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Fordyce Forum

Business Development, Fordyce Forum, Uncategorized

The Five Biggest Industry Threats: Guess Who Made the List?

by 12 days ago


Jonathan Thom
Jonathan Thom

Jonathan Thom

If there ever was any doubt about what are the biggest threats to independent recruiters and to the profession as a whole, Jonathon Thom straightened that out this morning.

Although he didn’t quite put it this way, he might as well have quoted Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

In his hour-long keynote here opening the second day of the 2013 Fordyce Forum, Thom listed the “Top 5  Threats Facing Staffing and Recruiting.” These are, he said:

  1. Inability to Innovate.
  2. Losing Your competitive advantage.
  3. Globalization and Consolidation.
  4. Poor leadership and communication.
  5. Regulatory nightmares.

Of the five, four are squarely in the lap of owners and agency leaders. Declared, Thom, vice president, professional staffing,Express Employment Professionals, “The post recession economy requires a different set of skills than we needed in the past… We need to be very fluid… We have to innovate and do a better job of communicating what we do not only with the clients we sell to, and the candidates, but with our own people.

“A very big piece of our future depends on changing and adapting.”

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Fordyce Forum, The Business of Recruiting

Follow These (Not So) Simple Rules and You Too Can Bill $1 Million While Always On Vacation

by 13 days ago


Jordan Rayboy
Jordan Rayboy

Jordan Rayboy

Million dollar biller and Pinnacle Society member Jordan Rayboy, founder of Rayboy Insider Search who may be even better known for building his 7-figure firm while traveling North America in an RV, shared his secrets for running a successful firm while taking weeks — 21 weeks last year — of vacation.

Rayboy, though, joked that he never  says he’s on vacation,since, as he said, “When you’re always on vacation you’re not on vacation.” Priming the audience during his general session this morning with pictures of some of the spectacular scenery at places he’s stayed, Rayboy confessed that when he works — and yes, he takes and makes calls when he’s “on vacation” — requires focus, commitment and hard work.

If takes 90% of your effort, Rayboy said, get to the point where you can play, even if you don’t take 23 days in Europe at one shot, or go camping in Canada’s national parks for six weeks at a time. Discipline is critical; Rayboy says it takes up to six hours on the phone, and three or more hours planning every day while building the business. Baking the cake, he called it, so that later, when the key accounts have been developed, the brand established, the staff trained, and the processes set in motion, you can eat that cake.

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Fordyce Forum

Fordyce Keynoter Counsels: “We Have to Become Headhunters Again”

by 13 days ago


DSC_0465

DSC_0468“We have to become headhunters again.” With that call to action, Greg Doersching opened the 2013 Fordyce Forum, telling a packed room during his morning keynote here in Dallas that business as usual isn’t the way to do business anymore.

The 10 jobs most in demand in 2010, Doersching observed, didn’t even exist a scant few years before. The Millennials now entering the workforce will have at least 10 jobs, and as many as 14, before they’re 38. “This is going to be the new norm,” he said.

Everything has to be  invented anew. But with the dramatic demographic changes now upon us — a loss of one-third of the workforce in barely 15 years — “We can’t just keep doing what we have been doing and expect it’s still going to work for us,” he said.

As he “unfogged the future” for the gathering of search firm owners and leaders, Doersching detailed four areas that, he said, “demand our attention”:

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Fordyce Forum, Motivation, The Business of Recruiting

Taking to Heart and Putting to Practice What I Learned At the Fordyce Forum

by 2 weeks ago


fordyce-default

Editor’s note: The 2013 edition of the Fordyce Forum opens in Dallas in two days. One of the great things about the Fordyce conference, besides the tips and techniques the pros share, the networking, and the advice and help you can get from those who’ve “been there, done that,” is the renewed sense of excitement and the motivation to put into practice what you hear and learn. That’s what Andrew Alexander wrote about in this timely post. If you want to know more about last year’s sessions, check the agenda here.

I am not a person who enjoys conferences, and to be even more transparent,  I feel inadequate after listening to success stories. More specifically, I begin to feel inept about my skill set and performance. There are a lot of accomplishments and wisdoms shared in conferences.

But what gets me shaking my head is how the experts are executing, and I am not.  “Man, I know half the stuff they are talking about, and I am still screwing this up.” Or, “(bunch of words not appropriate for print) why did I not think of that? It is so simple. Wake up!”

I’ll quickly flip-flop to excuse making:  “That won’t work in my market,” or a huge wave of “Yeah, buts…” In a nanosecond I’ll go from “I suck “to “I am doing it right in my space.” I suppose it’s a basic maneuver by my ego to salvage the ship it just torpedoed; it’s like living with my mom in my head really. I guess another reason why I don’t enjoy conferences is because the schizophrenic conversations are just exhausting and confusing. However, one thing is common for me year after year, I am not executing.

