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Her journalism and mass communications degree (with three minors) at Nebraska led to a role in... sales. That pivot at the outset of her career put Tia Newcomer on an ascending path through with the titans of industry- Revlon, Clorox, Frito Lay, HP, and later venture capital. Ultimately, a "life quake" led her to join Caringbridge as CEO. In this episode, she sits down with Kathy & Dardy to share how she's adapted, and excelled, in very different roles.Connect with Versique
Her title reads CEO of Girl Scouts River Valleys, but in reality, she's a coach, cheerleader and accountability partner for her team and corporate partners. In this episode, Marisa Williams shares how she's channeled her strengths and transformed from a leader in the corporate world, to transforming the Girl Scouts across the Twin Cities and beyond.Connect with Versique
As many of us have experienced throughout our careers, the best way to learn is by doing- whether you have experience with the task at hand or not. Never led a private company into an IPO? No worries, you'll figure it out! In this episode MJ shares what inspired her career trajectory, and the unique challenges she's overcome thanks to her natural curiosity.Connect with Versique
He grew up near the farming community of Willmar in Western Minnesota, and despite deep family ties to a rural lifestyle Adam Duininck always aspired to live, work and move the needle in a big city. So how did a kid from the country become such a force in the city as President & CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council? In this episode, Adam explains how he navigates today's challenging political divide to build relationships and trust, to work toward common goals and civic projects that everyone can enjoy. Connect with Versique
There's comfort in a C-Suite corporate role, but it can also trigger the question of "what if?" Andre Creighton has successfully played on both sides of the ball. He's a visionary finance leader, with high profile past roles at Cargill and SPIRE Credit Union. He's also launched a startup and now is charged with the CFO and revenue role at PB&J TV. In this download, Kathy & Chris explore Andre's unique career journey, and his commitment to the MSP community.Connect with Versique
Her unique background, experience, and curiosity led from academia to consulting, then leadership roles at Best Buy and Cargill. And then, in that "what's next?" moment, the opportunity to devote her experience to advancing women's leadership led her to Menttium. In this episode Missy Chicre joins Kathy & Dardy to retrace her path to professional success, while foregoing work-life balance to create one fulfilling journey.Connect with Versique
He followed in his father's footsteps, and during a decade at Mortenson rose from an intern to a market sector leader at the Minneapolis construction giant. David Wood could've settled in for a long and lucrative career with few career risks. Instead, he chose to start from scratch, founding his own construction company, Ancoats. In this revealing episode, Coats shares key events from his local upbringing that could've derailed his life, and his career. Instead, he leveraged setbacks into comebacks, and is now growing his own company.Connect with Versique
The word "entrepreneur" has become a cliche in a world where almost everyone has a side hustle. But Scott Burns in truly an entrepreneur in every sense of the definition: an individual who's created and built successful businesses from scratch, while assuming all risks of the enterprise. In this episode, the general partner at Mairs & Power VC shares insight from a lifetime of innovation at the intersection of the public and private sectors, including his most successful ventures, GovDelivery and Structural.Connect with Versique
While he wasn't a military brat, he moved like one in his formative years. That exposure to different people and cultures, his service to our country, and his career journey into the private sector have all shaped the inspirational leader that Craig Warren is today. In this engaging conversation with Kathy & Chis, Craig shares his life and career journey which has led him to a critical role in the future of children across the Twin Cities.Connect with Versique
Successful executives who grew up in small towns, didn't attend the Ivy League schools, or were told they weren't qualified for leadership roles all have one thing in common: A burning desire to prove people wrong. Amy Ronneberg has done just that, every step of the way on her career path. Amy boldly states that "being authentic is my superpower", and her passion to break personal and professional boundaries is why she's now the CEO of NMDP, saving lives worldwide.Connect with Versique
As the President and CEO of Gillette Children's Hospital, Barbara Joers not only navigates the complicated world of healthcare, but the emotional aspect of the providers she leads and the patients and families they all care for. In this inspiring episode, Barbara reveals key moments on her own leadership journey, and how she empowers everyone to contribute by learning from the past, but focusing on the future to find solutions and improve care.Connect with Versique
Growing up in Duluth, Erin Procko's parents were her biggest influence as she considered a career in the legal profession. But she worked at a bank while in college and fell in love with that career path. In this episode, Erin shares her perspective on leadership- why it's all about your team, and serving others.Connect with Versique
You know her as the Publisher and Market President of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal—make that former. While you were away over the summer, Kathy Robideau stepped into the role of Chief Growth Officer at Versique. It's a full-circle moment, as Versique CEO Tony Sorensen placed Kathy at MSPBJ 14 years ago and watched her rise from an advertising executive to one of the highest-profile business leadership roles in the Twin Cities. In this episode, Versique's President of Interim Solutions, Chris Dardis, welcomes Kathy to the team as she shares her passion for business—and, more importantly, for the people who make it happen.Connect with Versique
The traditional boundaries of demand generation and account-based marketing are blurring, and the need for a more integrated and strategic approach to driving growth in the B2B landscape is apparent. In this episode, you'll hear from Wes Lieser, VP of Demand Generation & Marketing Search at Versique; Sam Nohava, VP of Global Marketing - Manufacturing & Logistics Service Providers for Blue Yonder; Madeline Maguire, Head of B2B Marketing at Grubhub; and Annie Chamberlain Head of Account-Based Marketing & Experiences at Lumen Technologies, as they explore the dynamic landscape of demand gen and ABM, as well as the pivotal moment where these strategies intersect. Tune in now to hear: How companies can leverage the power of data, personalization and automation to effectively target high-value accounts while still maintaining a broad reach; and Practical insights and best practices for marketers looking to strike the right balance between demand generation and ABM to achieve optimal results in today's competitive B2B marketplace.RELATED LINKS: Learn more about B2BMX East, here;Register for B2BMX East to see Daniel's presentation using this special 15% off code just for our listeners: MXPOD15; andFollow us on LinkedIn and X.
