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Transcript
[0:00] I'm going to walk around with a golf umbrella over here. I think we're going to be OK.
Is it raining. Adam.

[0:07] It's nasty. It is a nasty day.

[0:09] Oh no. But dads do it we've got to do.
Absolutely absolutely. So we're on the pirate broadcast there on Halloween and we have that Adam in the room.
What's up everybody. Welcome. So thank you.
You know I want to talk a little bit about a few things. You know there's some diversity in your background.
You got a lot of experience in marketing and then you ended up in recruiting.
And I have to I have to ask the question how did you get started in recruiting and how did you find your niche in that area.

[0:44] Had I found my niche vote long story long as I like to say Russ you know I spent 15 years working in advertising and marketing at my last stop before my life career epiphany I was invader media working for the great Gary Vaynerchuk.
And as I told you before I lost my job I did not bring my A game and a lot of crazy stuff going on in my life.
And I lost my job and I think so many people could relate out there where you land this amazing job. You think it's awesome you think it's gonna be great and things didn't go my way and I lost my job.
So long story short that day that I got let go I'm sitting in front of Gary somebody I have a very good relationship with and he said to me the most important words of advice.
He said stop focusing on the things that you suck at and double down on your strengths. And that's exactly what I did. I thought long and hard about what I'm good at. I'm good at this.
I know marketing I know advertising and I am ultimately a connector. And that led me into the world of recruiting.
I did my due diligence. I met every recruiter that I've ever met. I had tons of conversations and then I drove in deep.
I said I'm going to focus on recruiting jobs.

[1:42] I know that I sat in I'm recruiting for marketing and advertising jobs that I once had because you were there you knew what talent was and what was necessary to fill that slot.

[1:54] But I also I also knew what what didn't work right.
I also understood some of those red flags and those red flags that I had right to those questions that I was asked or in interviews and some of those questions that I was never asked and might have put me in a better position to be successful at all those jobs in my career.

[2:11] Well OK. So let's break it down because you know I think there's a lot of misconception,
especially in Lincoln world you know because you see a lot of recruiters and actually I've heard on your podcast a couple of times it's like OK well I get hit up for a job in Oklahoma for a position that I had nothing to.
No connection with whatsoever.
So I think you nailed it nail that on the head is the the relationship.
And by understanding what is necessary and also very important knowing what not to ask for. Right.
It comes down to relevance. It does come up to relevance.
And so you know with a marketing background does that really.
Do you feel that that gives you an advantage in the recruiting space.

[3:03] I think a million percent and I think you know there's a lot of recruiters out there and I think having my marketing background enables me to create my brand to build and develop a company because I've learned how to do that.
You know in the last 17 years I've had some amazing mentors in my life to see the right way to build a brand how to design it from a graphic perspective how to understand what my purposes what my mission is and put it all together.
And it took me a long time and this did not happen overnight it took a lot of hard work a lot of trial a lot of error a lot of success a lot of failures and ultimately me a lot of optimization as well.

[3:37] And I think.
So walk us through the process. Because for me h r and you know.
You know they're always there just it feels like sometimes that it's a shotgun approach,
and recruiting seems to be like a sniper approach in one of the things that I it's almost to me it feels almost like the same skill set as lead generation.

[4:05] It's a funnel. It's a pipeline and it's a funnel. That's a very good analogy because it really is legion.
So I consistently have my candidate funnel open and I do that by building relationships on LinkedIn I'm consistently making connections I'm reaching out for people that are in my world.
So when the time comes for either they are on the market or I am looking for a specific skill set they are connected.
So let's take LinkedIn for example and I'm recruiting for a very niche digital marketing job say its director of paid social.
Can I post that job or I start talking about it on LinkedIn two things are going to happen it's going to show up in those people's feet because we're connected or be pulling back the wizard curtain a little bit to when I get into actually using links and recruiter and I'm searching for those people there are gonna be a first connection,
there's gonna be name recognition is going to be brand recognition and that's going to help drive that recruiting relationship.

