Why Prioritizing Health and Well-Being is Essential for Recruitment Success, with Scott Eastin, Ep #204

01/12/24 • 59 min

In the fast-paced world of recruitment, you’re under constant pressure to deliver results for your clients and achieve sales targets. So what’s the secret to maintaining peak performance without burning out?

In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, our special guest, Scott Eastin, provides a fresh perspective on achieving sustainable, long-lasting success in recruitment. Drawing from his own successful career, having navigating many ups and downs, Scott emphasizes the pivotal relationship between prioritizing health and recruitment success.

Scott is the Director of Eastin IT Security. Over the last 13 years established himself as a leading Microsoft Security consultant. He’s worked with major organizations such as Coca-Cola, American Express as well as state and local governments. For the last 5 years, he’s built an IT consulting and staffing firm winning high-value, long-term projects that generate recurring revenue.

In this episode, Scott unpacks his remarkable transition from being a software developer to becoming a successful recruiter. He divulges his four cornerstone strategies for business development. Most importantly, emphasizes why prioritizing physical health is a non-negotiable component in maintaining his overall productivity.

Episode Outline and Highlights

[02:25] Scott’s journey from being a software developer to a successful recruiter.
[10:14] Insights on challenges when transitioning to a career in recruiting.
[14:47] Sharing a story of how embracing an idea that was not done became a game-changer.
[24:00] Scott’s Top 4 Business Development strategies
[30:35] Hosting networking events - an effective way to engage with your community.
[36:15] Comparison of consulting practice versus permanent direct hire models in the tech space.
[44:36] Managing cash flow challenges in a consulting and IT staffing business.
[54:40] Mindfulness, health and well-being.

The Advantages of a Consulting Business in the IT Space

Is it easier to manage an IT consulting business model versus a permanent direct hire practice? For Scott, having a consulting business model works well for him for the following reasons:

Trusted Independent Contractors - He has already established a network of reliable independent contractors, which makes it easy to take in projects from his clients.
Long-term Contracts - Because of quality service delivery, he can secure long-term contracts that assure him six-digit revenues at the beginning of the year.

If you are running an executive search firm or permanent hire practice, you might want to consider exploring the option of a consulting or contract service as an additional revenue stream. Scott believes that this is a great time for such a business model:

“Quite frankly, if you look at the statistics that are coming out now, more and more people are interested in contracting and independent consulting work. I know I was reading an article from the staffing industry where I think they said literally 38% of the U.S. workforce has done some type of gig work.”

Of course, there are also challenges in this type of business model, such as cash flow management - sometimes you would have to pay your contractors before the client even pays you. Scott shared how he solves this. He also elaborated on his approach to business development.

The 4 Cornerstones of Scott’s Business Development Strategy

Scott describes himself as a “reluctant salesman.” Before becoming a recruitment business owner, he had this preconceived notion about salespeople: “Selling is somewhat, maybe a dirty word for some people in the technical industry.”

Part of his journey is getting over that mindset. Scott’s primary principle regarding selling and business development is “Great service, great people, and great value.” He shared four key pointers about this topic and elaborated on how this helps him to get continued repeat businesses:

Referrals - Scott’s mantra of great service, great people, and great value is the foundation of providing excellent services consistently. This leads to referrals and repeat businesses across his market and industry.
LinkedIn Visibility - Scott consistently posts content and videos on LinkedIn.
BDR - Scott hired an experienced Business Development Representative part-time on a contract basis to make cold calls and set up sales appointments for him.
Hosting meet-up events - this is something that Scott picked up from one of our guests in a previous episode, Steven Li, and he is thankful that he applied this approach.

Mindfulness, Health, and Well-Being

Being a one-man shop is not easy and can be stressful. Scott shared how he manages stress by prioritizing his health and consistently implementing hea...

Episode Outline and Highlights

[02:25] Scott’s journey from being a software developer to a successful recruiter.
[10:14] Insights on challenges when transitioning to a career in recruiting.
[14:47] Sharing a story of how embracing an idea that was not done became a game-changer.
[24:00] Scott’s Top 4 Business Development strategies
[30:35] Hosting networking events - an effective way to engage with your community.
[36:15] Comparison of consulting practice versus permanent direct hire models in the tech space.
[44:36] Managing cash flow challenges in a consulting and IT staffing business.
[54:40] Mindfulness, health and well-being.