John Mack was the Divisional President for the Cardiac Surgery division at one of the largest medical device companies in the world—Medtronic. John knows that great leadership skills are formed through following the path of great leaders; and through his mentors he picked up a slew of tips for success. It was these learned skills that brought him through long nights during mergers and acquisitions, leading new projects, and ultimately paving the path to his successful career today. In this podcast episode, John and Chris cover:Why you should get an Executive CoachSteven Covey's “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” How to push yourself but know when to ask for helpKnowing the business behind the numbersThe importance of surrounding yourself with a great teamAdvice for those who are trying to move up in their careerExpanding your circles of influence to determine where to put your focusConnect with JohnConnect with Versique
"The sole measures of success for an HR team, as far as I'm concerned , is, how good are you at knowing where the push and where the pull is?" Bob Creviston is an avid storyteller who recounts his progression from football player at Cornell to Chief of HR at Agiliti Health, a world leader in Medical Equipment Management. His employee-focused leadership style and diligence in addressing challenges has made a lasting impact on his employees, business, and even countries' labor laws. In this episode we cover: Breaking down what the push and pulls are in HR and how balancing it affects overall business successWhat's the single best leadership advice Bob ever received that he still uses todayAn example of condensing leadership onboarding processes from 6 months to 4 hours. How COVID impacted Agiliti, responsible for supplying respirators across the nation Connect with Bob CrevistonConnect with Versique
“Leadership is about lighting a fire within others, not under them” ~ Jaime TaetsWith over 20 years of experience within corporate business culture of which 13 were at Cargill, one of the largest privately held corporations in the world, Jaime Taets has honed the skill of conscious leadership. This ability led her to pave her own entrepreneurial path of starting her own business, Keystone Group International. Today, Jaime uses different platforms to extend her practice of helping leaders on a global scale. She is the host of the Superpower Success Podcast and the accomplished author of two noteworthy books — "You Are Here: Kick-Ass Inspiration for Navigating Your Journey to Success" and "The Culture Climb: How to Foster a Work Culture that Maximizes Your Impact". Jaime's skills as a visionary and strategist have led her outside the professional world to climb literal mountains, such as Mt. Kilimanjaro, and glean lessons that she applies to her life and help others to do the same. In this episode we cover:How to enact conscious leadership and discover your own leadership superpowerHow to create a change-driven culture in your organizationNavigating your journey to success by getting “unstuck” Connect with JaimeConnect with Versique
This episode is the recording of Versique's 12th Annual HR Lab where we dove into the topic of Reimagining the Impact of Leadership Collaboration with top leaders from the Minnesota Timberwolves & Lynx and The Minneapolis Foundation. This thought-provoking event brought together top HR professionals and executive leaders from various industries to explore innovative ways of working together to drive organizational success.In this session, Jenna Estlick, Vice President of HR Interim Solutions at Versique, moderated an expert panel of Twin Cities Leaders in Human Resources and Executive Leadership. In this recap, you'll learn about the various strategies they've implemented at their organizations and how they continue to influence culture to attract and retain talent while embracing continuous change in the labor market.Download the takeawaysWatch the recordingConnect with Versique
Food brings people together – for thousands of years humans have come together over food to celebrate and to grieve. Working with some of the biggest food brand industries locally, Alissa Partee brings two core beliefs to her leadership role as Chief People Officer at Restaurant Technologies: lead with love and clarity. In this episode, host Chris Dardis explores with Alissa:The number one mistake business leaders make in employee and system development How to build a high-performing team that achieves the business' strategic goalsWhat an HR team needs to know about being in a workplace that drives business“I want somebody to be able to say 20 years from now, I was able to do something better for my family or my community because of the environment that I was placed in and supported in. And so whatever I can do to contribute to somebody else's success or ability to give back or do something that they hadn't been able to do.” -Alissa ParteeConnect with AlissaConnect with Versique
“Know your role. Just like in sports, you may be the starter, sometimes you might be the leader, and sometimes you're a contributing, supporting player. But put the time and effort into it and know that you still add value to your team. You can't always be the lead, but you do add value.” ~Heidi GrangeEarly in Heidi Grange's career, she remembers leaders taking the time to guide her, coach her, and provide feedback. This investment was incredibly valuable in forming even the small aspects in her career and personal life. Now as Senior VP of HR at Northmarq and board member of HR Executive Forum, Heidi strives to do the same for her team. In the episode, we cover:The 3 critical points of success and failure companies make during acquisitionsWhat drives employee engagement and cultureDebunking myths about HR Setting healthy boundaries at workConnect with HeidiConnect with Versique
“Live with being kind and working hard. Everything works out when you do that, take risks, and work without fear.” -Kristin Dean Kristin Dean left her full-time role in HR to pursue her dream of being a stay-at-home mom. After a many valuable years, Kristin desired to return to work, but she internalized the fear of not being able to have both a successful career and a strong present role as a mother. Eventually, Kristin made the choice to dive back into her career at a few fast-paced tech companies such as Code42, Delegate, and Revel, eventually landing at Arctic Wolf—where she's been for the past 5 years. She speaks about the supportive environment of her team, and gives tips for how HR professional can be strategic business partners with executive leadership. Learn about tools for effective leadership, developing the will to win, and making choices without fear in this episode of People make it possible. Connect with KristinConnect with Versique
When Anne Sample entered Ohio State University, she was set on becoming a Biochemical Engineer. However, her path took a different direction as she gained various experiences that shaped her career. As an AV expert at a homeroom in high school, she developed a strong interest and confidence in technology. Then, her first job in communications administration for Whirlpool in a small town taught her the importance of prioritizing the business in any task she undertakes and ensuring that her contributions positively impacted the company's success. These experiences helped shape Anne's career aspirations and goals as she entered the HR industry.Throughout Anne's career she's held HR management and leadership roles at Thrivent, Caribou Coffee, Pepsi Americas, and Citigroup. In this episode, she expresses the differences between small versus global organizations and how to do business across different world cultures. Now, as owner and CEO of Navigate Forward, she's invested in growth, and providing highly customized support to senior executives who are currently in transition. Connect with AnneConnect with Versique
