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Roomba Recruiting · The Talent Trade

• 0:00
  Stephanie Maas: Hello, welcome to The Talent Trade. I am super
• 0:04
  excited to be here. I'm Stephanie Maas, partner with
• 0:07
  ThinkingAhead Executive Search, and today, my excitement level
• 0:12
  is through the roof because of the guest that we have today.
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  She has been an all star with our firm since the minute she
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  joined, although what I love about her story is it took her
• 0:26
  quite a few minutes to find her way with us. However, she showed
• 0:32
  tons of promise and potential and was just so dogged and
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  professional and did so many things right, we knew that once
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  she learned her niche, that it was going to be a okay. She has
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  consistently been a top producer for us. I am super excited to
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  have with us Elise Gay, part of our legal practice. Elise Gay.
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  Welcome.
• 0:54
  Elise Gay: Thank you so much. Stephanie, very glad to be here
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  and like they say, if we have to live up to what our dog thinks
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  we are, I'll have to live up to what you think I am every day.
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  So good challenge.
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  Stephanie Maas: And I feel like somehow I just got called a dog.
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  But anyway, moving right along. Okay, so one of the things I'm
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  super excited about with you, Elise, is you have kind of
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  coined a process with our firm, which is part of your immense
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  impact since you've joined us, and I really want you to share
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  that in detail, where it came from, how you execute it. You
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  really implemented something kind of new to us, and I think
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  this has really catapulted some of your success over the last
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  couple of years. So share with us the how, what, where and when
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  and why behind your process of the Roomba?
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  Elise Gay: Yes, so I'll explain kind of where the Roomba term
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  came from. But I would also like to point out my background. I
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  came to executive search. I did have a sales background, but I
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  also had an internal HR background, and and so I
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  remember learning and training on this side of the house and so
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  many recruiters will say, you know, I don't post jobs, or I
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  don't post on LinkedIn, I don't share what I'm working on,
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  because I'm supposed to only be calling or I'm supposed to only
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  be going after passive candidates. And I really think
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  of the Roomba number one as working smarter, but number two
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  is like, almost like a business just turning on their open sign,
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  right? You pull the string on that neon sign. That doesn't
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  guarantee that you're going to be successful, or that you're
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  going to get customers in the door, or that you're going to
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  keep your business afloat, but it's a signal to the world that
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  you're open for business. And I think a lot of the Roomba idea
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  is really just in support of that. And so the idea of really
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  talking about the Roomba, at thinking ahead and in business,
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  literally came from when I first started here, a little over six
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  years ago. My kids were much younger, and I don't know about
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  you, but on Saturday morning, I'm like, I want to get my
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  chores done because I want to be outside. I want to exercise. I
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  want to go do fun things with my kid. I want to kick my feet back
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  and enjoy time with family and friends. So it's like, how can I
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  multitask in doing my household chores, right? To get done
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  quicker and get to my fun stuff, right? And I think again, we're
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  going to take this back to business. But I really started
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  this because I used to have these little one pound hand and
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  ankle weights that you would like Velcro on, and I would put
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  those on, and I would fold my laundry so that I felt like I
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  was getting exercise while I was folding laundry. And I would
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  crank up some 80s music, or I would turn on a podcast for work
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  that I'd been meaning to listen to, and I would listen to that
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  while I'm folding my laundry with my weights on, and at the
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  same time I was running my dishwasher, I'd be running my
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  clothes washer and my dryer, and I would literally have my Roomba
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  going on around my house. So I was like, All right, I'm getting
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  these chores done. We're going to have some fun this weekend.
