hi this is pat :) thanks for reading
Woke up this morning feeling immense gratitude for the opportunity my boss and CEO, Rachel Saks, gave me almost five year ago (!), back in the summer of 2017.
Hoping to share some thoughts on my mindset as a recruiter.
As an agency recruiter, self-doubt creeps in when I feel like a gate keeper without the keys. Setting up interviews for clients and candidates, a middle man relaying messages.
When I’m able to expel self-doubt (about how I’m not the one building apps or shipping products), I come back to the realization that recruiting is a levered play on one of our greatest assets: our networks.
The fun part of recruiting is matchmaking, helping our clients find awesome/kind/driven candidates. There’s a huge rush of positive energy when someone trusts the opportunity you’ve laid out in front of them. Watching friends set out on new adventures and crush it is amazing.
I think bottom line I just love connecting people, whether that’s in the Salesforce ecosystem, Seattle homies with college buds, on the soccer field or basketball court, Houston fam with friends of friends, at the poker table, on a chairlift, etc.
Good recruiters make placements, great recruiters build networks. An even greater joy than one-off placements is building out those relationships with candidates in our networks that, over time, become the hiring managers looking to build out their own team… our clients. There’s definitely a heightened level of synergy with our clients when we helped them get their foot in the door as a candidate maybe a couple years prior.
Building a network takes time, energy, and trust. Recruiting is sales, marketing, and customer success rolled up into one. Referrals will always be the secret sauce for anyone looking to build a network of trusted partners.
Quick soap box / some basic advice for folks looking to level up their agency recruiting skills aka networking… pick up the phone. Take the call after business hours. Talk shop with someone repping their company hoodie. Ask questions about new products or funding rounds or team structures. Be honest about what you’re seeing in the market. Your best ability is availability.
You may have noticed that I mostly post contract opportunities on LinkedIn. There are some obvious benefits of being a salaried, full-time employee. But on the flip side, contracting opens the door to some badass projects with our best clients. Prior to covid and even more so now, we’ve seen tremendous growth of candidates in our network setting up their own LLCs and running their own Salesforce contracting shops, with Hireforce as their broker.
We have open roles with SaaS clients, Fortune 500 clients, pre-IPO tech startup clients (contract-to-hire 🤝), highly recognized Salesforce partner clients, non-profit clients, you name it. If you’re looking to dabble in Salesforce contracting, whether that’s a 40 hour/week, 2 year project or part-time month by month work, let’s chat. Contracting is a great way to build out your network.
If you’ve ever been confused about one or more of my posts on LinkedIn, hope this helps. I set out a goal to journal and write more long form posts this year. Lmk what you think, feedback is a gift 💜