“We all get to choose how we spend our time. And we either do it with intention, or by accident. So what do you want to be focused on? Where do you want to spend your time? How are you going to make room for those things in your life? And it's going to mean saying no to some things that you don't want to, or need to, or choose to.” -Sarah Waite Sarah Waite is “supernaturally curious.” As the Chief People Officer at Second Harvest Heartland, she is always asking how leaders can think about things differently. From building out talent strategy, to leading change management and traveling across the country, Sarah discovered the most important lessons a company can learn are how to form teams of connection and curiosity that lead to authenticity and inclusion. Sarah is also the President of HR Executive Forum and is committed to building diverse teams that drive business results and strong cultures. Connect with Sarah Connect with Versique
“Every leader should aspire for the people within their team to be able to say, ‘I am a valuable member of a winning team doing meaningful work in an environment of trust.' And if your team can say that, then they will be engaged within the role.” -Chris Dardis In this first episode of 2023, we're taking a look back at our top episodes from 2022, featuring inspiring stories from incredible leaders in business. In addition, Chris Dardis, the host of “People make it possible” and the President of Interim Solutions at Versique, will be behind the mic sharing his own story of career growth, building teams, and the important leadership lessons he's learned along the way. In this episode you'll learn about:Leading with curiosity over criticismBuilding a winning team HR themes from 2022Industry predictions for 2023This episode is guest hosted by Angela Wistrcill, Creative Content Strategist at Versique. Connect with ChrisConnect with Versique
“I always think that the best way to be noticed and considered to ascend into the next role is to be the best you can be at your current role.” -Erin FeigalAs the CHRO of Prime Therapeutics, Erin and her team have been pioneers of a new “Way of Work” even before the pandemic began, setting up the future of flexible work for employees. Erin herself was surprised to be on a successor track at a turning point in her career, but embraced the ambiguity by holding fast to a simple principal: “Don't be hesitant to accept a promotion or change roles because you're afraid it may mean taking on more work. The work may just be different, not more.” In this podcast episode, Erin encourages leaders to define what they want their role to be, and hold true to it. “Those things that are uncomfortable that we might be fearful of, it's surprising if you just kind of dive in head first, how quickly you can come out with a different perspective on the other side.” Connect with ErinConnect with Versique
Kristin Gaarder was the very first CHRO of Calabrio, a customer experience intelligence company. As a leader, Kristin's philosophy lies in providing accountability for her team to take a vision they have, break down barriers, and deliver it with excellence. Kristin has navigated the variances in HR while practicing business in over 40 countries around the world. Kristin is a member of Chief, a network dedicated to supporting women executive leaders. She uses her unique experiences to encourage a path of growth through building and strengthening human connection. “If you consider what's happening in the world, this special and unique time won't be here again. So we have such an opportunity to make change and to redefine work culture.” Connect with KristinConnect with Versique
People grow exponentially when they're given an opportunity that stretches them to just the right amount. And they just fly. – Molly WeissNot everyone takes as unique of a path to HR leadership as Molly Weiss. She studied theater history and sang in a band before pursuing post-grad HR and Business from the University of Minnesota. Molly is now a leading industry veteran with 20 years of experience, serving as CHRO of Adolfson & Peterson Construction. From a young age, Molly learned that work should contribute to the world in a way that is tangible. Years later, Molly followed a call to become an ordained Episcopal Priest—a journey supported by her colleagues and leaders at the time—which shaped her to become a leader with renewed depth of understanding and empathy. Molly teaches us there's power in saying, “I don't know” and asking for help. “Long ago I got over the need to be the smartest person in the room,” says Molly. “In fact, I would prefer it if I weren't. Because that means that everybody around me has so much richness to bring to the table."Connect with Molly Connect with Versique
"People work hard for money, but they'll give their life for meaning." -Tony SorensenYou can tell a lot about a person by asking them the question, "What is one event that has shaped who you are today?" Tony Sorensen, Founder & President of Versique Search & Consulting, uses this question to vet potential employees and create a culture of meaning and growth at his company. Through challenges as an entrepreneur building a company from the ground up, Tony's vision is one based on being one of the team, creating long-term careers for his team members, and holding fast to Versique's core values including "winning through service & trust." In this episode, Tony shares the vision and passion that started it all, and his excitement for the future.Connect with Tony SorensenConnect with Versique
"As you build an experience in success or failure, you have more confidence when it comes to an even bigger opportunity or bigger risk...and you can recover and thrive." -Shawn Moren, Executive Advisory/Partner (CHRO Sector), GartnerShawn was the head of HR at Regis Salons when COVID-19 hit, ravishing the nation and service industry. Regis quickly worked to diligently flesh out a safety and operations plan to ride the turbulent months that followed. No stranger to challenges, Shawn recalled a question her father posed to her at a tennis match when she was younger, "Do you want to hit home runs or do you want to hit base hits? You cannot hit home runs without strikeouts, that's just a part of life." Focusing on connectivity with others, Shawn found success in instilling an environment of meaningful work and values among her team members. Connect with ShawnConnect with Versique
The July jobs report presented a positive outlook on the economy. However, you could look at continued inflation and raised interest rates as signs of the exact economic opposite. Paige Batcha, Executive Search Expert for Versique, tries to make sense of the conflicting trends.
Versique executive search expert Paige Batcha discusses whether the economy is in a good place with both soaring inflation and job placement numbers. Groves Learning Organization president Bryan Fleming describes how his company is helping school-aged students effected by the COVID pandemic, in the classroom and beyond.
