40] Core trends that are changing the way that we work. 
• [40:30] How should you adapt your recruitment business to stay relevant?
• [47:33] Preparing for the future; why Rob is investing in Umbiie.

The Three Meta Trends That Are Changing the Recruitment Industry

Recruiters and recruitment business owners are always interested to know how technology such as Opan AI will affect the industry. You’ll enjoy hearing Rob’s fascinating insights about the future of work, based on the research report that he commissioned.  His research team identified three trends that will transform the way people work and how companies recruit: 

• The Sharing Economy / Gig Economy
• Global Talent Pools / Distributed Teams
• The Skillset Revolution

Rob urged the listeners to zoom out from the world of recruitment for a minute and realize how the world is changing based on the above three meta trends. We also discussed the growing “gig economy,” and how talents prefer to work from anywhere in the world and would prefer project-based instead of full-time. If you fear that AI will take a majority of jobs in the future, that is not the crazy part. Rob cited a report by Dell Technologies which it states that “80% of all the jobs in the next decade that we'll all be working in haven't even been invented yet.”

What does it mean for you as a recruiter or a recruitment business owner? As Rob very well puts it, “There's going to be a whole new way of recruiting, a whole new skill set of recruiting. And we can prepare for this.”

Leveraging Skill-Matching Platforms for Recruitment

Rob dived into how they are adapting to the trends of the shared economy and shared data by means of technology. They are using the platform StiiNT.iT (Stint It) - to simplify their process and maximize potential. The platform is a private-labelled recruitment technology where “Professionals across the world are vetted and skills verified creating anonymous profiles. These profiles will be searchable and accessible, whether it sits on someone else’s platform or your own – building a collaborative talent pool, ensuring 100% matches, and removing unconscious biases.”

Rob’s team has white-labeled the Stint It platform to create Umbiie (umbiie.com), a global skills-matching platform for legal professionals. It’s not a perfect comparison, but this is the equivalent of Bumble for recruiting - the idea is that candidates choose which employers can unlock their profile. 

Rob shared how they deal with data privacy and how the platform can be monetized. As he stated, “This is really not a pitch because I don't get anything out of this. This is just, do you wanna prepare for the future? Do you believe that there's going to be pressure on contingency recruitment? If you do, there is a solution out there.”

Our Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/vc

Rob Green Bio and Contact Info

With two decades’ experience in the recruitment industry, Rob has recruited lawyers in 40 countries, working with firms and companies from the biggest in DLA Piper, Bank of America, Facebook, Alibaba, and such like, to small one-person law firms, looking to double in size. Rob launched his career with the leading financial services agency, Badenoch & Clark, in London. Following his relocation to the Cayman Islands in 2005, he joined one of the Caribbean’s top recruitment companies, CML, to establish the region’s leading legal recruitment provider. In 2009, Rob became a partner in the business and moved to Hong Kong to grow the business and become one of the top consultancies in Asia. He took full ownership of the Hong Kong branch and rebranded as GRM Search in 2013, winning 15 industry awards in 8 years and working with some of the most coveted legal firms, MNCs, and financial institutions in the world. Enticed by the link between Africa and Asia, Rob opened GRM Search’s first office in South Africa in Johannesburg in 2014. He moved with his family to settle in Cape Town and spearhead the growth of the business into the African continent in 2017. GRM has had notable successes in Asia, Africa, and Australia, with some failures along the way to keep him humble. Rob regularly shares his views on the legal job market with industry publications, business radio shows, HR seminars, and law graduates at HKU, Stellenbosch University, and UWC. He is renowned for his global outlook, experience, legal market knowledge, and down-to-earth approach. In his spare time, Rob is the proud founder and chairman of South Africa’s first soccer program for special needs children (GPS Vikings FC) and a part-time boxing ring announcer as well as a doting father and husband.

• Rob on LinkedIn
• Rob on Instagram
• GRM Search website link 
• GRM Intelligence website link
• GRM Group on YouTube
• Umbiie website link
• Rob’s Podcast, Legal Unicorns

People and Resources Mentioned

• Stiint It website link
• The Three Meta Trends - Revolutionizing the Way We Work
• Why Umbiie - Revolutionizing the Legal Industry
• Korn Ferry Article: 2030: The Very Human Future Of Work
• Korn Ferry Article: The $8.5 Trillion Talent Shortage
• Article on Dell Report: 85% of Jobs that will exist in 2030 haven't been invented yet
• Napoleon Hill: Think and Grow Rich

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

• TRR#96 The Benefits and Challenges of Expanding Your Recruitment Business Overseas

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Do you want to attract new clients and grow your recruitment practice, regardless of market conditions? 

