Chief Change Officer - Canadian Bulldog Holly Bond: Transforming Headhunting from Dollar Deals to Human Connections

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

What words would you use to describe a recruiter? Holly asked this question to a focus group before she started Facet. She said, “bloodsucker, selfish, high commission. You name it. They were just not good. Someone even compared recruiters to canned goods in a pantry. They said recruiters will reach into the back, grab an old can of beans, dust it off, present it to the client, and if the client doesn’t want it, they put it back and you never hear from them again.” In this episode, Holly shares how her prior experience as a recruiter helped her transform the headhunting business from a transaction mindset to a people-first platform—bringing back humanity to one of the most human-centric businesses. Episode Breakdown: 01:25—Full Circle: Holly’s return to recruiting and her plans to do it differently this time. 05:40—Recruitment Woes: Putting a price tag on tears? The absurdity of valuing deeply personal moments in headhunting. 07:33—Focus Group Fiasco: Holly’s hilarious and grim findings from focus groups, where recruiters were compared to bloodsuckers and old cans of beans in a dusty pantry. 09:27—Life-Changing Calls: Recruiters can flip your world like a pinball game! One call can turn a dull job into a dream career. Holly shares how making interviews fun can change lives. 11:33—Sharp Eyes for Talent: Recruiter’s superpower in spotting potential. Holly’s story of convincing a woman in her 60s she’s perfect for a role, proving age is just a number. 14:32—AI’s Blind Spot: AI can’t spot empathy and creativity in cross-industry talents. Holly explains how AI would have missed her entirely—she’s not even in the data pool! 20:16—Million-Dollar Career Advice: Holly’s top tips for job seekers—be authentic, build real connections, and network like it’s your job. Reciprocity is core to every relationship. 30:36—Bonus: Podcast Therapy. Holly shares why being interviewed here is a therapeutic experience.  Connect with Us: Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Holly Bond Chief Change Officer: Make Change Ambitiously. A Modernist Community for Growth Progressives World's Number One Career Podcast Top 1: US, CA, MX, IE, HU, AT, CH, FI Top 10: GB, FR, SE, DE, TR, IT, ES Top 10: IN, JP, SG, AU  1.3 Million+ Streams 50+ Countries

Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. We are a modernist community for progressive minds around the world. I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. In the last episode, part one, we heard Holly's story of being a mother of two and taking 17 years to earn her college degree, all while starting and building a successful fitness franchise business. Now in part two, Holly will share with us why she decided to re-enter the recruitment industry. This time she is the boss heading up a headhunting business. She will tell us about her human-first approach to serving not only her corporate clients,

but also the candidates themselves. She will also offer valuable down-to-earth advice to job seekers. Holly, you've come full circle. down-to-earth advice to job seekers. Holly, you've come full circle. You started as a recruiter, went through numerous transformations and challenges, and now you're back in recruiting. This time though, you're doing it your way. What made you decide to return to recruiting, and how do you want it to be different this time? Yeah, when I talked to my friends, when I told them that I was going to do this, they all were shocked and they all laughed at me because I was a recruiter 20 years ago and there was elements that I really liked about it, but there was a lot that I didn't, and I left.

And I left because in recruiting, we're dealing with people, people with families, people with emotions, and people are complex, right? At the end of the day, what we always have to remember as recruiters, people are very complex. And the parent company of my company is Royer Thompson. And Royer Thompson's been around almost 30 years. And Kim West is the president of Royer Thompson. And about seven years ago, she bought the company and she rebranded it. She breathed a new, more innovative breath into it. And they're spectacular. The process is very filled with empathy and curiosity. And I've known Kim for years. And Kim came to me and asked me if I would open a new division

of Royer Thompson, open a new, basically a new company. Royer Thompson does the C-suite, board, and academia. And when they were successfully conducting the searches, they would inevitably be asked to work on other searches, executive directors, senior managers. So that intermediate manager to more of a VP role. So we play in that space. And when she came and asked me, I said no. And I actually said no for almost two years because I remembered what it was like when I was a recruiter before. And many recruitment companies work almost like real estate agents here in Canada, where they're paid 100% commission. So recruiters, not only do they go out and get the business, so they have to

find the client. And when they find the client, that doesn't mean the client's going to give them a search. So they find the client and they have to network and build that. When they do get a search, they place candidates and then they send the invoice and they probably get 50 to 60% of that invoice, whatever the company allows them to get. So it's very commission-based and you can make a lot of money. When I did it 20 years ago, when I was leaving, I was making a lot of money. It's very compelling, right? And the more you do it, the more network you have, the bigger network is, and the easier it is to do the searches. I remember one day I was in my office speaking to this man.

