Rockstar Recruiter Stevie Aylsworth On Everything You Need To Know To Find Worldclass Talent Today (#206)

[00:00:00] Jeffrey Feldberg: Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast where you learn how to extract your business and personal Deep Wealth.

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Stevie Aylsworth has been making a difference in the recruitment world for over 15 years. He has created and led recruitment teams that have delivered well over a thousand placements globally. His experience in sales and management is crucial in shaping TriSearch as one of the industry leaders in innovative recruitment.

 Built on the principle of providing talent recruitment with intention TriSearch is a full-service talent solutions firm with paradigm-shifting managed recruitment services delivered with speed, quality, and value. TriSearches, commitment to precision, original research, and transparency is what sets it apart. TriSearch possesses a deep human resource experience, which creates success at all levels and across all functional areas throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Prior to TriSearch, Stevie was formerly a key executive and co-founder at TriWorth and a managing director of the west coast division of Job Plex.

Stevie graduated from Lehigh University with a BS in Finance.

Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast, and for this episode, we have a friend who has returned and you heard the official introduction about Stevie. Stevie was gracious enough to be actually on episode 33. We were still learning the ropes about a podcast. Probably weren't that great back in the day, but he's back again.

And thank you for that. So, Stevie, welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. When we last spoke, and we'll get to this, we were in the throws of the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic. It was some different times than we are today, but I'm getting ahead of myself. There's always a story behind the story, Stevie, and for our new listeners who would love to hear what got you to where you are today.

[00:03:28] Stevie Aylsworth: Yeah, so, I think at the end of the day. Just having fun. I think it really is the crutch of it. It's one of our value words for our company and falling back all the way to the beginning of my career and even pre-work. I did my best to follow the fun, make sure I was enjoying myself as much as possible.

And as we age, sometimes we have to remind ourselves of that. And so, going into who our company is today and the culture that we've built it's a big initiative for us. And I think I've always enjoyed having fun, enjoyed working with and people that I enjoy and enjoy being around and so, I think that's really what landed me in a situation of where I'm at today and investigating new things and also enjoying a robust business that's taken a long time to grow.

Having fun with all that and then, and a growing family, you know, just adding a new addition a son that's eight months old.

And really, having fun with that, with my wife and family is important. That's really what found me here today.

[00:04:24] Jeffrey Feldberg: First and foremost, congratulations on the birth of your son. That is absolutely phenomenal and all thinking about you in the most positive of ways and nothing but great things ahead for all of you. And then, you said this in the last episode that we were together.

You're saying it again. I call it the F word, the fun word. You're still having fun. We need more of that. We've been through a lot and maybe we can start there, Stevie, because when we did speak and the episode launched, it was in December, actually December 1st, 2020. The world was very different back then where we are today.

Back then, we still didn't know a lot. We had this crazy coronavirus pandemic and looking back now, all these years later, it's forever changed. Not only the world, but the workplace and the businesses and you're in the thick of things Stevie you are out there really helping to make or break companies because you're finding their most valuable resource, which is people.

[00:05:19] Stevie Aylsworth: Yeah I think there's a lot of positive things to say. I believe when we were, you know, there were a lot of unknowns when we spoke in December of 2020 and now I believe there's a lot of positive things to extract from the virus experience. And one of 'em is a balance in the workplace.

We saw this coming pre-March of '20. It wasn't really endorsed by most organizations, was a more balanced work week. Whether it be one hybrid day, two hybrid days, we're seeing a ton of three in-office two remotes. We're also seeing a lot of everyone was getting sick of being fully remote, or not everyone, but a lot of people were tiring of that if it didn't make sense for their lifestyle.

They wanted community, they wanted connection with their employees and their, those they work with. And so, what I see now close coming on two years later is an incredible balance of individuals being empowered to work efficiently and also getting more efficiencies out of it as far as from the company standpoint. Someone being able to work from home on Mondays and Fridays and be closer to their family, bookending the weekends and having that flexibility yet being more efficient, getting more done.

Being highly accountable and also, a lot of things in place to account for that from the company side and then being with employees in the middle of the week and really enjoying the energy of their colleagues and feeding off that energy and really finding a beautiful balance. That's probably the biggest thing I'd extract is I think we were due for it and I think we needed it for our well-being, for our health, and also for our utmost efficiency and probably our best partnership with the organization that we work for. And that's been really rewarding to see. The other bullet point would just be the dramatic amount of hiring that took place. We felt it in September of '20 actually.

We started to see signs of it, and by the time we talked in December. I believe we went on to have an extremely busy month that month cuz we talked early in the month, which is sometimes unlikely for the recruiting world cuz sometimes it slows down over the holidays. And what that foreshadowed for us is an incredibly busy '21.

I got into this business in May of 2000. I just passed 20 years, and never saw recruiting year like it. The amount of hiring, it was a lot of pent-up demand, you know, everyone holding tight through the toughest months of covid. And then seeing it really robustly grow and create lot of opportunity. Bringing us into '22 where it feels less of the great resignation. I think people are being more diligent and because of macroeconomic conditions as well being a little bit more in place than they were in '21. But 21 and 22 together, they're funny years.

