The Resilient Recruiter

With the paradigm shift of working remotely in a distributed setting, how do recruitment businesses create a cohesive culture for their employees? In this episode of the Resilient Recruiter, my special guest Boris Epstein shares how he managed to build a company culture consistently aligned with their values while rapidly growing his business to 150 people in three and a half years.

 

In line with the 4th of July Independence Day celebration, hear how values and company culture, recruitment service differentiation, and value proposition development can give a sense of independence and self-sufficiency to your recruitment business.

Boris is the Founder & CEO of Binc, the technology industry’s dedicated flexible recruiting team. Winning best workplace awards two years in a row, their clients include big names such as Paypal, Tesla, Airbnb, Pinterest, DropBox, just to name a few.

 

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [3:00] Binc’s service model and what makes it effective 
• [11:46] How to create a cohesive culture when your employees are distributed.
• [17:58] Values alignment - how to infuse your business values with different levels of accountability.
• [20:10] Shifting to a remote culture - how to train your people while promoting camaraderie in a distributed setting.
• [29:00] From startup to 150 people in three and a half years - how to manage a very fast level of growth
• [37:04] Boris shares their current challenges during the coronavirus pandemic economy
• [43:11] How to maintaining your culture in these challenging times
• [50:23] Boris shares best practices in recruitment differentiation 

 

Building Your Business Culture with Values

Boris strongly believes in building a cohesive culture despite his business model, on which employees are distributed in different locations. How do you create such a culture? Values development. For Boris, consistent alignment with your values creates a strong sense of unique business culture. As Boris puts it: “Values are really big. To define our values it took quite a bit of time, it took almost nine months to define our values. The right words, the right level of resonance. Then once you define your values, it’s ‘what are the ways we can make these values visible?’ How are our values visible in business development? How are our values visible in our review and promotion cycle? How are our values visible in our client engagement? Once you go through that exercise, you could very clearly see, oh this value is very visible here. This value is not very visible here.”

 

Recruitment Differentiation - How to Develop a Clear Value Proposition

To stand out from competitors, it is important to have a unique value proposition. This is something that is not easy, otherwise all recruitment agencies would have a clear value proposition. So what advice would Boris give to leaders? “Our philosophy from day one, from 18 years ago, ... was to offer a differentiated alternative to growing technology companies. So we always wanted to offer something differentiated… We think the status quo is something to fight against in perpetuity.” He added, “In general, you have to acknowledge what it is that the market wants. You have to acknowledge what it is that other people in the market are already doing. You have to acknowledge what your assets are. And from those assets, you have to go through a very creative exercise to explore how you could position your assets. Through that, you can land on something distinguished.”

 

Boris Epstein Bio and Contact Info

Boris is the Founder & CEO of Binc, the technology industry’s dedicated flexible recruiting team. He has personally made hundreds of hires in his 16-year recruiting career and is an expert in the development and management of the top recruiters in our industry. He serves on the Board of The Pinnacle Society, an organization consisting of the top-performing recruiters in the US.

• Boris on LinkedIn
• Binc website link
• Binc on LinkedIn
• Binc on Twitter @BINC
• Binc on Facebook

People and Resources Mentioned

• Rich Rosen on LinkedIn
• Shaun McCambridge on LinkedIn
• Pinnacle Society website link
• Productivity Tool - Monday.com website link
• Looker Analytics Tool website link
• 5 Ways to Differentiate Your Recruiting Firm From the Competition - by Mark Whitby webinar link

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Related Podcasts You Might Enjoy

• TRR #6 Habits of a Million-Dollar Biller, with Rich Rosen
• TRR #11 Recruiting Recruiters: How to Attract, Hire, Develop and Retain Great Recruiters with Shaun McCambridge

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

 

Success in any field is found in knowing your worth, being generous in giving credit, and proactively seeking to bounce forward no matter what setbacks come your way. My special guest, David Perry, perfectly illustrates these ideas through some entertaining and inspiring personal stories.

Known as the “Rogue Recruiter”, David is the Managing Director of Perry-Martel International, an Ottawa-based staffing and recruiting company that places executives in technology, real estate, and construction. Perry-Martel has been featured in Inc. Magazine, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, and Washington Post, to name just a few.

Listen in and discover why David lives by the saying, “Why bother to think about what you can do when you can just go and do it?”

