Takeover Unfiltered

Brianna Rooney: All right. Welcome to our debut episode of talent takeover,

Taylor Bradley: Unfiltered.

Brianna Rooney: All right. So make sure you listen to the end for our broke to boss tip by Taylor Bradley here, which are super excited about she knows her. That's for sure. So today we are gonna debut with what's wrong with the recruiting industry. And let me tell you, we could spend hours doing this . So what we're gonna do is make this several episodes, but let's let, let's get to the nitty gritty here. Welcome to talent takeover

Taylor Bradley: Unfiltered.

Brianna Rooney: When it comes to working hard and keeping it real, we know our. Self-care happiness, inner peace and time. I'm Brianna Rooney. And this is Taylor Bradley. Hey y'all. And we have thrived in chaos and turned it into in art form. So, Taylor, what are we doing here today?

Taylor Bradley: We're here to give you a raw under the hood view of all things recruiting and finally give credit where credit is due to a long underrated industry. That's full of quote unquote experts.

Brianna Rooney: All right. Well then let's take this show to the road, Taylor, what's wrong with the recruiting industry?

Taylor Bradley: Well, to start, what is it? I mean, that's, that's a question that we get a lot. What is talent acquisition? What is recruiting? Um, I don't even think my dad still knows what I do for a living. So, um, really getting people to understand what recruiting is. There's a strategy to it. There's an art behind it. You know, it is a real job. I would say that that's obstacle. Number one that we typically face and recruiting are probably one of the biggest ones.

Brianna Rooney: Yeah. My parents definitely don't know what I do. I have any random Schmo saying, oh, recruiter. Um, can you find me a job at a grocery store? No, sorry. I can't. I'm a tech yeah, I don't get time for that.

Taylor Bradley: You're like, I'm a tech and I'm the millionaire recruiter. I cannot go find you a job, but I mean, that's, that's also kind of part of, one of the other things that's wrong with it is, you know, recruiting, you gotta educate yourself. So is really educating to understand what a recruiter does before you reach out to Brianna Rooney, the millionaire recruiter saying, can you help me get a job? Can you write my resume? Which we have services as we know that have that um, but Brianna herself would not be the one to do that.

Brianna Rooney: Yeah. I think the biggest thing is that companies still have not cared to learn what we do, which is insane to me because it is literally the most expensive function that any company does ever.

Taylor Bradley: Right. So

Brianna Rooney: What the hell?

Taylor Bradley: I just think that they're now, it's now getting post pandemic, right? It's getting, um, the respect that it deserves because it's become recruiting has changed completely the way you recruit the way you hire everything. So I feel like we're just now kind of getting the respect that we deserve, but even still, they don't understand how much goes into it. You know, I actually had a manager tell me what's the candidate experience and why should I care? and I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't even talk to you anymore. Like if you don't know and don't even see it's, it's, self-explanatory in my opinion. But also, um, it's the number one thing you should care about in our current market?

Brianna Rooney: Oh God. And don't get me a start on that. Cause that is a different episode candidate experience one and candidate driven market. It's all. Uh, but what's interesting to me is that companies are just, they're like, oh yeah, wait, you do your job. Okay. Well, you know, we have to work together. We have to set strategies. We have to put data behind this. Um, one of my favorite things is, Hey, how long does it, what's your fill rate again, another subject, but it's like, they don't know any of the answers to these questions. They don't realize how many resumes go into filling a role. They don't realize how much time they're hiring managers spending. I mean, I can go on and on. So right. I guess the, the whole question is it's like, what can we do first things first in order to educate the people in the recruiting industry?

Taylor Bradley: I think really just being religious about hiring manager, interview training, I think companies need to do that. I think that's got to be a priority for them is to make sure that they're hiring managers understand, um, you know, how to, how to factor the candidate experience into the interview process, what it means, the different ways that, you know, they represent their brand. Cuz that's huge too. EVP is employee value proposition is one of the main drivers for candidates, um, accepting offers at companies.

Brianna Rooney: First of all, thank you for saying an acronym that nobody knows and then defining it.

Taylor Bradley: you're welcome. because I saw the light die out of your eyes when I said EVP and I was like, and that's employee value proposition we love an undefined acronym over here.

Brianna Rooney: Yeah. So the recruiting industry and I would just say, um, talent acquisition alone, I think is a, uh, a word, a phrase, obviously it's two words, but um, it's difficult. Like what the hell is talent acquisition? Yeah. Uh, I've been a recruiter, sourcer. I love, uh, but a recruiter for 14 years at this point, but talent acquisition is its like own beast and there's so many things in it, but uh, I guess what is really important is to talk about is what can we do? Like, like what can we do again? We talk about educating them with the hiring manager training, but I'm also thinking that's not enough. There's way more things wrong with that. So where do we start?

Taylor Bradley: You go to their house and physically

Brianna Rooney: Assault them

Taylor Bradley: To get them to understand what we do. You will learn my job. No. Um, I just think it's gonna take educating them. And I also feel like we're in a position where we can say no to bad business and what one of the, I guess, factors of bad business is if they don't see value in what we do and also what they need to bring to the table as the hiring managers, you know, and the brand. When I think about some of the companies that wanna work with us who have not defined their brand at all, but then we have to go and compete against the Googles, the Facebooks or metas of the world and try to compete for the same talent when you don't have a defined brand or a robust careers. I mean, what am I selling?