You know you get mass hiring, mass opportunity, a lot of candidates having a lot of choices, a lot of companies making multiple offers and getting declined cuz there's much competition for the workforce. Now rolling into, Okay. People are starting to stay a little more put, they want a little more certainty in their jobs as well.

 Like anything, the pendulum is swinging but it's been a fun ride since December of '20.

[00:08:07] Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. Sounds like that. And let me ask you this, Stevie, because remote work that is hotly contested, still, you know, to this day, and you have a few schools of thought, and one school of thought is, Hey, unless I see people in the seats, they're just not working. It's not productive. We gotta get people back into the offices.

And then on the flip side, it's to what you're saying, You know what, having a whole balance life where people can save the time in the commute, they can spend that time with the family. They're getting quality time. What I'm hearing you say, and just to confirm, for us, it sounds like. remote work is here to stay.

It's not going away. Maybe the duration of it or how it's working exactly. May change from time to time, but it's now a definite fabric of the workplace. Would I be on base or off base with that?

[00:08:53] Stevie Aylsworth: Totally on base. And I think even the further tech you go, it's even more remote. There's a lot of full remote scenarios, endorsed in the tech space quite consistently where it's five days of note. And that works a lot for some of those, technical professionals. So, yes. I think it's here to stay.

I think it's a very healthy balance and it's funny to be the change in many ways. We as a company went remote in summer of 2017, and the reason why we did is we had some large offices in our major hubs like Denver and Chicago, but we saw that we had a lot of incredible working mothers working for us.

They were just incredibly talented recruiters and they just needed those slight flexibility. Many times, kids that are in grade school, they had plenty of time, but they needed flexibility. And we really endorsed the remote three years before Covid cuz we saw how effective it can be.

So, for us, we lived it for years before we actually experienced it for our clients. And we saw it work and we saw it, you know, not only cut costs, you actually cut costs in the business of a lot of real estate costs. But also, dramatic efficiencies, allowing, empowering your employees to control their schedule. There's beauty in that. And now coming back to a hybrid, I think that feels right to me overall, I don't think all companies are meant to be completely remote. So, a hybrid feels like a great balance, at least from what we're seeing, what the candidates are telling us, what they desire.

[00:10:07] Jeffrey Feldberg: And speaking of candidates, what are you hearing from them? And the reason I'm asking this question is for our community, which is primarily business owners who want to, number one, grow the business and with that growth at one point, look to have an Exit. . Their growth, the value of their company is fueled by both the people that they have and more importantly, the quality of people that they have.

From a candidate perspective, I'm sure it's all over the map as people are, you know, we have different preferences, but what are the expectations of the candidates as of late CV that you're speaking with in terms of remote work, not remote work, having some kind of hybrid option. What are you seeing by and large?

[00:10:45] Stevie Aylsworth: Yeah, the expectation's definitely a hybrid offering. It's actually a little bit totally opposite of three years ago is pretty wild to be a little not as attractive. If someone's saying, You must be in the office five days a week. That was normal in 2018. That was even really asked. For the most part, it was just expected In most cases.

Now, it's expected to have some type of hybrid, even if it's for an office on Fridays remote or whatever it may be. It's almost the norm. We've really had a complete shift in the norm, which is pretty extraordinary in a three-year period to go from one extreme to the other. When we talk to candidates now, it's a major question.

What is the remote policy and what flexibilities exist there? And I use the word empowerment because I think what it's doing is it's empowering our workforce to be trustees. And to be more efficient. And also what I'm hearing from a lot of companies too, is it's making them more efficient.

Cuz you're limiting commutes, you're wasting a lot of overkill, cooler talk if you wanna call it that. And non-working that happens in the workplace. I think there's a beautiful balance there, but also, going completely remote, like we all had to during Covid was almost too extreme.

I think people wanted more community, wanted more connection. And to see that come back in, in a hybrid balance feels beautiful to me. It feels very empowering to the employee, but also the necessary connectivity for, I think people to have true longevity in what they do.

[00:12:08] Jeffrey Feldberg: Sounds like the pendulum has really swung to both extremes and now we're getting to what the new normal is gonna be and that's where it's some type of a balance where, hey, yes, I want some time with the family. I don't want that long commute five days a week, but I want that sense of a work community where I'm seeing some of my colleagues from time to time and so let me ask you this, and I'm putting myself now in the shoes of our listeners who are actively hiring and it's.

A two-part question where it flips itself. But let's start with the first part. If I'm in the hiring mode, and we're gonna get to what you do and how you can help in just a moment, Stevie but if I'm in the hiring mode, based on what you're seeing with the marketplace today, what do I need to do with my business to position it to be attractive to new candidates that, yeah, you know what?

I have a choice of companies out there, but this company over here, because they're doing A, B, and C, they're my top choice.