The Advantages of a Consulting Business in the IT Space

Is it easier to manage an IT consulting business model versus a permanent direct hire practice? For Scott, having a consulting business model works well for him for the following reasons:

Trusted Independent Contractors - He has already established a network of reliable independent contractors, which makes it easy to take in projects from his clients.
Long-term Contracts - Because of quality service delivery, he can secure long-term contracts that assure him six-digit revenues at the beginning of the year.

The 4 Cornerstones of Scott’s Business Development Strategy

Referrals - Scott’s mantra of great service, great people, and great value is the foundation of providing excellent services consistently. This leads to referrals and repeat businesses across his market and industry.
LinkedIn Visibility - Scott consistently posts content and videos on LinkedIn.
BDR - Scott hired an experienced Business Development Representative part-time on a contract basis to make cold calls and set up sales appointments for him.
Hosting meet-up events - this is something that Scott picked up from one of our guests in a previous episode, Steven Li, and he is thankful that he applied this approach.

Mindfulness, Health, and Well-Being

Being a one-man shop is not easy and can be stressful. Scott shared how he manages stress by prioritizing his health and consistently implementing hea...

Previous Episode

How to Increase Billings 400% by Integrating Automation with a Personal Touch, with Christina Stroud, Ep #203

The recruitment process is inherently human-centric, involving evaluating soft skills, cultural fit, and personal interactions. While AI can streamline specific tasks, it may struggle to assess these qualitative aspects effectively. As a recruitment business owner, how do you marry automation and artificial intelligence with a personal human touch?

My special guest, Christina Stroud, shares her insights and perspective about this subject. She has a unique approach to engaging with her clients and candidates while leveraging automation with a personalized human touch.

Christina is the founder and CEO of Group928. She’s a seasoned Human Resources professional with over 30 years of experience specializing in start-ups, acquisitions, and exits in private equity environments. The company has grown by 400% in just three short years from $125,000 in the first year to over $500,000 in 2023. This showcases her ability to build a client base from scratch, and design and implement sales and marketing strategies while continuing to exceed her client’s expectations.

Episode Outline and Highlights

[01:57] Chrstina’s Transition from an HR professional to a recruitment business owner. Insights on how her HR experience played a role in her current success.
[07:49] Nobody said it was easy - overcoming a challenging first year of entrepreneurial leap.
[12:41] Growing the company to 400% - discussing two critical success factors.
[18:18] The importance of stepping out of your comfort zone
[28:13] Leveraging AI & automation while applying a personal touch.
[40:33] Launching her podcast and engaging with thought leaders.
[48:01] The most significant challenges that Christina had to navigate
[58:49] What is next for Christina and Group 928?

An Entrepreneurial Leap is No Walk in the Park, But Undeniably Achievable

For many reasons, shifting from a recruiter to a business owner can be difficult. The risk and uncertainty, working long hours, and lack of security and benefits can deter many from the entrepreneurship journey. Overcoming these roadblocks is achievable - and Christina proved it is. This is how she described the first year of her entrepreneurial journey:

“It was hard. I, you know, that first year, it was hard for me emotionally. I had never stepped away from a regular paycheck. And so to go into owning my own business, not having a steady income or a check that gets directly deposited every other Friday was very nerve-wracking for me... It hurt my ego a little bit when I went two months without getting, uh, a paycheck, but then once I got my company started, uh, I was glad that I did and it made sense, but that transition, uh, is very hard for a lot of people and it was also hard because I had never done any type of sales or marketing or bringing in new clients.”

It was not a walk in the park, but Christina’s mindset and belief system helped her figure things out and pull things together. She revealed two critical factors that significantly contributed to her success.

Christina’s Two Critical Success Factors

In three years, Christina grew her company by 400% from $125,000 in the first year to over $500,000 in 2023. This is an astonishing achievement, as companies usually plateau after reaching their first six digits. Christian shared two critical success factors:

Getting out of her comfort zone: “I had to take every little thing that needed to be done as a challenge. I did all the work myself. I was, you know, doing sourcing and interviewing and all the emails and communication. And that taught me a lot of new skills and things that I had to try and push myself to do that I hadn't done in a very, very long time”. Christina shared how she had to learn technology and AI, start her podcast, and other new skills.
Leveraging automation for sales and marketing - this was also not easy for Christina because technology is also not her cup of tea. “Those people who know me know I have a technology dark cloud that follows me. It is a struggle wherever I go for whatever reason. And so to think that I would be using this as one of my main tools to try and find clients and at least start that initial relationship was very daunting.”