In this episode, you’ll hear me being interviewed by Tom Burkinshaw, the Group Marketing Director at Recruitment Entrepreneur, the world’s leading investor in recruitment start-ups and scale-ups. James Caan’s team invited me to London to record an in-person interview for The Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast. 

You’ll learn how to leverage content marketing to build your brand, attract more of your ideal clients, and be treated as a trusted advisor.  In particular, Tom grills me about the secrets of starting and growing a successful podcast. I also share our Expert Interview Strategy, which enables you to become a thought leader in your industry, produce high-quality content consistently and develop new business at the same time.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [01:56] Why I started The Resilient Recruiter podcast.
• [03:16] Overcoming imposter syndrome to become a thought leader in your industry.
• [04:10] How I got started in recruitment.
• [07:27] Starting my coaching business was a “combination of fear and excitement.”
• [10:42] The differences between being self-employed and being a true entrepreneur.
• [12:53] Launching The Resilient Recruiter podcast.
• [15:37] How I stay at the forefront of digital marketing strategies and automation tools.
• [17:22] The number one key to having a successful podcast.
• [18:58] How recruitment companies can stand out from the competition.
• [24:34] The benefits of learning and development for business owners and their teams; including people who are already top billers.
• [27:50] What’s next for Recruitment Coach and The Resilient Recruiter in 2023?  
• [30:47] The value of being consistent in marketing.

Why I Transitioned From Recruiting to Coaching Recruiters

Tom asked me a question I often get asked, “why did you become a coach instead of continuing as a recruitment consultant?” 

I shared the story of how I got started in the recruiting industry, experiencing the same struggles and challenges that a lot of recruiters can relate to. Despite working incredibly hard, I was only an average biller, hitting my sales targets but stuck around the middle of the leader board. Being quite money motivated at the time, I wasn’t satisfied with my performance, so I hired a coach to help me maximize my results. He helped me to double my billings in 90 days and I quickly become the top-producer in my team of 8 and climbed to the top 15% of 200 recruiters. 

This was such a life-changing experience that it inspired me to become a coach myself, which I consider to be my true calling. Since launching Recruitment Coach in 2001, I’ve helped more than 10,000 recruiters in 34 countries to maximize performance and increase their billings.

In the course of the interview, I also revealed how the ‘08 recession was a devastating experience. I shared how I came back from the brink of bankruptcy to turn things around by leveraging content marketing. 

We also discussed the difference between being self-employed from being a true entrepreneur. After being a solopreneur for many years, I’m finally scaling my business. We discussed the benefits of building a team and that it’s often fear and limiting beliefs that hold us back from growing our business.

How to Grow a Successful Podcast

The Resilient Recruiter podcast will exceed 200+ episodes this year. I’m so happy that this podcast has reached recruiters across the globe with more than 150,000 downloads. One of the reasons I started the podcast is that I love learning and sharing ideas with like-minded people. I get so much value, personally, from interviewing successful recruiters and recruitment business owners that I would do this even if there was no direct benefit to my business.

Because my podcast has been so successful, recruiters started asking us for help to launch their own podcast. So we created an online course for our coaching clients and in the last few months, we’ve helped multiple recruitment and executive search firm owners to start a podcast. One of our clients won a new client before even launching, simply by inviting them to be a guest on her show! The benefit is that our clients can learn from all the mistakes we’ve made over the last 3 years. Plus, we have a 38-step process for producing, publishing and promoting the podcast so our clients have a blueprint to follow.  In this conversation with Tom, I revealed a few of the best practices for running a successful podcast. The number one key is to keep working on it and never give up.

How Recruiters Can Build Their Brand with Content Marketing

Tom and I discussed how imposter syndrome is one of the biggest barriers to becoming a thought leader.  Content marketing requires recruiters to have confidence in their own market knowledge and believe in the value their own insights can bring to their audience.  We talked about the benefit of delivering value-adding content to your network in terms of establishing credibility and trust within the community of your potential clients and candidates. 

Mark elaborated on how recruitment business owners can do this with the expert interview strategy. This strategy works for podcasts, videos and even in written article format.  You will hear Mark explain how this strategy combines business development with inbound marketing. You will also learn how this can be a differentiator for your recruitment business when it comes to creating high-quality, industry specific content.

Our Sponsors 

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc

People and Resources Mentioned

• Tom Burkinshaw on LinkedIn

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

When you run your own business, you wear many hats and need to be competent across a number of areas. But which skills make the biggest difference to your success?