[4:54] Yeah. So I'm on the other side of the coin right.
So I could also assist you if say for instance I help companies or I know companies that have large bodies of individuals in the talent pool that you need,
it would be very advantageous for and this is what I love about LinkedIn is I think would be advantageous to work in in co-op some other industry people,
to be able to say OK I'm going to expand my network I'm going to I'm going to connect with individuals that have broad networks that I can connect with. Right.
That's the other part of the relationship business that I think is really key to a quality.
Search for recruiters. Yeah and it's that safe assumption.

[5:43] Yeah it's a safe assumption. I mean ultimately it's a relationship game right on all sides of the equation. It's about you know referrals. I mean my business thrives on referrals and there's two different types of referrals.
There's genuine karma for the good of the world referrals which I absolutely love and then there's there's pre negotiated business referrals where people come to me and they have networks and there's certain relationships work that listen.
She's a businessman right. There's business and there's certain sides of the recruiting equation like if I'm working in a house that a client was paying on a contractor retainer basis. That's one thing where you may not be able to get financial referrals on the other side of it.
If we're talking old school contingency recruiting and there's different conversations to be had there where everyone wants their piece of the pie I mean let's let's cut to a man we're all here to make some money and help you get great jobs.

[6:28] Well and I've been in this you know I've been a contractor and I've contracted individuals I've been on both sides of the street. So yeah I understand the mechanics of it.
However I've never I don't know I likely generation I like finding and building relationships. I just I just love it you know. Love it however I've never utilized it for recruiting.
In that respect I guess I guess I have because I've found a friend of mine a lot of technical people I've introduced him to a number of technical people that have just you know and that's the karma thing for me. So yeah.
Hey I know Bob over here and you know and actually I over the years I've worked with different people because of introductions I've I've.

[7:13] And I can tell you something in my years of recruiting I think I've only paid out one or two kind of these like introductory referrals and it was very transactional but that's that's you know I I really feel that most people generally want to help other people for the good. Right.
Like that's what we do for it comes back to you tenfold one hundred fold when you make those introductions.
I mean if I could help two people connect just for the good of it I know it's going to come back to me a million times over.

[7:38] Well it's funny because I'm working with a man I'm a mentor for the group that speaks.
I think that's right. Are you familiar with it. No I'm not.
OK. So every year about 250000 thousand military personnel go back into civilian life.
And the transitional part of the equation is very thin.
There's not a lot of transitional material or time that goes into transitioning back in the naming conventions the the way that they use the tasks and names of their.
Their jobs are not the same as in commercial space.
So we go through this process of helping these vets you know take their skills,
develop transferable skills that look at you know look like something very important or are very valuable in the corporate world and then connect the dots to to help them get positioned and then placed in civilian life.
And I think it's an awesome opportunity for a recruiter if you could get involved in some of these other organizations large organizations.
So you could see because I mean computer science you know logistics I mean the skill sets are there.

[8:57] Right. It's about how you translate them to corporate America. How do you how do you help the vets with the resume is it is a lot of work.
I connect it with rich CARDONA You know Richard's work he does a lot of work with vets transition. I'll connect you offline with him.

[9:09] Oh yeah. Connect us. I'll connect you David. In fact Ariel I had on the show earlier reconnect you and get you involved in that area.
Oh it's happened about because I think I think would be valuable for recruiters to understand that there is a pool of resources there that is underutilized.
And I think that the other utilization takes place in two places it's,
it's understanding what the corporate language is versus the military language and how we can actually transition these two and bring them together because I think it's it's a short it's a short walk.

[9:42] I couldn't I couldn't agree more. And it really also relates to outsourcing too.
There's so many amazing people in this country who need jobs who are qualified especially vets you know coming,
back to civilian life and they need that help and this is an incredible pool an extremely talented sharp people that have worked under the same pressure. I mean that soft skill for a minute.
So how well do you have the pressure. I mean I mean look at these folks the stuff that the conditions that they've had to be and absolutely rusty. Yeah absolutely.