[00:13:01] Stevie Aylsworth: Yeah, great question. You know, I like to bring the word intention in here because we've forever heard about mission statements, right? And what is the company's mission statement and which are valuable? But I think you would take it one layer back and what's the intention of your business?

People wanna know that, and particularly the younger people. We have a much different millennial workforce that really cares almost more about that than other things. It's really, and as they get older, they're a much greater part of our workforce than they were 10 years ago. You have a really important op, opportunity to be clearly dictate your why.

Why do you do what you do for your clients, for the people you sell to, whatever the product or service may be, and be very clear on that intent? And then share that intent with those you interview because the good candidates, the really strong candidates is a better word of that fit the profile of the position that's needed.

Really will want to know that people, as the pendulum swung with remote work, it's also swung with why would I work there? Questions like that. Why should I work there? Is it an alignment with what I want for my career? Instead of just resume matching and just expert team matching really intention matching. I think is pretty key now for employers to attract, the talent they desire.

[00:14:12] Jeffrey Feldberg: And speaking of the talent that they desire, I'm going back in my days when I was building my company, Embanet, the online company. This is before we had our Exit. And you know, in the beginning, when I was first getting going, I was doing the hiring and it was a hit and miss. Later on, I got some help.

And the question here is for the business owners who are still in the camp of, you know what, Stevie, you sound like a great guy, and I'm sure you're gonna tell me why you're good and why we should think about either yourself or some kind of professional recruiter. Where do most businesses or business owners or both get it wrong when it comes time to hiring talent?

You know, they're hiring the talent, but it's the wrong talent and things don't work out. What are the classic mistakes that you see time and time again?

[00:14:54] Stevie Aylsworth: I think it's a mistake we make in our own lives. We rush. And I think there's a rush to, oh goodness, we have this opening, we need this position and we need it filled asap. Which is important. Time matters, but taking the appropriate steps and using the appropriate partners to make sure you make the right hire.

Cause the wrong hire is way more expensive than a slightly longer tail on the right hire. And I think sometimes companies don't realize that. The biggest cost companies have is bad hires for the most and not necessarily good hires. They just took a little bit longer. So I think it just establishing tent, really being clear of what the major must-haves.

We love to use the word must-haves. Beyond job description. What are the must-haves of the position and that absolutely need for someone to be successful? And then the key selling points of the organization. The company does need to sell. They're in sales initially, and then they can qualify and get the right candidate, but they need to sell.

Why? Why should you wanna know that now? And so, I think that's the biggest issue, is rush not taking the time to diligently, understandably. Cuz many times they're low on manpower, low on time. There's only so many hours in the day. But taking the time to really get the higher right, it's key. Then you're talking to someone that works for you for 5, 10, 15, 30 years.

And that's a difference made.

[00:16:12] Jeffrey Feldberg: And Stevie, I'm sure you hear this all the time, and for the benefit of our listeners maybe one more time you can share it again. For the listeners that are out there saying, we are just doing just fine on our own. Yeah, we're going out there. Maybe times have changed a little bit, but we know where to look and what questions to ask and we're just doing fine in bringing the talent in. Stevie, I don't want talk about any recruiter or recruiting company. I want to be very specific with what you, your team, all the wonderful things that you're doing. Why you, Stevie, why you're a company. What would be making a difference for someone who maybe hasn't done professional search or recruitment before, or someone who maybe is doing this, but maybe they're not too happy or they're thinking about making a switch?

What's going on? What can you tell us?

[00:16:56] Stevie Aylsworth: Yeah, I think it's a very understandable point to make if it's working. Good at this stage for you to continue. And my answer is always wait. You'll eventually hit a time where it won't, you'll grow outside your network. You'll have to hire faster and you'll need more manpower to get people.

It's funny, we heard even back in 2000 that AI was taking will take over everything eventually in recruitment. It's the human capital space, keyword, human and what we've seen almost even more needed, even though we utilize tremendous AI technology too, from a sourcing level could be very effective.

But you can never take the people element out of recruitment. It's just impossible to remove that and then still have it be a human hiring I think what's important for organizations to know, a company like Tri Search, there's many other great companies out there too are really good at sourcing much wider net talent for you, particularly when the job market gets tight and then making sure that we detail exactly what you need from that quantity.

To bring you absolute quality very efficiently. Four to five spot-on candidates that are interested and that are really change makers in your organization that you're able to interview and then choose from. The process gets highly more efficient. It does cost, There are fees associated with recruitment.

There's no doubt to that but then we provide very long-term guarantees, it's risk-free in the sense that we make sure that there is a long-term player that you hire. That's there for a very long time. Not just some type of 60, 90-day scenario I think it's important whether you hire us or someone else to make sure that guarantees are in place to be in alignment with the fact that you need this person to be a multi-year success story, not someone that's there for 60 days.

That's really the key is sourcing from a large funnel and really qualifying and having them land power to do that. Most organizations don't have it. Their HR person is inundated with many important tasks. For them to go full life cycle on a position is extremely difficult.