Brianna Rooney: That brings me to a really good point is that recruiters are the first face you see in the last face. You see, we are brand ambassadors yet. No one again, cares to define what their brand is to recruiters. How crazy is that? I think what's even more wild and thank you. Why diversity exists and why we're training people. There is no training in recruiting at all. No, yet the recruiters, the sourcers are the ones that are getting people's brands out. Yeah. So where's that script,

Taylor Bradley: Right? Well, and it's like, I feel like what used to be, um, not considered the most important step and recruiting has now become the most important and that's that initial reach out, right? Because candidates now have the opportunity to choose who they want to respond back to. They're getting hit up by everybody. And so it's gotta be a really captivating InMail, which as we all know, you're the queen of writing those and training people to write those, but it's gotta be something that makes, that gives them a competitive edge. And a lot of companies don't even give us that to work with. We kind of have to create it and craft it and make, make their offering or company more appealing than, you know, one of the fan companies, which is again, an art in itself that a recruiter can take, you know, six to eight bullets that they know about your company and sell it as if they work there. That's pretty incredible.

Brianna Rooney: Uh, that's actually amazing. So it, it's funny. The, I feel like, uh, my whole recruiting career and, and I know you, you hate the word sales.

Taylor Bradley: I do

Brianna Rooney: which is great because recruiting is definitely put into that sales industry. But what you just described is truly badass sales in order to take like what's your, uh, turn glitter to

Taylor Bradley: Take dirt and turn that to glitter.

Brianna Rooney: Thank you. I can never get that right. Yep. but we can literally take any brand. I mean, like I think about just even seed funded companies that have zero don't even have a website and they're like, um, excuse me, a recruiter. Can you please get people to work here? You don't have a website. Are you joking? like what? Okay, sure. You got it. You got it, dude.

Taylor Bradley: yeah, exactly. Well, and that's the other thing is having realistic expectations about what is doable and achievable in this market. You know, you can't still expect people to have their in the seat, you know, from eight to five in the office. And it's just not that way anymore. You have to be flexible. So I feel like a lot of companies too are like, oh, well people should wanna come work here. Like no, bro, nobody wants to come work there nobody wants to go in that office building, you know, like they don't. And so to me, it's, you've really got to take a look at the way that work has been done. And then the way the world is going, you cannot operate. You can't recruit, you can't do anything the way that you did 10 years ago.

Brianna Rooney: That is the hard part that's for sure. And that's again, yeah. Another episode.

Taylor Bradley: Well, and getting over that, will we do it that way? Because it's the way we've always done it. Yeah. It's like my skin crawls and I hear that I'm like,

Brianna Rooney: Ugh, don't, don't gimme the wrong chills. Uh, yeah. It's like sip, please sip this. Kool-Aid and I swear that it will all work out. You know, we're all promising the same thing, this big IPO and uh, you know, if you get the right VCs behind it, yeah. It can happen for you. But you know, it's most commonly it's like, they're just grinding for no reason. So yeah. Yeah. If they're not sipping the Kool in, there's an issue. Oh, how do you even find like, you know, hiring managers and recruiters, they don't ever see eye to eye the respect. There is so limited. Is this another episode? And can we talk about this?

Taylor Bradley: I mean, that's, that's a big one. I feel like, but I, I, if we could touch on it, but I definitely think it'll come up in a couple. Other of, uh, our episodes, it's kind of a theme.

Brianna Rooney: Yeah. And that's really sad. And that goes back to the hiring manager train. So if the hiring managers don't understand what we do and all that, it takes to do it, then there is no respect there. And that's the sad part.

Taylor Bradley: Right. They don't even take the time to get to know us and then not respect us, you know, it's going into it. They already, don't not that that's what we want, but going into it, they already don't respect us just because of the industry and the role we're in. Yeah.

Brianna Rooney: I, I talk a lot about, you could Google recruiters, recruiters are and yikes. They're. They're shady. They're the worst

Taylor Bradley: They ghost me. They, I mean, yeah, it's it's but I always think people have no idea how much we get ghosted to, by hiring managers who are paying us to work on their jobs. Yet they ghost us when we provide them resumes and can't get feedback. Every recruiter right now is like, yep. Facts. I know just nodding their head because these are the industry challenges. Those will not change.

Brianna Rooney: Yeah. And I think you get, you know, when you get higher up on the totem pole, this ladder that's just wicked. Uh, then they have like, you know, oh, well, my time is worth X. So like of course I can, you know, miss a meeting with you. Like, I can't tell you how many hiring managers missed recruiter meetings. Yep. Yikes. So then it's like, oh well, but you didn't hit my sourcing numbers. Yeah. Well you didn't show up for our meeting. Yeah. So I didn't think I was important

Taylor Bradley: Exactly. Uh, that happens to us all the time. As you know, we just had a situation a few weeks, weeks ago that it's like, you expect us to still do our job without the support we need from you or the feedback we need from you in order to be able to effectively do our jobs. And you know, that's what I know we could talk about forever too, but it's really hard when you're not given any feedback from hiring managers on knowing if you're going in the right direction. Um, is this person a culture fit because we are still learning in the beginning.

