How to Ignite Your Recruitment Career in Tough Times, with Kris Holmes, Ep #38

As a recruitment business owner, how do you balance internal operations while strategically generating revenue? In this episode, my special guest Kris Holmes shares fascinating insights and ideas on internal operations - from rewards and compensation, peer to peer evaluations, and culture. 

Kris is an executive recruiter and partner at the O’Connell Group, which is a leading search firm in consumer marketing and market research. She is also the best-selling author of Ignite Your Career! which is a book she launched in July 2020. Before becoming a recruiter, Kris worked for a decade in consumer marketing with companies like Johnson & Johnson and Kraft Foods. She is also a member of the Pinnacle Society which is a consortium of industry-leading recruiters in North America.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [2:19] Kris shared the biggest challenge she’s faced in her 25 year recruitment career. 
• [14:10] Internal recruitment is a major challenge for recruiting firms - what are some best practices and KPIs?
• [20:06] How to manage internal operations while strategically generating revenue.
• [23:46] An insightful approach to rewards and compensation.
• [30:26] Peer to peer evaluation - effective metrics to measure performance.
• [33:25] The four steps O’Connell Group are taking to face the C19 challenge.
• [37:30] How to add new revenue streams including coaching services.
• [40:00] What inspired Kris to write Ignite Your Career?
• [44:45] The “One-Two punch” business development approach. 
• [48:00] Stoicism - its relevance today for recruiters.

Insights on Recruiter Compensation, Company Culture and the Power of Peer to Peer Evaluations

In this episode, Kris was able to share insightful approaches on different aspects of managing internal operations. One of the best practices she shared is the compensation program that they implemented that effectively rewards the “superstars” or their high performing recruiters. She also shared their practice of peer to peer evaluations, on which they evaluate each other’s performance using at least 20 peer metrics! Hear this fascinating idea from Kris.

Although the mentioned practices sound like it would create a very competitive environment, you might be surprised at how O'Connell is able to inculcate a very nurturing and supportive culture for its employees. This has fostered fantastic staff retention and enabled some of their employees to stay with them for more than 15 years.

Game Plan to Address the Challenge of Covid19

How does Kris plan to lead O’Connell Group through the C19 crisis successfully? This is what she said: “I’ve been doing this for 25 years. I’ve seen September 11th, I’ve seen the Financial Crisis. I have never seen anything like this that is rocking everybody to their core… But the steps we’re taking work. Our philosophy is whenever we go into these times of crises, where we cannot control the external market, we can control what we do. And so we have taken many steps.”

Listen to the four steps that they are proactively taking that you may find also beneficial to your recruitment business. Yes, this may not be a good year, but with focus and determination, Kris was able to confidently say:  “This is not gonna be a good year at all. But I think we’re gonna come out of it much stronger than when we went into it because we’ve been very strategic and focused on how we streamline, cut cost, and how we increase our capabilities going forward.”

Kris Holmes Bio and Contact Info

Kris Holmes is an executive recruiter and partner at O’Connell Group, a leading executive search firm in consumer marketing and market research. With more than twenty-five years of experience, she is also a member of the Pinnacle Society, the premier consortium of industry-leading recruiters in North America. She is also a best-selling author of Ignite Your Career! which launched in July 2020. Kris has counseled tens of thousands of candidates in setting goals and leveraging their strengths. Before shifting to recruiting, Kris worked for a decade in consumer marketing with major corporations like Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, and Ralston Purina. She’s a graduate of Tufts University and has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern.

• Kris on LinkedIn
• O’Connel Group website link
• O’Connel Group on Facebook
• You can purchase the Ignite Your Career! Book here: www.igniteyourcareerbook.com 

People and Resources Mentioned

• The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
• The Pinnacle Society website link

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session/
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

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