Welcome to The Fordyce Letter:

The Fordyce Letter

Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Michael Gionta

Michael Gionta (mike@theRecruiterU.com) is sought out by owners of recruiting firms, both solos and offices with recruiters, who are frustrated; passionately wanting more from their business. Bonus Tip: To enroll for FREE in his seven part audio series, "The 7 Deadly Sins MOST Recruiting Firm Owners Make That Cost Them Tens of Thousands in Lost Profits & HIGH Turnover… & How to Avoid Them!" visit TheRecruiterU.com. This will give you more ideas on planning and running your recruiting firm especially in a tight economy. You can also visit his blog at TheRecruiterCampus.com for free articles on managing your recruiting firm. Your first module will be emailed instantly and you will learn strategies you can implement immediately to build a search firm generating several million in revenue from some of the simple mistakes made and witnessed by Gionta in his 20 years building his own multi-million dollar firm.

Articles by Michael Gionta

How-To, Motivation

Stand Up to Work For Your Good Health

by on Apr. 18, 2013


Mike Gionta

When it comes to success in the recruiting business, most of us KNOW what we need to do. We simply choose not to do it. We know the path to higher billings is using our working hours to connect with more prospects, clients and candidates. We KNOW checking email incessantly, updating our fantasy baseball team at 11 am, etc. detracts from our productivity significantly, and ultimately costs us money in lost commissions.

If we KNOW more client and candidate contact will increase billings, then why do we consciously choose to not do them in the quantity and at the time we know they need to be done? Because the rewards from our activity (placements and commissions) are off in the future, while the pain of planning, prospecting, and rejection are in the present.

As humans, it has been proven we are more likely to avoid pain than seek pleasure. We are all guilty of this behavior to one degree or another. One of the things I do is help my recruiting firm owner clients on strategies to get past this for both themselves and their recruiters. Once one implements some new tactics the results are sharp increases in productivity and revenue.

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Business, Fees

Trends You Can’t Afford To Ignore

by on Oct. 25, 2012


Mike Gionta

The recruiting industry is growing and evolving, yet I see many recruiters with their head buried in the sand! In all honesty much of the structure of recruiting firms now mirrors the “look and feel” of a firm in 1975. Sure we have added PC’s, job boards, LinkedIn, etc., yet most still use the same tired structure, and processes as the industry used decades ago.

On the other hand, I have seen some recruiters go 180 degrees the other way by attempting to do all their business via email, job boards, and LinkedIn without really trying to build deep personal relationships with their clients and candidates.

So where is the industry going? What are the trends that are showing that they will alter the way we do business? These are questions I asked a while ago at my closed door retreat and mastermind meeting with 16 of my platinum coaching members.

Because I had recruiting firm owners representing three countries, 10 different states, and multiple industry disciplines the emerging trends and strategies came from multiple perspectives.

Here are just a few of the trends and ideas that emerged:

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Motivation

Fear + Doubt + Worry = Your Personal Slave Drivers

by on Aug. 31, 2012


"If not now, when?" handwritten with white chalk on a blackboard

A while back I received an email with the same title from David Neagle, a wealth and mindset coach whose products and services I have invested in frequently. That title made me stop and read more.

David’s column was more on “manifesting” things in our lives. While I fully believe that when we focus on having things in our lives the way we want them we significantly increase the likelihood that we will get them, this is not what struck me about the article. What struck me big time was the title. Why?

Despite the incredibly strong recovery we have seen as an industry, many recruiting firm owners are still letting fear, doubt, and worry run their business. These slave drivers that we wake up with, take to our offices, and then take home again at night are three of the biggest reasons some owners haven’t yet “dove back into the pool” to grow their businesses. They think the pool is empty or still very shallow.

At some level this is understandable. Most recruiting firm owners never experienced business deterioration as deep and rapid as we did in 2008 and 2009. However, it is time to stop looking in the rear view mirror!

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Business Development, How-To

If What You’re Doing Doesn’t Work, Try the Opposite

by on Jul. 19, 2012


opposites fish

When I opened my firm in 1990, well, I kinda — no I did — SUCK!

In my first year in this business I only cashed in $23,000 personally. Even if you adjust for inflation, maybe if you’re kind, we come up with $50,000 in today’s dollars. I did everything the wrong way — client development, time management, prepping, closing, training, leading, etc.

I remember struggling and watching one of my favorite shows in the 90’s, Seinfeld. In one episode, George was so frustrated with the way his life had unfolded that he figured most of the decisions he made along the way were wrong. He surmised that if most of his decisions were wrong, then the opposite of those decisions was probably correct. The show was hysterical in that it laid out a few scenarios where he did the opposite of what he usually did — and got much better results.