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [03:01] How Perry-Martel worked its way to over $100 million in placement fees
• [10:10] The amazing story behind David and Jay Conrad Levinson’s book Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters
• [24:43] A primer on David’s online job hunting platform My New Job Hunt
• [46:25] How David was able to continue working while recovering from a stroke
• [52:34] Penning the second edition of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters
• [55:40] David’s philosophy on taking action
• [57:44] The impetus behind David’s next book Hiring Greatness
• [1:00:01] How to use “The Starbucks Coffee Cup Caper” job search tactic
• [1:05:48] Using Facebook Ads effectively

Experiencing Greater Success with Grit and Humility

Threats of lawsuits never slowed David down. Neither did a life-threatening stroke. The former situation led to his growing Perry-Martel to over $100 million in placement fees. The latter led to his adding 80% of new material to the second edition of his book Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters. In his own words, “Why bother to think about what you can do when you can just go and do it?”

In addition, David eventually came to enjoy the freedom of doing things for the betterment of his stakeholders “just because I can”. By focusing primarily on what you get out of any big endeavor, you will end up falling short of doing the best that you would otherwise be capable of if you, instead, left your ego at the door. Says David, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care who takes the credit.”

The Starbucks Coffee Cup Caper

David brings up the unique job search tactic known as “The Starbucks Coffee Cup Caper” (originally “Tim Hortons”). You, the recruiter, would walk into Starbucks and ask an employee for ten (clean) empty paper coffee cups. Go to Staples and buy ten mailer boxes.

Put together your Guerrilla one-page resumé. Along with this, write your Guerrilla one-page cover letter, which will tell your prospective employer that you wish to discuss possible solutions to their company’s problems over coffee. Take both documents, put them in one of the coffee cups, which you then put inside the mailer box, and send it to the employer via FedEx 2Day®. Rinse and repeat for another nine individuals.

Once you get the ping informing you that a box has arrived, wait 45 minutes before sending a text to give the recipient a heads-up. Enjoy how the rest of the interaction plays out. (This tactic also works for prospecting.)

David Perry Bio and Contact Info

David is a recruiter, the author of seven books, and a sought-after motivational speaker. He was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for Community Service. He served as the Managing Partner of Perry-Martel International since its founding in 1988, and in that time has recruited executives that total $393+ million in salaries negotiated on 5 continents. Alongside all this, David co-founded MyNewJobHunt.com, “the first online Job Transition Platform written to help job hunters connect with employers in a whole new way.”

• David on LinkedIn
• David on Twitter
• David’s email: [email protected]
• Perry-Martel’s website

People and Resources Mentioned

• Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0 – a book by David Perry and Jay Conrad Levinson
• Hiring Greatness – a book by David Perry and Mark Haluska
• My New Job Hunt – an online platform for job hunters
• My Stroke of Insight – a book by Jill Bolte Taylor

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

 

Success in any field is found in knowing your worth, being generous in giving credit, and proactively seeking to bounce forward no matter what setbacks come your way. My special guest, David Perry, perfectly illustrates these ideas through some entertaining and inspiring personal stories.

Known as the “Rogue Recruiter”, David is the Managing Director of Perry-Martel International, an Ottawa-based staffing and recruiting company that places executives in technology, real estate, and construction. Perry-Martel has been featured in Inc. Magazine, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, and Washington Post, to name just a few.

Listen in and discover why David lives by the saying, “Why bother to think about what you can do when you can just go and do it?”

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [03:01] How Perry-Martel worked its way to over $100 million in placement fees
• [10:10] The amazing story behind David and Jay Conrad Levinson’s book Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters
• [24:43] A primer on David’s online job hunting platform My New Job Hunt
• [46:25] How David was able to continue working while recovering from a stroke
• [52:34] Penning the second edition of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters
• [55:40] David’s philosophy on taking action
• [57:44] The impetus behind David’s next book Hiring Greatness
• [1:00:01] How to use “The Starbucks Coffee Cup Caper” job search tactic
• [1:05:48] Using Facebook Ads effectively

Experiencing Greater Success with Grit and Humility

Threats of lawsuits never slowed David down. Neither did a life-threatening stroke. The former situation led to his growing Perry-Martel to over $100 million in placement fees. The latter led to his adding 80% of new material to the second edition of his book Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters. In his own words, “Why bother to think about what you can do when you can just go and do it?”

In addition, David eventually came to enjoy the freedom of doing things for the betterment of his stakeholders “just because I can”. By focusing primarily on what you get out of any big endeavor, you will end up falling short of doing the best that you would otherwise be capable of if you, instead, left your ego at the door. Says David, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care who takes the credit.”

The Starbucks Coffee Cup Caper

David brings up the unique job search tactic known as “The Starbucks Coffee Cup Caper” (originally “Tim Hortons”). You, the recruiter, would walk into Starbucks and ask an employee for ten (clean) empty paper coffee cups. Go to Staples and buy ten mailer boxes.