Brianna Rooney: That is true. I can't tell you how many times, like I would've loved to record a client that is like trying to tell me about their search and their troubles and stuff. And it's like, you know that that's illegal for you to tell me that. Right? Like it's illegal for you to say, so, um, I need a woman manager. Great. How big's your team? Mm. Five, five dudes. I go, why do you need a woman manager? Well, because I'm told I need to diversify

Taylor Bradley: Yeah.

Brianna Rooney: Oh.

Taylor Bradley: And the audacity to say that you're like, oh my God, I can't to a woman. Exactly. it's like, I can't, I can't. Or so they think true, but it's, it's like they, yeah. Mind blown. Some of the things that come out of people's mouth, those are the ones that I'm talking about that still think the ways you recruit 20 years ago, candidates are lucky to walk in this building. You know, they'd be lucky to sit in this lobby. It's like, no, they, no, no. You're lucky. There's even any cars in the parking lot.

Taylor Bradley: So, yeah. And definitely going back to, they haven't cared to learn what we do. I think anytime that we're brought in, right, it's usually by senior level leadership, sometimes that's the CEO most of the time it is, but they're also usually our hiring managers. And so they bring us in and they really don't bother to understand the process and make themselves available. Even though they know they're spending the money and I'm like, make it make sense. You're literally wasting money because obviously it's gonna take us so much longer to fill these jobs if you're not engaging in the process. And if they don't make it a priority with their organization, we're spending the money to bring these people in so that they can help us get these hires. You make recruiting a priority. And that's a big one to me too, when it comes to really understanding and valuing what we do and making sure they're engaging with us, it starts from the top down.

Brianna Rooney: Oh yeah. That, I mean that that's with anything for sure. But so, you know, I've, I've been agency, which is contingency recruiting, so it's like I can, you know, pick and choose my clients for sure. So there'll be times like, in my opinion, if you're not getting back 24 to 48 hours on a resume, this isn't real for you. And since I get to come and go, as I please, I move on and what they don't realize is that if someone, you know, is a week off, that means that was probably about two to three weeks off timeline on pipe. Yep. So yeah. That's like its own other can of worm. So it's that, that's why it's like, if they knew what we did and they knew what is required to do, fill the top of funnel, how many resumes, all of those things, when we talk about being data driven. Yeah.

Taylor Bradley: Um,

Brianna Rooney: They wouldn't be like that. Like they would understand that you don't just, you know, flip a, switch, a light switch and be like, oh, and um, well, here we go. It's time to hire again. Yeah. It's like, no, no one's waiting for you. Yep. Why

Taylor Bradley: Would they? Absolutely. Well, and the data thing is so huge because if they don't know, you know, where their numbers are currently, like for example, time to hire, right. If they have no idea that it takes, you know, Joe Smith and the accounting department, six months to hire, they have no idea the candidate pool, like how, what they're losing out on the talent that they're losing out on. Um, and so really providing people, data on their recruitment process and various points I think is so powerful so that they also know how it's improving. Right. You wanna see what your money is doing? The ROI.

Brianna Rooney: Yeah. You know, what's ING. All they have to do is think about, okay, how many messages do I get in LinkedIn alone to switch jobs? If they would even just have that minor reflection? Oh, I get like 25 messages to move jobs and they would realize, wow, it takes a lot of messages. It takes a good subject line taste, a good InMail. I will never forget when a client boxed at my fees and was like, well, can a monkey do your job? Woo. The mother, me, the mother, or, yep. And uh, I feel like that's what we should end at because yeah, you a.

Taylor Bradley: oh, wow.

Brianna Rooney: Uh, I remember that day for sure. I will never forget it. And that was a moment. I was like, oh, we're gonna change this industry because guess what? We matter without us, you don't hire.

Taylor Bradley: Yeah. If you don't know now, you know,

Brianna Rooney: Now, you know, all right. Thank you all for listening. Um, trust me, we're not just gonna have fests all the time, but this one, I gotta tell you brings up a lot.

Taylor Bradley: you're welcome.

Brianna Rooney: So we are every Tuesday and what, what I says, we like to end with the broke to boss tip from Taylor, give it to us.

Taylor Bradley: Yeah. So make sure to manage your decision fatigue. And what that means for me specifically is I don't make any difficult decisions after 2:00 PM. I know when is my optimal focus time to really make effective decisions. And so make sure you manage your decision fatigue, whatever that looks like for you.

Brianna Rooney: Yeah, for sure. So we are both morning people, but I know that there's, that is not the norm sometimes. So if sometimes that might be a 5:00 PM. If you start your day at like 11, so just, you know, do what works for you. Right.

Taylor Bradley: Absolutely.

Brianna Rooney: Nice. All right. Well sounds good. We will definitely see you every Tuesday, talent takeover,

Taylor Bradley: Unfiltered.