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Fordyce Forum

When Seeking Diversity Talent, Companies Often Turn to Search Firms

by on May 10, 2013


fordyce-default

Fordyce Forum 2013 logoNote: Larry A. Green is a a speaker at the upcoming Fordyce Forum 2013. His breakout, Diversity Is Good For Your Business, will show you how to connect with diversity candidates, and meet your client’s requirements that your candidate list be as inclusive and broad as possible. In this article, he offers insights to what you need from the hiring organization and what it should be looking for in a search firm committed to diversity. Register now at Fordyce Forum 2013.

Many organizations do a good job of diversity recruiting at the college and mid-management level, but often fall short when it comes to the senior management ranks. It is well-recognized that having women and people of color in the top spots will assist in your overall diversity recruiting efforts as well as in retention of diverse mid-managers and entry-level employees.

Dedication to attracting talented women and people of color who often are underrepresented at the senior management and board levels of many organizations has now become a priority.

Traditional recruiting methods used by internal recruiting departments, such as posting jobs and identifying individuals in similar positions may not yield the desired results when attempting to build an inclusive workforce. Thus, hiring organizations often turn to executive search firms, insisting on an inclusive candidate slate, but often are disappointed with the results.

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Fordyce Forum

Secrets To Becoming A Successful Niche Recruiter

by on May 8, 2013


fordyce-default

Fordyce Forum 2013 logoNote: Joe Ankus, a speaker at the upcoming Fordyce Forum 2013, will show you how to transition from generalist to niche special during his breakout presentation, “Top Five Secrets of the Niche Recruiter.” In this article, he offers a preview of his presentation. Register now at Fordyce Forum 2013.

Are you a generalist looking to narrow the scope of your practice? Are you ready to take on a more focused recruiting sector? Are you open to the possibility of being a true expert in a high demand market area? If you have said “Yes” to any of these questions, then I invite you to learn the top five secrets of the successful niche recruiter.

By way of brief background, I graduated law school in 1989 and followed the traditional attorney career path working at two of the nation’s largest law firms as an overpaid, hardworking corporate and litigation associate in both Philadelphia and Miami.

In truth, I loved the law but hated the daily grind; billing hours, reading boring documents, and arguing over the wording of a contract until I would pull the remaining hair out of my head.  As luck would have it, my phone rang (as all good recruiting stories start) and I was asked by a local recruiter if I wanted to consider joining another law firm. Without hesitation, I said “No. I want to be a recruiter like you” and my 20+ year career as a niche legal recruiter was born.

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Fordyce Forum

‘Unparalleled ROI’: What You Get At Fordyce Forum 2013

by on May 7, 2013


Barb Bruno at Fordyce

Fordyce Forum 2013 logoOne of the speakers at the upcoming Fordyce Forum 2013 called me last week to discuss his presentation. He wanted to make sure he was on track with the directives  conference chair Barb Bruno issued.

On a call with the speakers she told them in very specific, clear, and direct language that they must:

  • Provide value for every single person there.
  • Develop a workshop with participation. These are supposed to be interactive sessions.
  • Provide at least three solid “takeaways”; things participants can use on Monday that will give them a big ROI.
  • Be interesting. You want them to go away saying “I didn’t know that,” and “I can use that or do that.”
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Fordyce Forum, Jeff's On Call!

Secrets, Agreements and Fees Topped Jeff’s Consults at Fordyce

by on Jun. 12, 2012


Jeff Allen mug

If you just returned from the 2012 Fordyce Forum in Dallas, you might have to look in the mirror to recognize yourself.

That’s because you’re probably a different person than when you left. A little sharper, a little more positive, a little more confident.

Why is that? What makes this industry confab so very unique? Unlike any association, network or franchise event? There are three things:

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Fordyce Forum

Fordyce Forum Slides and Handouts Are Available

by on Jun. 12, 2012


Fordyce Forum 2012

If you missed this year’s Fordyce Forum, or you were there and now want to review a session or catch up on one you didn’t make, we’ve got the handouts and slides online. Find them here.

Not every speaker provided slides, but for those who did, we posted them adjacent to a description of their session. You won’t have to wait for them to download or get sent off to a different site. We embedded the material on the page. Simply click the link and everything will open immediately below.

Those of you who are merely curious, poke around on the slides to get a sample of what Forum goers learned. To get you started, here’s a little treasure hunt: For years, his office was an RV. He billed over a $1 million last year. During his session, he told his audience, “If it’s not a $500/hr activity, I shouldn’t be doing it.”

Now go find who said it, and what else he had to say about earning and billing big.

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Fordyce Forum

Fordyce Conference Ends With Focus on Personal and Business Development

by on Jun. 9, 2012


Forum group shot

What are you doing to develop your business?

If there was a theme to this morning’s Fordyce Forum presentations that might have been it. The final sessions of this last day of the best attended Forum since the start of the recession in 2008 all focused on practical advice for thriving as an owner or solo, rounding out the “hundreds of tips” that conference chair Barbara Bruno promised during her Thursday welcome.

Among those tips were these:

  • Track your placements. It’s wise business, and smart networking;
  • Do what the Big Billers do and plan tomorrow before leaving the office today;
  • Say thank you to clients, and candidates;
  • Stand out from the crowd;
  • Have a playbook of standards, so your team knows what’s expected.
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