"To be a leader I needed to get inspired and become a student of culture." -Kendall Harrell, Chief People Officer for Caribou CoffeeKendall began with a desire for orthopedic surgery and sports medicine. Lifetime Fitness became instrumental in his HR career, where he started as a personal trainer and quickly moved into the human resource department, thanks to an incredible mentor who encouraged him along the way. "Who are you going to bring with you?" is a motto Kendall learned from his father, applying this to his leadership style to help other people achieve what they aspire to. At Caribou Coffee, Kendall found connection to a brand with work that he enjoys — "I've always wanted to make sure that I could get to the point in my career where I felt like all of me can come to work." In this episode, Kendall shares more about finding his path, sitting in a coffee shop of inspiration. Connect with KendallConnect with Versique
MAX: Hello and welcome back to the Recruitment Hackers podcast. I'm your host Max Armbruster, and today on the show, I'd like to welcome Jared Hummel, who is president at Parqa Digital Marketing Agency in Minneapolis, and Parqa is an agency that's focused on recruitment marketing for the staffing and recruiting firms. So we'll get a chance to ask Jared about this world and how it's evolving and how it's adapting to new technologies. Jared, welcome to the show.JARED: Hey thanks, Max. Appreciate you having me.MAX: My pleasure. And would you mind giving us a quick overview, how you ended up in the ungrateful cutthroat world of recruitment?JARED: Death in recruiting, right. Yeah, I got lost along the way. We have a sister company in Versique Searching and Consulting which is a recruiting agency in the Minnesota, Twin Cities market, and I applied for a job with one of their recruiters, of which she then asked me if I wanted to be the CFO oversee, which I thought would be a good idea. Learned a little bit there for a few months and then got asked to run Parqa, which is the sister company of the digital marketing agency that was kind of floundering around at the time I came around and we saw a pretty good market opportunity. And so the last three to three and a half years I've been focused on growing that with our client base in North America.MAX: And so you could say that you came into this recruiting world a little bit later in your career right. It was not like coming out of school or anything like that, which is where most of the industry comes from is, this is a great way to make money at the start of a career if you're good on the phone. But I've noticed others have come into the industry later in their career and their experience is quite different. It's more like, wow, this is how you do things here.JARED: Yeah, well, like you said I have come from outside the industry I guess ignorance is bliss sometimes right. And so, I think for being probably early to mid-career versus straight out of college I'm still naive enough to steam my opinion to the owners, right out of the gate and tell what I think from a different industry perspective. But to your point, like I've got to be on the other side of it. I've even worked in manufacturing and then in the home service business. We would have the big companies calling on us all the time, trying to push labor into us and so now seeing it, not only from our sister company Versique from the industry as a whole in Parqa, to be having clients throughout North America from IT to hospitals to finance and like seeing kind of the whole picture has been a pretty interesting experience.MAX: The questions that you come into your customers at Parqa when you enter a new working relationship. What are some of the probing questions that you may ask to validate if some company needs your help, so we can situate your range of services?JARED: Yeah, so, Parqa itself is a full-service digital marketing agency so we can solve any critical pain point in the marketing arena for staffing and recruiting firms. As we were talking before Max, especially in the United States, I can't speak, necessarily worldwide but recruiting firms are generally, five to ten years behind from a marketing perspective and so as we go into them, even if they have a CMO or a couple of marketers, technology is moving so fast in today's world that it's really hard to have an internal marketing team unless you're a very large company that specializes in SEO, pain management automation, martech stats, website development, job board integrations programmatic advertising. And so that's one of the ways that we enter in with new clients is either they have a CMO that presents a good strategy but doesn't have the labor to necessarily execute at a high level, or vice versa they might have one or two entry-level marketers, but they're just kind of flailing with organic social media or something that is not driving results. And they would come to us to put something more holistic together to try to drive an ROI.MAX: You were giving me earlier a range of clients in terms of revenue, but I'd like to, for listeners who haven't run an agency wouldn't know what those revenue numbers represent. Could you frame that in headcounts, what's your typical staffing firm customer size?JARED: Yeah, so, we're constantly trying to push the envelope so we're constantly trying to provide new services that are for bigger and bigger firms but, kind of our wheelhouse at this very second is probably a headcount of 50 to like five to 10,000 so, in US dollars that would be 20, million to close to a billion. So, our agency at this point, maybe necessarily hasn't worked with the top five to 10 global staffing firms but some of our bigger clients are multinational corporations.MAX: You said, some of them were 1000s of headcount so I would assume that at that stage that they would have a dedicated digital team, but I would assume wrong, it sounds like they still come for help. They're a little bit late for the dance.JARED: Yeah, yeah. The thing I learned coming from outside the agency is staffing or recruiting is kind of the consummate sales profession and so probably, I don't know what the number is, but probably 80-90% of staffing firms are run by a leadership team of sales executives and so what I've learned coming from outside the industry is that the solution to every staffing firm owners problem is hiring five or 10 more recruiters or sales representatives to solve a revenue growth problem and that is something we're trying to fix. Because I can promise you that there are more efficient ways to go about it and ultimately, that's why we're talking today. We're trying to make you do things to make it a more automated and efficient process for organizations.MAX: Well, you're trying to find some similarities between our businesses, but in fact what I'm hearing is that I resemble perhaps more closely the typical profile of a staffing firm company because I come from sales and I've often made the mistake of let's just hire more headcount, in my case more sales guys, but if it's staffing or more recruiters to push revenue up. And, of course, you get a short-term lift but long term, you're not creating differentiation. So, the investments that people have to make in databases and websites, and SEO. These are things that take a while to yield results. These are long-term investments. Can you give us an idea of how patient a staffing firm would need to be before seeing some returns?JARED: Yeah, well, as you said, I guess, to me, it's almost a no-brainer because if you look at a fully loaded compensation for a recruiter and say you have to hire 10. I mean you're talking, close to a million dollars. And then you have to deal with turnover, you have to deal with them not meeting their quota, all of that stuff and from a marketing perspective you can see results fairly quickly. I mean, with the way the world works today whether that's programmatic job board advertising, whether that's Facebook integrations to their job feeds, marketing automation as a whole is making a recruiters process more efficient so that they can do more business with less headcount. And so a million dollars would get you a long way as even as a $500 million company. We could employ our whole set of services for a good couple of years and strive for some pretty good results for replacing that headcount.MAX: I 100% agree. I've seen that with our more successful customers that they change their spending, and sometimes they don't even have to increase their advertising spend that much they just have to spend a little bit wiser in high volume recruitment, there's social media is very cost-effective, provided you can qualify the incoming