They might be able to do one or two, there's HR people that have 15 jobs on their plate and that's really intense and really hard to execute with one person. So, It's when you outgrow your internal bandwidth and you need a partner that can provide the bandwidth.

And it's really recruiting power. It's really people at the end of the day, it's good people that are partnering in extensions of you to find you the right ones. And that's what Tri Search is great, is we're very client-centric. Yes, we take great care of candidates. We really are high touch, but it's really about the client hiring us to build their team, matching candidates to that team is what we do very well.

[00:19:19] Jeffrey Feldberg: And Stevie with no disrespect to your clients or to business owners in general. Today, we find ourselves, and you can correct me if I'm off base, it's really an employee's marketplace where they tend to have the choice. Maybe at one point in time, not too far back. It was an employer's marketplace where they tend to have the choice.

Things are always changing. What would be some top-of-mind trends that have changed in the marketplace today that are impacting the whole process of finding the right talent and hiring the right people to come on into my business?

[00:19:50] Stevie Aylsworth: Yeah, I mean, responsiveness has changed. Another reason why you wouldn't need a firm like ours is when responsiveness gets tough. But it's a high employer-driven market. You can have a lot more success with postings, and advertisements even though you have to probably read through a lot of inundation of quantity that might not fit, you might have access to the volume to succeed.

The challenge right now is responsiveness. Good candidates, flat out, don't respond. You have to get in touch with them, via text, via phone, via very more proactive outreach. And then you have to have the right story to say, Why should I listen? That's truly real in the text base. Text base is incredibly competitive.

 For them to even pick up that call to have that conversation. It needs to be pretty enticing. And it very outbound, nothing inbound coming through. And from what I've heard, is more and more websites. Company websites or crickets. There's some submittals of candidates, but it very rarely spot-on or fitting.

The job they need that's really, the responsiveness has dramatically shifted. And when that happens, you need to be proactive in how you reach candidates. And it's not that you can't hire 'em, you actually, we have just as high as a hiring rate. That's one thing important for to mention.

Our higher rate is exactly the same as it always been. Sourcing strategy is just more intense. You have to source them more thoroughly and more extensively to get to them, but their people are still getting hired. People are still taking great opportunities, but it's not near as easy to find them though.

[00:21:13] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, I'm hearing you say in today's marketplace, and again, it can change, but where we are today, employees have the choice and the really good ones aren't even responding to ads, or not even perhaps even looking for an opportunity until someone like yourself at Tri Search or one of your colleagues comes along.

And then really, I guess for the business owners out there, it's asking the question, Hey, if you're doing this internally, whoever's doing it, whether it's an HR person, whether it's someone on the team, are they an effective salesperson? Because that's really what I'm hearing you say, Stevie, it's not just throwing out an ad and you're gonna get a thousand responses and throw a dart, pick a number, and that's who you're gonna be speaking to.

You're not hearing from the people that you want to hear from, and now you gotta get in front of them. You gotta convince them to pick up that phone or have that conversation or to hear you out on why this is the best thing around. If you don't have those skills, you're gonna be missing out on the opportunity.

[00:22:03] Stevie Aylsworth: Correct, a hundred percent. And that's sometimes why companies need to outsource too because internal HR personnel are fantastic at what they do, but they might not, they're not really outbound recruiters. Another thing why you need it too, is you can't target, competitors or like industries internally or you rather shouldn't, Culturally it's not the best thing, but you can hire an organization like ours to look at, okay, where are other great candidates and can you reach out and see if they'd be interested, in a very passive approach, but just to see where the best talent is out there. Yeah, the selling thing is huge. It's an initial sales job and then it's a really quantitative research job after that where you have to really make sure their research appropriately fits, the opportunity and know that they're a match. That's vitally important, but it's sales first. And that's key to know. And sometimes I think organizations don't know that. They're like, hey, we have a job, which is great.

You're providing employment, which is nothing better. But many times you have to sell first to get the candidates you're looking for.

[00:22:56] Jeffrey Feldberg: And Stevie, you mentioned an interesting word, research, and let me come back to that for a second, because I don't think a week goes by, and there's now even a term for this. I believe it's called fake hire. Are you coming across that, or are you hearing much about that? What can you share with us about that?

[00:23:12] Stevie Aylsworth: Interesting. We are not, thank goodness, thank you for bringing to my attention. It's something we should definitely be aware of. We have not dealt with on our organization at all in regards to that, to be totally transparent. But we do a lot of deep research on who we're speaking to and who we're talking to and are able to weed that out a little bit.

But I definitely see where that could happen, particularly from the company side when they're very lean and mean and hiring people in a manner that they have to and that could come about. And also the remote access, could be tricky to that as well. I definitely think it's probably happening from a company hiring standpoint but most of that would be weeded out using a firm like us or another firm.