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  And that's kind of the idea behind it. And work is deploy
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  all of your resources so that you can have confidence in the
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  hard work that you have to do to get stuff done for your clients
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  and your candidates. So that's the background. The same
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  mentality absolutely applies in executive search. You always
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  have to work hard at this job, but you can still work hard and
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  work smart. And again, when you serve other people's needs in
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  this job, you always serve your own. So how can you serve people
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  faster but also better and more thoroughly, and how can you
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  serve more people? That's really the name of the game and being
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  successful in executive search. So I think a big part of my
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  mindset in this job is that you have to be confident and humble,
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  you have to be patient and urgent. You just have to be
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  organized. Period. There's really no and I think you. Have
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  to be tunnel focused and adaptable, and I think you have
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  to be both proud and polite and humble at the same time. So
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  there's a lot of ands in this job. One thing that I've always
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  thought about in this role is that you have to be a bit
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  selfish with your time. Well, selfish on that surface level,
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  sounds negative and sounds self serving. It's actually not,
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  because I think when you come to this job, when you come to your
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  desk every day, you really have to think about that efficiency
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  and spending your time on tasks that are going to move the ball
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  forward for your clients and candidates. And how can you take
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  the same hours in the day that everybody else have and kind of
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  get that job done. So we've talked about deploying
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  resources. I think that we can think about those resources in a
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  couple different buckets. When you're in executive search, we
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  all have job postings. We can all post on LinkedIn. I call
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  those things kind of the extras, or the icing on the cake, if you
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  will. Again, that's that Roomba kind of working in the
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  background. And what I want to challenge people to think about
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  is that that's not a post and pray, if you will, kind of a
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  situation. It's not always the and it's rarely, by the way, a
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  one to one relationship. I'm going to post a job, the perfect
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  candidates going to apply, and they're going to be the one that
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  gets the job. But I would like to challenge people to think
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  about posting or talking about what they're working on on
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  LinkedIn or just kind of on some platform, whether it's a mass
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  email, a newsletter, any tool that you're using to get your
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  work out there really just does a lot for you. In the
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  background, again, it's that Roomba running while you're
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  making the calls, while you're prepping the candidates. You're
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  really building presence and familiarity with candidates and
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  clients. You're establishing yourself as that market master.
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  I also try to think about, if I'm posting a job or I'm posting
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  on LinkedIn. What's my goal for the week? And let me make my
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  post about that. Let me make it intentional. What I'm posting
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  and putting out there should almost be like a hey, this is my
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  goal this week. I'm working on this particular search, and
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  that's going to be very closely tied to goals and metrics that
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  I'm measuring myself by. I also think publishing and posting and
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  talking about on some kind of a platform what you're working on,
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  it can get you referrals. It can get people talking in the
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  marketplace. It can also get you candidates and connections that
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  maybe aren't even on LinkedIn or social media, but they have a
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  friend who is and the friend shares things along. So I think
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  that there's just huge power in posting and sharing, whether it
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  be videos, whether it be a blog that you do, but just having
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  that presence can really be huge for your personal career, and
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  again, for serving your clients and candidates. Well, I also
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  think another bucket to think about when we think about that
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  Roomba. Again, kind of vacuuming while you're folding your
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  laundry is, you know, leveraging support of what some people call
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  a project team. You know, if you have a team that sources for
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  you, if you have a marketing team that helps you build job
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  announcements, deploy those resources. Don't be afraid to
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  delegate and to use that Roomba, but again, make sure that what
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  you're delegating is directly helping you to meet your
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  immediate and urgent goals. These, you know, research team
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  sourcing teams, they're also great for just helping you to
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  find candidates, but not only that, to find new clients, to
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  find dream clients that you want to work with to help you connect
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  more deeply with hiring managers in your space, or certainly with
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  candidates in your space. Video is a huge platform. I have done
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  a little bit of video. I have other colleagues I think that
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  have really embraced video and gotten huge results again, just
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  positioning themselves as a market master and positioning
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  themselves as an expert in their space, and just building that
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  network for today and for down the road.
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  Stephanie Maas: Walk us through newsletter and email campaigns.
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  Elise Gay: Mmm hmm, making sure that you are either delegating,
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  running newsletters in the backgrounds or running email
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  campaigns in the backgrounds of your phone call, of that muscle
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  on the phone, can get you some big results. I'm also a huge fan
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  of marketing in the same space that I'm recruiting in. Some
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  people call that show my work. But again, I think that gets you
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  confidence. It gives you credibility. It can often get
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  referrals. It can help you gain that market Intel. You're really
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  also potentially finding new clients to take that same body
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  of work that you're working on, if it's not exclusive, and kind
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  of recycle it immediately and place more candidates and make
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  more impact.
