Hey everyone, welcome back to Top5 brought to you by to DefinedTalent. We are a results driven service working with clients to connect them with quality talent, as well as working to make an impact in the recruiting industry. We talk straight about today's professional world with real world professionals, experts in recruitment, job seekers and business owners alike. Have a question for us. Send it in, you might spur our next conversation. I'm Tara Thurber, Director of Talent Innovation.
Joining me today as well as our very own Talent Partner Ellie Bright. We are super excited to be speaking with Brian Motzenbecker Sales Manager that we've recently place joining us to discuss his "Top5 Tips for a Successful Recruitment Journey". Hey, Ellie. Hey, Brian. How are you guys today?
Hi, Tara, great to be here with you.
Yeah, very excited to be back.
Yay. Great to have you both on. So Brian, why don't we dive in? And just tell us a little bit about yourself?
Wow. Wow, I didn't know that about you. That's really awesome. Um, so I know, you know, you and I have been connected for a long time through a network, right? Through a friend of a friend, I guess. But, you know, when you took your journey on finding your next role, why did you essentially decide or choose to start working with a recruiter?
You know, when you, when you start out on your journey, there's whether you're looking to move from a current job to a new one, or you found yourself in a spot like a lot of folks did in 2020, where they were, where the companies were working with were forced to make cuts, and you had this kind of start over again, you know, whatever position you're in you, you kind of want to leverage all the paths to success that you can to find the right journey for you.
So I felt like a recruiter could help me zero in on opportunities, help facilitate some introductions, and prepare me for interviews and just kind of getting me to think about things differently than a mindset that I might have got, you know, on my own.
Yeah. And that makes sense to I mean, I know Ellie will kind of back me up on this but finding a job or looking for a new job, whether you're employed currently or not, it's like a full time job (laughing).
Yes, I actually, I mean, before joining to DefinedTalent, I had left my job and was in the job market for three, four months as well. And I think sometimes it gets frustrating and you kind of get beat down a little bit after you apply to you know, 75 LinkedIn jobs and never hear anything back from from anyone. So it's, even for me as a recruiter, having that recruiting help in my job search was a big part of why I came to DefinedTalent as
well. So it's nice to just have that human contact within a job hunt.
Yeah, I agree, Ellie. I think LinkedIn and and other places that are job boards have their place but you know, my attraction started once I started working with with Tara
How did you, how did we, remind me again too Brian, I feel like we got connected through Christa. Right a friend of ours. Yeah, absolutely. Well, friends, so to speak, I feel like a lot of it just has to do with networking. Finding a job has a lot to do with networking, but then you got kind of the best out of the out of the deal. You got connected with me and...
(laughs)
And a recruiting agency too.
Not to toot your own horn, right?
I'm saying...
It's very true. And I'll probably talk about this a little bit more later on as we get into the Top5 but obviously the networking is very important and and going beyond what you might think of as traditional networking and just going through LinkedIn, but you know, my introduction to you came out of a conversation, I was having Christa walking off the beach one day, and just talking to her about my job search and her listening and saying, Hey, I know somebody who might be able to help you. So...
And I think that that's, I mean, that right, there is just a successful story from the start just for us to be connected. Um, you know, when you first - when we first started talking, or you were thinking about working with a recruiter, did you know anything about what the recruitment process was gonna look like? Was there anything that you had hoped for? In regards to, you know, our path that we took?
Yeah. You know, in my case, it had been a number of years, since I'd actually seriously taken a look at making a change. Somewhat rare these days, I'd spent about 18 years with the same company. And while I looked at paths of change along the course, I'd never gone very far with them, because I was really enjoying
where I was. So I guess my one hope is, as I started thinking about working with a recruiter, whether it be others or, or before I was aligning with you all, I was like, "Man, I hope it's not the same as it was last time I did this number of years ago," because it just was, I don't, I didn't necessarily feel that the folks I've worked with in the past, truly listened to where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do, and they're kind of looking at my resume and looking at their job specs for
the jobs they were trying to fill and, and thinking, Oh, this, they're hoping it might be a match without really digging in. Now, one of the first things you and I did, if I recall correctly, is we just kind of had a casual conversation about, you know, "Tell me about yourself, tell me about what you're passionate about what you like about what you've done in the past, what you'd like to do going forward," and I'm sure there was much more to it than
that as well. But it was a different experience, for sure, then, I had had a while ago with different recruiting experiences.
