Embark on an insightful journey with Eli from Ascend Recruit, a trailblazer who's reshaping the property recruitment landscape with her unique blend of real estate prowess and recruiting finesse. Her tale is not merely about career transition; it's a masterclass in leveraging a decade of industry experience to establish trust and achieve a staggering fill rate for exclusive roles. This episode peels back the curtain on Ellie's methodical approach, showcasing how a solid foundation in property development and commercial real estate can serve as a launchpad for entrepreneurial success in the competitive recruitment realm.
Ever wondered what it takes to go from the security of a steady paycheck to the thrilling world of commission-based work and eventually running your own recruitment empire? Eli's narrative is an open book on the subject, detailing the strategic maneuvers and marketing savvy required to not just survive, but thrive. Discover the profound impact of building a personal brand and the liberating yet demanding path toward business ownership. Our conversation reveals the power of a structured methodology, the surprising benefits of virtual assistants, and the unshakeable conviction needed to scale the entrepreneurial ladder.
This episode isn't just about work; it's about the art of blending life into your career, especially when your office is your home. Eli shares how maintaining a professional mindset through routines, like dressing for success, can create a psychological shift that propels productivity and self-discipline. Her story is a testament to the influence of observing entrepreneurial success within one's family, and the adaptability necessary in recruitment. From the satisfaction of securing your first temp placement to the celebration of filling a contract role, Ellie's experiences illustrate the boundless opportunities awaiting those with the right mindset and a commitment to excellence. Join us for an episode that's as much about personal growth as it is about professional development.
· Our Website is: xrecruiter.io
Embark on an insightful journey with Eli from Ascend Recruit, a trailblazer who's reshaping the property recruitment landscape with her unique blend of real estate prowess and recruiting finesse. Her tale is not merely about career transition; it's a masterclass in leveraging a decade of industry experience to establish trust and achieve a staggering fill rate for exclusive roles. This episode peels back the curtain on Ellie's methodical approach, showcasing how a solid foundation in property development and commercial real estate can serve as a launchpad for entrepreneurial success in the competitive recruitment realm.
Ever wondered what it takes to go from the security of a steady paycheck to the thrilling world of commission-based work and eventually running your own recruitment empire? Eli's narrative is an open book on the subject, detailing the strategic maneuvers and marketing savvy required to not just survive, but thrive. Discover the profound impact of building a personal brand and the liberating yet demanding path toward business ownership. Our conversation reveals the power of a structured methodology, the surprising benefits of virtual assistants, and the unshakeable conviction needed to scale the entrepreneurial ladder.
This episode isn't just about work; it's about the art of blending life into your career, especially when your office is your home. Eli shares how maintaining a professional mindset through routines, like dressing for success, can create a psychological shift that propels productivity and self-discipline. Her story is a testament to the influence of observing entrepreneurial success within one's family, and the adaptability necessary in recruitment. From the satisfaction of securing your first temp placement to the celebration of filling a contract role, Ellie's experiences illustrate the boundless opportunities awaiting those with the right mindset and a commitment to excellence. Join us for an episode that's as much about personal growth as it is about professional development.
· Our Website is: xrecruiter.io
Hi, I'm Ellie from Ascend Recruit and I specialise in property recruitment. Today, on Confessions of a Recruiter, I spoke about my success over the last couple of months with the guys. You won't want to miss this one.
Declan:Welcome back to another episode of Confessions. Today's a special one very close to home. Ellie from Ascend, thanks for jumping on. Really appreciate your time.
Eli:Thanks for having me, guys. I'm so excited to be here.
Blake:So you're two months in business. Let's just call the elephant in the room. How is your first couple of months in business?
Eli:Yeah, it's been amazing. I say to everyone it's the best thing I've ever done. A lot easier than I actually thought it was going to be. Real attribute to you guys, real big help with everything you've done, but it's been amazing.
Blake:Thanks, yeah, I mean looking at your success over the last sorry, like eight weeks, it's been huge. But before we get into all your success right now because that's super exciting and I'm sure everyone's chomping in the bit to find out Tell us about your history in recruitment. So you've been in recruitment 10 years? Have you always been in property recruitment?
Eli:So it starts a little bit before that I actually worked for a property developer out of high school and then also a commercial real estate agency and then first property developer I worked for. I was placed by a recruitment company and I was living at Sydney at the time. I moved back to Brisbane and that recruitment company had a receptionist mat leave contract and I actually got the role. So in that position I started reception, then went into talent management, then consultant and then associate director and then director with various businesses.