In this episode, my special guest Chris Dinaso and I discuss the top 4 skills that are absolutely fundamental to building a profitable recruitment business. We also delve into Chris’s philosophy of “always doing the right thing” which is key to sustainable, long-term success.

It will come as no surprise that selling skills are crucial for recruitment businesses to grow and succeed in a competitive market. A critical component of this is establishing relationships with potential candidates and clients, which starts with an effective elevator pitch.

Chris will be sharing his best practices for selling and business development in running his own recruitment practice. You will hear how he structures his ‘Million-Dollar Paragraph’ and how he effectively reaches out to potential candidates by calling them at their work number.

Chris has been in the recruiting industry for almost three decades and has founded Plumbline Staffing Solutions, a boutique recruitment firm focusing on insurance and general staffing solutions, with offices in Chicago, Illinois, and Austin, Texas.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [01:45] Sink or Swim - Chris started his staffing career by being thrown into the deep end
• [07:30] Why Chris took a career change and how it influenced his way of working as a recruitment business owner.
• [12:00] “Doing the right thing” is a recruitment business differentiator.
• [22:38] Chris talks about the challenges of getting his company off the ground. 
• [33:00] Discussion about Chris’ approach to business development. 
• [43:49] The Million-Dollar Paragraph.
• [46:30] Why you should consider calling potential candidates at work.

Doing the Right Thing is a Differentiator

Chris shared an interesting principle as a success contributor: his mindset of always doing the right thing. Influenced by his faith and his experience in his ministry, his aim is to always provide a transcendent experience to his candidates and clients. As he explained, “I want every interaction I have with clients and candidates, I want that to extend beyond just the limits of ordinary experience.”

We discussed the perspective of having integrity, building character, and treating people right in the world of recruiting should be a basic expectation. However, Chris is regular told that he’s different from other recruiters. Chris finds this surprising because, in his view, he didn’t do anything special - he just did the right thing. Which suggests that unfortunately many people don’t have a positive experience of dealing with recruiters.

Although Chris’ reason for doing the right thing isn’t money motivated, the outcome is that it is good for business. I am sure this will resonate with a lot of our listeners - if there is one differentiator for successful recruiters or business owners, it will always come down to how they have treated their clients and candidates. 

The Best Way to Sell is to Not Sell

A key strength of Chris is his selling skills, which is one of the reasons he got into the recruiting business way back in 1995. When I asked him about business development, his no-nonsense approach is to sell by not selling. You will hear how Chris starts his conversation with potential clients and candidates, focused on building trust and with the intention of building relationships. I find it really interesting, as customers just don’t respond to a hard sell approach. Coming across too aggressive can backfire. Here are the two things that Chris and I discussed on this topic:

• Structuring and positioning Chris’ “Million-Dollar” elevator pitch.
• Controversially, why Chris believes you should call candidates at their work number.

Four Essential Skills for Starting and Scaling a Recruitment Business

Chris was a successful salesperson and manager prior to setting up his own recruitment firm. I was keen to understand how he applied those skills to grow his own business. “When you start a business, you have to learn how to do everything,” was how Chirs described it.

If you are a recruiter listening and aiming to start your own business, these are four must-haves skills that Chris shared:

• Selling skills
• Copywriting
• Financial Management
• Training & Coaching

To understand why those four skills in particular are the most important, be sure to listen to the full episode.

Our Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc

Chris DiNaso Bio and Contact Info

Chris is the founder of Plumbline Staffing Solutions, with offices in both Austin and Chicago. Chris started in the recruiting industry in 1995 as an Account Executive. Since then he’s worked for small and large staffing companies, becoming a top-producing salesperson and manager prior to launching his own recruitment business in 2013. Chris is also on the Board of Directors for the National Insurance Recruiters Association.

• Chris on LinkedIn
• Plumbline Staffing Solution website link

People and Resources Mentioned

• Gail Audibert on LinkedIn

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

• TRR#153 Meet the Recruiter Who Survived and Thrived Through Four Recessions, with Gail Audibert 

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

In this episode, we uncover the keys to G&E Partners' rapid growth from $1 million to $6 million in just 2.5 years. Discover the business development strategies, hiring processes, tools, and technology that fueled this spectacular success.

My guest, Callum Collins, joined G&E Partners straight after university as a graduate trainee and within 3 years he had progressed to Managing Director. During the following 2.5 years,  G&E Partners grew from 8 people to a team of 30 and increased billings by 600%.