And that's, you know, kind of going back to DefinedTalent and our pillars, I mean, we're all about trying to get to know each candidate and to partner with you, on so many different levels. Because it's, it's so important to learn all the things that you might be interested in, or just learn about you as a person. Because
clients are all different. And maybe the soft skills wouldn't be a match culturally, or, you know, I feel like it's not only recruiting and finding a body to put into a chair, but it's recruiting and networking and building these partnerships, for maybe we don't have the right roll right out of the gate upon us chatting, right?
Right.
But being keeping in contact, but learning about you, I think is the first step because then we can spread the net a little bit wider when we're thinking about, okay, where are we going to place Brian, how can we help him get to his next role and get to his onto his professional path moving forward?
I think there's so many aspects of that recruiting conversation where, you know, yes, I'm trying to make sure that you're the right fit for our client. But I also want to make sure that our client is the
right fit for you. And, you know, whether you want financial growth or career growth, or you just want to grow your skill set knowledge or the environment that you're working in, maybe you've been in finance for the last 10 years, and you're really interested in getting into healthcare and just understanding, you know, what your goals are in the next role. And yeah, maybe it's not the the
role that we have right now. But I can't tell you how many times I've called a candidate back and been like, "I thought of you, I know, this is what you're looking for. And I'm excited to present you with this role." So just again, being a partner and an advocate on both ends, the both client and you know, candidate.
Yeah, and Tara mentioned soft skills earlier. And that stood out to me because I think about the different type of folks who are looking for jobs in different phases of life, for that matter. You could be some - like I recall earlier in my career, I kind of jump jobs a little bit more often. And then I settle I kind of got into a groove where
I stayed somewhere longer. But earlier on I was more, my mind was more I think open my mindset was different in regards to moving and then as I stayed somewhere longer, I kind of lost sight of, and this is where I think tar helped me, lost sight of those transferable skills and how I think it helped me go into something else, potentially a different path that, then what I was on and I happened to be looking at a job where there weren't a lot of open, I was looking for a new job at a time
when there wasn't a lot of open opportunity to say the least, because of where the market was in, in COVID. and such, so it was beneficial to me to have somebody look at things from a different prism and say, "Hey, here's here are some of your soft, soft skills that are transferable. How about you look at this?" because a lot of us come into the process with it, "Hey, this is what I've done. This is what I'm looking at."
And there's like, a narrow focus, and it sometimes helps to widen that view.
I think that that's, I mean, you're hitting it right on the head there, Brian, I think, you know, it's something as a job seeker, you're thinking about what you've recently done, or, you're not thinking outside of that box, and I'm coming in from an outside, I'm coming in from the outside, or at least coming in
from the outside. And we're like, you know, we were thinking bigger, if we don't have a specific job that is in complete and total alignment, we want to think bigger, we want to think about all the different avenues that you can take. Because you're right, there are blinders, right? There's blinders that people have on. And once we can try and open those blinders up a little bit and say, "You know, have you
tried this industry? Or have you tried a role like this?" It's taking your skills, but just switching it a little bit to go into a different type of role. I think that that's something extremely valuable for job seekers, right? I mean, it was valuable for job seekers, two, three years ago, I think it's even more valuable now. Because a lot of people are even just trying to pivot, who they are and where they're, going next.
Yeah, and especially with the change in the working dynamic, and folks looking for certain companies that can can, I don't know align to their way they want to work, you know, more hybrid, or work from home, or whatever it is. So yeah, I agree.
When we first started working, kind of going back to opening blinders. Um, when we first started working together and talking, I mean, it took us a while for us to make this placement and and find that happy path. Um, when we first started though, did you know what your goals were? Did you have an idea of where you were headed? And I'm going to stack a question, because did we get to where you originally thought you were going to get to?
Hmm. That's, that's an interesting question. I think, you know, I, I felt I was overdue for a change in my career path. I had always been excited about what I did, and serving customers and making things happen for clients and seeing that come to fruition. But where I was kind of got a little stale for me, and I needed something I needed to change. I did go into it, trying to keep an open mind about what
that would be. And I started out saying, you know, I'd really like to change my industry focus at a minimum. And hey, I really like technology, technology had been a part of what I'd done before, but not a major aspect of it, it was kind of complimentary. So I looked at that, but what my expectations were in regards to how long it would take or what I would have to do...