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  Stephanie Maas: That's another thing you touch on there. I want
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  to expand on this recyclability. Any top producer I've ever heard
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  has been a top producer, consistently over time, is
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  highly specialized in their niche to allow for this idea of
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  recyclability. So can you expand on that a little bit for us?
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  Elise Gay: Absolutely. So I think such a key to being
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  successful in this business is pattern recognition. Is being
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  able to look at the market and go, Okay, this is a consistent
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  need in my market. Now, how can I be someone to help fill that
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  need over and over again, whether it be for one client
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  multiple clients, building a candidate base that is
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  recyclable is so important. And again, I think on the surface,
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  that might sound a little negative or maybe a little
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  callous, but it really helps you to serve more people when you
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  can build relationships in a space very like a very tunnel
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  focused approach, almost you're building relationships in a very
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  specific geography with a very specific job duty. And you can
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  go and get more searches, more candidates, and it's almost like
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  you're able to take people from one search, maybe that were the
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  runner up and place them quickly with a different client that has
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  a need in that space.
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  Stephanie Maas: So I just want to clarify. Recyclability is not
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  placing the same candidate over and over again every two years.
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  It is taking the work that you do for any one search and taking
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  those candidates who didn't get the job and continuing to serve
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  them and other clients by working the same position with
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  other clients. So we serve many at the same time.
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  Elise Gay: Absolutely, absolutely.
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  Stephanie Maas: Super exciting. So the other thing I want to
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  talk about you specifically is you operate at such a high level
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  of production, I know you have tremendously high standards for
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  yourself, and yet, I also think one of the things you do really,
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  really well, is combine this Roomba for work so you can be
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  more efficient, serve more better, faster, etc, but then
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  you also take it off the field, or you use the word, you have to
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  be kind of selfish. But if it's the right kind of selfish, it's
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  self care, especially someone that is so high producing,
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  oftentimes and high functioning, there's this misconception that
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  they've abandoned all else, and this is all that they do. And I
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  think you're truly one of the most well rounded folks that
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  perform at your level that we've ever seen. So can you talk me
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  through that a little bit?
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  Elise Gay: Absolutely, I do think the idea of Roomba is
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  absolutely self care, and it is not selfish, and it's something
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  I'm a huge believer in. I am a mom of two. I have a husband who
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  travels pretty extensively for work, so we have two careers,
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  and we are a dual income household, but as much as he is
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  amazing and jumps in and helps when he's home, a lot of times,
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  I am a little bit of a single parent, and I have a
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  Labradoodle. But yes, I think you have to take care of
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  yourself in this job. Is anyone's life perfectly
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  balanced? Of course not, but I am just a staunch believer that
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  if you don't take care of yourself outside of work, this
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  job must become infinitely harder, and it's just harder to
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  lift yourself off the ground, because the positive mentality
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  is so huge in what we do, being able to sit down and talk to
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  people and smile even through the hard days, is super
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  important and what we do so I do believe that your personal
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  habits truly fuel your professional success. And what I
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  mean by that, you know, we all have different things that fill
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  us up, but for me, I think exercise has just become so
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  important, and it really has nothing to do with physical
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  appearance, but it is purely mental stress relief, anxiety
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  relief for me. I mean, exercise is just paramount for me. Sleep,
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  although sometimes I don't get enough, I find I have to be
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  pretty disciplined about my sleep habits, eating and just
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  calendar management in general. How am I? You know, I try to
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  look at my calendar as Okay, in this week, this is what I must
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  accomplish professionally, and this is what I must accomplish
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  personally. Are there things that I need to say no to in
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  order to be laser focused on what I've got to get done for
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  the week? Are there things I can turn down. I'm also the older or
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  the more seasoned I've gotten, I'm just a big believer in
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  having space for a little bit of silence and a little bit of
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  stillness, and that really breeding creativity, I think, on
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  and off the field in work and in life. Life. And sometimes that
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  can be sitting with a cup of coffee and thinking about
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  something like this on a Saturday morning, or sometimes
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  it can be, let me just block off 30 minutes at the end of my day,
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  and instead of making 10 more phone calls, there's something
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  with work that I need to just let those creative juices flow a
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  little bit. Let me turn myself on Do Not Disturb and let me
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  just kind of think in a little bit of white space about what I
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  need to get done. I feel that most of us in executive
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  recruitment, we are urgent, we are fast, we are furious, but
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  you can't always live in that fight or flight mode. I think
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  you have to change over to arrest and recovery time. I've
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  just realized, the longer I've done this, the importance of
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  that for me, I am a big mind, body, connect person, and I
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  think that having work habits that are working smarter, not
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  harder, and giving myself this space is so important, and I
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  couldn't do this job without it.