G&E Partners is a boutique organization with a number of specialist practices including Pharmaceuticals/Biotech, Medical Devices, Logistics & Supply Chain, Commercial Construction, Civil Engineering, and Energy & Renewables. 

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [02:09] Callum’s journey from graduate trainee to Managing Director and then Partner in less than 7 years.
• [06:29] The leap from an average recruiter to a great recruiter. 
• [11:12] Transitioning from a biller to a billing manager.
• [14:19] G&E team structure and turning trainees into 360 degree recruiters. 
• [17:20] How do you identify high-potential performers when hiring fresh grads?
• [28:13] Career progression within recruitment.
• [33:13] How the next generation of recruiters can thrive in the recruitment industry.
• [39:14] Discussion of business development strategy.
• [49:17] Turning candidates into clients.
• [59:40] Callum’s thoughts on how to thrive in the current market.
• [01:02:49] How recruiting has positively impacted Callum’s life massively.

How to Hire Fresh Grads and Make Them Successful 360 Billers

When scaling your recruitment business, it can be challenging to find good people for your own team. Most owners assume that the easiest way to grow is by hiring experienced recruiters from your competitors. G&E prefers to hire Graduates with no prior recruitment experience. They are then trained up to G&E’s way of working. 

How do they assess candidates to find the high-performers? Callum talked about their hiring process which includes asking the applicants to prepare and deliver a presentation, plus psychometric testing.

Callum also explained that although they have a 360-degree model, they train new hires on the candidate side first. They want new joiners get a taste of success quickly. 

How to Win Key Accounts with Continuous Hiring Needs

One of the reasons G&E has scaled so quickly is that they’re successful at winning key accounts – companies who are continuously hiring. Having an abundance of roles is the perfect opportunity to grow your team. It means you’ll have plenty of orders for them to fulfill and they’ll start contributing from day one.

I asked Callum about his approach to business development. He explained that they focus on identifying the top 1% of executive talent in their niche, connecting with those individuals and nurturing them by keeping in touch with them consistently - even if they don’t have an job opportunity for them immediately. Because of the trust and credibility they establish, some of those candidate contacts turn into clients. This has been Callum’s most effective business development strategy.

How an Automated Reminder System Prompts You to Follow Up Consistently

As stated above, a critical factor of G&E’s success is how they nurture candidate relationships.  It’s a deceptively simple idea. Yet the reality is that while all recruiters understand the importance of building relationships, very few have a system for following up consistently.  

Callum reveals how he and his team organize themselves to continuously touch base, building trust and build credibility with top candidates. You’ll hear about the specific tools they use that automatically prompt them to follow up at the right time so nobody slips through the cracks. 

Our Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc

Callum Collins Bio and Contact Info

Callum is the Managing Director of G&E Partners and is personally responsible for the growth and performance of the business. He was promoted to Managing Director in 2019 and this time has seen significant growth across all areas of business. He currently leads the day-to-day operations and activity of the business and in addition to his management responsibilities, Callum also leads retained search and selection projects in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech markets, specializing in C Suite, VP/SVP, and Board level assignments.

Callum has been with the business since joining as a Trainee Consultant and progressed to Managing Director & Partner in under 7 years.

• Callum on LinkedIn
• G&E Parters website link

People and Resources Mentioned

• Bullhorn
• SourceWhale

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

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We all have the same number of hours in a day. How do top recruiters, like Kimberley Laipple, bill five times more than average performers in the same amount of time?

For Kim’s entire career, she’s sought out ways to increase her income without working longer hours. Her focus on productivity has paid off. Last year, Kim personally billed over $1,400,000 while managing a team of 28 recruiters. 

What is the secret behind this astonishing achievement? In this interview, you’ll learn the 4 keys to Kim’s productivity including effective delegation, team empowerment, consistent client development and automation technology.

Kimberly is the SVP and Managing Director of Scientific Search. In addition to her operational function, she still runs a full desk along with managing a team of 28 recruiters. Kim is a member of Pinnacle Society which is a consortium of the top 80 recruiters in the country. Kim’s consultative approach and client development skills have allowed her to continue to grow with the organization and increase her client base year after year.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [02:03] How becoming a single mom at 18 influenced Kim’s career choices. 
• [07:30] How Kim forged her own career path in a male dominated industry.
• [14:00] Enabling flexibility within the team during tough times.
• [18:20] The 4 key factors leading to billing $1.4m last year. 
• [26:41] Delegating tasks to improve productivity.
• [30:53] How Kim’s team members do the job they’re best at.
• [34:59] Kim’s tech stack - which technology platforms does she find beneficial. 
• [46:53] Discussion on drip email campaigns and relevant platforms.
• [51:30] Copywriting skills and creating messages that generate a positive response.
• [55:40] Kim shares other success factors that can be modeled.