 But it definitely doesn't surprise me. There's always something new that happens. You get an opening and there's someone that takes advantage of it. But we also do a lot of assessments and our clients do, making sure and background checks are always crucial for hires so there's a lot of different, details that go in pre-hire to ensure that you don't hit those roadblocks.

Again, another important reason why don't rush that tells me rush and when I hear a story like that or that coming out, it's because it was rushed

[00:24:16] Jeffrey Feldberg: Why don't we do this because you have a very unique background yourself. And TriSearch has been a labor of love, literally for you and the team.

For someone who's coming to you, whether they've done search before or they haven't, you're now onboarding them. Can you walk us through what does that look like and what can I expect in terms of your expectations of me and timelines, and then how that enables you to go and find the right kind of talent?

[00:24:38] Stevie Aylsworth: Yeah the important thing is to really, you know, understand who the organization is and who they even are aspiring to be and growing to be. And then obviously with us it's a pretty efficient, 60-day process, gives or take. 60 to 90 days is the normal hiring cycle. For most management to senior management positions. It can be shorter on certain positions for sure.

But as far as the interview cycle, we love to be inside 60 days that many times really well for our clients, but we do a dramatic amount of mid-level management to senior managers. Sometimes CEO placements, which many of my partners do on very high, big companies, will take longer, understandably.

But ideally, we say, a 60-day period, we really want that person on your team. The 90 days are only needed for if there are additional interviews or just backlogs and people's timing. That's the goal on timing. We also say, about a two-week sourcing period to begin a search.

We will present before that if we have appropriate candidate, but ideally, we take a lot of intentional effort with our sourcing from all the data we get from the client to make sure we go out and cast the appropriate net of the appropriate people. To begin to screen through and interview.

And then present there's about a two-week sourcing period, and then week three, week four interviews start to happen. The big, the back half of the next 30 days is really about interviewing and getting through that process. Many times it could be with Video so successful. Now it's another thing about Covid.

That video really enhanced every business process from my experience, and particularly from the interview experience. Many times it is video interviews and then in person those track in the back six 30 days to win the appropriate hire. And for us, we like to keep it simple where it's less candidates, not more.

We never stop until a hire is made, we can get it done in three to five fantastic candidates. That's just more efficient for everybody. We always aspire to do that, three to five fantastic candidates in front of you. Maybe you bring in person three and hire one.

And that's an efficient process and that's one reason why we're hired is not to bring in 50 candidates, but bring 'em the five best. And that's important part of the process.

[00:26:35] Jeffrey Feldberg: Stevie, this is a beautiful segue for the secret sauce, which you've just alluded to in your last response, and it's always a magic question regardless of who's involved in search. How do I know, how do I know that this person here that we're really thinking about making an offer to? Is the right person because we all have these stories?

Spoke to so, and so. Checked all the boxes, brought them in. Who abducted that person? Where did they go? Because the person that we saw was certainly not the same person that we had interviewed. How do you know when it's a real deal, Stevie, What's going on with you? Your team, your process at Tri Search that really gets the right people into the right seats.

[00:27:15] Stevie Aylsworth: Well, I think it's really getting the right information in the beginning. Back to the rush statement. You really want to take the time, and that's why when a company goes to hire a recruitment firm, it's important that you hire a partner and not just a transactional partner.

Because a lot of times those kinds of things will be missed. If you get the information on the onset, we do a spend an intense amount of times behavioral interview questions and detail. Particularly, in regard to what they're looking for. And it's just about taking the time to really dig deep and then we work with our clients on their interview process and sometimes add different bells and whistles to it, assessments, and other things to ascertain is this the right fit.

Both from an education standpoint, from a work background standpoint, and also a culture standpoint. And then as those processes be put in place, you have a lot of very good experience with that individual. You know, multiple multi touches of interview process, from recruitment partner to HR staff to hiring managers and maybe C-suite if they're in the interview process.

And then it's a pretty insured hire. Nothing's ever perfect. We are dealing with human beings and it does happen where there's turnover so another reason why we put really long guarantees in place. We place people a year because we want to make sure that, they are there for a long time.

And many times in 60 days, whether it's the right person but we only see about a 1% turnover rate taking the time in the front end. And most of it's personal issues. Most of it's a week and I commute, didn't make sense, or I need to relocate somewhere else, 99% of the 1% is a personal item.

Just taking the time, multi touches with the candidate, really deep behavioral questions and interviews, and then being clear of the intention of the company and the intention of the candidate. I always mention it's much more of an intention setting than a resume setting.

if you match the intention of what the company needs, not only for the company itself but also for the position.

With the intention of what that person needs for their career. That's a home run and all of the placements we do and why I'm very proud to be in this business. Every individual is making a upward movement in their career, whether it's title, whether it's compensation, whether it's responsibility.

 It's a move up. We rarely ever place laterally or, or below. We never place below, and sometimes there are lateral movements, but it's for good reason. It's a bigger company. It's a bigger opportunity. Over time, it's still bigger. That's what's beautiful about the process is helping people improve their lives or their families.

