The Power of Pleasant Persistence – Yvan Demosthenes
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10/17/2022
Show Notes:
As COVID-19 restrictions ease, many businesses are trying to recover from this crisis. But now there’s a new hurdle, and that’s a lack of employees. If you’re one of those struggling, you’re going to want to hear what our guest has to say!
Meet Yvan Demosthenes. Yvan is the CEO at HamiltonDemo, a company that sources qualified and proven talent to help businesses hire with more confidence. He’s also a seasoned Sales Professional with over 20 years of experience and 16 years in Talent Acquisition and Recruiting. During his career, Yvan has helped companies of all sizes with their diversity recruiting efforts and overall recruiting strategies. He’s also proud to have connected emerging leaders with the most recognized companies of today. On top of that, Yvan has attained several awards from GE, CareerBuilder, Monster.com, and others.
Yvan says his goal is to match good candidates with the right opportunities, as well as teach them what the right company is about, both operationally and culturally.
In this episode of the Think Business with Tyler podcast, we talk about the importance of committing to diversity at the workplace, the power of relationships, why you need to tell your company’s story, and why pleasant persistence can make all the difference.
If you want to get more recruitment tips, tune into this episode to hear what Yvan has to say.
Guest-At-A-Glance
💡 Name: Yvan Demosthenes
💡 What he does: He’s the CEO at HamiltonDemo.
💡 Noteworthy: Yvan is a Sales Professional with more than 20 years of experience and 16 years in Talent Acquisition and Recruiting. His career has covered various Sales and Management roles. During his career, he has attained several awards from GE, CareerBuilder, Monster.com, and others.
💡 Key Quote: “The opportunity for us was we couldn’t sit down and just wait for things to change. We had to keep [going], we had to find ways to gain business. And so, fortunately, although things came to us to a whole, we had to start all over, but we started, we kept on making progress. And it was new ideas, new clients, new outreach.”
💡 Where to find Yvan: LinkedIn
Key Insights
The commitment to diversity is key. Many companies nowadays strive for diversity and aim to create an inclusive work environment. But somehow, even though they make bold statements, some companies still fail to deliver on what they promised. So, what’s the key to achieving diversity? According to Yvan, it’s commitment. He explains,
“Define what it, what it means to you. And then, quite frankly, Tyler, once you’re able to do that because you put the diversity label on it, it’s really allowing you to look at other pools of candidates that you weren’t looking at before. And I dare say, whatever company you are, the way that you’re doing it now if you would just open up your marketing, your, your talent acquisition marketing and look at other places to recruit from, you’re going to get a whole other pipeline of candidates that you’ve never had before. That’s diversity.”
Find a trusted partner. It’s no secret that successful businesses are built on good relationships. Whether that’s with external or internal partners, relationships are truly fundamental to the success of any business. Yvan talks about the importance of finding trustworthy and reliable partners. He says,
“I’m really big into relationships, and holy cow, when I can create that relationship and make that client feel comfortable, they are so appreciative at the end of the day. It’s almost like it’s Christmas time. So I would share with your listeners if they are thinking, or they feel like they need a lead or someone to help them go to someone that you trust, Find that organization, find someone that can introduce you to so you can feel comfortable with them.’
Tell your story. Finding quality candidates is tricky, especially in today’s day and age. And the pandemic hasn’t made this process any easier on medium and small-sized companies. So, what can small businesses do to turn things around for themselves? How do you attract and retain the right talent?
Yvan shares a few tips. One of the most vital things to do is tell your company’s story. He says, “Start talking more about yourself. Talk about all the great things that you’re doing. Talk about how you’re reaching the community or how you’re reaching the marketplace. And again, from what I’ve seen, even if you don’t realize that it’s a great story, other people are going to connect with it, and that’s what I’ve found. So come up with the story.”
Pleasant persistence goes a long way. A salesperson at heart, Yvan is all about pleasant persistence when dealing with potential partners. This strategy is all the more essential if you’re a business owner. Instead of being pushy, you should be patient. Don’t let them get away but be smart about it. He explains,
“Pleasant persistence, I think, can really help the business owner. And I do mean pleasant persistence. You don’t want to rock the boat or turn anybody off, but if somebody tells you, ‘Call you back in a month or two,’ just, ‘Hey, is this a good time? Or would you like me to call back?’ I think the marketplace and future partners and clients really appreciate the pleasant persistence.”
Top Quotes
“I needed a little nudging at that point to get to where I am today. But again, I’ve always had a bit of that entrepreneurial spirit, and it’s been going great ever since.”
“I would say the very first thing you need to do, ‘cause I think partnerships are great. Um, but you need to have it all in writing. You need to have very, very, very defined roles or at least expectations of what you are going to do at the moment in moving forward and in the future. Sure, allow for some change and for some adjustments, but I think when we were together and when we were at our best, I knew exactly what he was doing every day. He knew exactly what I was doing every day.”
“It’s all these things where I think my company plays a role because now I can match and connect these candidates with the opportunities, and now I can teach them, and they can learn about what the company is all about, not just in a corporate setting, but culturally.”
“I see so many organizations that are preferred employers, but they’re missing out on opportunities because they’re just sitting there expecting people to come knocking on their door. They’re still not doing the work where everybody else competing for the same people are making sure that they’re in front of these people, so it makes it easier for them to express interest.”
“They are more flexible. 100% there are more remote and hybrid opportunities out there than there were a few years ago. 100%. But they still want employees in the office. And I will say even for a lot of the hybrid roles, they prefer those individuals to be within driving distance.”
“It’s a candidate’s market, but there’s still not a lot of budge there that the corporate side is still a little slow in accommodating for candidates.”
“I believe a lot of those people are doing the gig roles in various ways that they’re sitting by waiting for the right opportunity. They can sit and wait. So the great resignation, I think, is relative. I think it’s more of like a great sabbatical.”
Links
Email Yvan at yvan@hamiltondemo.com
Get in touch with Yvan at 513-257-9683
Resources
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