Let's Get There Together

Labradoodle. Nobody has issues. Even if they have dog allergies or sensitivities, they are still a Okay, meaning, if you've got personal problems or issues, you're still okay with the Labradoodle. Everybody loves Derek. Nobody has issues with him. Consistently producing can be counted on, and has really elevated our team since he joined us. So Derek Schlender, take us from here. Thanks so much, Derek for being with us.

team. Run that niche nationally. Personally, my family, we reside in Athens, Georgia. Go Dogs. Family of five. We have a nine year old, seven year old and a two year old. So my my world is beautiful chaos right now.

that he's really perfected. So I want to start there and have Derek really walk us through what made you pursue this MPC approach to your market. How do you consistently build it such a high level with an MPC approach? And again, it's not all that you do, but I know it's the majority, so just kind of give us some history and then get us into the details, man.

supply and demand. My niche in SBA lending tends this way, largely because there's been a high number of baby boomer generation bankers who have been retiring. There's just not been as many Gen X millennial you know, there's just not enough people getting into banking to outnumber those that have been retiring. And so over the last 10 to 15 years, that's resulted in this growing bubble of demand where there's just a lot more need than there is talent. And so that's resulted in something

for me that's just sustainably been candidate driven. I haven't really had a lot of client driven moments in my time so far. You know, there's definitely been clients who have said, Hey, Derek, you're the recruiter we want to work with exclusively. You know, there's just some roles that have to go to search, but the lion's share of what my market needs is the talent, and it's on a constant basis. And so kind of this

supply and demand idea. You know, with demand so high and supply so low if you can go bring to your clients what they're needing, that's kind of what I would define as candidate driven.

in search, you don't know. What your niche is, until you really cut your teeth and you get a sense of, where can I win, where can I go, add value. And so I just started to pull, what we call pull the thread in the market. Like you see a thread, you start to pull it, and what, what comes of that is you start to get traction. And so where I was getting traction was SBA lending. What's unique is we were heading into the pandemic as I was gaining traction. And so what happened is everyone

stopped coming into the office. The Marketplace, basically overnight, was completely remote. And so while SBA lending is a national product, a national program, I was thrust into a market that was even more national by nature of everyone being remote, it didn't matter where you lived, as long as a company got hired in your state. And so that just became more and more of a focus, almost as a product of just circumstances around the pandemic. That's kind of where it all started for me.

tied to the bottom line profitability. You've got people who are in the background, back office, people, credit operations. So for me, it's different, depending on what

type of candidate it may be. But to put it simply, if someone's a revenue contributor, have they produced is number one, have they produced at a level that is recognized by the marketplace as impressive, as meaningful, but even more complex than that, have they produced within the deal box or the buy box of the clients that I represent, if they have, I've got somebody who can add value for my clients, for the marketplace that I

serve, if they haven't, there's a disconnect there. And so it's my job as the market master to say, hey, tell me about production. Tell me about where you've won. Let me make sure that I'm connecting the dots in a way that's going to be meaningful and recognized for the value that you bring. And so I've got to uncover that with a candidate and understand that and a deep level. If I'm a generalist who doesn't really

deeply know one niche over another, that's a lot harder. So if you're somebody who does accounting, recruiting, commercial, CNI, recruiting, mortgage, recruiting, all of these things, that's great if you don't have enough depth to talk shop with somebody and understand what kinds of deals they actually do and where you could take them, or that would add value. That'll be harder with credit and operations. I

think a lot of it comes down to efficiency and proficiency. Are they efficient at what they do in credit decisioning from a timeline perspective, but also, do they have a complexity of understanding of different deal types, where they can actually get in and truly decision deals based on the experience that

they have? For me, a lot of times, somebody who is a MPC as a credit candidate, they need to be a little bit more experienced, because if they're not, it's a lot harder to showcase that talent and to say, hey, based on their experience, they're going to add XYZ and value. And then the same is, you know, generally true of people in operations and other capacities. It's it's a lot of just, they've had experience in

key areas that I know bring value to my clients. And then, on top of all that, I would just say that their resume really matters. A resume for a star candidate has to look like someone who hasn't moved around a lot. You know, there's occasions where a quick stint somewhere can be explained, and that's okay. But again, I need to understand their story in a way that can be conveyed in a way that's understood and accepted. And then the last thing is just compensation.

Because as much as we're talking about representing candidates, our primary responsibility is still our clients, which is sometimes hard to think about. When you're thinking about, hey, I'm representing talent and trying to go place them in the market, you still have to ethically understand, hey, my primary job is to solve a need for my client, and a lot of that comes down to simple math. Does this candidate? Are they someone

who's affordable? Are they someone who's commanding a salary that the market will support again, if I'm not niched? I don't know my. Market. I may not be able to answer that question, and I may not actually able to add value to my client, because if I bring them someone they can't afford, that's great that this candidates a rock star, they can produce, they add all this efficiency value, but if they aren't in the budget for what the client can pay, I'm wasting a lot of people's time.

world. And so what I'm going to do first and foremost is I'm going to pursue understanding you as a professional before we I mean, whether or not I have an opportunity that I'm recruiting for or not that for me is the right approach, even if I'm taking a search to market, because it's going to take me some time to truly understand if you're the right fit for this Search. So even if there's a search, Hey, I am specialized.