[00:29:37] Jeffrey Feldberg: And Stevie, what really I'm hearing you say you're a business matchmaker in the truest sense. You're using the word intention which is taking the why both from the business and the why from the prospective candidate. You're matching them, you're introducing them to each other. And really, when all is said and done, everyone wins.

The business wins, the individual wins. That individual's, family, the community, the marketplace is really creating a win-win. And then on top of that, what I'm hearing you say is when the TriSearch team is looking at different candidates, you're applying science in terms of behavior and other kinds of things that you're looking for when you're doing that.

But on the other side, you're also putting in place a very long guarantee. I don't think I've heard of such a long guarantee before with other recruitment processes or companies just to give that piece of mind. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

[00:30:27] Stevie Aylsworth: You know, at the end of the day I always say in recruitment, it's the most inexpensive thing in the world.If it's highly successful. It's one of the more expensive things if it's unsuccessful. So, if you pay X amount for higher and they leave your organization in 60 days. You have to completely restart the process and the expense of the process.

That's a very unsuccessful experience if you get it right and that person for X amount stays five years, adds millions of dollars to your revenue line. It's an absolute home run for what you spent, it is a batter of extremes, and I think sometimes that's where recruitment can get a very good name and a bad name, depending on how transactional it is.

The guarantee is key. Having a company stand behind who they're going to place. Full knowing that people are people, life is life and there will be nuances where some people don't work. That's okay. At least we know that inside the guarantee period and getting a long enough guarantee period to know that.

And then once you know that, then it's replaced at no expense. So, there. Really is insurance to protect the company, to make sure that their dollars go to a successful long-term hire. And that's key for every organization to make sure that their investment, they're getting return on from a human capital.

Yeah, I like what

[00:31:40] Jeffrey Feldberg: you're saying. It really resonates. And let me ask you this because I'm hearing out there that there's just much more noise today than there ever was. And I know I've heard that before over the years. Today there's more noise than there was last year. And next year it's gonna be there's more noise this year than there was the year before.

But where we sit today, At the time of this recording for this episode, what's your sense? Is there a lot more noise out there to get in touch with the candidates and get in front of them and have them see you have things changed a lot over the past few years? And if they have, how have they?

[00:32:10] Stevie Aylsworth: Yeah, noise is an interesting question. There's no doubt, more noise. But yet there's more efficiencies. It's a little bit of a catch-22. I think there is a lot more distraction for candidates than even past years. And I think it just goes hand in hand with our kind of technological advancement as a . Species.

We're having so, much inundated to us constantly by devices and other technology that's just much faster than we ever could imagine 30 years ago. That's existing, but what's coincidental is that same technology allows to get in touch with people more efficiently. so, one could we have just really text a great candidate? We do text recruitment that gets approved and then it's basically would you be open to discuss this? We know you, this is your experience and you know what I mean? That's text is hyper-efficient. We all use text for a reason.

They could easily decline or remove, but they also can read that in a busy day and say, You know what, I'll take this call. While there's definitely more noise. No doubt. There are some efficiencies with the technology that you can use nowadays to get in touch with, really great people.

[00:33:06] Jeffrey Feldberg: And once again, it just goes back to when you're working with a professional who's doing this day in, day out, you get the latest and the greatest in terms of how to cut through that noise, and effective techniques and strategies to really reduce the time that it would normally take to getting the right candidate at the right time as quickly as possible.

[00:33:23] Stevie Aylsworth: Yep. One other thing too is some level of retainment. We take some level of retain on everything we do, and we do that because skin in the game creates a partnership and allows us to be completely client-centric. Another important thing and sometimes I give candidates this advice cuz a lot of times a really strong candidate inundated by recruiters I always tell them, Are you retained by the company?

Or are you just shopping a resume? It's a much different transaction. And if they are retained, they're a true partner of that organization. And the candidate will have a less bumpy experience. Just a little tidbit for candidates to know. That's a good question for them to ask.

To make sure that their process will be fluid if they take the time to really get in front of the client in efficient way.

[00:34:03] Jeffrey Feldberg: That's interesting. So, what I'm hearing you say is, and I guess it would apply both to the companies also to the candidate. If a candidate is speaking to a recruiting person who isn't retained and is just out there, let me try and get as many people as I can and then I'm gonna shop them around I mean, that could be a disaster from a reputation and a career side of things.

And on the flip side, if a candidate speaking to a recruiter and the recruiter says, Yes, I've been retained, that shows a commitment on the company's part. Hey, we're serious about this. We're gonna put literally our money where our mouths are. We're gonna get the right person out there representing us.

And that's where the good things happen. Am I correct with that?

[00:34:39] Stevie Aylsworth: That's correct. Yep, that's correct. And there's always niche scenarios where there's combinations that work, but yes, that's very correct. From a candidate's experience, it's a much different.

[00:34:48] Jeffrey Feldberg: And Steve, from what I recall from our previous conversation, you were somewhere of a hybrid in the middle. On the one hand, at the one extreme, you had these very expensive recruiting solutions and were talking mega dollars. Then on the other hand, these really inexpensive solutions that at first appear inexpensive, but they're really costly when you look at guarantees and how they work.