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  Stephanie Maas: So cool. Okay, just for a minute or two, just
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  touch on again somebody at your level, dogged in their work
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  efforts. Take care of yourself on and off the field. Talk about
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  how you maintain your motivation and mindset of being Uber
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  productive. Talk me through what works for you.
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  Elise Gay: I think that a big part of this job is just picking
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  up the phone and making like the first 10 or 15 calls. We can all
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  get that call reluctance, or literally sit at our desk and
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  go, I do not feel like it today. Maybe something you know has
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  gone on at work that's discouraged us, or we've brought
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  something in from our personal life that's making us feel down
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  and giving us maybe some of that call reluctance that we can all
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  get. I think that if you can just force yourself to get on
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  the phone and start talking and have that mindset of being open
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  to the possibility of what you're going to come up with
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  that day that that gets me through a lot.
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  Stephanie Maas: Yeah it's kind of like that eat the frog
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  mentality.
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  Elise Gay: Absolutely, absolutely.
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  Stephanie Maas: Danny Cahill, what he talks about is, and you
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  know you talk about this too, is, if you rely on willpower and
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  discipline, that's only going to get you so far. But instead, I
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  loved his analogy about brushing your teeth. You know, brushing
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  your teeth is not an emotional act. You don't have to get
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  yourself hyped up for it. You don't have to convince yourself,
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  he said, but somewhere in your conscious or subconscious, you
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  make a decision that you want healthy teeth, so therefore you
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  brush your teeth, hopefully twice a day, but most days, at
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  least once a day. Do you even think about any kind of an
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  emotional response to brushing your teeth. No, it's just part
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  of what you do. You know, if you weigh a certain length of time
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  before you get on the phone, it's going to become emotional,
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  because you're letting all these other parts of your psyche come
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  in. So what I've observed with you is you just have a standard
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  for performance. And for you, it's just, hey, I produce at
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  this level. I do this kind of work. This is just what I do.
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  And as a part of doing that, you don't go in every morning and
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  go, gosh, do I want to get on the phone? Do I not? You're
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  like, Nope, okay, I want to make my 10, 15 calls. We'll see what
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  happens after that kind of thing. And I get for people who
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  are highly emotional, that's a hard perspective. And I think
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  with somebody like yourself, where you've got this incredible
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  emotional intuition, and yet you've really figured out how to
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  take the emotional out of just doing the job. Kudos to you.
• 18:29
  Elise Gay: Thanks. Yeah. And I think if you, if you're trying
• 18:32
  to build abs, the more crunches you if you, you know, set a
• 18:35
  small goal, you do 10 a day, then you find yourself wanting
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  more. You know, you're like, 10 was easy. I bet I could do 20.
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  And then you look a year down the road and you're doing 100 or
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  whatever it is, but you have to build that muscle, and you do
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  have to push yourself. But I do think taking the emotional piece
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  out of it is huge. And it's just, this is what we're going
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  to do today. It's you have to talk to yourself like you talk
• 19:00
  to your kids sometimes, like, Hey, this is the plan.
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  Stephanie Maas: Yeah, I'm the grown up here. I set the agenda.
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  It's just happening
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  Elise Gay: Exactly.
• 19:07
  Stephanie Maas: I think I had that conversation this morning.
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  Super delightful having you here. You're such an
• 19:13
  inspiration, both because of what you have accomplished, but
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  also who you are.
• 19:18
  Elise Gay: Thank you so much, Stephanie.