(laughs)
Um, I tried to be I tried to be practical about it. And I was in a position where I was eager to get back in the workforce, but I also wanted to make sure that I made the right choice and didn't just jump into something and take it to take it.
Yeah.
I was gonna say I actually - I feel like I had a very similar experience in my job hunting I, you know, I knew I wanted a smaller company, I knew I wanted somewhere that that my voice can be heard and that I could kind of bring these ideas that I've cultivated through my past recruiting experience into a role where I was really able to make a difference and again, the recruiter that I was working with, he had initially reached out right as I was leaving my most recent roll about an
opportunity that I didn't think was the right fit but it was great to make the connection and after you know interview after interview of just not feeling like it was the right fit and feeling like the interviews weren't , not going the way I wanted, but I wasn't having the right conversations with with hiring managers and he reached back out probably three months after my, after I had left my other role three months after our initial contact and And that's when I got set up with
the DefinedTalent was through this same recruiter that I had made the connection with three months prior. And it was nice to feel like he heard what I wanted and what I was looking for, because the interview that I had with Tara was just very goal oriented. And "What is your vision? And what are you looking
for? And what do you value within the recruiting world?" And, you know, that's something that I don't even know if we ever talked about my recruiting experience and how many calls I was putting out, or how many candidates I had placed, it was truly like, a values-based interview, and again, to feel seen and heard by my recruiter was really nice throughout that process. And, again, I my goals were met through that by having those open conversations with him throughout my job search.
Yeah, I also think it's, it's a matter of forming trust between recruiter and candidate. And it's okay, from a recruiting recruiting standpoint, I would have a call with Brian and say, "I don't have anything for you right now. But let's circle back in two weeks, because or three weeks," because you want as a job seeker, you want to stay on the forefront of your recruiters brain, recruiters are talking to 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 candidates.
So in order to make that impact as a job seeker, you want to make sure that you stay in the know and you and you communicate. My biggest thing is always I'm always going to be extremely candid with my candidates. And I'm not going to string them along and say and make promises that I can't keep, right. It's more. And I think that that, Brian built our relationship even stronger. For you know, a couple of months, it was just, we would get on a call
and chat. I you know, I'd say, "Man, we don't really have anything that I feel is in alignment for
Yeah.
You know, but a big thing was, how are YOU doing out there? Like, what are YOU doing? In YOUR job search? What other interviews are you having outside of working with me? And I feel like that allowed us to at least have that back and forth partnership. So that when the roll did come on my lap, I called Brian immediately, it was almost like a light went on. And I was like, YES, this role is
for Brian. And you know, I feel like being able to have that trust in that partnership with job seekers, but also for job seekers to know that we are here for you. We are here for you to call and chat with, chat through your frustrations that you might be having, chat through or go over your resume, or how you're applying or how you're even interviewing. Maybe you're having interview after interview after interview. And you're just
not locking in that offer. You know, I feel that to DefinedTalent is we offer all of that and more for our job seekers in order to make a successful partnership and a placement for a candidate at a role that you're gonna find your own value and you're gonna find your own your own settling in.
Yeah, yeah.
Does that sounds right (laughs)?
The trust built over, over through those interactions was was definitely something that was important to me, I came - I was introduced to you by somebody I knew, but I, as somebody who likes to have - I needed to garner my own trust and proof in talking to you. I mean, I trusted Christa but I needed to have that dynamic with you. So yeah, there's check ins were really helpful. Even if you're honest with me and said there wasn't anything available
at the time. But those - you being able to be a sounding board and listening to me and hearing what I was in encountering in my search and being able to run ideas by you. Yeah, it was was very, very helpful. And it's, it may be an overused phrase, but it's kind of a very consultative approach to helping somebody out. And, you know, I get a lot of, even currently, I get a lot of reach outs by recruiters for job
opportunities that are new. And more often than not, I would say I look at it and I was like, did they even really read my LinkedIn resume? Like, I like to think outside the box, but I don't see how this applies to me.
(laughs)
(laughs)
And as a salesperson, I think about it from the perspective of reaching out to a prospective customer cold and just like, show up and throw up sort of a strategy to telling you what you can do for them or why this would be good for them instead of knowing anything about what's important to them and what - where they want to go. So it's the same with job seekers and working with a good recruiter.