[10:11] Hey I just want to give a shout out to Celeste aide Cheri Randall.
Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.
We've got some people in the room and talking about we're talking about recruiting and recruiting military personnel and technical people all kinds of individuals.

[10:32] Adam is you know the history and marketing he's going after these relationships and building it out.
So let's talk about LinkedIn. How has LinkedIn evolved your recruiting business and what solutions can you bring to the table that might help somebody in our in our community.

[10:50] Absolutely. I mean I mean I feel like I'm just repeating what everyone's saying I mean the amount of organic growth and engagement opportunities on LinkedIn is incredible.
It really is you could reach so many people versus every other platform.
And for me it's been a canvas for two things one to share my voice right to share my point of views on recruiting and to engage with candidates.
And number two it's a platform for me to showcase my network my network is my net worth and my canvas is my podcast and my podcast is really bringing leaders and business,
marketing recruiting talent acquisition or meet people with amazing human stories to the forefront to really talk about how they all harness their tenacity.
Ultimately you're in the job search what you need more than one skill you need is tenacity and then patience and perseverance. It's a process.

[11:40] Well I wrote the other day and I tagged somebody as like you know life is an instrument.
You have to you have to practice to get good at. Right you've got to turn a..
You've got to tune it. And yet those adjustments come along.

[11:52] You know even though it was unfortunate that you lost your position at Varner you know I've been I've been launched out of a corporate ladder you know the ivory tower on more than one occasion.

[12:05] And if you look at it from a lesson's perspective and say OK what what have I learned from this work.
What's my takeaway and how can I be responsible for my own my own future and take it you know take it to the next level and say OK I learned this much. I've got to x.
What's it going to take to get the Y.

[12:23] And I think so many people they're concerned about you know they're like okay what happened me poor me instead of taking ownership and just owning that and moving forward with it.

[12:36] That's that's a tremendous point. And one of my big themes and I'll share the link with your with your audience later is to own your losses right and I stole that from Gary because Gary really showcased that and that's what he kind of beat into me. I own my loss of banner.
I would say eighty five percent of that is my fault. My doing my control right.
I could I can just say you know when things weren't going well I had an opportunity to fix it but I didn't write it at the moment when I lost my job. I had no one to blame but myself right.
I said Woe is me. They set me up for failure they didn't help me. They didn't do this they didn't do that but ultimately.
Russ You know I had to take a step back and it was that moment.

[13:13] Of introspective self awareness what how to say you know what. Here's what I'm not good at. Here's what I didn't do right. And now is my moment. At age 35 to course correct.

[13:21] Yeah and I did. So when you really look back and you investigate what it was about.
I mean it wasn't really bringing you joy. I have to imagine that it wasn't really really fulfilling your life.
Well now you know and and you know that inherently.
But you're thinking hey I you know I got it's paying the bills it's doing you know it's it's a job it's a job and so many people go for the job instead of the joy.
And I just I just think that you know that's something you need to consider in life is go for the joy and enjoy the moment.
You know we can't change the past.
However we can't change the way we're feeling about right now and going forward.
So I think that's I think that's really important in everybody's arena.

[14:09] So yeah it's it's hard. It's hard to because listen I mean based on everyone's individual socioeconomic status like you can't always have a job that you're going to love and like I love doing this you know.
But find those opportunities within that job to find those moments that you truly love.
That's an aspect about it right. Like any job that you have. There's parts of it that you really do enjoy and listen.
I couldn't think of anybody who could say 100 percent of their job they love.
There's always something about like some aspect about your job that you're not going to love right but you have to find those moments.
Yeah. Going back a little bit you know it's a hard thing to kind of hit the rewind button dwelling in the past.
I mean I did that a lot in life and it was a real true moment when I flipped the switch and I said I am done looking backwards.
I'm gonna look backwards to see where I was but I'm not going to let that define my future and I think that people really have to start doing that.