How to Forge Your Own Career Path

Kim is an inspiring example of how resilience and hard work pay off. She shared her experience of becoming a single mom at 18 and having to find a way to make a life for herself and her kids. “When you’re in that situation you really don’t know what you’re gonna do. But I knew one thing: I needed to find a way to make a living where my income didn’t depend on someone else’s choices.” 

Joining Scientific Search almost 15 years ago, Kim has created her own career path. She earned her promotion to Managing Director as a result of constantly growing her client base while developing and mentoring junior recruiters.

Kim is a proponent of constant, never ending improvement.  She’s always looking for ways to improve their delivery and increase productivity so they can increase billings within the same amount of hours. Some of the pivotal changes that she introduced were:

• Profiling their team members according to their strengths. They introduced different career paths within their organization.
• Segmenting their structure where allowed people to focus their time on more revenue-producing activities.
• Emphasis on client development, developing a consultative approach.

This resulted in a lot of collaboration within their team and gave the clients all the support that they need.

The Key Factors that Helped Kim Reach Record Billings of $1.4m

In 2022, Kim had a record year billing over $1.4M personally in addition to onboarding and developing junior recruiters. What were the success factors that lead to this astonishing achievement? The key ingredients we discussed include:

• Constantly growing your client base and not being over-reliant on her small number of accounts.
• Diversifying her average fee size with a combination of small, medium and large placements. 
• Delegating effectively.
• Empowering her team.

Leveraging Automation Technology to Save Time and Increase Revenue

If you’re interested in leveraging automation to increase your billings, you’ll enjoy listening to Kim discuss her tech stack. Kim is on the Technology Committee of the Pinnacle Society, and is excited to share platforms that they are using to save time and generate more revenue. Some of the platforms she discussed are:

• LinkedIn Recruiter
• ZoomInfo
• Bullhorn Automation
• 3DIQ

Kim shared how these technologies fit together in their current processes.

Our Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc

Kimberly Laipple Bio and Contact Info

Kimberly Laipple is the SVP and Managing Director of Scientific Search. In addition to her operational function, she still runs a full desk along with managing a team of 28 recruiters. Kim was also nominated and joined the Pinnacle Society which is a consortium of the top 80 recruiters in the country! Kim’s consultative approach and client development skills have allowed her to continue to grow with the organization and increase her client base year after year. During the 14 years that Kim has been with Scientific Search, she has successfully placed people in clinical and commercial operations, manufacturing, engineering, R&D, and analytics as well as many other areas in pharmaceutical, life science medical device, healthcare, technology, and CPG companies. 

Outside of work, Kim enjoys spending time with her 2 daughters and 4 grandkids. She is also passionate about animal rescue and has a house full of furry kids to keep her busy.

• Kim on LinkedIn
• Scientific Search website link

People and Resources Mentioned

• Cathy Stewart on LinkedIn
• Joel Slenning on LinkedIn 
• Pinnacle Society website link

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

• TRR#142 How a Former Music Teacher Created Her Dream Life as a Top-Producing Recruiter, with Cathy Stewart, 
• TRR#How to Grow Your Recruitment Agency from Start-up to $2M in 3 Years, with Joel Slenning

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

Do you wish you had more influence with your clients and candidates? 

The last time Michael Goldman joined our podcast, he shared the secrets of enjoying a long-term career in recruiting. In this interview, he reveals how we as recruiters and business owners can create more value and enjoy greater influence with our clients and candidates.

Michael started his recruiting career in 1980 and founded his own firm, Strategic Associates, in 1988. Michael has built an excellent reputation as an executive recruiter in manufacturing and supply chains nationwide on both a contingency and retained basis.

Michael is a Founding Member and former president of the Pinnacle Society. Having run a successful desk for 42 years, and been a consistent top producer, Michael also speaks on and teaches recruiting tactics and strategies to recruiters globally.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [07:30] “Pulling your career sword from the stone”- Michael shares his career-building insights.
• [14:08] Focus on influencing rather than selling. 
• [18:28] Positioning your opportunity in the marketplace through a branding strategy.
• [23:47] Michael shares the ‘vampire approach.’
• [29:42] Integrating the branding philosophy when talking with candidates and clients. 
• [39:06] Bringing value to candidates by giving clarity to their career path.
• [43:08] “The Death of Expertise” - Michael and I exchange book recommendations.
• [47:30] Fostering connections and mentorship.
• [51:40] No plans to retire; Michael’s 42-year career and still going strong! 
• [56:00] Sowing the seeds of value.