Yeah, that makes sense. And it's appreciative that you feel that way. You know, I think there's, this is definitely a successful journey that we've taken, and, where you're at now, you're thriving. And from my standpoint, it seems that you're extremely happy. And I think right there, as DefinedTalent, that's successful, but it doesn't stop there. You know, I think constantly checking in with candidates to make sure, three months, six months, nine months down the road, are you happy?
What's going on over there? What's going on with you? And to know that, it doesn't end when you get hired, it's a constant communication, and it's constantly moving forward. Because in two years, you may be like, Okay, I feel like I've hit the ceiling. You know, here's, I think I need to shift or in two, three years, maybe you're calling us and saying, "Hey, I need to hire some people now." You know, I've had so many candidates that have become my clients, and so many clients
become my candidates. So it's a really, it's really important to keep those partnerships alive and keep them growing. I mean, working with candidates that I placed 15 years ago, and they're reaching out to me, finding me saying, "Hey, I know I worked with you, 15 years ago, I now need to hire some candidates, and I trust you, I we've had this continuous partnership."
Right?
I think the journey that we've taken with you has been, not only beneficial for you and for us, but it's this community that we're starting to now keep going. And you know, referring other colleagues or friends, that's also part of who we are at DefinedTalent is just to keep that growth and momentum going.
Yeah, absolutely. And in fact, I did just refer a friend to you...
(laughs)
(laughs)
...and it was because of my experience, and I knew he had been work, working with a couple others and different avenues of things. But he really, in my last discussion I had with him, he said, "You know, I haven't really latched on to something that I think I'm excited about." And I said, "You know what, I don't know where this is gonna go. Just reach out to Tara and have a conversation." And this is this is very recently, so I can't speak to where it's gone. But yeah, those are those referrals
are important. And as you have success with folks like me, always be happy to give a referral when I had a good experience. And I did land in a position where I am happy. It's a great organization, there's lots of room for growth. So yeah, it was a great outcome. And it was It wasn't something that was ultimately exactly on my radar but...
Yeah.
...but it aligned well.
I think recruiters have gotten a reputation for, for being more client sided than candidate sided, and just kind of seeing these potential hires is like $1 sign in the world. And I think that's what Tara and I have just tried to focus on, as you know, a DefinedTalent Team is, is seeing the humanity and how difficult job hunting is. And, you know,this is your life, and not just a commission
for me. And so really building that partnership, and I keep thinking of the word like, "advocate", I want to be an advocate for you and your career and your progression. And this is, a partnership that we can build together, like Tara said ,to have something long term and not just, please you and then high five you and tell you goodbye. And you know, we want to be a resource and an advocate for your career and for your future as, a partner so yeah, that's, that's my thoughts.
(laughs) So, Brian, with people out there looking right now, what would you say would be your Top5 tips you would give to someone who's just starting out their journey? Their recruitment journey.
Yeah, that's a good question. You know, as we've had this conversation, it's hard only some of the things that come to mind we hit on a little bit already which I think is great. You know, one that comes to mind is when you're looking to work or the recruiter or thinking about, especially when you're looking for work with a recruiter or even contemplating it, find the right fit for you know, we talked a lot about that. Find a recruiter that's a good fit for
you. The relationship you have that with that recruiter is going to be really important throughout your search. And as much as that first conversation - You might anticipate the recruiter interviewing you a little bit, I would say interview the recruiter, you know, check on their skills and resources and past successes and - to get a sense of whether they'd be aligned well with you
or not. And of course, work with somebody who you feel would align well with your personality and how you operate and provide the level of support you need during your search. The second one, and we touched on this a bit is, Think outside the box! It seems obvious, and everybody says it. But as I mentioned, I went a long time in the same
career path. And I needed to think outside the box when I started my search, so part of achieving the goal I wanted to - in this shift was, included talking to people who would present different experiences and perspectives and kind of challenge my thinking.
Yeah.
So, that was really important, because even if they weren't dead on at least that got me to think a little bit different way. And that included people in my inner circle, and outside of it, you just kind of have to go all in, I think, to really get to your end goal. And I think that comes with interviewing too, just before I move on to my third point, if you hadn't interviewed and while or you might feel like you're a little rusty, take advantage of interview opportunities, even if you don't
think it's an exact fit. You know, just get in there and practice and it'll help you when you are ready to go on the interview where you really want to hit the home run.
Awesome. I love that one.