traffic, automatically. You don't have to have an army of recruiters to qualify all the incoming traffic. So that's, in my world like Facebook, Instagram is one, very performing. What are some of the channels, digital or otherwise that you see are trending well in your market?JARED: Yeah, definitely the Facebook, Instagram world is a big play, especially in the industrial staffing world, and as we partner with clients that aren't necessarily in massive metropolitan areas that might have been kind of the Midwest manufacturing environments. I think the Facebook's of the world are advantageous as you get into some of the more, like, finance, IT, engineering. Obviously, a lot of that spend shifts to LinkedIn. But, the new craze, which I'm not an expert on so I won't go into detail but like TikTok obviously is the new thing going on in America anyways at this point and they're working to launch kind of their team TikTok resumes, I think it's called a Tik-Tok jobs. And I think we talked about this a little before but I mean you're starting to see the digitalization, as a whole of the staffing recruiting industry with more of the candidate user experience when it comes to like the e-verification of staffing. You're starting to see private equity money flow into companies like that are just, I don't know if you call it, marketing, but it is like. It's using technology to create a better candidate experience so that they want to use your platform right. So, that would be another one. At the end of the day, Google is still Google right. I mean, when you're in a pinch, generally in the United States, you go to Google and type in jobs near me or head under near me or recruiter near me. And so, there's always still, at least for the foreseeable future, a substantial investment into paid advertising, and just search engine optimization on the Google platform.MAX: When traveling was more popular I used to do a lot of conferences, TA and staffing firm conferences in North America, and I was always amazed by the volume of job board and marketplace vendors, and it was usually Google representative in the room, which now looks like a wolf in a hens house. Everybody was polite but a little bit worried. Do you think that in a market where there's so much consolidation around the platforms that we just mentioned, LinkedIn and Google and maybe Facebook and Tik Tok, the days of programmatic are numbered because, well, if there are only three or four big channels where you advertise, you don't need an algorithm to help you place your ads?JARED: Yeah, no I think that's a valid question. I think you're starting to see more sophisticated technologies coming out from the Googles and the Facebook's or just, suppliers or vendors, building things to make those experiences that much better but yeah I definitely can't argue with you like we do have a lot of clients that are still using programmatic but the efficiency of that is definitely a question, moving forward with the big players.MAX: Right there is an existential threat but then we didn't even mention Indeed and Zip and those guys, so if you started to add those up, you could see why a recruiter's head would explode having to manage these four or five different budgets on top of their daily work.JARED: Yeah, and just know, what Parqa is good at more than that we're like an expert at Indeed or expert at Monster whatever it is, like, providing a strategic solution for our clients that is numerically justified right like, I think a lot of times you get a recruiting manager that says, like, their CFO gives them a $20,000 budget or whatever the number is $200,000 budget and says like, well, we have to have an Indeed contract, we have to have a LinkedIn contract and all of a sudden like they're not even doing like they're just paying those people money to you know to be a partner with them but they're not actually coming up with a strategic solution is quantifiably driving business results for them, well we should be a part of Indeed, well, a LinkedIn sales rep came to us and said we have to pay X dollars for the company LinkedIn recruiter seeds. And there's just no like thought process, it's just like they go from supplier to supplier saying like yes here's my 100 grand, here's my 200 grand. And that's what Parqa tries to bring all that together to say, like let's look at your buyer persona, your ideal clients, your ideal candidates like where are they living what are they doing, how do we get to them in a way that's efficient like, the database like you have an accounting and finance firm that has been around for 15 years, how many of those candidates that you talked to 10 years ago are now managing directors in their role and now they're hiring managers and that could be more clients, it could be, getting candidates out. There are just so many ways to be efficient at it, and not to go all the way back to where we started, but the answer always is like, hire more recruiters, make more outbound calls, do more intakes and it's not about the future right.MAX: No, no. The future sounds like it would be, start by measuring everything that you do, find out what your cost per hire per channel is, and then move your money there, and then get good at one or two channels, better than your competitors.JARED: Well that's, yeah, like we talked about early on we started, I guess you'd call them like Mom-and-Pop shops but, more of that like 10 to 30 million reigns and I guess at that point you don't necessarily expect crazy sophistication, but what's really been surprising to me is, as we move into the 500 million-plus accounts is, they are really not any better at marketing attribution. It's really a freed for all, they don't know where their money is going, they buy tools and pay for the tools but quit using the tools. And so that's one of the things Parqa is really not mastered quite yet, but that's one of our big focuses heading into 2022 is, I want to create a full attribution product, essentially, a dashboard that is customizable but scalable, that we can go into these staffing firms and just quantifiably, say what you just said it's like you're spraying money everywhere, why don't we just hone in on two things that are working really well for you and then make your internal process more efficient. Because at the end of the day, if a recruiter can have 100 people out versus 50, they're commissioned salespeople and that's a pretty easy sell the internal recruiters just like if I can make your job this much easier. So you're focused on value-added items, and you can make $100,000 more while we do that for you, would you be interested in hearing more. I think any rifle recruiter would probably raise their hand, with some interest.MAX: Yeah, I would listen to you, and if I was a business owner of a staffing firm, amid small or mid-size. I would find it helpful, that even if you get to companies with a few 1000 headcounts, there's not a methodology about channel marketing and there's not that higher level of expertise, and that there they still fall into these old patterns of hiring their way out of revenue plateaus and I would, of course, go back to the basics, which is every year, your market is different. The way your candidates behave changes, it's very dynamic. And so what worked two or three years ago may not work anymore. I don't know if the cycle is right but it feels to me like two-three years would be like a good time to like reboot and rethink. Do you think that's about right? Is that the frequency in which your contracts are being re-evaluated?JARED: Yeah, I mean I would probably say two to three years, a couple of years ago, was probably accurate. I would say that post-COVID at least, and again in the United States, I can't speak worldwide but, I mean there's definitely been a shock in the system and, I mean there's more technology, more options, more things changing more rapidly than any time before in staffing history. So that might have been redefined to like six to eight months or something at this point.MAX: Yeah, it's been a bit traumatic, it has been quick. What are some of the tools or technologies that you've seen pick up over the last year that you think were trending well that have high impact, high ROI for your customers?JARED: Yeah, I would say, sometimes I feel silly saying this because I feel like we're not on the cutting edge but for staffing and recruiting we are. It's really like home-based marketing and marketing automation. I don't know if you're familiar with Bullhorn, they are one of the largest ATS providers like they just purchased Herefish, it's probably a year ago now. And Herefish is someone we worked with prior to Bullhorn