Blake:Amazing.
Eli:Yeah, but always property, a little bit of construction and a little bit of real estate.
Declan:Do you reckon it gave you a huge leg up knowing the industry that you actually recruited?
Eli:Yeah, 100%, because being able to talk the talk when I'm getting a job briefed through, clients really respect that. They feel comfortable giving me the job because they know when I'm delivering their role to people out in the market, they know that I know what I'm talking about. I think it's a big bonus.
Declan:Yeah, 100%, and so you're a little bit. You know we were talking off camera and you say old school, yeah, have you always worked how you do now, as you did 10 years ago, or has much changed throughout the years and the journey?
Eli:Yeah. So I think, being an administrator back at that property development and a PA at that commercial real estate company, I've always been an admin person at the heart. I love paperwork, I love Excel, I love, you know, detailing things in a database and very process driven. So every time I get a position through, from when I was a talent manager 10 years ago, it's now the process that I'm using now. But basically I will detail five different steps LinkedIn search, database search, you know, seek advert, seek talent search, and then also asking for referrals, and I'll systematically tick off each of those tasks as I've done them on each role, and then at the end of that I should have a pretty good detailed shortlist and then that way, at least when I'm speaking to clients as well, I can say I've done XYZ for you and this is the result so far.
Blake:If they're asking me for updates, you know what I love the sound of that. I've always tried to do something similar but for some reason for me the pennies never dropped on, just like maybe getting, maybe getting a stack of paper, having the checkboxes, having that like rigorous process. Half the time it ends up being just a little bit of instinct gut feel, you're just a little bit ad hoc with it. You're like I'll try this, I'll try that and there's no actual process there. So do you think that's one of the main major contributors to your success?
Eli:Yeah, because I know as well when I'm pitching for jobs that I can say that handle on heart comparison to, say, other recruiters that may be out there. My recruitment search is far more detailed and extensive than what other people may be doing, which may only be, you know, just thinking, oh, I know this guy's available. This guy's available because they are paying such a high fee. They want to know that you're doing your detailed search.
Blake:And how many roles would you fill? Like there's usually a general statistic in recruitment that in contingent roles typically you fill one of three jobs With exclusive. Obviously it's going to be a lot higher than that, but how many jobs would you fill for every brief that comes in?
Eli:I get so many jobs on. I have one job of every kind that could exist in property, real estate, construction. I've got it all For my exclusive roles. I feel I would say every single role. It would be very rare that I would not fill an exclusive role. I can't think of the last time I haven't Contingent. I would say you know one and two 50-50.
Blake:50-50. Yeah, nice, how good.
Eli:Yeah.
Declan:And then so this repeatable, scalable process, is it done on Excel? Is it done on a bit of paper?
Eli:Yeah, it's on a piece of paper, yeah, so I systematically just go through each of those steps, but after I meet every single candidate I put them into, obviously, the database, but they are all then systematically grouped into a list in LOXO but then also have an Excel spreadsheet for DMs DMs that do Resi, dms that do retail. I've got PAs, I've got office managers Excel tabs and I've detailed them and I add them every single time.
Declan:So how many candidates would be in your database?
Eli:Well, I've basically had to start again since owning my business.
Blake:Sorry, before we go into that, that's a really big thing. What was that like? Starting your own business and having a database with zero information in it? Is that a bit freaky?
Eli:Yes, but the one thing that I think has also stood me in good, that has done really well for me, is I have an amazing memory. Not to talk myself up, but I can remember people that I met when I was 10 years ago. I will place people that I met five years ago and I've kept them in mind all these years. And then a client's given me a brief and they're like we're looking for a unicorn and I'm like that's Joe Smith.
Blake:Wow.
Eli:So it doesn't scare me to start again, because, as well LinkedIn, I can find everyone there again. Yeah, so you can always find someone's phone number 100%.
Blake:Because when we talk to a lot of recruiters, that's sometimes something that comes up. It's like, okay, I'm going to have to start again, I'm going to have no database, no clients, no candidates, et cetera, and the thought of having a database at zero is almost a little bit daunting. It's like, oh, where do I start? But you're right, if you've got LinkedIn, you've pretty much got a database there anyway, so you just go, ham.