Put together your Guerrilla one-page resumé. Along with this, write your Guerrilla one-page cover letter, which will tell your prospective employer that you wish to discuss possible solutions to their company’s problems over coffee. Take both documents, put them in one of the coffee cups, which you then put inside the mailer box, and send it to the employer via FedEx 2Day®. Rinse and repeat for another nine individuals.

Once you get the ping informing you that a box has arrived, wait 45 minutes before sending a text to give the recipient a heads-up. Enjoy how the rest of the interaction plays out. (This tactic also works for prospecting.)

David Perry Bio and Contact Info

David is a recruiter, the author of seven books, and a sought-after motivational speaker. He was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for Community Service. He served as the Managing Partner of Perry-Martel International since its founding in 1988, and in that time has recruited executives that total $393+ million in salaries negotiated on 5 continents. Alongside all this, David co-founded MyNewJobHunt.com, “the first online Job Transition Platform written to help job hunters connect with employers in a whole new way.”

• David on LinkedIn
• David on Twitter
• David’s email: [email protected]
• Perry-Martel’s website

People and Resources Mentioned

• Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0 – a book by David Perry and Jay Conrad Levinson
• Hiring Greatness – a book by David Perry and Mark Haluska
• My New Job Hunt – an online platform for job hunters
• My Stroke of Insight – a book by Jill Bolte Taylor

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

 

If you have ambitions to scale your staffing business, it’s important to understand both the opportunities and challenges involved. Even if you don’t plan to grow a huge recruitment business, I suspect you’ll learn a lot from my special guest, Gerard Koolen. 

Gerard is the owner of Lugera, a multinational recruiting and staffing agency operating in 9 countries in 30 offices with 400 internal staff. In this interview, he shares the highs and lows of his entrepreneurial journey that lead to building a €130M Staffing Business.

Gerard holds nothing back and Gerard reveals his strategies, mindset and philosophy of investing in both people and technology.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [2:56] Two key factors that lead to Lugera becoming the #1 agency in its area
• [4:44] How and why Gerard started a recruitment company
• [12:00] The benefits of doing business in Eastern Europe
• [15:17] The challenges and pitfalls of growing fast
• [20:50] When is the right time to expand your recruitment business?
• [25:40] How to inspire incredible staff loyalty
• [28:20] Growing through acquisition - hear strategies that worked
• [35:40] The value of investing in technology
• [44:04] Gerard shares the biggest lesson learned in his career

Marrying Recruitment and Technology

Gerard is a firm believer that innovation is key and sees the value of HR technology, especially with his own staff. Instead of focusing on repetitive tasks, technology helps his sales staff to focus on selling. As he puts it: “Technology helps us to do much more than without technology. We really learned the great lesson that when you are in recruitment, even if you have so many great people working for you, help them with great technology.”

A great example that Gerard shared in our conversation is how he came about developing STAA, or Sales and Talent Acquisition Application. Nobody in Silicon Valley wanted to invent the technology to cater to the idea Gerard was presenting, and so he was forced to have it developed on their own. After spending more than €1.5M and 4 to 5 years of development, it finally went live. What was the result? In Ukraine alone, they were able to triple the number of placements. 

Increasing Employee Loyalty 

Back in 2009, Gerard was forced to let go of 100 employees in Romania due to the economic crisis. The next day, it was amazing 30 people came back, saying that they still want to help and they will work for free. They were eventually rehired, and because of their help, they were able to maintain their revenue. What created such loyalty in the team members that they were willing to work for free? This is what Gerard said:

“We are not in it for the money. We are in it for helping people. We really like what we do. Although we are professionals and we need to get paid, but we are there for our people, for the candidates, for the clients. That is why people love to work with us.” 

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 9 countries in 30 offices with 400 internal staff. Lugera is focused on Permanent Staffing, Temporary Staffing, Payroll & Outsourcing generating revenue of €130M. Gerard is crazy about helping as many people as we possibly can with 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

• The Infinite Game - a book by Simon Sinek 
• Jordan Lawrence on LinkedIn
• Christy Brown on LinkedIn

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Related Podcasts You Might Enjoy

• TRR #18 How to Build Your Business During a Recession, with Christy Brown
• TRR #19 Building a Multinational, Micro-Niche Recruitment Group, with Jordan Lawrence

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

 

If you have ambitions to scale your staffing business, it’s important to understand both the opportunities and challenges involved. Even if you don’t plan to grow a huge recruitment business, I suspect you’ll learn a lot from my special guest, Gerard Koolen. 

Gerard is the owner of Lugera, a multinational recruiting and staffing agency operating in 9 countries in 30 offices with 400 internal staff. In this interview, he shares the highs and lows of his entrepreneurial journey that lead to building a €130M Staffing Business.