and acquiring them. I don't know what Bullhorn's revenue is off the top of my head but when you're a company that large, and Herefish like a low seven person startup is like your golden ticket like you know that something's changing in the industry, senses another product. I believe there Google-backed. They are not a Google company but again as a candidate enablement software to automate the candidate experience. The job board integration thing is something that we do, I wouldn't say it's revolutionary technology per se but building custom job board integrations to make sure that all, you know, we talked about the many job boards that exist today, making sure that they're able to scrape and do all that, from a technology perspective. And then, I know it's not necessarily technology but you know database management is one of the things that we're really trying to work with our customers on because as these martech tools come into play, you run into a stone wall pretty quickly when the database is a disaster. And so, really trying to educate the market on database, cleanliness, and operational best practices.MAX: No, just this week, SAP SuccessFactors, which is more TA than staffing, they made a small acquisition which they almost never buy small tech companies they wait for them to be big but they just bought a company called SwoopTalent specialized in improving the databases. You were mentioning Bullhorn acquiring Herefish, which is a company, I think Herefish specializes in re-engaging and helping you get more out of your database. So those are big trends, clearly. I know this isn't cutting edge either, but what about messaging and SMS and texting, is that still got some growth ahead, or is that getting old, is that established. JARED: I think it's a little bit dependent on what vertical your firm is in or the TA company that you'd be working with. Honestly, our value-added and if you're talking before the consulting world and like the high volume staffing world, I would say that text message is still very prevalent. I think that's how we're finding a lot of people prefer to communicate over email. I guess I can only speak for myself, but I get 1000 emails a day to my personal email, but I only get 50 text messages. So, when it is a value-added service, I think, text messaging still plays a pretty important role. Yeah.MAX: Yeah, depends on your industry, but yeah, it's performing well. Okay, well, one question I always ask my guests, is to walk us back to a day when you made a hiring mistake. And so that our listeners can draw some lessons from the pain that you experienced back then. And you don't have to name individuals but it would help the exercise if you had one person in mind, and you could walk us through why you made that mistake.JARED: There's one that's just like glaring in my head and I wish like I still to this day, of course, I made the mistake. MAX: Let's talk through it, please lay down and open up. I am your therapist. We're gonna walk through it. JARED: That's great. So yeah, it was a few years ago and I believe this person just applied through like a LinkedIn ad. So our agency as a whole, probably 70% of our employees are referral base, and that ultimate automatically gives you like a little sense of security, so this one did come through LinkedIn. Not that we have like a crazy big process because we're not huge but generally like I interview people first, because if they're not a culture fit that I don't even care what their skill set is. Then they meet with the hiring manager to really assess the skill set and what's needed. And then the third is we kind of bring them into meeting a couple of the other directors or a couple of the other teammates so that they get a feel of the overall culture. This person actually ended up meeting with our CEO, I don't remember why exactly but usually our CEO's interviews are about seven minutes long, and he is on to the next thing. He talked to this person for almost an hour and a half. And so my interview from a cultural perspective is like this guy's there this person is great, he's gonna be a good fit. And then we brought in the subject matter expert who has worked at large agencies throughout the Twin Cities, she thought this person was a great fit. The team met him, they thought he was a great fit. Then I watched our owner talk to him for an hour and a half and I'm like, there's no way in hell I can't hire this guy I've never seen Tony talk to someone so long it's his entire life. And so we hired the person, within about two weeks, we realize that he knew literally nothing about digital marketing whatsoever. He had held a job at a large fortune 500 company in a role that we were hiring for six years, or according to his resume, for six years, and didn't even know the basics so, you know, fundamental digital marketing. It was probably about three weeks in when we knew like this was a train wreck and like we had to take care of it. And this person actually came to me and said, Hey, like I'm getting recruited by another agency, and I have like, literally sprinted into a closed office and was like, Dude, you got to take this role like this is a perfect role for you to like, don't feel bad about it, no pain on our side I think this is the right decision for you. MAX: What a gift. You don't get gifts like that too often.JARED: I think actually I met this person in a parking lot, that very weekend, to like exchange stuff to make sure that he didn't like remain wanting to stay with us. I was like, let's get the key and had everything taken care of. It comes up in meetings, probably on a monthly if not quarterly, or weekly basis of like what the heck happened here.MAX: Will you change your recruitment process? What have you learned from that experience? I mean what I'm hearing is, there's no way to be 100% sure until day one, maybe, but perhaps as well, even if somebody sounds really good on paper, still ask them how they do things, how do you run this campaign, how did you accomplish those things and don't skip that step. It sounds so obvious, but would you think that that might have been skipped?JARED: Might have been a misunderstanding. No, I think that having been an industry-agnostic my whole career, like I have placed a lot of value on culture, and a lot of value on like my gut feeling which we all know, will fail you from time to time. And so I think, as we continue to scale like you said, having each director in our organization really put together like a "test", to really quantify and measure aptitude, because, when you're in startup board and when you're growing rapidly, it's easy to take shortcuts. And, yeah, we'll I learned from that one.MAX: Our listeners, we'll learn from your pain so thanks for sharing and opening up. Where can they connect with you, Jared? What's the best way to connect with you or with Parqa, if we have a staffing firm or recruiting firm listening, who is looking for marketing help.JARED: Yeah, so it's, I mean simply www.parqamarketing.com. For the listeners out there, Jared Hummel, on LinkedIn is definitely an easy way to track me down. But yeah, I think, you find me on a podcast, doing videos with supplier partners. Our industry is still pretty large on like the trade shows and the state associations and whatnot. So it's kind of exciting, I was in Chicago last weekend, I think we have Denver coming up in September and Florida in November. So I'm kind of getting jammed up to go out and see people and shake hands and have some fun so.MAX: Awesome. Great, well thanks for coming on and maybe see you on the road somewhere, if I'm allowed to travel again.JARED: Yeah. It's been a pleasure. Thank you for having me on Max. Obviously, you have a pretty crazy awesome background and are doing some pretty cool things with TalkPush. So yeah, when we make that move from staffing to talent acquisition, maybe we'll find some synergies together.MAX: That's good.MAX: That was Jared Hummel from parka digital marketing agency, reminding us that recruiting should never get stale. And yes, traditionally staffing firms will hire people who are salespeople, who are hyperactive and they would want to focus on what they're good at, which is hitting the phone. But. I'm really an effective recruiting marketing can carry so much more impact that a busy day on the phone. Every recruiting marketing strategy needs to be revisited on a regular basis, perhaps every couple of years. And you can do that internally, of course, but you can also reach out to agencies to come and help you through the process. Hope you enjoyed this interview and that she'll be back for more.Please share and post with friends.Thank you.
