A Winning Entrepreneur Shares How He Made Tough Decisions – Sean Rodin

Sean Rodin is a true inspiration when it comes to embracing change in business. The fear of change is very common. But if you’re afraid to make a change when it’s needed, your company can suffer as a consequence.

Sean is the Co-Founder, CEO, and Senior Managing Partner of Tailored Search, which is a recruitment and staffing company. Even though Sean started Tailored Search just before the pandemic hit, the company still managed to run its course and is now a profitable and successful talent platform.

Thanks to the team’s endurance and ability to adapt, Tailored Search has become a leading provider of personalized talent solution needs. According to Sean, there’s one very important factor of success and that is not being afraid to make changes when they’re needed. That’s why he and his team decided to tear down a reputable CRM that never served their business needs and start over. And while it was a scary decision at the time, it turned out to be the right one.

In this episode of the Think Business with Tyler podcast, we talk about the importance of knowing what you’re looking for in an employee, how to build mutual trust in your team, why you shouldn’t be afraid to make changes in your business when they’re needed, and the key quality that makes a good leader.

If you’re looking to learn more about what it’s like running a recruitment company, tune in to this episode to find out.

Guest-At-A-Glance

 

💡 Name: Sean Rodin

💡 What he does: He’s the Co-Founder and CEO of Tailored Search.

💡 Noteworthy: Even though Tailored Search was founded just before the pandemic, Sean and his team managed to stay on the right track and have successfully built a profitable staffing business.

💡 Key Quote: “You just can’t forget that we are dealing with people on both sides of the aisle candidate and client. And so you talked about it, but relationships are absolutely key. And look at the end of the day, you want the candidate to feel as if we are in their corner, the entire time, looking out for their best interest. “

💡 Where to find Sean: LinkedIn

Key Insights

 

Know exactly what you’re looking for in an employee before you start the hiring process. One of the first rules of successful recruitment is knowing what you’re looking for. Otherwise, your recruitment efforts will be just a shot in the dark. You will risk coming off as an unprofessional employer to potential candidates and you won’t find the right talent for your company.

Sean talks about the importance of knowing what you want before you start the hiring process. “I think the first thing that we see companies struggle with when they’re in the process of interviewing candidates is by the time they get to the finish line, they make changes to what it is that they thought they wanted.

They use the interview process as a way to vet out what it is that they’re looking for versus really taking an intrinsic look before they even start that process. […] My suggestions to companies that are looking to hire and want to fill headcount, know what you’re looking for, know what you want before you start that process.”

When people feel trusted, they deliver. Trust is by far the most critical factor in a successful company. Without trust, there’s no teamwork. Because it touches every area of the business, trust needs to be nurtured from the very start. But why is it so essential to build trust among your employees? There are many reasons why, but one that stands out the most is that people work best when they’re trusted.

Sean explains, “I think that they get a voice within the business. And I think that’s necessary because they’re an intricate part of what we do but I think my leadership style works in some ways and then I have business partners that kind of cater to the things that I lack so you surround yourself with good people, but in general, I think it’s really empathy and empowering that has worked best. I think when people feel trusted, they deliver, on a more consistent basis and they deliver with genuine intention.”

Don’t be afraid to make a change. Every change is scary, especially in business. Sometimes you need to change a process that’s no longer serving you or you need to call it quits with an underperforming employee. And sometimes, you have to admit that you’ve made a mistake or a wrong investment call. Sean talks about their CRM ‘failure’ and why it was one of the most challenging moments for their company so far.

“After a year and a half of doing business, we scrapped a CRM that we were slightly invested with for one that really was going to accommodate our business needs. And, it was the best change that we, I think, systematically made because you now have people that are like, ‘This is helping me better perform, giving me more confidence in managing my data,’ where before it was honestly just a chore and a task.”

A good leader is a storyteller. A good leader should be a skilled communicator, a good listener, and a talented negotiator. But is that it? In reality, a good leader should have many qualities, but there’s one skill that helps them get through to people the most – storytelling. Because people are so naturally drawn to stories, they also respond well to stories. If you know how to talk to people in a way that resonates with them, you have what it takes to be a great leader. Sean explains,

“I think a good leader is a good storyteller, able to motivate people with things that sometimes they just don’t want to hear, that they know, but they kind of sometimes want to overlook because it’s a tough thing to hear. But if you can tell them something that is really a tough pill to swallow, but make them realize that at the end of the day, you’re absolutely right.

This is something that means something to all of us. How is our client feeling when we’re not delivering this? How is our candidate feeling when we’re not giving them consistent feedback and follow-up? Sometimes being able to just kind of get them to buy into what you’re saying by the way you say it, is probably a vital component to being a leader.”

Top Quotes

 

“It’s the chicken or the egg, right? Is it the candidate or the client? I think that’s a really good question. I think to be honest with you, a really good staffing firm is mindful about both. So really our business model is to first and foremost, deliver to the partnerships that we currently have. So if you have a client partnership, then that is our commitment to making sure that we’re a sustainable business.”

“Ultimately, you understand where your client is coming from when they’re in the recruitment process and especially with working with tech startups, if you get in with them early, I think at the end of the day, they don’t have a full internal recruitment model and they don’t wanna be wasting their time with multiple vendors. Because at the end of the day, they want to scale with a partner that understands them.“

“To be honest with you, it puts a lot of pressure on us as well, because if a client is exclusively using you as their provider, then you really have to deliver and so your name becomes kind of either known for one of two reasons, right? Not being able to execute or being the brand that got them to where they are now. And we have a saying at tailored that we take companies from garage to IPO. And I think that’s really our intention; follow them all the way through the process.”

“The reality is I think for a very long time, it’s going to favor the employee. There’s just always going to be at least in the next 12 months that I can see a shortage of really good talent, and a shortage of niche talent. And that’s now what clients are looking back at. They were open to the flexibility of skill sets, being agnostic to where the candidate is coming from because they just needed almost a body if that makes sense where. Now they know what they need and they’re looking for that.”

“The product that we’re talking about has a mind of their own and has feelings and emotions. And so, because of the market we’re in, we’re in a very transactional environment but we’re talking about a human being that is looking to improve their life, grow professional skills, enjoy the culture.”

“I feel like if each person feels they understand how to move forward, both professionally and personally within the business, then I think we’re all headed in the right direction. And so that’s what we’re trying to get from the team that we all have the same vision, but we all know how to move forward together as well.”

Links

Tailored Search Website

Other Resources

Leadership Training

How to Learn From Your Business Mistakes: Fail Fast to Learn Fast!

The Key to Success of Your Business? A Clear Vision! – Mark Villareal

Winning in Life and Business – Krista Anderson

Competition is for Losers – Tom Schwab

Leadership – Why a Million Dollars Wasn’t Enough – Kurt Uhlir