Gerard holds nothing back and Gerard reveals his strategies, mindset and philosophy of investing in both people and technology.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [2:56] Two key factors that lead to Lugera becoming the #1 agency in its area
• [4:44] How and why Gerard started a recruitment company
• [12:00] The benefits of doing business in Eastern Europe
• [15:17] The challenges and pitfalls of growing fast
• [20:50] When is the right time to expand your recruitment business?
• [25:40] How to inspire incredible staff loyalty
• [28:20] Growing through acquisition - hear strategies that worked
• [35:40] The value of investing in technology
• [44:04] Gerard shares the biggest lesson learned in his career

Marrying Recruitment and Technology

Gerard is a firm believer that innovation is key and sees the value of HR technology, especially with his own staff. Instead of focusing on repetitive tasks, technology helps his sales staff to focus on selling. As he puts it: “Technology helps us to do much more than without technology. We really learned the great lesson that when you are in recruitment, even if you have so many great people working for you, help them with great technology.”

A great example that Gerard shared in our conversation is how he came about developing STAA, or Sales and Talent Acquisition Application. Nobody in Silicon Valley wanted to invent the technology to cater to the idea Gerard was presenting, and so he was forced to have it developed on their own. After spending more than €1.5M and 4 to 5 years of development, it finally went live. What was the result? In Ukraine alone, they were able to triple the number of placements. 

Increasing Employee Loyalty 

Back in 2009, Gerard was forced to let go of 100 employees in Romania due to the economic crisis. The next day, it was amazing 30 people came back, saying that they still want to help and they will work for free. They were eventually rehired, and because of their help, they were able to maintain their revenue. What created such loyalty in the team members that they were willing to work for free? This is what Gerard said:

“We are not in it for the money. We are in it for helping people. We really like what we do. Although we are professionals and we need to get paid, but we are there for our people, for the candidates, for the clients. That is why people love to work with us.” 

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 9 countries in 30 offices with 400 internal staff. Lugera is focused on Permanent Staffing, Temporary Staffing, Payroll & Outsourcing generating revenue of €130M. Gerard is crazy about helping as many people as we possibly can with 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

• The Infinite Game - a book by Simon Sinek 
• Jordan Lawrence on LinkedIn
• Christy Brown on LinkedIn

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Related Podcasts You Might Enjoy

• TRR #18 How to Build Your Business During a Recession, with Christy Brown
• TRR #19 Building a Multinational, Micro-Niche Recruitment Group, with Jordan Lawrence

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

 

How does having a sense of honour help you build relationships at the highest level in your recruitment business? In this episode of the Resilient Recruiter, my guest Richard Hoon will share his perspective gained from a successful 25-year career in recruitment. 

Richard is the founder and CEO of I Search Worldwide and has been a C-Suite search practitioner for over two decades. He is also co-founder and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Validus, a fintech company that is now worth more than $100m.

Richard is also the Chairman of the Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life, a 20-year-old charity in Singapore. This is very timely for our parent listeners for the upcoming Father’s Day weekend. Although not related to recruiting, if you are a parent or planning to be a parent sometime in the future, I am sure you will find value in Richard’s wisdom on this topic. 

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [3:16] Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life: two approaches to eradicate fatherlessness.
• [9:50]  Richard’s key achievements
• [13:11] How to manage a large business when you can’t be everywhere at once.
• [14:10] Bringing honour back to the recruitment industry
• [18:24] Why we need to shift from contingency to pure retained model
• [23:00] How to handle challenges when dealing with internal recruiters and HR
• [36:30] Never too late to start from zero - how Richard co-founded a fintech company 
• [39:42] Philosophies and strategies when building a larger business.
• [49:52] How art collecting it influences your thought and creativity

Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life

Richard is the current Chairman of the Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life, a 20-year-old charity in Singapore.  What is the charity about? In Richard’s words: “The goal is to eradicate fatherlessness. Every child born has a father, but the father is not present, is not engaged, not actively contributing to the family. So the child grows up fatherless. Our job is to encourage fathers to be more active and engaged with their children.” 

In order for them to address fatherlessness and the negative impact on children, they take preventative and intervention approaches. “We do events, we do programs, we do training, we do father and child bonding camp, we encourage national events like eating with your family.”

Bringing Honour Back to the Recruitment Agency

Richard believes that having partners that you can trust with the same long-term philosophy is important when you are managing your business, and so is being honourable. For Richard, having those who value honour in the recruitment business is really a minority. “The recruitment business is high grounding... They say things they don’t mean, they say things they don’t know, and probably get a lot of untruths.” He added,  “I don’t want a recruiter’s name, one day, being associated with a second-hand car salesman.”