The novel coronavirus has not only shaken up our personal lives. It has turned some careers, and even businesses, upside down. While some companies have implemented hiring freezes, others have been forced to fill employment gaps, going through hiring surges. In some cases, organizations have had to bolster their workforce by looking inward, upskilling current employees. During the 2020 B2B Marketing Exchange in Scottsdale, a panel of experts discussed how they're building the marketing teams of tomorrow. We believe some of their insights are still valuable -- that's why we're re-sharing this episode with you! But,, we believe some things have changed. That's why we brought back the panel moderator, Wes Lieser of Versique, to get his take on what's happening in the employee market, and how brands and individuals can move forward successfully.
With the holiday right around the corner, we wanted to highlight the top 12 Inside Executive Search podcast episodes from 2019. We will give a high level recap of the episodes so if you want to go back and listen to the episodes mentioned today, we highly recommend. 12 Days of Insides Executive Search: Successful Networking – How To Grow And Leverage Your Executive Network2 Key Elements To An Effective Talent Attraction ProcessTalent Trends: 5 Things You Need To Know5 Key Components That Build An Executive Compensation PackageHow To Select Your Retained Executive Search FirmThe Ins and Outs of Evaluating a New Job OpportunityThe Importance of Executive Peer GroupsTips For Building Out Your Professional NetworkKey Fundamentals To Driving The Best Talent Attraction3 Rules For Evaluating Top Talent, The Right WayHow Your Company Brand Makes An ImpactHow to Manage Executive Transition Through Interim LeadershipInside Executive Search PodcastConnect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn!Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn!Learn more about Versique
B2B organizations are fighting to win top talent. Part of the challenge lies in generating interest among a pool of qualified candidates. However, most B2B firms struggle to identify the candidates with the right skills for specific jobs. Wes Lieser of Versique has been around the block, helping companies tackle their hiring and employee retention woes. During his session at B2B Marketing Exchange, he spotlights the common challenges B2B organizations face at all stages of the hiring process.
In today episode, we are joined by Chris Dardis, Vice President of Human Resources Search and Consulting at Versique, to discuss interim leadership during an executive transition. Chris and his team hear continuously from client’s that an executive unexpectedly left their company and now they are in a position where they need to fill the role. Stay tuned as we walk through strategies to bridge that gap when your company is in an executive transition. Contact Scott Peterson Contact Steve Yakesh Contact Chris Dardis About Versique Inside Executive Search
Today we discussed the importance of active networking and what you should be doing to expand your network. Whether you are an executive in transition or happy in your current job, networking is always going to be important because you never know when you will need to activate your network. We also discusses a networking success story where an executive in transition networked with 500+ individuals and the success behind his findings. Inside Executive Search Podcast Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
In today’s episode we discuss the in and outs to evaluating a new job opportunity and how to resign if you do decide to accept that new opportunity. Stay tuned as we dive deep into the risk and reward when it comes to leaving your current company as well as evaluating your current compensation and benefit plan against this new opportunity. We will also discuss some tips on how to resign from your current role if you decide to accept that new job opportunity. Inside Executive Search Podcast Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
Steve Yakesh and Scott Peterson sit down to recap a Forbes article written by Rebecca Skilbeck on the Top 5 Talent Trends for 2019 and how these trends relate back to our previous episodes on attraction, selection and retention of top executive talent. Now that we are into the second half of the year, employers are seeing a shift as they put the employee’s experience at the center of the talent management journey. Stay tuned as we discuss in depth all the talent trends from the article. Inside Executive Search Podcast Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
Today’s episode is the last in the series of candidate retention. We discuss the importance of communication and on-going feedback to retain your executive talent. Stay tuned as we continue on this podcast to bring you insights into Executive Search. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
It is important to recognize and reward your top executives for their hard work as a retention tool. In today’s episode we discuss ways go above and beyond to recognize and reward key executives in your company. We also discussed the importance of work life balance as a way to retain not only top executives but employees across your organization. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
In today’s episode we continued on the topic of employee retention through the importance of peer groups and compensation as it pertains to retention. Peer groups are critical for your executives to be apart of as they give that executive access to other executives to use as a sounding board. We also revisited compensation as it pertains to retention. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
Now that you have your new employee, you then want to retain them at your company. In today’s episode we started discussing employee retention. We revisit the importance of company, career, culture, and job alignment, along with the on-boarding and orientation process for your new employee. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
In today's episode we previewed what will be discussed over the next 5-6 weeks around the topic of talent retention. Stay tuned as we discuss strategies and tactics around retaining top talent for key roles in your organization. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
Extending a job offer is an exciting time in the talent selection process. In today’s episode we wrapped up talent selection by discussing how to extend an employment offer to a candidate, along with some key strategies and tactics to help you and your team while presenting an offer. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
In today's episode we will discuss the most common interview biases that occur during the interview process and tips to avoid them. Stay tuned as we walk through what it means and how it effects the way your company selects top talent for your team. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
In today’s episode we will discuss who should ask what questions and how to evaluate the responses. We will also discuss the use of talent assessment tools to assist in the selection process.Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