Focus on Influencing Rather Than Selling

A key insight that Michael discussed is why he advocates recruiters to influence, rather than sell. According to Michael, “A lot of people in our industry, especially newbies in the first 5 years or so are trained to throw up as much as against the wall as possible… What I do in the beginning is ask questions to determine the quality of the thought process that a prospect would have. I will understand what it takes to influence them as opposed to selling them…Because that is the key to unlock their retention.”  

How does this translate to your role as a recruiter or a recruitment business owner? This is how Micheal explained it: “They expect you to be interesting… You have to realize, these people in the marketplace every day are in storms. They are constantly trying to sweep back the water on the deck of the boat and they are dealing with daily and weekly challenges… If you can tap into their perception of what success is in their life and you can do it in an interesting way, that will lead you toward providing significant influence with prospective candidates and clients.”

Integrating a Branding Philosophy to Engage Your Clients and Candidates

Michael discussed what differentiates a transactional recruiter from a consultative recruiter. He believes it’s about integrating a branding philosophy to establish trust and influence, especially when engaging with candidates and clients. From a branding perspective, there are parallel activities that Michael shared from both the candidate and client’s side. From the candidate side,  he helps them identify their unique value proposition and helps them re-write their CVs to make them more powerful and aligned with their personal branding. On the client side, Michael helps his clients align their job descriptions in line with the employer's brand and vision of opportunity to make it attractive to the right sort of people.

Our Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc

Michael Goldman Bio and Contact Info

Since 1980, both in his native New York and Austin, Texas, Michael Goldman has cultivated a respected reputation for achievement in nationwide manufacturing/supply chain executive recruitment on both a contingency and retained basis. In 1988, he founded Strategic Associates with the purpose of creating a highly specialized firm encompassing talent in the areas of the supply chain, procurement, quality/regulatory affairs, and operations (plant and corporate).  Clients span industries from medical devices to consumer packaged goods to industrial to high technology products–from perishable goods to durable–from food products to computers and personal communication devices to biomedical technology to capital equipment. They are from Fortune 500 and 50 to mid-sized privately-held firms.   

Michael is an original Founding Member of the Pinnacle Society and, from 1991 to 1995, served two consecutive terms as its second president.  He was awarded the Honorary Lifetime Membership in recognition of both his accomplishments in recruiting and service to Pinnacle.  In addition, he has earned his CPC through the National Association of Personnel Services.   

Along with continuously maintaining his consistent success as a “desk-running” recruiter for over 40 years (and currently), Michael also speaks on and teaches domestically and internationally advanced and basic recruiting tactics and strategies. He has been requested to provide grass-roots recruitment seminars and speaking engagements to American state and national organizations as well as international audiences. To date, he has personally educated recruitment professionals in the US, Ireland, England, and South Africa.  In addition, he has conducted webinars for state recruiting organizations and Pinnacle Society meetings, and Pinnacle Panel events.

• Michael on LinkedIn
• Strategic Associates website link

People and Resources Mentioned

• The Pinnacle Society website link
• Lou Adler on LinkedIn
• Allan Fisher on LinkedIn
• Somer Hackley on LinkedIn
• Natasha Makhijani on LinkedIn 
• The Death of Expertise by Tom Nichols
• How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Dale Carnegie

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

• TRR#131 How to Make Better Placements with Performance-Based Hiring, with Lou Adler
• TRR#166 How to Bill $1,000,000 For Ten Years Straight and Grow a Successful Team, with Allan Fisher
• TRR#139 How to Grow a Wildly Successful Executive Search Practice, with Somer Hackley
• TRR#30 How to Open Doors and Build Relationships at C-Level, with Natasha Makhijani

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What does it take to level up your billings from six figures per year to seven figures? 

To answer this question, I asked my friend Andrea Colabella of the Cardea Group, to share her journey and the key changes she made to increase her billings from $550-750k per year to over $1.2m.

Andrea shared relatable insights and learnings from running a successful search firm including both her wins and losses. She presented golden nuggets about exclusivity, how to prepare for critical conversations, as well as the value of learning to say no to some searches. 