This is how Richard puts it on how it should be addressed: “This is a very honourable business because when you put people together, you have got to really be responsible for their career, for their future, but you are also responsible for the company... Unfortunately, the lack of training in the recruitment industry probably gets a lot of just short term results.” He added, “If you always say good things, you are already propagating a lie. If there’s anything I would like to do, it’s to bring honour back to the recruiting industry. By making sure recruiters go back to a centered sense of morality.”

Never too late to start 

At the age of 60, Richard Co-founded a fintech company, Validus. For him, it is never too late to start from scratch. Starting from zero, the company today is worth over $100million dollars. 

Richard Hoon Bio and Contact Info

Richard Hoon is the founder and CEO of I Search Worldwide and has been a C-Suite search practitioner for over two decades. He was the Managing Director of Asia for an international executive search franchise and was the General Manager of International SOS. He has held senior and regional roles with companies such as American Express, Tourism Victoria, and Pall Corporation.

Richard is the current Chairman of the Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life, a registered charity, and IPC in Singapore. He is a co-founder and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Validus, a fintech company that has received series A funding from a major financial institution. He is the President of the Circumnavigators’ Club and the President of the Palm Island Club. He is also a fellow of the Singapore Institute of Directors.

• Richard on LinkedIn
• I Search Worldwide website link

People and Resources Mentioned

• Centre for Fathering website link
• Doug Bugie on LinkedIn
• James Caan on LinkedIn

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Related Podcasts You Might Enjoy

• TRR #3 The 4 Qualities of The World’s Top Recruitment Leaders, with Doug Bugie

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

 

How does having a sense of honour help you build relationships at the highest level in your recruitment business? In this episode of the Resilient Recruiter, my guest Richard Hoon will share his perspective gained from a successful 25-year career in recruitment. 

Richard is the founder and CEO of I Search Worldwide and has been a C-Suite search practitioner for over two decades. He is also co-founder and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Validus, a fintech company that is now worth more than $100m.

Richard is also the Chairman of the Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life, a 20-year-old charity in Singapore. This is very timely for our parent listeners for the upcoming Father’s Day weekend. Although not related to recruiting, if you are a parent or planning to be a parent sometime in the future, I am sure you will find value in Richard’s wisdom on this topic. 

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [3:16] Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life: two approaches to eradicate fatherlessness.
• [9:50]  Richard’s key achievements
• [13:11] How to manage a large business when you can’t be everywhere at once.
• [14:10] Bringing honour back to the recruitment industry
• [18:24] Why we need to shift from contingency to pure retained model
• [23:00] How to handle challenges when dealing with internal recruiters and HR
• [36:30] Never too late to start from zero - how Richard co-founded a fintech company 
• [39:42] Philosophies and strategies when building a larger business.
• [49:52] How art collecting it influences your thought and creativity

Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life

Richard is the current Chairman of the Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life, a 20-year-old charity in Singapore.  What is the charity about? In Richard’s words: “The goal is to eradicate fatherlessness. Every child born has a father, but the father is not present, is not engaged, not actively contributing to the family. So the child grows up fatherless. Our job is to encourage fathers to be more active and engaged with their children.” 

In order for them to address fatherlessness and the negative impact on children, they take preventative and intervention approaches. “We do events, we do programs, we do training, we do father and child bonding camp, we encourage national events like eating with your family.”

Bringing Honour Back to the Recruitment Agency

Richard believes that having partners that you can trust with the same long-term philosophy is important when you are managing your business, and so is being honourable. For Richard, having those who value honour in the recruitment business is really a minority. “The recruitment business is high grounding... They say things they don’t mean, they say things they don’t know, and probably get a lot of untruths.” He added,  “I don’t want a recruiter’s name, one day, being associated with a second-hand car salesman.”

This is how Richard puts it on how it should be addressed: “This is a very honourable business because when you put people together, you have got to really be responsible for their career, for their future, but you are also responsible for the company... Unfortunately, the lack of training in the recruitment industry probably gets a lot of just short term results.” He added, “If you always say good things, you are already propagating a lie. If there’s anything I would like to do, it’s to bring honour back to the recruiting industry. By making sure recruiters go back to a centered sense of morality.”

Never too late to start 

At the age of 60, Richard Co-founded a fintech company, Validus. For him, it is never too late to start from scratch. Starting from zero, the company today is worth over $100million dollars. 

Richard Hoon Bio and Contact Info

Richard Hoon is the founder and CEO of I Search Worldwide and has been a C-Suite search practitioner for over two decades. He was the Managing Director of Asia for an international executive search franchise and was the General Manager of International SOS. He has held senior and regional roles with companies such as American Express, Tourism Victoria, and Pall Corporation.