I'm niche, specific. Let me understand your situation, and as we develop that relationship with the candidate, the beauty is the value we bring to our clients. It's not going after people who are thanking God that you called them on that Tuesday afternoon. It's the people who didn't really have time to talk to you, but they start to catch, oh, there's value in talking to this recruiter, because they are actually in my space, even if it's a quick conversation, I want to keep in touch with them.

So it's very relationally driven. Again, it's a value proposition to the candidate that, hey, whether or not I go take you to one of my clients right now, we need to know each other, even for long term relationship. And so that's the approach that I take. And then from there, again, being specialized, you can pick up on things that are causing pain when you hear how things are actually going well. Derek, it's been a good year. I've produced X amount in volume. The only

frustration is it's caught. It's taking 60 days decision to deal. Hang on, that's a huge red flag. But I only know that if I truly know the time frame it ought to take for a lender to decision transactions so things like that. As you're talking to someone and they're engaging with you, you can say, Hey, can I provide some feedback based on my expertise in the market? I think you're in a place that's kind of preventing you from being the best you could be. You mind if I give you some

feedback? And so it's developing a relationship of trust based on expertise.

Do you have the support in your back office to support the production you're looking to have? But it's also understanding what are the kind of new to market, new to the stage, players who may not have as much volume publicly traced where it's like, Hey, you're actually going to be a player in the next two to three years. But knowing the people in your niche, it's achieved through a number of things. It's what I

just talked about in terms of the rankings. It's attending conferences and actually getting in front of your market and getting to know the people in your space. But it's, again, it's very relational, and it's asking, Hey, what do you need right now? But where are you headed? What are you going to

need? And the next year, if I came across a top qualified candidate in the market is that someone you would want to have a confidential conversation about, every hiring manager you talk to is going to say yes, but again, it comes back down to can you

actually produce that and value to them? And so if you can come back to the table and say, Hey, I really urge you, when you and I talked about the talent that it's going to take for you to get where you're headed, and give them some feedback that you actually have the talent that they're looking for 10 times out of 10. Those those clients want to have a conversation with you about that. The challenge for most of my clients is not paying

a fee to a recruiter or even going the search route. It's working with recruiters who don't bring them candidates who are well vetted, who actually you. Solve a need, or actually, like thrust them toward your goal. So it's connecting those two dots. But again, I think it's a lot of relational business development conversations that are not just centered around, what search do you have for me today? But let's have a business conversation around where are you trying to

get to? What type of people are going to help you get there?

high priority, but it's just not. And I think what it comes down to is a lot of recruiters don't really know what else to do with a resume, than to go run to their clients and try to put it in front of them. And so for me, it's a lot different than that. So much of what I do is it's not spaghetti on the wall, it's not resume spamming. It's very much a partnership with candidates in the market around hey, let's work together in developing a wish list of organizations that you want to

go to. I'm going to come to the table with recommendations. I expect you to come to the table with dreams and desires. We're going to put that together and come come up with a list of target organizations. The result is, you're going to get in front of the organizations you want to get in front of. And a lot of times, it's people who they have all of the qualifications, all of the resume to get them the job, but they don't have the connections. It's the timing, it's the coaching, it's the

representation at the offer stage. It's giving voice to this is what the market's supporting. You need to be paid X amount to right size, you get you paid what you're worth, or it's Hey, you're paid very competitively. Let's go get you an opportunity that lets you maximize your incentive compensation to make you a lot more money all in it's that expertise, and without that, it's open season. They're on their own. They don't have representation, and so many people I work with have had that

experience. They would much rather have a advocate working with them, but somebody who's really a guide, a trusted advisor, someone who's not just going out there and saying, Hey, let me go. I'll keep you posted on what I get for you in terms of an opportunity to interview. But no, let's go. Target an organization we agree on. You're in charge. I'm going to guide you there, and let's get there together. So the feedback I've gotten is that that's really value for a candidate. They

appreciate that. They don't get that from everyone. And so I feel really good about the work that I do based on that feedback.

we need to achieve our goals. I imagine you get some feedback that it's a game changer that way too for you.

whatever reason. What are you going to do? Can you go to search? Can you go find that slate of candidates? Can you go through that full process? Well, what if someone called you and said, Hey, I've got someone who can produce at a level that's equivalent to what your top producer was producing at who wouldn't want to have that conversation. So again, it's a time saver and a money saver, because the time it takes to take an opportunity to search, you're losing money on that top

producers revenue. And so a lot of it is it's a monetarily efficient way to select top talent, but. Again, I think the clients that I work with value the industry expertise so that they know when I bring them a candidate, it's not just someone's resume that I got from a job posting.

marketplace and to the candidates you recruit. So that's it. I mean, it's Listen, listen, listen and do something with what you learn.