People over Placements

People Over Placements
The Solid Rock Recruiting Philosophy

In an industry obsessed with metrics, spreads, ratios, and revenue per desk, it is easy to forget something simple. Recruiting is about people.

Not placements. Not inventory. Not transactions.

People.

Our latest Built on Solid Rock podcast episode, “People Over Placements,” dives into the philosophy that defines Solid Rock Recruiting: relationship recruiting.

When you prioritize people, placements follow.

Candidates Are Not Inventory

Somewhere along the way, parts of this industry started using language that reveals mindset.

Inventory.
Assets.
Units.
Headcount.

That language may sound efficient. It may sound business minded. But it strips away humanity.

A candidate is not inventory. They are someone’s spouse. Someone’s parent. Someone with goals, fears, dreams, and responsibilities. A career move is not a SKU on a shelf. It is a life decision.

When recruiters treat candidates like product, trust disappears.

Without trust, you do not have a business. You have transactions.

At Solid Rock, we do not move inventory. We guide people through life changing decisions.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

All right, here we are in the Built on Solid Rock uh podcast. This is episode three. I'm here with my business partner and podcast partner, Sean Bowen. Sean, how's it going today? You know what, man? It's a good day. Oh, it's it's a good day. I feel like um I feel like almost like I just had um a an enema. I feel clean. Does that make sense? No, but please uh expound on that. I really don't want to expound on that, but I really don't want to expound on that. Hey, what what you know here's the thing. We're talking, we've been talking about Genesis, we've been talking about Exodus, we've done a little bit of Deuteronomy. Now we're now we're here, and we want to talk a little bit about. I mean, we've talked a lot about the company that we shall not name. I don't want to really talk about them anymore. I want to talk about kind of we the reason that we moved on, the reason that we, the reason that we're where we're at right now, two years into this experiment, this this movement that we call solid rock recruiting. What I want to talk about what makes us different. What truly makes us different? And we kind of we've kind of talked a little bit about it, you know, because because we're gonna talk a lot about it because it's our company. But what what truly makes us different? We've kind of articulated what makes us different for a recruiter, for somebody that would want to come to work for us, for the day-to-day work here at Solid Rock Recruiting, the way that the culture is different, the way that the the way that we the way that we treat our recruiters, the way that we compensate our recruiters, the way that we give our recruiters a lot of freedom. Um, but I want to talk about how that goes out into the people that we also serve. We serve our recruiters primarily because we're built by recruiters for recruiters. But what about our what about the candidates that we come into contact every single day? Um I know that I know that in the past, and in the past, again, I've I've heard candidates referred to as inventory. Almost like, almost like, you know, you have a bunch of cattle and they're they're they're your they're they're your cattle, your herd of cattle that you have that you own. Um I've heard candidates talked about like that, uh kind of dehumanized. What sets us apart, I guess, is the question I want to ask. What sets us apart on a day-to-day basis with how we try to deal with candidates using the recruiting golden rule? You know, treat others as you want to be treated. Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Well, you know, and this is something that as technology advances, as the recruiting industry keeps getting watered down with bad recruiters, this is something that we are on the front lines battling, right? We are on the front lines, not just battling it, but also training our recruiters. So, you know, a couple of real life examples. I actually talked to a candidate this morning. I was on the phone with him for 32 minutes. And um towards the end of that conversation, I was just doing what I do. I was just doing what I train my recruiters to do. And that's asking the right questions. It's not selling this candidate on a particular job or anything of that nature. It's really getting an understanding of what would cause them to make a change. What um, like, why, why would you make a change? What do you like about what you're doing? What do you like, what do you, what don't you like about what you're doing? And at the end of that conversation, before we, you know, got off the phone with each other, he said, Sean, he's like, I get a lot of calls from recruiters. He's like, this is the first one that I've really enjoyed because it's not you just trying to sell me a job and pigeonhole me into something. And, you know, that was it was a good reminder because that is truly how we operate. We we operate by asking the right questions, truly treating them as a human being, not as a piece of inventory, truly treating them as a human being. Like if I'm on the other side of that phone and I'm might and I might be looking for a job. And if I have a recruiter there just telling me all about one or two jobs that are completely irrelevant to what I'm looking for, I'm like, do I want to work with that person? Absolutely not, because all they're focused on is what they want versus what I want. Okay. Um, another prime example last year, um, John and I, you remember we placed a guy in in the Carolinas. He was at the same company for 10 years and he was making good money. He was uh doing about a two and a half to three-hour round trip between, you know, commuting, and he wasn't really looking, but I had a really thorough understanding of what would cause him to make a change. And I know the big thing for him was not the money, it was not even his company. He liked his company. The big thing was, hey, I get home between six to seven o'clock each night, and I make dinner in my house. I've got three young kids. He had uh uh uh same same age as my kids, a six-year-old, a four-year-old, and a and a one-year-old. And um, he's like, I get home, I make dinner, and they go to bed. This guy was thirty, he's 32, 33, you know, at the you know, working his way up to the top of his career. He's living to work. Live living to work, man. And we found an opportunity for him that paid him significantly more, which is all always nice. But our company also opened up an office 10 minutes from his house, completely changed his family dynamics. But that only came together by listening. I had many other opportunities I could get him into, okay. Many. You know, so on the candidate side specifically, it's really listening and going after the right people. But as we say, when we call or message somebody, I don't care so much about what we have, what you know, what jobs we have. I care more about what they're looking for, and that is a constant message.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