Richard is the current Chairman of the Centre for Fathering & Dads-for-Life, a registered charity, and IPC in Singapore. He is a co-founder and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Validus, a fintech company that has received series A funding from a major financial institution. He is the President of the Circumnavigators’ Club and the President of the Palm Island Club. He is also a fellow of the Singapore Institute of Directors.

• Richard on LinkedIn
• I Search Worldwide website link

People and Resources Mentioned

• Centre for Fathering website link
• Doug Bugie on LinkedIn
• James Caan on LinkedIn

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Related Podcasts You Might Enjoy

• TRR #3 The 4 Qualities of The World’s Top Recruitment Leaders, with Doug Bugie

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

 

As a recruiter, it is important to have a unique value proposition to be successful. In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, my special guest Craig Watson is challenging the accepted paradigm of how recruitment services are sold and delivered.

His business model is disruptive, either you are going to love it or hate it.  If you are a third-party staffing and recruiting agency, you may feel threatened by Craig’s business model. But setting emotions aside, listen to how his innovative thinking is reimagining the talent acquisition process.

Craig Watson is Founder & Director of Recstra, which to his words, “a community of freelance recruiters who are changing the face of recruitment forever.”  Craig actually comes from a traditional agency background with over 20 years of recruitment & sales industry experience.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [5:22] Why Craig launched a weekly podcast (Tapod) and four key pointers on what makes it successful.
• [8:19] How hosting or listening to podcasts adds value for recruiters 
• [17:50] The Recstra business model and how it is challenging the norms of a recruitment agency model.
• [34:24] Will the traditional recruitment business model eventually lose its place in the market?
• [48:48] “Recruitment is Dead” - why Craig wrote a blog with this title and what it means for you as a recruiter.
• [56:21] Craig’s volunteer work as a Lifesaver

“Hey, Can I Buy You a Coffee?”

Craig and I believe in the value of learning and how being exposed to topnotch people with great ideas adds value. As Craig puts it, “If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room... It is important to find people who are doing a really good idea or really good ways of doing it, ask to buy them a coffee, sit down and be honest and try to get some more information and learn something.”

Relating his experience with Max Walker, a Cricket celebrity in Australia, and Max’s philosophy on why he always makes time for people. “You know what Craig? If anybody ever asks me for coffee, I would bite the handoff to take it. The worst thing I am ever going to get out of that is free coffee, and the best thing is I might learn something.”

Getting Recstra from Concept to Reality

Recstra is a platform with a community of experienced, freelance recruitment consultants. Clients receive high-quality recruitment services while achieving significant cost savings.

How did he come up with that concept? Craig said that “Recstra was born out of a need to have a point of difference for me to be successful.” After doing a data study of why recruiters are leaving the industry, he found out that 28% of recruiters left because they either wanted more work-life balance and flexibility, or they didn’t want to sell. From there, he was able to come up with a business model of remote working and flexibility, instead of a traditional agency environment on which recruiters are traditionally working from 8-5. 

Another way Craig is challenging the norms in the agency recruitment business is through his billing model -  an hourly rate, based on activity. In a general sense, it is pay per service not pay per outcome. How is that working for him? They’ve broken down the recruitment process and an average perm role has around 15 to 17 hours of dedicated activity. For an average role, they are able to complete a placement for about under AUD3000. In comparison, the average placement fee in Australia is within AUD12,000-15,000.

This did not go down well with some of his competitors. “Straightaway, the recruitment agency industry which I was so immersed in got their hackles up and said, ‘You are undercutting us, you are diluting it, what are you doing?’ I’m not on here to upset people, all I can do is talk about my experience and the research that I have done which I am happy for it to be challenged in any way.”

Lifesaving Work 

Craig is President of Venus Bay Surf Lifesaving Club that achieved the Australian Lifesaving Club of the Year in 2019 in a field of over 370 Clubs. Running a small club of 600 volunteer members gives him the opportunity to learn a lot of leadership skills when it comes to inspiring and motivating people. This also enables him to have an active lifestyle and the opportunity to save lives. 

Craig Watson Bio and Contact Info

Craig Watson is Founder & Director of Recstra and Co-host of the Tapod podcast.

He is extremely proud of the Recstra revolution - a community of freelance recruiters who are changing the face of recruitment forever.

TaPod is ranked in the top 10 of Career Podcasts in ANZ and its informal and informative style has seen it become a staple amongst TA Leaders and professionals in the region.

With over 20 years of recruitment & sales industry experience, he is a trainer and consultant to a number of Industries and Corporate groups - specializing in social media, building businesses, building your TA Tech Stack, managing process, leadership skills, business modeling, attraction, engagement, and retention.