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Staffing

5 Strategies for Getting Your New Recruiters Ramped Up Quickly & Productively

by on Mar. 13, 2012


fordyce-default

This article is the third and final in a series of confessions of how I really messed up in growing my recruiting firm when I first opened in 1990 and for the first few years of its operation. (You can see the January 2012 and February 2012 issues of the Fordyce Letter for parts 1 and 2.)

The key lesson in all these articles is to learn from your mistakes and failures, take improved action, screw those up … repeat! I have learned that while there are many smart recruiting firm owners out there, the most successful tend to be those who persist.  Persistence, while simultaneously learning from failures, is the most common trait amongst the most successful owners. I have been fortunate to interview many over the years and there are almost always stories of near-bankruptcies in many of their stories. My story is one of them.

I survived my first few years in the business making a living just by making my own placements. Any revenue brought by recruiters I hired was fairly random and unpredictable. Those recruiters I hired who were successful — there were not many — succeeded in spite of me, NOT because of me! However, I made some necessary changes, learned from numerous errors, and built a firm that generated several million dollars without me making any placements.

I shared many of these lessons in the first two articles and now will share what to do after you have made a successful offer to your new recruiter. 

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For Managers

Why You Should Be Seriously Thinking About Succession Planning NOW , Part II

by on Jan. 20, 2012


keys

The KEY to Growing a Great Business That Commands Top Dollar When You are Ready To Leave…. Even if Your Time Horizon is 10 or More Years Out

Last week I wrote about what many believe to be the first step in a successful exit plan from this business. That step requires you to have a clear vision for yourself as to a) “what’s next?” in your life and b) how much money you have to have put away to finance that lifestyle.

As I stated last week, the absolute best time to begin an exit plan is five, ten, or more years before you plan on leaving the business. Why? Because it takes time to put in place and then master the right systems and strategies to maximize your firm’s valuation. The more systematic your recruiting business, the more likely you will sell it for the highest amount possible.

What if you are not sure you EVER want to leave the business? Keep reading. Here is what I discovered in building a firm with the objective of maximizing its value to a buyer:

The way to grow a great business is to set it up as if you wanted to sell it. 

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For Managers

Why You Should be Seriously Thinking About Succession Planning NOW — Even if Your Time Horizon is 10 or More Years Out!

by on Jan. 13, 2012


keys

Most of us dream of the string of days where we won’t have to deal with clients and candidates ever again. The day where we sell our firm for millions, buy a small yacht, and tour the Caribbean.

The problem is that most recruiting firm owners are ill-prepared for anything close to this reality for several reasons. In this two-part article I hope to share some insights to help you prepare an exit strategy for your business even if your time horizon to leave this business is a decade or more out.

As a matter of fact, the longer your time horizon the better off you are simply because you have time to implement the right systems and structure into your business that will make it the most attractive to a potential buyer. Additionally, you have time to really do some introspection on what life will be like after you leave your firm.

In part one of the series, I will tackle helping you define the next steps AFTER you transition out of this business, and in part 2, next week, I will outline the things you can do NOW to begin to maximize value of your firm and some ideas on structuring the deal.

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The Business of Recruiting

The Attitude of Gratitude and How It Can Lead You to Prosperity!

by on Nov. 23, 2011


gratitude

One thing you should be truly excited about is the possibilities for having an outstanding business in 2012. The recruiting firm owners I have coached this year have seen increases in their business from 20% to 118% so far. Most owners I speak with are seeing a NICE surge in business. It even appears the recovery (for us as recruiters) is stronger now than coming out of the last recession in 2002.

I know you are reading this around Thanksgiving and we should all be grateful we survived and are poised for another large increase in our businesses the next few years. You see, gratitude is an attitude that attracts abundance.

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Entrepreneurship, The Business of Recruiting

Fear + Doubt + Worry = Your Personal Slave Drivers

by on Jun. 15, 2011


stress

I received an email with this title from David Neagle, a wealth and mindset coach whose products and services I have invested in frequently. That title REALLY made me stop and read more.

David’s column was more on “manifesting” things in our lives and while I fully believe that when we focus on having things in our lives the way we want them we significantly increase the likelihood that we will get them, this is not what struck me about the article. What struck me big time was the title. Why?

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For Managers, How-To

What You Focus On EXPANDS!

by on Feb. 21, 2011


focus

I was taught long ago that “whatever you focus on expands,” and I wish I could credit the teacher. You have probably all heard something similar in the past. In this article I am going to do my best to put this concept into practical terms for the recruiting industry.

Based on many conversations and my own personal observations, the recruiting industry is coming back nicely. Many of my clients had their best quarter, not in years, but EVER! Companies are beginning to re-invest in their growth and operations. However, some recruiters are still stuck in “fear” mode and are focusing on scarcity right now, still thinking the business is in recession mode.

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