The Bible says, uh, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you. I think our approach to recruiting is uh focused on seeking first the candidate's benefit, doing what is right and what is best for the candidate, and then even even for the client and even for the client as well. Okay. And so our forc our our our focus is doing what's right for doing what's right for them. Now all those other things will be added. If we do and if we do bring value to candidates in that manner, if we listen to them, if we talk to them, all the other things are gonna fall into place. The placements will fall into place. If we if we check those boxes for them, all those other things will fall into place. If we're not focused on the placement, we're not focused on the money, we're focused on the candidate, those things will fall into place. And that's how that that's kind of like how how we are set, how how we set ourselves apart. You see, we're not KPI focused, we're not, you know, we're not transaction focused, we're not that all all those all those numbers are great. They only give you a reflection of what happened in the past, they don't tell you what's going on today. But if you're people focused, if you're focused on your recruiters, if you're focused on your candidates, if you're focused on your client and what they need and what they want and what they desire, by asking good questions is the only way you're gonna find that out, right? Then all the other things are gonna be added. All those other things, the placements will come if you're doing the right thing day in and day out.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Yeah, and how does that translate to the company side is very much the same. I might have a candidate that I'm marketing to a company, and if I get a hiring authority on the phone and all I'm doing is sitting there selling this candidate to this company, like that's a waste of time, right? It's a waste of time. So it easily translates to the company side, like, hey, yeah, I might have this can or I have this candidate, but really here's what I'm more focused about is what are you guys even looking for? Right? Like, like like that simple question to and and it and it's simple for us, but as we continue to grow and really connecting, like really getting deep into like the human side of hiring, what we're like the feedback that we're getting a lot, and our recruiters are getting a lot is like you guys operate differently. You guys do, and it's listen, we we're not reinventing the wheel. We just understand that that you cannot take out the human connection within recruiting.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Well, and that's the biggest thing. And I and I think I think what we're what we're finding on the candidate side, if you if you spend any time on LinkedIn at all, you're reading these stories about um I've I've put in 240, 250, 300 plus applications over the last, you know, however many months, and I've gotten no callbacks, no feedback, no nothing. So there's two things that are true about how we do business. We're really not recruiters, we're headhunters. We we are looking for a very specific uh job skill set, and then once we get talking to the person, we're also looking for the background of that culture, of that culture fit, where the where the fit is on the candidate side and on the company side. But what's happening with people putting out all those putting out all those applications is that AI is taking a look at those resumes and just going and throw and kicking them back. A lot of a lot of times when people apply for a job, it's you know, it may or may not be a fit for them, but even company even people that have a fit with that company, potentially, uh as far as the hard skill sets, get just automatically kicked out. And they never talk to anybody. And the human side of recruiting is being able to pick up a phone and call a candidate, and a lot of candidates say, Oh, we don't want to, you know, what are you doing calling me at work? Well, really, what we're doing is we're agitators of insight. We we we are we are wanting to find out who you are and and what makes you tick and what would cause you to make a change. What would what what kind of opportunity would you want to hear about that would cause you to want to make a change? And we ask those questions and we let the candidate talk.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Well, yeah, and that's and that's exactly right. Uh, and also on the company side, and one thing that we're we're we're pushing even harder than we ever have because we see the value in it, is establishing how we work with companies. So a lot of companies are they when they because be and this is just part of the recruiting industry where recruiters they might sign up a some clients and then all they do is they just fling over resumes. They fling over resumes. Um, that's not how we operate, and we tell companies that's not how we operate. So, like if you're looking for a gun slinging resume slinger recruiter, this ain't gonna work. But if you're looking for a recruiter that actually cares, that's gonna listen, that's actually gonna bring you people that make sense, here's how here's our terms, here's how we work. I don't even care. It's it it saves you it saves you time, right? It does. And I and I don't even care like about the fee or those things, but what I care more about is how we operate with them. So let's say the hiring authority's name is John Doe. So, John Doe, if we if if we partner with you, when we find a good candidate, we're gonna call you up, we're gonna present that candidate. Okay, and that right there, just like that simple action right there, it humanizes it. It's dude, it humanizes it, but it's totally countercultural to what generally goes on recruiting. And I've had this happen multiple times this year, and we're only into February. They're like, that's the way I want to work, that's how I want to work, Sean.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Perfect. That's how I mean that, I mean, let's just face it. Business owners want to talk about their business. They want to talk about it, they're passionate about it. I mean, it it's evident. I mean, we're doing a podcast here today, and it's rolling off, it's not scripted, it's rolling off our tongues because we're passionate about our business, right? So when we're dealing with client companies, we we want to know more than just what's the what's the tool that you want that that you need to be put into this role? We want to find out what's your culture, what's your culture like? What kind of what what caused you to go to work at this company? I mean, why why are you here 25 years, 25 years later? What what what gets you up out of out out of out of bed in the morning? And what's what's your what's setting your hair on fire right now? What's your biggest frustration? And how can we help you, right? And we listen. We listen to what we listen to what they have have to say. Listen, God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason. We should listen twice as much as we talk. Hard to do on a podcast, right? Yeah. But the point, the point being is that we are not transactional recruiters. We will never be transactional recruiters. We'll never throw the resume like spaghetti at the wall and see if it's and see how long it sticks or see if it sticks. We're going to um we're going to send you, as a client, candidates that make sense. If you're a if you're a drywall contractor, we're not going to send you an HVAC project manager. We're not going to send you a, you know, we're not going to send you somebody that did that does residential construction if you're in commercial construction. We're not going to do that. Of course we're not going to do that. We're all we're we're not going to we're not going to flood your desk with a thousand resumes like they do with, you know, with Indeed or other companies out there, right? We're not going to flood your desk with a thousand resumes, none of which makes sense, because we are headhunters. We're not recruiters. We're not, we're not waiting for something to come and land on our desk and land in our lap. We're going to go out and we're going to find that right fit for you because we've listened to you, we heard you, and more importantly, we care. We're passionate about this. We, if we're not doing our job, if we're not out there hustling to make your company better.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Well, and I would just say this if you're a hiring authority or a candidate who's totally sick of, you know, totally sick of recruiters acting in some of the ways that we described, because you know, you've seen it. You've been out, if you've been out there, if you're if you're a hiring authority or a candidate, you know what we're talking about. But if you're actually looking for a partner, if you're actually looking for uh a person who's going to listen and not waste your time, then reach out because that is how we operate.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