Craig has presented keynotes to Global Conferences and was recently named in the Top 50 Global HR & Recruitment influencers.

• Craig on LinkedIn
• Craig on Twitter @CraigWatsonRec
• Recstra website link
• Recstra on Facebook
• Recstra on Instagram
• Recstra on Youtube
• TaPod Link and LinkedIn 

People and Resources Mentioned

• Robin Doenicke on LinkedIn
• Greg Savage on LinkedIn
• Ann Swain on LinkedIn
• The Movement Documentary link
• Why 98% of Recruiters Fail to Differentiate their Firm from the Competition, by Mark Whitby, video link

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Related Podcasts You Might Enjoy

• TRR #1 The Future of Recruitment: Strategies To Stay Relevant and Effective, with Greg Savage
• TRR #4 How Robin Doenicke Is Leading His Recruitment Agency to 10X Growth in Just 3 Years

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

As a recruiter, it is important to have a unique value proposition to be successful. In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, my special guest Craig Watson is challenging the accepted paradigm of how recruitment services are sold and delivered.

His business model is disruptive, either you are going to love it or hate it.  If you are a third-party staffing and recruiting agency, you may feel threatened by Craig’s business model. But setting emotions aside, listen to how his innovative thinking is reimagining the talent acquisition process.

Craig Watson is Founder & Director of Recstra, which to his words, “a community of freelance recruiters who are changing the face of recruitment forever.”  Craig actually comes from a traditional agency background with over 20 years of recruitment & sales industry experience.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [5:22] Why Craig launched a weekly podcast (Tapod) and four key pointers on what makes it successful.
• [8:19] How hosting or listening to podcasts adds value for recruiters 
• [17:50] The Recstra business model and how it is challenging the norms of a recruitment agency model.
• [34:24] Will the traditional recruitment business model eventually lose its place in the market?
• [48:48] “Recruitment is Dead” - why Craig wrote a blog with this title and what it means for you as a recruiter.
• [56:21] Craig’s volunteer work as a Lifesaver

“Hey, Can I Buy You a Coffee?”

Craig and I believe in the value of learning and how being exposed to topnotch people with great ideas adds value. As Craig puts it, “If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room... It is important to find people who are doing a really good idea or really good ways of doing it, ask to buy them a coffee, sit down and be honest and try to get some more information and learn something.”

Relating his experience with Max Walker, a Cricket celebrity in Australia, and Max’s philosophy on why he always makes time for people. “You know what Craig? If anybody ever asks me for coffee, I would bite the handoff to take it. The worst thing I am ever going to get out of that is free coffee, and the best thing is I might learn something.”

Getting Recstra from Concept to Reality

Recstra is a platform with a community of experienced, freelance recruitment consultants. Clients receive high-quality recruitment services while achieving significant cost savings.

How did he come up with that concept? Craig said that “Recstra was born out of a need to have a point of difference for me to be successful.” After doing a data study of why recruiters are leaving the industry, he found out that 28% of recruiters left because they either wanted more work-life balance and flexibility, or they didn’t want to sell. From there, he was able to come up with a business model of remote working and flexibility, instead of a traditional agency environment on which recruiters are traditionally working from 8-5. 

Another way Craig is challenging the norms in the agency recruitment business is through his billing model -  an hourly rate, based on activity. In a general sense, it is pay per service not pay per outcome. How is that working for him? They’ve broken down the recruitment process and an average perm role has around 15 to 17 hours of dedicated activity. For an average role, they are able to complete a placement for about under AUD3000. In comparison, the average placement fee in Australia is within AUD12,000-15,000.

This did not go down well with some of his competitors. “Straightaway, the recruitment agency industry which I was so immersed in got their hackles up and said, ‘You are undercutting us, you are diluting it, what are you doing?’ I’m not on here to upset people, all I can do is talk about my experience and the research that I have done which I am happy for it to be challenged in any way.”

Lifesaving Work 

Craig is President of Venus Bay Surf Lifesaving Club that achieved the Australian Lifesaving Club of the Year in 2019 in a field of over 370 Clubs. Running a small club of 600 volunteer members gives him the opportunity to learn a lot of leadership skills when it comes to inspiring and motivating people. This also enables him to have an active lifestyle and the opportunity to save lives. 

Craig Watson Bio and Contact Info

Craig Watson is Founder & Director of Recstra and Co-host of the Tapod podcast.

He is extremely proud of the Recstra revolution - a community of freelance recruiters who are changing the face of recruitment forever.

TaPod is ranked in the top 10 of Career Podcasts in ANZ and its informal and informative style has seen it become a staple amongst TA Leaders and professionals in the region.

