What makes you different from everyone else?
I will never forget this question. 4 years ago to this date. I was fresh off vacation, a 100K sales quarter, and answered the question how I was trained to: “We provide a great service, we’re reliable, we find you talented people, our speed is unmatched, blah blah blah blah blah.” The meeting lasted 10 minutes and I had never been so embarrassed to walk out of a building. At the time I didn’t realize that this prospect, who frankly wasn’t a nice guy, did me one of the biggest favors of my career. He forced me to look at my real value prop in an industry cluttered with noise. From that moment on I focused on three things: • Solving problems • Being a genuine student of my niche (data, market trends, industry news) • ALWAYS working to create Win Win Wins. The last bullet is where I found my true differentiator. See the recruiting industry has a lot of noise, but it also has a lot of talent. I have competitors that I deeply respect and I have competitors that I know will not deliver. As someone cutting their teeth in an industry 5 years ago, possibly 10-20 years behind the folks I respect I needed to find a way to be different. And that’s what I did. We have clients right now who can attest to the value that my 3 core service principals have provided their organization. They can speak to the problems that have been solved by focusing on win win win’s so the candidate experience can thrive. They can speak to my understanding of the generational talent gap and ability to ‘meet them where they live’. They can talk about how we let our clients feel free to explore what they need to explore without handcuffs, in a way that is fair to all. They can talk about this for C-Suite searches (Chief Risk Officer, Chief Lending Officer, CHRO/SVP HR) and high volume hiring projects (Commercial Credit, HR buildouts, Retail Management, Loan Servicing). Leaving that room in 2015 with my head hung low I learned that you only standout as an unknown entity in this industry by learning every day, about a specific niche, and constantly working to be different from my peers. And while at the time I didn’t have the right answer to ‘what makes you different’ – I do now and I have references that can back it up. As we head towards the end of Q3 and the final hiring pocket of the year let’s talk if your financial institution is in need of a strategic hire or a high volume project.
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AuthorShane Smith is the Owner of BankerHire Archives
July 2023
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