In today's labor market, evaluating your candidates for your top positions is paramount to finding the best “fit’ for your critical hires. In today's episode we will cover three key elements to evaluate your candidates, cultural or company fit, career motivational fit, and job skills/experience fit. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
Is your selection process ready? In today’s episode we discuss the “who” of talent selection. Who should be involved and when should they be involved in the process? Your process needs to be well-planned and managed, today you will learn some tips and tactics to help select the right candidate for your company. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
Your company did a great job attracting some top talent, now in this very competitive market, are you ready to select the best candidate for your company? In today’s episode we will touch on the five areas companies should focus on to have an effective talent selection process. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
Talent attraction in today’s environment is a challenge, your company’s brand matters. In today’s episode we’ll discuss how your brand plays a critical role in attracting the best talent to your organization. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn!Learn more about Versique
Talent attraction in today’s environment may lead you to partner with a Retained Executive Search firm. In this episode we’ll discuss how to select the firm that best fits for your company. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
Talent Attraction in today’s candidate-driven environment continues to challenge organizations. In this episode we’ll discuss the several elements of the talent attraction process, which includes how to manage internal versus external candidates, candidate market research and how to active your networks to attract the best talent.Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
Talent Attraction in today's candidate-driven environment continues to challenge organizations. In this episode we'll discuss five key components to build an executive compensation package that is appealing to candidates but also motivates your executives to attain your company's short, mid, and long-term goals. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
Talent attraction has proven to be a big challenge for companies in today's candidate-driven market. In this episode we'll discuss the first two steps in talent attraction, which includes how to construct a dynamic executive position profile and develop a compelling story to take to the marketplace. Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
Attracting, selecting, and retaining top talent is a challenge for many businesses. Join long-time executive search professional Scott Peterson, alongside Steve Yakesh, EVP of Versique, one of the top Executive Search firms, to discuss insights and techniques to assist companies to achieve their best results. If you’re an Executive Leader looking for advice on attracting, selecting and retaining the best talent for your company, you’ll want to hear this weekly advice from these industry experts.Connect with Scott Peterson on LinkedIn! Connect with Steve Yakesh on LinkedIn! Learn more about Versique
We're joined by Tiffany Kuehl, Director of HR Search for Versique in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. We talk about the differences between third party and corporate recruiting, the challenges of leading volunteers (Tiffany's also the Director of the Minnesota SHRM State Council), X-Files, and baseball. Tiffany's recommendation: https://twitter.com/cescobar78 How to reach Tiffany: https://twitter.com/TiffanyKuehl https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanykuehl/ Be sure to join us the 4th Sunday each month at 7 PM Eastern for the #HRSocialHour chat on Twitter!
Chris Dardis, VP at Versique Search and Consulting, provides insight into the branding his firm is doing through social media. In addition, he explains his criteria for meaningful work and how his leadership style has evolved over the years.
This episode is sponsored by WorkHere.com and Hiretual.com This is RECTECH….the only podcast that helps employers and recruiters connect with more candidates through technology inspired conversations. our mission is to teach you about the new tools and tactics for finding talent online. Today’s show is a recruiter edition. Matt Anderson is a healthcare executive recruiter from Minneapolis based Versique where he sources and recruits leaders from management to C-suite levels. His Clients include independent and rural health critical access hospitals, large care delivery systems and physician owned specialty groups. Matt's fifteen years of healthcare leadership search and placement experience offers clients unique insight into market assessment and intelligence, consultation on structuring the search process, ability to identify, recruit and place specific leadership candidates based on the needs of clients resulting in a successful, efficient outcome to the search process. Matt and Versique's Healthcare Search Practice provides client solutions for both direct hire and interim leadership. TOPICS How would you characterize the state of healthcare recruiting today? Are there any differences in Healthcare recruiting vs more traditional roles. Biggest challenge right now? What tools do you use to find healthcare execs? What advice might you have for recruiting front line healthcare roles such as nurses, doctors, CNA’s etc What are you planning to do differently in 2019? Most creative thing you ever did to source a candidate? New healthcare recruiter---what advice do you have?
Tiffany Kuehl is Director of HR search for Versique, one of the largest talent acquisition firms in the midwest, specializing in both consulting and permanent placement. She spent 20 years in corporate HR before switching to the agency side about a year ago. According to her twitter account she is also a Twins fanatic, a blogger and watches the Xfiles. Connect with her on twitter: https://twitter.com/TiffanyKuehl TOPICS You are what I would call a social savvy recruiter...linkedin-twitter….how has social media helped you recruit better? Ever place anyone that you found on facebook or twitter or read your blog? What’s your ATS? Any other HR tech tools you use? Name all the ATS you used in corporate recruiting...which one did you like/hate? What methods do you use to identify and source candidates? What new HR technology are you excited to try but haven’t yet? Talk about going from corp to agency --- why did you switch and what’s it been like so far? Whats your advice to 3rd party agenices What conferences are you going to this year Last question---what advice would you tell a your graduate who wants to work in HR or recruiting? Sponsored by https://www.lever.co/rectech AND now also Hiretual: https://hiretual.com/?utm_source=RecTech
Mary Ann Masarech, Lead Consultant, Employee Engagement Practice at BlessingWhite and Chris Ohlendorf, Chief Talent Officer and Co-Founder at Versique share their thoughts on talent management and leadership development.