I was just say going off of that quickly. Before I let you jump into Tip number four, ask your recruiter to mock interview with you ask them to go over interview questions that their hiring manager has asked. I try to prep my candidates before the interview, knowing those details. Use your recruiter as a resource there, too.
Absolutely.
Yeah, I did that as well. And it was a big help. Plans and network - plans and network a lot.
(laughs)
Just kind of get comfortable with the idea of networking and approach it from every angle you can think of. I mean, I reached out to, like I mentioned, I talked to everybody I could. Some some people I think find it, especially if you're if you're in a current job, and you're just looking it's one thing, if you found yourself where you're not working for whatever reason, it can be uncomfortable to talk about it with other people, especially those that you're close to, I would say do it
anyway. Because you never know who they might introduce you to. And I talked to guys and women I went to college with, I talked to a couple guys I served with in the Reserves that I hadn't talked to in years, except for maybe like a Facebook message every now and then. And it was all very helpful. And sometimes it didn't lead me to an answer in regards to - it didn't lead me to a referral or anything like that, but in those respects, it was just good to connect, again, no harm there -
it was a good conversation. And then leverage - in regards to networking - brainstorm ideas with people get resume help, like Ellie talked about, even in your LinkedIn profile. I think I mentioned referrals and leverage the resources. A friend of a friend referred me to somebody else who's in a similar space as you guys are and he pointed me to something he had written called "Galvanize Into Action," and it was a great primer on what to do as you're starting
your journey. It was really interested.
I'm interested.
I'll share it with you.
Please, do (laughs).
(laughs) The next one would be have a plan for each day, and do your very best to stick to it and carve out the time in your day to say, "Hey, this is where I'm gonna reach out to call whomever," whether it's follow up with the recruiter reach out to a friend, somebody else that was on your list - instead of specific times for each of those activities, that was very important to me. I would tell people often, I'm treating each day like a workday and that's kind of how I
approached it. It didn't mean get sucked into looking at indeed or LinkedIn job posts, you know, you'd spend a certain amount of time on that and then move on to the next steps and all the little steps added up over time to the path that's eventually going to lead you to success. And I think there's a lot of work in job searching. Whether you're doing it while you're employed or otherwise. And so last one I think is give
yourself a break. Now I did build in some downtime, I did, I made sure I stuck with my usual - I'm an up early kind of guy
30.
Yup.
So I didn't start sleeping in just because...
(laughs)
...you know, I still got out and got fresh air, I still worked out, I took some time to really learn new skills. So, definitely give yourself a break. And you're gonna make some mistakes along the way. So accept them and learn from them, and talk to others about what you can do better. And then focus on the positive. I think it was, I think I said, be kind to your
mind at one point during it. And at the end of the day, I would kind of have an idea - Nobody's perfect, so I didn't do this every day, but I tried to recap the things I accomplished, because it can be - if you're on your search for a while, you can kind of think about like, "Where am I getting? And what have I done?" So, yeah, highlight the things you've accomplished and then that helps set the tone for the next day and the day after.
I love all these tips. And especially that last one, I think, too. I definitely feel that a lot of job seekers get frustrated, and they don't cut themselves some slack or they don't, you know, they
forget that it's a process. The end goal eventually is yes, you're going to get that, that next job, but it's the process too that you get to take as a human - to go through learning and trials and tribulations in interviewing, I mean, the more you can interview, you're going to start learning more about yourself, and maybe what key skills you WANT to highlight and what key skills you DON'T want to highlight anymore. And also, in the recruitment process,
we're on the outside. So, I know a lot of job seekers will ask their friend to review a resume or somebody else about a job and a lot of times, they're going to tell you what you want to hear. Whereas I feel as recruiters, we need to tell you, "hHere's what we're seeing..." - whether you take that or leave that, too. But it's again, it's that back and forth trust that starts with
day one. But I love the idea of your your fifth tip of just keeping that routine, keeping that cutting yourself some slack and, being kind to yourself. Because at the end of the day, you are most important to find that next opportunity and using us as your recruiting partner - We're here to back you up, 100%
Yeah, it was a really great experience. And anytime I ever see Christa, I think... ...I say thanks again for introducing me
(laughs) to Tara, and ultimately to DefinedTalent. Awesome. Well, listen, Brian, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day. And Ellie, thank you for joining us, too. It was great to having both you guys on the podcast today.
Yeah, thanks so much. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad we could do this. Always a pleasure.
We are defined talent coming to you at top five. Make it a great day.