Eli:Totally, absolutely, yeah. If you've got LinkedIn recruiter, recruiter light, you'll be fine.
Blake:Yeah, and before you started Ascend, you were a high-billing commission-only recruiter. So what was the transition between going from like a salary and commission to then commission only at an agency? Was that a conversation that you brought up, that an old manager brought up? Or like how did you negotiate a commonly packaged in an agency?
Eli:Yeah, all the high billers. So when I was a talent manager there were a number of high billers at previous businesses and they had always been on comms only, so it was something for me to aspire to. They always earned the most amount of money. So it wasn't scary for me If I was new and I had never had any experience. It was like the thing to do to go comms only and you made it if you went comms only.
Blake:You knew you were good. Okay, that's a badge of honor, yeah.
Eli:Yeah, definitely, and so it wasn't scary to me. And at the time I went comms. Only, I think it was like my husband and I were looking at buying a house, so we just moved in with his parents. So that was another factor that made it less risky, because we didn't have to pay mortgage or rent or anything. So I was like I've got to do it now or it's, you know, like all the stars are aligning.
Blake:Yeah, what's a comms only recruiter in your experience typically getting in a recruitment agency like the rate? Is it like a 50-50?
Eli:Yeah, so initially I think I was 50-50. Yeah, 50-50. And then, more recently, I was a little bit higher than that.
Blake:Yeah, Nice. See, that's still a lot of money to be working in an agency and getting 50-60% comms, whatever it might be. And when you moved from salary commissions to comms only, what was that like? Was that like? I know you say that it was like something to aspire to and you were really excited about it. But did anything change for you fundamentally, from a lifestyle standpoint, how you recruited standpoint, a mindset standpoint, knowing that you've got no salary?
Eli:Yeah, 100%. I guess my mentality has always been 100% commitment to fill. But when you go comms only like now as well, when I'm running a business I don't have the luxury to not feel this job. So that's why I am so process driven, because I will. I'll turn every stone to make sure that I'm getting the candidate that the client needs.
Blake:Yeah, I think that's an exciting journey going from being a recruiter, getting your salary and being a traditional employee to then going comms only, then to going to essentially starting your own business and Doing something similar to comms only, but just with a whole lot more seriousness to it, I guess you could say, which is which is really exciting. So so you're two months in business. Now Tell us about your first two months.
Eli:Yeah, it's been a wild ride. I Think when I launched the business, I got like 500 likes on me launching my business and I actually had so many people come to me that literally that day I'm like, oh congrats, you're running your own business. Actually, I've got a position for you that I want you to help with and Just the power and that launch that marketing. Like within that 24 hours or so, I think, I had, like the next day or the next couple of days, 25 jobs.
Declan:Yeah, I remember chatting to you on the phone.
Eli:Yeah.
Blake:So from that marketing launch video, yeah, you posted that on LinkedIn and then you had 25 jobs within a couple of days of people reaching out just me changing my status.
Eli:Yeah, oh that status got 500 likes.
Blake:Yeah, you must be the most popular recruiter in Brisbane, Australia.
Eli:Yeah, I like to leave people with a good experience after they've dealt with me. I had a lot of people that I hadn't spoken to in ages for whatever reason old clients or even old candidates I'd placed ages ago and then they had become clients themselves, hiring managers. They were like oh, how are you going? Can you work on this role?
Declan:But I had one of every single type of different still what I'm doing at the moment, but yeah, that's the most powerful thing in business is the people that you don't realize, watching the conversations that are happening behind closed doors that you have no idea about, and then it's just so exciting that you got to experience all those conversations Compound and then when you go out on your own, everyone wants to get behind you and young people in business like and raise you up. It's I think it's something special that's changed a lot over the last 20 years with, you know, people wanting to work with small businesses, having this, you know, entrepreneurial mindset and realizing that, hey, it doesn't have to be a massive brand To sit behind it's actually more powerful.
Declan:Like CEOs are getting on front of camera and that's how they're attracting staff to their businesses, and it's actually becoming interesting.
Blake:Yeah, because, like the big, the biggest thing that I find when you start your own business, it's. It's almost like, oh, I'm gonna be new, no one's gonna know about me, I've got no credibility, no runs on the board. I'm just like I've got this massive mountain to climb and then when you do launch or even update your status on LinkedIn and you've just got all these people flooding to you to go like, oh, I've got roles, I've got roles Congratulations. I want to. I want to help you feel some jobs and that kind of community when you are a business owner, people like really champion your success.