And you found a happy balance. Can you remind us about that? Of, of how that works?

[00:35:15] Stevie Aylsworth: Yeah, we just saw the niche. We were trained on the executive search side, which this incredible executive search companies out there today that do fantastic work at that level C-suite, large company. Really crucial hires, and that's where we were trained young, but we realized that there was a major need to bring that high touch downstream what really Tri Search is known for is all those positions predominantly below the C-Suite that are uber important hires, might be VPs at smaller companies, directors, managers, et cetera, that want that are really the bulk and the large bell curve of the hiring that they need. That it has some white glove service that's very tailored to what they need to hire.

And many times what organizations have learned is, yes, I need the right C-suite leader, but man, the C-suite leader can't do it without an incredible team that's executing beneath that person that's really where our niche is providing a very high touch approach to those position.

Also mirroring it with more flexible pricing. It's more performance-based at that level. We're not gonna do a level of a retained search that you would to hire the CEO of Disney. We have much more hybrid, flexible pricing model to assist those organizations for that level of hire.

Yeah. We've found a nice niche at both on pricing, but also level to provide high touch too.

[00:36:29] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, it sounds like really you've taken the best of both worlds, put them into your own unique formula, and obviously you're growing. Is it working? Things have been terrific and congratulations with that.

[00:36:38] Stevie Aylsworth: Yeah. And the other flip side is the high volume, RPO, which stands for Recruitment Process Outsourcing. That's been a big model over the last couple decades and we just found it to be very process and we basically made a hybrid of rpo, which is very process-oriented, and executive search, which is very client-centric or and combine the two to facilitate all those hires.

[00:36:59] Jeffrey Feldberg: And once again, if you're a business owner, you're thinking about growing the company, you're looking to the Deep Wealth nine step roadmap, and management team is actually step two, one of our X-Factors. Look no further than Stevie because what we're hearing here from the trenches, this stuff is not made up.

It's from the trenches. It's not theory. It's, hey, this is what works. Here's the tools that we're using. Here's how we cut through the noise. Here's how we're gonna be making a difference. And as always, speed wins if you can find the better candidates quicker. Think about how much better your business is going to be, how much quicker you're going to grow, and all the good things that come along with that.

And Stevie, thank you so, much for sharing that with us. So at this point, Stevie, let's do something a little bit different here. And for the companies that are perhaps looking to bring someone like yourself on board and go through that process, what can they do that most companies don't? That's gonna give them an edge.

[00:37:53] Stevie Aylsworth: That's a great question. The best thing they can do is really have their story concise really pinpoint to what their mission or intention is. And be able to communicate that efficiently. Both from the recruiter they would work with to make sure that is streamlined efficiently, and then, particularly from the hiring managers that would even know it best being part of the organization to be able to facilitate that to the candidate.

I think it's getting that right, not saying, Okay, hurry up, we gotta hide this position. We sell parts. No why, and what do you do? And how can that be very efficiently translated for someone that kind of role and experience, and I think just taking that time? Funny doing that will help the interview process.

Cuz if you take that initial time to get that right, then you'll get the other elements right. And it's many times, not more time, it's just more patience to set it upright. And then many times the search goes faster. What we've seen is we're always mandating complete kickoff calls.

And sometimes companies are like, Oh, here's the mustache, here's go for it. Go do it. No. We're gonna take the time. We're gonna make sure we know the exits and know of the organization, of the position, and who this person will be interacting with. Therefore, we can come with a full solution to candidates, and that many times puts the ball in the field in the right way.

And that's my biggest thing for, to have a upper level, is be intentional early in your search process as a company. Therefore, whether it's your own team doing it or a recruiting partner, it stays seamless through the process. And then you're gonna get, great talent as a result.

[00:39:20] Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Stevie, really the call to action that I'm hearing here as business owners, we need to, before ever speaking with you, is come up with a compelling narrative. That the narrative is clear, it's concise, it explains the why. Presents a prosperous and bright tomorrow, which by the way, this is all coming from the Deep Wealth mindset roadmap when we're speaking with a buyer.

But it's the same process that we're talking about here. We're tuning into the world's favorite radio station, wii.fm. The What's in It for me radio station. As it pertains to both in your case, yourself, the recruiter, and also the candidate that it's like, Wow, why wouldn't I wanna be here? Why wouldn't the whole world want to be at this company?

Listen to what's going on here. They're needing the help, and I'm just the person to be able to help that outlet. That's really what I'm hearing from you unless you tell me otherwise.

[00:40:07] Stevie Aylsworth: Correct, correct.

[00:40:08] Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay, so, Stevie, some terrific answers and insights and we can just continue with this. But alas, we're bumping up to some time constraints here.

Why don't we do this? This is gonna be a second kick at the can for you. This is where it gets fun because it's a tradition here and we're very fortunate to have you back for another episode. And every guest, whether they've been on the first time or not. I have literally the privilege of asking the question.