He was, I remember it exactly. He was 42 years old. He did not have his degree. And at that time, I did not have my degree. I was close, but He was 42 years old. He did not have his degree. And at that time, I did not have my degree. I was close, but I didn't have it. And he didn't have his degree. And he was working with his company for over 20 years and he was let go. They did a restructuring and he was let go. He had a wife and a daughter. And every morning they would go off to school and work. He had been traveling 80% of the time for his work. So he was getting depressed and anxious, and he was frozen.

He was frozen, like in a panic. He didn't know what to do. He's in my office, and he gets very emotional. And then I talked to him about how to find a job. I was going through all the steps. This is what you're going to do. And he was leaving, and he said, I feel so much better. Thank you so much. He said, but I know tomorrow morning I'm going to feel like rubbish.

It's this wave of panic I can't explain. And I said, then you call me every morning for 10 minutes. We will go over what you're going to do that day. And he called me every day for 10 minutes. And he ended up getting three job offers, none from me or my firm, but he had three job offers and he wrote the president of my company and said how much I helped him. However, he was in my office for an hour and a half and the comment from one of my teammates was, this is non-revenue generating time that you just spent. And when those words were uttered, I realized I was in the wrong place because how can you possibly assign a dollar value to sitting in front of somebody while they're crying and they trust you so much that they're crying and they need your help. So I realized that wasn't the space for me. So fast forward a couple of years ago when Kim West comes to me and says, can you open a new division?

And I said, absolutely not. I never, no. I know recruiters have a bad reputation. And because they are commission-based, their focus is on pleasing the client, not the candidate. We had these conversations on and off. And then finally she said, what would it take? And I said, what it would take is for me to do it different. Hire people. I will not pay commission. We will hire people and pay them a wonderful salary. And we want them to do the job because they love helping people find the place that they need to be and that they put that time in and have the empathy and the curiosity. And they just do it because they love it. And so she said, okay, do that. For a lot of companies, this is what they want. And that's okay. I'm not saying the contingency recruiting is bad, but it's not for me. But what recruiters in contingency say is, Vince, I can find that person for you, but I'm going to charge you 22, 25% of first year salary. But if I don't find that person, you don't have to pay me. So you have nothing to lose Vince. Why wouldn't you use me?

But what that means internally to me as a recruiter, it means Vince, I'm going to look. And if I can't find something, somebody really quickly, if it's really complex, if it's hard and it's taking up all my time, I'm not going to do it because I'm not going to get the money because I'm on 100% commission, right? To me, it doesn't work when you're dealing with people. So I came on board. I did focus groups and Vince, everything that you can possibly imagine somebody saying about a recruiter was said in that focus group. So I had 25 to 50 year olds in a focus group. They answered anonymously the questions that we had. And so the first question was, what words would you use to describe a recruiter? And I knew it was going to be negative,

most of them, but I thought it was actually quite funny. Tragic, but the words that they were using, bloodsucker, just the worst words, selfish, high commission, you name it. It was, they were just not good. I had an analogy of somebody saying, a recruiter will, treats you like a canned good in a pantry. They will reach in the very back of the pantry and grab you like your old can of beans blow the dust wipe the dust off the top they will present that to the client and if the client doesn't want that can of beans they'll put it back in the very back of the pantry and you will never hear from them again and and i thought that was and when so when we started when i started the company i said okay

that's easy we won't do that that's OK, that's easy. We won't do that. That's very simple. That's easy. We'll treat candidates with the respect that they deserve. And we will answer them when they email. We will answer them when they call because they don't get answers, right? And so, yes. So we started FASIS. We launched it almost two years ago.

The folks group helped with the name. And then I hired my first employee. And we worked on the website together. Then we hired our director, and then all three of us were working on this. Now there's six of us, and we're going to be growing in the fall. We're doing work across Canada. Now we're moving in the United States, but in the search of coming up soon. We're doing it with empathy and caring for the people and their lives.

I'm constantly saying to the team, we are changing lives. So you could be sitting at your desk. You're not looking for a job. You're just existing. You're not living. You're just doing your job. And somebody calls you and you pick up the phone,

like happened to me. And that changed my life that day. That person called me and said, do you know anybody that would be good for the pulp and paper industry? What if I didn't get that call, Vince? What would I be doing right now? I don't even know.

It's like life is pinball game, right? Where you get hit off a bumper and then you're going in a different direction. That phone call, I hit a bumper and it went off in a completely different direction. And that's what we do for people. They, we send them an email or a phone call and we say, this is what we're thinking. What do you think? They're so excited they can't believe that this is even happening. And then they go through the interview process,

which we also make caring and lovely. And we hear that all the time. We hear, this has been so much fun. When do you go through an interview and someone says, this has been so much fun? Because it should be fun. And that's how you get to to know people and there's no AI tool that can make an interview fun and where you get people to drop their guards and open up that's when you know the real them and when you know them as a person and as a potential employee then and's genuine, then you know what would work best for your client. Because when you know your client, really, you go, oh my gosh, that is a perfect match. It's a little bit like matchmaking, right? So we're growing so rapidly. We're having so much fun. I love it. I love making that phone call and changing people's lives and telling people

that push back. Like when you called me, when you sent me a message, Vince, and you said, you should be on my podcast. And I said, oh, I don't have anything to say that anybody would listen to. And you came back to me again. And I said, I don't think I'm the person that should be on your podcast. And you said, yes, that's what we do the same. We say, what about this opportunity? And they say, I don't have this and this. I don't know. You get them excited and then you hold their hand and you take that next step together. And I think that's what I love about it.

Wow. Based on what you just said, it sounds like I could be a perfect headhunter myself. Although I have to admit, I haven't had any pleasant experiences with headhunters in my life so far. Yes, you would. Are you looking for a job? We can surely talk about this offline. Assigned from that, I believe a host, a headhunter, and a CEO are no different. We have a certain kind of superpower in seeing the potential in a person before they see it themselves or believe in it themselves. Don't you agree? Yes. The other day, I said I had this incredible rule. I, the first person that popped into my head, I thought, oh my goodness, she would be perfect.

I sent her a text message. I've known her many years. I said, take a look at this. And she looked at it and she texted me back and she said, I think I might know a couple of people to connect you with. And I said, no, no, you, this, I want you to talk to me about this rule. And she said, me? And I said, yes, read it again. You could do this. And she called me and she goes, oh my gosh, I can, I could do it. She said, but I'm in my sixties. And I said, nobody cares. I don't care. We don't

care. Age is a number. You're so wise. You've done this job a million times. You can do it. But she was hung up because she's in her early 60s. And I wanted to tell people, that doesn't matter. That's when you're just, you have so much mind share of what you're working on. And those are the people that I just love it. To find people that haven't really pictured themselves in that role, and then to tell them the reasons why they should. Just a few weeks ago, I released an episode where I talked to a good friend of mine, Mary Shea,

who is now partnering with an AI-driven HR tech company. They help corporate recruiters and executive search firms locate desirable candidates, not just for transactional positions, but also for unique senior opportunities. In that interview, Mary explained how the technology works. I also shared my experience at age of 51 having job interview with some corporate recruiters that felt completely dehumanized. We discussed how AI might make the experience

more personalized for experienced workers. Anyone interested can check out episode 4 in season 2. But back to you Holly, you're very much a people person, human-centric in your view. Not to ask you to be an oracle, but I would to know, in your opinion, how might AI technology add value to your process of searching for the right candidates? On top of that, what do you think is the competitive advantage of you as a human recruiter that AI cannot replace? Yes, and that, of course, is the hottest topic, I think, in every sector and every organization. And certainly with this one,

and both Royer Thompson and Facet, we are very aligned. I think if you're doing mass recruiting, I think that AI would be extremely helpful. So if you're, for many reasons, but I, for example, if you're opening a new Walmart

in a new city, I think AI would help you immensely if you have to hire hundreds of people. I really do. And I think AI, we are using AI. At Facet, we are not built for speed. We have a process and it works

and we go through that process. So each of our searches take about 10 weeks and we go through that process. So each of our searches take about 10 weeks and we have it down perfectly. But there are places in those phases, so it's four phases that we go through, and there are certainly times where AI will help us, especially help us not miss anything, help us become more efficient. Every month we have an efficiency meeting and we always talk about AI. So with LinkedIn Recruiter, for example, that uses AI. We will use that to help source candidates and add to our pool. You've received this, Vince, where you get a message on your LinkedIn inbox and it goes, hi, comma, and then it'll have

somebody asking you if you're interested in a job. and they've sent it out to 3,000 people. That's not us. We will never do that. We will never use the LinkedIn AI tool to have a template to send the same message to people. We will look at their background, and it does make it slower, but we're okay with that because, again, we're dealing with people. So we will look at their LinkedIn profile or their resume, and we will send a message to them, not a template. We will say, hey, I see that you're over in Prince Edward Island or you're in Toronto. I see that this is happening or we will make sure that when they read it, they know an AI bot has not sent them a message. We need

them to know that. The beginning of the search starts with caring and curiosity. And an AI bot doesn't have either one of those things. Where AI is really helpful is when you're interviewing 20 people, 30 people for a role, and it'll help transcribe your thoughts and put it into a very, and very quickly. And they will, it'll do that in a succinct way where you can, when you go to your client for the shortlist meeting, you say, these are the five candidates. Here's the resume. And here is a succinct and concise description of them

and their qualities and their characteristics and why they, you know, we always say, you know, we're looking for these four legs of the stool. They need to have these four things. So what is it that they have? But AI tools can really help with that. And it makes us more efficient. But AI doesn't have, and I'm not against AI.

I use chat GPT all the time. But it doesn't have empathy and emotional intelligence. So if I, and I always think back to myself, I didn't have my degree. It never stopped me from being headhunted. It never stopped me from doing any job. I was a headhunter and didn't have my degree. And I would have slipped through the cracks. You need to have a human eye. And if you only use AI to source individuals, you are going to miss some of the most incredibly talented people for this role. So we understand and respond to emotions, right? And we have years of nuanced understanding. So we have this intuition that has developed as we have those trips around the sun. But AI relies on data patterns, and they will miss that. There's also so many gray areas. Human beings are meant to navigate complex dilemmas and work in the gray

area, but an AI can't. When I look at a role, when we, I shouldn't say I, when we look at a role, we will say, what adjacent careers would this person have had that, and I'm going to use think outside the box, like thinking outside the box, where else could this person be? Instead of we're looking for a senior director of finance, where else could they be? Senior director of marketing in the ocean tech sector, but where else could they be? Could Director of Marketing in the ocean tech sector. But where else could they be? Could they be in the agricultural sector? Thinking outside the box and offering creative solutions that go beyond any algorithms.

And then, to me, the reason why you get into recruiting, or the reason why you get into doing podcasts like yours, is the personal connection. Building a personal relationship is uniquely human. You can inspire people. You can transform people. You can change the trajectory of their life because you care that AI cannot. So AI to me and to my group, it should be used to make us more efficient so that we can spend more time on personal connection. That's what we're using AI for. More time with people.

And you have to be a job seeker in an AI-driven market, right? So you need to know how to balance both now. Now, you've just brought up the final question of the day. Job seekers, whether they like it or not, have to navigate an AI-driven recruitment market. Personally, I still believe in the creativity, the human creativity you mentioned, as well as the human elements that make someone stand out as a desirable candidate. But not every recruiter is like you, and not every firm has policies and approaches like yours. So if you could give advice to job seekers, regardless of age or culture, what would it be? Especially for those in their late 40s, 50s, or even 60s,

who might have been in one industry for a long time, but whose skills and experiences could be applicable across different sectors. For candidates seeking changes and new opportunities, how can they position themselves better and stronger for this new norm? It's really back when I was a recruiter, I would put a job in the paper and then come into work in the morning and I'd have resumes on the fax, like people would fax their resumes in. It's so funny how things have changed, isn't it? Half the people listening don't even know what a fax machine is. I think it's so funny. So one of the things that we do at Fastest is building your network. It doesn't matter where

you are in the world. It doesn't matter who you are, your personal connections are invaluable. There's the old-fashioned, I always think the middle-aged white man standing with your suit and tie and your drink and that kind of networking. Younger people don't want that anymore. I don't want that anymore. And those men don't want it anymore. So we have networking events that we've created where people, A, learn how to network, especially through COVID. Those skills have declined. And younger people who went to university and graduated through COVID, they didn't really learn how to do that. So showing them that networking is an art form and that it's an easy one, but it's an art form.

And it's something that you need to devote time every week to and do it in a genuine way. Because personal connections, they are invaluable. You have to attend, what is your favorite industry? Attend those industry events. Go to the webinars. Put your camera on. Networking groups to build those relationships

and get insights into the job opportunities. Vince, I can't tell you how many times I am working with a client. They tell me the strategy. And in that strategy, they will say, next year, we're going to hire this role, this role. And so I know these organizations and what they're going to be looking for. When I'm talking to somebody, I can say, oh my gosh, you know what? Next year, this person is exactly who they're looking for. And I will contact my client and I'll say, look, I know that you don't have the job right now, but I have somebody that is perfect for the culture of your organization. You would love them. Can I make the introduction? And they do. And then they offer them a job that they've created a year early. So not all jobs are posted.

And when you, this is going to sound a little bit out there, but I do believe that we are on a journey. And when you put it out there, the universe will conspire to get you what you want. If I want to move into another kind of sector, then I will attend those industry events. I will talk to people. I will think about it. I will read about it. And I will tell people, look, I'm looking for a job in this industry. Do you know any roles? And then you have informational interviews.

Could I have 20 minutes of your time just to learn about you? Everybody loves talking about themselves. Tell me about you and your journey. And then after you're done, do you know two other people that you could introduce me to? And then they will. And then you keep, and that's how you network and you keep building it. And they will give you two people. And then you just know who they are next time you're at an event or, you know, embrace lifelong learning. In technology, AI, it just shows adaptability and a commitment to growth and make sure that you update your resume. I tell people when I hire people, and it's really funny because I see their faces when I say it.

The first day at the job, I go, okay, you know, the very first thing you need to do? And they say, no. I said, you need to get your resume and put it on your desktop. You have the job description now because I just hired you. And this is the job description. Update your resume. And they look at me like, do you want me to leave? I'm like, always have your resume on your desktop because when you have that big sale or you improve efficiency by 30% or whatever it is, go into your resume, make the change. And then it's always up to date. It's like a will. Your will should be up to date and so should your CV. But I had a resume the other day and at the bottom it said, last three books I read. And I thought, I really like that. I haven't seen that before.

It shows me what a little bit, it gives me a clue of what they're like. When it's leveraging AI wisely, Mary Shea, her podcast, will explain that. And there's other tools and resources. And I won't go into those. You need to be caught in, if they're going to do a Boolean search, if they're going to use an AI tool to capture resumes, you refine your resume and cover letter. And do the specifications that they're looking for. You know the keywords that are going to catch your resume and cover letter. But just make sure that they reflect your true personality and your experience.

And customize each application to the job and the company. Don't have one resume and just send it out. You're not going to get the job. Be authentic. I had a job that was posted. I'm done the interviews. I submitted my shortlist and I have eight incredible candidates. This person emailed me an hour before my shortlist meeting with the client.

And the shortlist meeting is very intense because they're asking you a ton of questions about the people that you've interviewed and you need to be on, you need to be really good. So an hour before I looked at my email and this person emailed me, she said, I know that you are probably finished the search and you've probably caught your client. And so I don't want to interrupt your process. And she was thinking of me when she was emailing, but I would really, this job speaks to me. And if they don't find the person in this go around, I would love to be considered. She didn't demand, she didn't call and leave a message on my machine. She just said this. And I said, can you talk right now? And I talked to her

for 15 minutes. She took the risk. She just put herself out there. And I said, can you talk right now? And I talked to her for 15 minutes. She took the risk. She just put herself out there. And I said, I'm going to put you forward. I don't even, I haven't even interviewed you. I don't even know you, but I get such a great sense from you. I'm going to put you on the list and tell them about my conversation and that I think that they should consider meeting you. And they are.

She's going to get an interview, even though it was really shut down. So it's putting yourself out there and going after. So if you see, you wouldn't believe how many times I say to people that are looking for jobs, I'll say, I've been here my entire life. I have not left the East Coast of Canada. And so my network is very deep and broad. And I will say to people, look, before you apply for a job, contact me. And just in case I know somebody there, because I can make a warm introduction. And very few people take me up on that. And I'm always, because they know me, they know I'm genuinely meaning this. Very few people do.

And I'm always curious as to why, because I'm happy to help them. So if you're going to apply for a job, go into LinkedIn, see who you know that's connected to anybody in the company, and go that route first. Find out, do research. Don't just apply for the job. Do your research first and get in and find somebody who knows somebody. Then work your way back from there. The most important thing, though, is to be genuine, whether you're writing a cover letter or interviewing, it's like any relationship. If I'm genuine and I'm telling you what I'm great at, what I love to do, what I'm not so great at, and what I don't really like to

do, and I'm telling you the honest truth, and the client is telling you the honest truth about their culture and how you can help them, and you're both telling each other, you're both being genuine, then you're going to develop a relationship based on honesty, just like any other relationship, any other human relationship. It'll be genuine and honest and it'll work. If you pretend that you know how to do something that you don't, if you are not genuine and honest, like any relationship, it's going to be rocky, right? And so I think it's that and networking. I can't stress it enough. The AI is out there, but it's not a person and people will help you and you just need to expand the network and have fun doing it and make it part of your daily weekly routine and you learn so much by having these conversations but you know what I

forgot one of the best things about networking one of the best things about having a very large network it's easier to help people right so it's not just networking so that you have numbers and they can help you with their career. It is when somebody calls me and they need whatever, it doesn't matter, like they want to start a business or they need a job or whatever the issue that they're having. My network is so broad now that I'm able to help people and not just myself, but help others and connect others.

And that's the best part about having that network. Absolutely. That is reciprocity, the core essence of building relationships, every kind of relationship. Holly, thank you so much for not only your time, but your honest sharing. A lot of posts I can create from your interview. So much information, really valuable information. Thank you so much. It has been such a pleasure speaking with you. And the questions that you asked me were, I just, I love them.

But it actually, it's almost like therapy, Vince. So you're asking me these questions that I don't talk about these things every day. I don't even think about them every day. But when you gave me a chance to reflect and I'm so happy about my path, like you've made me realize when I look back and see my path, I'm so happy with the journey that I've been on and where I'm at right now. And thank you for that. You've opened up my eyes to that. And I really appreciate you allowing me that. I feel honored to be on your show. And I felt honored when you sent me a message to be on your show, because I've listened to the podcast. Your guests are phenomenal. And I will continue to listen in the future. But it's so important. And your podcast is, it's different. I was on, I was listening to a podcast the other day. It was

like three people on a panel and I had to turn it off because everybody's talking over each other. And it was like, it was just frustrating to try to listen to. And yours are calming. And the questions, you're asking the right questions. The questions that if you ever listen to a talk show or an interview on the news, you're like, ask them this, ask them this, but they don't ask this. Oh, gender, because you- Yes, exactly. And even Oprah Winfrey, I'm like,

I asked them this question, why aren't you asking? But you ask the exact questions and they're talking. And then I'm like, what about this though? And then you ask that question, the next question. It's like, you're in my head. Yeah. I just love them. I've had interviews where I'm going through my career, but that's different. This is different. This is walking through my journey and talking about it in a very human centric and emotional way. And I just feel, I feel different. I feel so, it's like cathartic for me. I feel like I just had a therapy session and it made me stop and think about why did I do what I do? So thank you very much. That is the

value. That's the huge value for the people, your guests on your podcast is that you give them the opportunity to think about things that they're busy people. Everybody's busy, but they're busy doing what they're doing. But you give them an opportunity to reflect on why they're doing it. And that is an incredible gift. That's the gift that you're giving people, Vince. So thank you very much. Wow, this is truly amazing to get this kind of feedback from a guest on the spot during the show. I'm very, very grateful, Holly. Thank you so much. And for our listeners who've stayed with us to the end of the show, thank you so much for joining us today. If you like what you heard, don't forget, subscribe to our show, leave us top-rated reviews, check out our website, and follow me on social media. I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host.

Until next time, take care.