[14:59] Yeah it's really hard. It's really difficult to move forward when you're hanging onto the past.
So lesson lesson for today on Halloween don't look backwards.
Find the joy in the moment enjoy what you're doing as much as possible.
There's always going to be things that you don't enjoy 100 percent. You know it's like OK paying bills or you know invoicing clients or stuff like that.
Know I delegate as much as I can.

[15:24] So as accounts receivable chasing down the clients aren't paying the bills. Remember don't look don't look backwards. It's going to hurt your neck.

[15:32] It's going to hurt. It's going to hurt. So let's jump into something else.
So the process that you use to make connections online you know first level connections you're because you're going after a specific audience in this.
This is a selfish ask. Because I have a project that I'm going on I'm looking for independent insurance agents.
So you know I'm thinking OK you could do some searches and I got you know I got paid version of Linked In and there you go.
I'm pretty good at finding a few people. And it's just a matter of building relationships making a soft connection not selling them anything because I heard on one of your podcasts I think was Mike Mike win it.

[16:15] Yeah yeah. Oh is it the contract. No. I love that Mr. Fowler. Yeah good.

[16:22] Go check out his youtube channel too.

[16:25] So yeah he exposes the B.S..

[16:28] Yeah. And the reality is though is is just like in real life you know if you're not authentic in real life you're not going to be authentic online.
You know and people say crush it. Everything goes along with it.
And I love what I do. And I'm online a lot and I utilize the space and it's difficult at times to to manage the things.
And really the most difficult thing about lengthen is the opportunity to actually know who you're connected with and following up and organizing that in a way that makes sense. How do you how do you manage your connections like that.

[17:07] Yeah. I mean people. It's an ongoing process. I mean I use a lot of the tools within the linked and platform itself.
I mean I have that Linkedin Recruiter which is the the professional recruiting version of it.
So there are some tools within that are follow up but it really is it goes back to kind of.
A monster that I repeat daily which is plan your work and work your plan right. I know when I wake up in the morning and I start my recruiting engine. Kids are off to school by my 1 year olds with the nanny everything's good life is good.
Now it's time to turn on the recruiting machine.
I have my mission for the day I know the rules and I'm working on and I'm able to go into my network on LinkedIn and like you do I'm sourcing by job set by companies that I know have these type of people and I'm going back to those relationships. I'm picking them.
Hey hey hey hey Sue. Hey Mary. Hey John.
How's it going over at x y z company. Things are good. Just a quick heads up if you're in the market.
I got this going on. If you if you're not I'd appreciate any referrals. Right.
It's repetition. It's muscle memory it's going back to the well and I think that's really where people recognize you.
Oh I see Adam's podcast up there I'm building credibility.
He's somebody that I should talk to. So it all works together all these pieces. Not just a one off strategy or one off tactic. They all work in unison.

[18:21] Are you telling me that in order to get the work done you have to do the work.

[18:25] Sally you got to do the work. No there's no there's no excuse for that.
There's no excuse you people think there's shortcuts and people think there's overnight successes.

[18:35] No it's not. It's not going to happen. It's not. You've got to put in the work however.

[18:39] However I have to tell you there is you know anytime you can you build systems.
Now we had it we had a little bit of a bump this morning because I had sent you out an invitation because we were looking for space and everything else and you know making some adjustments there.
And my typical system is pretty streamlined. You book your time you book your day.
Well the times the same every day. But you book your time and then it sends you the notification.
And then I send you a link to the show to get in the green room.
Well I had sent you a personal because we had changed.
We moved the day and I had sent you a personal one so it had hangouts in there automatically with Google it's like I don't like that but I know you've got to exit out the exit out and I didn't do it so I apologize.
Now it's under building systems is important. So. So you have you have systems in place that you know.

[19:34] Yes.