Andrea has been recruiting since 2005 and has placed over 800 individuals throughout her career. She started her own agency, Cardea Group, in 2009 and is a member of the Pinnacle Society, the premier consortium of Industry-Leading recruiters in North America.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [01:57] How Andrea got into recruiting and how she started the Cardea Group.
• [06:01] Highlights and lessons learned as a recruitment firm owner.
• [12:14] The biggest challenges Andrea had to overcome as a business owner.
• [16:50] Qualifying criteria what makes a good search.
• [22:20] Discussion on exclusivity, commitment, and boundaries.
• [30:20] Andrea reveals the 3 important changes she made to level up her billings
• [38:00] Dealing with stress and pressure.
• [42:20] Cutting off the noise and focusing on the clients and candidates that make the most sense.
• [47:10] Rehearsing and preparing for key conversations.
• [50:44] How to respond to a client who asks you to reduce your fee percentage.
• [53:45] Learning from mentors and getting golden nuggets of wisdom to further your recruitment career.
• [57:40] What does Andrea’s typical day look like?

Key Learnings as a Recruitment Firm Owner

Andrea’s journey as a recruitment business owner is a colourful one, full of learnings and challenges that a lot of recruitment firm owners can relate to. She shared how they won major accounts as a boutique agency against well-known and established larger retained and contingency firms. She also revealed key learnings when they fail, doing retrospectives when they lose a pitch. 

Highlights of lessons that she shared are:

• Consistently reviewing both the accomplishments and failures.
• The value of qualifying your search and starting to say no.
• Learning to cut through the noise and spending your time closest to the money.
• Having industry mentors and people you can lean on is hugely beneficial.

The 3 Changes That Enabled Her to Increase Billings to Over $1,000,000

Andrea and I discussed how she was able to level up from being a consistent biller in the $550-750K range to finally passing $1M+ per annum for the past two years. She acknowledges that it is also market driven but highlighted a few steps they took to make this happen. 

So what are the 3 most important changes that enabled her to level up her billings?

1. Learning to say no to a number of searches that will waste a lot of time and focusing on more senior positions
2. Getting commitment fees upfront helps them to align themselves with the clients who are committed to making the hires.
3. Shifting their fees from guaranteed compensation to including their target bonuses included in their fee structure.

Listen to the full episode to hear Andrea elaborate on how she almost doubled her average fee!

Our Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc

Andrea Colabella Bio and Contact Info

Andrea is a Johns Hopkins alumnus with bachelor’s and master’s degrees.  She has been recruiting since 2005, initially across all industries, and over the past decade with a focus on the investment management space. Her excellence in the industry is highlighted through her admittance into The Pinnacle Society, an influential group of industry-leading recruiters. She started her own firebrand agency, Cardea Group, in 2009 focused on assisting private equity firms, hedge funds, venture capital funds, family offices, and traditional asset managers in staffing their non-investment functions. Based in New York City, Andrea is also an active board member of several not-for-profits.

• Andrea on LinkedIn
• Cardea Group website link
• Cardea Group on Facebook

People and Resources Mentioned

• Gail Audibert on Linkedin
• Rich Rosen on LinkedIn
• Non-Profit that Andrea supports dearly: Horizons & BEF
• The Pinnacle Society

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

• TRR#67 Think Like a Big Biller: How to Get Repeat Business and Referrals, with Rich Rosen
• TRR#153 Meet The Recruiter Who Survived And Thrived Through Four Recessions, with Gail Audibert

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

Running a desk while growing and managing a team can be extremely challenging. Someone who has managed to pull it off is Allan Fisher, founder of Premier Financial Search. 

Allan’s got an amazing track record of personally billing over a million dollars for ten years straight. Then during Covid, Allan decided to turn a threat into an opportunity and grow his practice from a small, office-based team of 4 people to a remote team of 15 people based across the country.

According to Allan, the secret to his success involves excellent an operational support team, robust systems and processes, leveraging automation technology and commit to ongoing staff training & development. 

In his long recruiting career, Allan has faced his share of adversity. As a recruiter and recruitment business owner, he went through the 9/11, the dot com bubble, the 2008/9 great recession, COVID and now the economic uncertainty and slowdown of 2023. 

However, Allan believes that after every recession, prosperity follows. 