We'll see where it takes you this time around. A lot's changed since we last spoke, from the pandemic to the birth of your newborn son and all those good things in between. Here's a question for you. Think of the movie Back to the Future, and in the movie, you have that magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time.

Stevie, Imagine now it's tomorrow morning and you look outside your window. Not only is the DeLorean car there, but the door is open and it's waiting for you to hop on in you go into the car, Stevie, and now you can visit your younger self maybe as a teenager or adult, whatever the case would be, Stevie what are you telling your younger self in terms of, Hey, here's some life lessons or Life wisdom, or, Stevie do this but don't do that. What would that sound like?

[00:41:17] Stevie Aylsworth: Great question. I would flip it on you and ask questions from him.

[00:41:21] Jeffrey Feldberg: Oh, okay. Tell me.

[00:41:23] Stevie Aylsworth: I would say to let's that eight or 10-year-old boy how can I continue to do the things I'm doing in life, but be as free as you were.

[00:41:35] Jeffrey Feldberg: Ah, interesting.

[00:41:36] Stevie Aylsworth: And with the knowledge that I've accumulated or all of us accumulate as we are educated and we grow older and supposedly wiser I would ask that boy to guide me to the fun in life and to the freedom in life while also, holding up adult responsibilities and growing a great company and culture and I would ask him, and hopefully he would be able to further guide me on keeping it light.

[00:42:01] Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. Talk about turning the tables here. I love that. And the innocence and the wisdom that comes from children. It doesn't get any better than that.

[00:42:10] Stevie Aylsworth: Yeah. Yeah, And I'm experiencing it again with my sons. They tell you, I don't think I have much to tell them.

[00:42:17] Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely, Stevie as we wrap up this episode, a tremendous thank you and we're gonna put this in the show notes for our listeners who would like to get in touch with you and learn a little bit more about what's going on and how you can help them. Where's the best place online for them to do this?

[00:42:32] Stevie Aylsworth: Yeah so, trisearch.com. And then just first initial saylsworth[at]trisearch[dot]com email is available too. Anyone reach out to me. I also have fantastic partners in the recruitment world that I can help you with. You know that if it's not work that we don't do, I can always refer you to great people as well.

Happy to help anyone in any way I can.

[00:42:51] Jeffrey Feldberg: Terrific. And for listeners that will all be in the show notes. It'll be a point-and-click. It doesn't get any easier. Well, Stevie, a heartfelt thank you for sharing your insights and your wisdom and having us walk away better than when we first walked in. And as we wrap this up, as always, please continue to say healthy and safe.

[00:43:07] Stevie Aylsworth: Thank you so, much. Thank you.

[00:43:09] Sharon S.: The Deep Wealth Experience was definitely a game-changer for me.

[00:43:12] Lyn M.: This course is one of the best investments you will ever make because you will get an ROI of a hundred times that. Anybody who doesn't go through it will lose millions.

[00:43:22] Kam H.: If you don't have time for this program, you'll never have time for a successful liquidity

[00:43:27] Sharon S.: It was the best value of any business course I've ever taken. The money was very well spent.

[00:43:33] Lyn M.: Compared to when we first began, today I feel better prepared, but in some respects, may be less prepared, not because of the course, but because the course brought to light so many things that I thought we were on top of that we need to fix.

[00:43:49] Kam H.: I 100% believe there's never a great time for a business owner to allocate extra hours into his or her week or day. So it's an investment that will yield results today. I thought I will reap the benefit of this program in three to five years down the road. But as soon as I stepped forward into the program, my mind changed immediately.

[00:44:11] Sharon S.: There was so much value in the experience that the time I invested paid back so much for the energy that was expended.

[00:44:21] Lyn M.: The Deep Wealth Experience compared to other programs is the top. What we learned is very practical. Sometimes you learn stuff that it's great to learn, but you never use it. The stuff we learned from Deep Wealth Experience, I believe it's going to benefit us a boatload.

[00:44:34] Kam H.: I've done an executive MBA. I've worked for billion-dollar companies before. I've worked for smaller companies before I started my business. I've been running my business successfully now for getting close to a decade. We're on a growth trajectory. Reflecting back on the Deep Wealth, I knew less than 10% what I know now, maybe close to 1% even.

[00:44:53] Sharon S.: Hands down the best program in which I've ever participated. And we've done a lot of different things over the years. We've been in other mastermind groups, gone to many seminars, workshops, conferences, retreats, read books. This was so different. I haven't had an experience that's anything close to this in all the years that we've been at this.

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[00:45:20] Kam H.: I would highly recommend it to any super busy business owner out there.

Deep Wealth is an accurate name for it. This program leads to deeper wealth and happier wealth, not just deeper wealth. I don't think there's a dollar value that could be associated with such an experience and knowledge that could be applied today and forever.

[00:45:38] Jeffrey Feldberg: Are you leaving millions on the table?

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