[19:37] You have to have system. I mean as a recruiter as anybody who's handling a large volume of information you need to figure out a process that works for you.
I use a ton. I use a ton of Google Docs. I have my databases and I have my google docs and my google docs.
I have my candidates separated into skill sets and categories based on where they were. I've submitted them before. If I've had conversations with them I'm able to track when and where that conversation was.
So when I go back and re-engage them I'm like Hey Ross I know we talked last June.
How's it going. Yeah they make it personal make it relevant make it relevant.

[20:10] And the big lesson here for myself Adam everyone is.

[20:16] Make it authentic. Put my recruiter hat back on here is his match recruiter back there as my recruiter.

[20:22] Brandon. So. So the reality is is at the end of the day I've been in this for a long time.
You know I've been doing this a long time in different capacities and the reality is it's still coming back to build a relationship.
I have to wonder if I did business with 20 years ago.

[20:42] I'm still connected with and that's a true testament to who you are to right and that's your character and something that I talk about the long game is the only game in town.
All of my relationships and my success are predicated on not burning bridges and fostering and growing relationships.
When people play that shook him I can't I mean listen when people see me a connection request on LinkedIn I am so scared to hit that button.
I am so scared cause I know the second that I hit that button.
I'm going to get that long sales pitch and I'm like hey you know what this guy looks good his picture looks somewhat okay and the second I hit that button.
The sales pitch comes I immediately like to ignore and it hurts me because I want to give people the benefit of the doubt.
So what I've been doing lately is when I see someone said the connection and I kind of have that feeling it's gonna be a sales pitch.
Let me take a step back. It's OK to sell Yes. Figure out the right way to do it. This is a we're all selling something here but do it the right way.
So what I've been doing a lot of instead of. Before I hit connect I hit reply to that invite and I find that a little bit more.
Hey why you're reaching out to me or in the body of that message where they're sending me that connection request they're off a little bit.
If they didn't customize it if it seems like a template and they didn't recognize me I'm going to call them out on it say hey why do you really want to connect with me. Yeah.

[21:56] What's your goal here. Cause my goal in life.
Like oh yeah yeah what's my big goal in life. I'll.

[22:05] I'll take my goal in life is my goal in life is to make enough money where my wife doesn't have to work and that's my that's my near term goal because she works her ass off she's she's a corporate attorney and I want her to spend more time with the kids and I want to enable that for her.
That's my that's my ultimate goal but my goal here my goal here on Linked In is to make it sound so cliche and everything but my goal is to add value.

[22:27] It really is and whether whether I'm giving people one that one golden nugget to help them in their job search if I'm connecting somebody,
or if I'm entertaining you and my podcast like folks like Mike win it like just putting a smile on your face making you laugh because that's one of the ways that I think you're adding a lot of value in,
and this happens so much because you know I've been in the radio business I've been in podcasting for a while and I started a podcast movement and,
you know I've been involved in the industry for a while and.
It's so I think it's I have two things to say about it.
Thank you for putting the podcast out because I think it adds a lot of value. Thank you.

[23:04] And everybody has a gift and a message that they can share and right now we're living in the most incredible time of,
history where you can actually pick up a phone and start a podcast and have a conversation and bring value to the you could do a podcast from your phone.

[23:22] I know.

[23:24] I know that but my point is is you've done your podcast. I've heard your podcast is great work.

[23:31] And thank you for sharing that value. So what prompted you to start a podcast.
I mean I mean you're like 40 and what 40 episodes into.