With over 20 years of recruitment & sales industry experience, he is a trainer and consultant to a number of Industries and Corporate groups - specializing in social media, building businesses, building your TA Tech Stack, managing process, leadership skills, business modeling, attraction, engagement, and retention.

Craig has presented keynotes to Global Conferences and was recently named in the Top 50 Global HR & Recruitment influencers.

• Craig on LinkedIn
• Craig on Twitter @CraigWatsonRec
• Recstra website link
• Recstra on Facebook
• Recstra on Instagram
• Recstra on Youtube
• TaPod Link and LinkedIn 

People and Resources Mentioned

• Robin Doenicke on LinkedIn
• Greg Savage on LinkedIn
• Ann Swain on LinkedIn
• The Movement Documentary link
• Why 98% of Recruiters Fail to Differentiate their Firm from the Competition, by Mark Whitby, video link

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Related Podcasts You Might Enjoy

• TRR #1 The Future of Recruitment: Strategies To Stay Relevant and Effective, with Greg Savage
• TRR #4 How Robin Doenicke Is Leading His Recruitment Agency to 10X Growth in Just 3 Years

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

If the ability to perform under pressure is a pre-requisite for success in recruitment, then it’s no surprise that Craig Picken has reached the peak of our profession as one of the top-producing recruiters in the United States.

Eight years’ experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – was perhaps the ideal proving ground for Craig’s later career in recruitment.  

Craig is the co-founder and the managing partner for the Northstar Group which is a boutique executive search firm based in Wilmington,  North Carolina. Since 2009 Craig has concluded several hundred executive-level searches in leadership, sales, and operations for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industries.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [1:36] Craig’s background: from being a naval pilot to being a recruiter.
• [6:06] Three main skills from Craig’s naval career that are transferable to the recruitment business.
• [14:50] Dealing with a very difficult client - hear how it was handled professionally. 
• [21:30] Long-term business perspectives that you can apply during this pandemic.
• [31:45] Craig speaks about the biggest challenges in his career.
• [34:40] The story of how he once got fired -  and how it led to a making a fortune in two different industries 
• [44:45] Craig’s strategy on how to handle recruitment business downtime due to an economic downturn.
• [53:50] Craig discusses the value of doing a podcast and other ways he is connecting with his audience.

“ How to Fly When Your Airplane is on Fire”

During the interview, Craig recalls several instances where sudden unexpected airplane system malfunctions endangered the lives of his co-pilots. He then added, “The one thing that the navy teaches you well is not how to fly. It is how to fly when your airplane is on fire. And all your systems are going to hell.” He strongly believes in keeping an open mind rather than being a control freak. When things are not going the way they should be, it should be about the ability to be flexible. 

Translating it to recruitment, he says “That is where recruiters got to understand. What are you doing when everything is going to hell? It’s a very emotional business, you can’t control people. A lot of recruiters talk about control. I don’t try to control anybody.”

Being a Value in these Difficult Times

With the significant impact of the coronavirus to the aviation and aerospace industry, what is Craig currently doing to maintain his momentum? “Building my network, talking, and being a value.” Craig’s perspective is helping people get to where they need to be. And when their business comes back, he is the person they will be thinking about. Strategically, he looks at the long term rather than immediate results. “I take everybody’s call… And my only goal is to be a value.” Hear his philosophy on how the recruitment business is a business of helping people.

Where there is Chaos, there is Opportunity

Just when Craig and his wife are expecting the birth of their twins, something terrible happened - he got fired from his job. This caused them monumental stress, but as Craig puts it, “where there is chaos, there is an opportunity.” For him, getting fired taught him to be more entrepreneurial and to be more on moving forward. 

Giving back to the Community

Aside from rescuing dogs, Craig is also a big contributor to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Ltd (JDRF), a charity focused on eradicating juvenile type 1 Diabetes. If you wish to know more about this organization, you may refer to the link in the below section.

Craig Picken Bio and Contact Info

Co-founder and Managing Partner for Northstar Group, a boutique executive search firm based in Wilmington, NC, Craig is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industry. Clients include well-known aircraft OEM’s, aircraft operators, leasing / financial organizations, and Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul (MRO) providers. Since 2009 he has personally concluded several hundred executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines.  

• Craig on LinkedIn
• Craig on Twitter @craigpicken
• Craig on Facebook 
• Northstar Group website
• Aerospace Executive Podcast
• JDRF website

People and Resources Mentioned 

• Paul Siker on LinkedIn

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/Breakthrough
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Related Podcasts You Might Enjoy

• TRR #6  Habits of a Million-Dollar Biller, with Rich Rosen

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter