Your Next Move - Navigating a crowded marketplace

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

In this episode, Inc. staff reporter Ali Donaldson sits down with Nadine Motaweh, the managing partner of  Identified Talent Solutions, which ranked No. 3,138 on 2024 Inc. 5000 list. Identified Talent Solutions is a recruitment services and talent acquisition consulting firm spanning executive search, direct placement, and contract staffing. Nadine talks about the value of people in her organization, and how that relates to fast growth. She also stresses the importance of thinking on the fly, figuring things out as you go, staying productive, and embracing the chaos.

With the VentureX business card from Capital One, you earn unlimited double miles on every purchase. Plus, the VentureX business card has no preset spending limit, so your purchasing power can adapt to meet your business needs. Capital One, what's in your wallet? I'm Sarah Lynch, and you are listening to Your Next Move. Audio Edition, produced by Inc. and Capital One Business. For this season, we gathered a group of conversations with entrepreneurs who made last year's Inc. 5,000 list. They joined us in our Your Next Move booth at the Inc. 5,000 to share lessons learned and anecdotes from building their businesses.

In this episode, Inc. staff reporter, Allie Donaldson interviewed Nadine Matawa. She is the managing partner of identified talent solutions, ranked number 3,138 on the 2024 Inc.5,000. list. They are a recruitment services and talent acquisition consulting firm spanning executive search, direct placement, and contract staffing. Nadine told Allie about the value of people in her organization and how that relates to fast growth. I think that we truly consider ourselves to be a people-first company, and what we do is all about people. And so we like to work with good people, you know, when it comes to our clients, when it comes to our candidates. And so I think that energy and that vibe is infectious. And so, you know, people want to

work with good people. And that just kind of creates fostering good relationships. And I think that's kind of how things just happen. We've established really, really great relationships throughout our careers, all of us independently. Now that we are working together, people want to work with, with us. And when you think about that people first strategy, when you think about using, tapping into your network, has there been a single business decision or a strategy you think that has been an inflection point for the company? Yeah, that's a really good question. And I think that tends to shift and change as we grow and evolve and kind of mature as a company. But the one thing that's remained consistent and what's kind of been obvious with our

successes is that it's about us as people and what we can offer as a team. And so continuing to just stay true to who we are and kind of our strengths and what we do and making sure that that's always at the forefront of how we proceed and work with people, I think that's just been what makes sense to us. And I think as long as we continue to work with people who have similar values and work ethic that will be able to continue and maintain this culture. And what do you think some of those strengths have been? And have there been any other parts where you're like, okay, we maybe need to walk away from that. Maybe that's not our thing. Yeah, absolutely. And that's actually happened. We're working with a client. And we just, we realize, like, our morals don't align or, you know, it's just, it's not a fit. For example, we can't in good conscience place someone at a company where I wouldn't want to work there. And so we've just parted ways. That's definitely happened. And, you know, even though, like, in the moment, you're like, crap, like, we're losing business.

But at the same time, it's like, you know, in the long run, it works out for the best. And Nadine, talk to you about knowing when to walk away, knowing when that could be a conversation and maybe something could be improved on the client side and when you just know that's not going to happen. It's not a fit. Yeah. I mean, for us, what's important is that, you know, there are a lot of staffing agencies out there. A lot. It's a thing.

And so for us, like, we don't consider ourselves to be just a regular, you know, whatever, staff agency, we are a partner. And if as a company are looking for, you know, order takers and just, you know, here, go fill this position and don't want to communicate and have a back and forth, it's just not going to work. An example of that is that we actually, for a lot of our clients, we actually really embed ourselves within their organization. So for example, we're working with Rugable and we're on their Slack channels. We have email addresses with them. We have weekly TBs with hiring managers. So we're very, very embedded and involved in the process. And so it has to give and take in partnership. And that's where we find most of the successes. And that also allows us

to give significant discounts because we're more involved. But, you know, in the long run, it's just it's more business. So it's good business. What are the industries you all work with the most in terms of staffing? And then kind of even within that, what are the roles that are most in demand that folks are calling you and saying, I need this? So the roles that we love to work on are marketing and tech creative. That's kind of our, we love working on those. But we have worked on everything. I mean, we work on accounting roles. We work on HR roles. We've worked on some really random roles, too. What are the random ones? Yeah, that's a good question. So one of our clients is the Clippers, the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team. And in their new stadium, the Intuit Dome, they built

something called a wall. And it's for, you know, they're like super mega fans. And so they wanted someone who was called the director of the wall. And because the wall never, existed in any capacity anywhere. It was a new thing. Is it a computerized wall? No, but the convention center itself is very technical. And so there's a lot of kind of technical nuances that the super fans can engage with the crowd and with the social media and stuff. So they wanted someone kind of technical, but someone who ultimately would really kind of get the fans engaged and excited and hyped. And so it was a very specific kind of tailored role to the company and to, well, to, yeah, to the organization and to the dome itself.

And so we love roles like that because you have to be very specialized and kind of do a lot of digging and searching. But we found the person and it was awesome. And talk to me is about some of the digging, the searching. What are some of the most creative ways to find those people? So, of course, LinkedIn is where you're always going to start as a recruiter. But our business is very network-based. So anyone we talk to, it's always who do you know, you know, and can you refer me? And so that's really the best way to find people.

And Nadia, like you said, staffing is a really crowded industry. How do you think about how you all stand out and what have been some of your best marketing hacks? Good question. So last week, we actually hosted our first ever social networking event. And we partnered with Rivian on it. And they have this beautiful space in Laguna Beach. And it was an amazing partnership. We brought in some amazing panelists from Google and Rugable and Hope. Hogue Hospital and advertising agency or media agency called Movers and Shakers. So we were able to just have some big names and invited some really amazing people. And it was just, it was a fun time. And so it got our name out there, our brand out there. People were excited to kind of know who we were and what we do. And we walked away with some new clients and business.

So that was a fun, creative, new way to do it. I like that. I feel like I've heard that too, being in media from companies, like everyone's a media company now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. Exactly. Exactly. We're doing live events, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, exactly. We've never hosted an event. Like, we didn't know what we were doing. What was that process like of figuring it out for the first one? Because on one hand, you could think, oh, you can go too big. It can be too much of a cost suck. Yep. But you want it to be nice.

So it was definitely one of those things where we're just kind of hanging out talking. And Brian says, I want to really host this event at Rivian. And I know this guy at Rivian, let me talk to him. Next thing we know, we know, we have a meeting with Rivian. Next thing we know, they're like, yeah, how's October 9th? And we're like, okay. And we're kind of like pitching ideas on the fly during the meeting. We kind of had an idea of what we might do.

And then suddenly we're like, crap, this is what we got to do now because that's what we talked about. So then we're suddenly digging into our network. Who do we know who can be a panelist? And then, you know, this guy says, you know, I know, Laguna Beer, they'd love to sponsor us. And then this company, Oliver's Asterra, they're a Michelin Star restaurant in Laguna. And they offered to be a sponsor and provide some food. And, you know, next thing we know, just all these people want to be involved. and they're excited, and it just happened by talking to people.

When we come back, Allie asks Nadine about scaling the business. But first, a quick break. Here's a tip for growing your business. Get the VentureX business card from Capital One and start earning unlimited double miles on every purchase. That's right. With unlimited double miles, the more your business spends, the more miles you earn. Plus, the VentureX business card has no pre-cent.

spending limit, so your purchasing power can adapt to meet your business needs. The VentureX business card also includes access to over 1,000 airport lounges. Just imagine where the Venturex business card from Capital 1 can take your business. Capital 1. What's in your wallet? Terms and conditions apply. Find out more at Capital1.com slash Venturex business. I like that. And when you think about these past three years in terms of scaling, what has been the most surprising lesson? The Most surprising. I think how nerve-wracking it is to, you know, hire someone full-time and be responsible for this is their livelihood and their families depending on this. And, you know, it's just kind of like the excitement behind it, of course, was amazing. But then also the kind

of fear around, you know, what if this doesn't work out kind of thing? But so far it's been amazing. That's really interesting. That's sort of, did you expect it to be that emotional? Hmm. I didn't, you know, to be honest, because we're just like so like go, go, go, go, go. And then it kind of like after it's happening and becoming very real, that's when all the motions start to set in. And the same thing was with the event, you know, we were so excited about it. And it was a lot of energy and effort and work going into it. And then on the day of the event, kind of showing up and seeing the signs and seeing all the excitement and all the people and kind of it just come to life, it was like, we all had to take a step back and say, wow, guys, we did this. And it was amazing. And when you look back over the past few years, was there a moment you all were most unprepared for? And how did you respond? One thing that I'd say we do well is kind of work on the fly and think on our feet quickly. There have been instances where a client's come to us and said, you know, hey, we need help in this area. Have you guys done this? It's like, yeah, we have. Of course, like our instinct

always say yes. And it's not a lie because in some capacity, like, you know, we've all done, you know, a lot of things. But I think what surprised us is like, yeah, we can do it. And we just maybe need to pull in some additional resources. And that's how we figure it out. So I think that's been kind of the most surprising thing to learn is that, you know, if we do say yes and we have a little bit of information, like we can figure it out and pull the right people in for the job. And that kind of feels like the same thing with when you plan in your event at Rivian. It's like, we haven't done this before, but like we can figure it. We'll figure it out. Yeah, exactly. And the funny thing is, you know, when I'm talking to a lot of hiring managers and kind of coaching them on hiring, we always tell them, hire for what you can't teach. You know, you can't teach someone to have that kind of tenacity and that can do attitude. Because if you have that, then you will figure it out. And I think that's something that we really pride ourselves in is that we were like, yeah, we'll figure it out. Together, we can do it. And how do you stay productive? Oh, that's a good question. Especially starting out as kind of

business owners, you know, you don't have someone looking at your time or when to do login or, you know, that kind of thing. So you really have to have that self-motivation. And I think we keep each other accountable as a team. And we know that we want to succeed together. We don't want to let each other down. And so we kind of always have that. And I think we just all have a really good work ethic. And so it works out. And we're all mature adults. Like, we all have lives, too. And that's why we do this is because we want to be able to have that flexibility for For example, I'm not a morning person. You know, I'm way more productive in kind of the afternoon and evening. And the guys know that. You know, they'll get emails and slacks from me at like, you know, 9, 10, 11. I'm like, don't respond to me, obviously. But that's when I'm thriving, you know. And so they let me kind of do my thing, whereas some of the guys are like, no, we're up at 5 a.m. or whatever it is. I'm like, well, don't call me. So don't call. Don't text. Exactly.

Knowing that you're not a morning person, so what is your kind of morning like? Do you like to sleep in? Do you like to work out, meditate, anything like that? I definitely need kind of the space in the morning. So, you know, I'll get up. I'll kind of just, like, read some things, do some things that have nothing to do with work or being productive. Allowing myself, and it took me a while to figure that out, that I can allow myself to just have that space for myself in the morning. It's allowed me to be a lot more productive because, you know, I'm not just reacting. I'm ready at that point. And what are some of those things that you're reading that have nothing to do with work?

It's usually social media, of course, or any text messages or whatever that I, you know, know, missed. Just being able to go downstairs, see, I have a two-year-old. So being able to kind of play with her for a little bit in the morning and just kind of, you know, talk to my husband, how do you sleep, that kind of thing. Just kind of doing things that have nothing to do with work is helpful. That sounds like it would be very grounding of like, well, this is why I'm doing this. Yep, exactly. And then when you're during your day, like, do you have any strategies you like to use? Are you a list maker, calendar go? Do you have any, like, apps or technology use? That's definitely a work in progress and a goal of mine is just to be a lot more organized. I'm a

very chaotic person when it comes to my way. Embrace the chaos. And I think once I kind of embrace the chaos, you know, like you said, and they guys know it. I'll have like a share screen and they'll see like 1,000 tabs open, but I know where every tab is and I know how to find things because that's just how I operate. I have started to find some tools that have been helpful. I just recently started using ARC, which is great. It's a kind of a web browser that organizes your tabs for you and that kind of thing. I have a lot of tabs. It's changed my life. I started to organize my notes tab. And once I kind of told myself, it's okay to use notes. You know, it's fine. It works for me. I don't need to use this, like, fancy tool or whatever. Once I've embraced those things that's helped, I do have a friend who's