We will and we partner, we partner with candidates and we partner with clients. Everybody's, they're all our client, right? And so when we talk about only one of them pays us, though. Yeah, we when we're talking about doing unto others as they do unto us, right? We talk about relate, we talk about long-term relationships. Ultimately, it can be the candidate that pays us. Why? Remember, remember one of our biggest companies, the same company you were just talking about earlier, about the about um, we I I always like calling him a quote unquote snot-nosed kid, right? We place this guy who is an assistant estimator um almost it's gotta be nine years ago now, at this at this at this company, and now he's the director of pre-construction, he's a vice president. We we changed that guy's life and we changed that company's trajectory with what we've done. I mean, we've literally done that. That's the value that we bring by listening.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

And and and that has only happened though because that company was willing to work with us in a way that was efficient. They were willing to take our calls at uh honestly all hours of the day or call us back and and to work with us in a way to where we're not gonna operate as just another, you know, little little recruiter on the side who's just sending you stuff. And and the companies that truly do partner with us and work in in this very simple way. If I have a candidate, I need you to answer your phone so we can have a conversation. The companies that have taken that step to work with us in that way have truly benefited the most. They're partners. We're an extension of their company. And with that company in particular, they sent you an email saying, hey, we should probably give you and Sean some ownership because we've placed every almost every key position in their company and are working on another one right now. And um it's been incredible to see their growth. And it's also been incredible to see here's a here is a an absolute perfect example of a company that has said, you know what, we're gonna work with Sean and John the way that they want us to work with them. And now look at them. Now look at them. They're expanding into new markets. We're we're making key hires for them, finding the key people to run offices, to get projects done on time and under budget. And it's really incredible. Now, not every relationship is going to be like that, but but it's possible. It's possible.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Well, the be and the beautiful thing is that they also they they call us because they know they they have our cell phone numbers. They we have their cell phone, we have their cell phone numbers. I did it again, but it does it doesn't matter if your phone's not ringing, it's dropping on the ground. I mean, it's just in incredible. Yeah, if it's not ringing, it's dropping on the ground. But but I mean, we've been we've been on the we've been on the road together, driving down, driving down the road, going, going out West River 80 miles an hour, and they're calling us up and they hey, we need somebody right now. We're we're we're we're desperate, we're over a barrel, right? This is what this is what we need, and we know that you provide what we need. That comes with building those relationships. That comes with having those conversations. And and with the candidates and with the companies, they don't always, the fruit doesn't always come immediately, right? We're like farmers, okay? We plant the seed, we ask the right questions, what kind of opportunity might may cause you to make a change. Six, eight, nine months, right now it might not be the right time, but six, eight, nine months later, they're gonna remember that conversation that we had with them and the questions that we asked them, and it's gonna it's it's that that seed is is sprouting. And hey, hey, I'm now now I'm ready. Now I'm ready to step out and make that and and make that change. But that's that's what's really, really cool. It's a people, it really is a people business. I people always ask me, they say, is AI gonna replace recruiting? Yeah, it's gonna replace bad recruiting. It's gonna replace bad recruiting. Now, AI, don't get me wrong, I'm not a hypocrite. I use AI. AI can make processes more efficient, can make processes more efficient. But when it gets involved in the people business, AI never works, never will work. Okay. Uh when you're dealing with people, when you're dealing in a people industry, which recruiting is the people industry, first and foremost, whether it be with recruiters, whether it be with candidates, whether it be with clients, AI will never replace a good headhunter. Never. Guarantee. Mark my words, it will never happen. It will never be replaced. But they will replace bad recruiters. They will replace recruiters that are unwilling to pick up the phone and have a conversation with