Many can relate to the subject of automation and AI as it is a hot topic when it comes to balancing it with personalization and ingraining a human touch. Christina shares her best practices.

Utilizing AI and Automation with a Personalized Approach

Christina’s approach to personalization is her unique value proposition. She shared her process:

Research “And so when I went into my own business, I knew that's what I had specific target companies that I knew I wanted to work with. I had researched them. I had figured out where they were location-wise, and what the size of the...

Next Episode

How to Lead the Hiring Revolution: Strategies for Hiring 4.0 Industry Leaders, with David Perry, Ep #205

Are you familiar with the term “ 4.0 Leaders”? If you are, then you understand the value of hiring such leaders in whichever niche you serve, especially in this age of the industrial revolution through artificial intelligence.

I am excited to share this episode as we have a returning guest, the Rogue Recruiter, David Perry. We recorded this episode on his birthday. And you know that it will be an episode packed with exceptional expertise and behind-the-scenes stories from 35 years in executive recruitment.

David and I touched upon relevant topics such as building strategic, long-term client relationships and the art of placing the right candidates within a company's culture. We also covered how their project, workinsight.io, can change the current hiring landscape. Lastly, David shared his insight on what recruitment will look like and why hiring 4.0 leaders is a critical role of recruiters.

Episode Outline and Highlights

[02:09] Pool Table Analogy - David reveals the strategy in his 35-year career in executive recruitment.
[08:02] Pointers on pre-closing deals and establishing long-term client relationships.
[19:22] “Executive Recruiting for Dummies” - Why David writes the questions and runs the candidate interview with their clients.
[26:06] Educating your clients on the cost of a bad hire while quantifying your added value to their organization.
[29:00] Be inspired and don’t give up: David shares his story about his early struggles in his recruitment career.
[32:24] What is Workinsight.io and how can it be a game changer as a matching platform for candidates and employers?
[52:18] Teaser on David’s new book - “Revolutions Need Leaders”
[1:00:05] David shares why they send a 27-page proposal to their clients.
[1:07:00] Book recommendations from David and why he never stops learning from others.

Strategize Your Recruitment Like a Pool Master

Before we recorded this episode, he had recently closed around 750K in fees. I wanted to get his insights on how he can consistently deliver in the industry for 35 years.

If you are familiar with the game of pool or billiards, you will relate to David’s analogy about his strategies that keep him at the top of his game. He describes his approach, “You play pool, right? Most people and most recruiters are usually good for sinking a shot. Maybe a second one, okay, rarely a third one, yep. Rarely can someone clean the table. So this is how we think about search. We get a lot of inquiries to do work for companies... That's like playing pool. Before we do a deal we want to look down the table and go, okay, what's the next ball, what's the next ball, what's the next ball? And oftentimes we won't take a search because we can't see the next one.“

David elaborated on the following techniques:

Focusing on client relationships, investing time to understand their culture and what fits in their organization. Doing so can make placing three people with one company easier than three people with three different companies.
How to pre-close a deal through an intake call with the client via Zoom call that will lead to a face-to-face discussion.
Running the interview questions to the candidates, with the clients on the side.

Like me, you will admire David’s tenure and expertise and how he delivers his service to his clients.

Democratizing the Job Search Process

David and I discussed their exciting website project: workinsight.io. Work Insight is a recruiting platform designed to be candidate-centric by allowing them to have a level of anonymity. The approach is inspired by dating sites, like Bumble or Tinder. The goal of the platform is to democratize recruitment - “This is designed to help people get the right role. That's why it's free. It's free for recruiters to use and post. It's free for job hunters to come and find jobs and post credentials. So we're trying to democratize the hiring that way. This way, smaller companies who've got a great idea can find people and do it themselves At the same time.”

There are at least two job search frustrations that the platform can solve:

Shortening the job search process: In the US, Davide mentioned that the average job search time is 38 weeks. Workinsight.io can enable a continuous opportunity flow, which will force employers to “be smarter and fairer with the candidates that they have, because now, all of a sudden, the whole market is fluid.”

Solving the “hired for skill, fired for fit” dilemma: As David mentioned, “We've known for four decades hired for skill, fired for fit. If we know this doesn't work and we know that the turnover rate stays at a steady 24%, why don't we fix that?” The platform has an upcoming feature that matches candidates to companies based on cultural fit, aiming to addr...