amazing at this stuff and we kind of will have like a weekly session where we kind of like organize my life a little bit. That's been helpful. But otherwise, I just, just kind of embrace the chaos. And it sounds like you all, like, as an executive team, have really just been honest with each other and embrace that, like, we work differently. And that can be a good thing. As long as we know not to bug someone, then, you know, it can work. Yeah. No, and that's exactly what we did. You know, in the beginning, kind of when you're a small company, everyone's kind of doing everything, right? And we're just kind of all trying to grow together quickly and everyone does everything. We realized after a while, you know, everyone has their strengths. And so we kind of created Lanes

of ownership, and they said, you know, you're amazing at building relationships and business development. Why don't you just do that? And don't worry about the recruiting side of it. We'll handle the recruiting. And kind of everyone just took their lane. Charles is amazing at spreadsheets and keeping us organized and documenting things. So he does that. Paul is amazing with money and keeping us, you know, just here's where we're at. We need to be conservative here. Here are some areas that we can grow. And so Tim is very analytical. He's a lot more methodical. He'll take the time to take a step back and think about things. I'm very like, yeah, let's just do it. And so we keep each other kind of honest and balanced. And I think it's a really good chemistry. And when you look back, even with that

great chemistry, that great team, has there been a mistake that stands out that you all wish you could have done differently? Yeah. I mean, we're always kind of dealing with those things. And with the event, We definitely had a lot of takeaways, what we could do better to improve. Sometimes with hiring, we'll realize, like, oh, shoot, we should have called that earlier, where we got to an end of a process, and we're really good at keeping a pulse on. What's going to close this person at the end? If we get to the end and they want to make an offer, how are we going to – we don't want to have surprises at the end. And we had one where we didn't really pre-close that one, and so we got to the end and, you know, it fell apart.

So there's always going to be learning. So it's just – or sometimes we didn't ask. enough questions, you know, and we just kind of started going. And that can happen, too. So it's just kind of taking a step back, making sure we have all the information we need before moving forward. That's been a learning. And I'm curious, you know, what do you think are the biggest challenges facing the staffing industry right now? Probably the saturation. There are a lot of us out there. And so figuring out how to create a value proposition and set yourself apart, that's probably the biggest thing. The market was very unstable for a long time. I've definitely seen an uptick now

and things are kind of starting to stabilize and kind of move back upwards. Just working through all of that noise and making sure that people know that there are actual human beings who are very qualified to work with you, making sure that we can kind of break through. That's kind of the biggest thing, I'd say.

And do you feel like that saturation also is hard because then clients think, oh, it's a dime, a dozen sort of thing? Like, how do you make that value proposition of like, this is a real service that it's going to help you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's what it is,

is kind of just making sure that we are, we're different. Like, we are not going to be just typical staffing agency. We want to be your partner. We want to, like, actually be very embedded with you and work directly with hiring managers, help you improve as well with processes and that kind of thing. You know, I have, for example, one of my favorite clients, they called me today, and they asked me some advice on,

has nothing to do with hiring, but it's, you know, we've actually never fired anyone before. You know, what are the things that we need to make sure we're doing? And it's not part of the scope, I was happy to take that call and advise in that way. So, or another company, they're a larger company, but they operate like a startup. And we asked them like, hey, do you guys have like an intake form that you use for a new role? And they didn't.

So we helped them create one. And we helped them create a pre-brief before, you know, hiring and interviewing and then a debrief afterwards. And so these are things that we're kind of helping them create along the way as like added bonuses. We're not charging for these services. But we want to be a good partner because, you know, done the line. fine, you'll continue to work with us. I feel like that's the theme of this, Nadine, say yes.

Yeah, exactly. Well, thank you for coming by. This has been great. Absolutely. Thank you so much. That's all for this episode of Your Next Move. Our producers are Blake Odom and Avery Miles. Editing and Sound Design by Nick Torres.

Executive producer is Josh Christensen. If you haven't already, subscribe to Your Next Move on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Your Next Move is a production of VIII. Inc. and Capital One business.