[23:42] Yeah. Thirty third of and thirty five tomorrow. Almost recorded up to 50 little a little preview for your audience here.
I am recording Episode 50 my first ever live.
It's gonna be live but I'm recording it video in person in the veena media offices with Claude silver on Monday.
So it's going to be a very special episode we're going to pull back the curtain on what happens and someone is not doing well at their job or going to a very real conversation that so many people can relate to but my impetus for the podcast was really to showcase my network right.
I was. It was I have all these amazing people that I've built relationships with and I'm so happy to share.
There's a lot there's like this podcast circuit where I see a lot of similar people on everybody's show. Sure there's some people that are awesome they kill it and everything.
But what I would really like to do is bring people to the forefront that may not have been showcased or or not you know I want to give those people an opportunity to share their stories because for me the nugget is in the human story.
It's it's shocking. It's not about me. I mean I can talk all day about myself but I want to use a podcast to showcase other people.

[24:44] Well that's just that's why you're on the pirate broadcast because it's like OK you don't need to talk about you on the pot the podcast you need to talk about the parties. Yes.

[24:55] I know it's crazy. I do like talking about myself. I like my story. I like me right now.

[25:00] Yeah. There's nothing wrong with me. I've been me since I was born.

[25:05] I mean I know I know it's there was times when I didn't like me. I mean I don't want to. This isn't a psychologist couch right now. Like I'm not lying down and telling you my butt like.

[25:14] I'm happy you like him. I like what I'm doing I genuinely enjoy it like I'm able to have this life that I want where I'm going to leave here I'm going to go to my kids Halloween Parade and get back to work a couple hours later.
You know I mean I could I could shift my schedule I could do things like this I'm going to be on the phone with a candidate right afterwards.

[25:30] Well this goes back to our conversation right when we started the design the life you want to have.
And not everybody understands what that looks like until they've had enough experience to understand what they don't like.

[25:43] Right. That is so such a critical point there and I just want to harp on that for a second there.
So I was talking to somebody the other day about the value of internships and I'm kind of going throwing a curveball here but I just want to urge everybody.
The most important thing you get out of an internship or an early job is finding out what you don't like.
Yeah finding out those things that you don't like. So when you're going for those job interviews. So when you're going into the job market I don't like doing Excel spreadsheets.
I don't like changing fixtures on a plumbing thing. I don't like traveling all the time whatever it is.

[26:15] Have that until you have that understanding and insight on life.
So how do people find you.

[26:24] Where is your podcast living. It's a simple gas right.

[26:30] Yeah it's it's all simple gas. I made the transition to simple gas which I am. I'm enjoying some simple cast I'm on every major platform.
I actually spent about an hour yesterday putting my podcast on all these obscure platforms to get it out there.
But ultimately you could visit me on LinkedIn. Adam J. Posner I love to connect that love to chat with everybody.

[26:48] I really do try to make the time to really get to know people even if it's you know on message or find out more about you back and forth and you know book to call and I appreciate the opportunity to have this connection in 15 minutes,
and I'm happy and I'm happy to contribute to the network and anything you have.
So you know maintain this relationship here.

[27:08] Adam you know it's a little well off. It's not it's not a one and done year.
So we're going to keep going we're going to we're gonna bust it out and help people out on LinkedIn we're going to help people out and their job in the workplace.
I'll introduce you to David and the you over it does speak that and.

[27:26] There's just so many things there's so many opportunities out there that we can we can just develop you know.

[27:34] And I want to give a shout out to you too. I love your process here and the video,
introductions that you send once we start engaging you have the flow going and it keeps it smooth and I apologize about this morning somehow we just well on the final piece the final piece of connecting and going live.
We messed that one up but you know that the branding your approach. I love what you're doing just keep doing it man.

[27:55] I truly appreciate that and I'm blessed to be in a position where I can do that.
You know it's it's always a pleasure to connect with,
with people online like yourself Ataman and I look forward to doing more and if you're you know give me a shout out if you need a guest on your podcast and yes jump in and talk about life in a different way.

[28:17] I want to make that I want to make that happen and I'll shoot you a note on some dates we'll make that will be fantastic.

[28:22] Well happy Halloween. Stay dry and the day I know it's raining where you are and ask in New York Halloween.
It's what we do but you know kindness is cool.
Yes smiles or free you up and you enjoy the day.
Thank you for having me. Pleasure.