Some of the key highlights that you will hear in this episode are:

• The importance of consistent Quality output regardless of market condition
• The value of hiring an integrator in your team to focus on the operational aspect of your business
• How to build your business by putting up a remote team 
• How to create a great training and team culture in a remote setup

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [01:30] How Allan became a recruiter; the value of his Pinnacle Society peer group.
• [06:43] Allan candidly reveals his career lowlights that many recruiters can relate to.
• [12:30] Three learnings from coming out of economic recessions.
• [20:40] How to prep your team to face challenging periods.
• [24:08] Allan shares his career highlights and accomplishments.
• [30:10] As a recruitment business owner, how critical is it to find someone to help you who is operationally focused?
• [38:04] How Allan scaled his business from 4 to 15 team members remotely.
• [42:17] Creating a great culture in a remote environment.
• [48:10] The value of tracking performance and metrics.
• [50:08] How Allan manages his internal recruitment just like any other successful search process. 
• [58:50] How Allan manages his time to be a top producer and recruitment business owner at the same time.

Insulating Your Team During Downturns

“If we are consistent with what we do, if we never change the quality that we present, we are really trying to make ourselves the firm of choice in any market. So it is not gonna make us recession-proof, but it will insulate us.” This is how Allan summarized how they have dealt with economic downturns and recessions since he started his recruitment business.

Allan started his recruitment business just around 2001, prior to the 9/11 attack. However, he had been a recruiter since 1988. So you can just imagine how many downturns Allan had undergone as a recruiter and business owner - the dot com bubble, the 9/11 attack, the real-estate bubble leading to the 2008 recession, and COVID. Now that we are all facing a similar uncertainty it is invaluable to hear Allan’s thought process and insight, and below are the takeaways:

• Coming out of a recession, the market usually rebounds in a dramatic way and this period usually brings prosperity. You will only lose out if you quit.
• When the market changes for the better, clients will have more choices and they will revert to QUALITY. Be consistent with what you do and never change the quality that you present in any market.
• Never stop doing business development. When things are doing well, it may be easy to get clients but never stop doing business development.

Why Having an “Integrator” is Key to Operational Success 

Being a successful business owner is not the same as being a successful recruiter. On the other hand, the best recruiters are not necessarily always the best business owners. The best business owners are actually the ones who are good at marketing, sales, and leadership. Hence, if you are a successful recruiter transitioning to becoming a business owner, hiring someone complementary to your technical skills is a key to success. 

This is the case with Allan, and he shared his journey of discovering this logical approach with his team. By finding his and his team’s strengths, he was able to find the best role for his members. From within his team, he was able to find an integrator who is very effective in operational execution. 

As a recruitment business owner, things you may need to ask yourself: Do you have an integrator to help in the operational aspects of your business? Are you able to set up your team for success by having them work primarily on their strengths?

Growing Your Business by Building a Team in a Remote Working Environment

A key highlight when growing Allan’s business is when they started to grow the team from 4 to 15 members in a couple of years by hiring people remotely. “A couple of years ago when we realize that location was not really a factor for our clients. Then I realized, maybe it should not be a factor for us,” he recalled. So Allan started to work on building his team, by first running a search. He looked for candidates that have been doing what they do for 3-4 years and ran a national search. He was able to find rockstar team members in doing so. Given that this is a remote setup, Allan also revealed how they adjusted their training methodology in order to accommodate their new team members. Lastly, Allan also shared how he works on the team’s dynamics and culture despite the differences in proximity.

Our Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc

Allan Fisher Bio and Contact Info

Allan Fisher has been the recruiter of choice to elite local, regional, and national accounting firms for 25 years. Leveraging his extensive industry expertise, Allan is driven to facilitate transformative change for organizations and candidates, alike. With a mission to further client strategic visions and goals, Allan has keen insight into accounting talent market trends and forces, enabling him to make placements that surpass industry averages for engagement and retention.

Allan originally began his career in accounting, spending two years with a professional services firm. From there, he moved to a division of a $500 million publicly traded software manufacturer. In January 1998, seeking to utilize his accounting background in service to others, Allan made the jump to recruiting and joining Accounting Principals, a national staffing firm. In his three and a half years with Accounting Principals, he was ranked as one of the top executive recruiters nationwide, winning the “Consultant Of The Year” award by the California Staffing Professionals Association (CSP) in 2000.

Today, Allan has established himself as an industry thought leader and has spoken at meetings of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants, the California State Board of Accountancy, The Westside Firm Administrators Group, and ProVisors. He has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal.

• Allan on LinkedIn
• Premier Financial Search website link

People and Resources Mentioned

• Harlan Friedman on LinkedIn
• The Pinnacle Society website link
• The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
• Jeremy Sisemore on LinkedIn
• Leanne Sara Jones Hunt on LinkedIn

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• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

• TRR#97 Lift Outs: How to Successfully Recruit an Entire High-Performing Team, with Harlan Friedman
• TRR#160 Why Balance is the Key to Unlocking Personal and Business Growth, with Jeremy Sisemore

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