the candidate. They will replace recruiters that all they do is sling is fling resumes because AI can fling resumes with the best of them, even better than we can, because AI can do it 24 hours a day. But they will never replace a partner recruiter that knows your business as well as you do, that knows what you're looking for because you've described it to them, and knows exactly what you need to make a change. AI will never replace that, ever. Mark my words. How do I follow that up? I don't know. You might have to ask uh your buddy Elon or somebody like that, you know. Elon Musk. If if I if I was if I was sitting across across from Elon Musk right now, telling me all about his AI robot that can recruit that can recruit, I'll say no, he can't. Maybe other, maybe other robots, but he can't recruit a human being because he can't ask. You can you train AI to ask the right questions? Absolutely, but you will never have an interaction with an AI person that knows truly what the human experience is like.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Yeah. You can say amen if you want. Amen. All right, man. Well, I mean, here's the thing. We're we're we're running out of a little bit of gas here. I mean, I'm really, really passionate about that. What else? I mean, as we as we come to a close of this of this third episode of of the uh built on solid rock, um, I mean, what what what would you like to say?

SPEAKER_01 19:32

I would just like to say if you're looking for a partner recruiting firm to reach out to or you're looking for uh to potentially come and work for us, we'd love to have a chat with you. Everything is confidential. And uh we're looking at growing, but we're gonna grow smart and we're gonna grow intentionally and we're gonna grow ethically. And and that goes to our candidates, our companies, and also uh future recruiters.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

So we're gonna grow because we add value. We add value to recruiters. Um, we add value to recruiters that have been part of whether they've been part of big corporate firms, we we add value to recruiters that are solo recruiters, we add value to we add value to all different types of recruiters because um we're we have the same growth mindset for recruiters and the same growth mindset uh for that we have for our candidates that we have for our clients. We have that same growth mindset that we want our recruiters to be truly better than us. And so we want to build into them and we want to feed them and we want to help them grow, not just to be great recruiters, but to be great husbands, wives, fathers, um sons, daughters, you know, community members, church members. We want we want them to grow totally as a as a whole person. We're truly concerned about that. We're truly concerned about our candidates. Our candidates are not inventory to us. Our candidates are human beings that are looking to make a change for the right reasons, and we can change their lives, just like the story you told about Charlotte. We can tell that story a hundred thousand different times. We can tell that story about the guy, about the guy that we relocated across the country because he wanted to be nearer to his um ailing parents. We can talk about we can talk about um that that person that no longer can physically go into work because of their because of a uh disability, but we got them a remote job because they're and they're still valuable, right? We we we talk about we talk about the companies that we've helped build from the ground up, entire new divisions, entire new offices built from the ground up, and that are having an impact on their communities. This is this is a this is more than just for us. It's it's it's it is a mission. Uh we are mission drip, we are mission-driven, and our mission is God-given. We find joy again. We lost it for a while there, but we find joy again in recruiting, don't, don't, don't you, Sean?

SPEAKER_01 21:59

I absolutely do. And I just uh would encourage encourage people to join the movement. Join the movement. Join the movement.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Whether you're a candidate that's looking for something better than what you have right now, whether you're a whether you're a company, a contractor, a accounting firm, a legal firm that needs really, really good talent, whether you're a recruiter that's frustrated with the with with where you're at right now and you want growth, whatever it is, you can call us, you can reach out to us, um, and and and and make that change. Because we want to build your career on solid rock. We want to build your career on solid rock. And that's the Build Your Solid Rock podcast for today. And uh, we really appreciate I re I appreciate you being here, appreciate you giving me feedback. I appreciate you appreciating me. Well, I appreciate you appreciating me appreciating you on this podcast. Amen. Amen. All right, we're good.