Eli:Yeah, definitely I think, with candidates or clients or whatever. You know, if I haven't been able to help them, I've always still, you know, kept in touch, or I've never. Just you know, sometimes a candidate may not get a position. Some recruiters don't actually call them to give them the feedback. I'm always very Aware of the experience I'm leaving on people and now I think them wanting to see my success, I'm like, oh, I did right, part of the back.
Blake:Yeah, the compounding effect of just doing a good job ends up paying up.
Eli:Yeah, totally dividends. Yep definitely.
Blake:Okay. So if there are any recruiters out there that are interested to find out what it's like to have a VA, support them in their role Whether that be to Bill Moore or reduce tasks that they don't enjoy doing or be a more effective recruiter in their niche Then we definitely recommend reaching out to the outsource people or top, reach out to them, inquire on how they can implement a VA in your agency and to support you. And if you mention ex recruiter or Confessions of a recruiter, they will give you a 13% discount off your bill per month on this VA. It will allow you to scale your business, scale your desk and to bill more and make more money. So go reach out to the outsource people, say confession, sent you, get your discount and see what is possible. Okay, so let's talk numbers. So so tell us about. You. Launched on the 8th of January and what was the first thing you did? Did you make a bunch of cold calls? Did you send out, you know, heaps of LinkedIn messages?
Eli:so I Received a lot of new inquiries from clients, new people that I hadn't been in contact with and that made up some of the new jobs. So I pretty much got recruiting on everything that came through to me, but then also in turn I did start mapping the market. I think you recommended a VA and I utilized him to start building up a pipeline of other Companies as well to target open up some new doors, which has been amazing. He's given me a couple new clients.
Blake:Nice, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's really big boy and it and then yeah, and it has been around a and I reckon he's just done a little couple of odd jobs for almost every partner.
Eli:Every week or so. But, he's awesome, so that was really amazing. So that basically opened up a whole new world of new clients to work with, new areas, started working on those positions, starting to understand how to use the database like it was. You know, pelt ahead. It was a full-on first couple of weeks, but I like to think of myself as pretty tech savvy. So lock-so has been great and pretty user-friendly and there's a couple of features on there that have, like, even found me. New Candidates are doing the campaigns.
Declan:Yeah, wild, hey, do you do the chat? Gpt campaigns. No I haven't done them yet. No so it's built in with chat GPT so, like candidate campaigns, it can do a nine-step text email campaign.
Blake:Yes, you follow your job in and you'll say, like admin manager, pays this much, located in the south of Brisbane, we're looking for XYZ. And then you just drop candidates into the sourced like sourced area and then it'll read your job and then it'll pitch your job to that person based on their experience. I'm like, oh hey, I notice you work at Coca-Cola. We've got an amazing job, pays ADK, it's based on the south side and it'll actually yeah, I mean I'm gonna come back in you guys.
Declan:And then the CRM functions. So against all the jobs. Yeah, there's a lot of updates, even like candidate presentations and stuff.
Eli:Yeah, yeah, oh, my god, yeah, we probably.
Declan:I've had it for two and a half years and Then we had office hours and then, yeah, lawkins like lured out of the park.
Blake:Really, I meant, I must have missed that. Yeah, yeah, I did damn.
Declan:It's in a community group, but yeah, there's a lot of leverage, so imagine when that happens.
Eli:Yeah, much extra crazy billions. That's amazing.
Blake:But yeah, it was a crazy time at the start and how many jobs did you fill in your first 30 days of business?
Eli:Gosh I can't think exactly how many because they were all different. It was about 40 44k. It's worth about 40 44, 50k.
Blake:Okay, so you made 44k in your first month, which is wild for someone's first month of business. To put that into perspective. Like most businesses don't even break even in their first year of trading. So for you to basically be in positive in your first 30 days is a massive kudos to you. Were you expecting that early success in your first 30 days?
Eli:I think the timing of my launch and people coming back from the Christmas break the stars aligned. It was almost like this perfect formula of People ready to look for new jobs, clients looking they need people as soon as possible. They came back and they're like, oh my god, I've got this mountain of work we need XYZ. It was yeah, it was the perfect storm. Yeah, that's the time to launch January. Yeah that's the time to launch January.
Blake:January. Don't say that to everyone.
Eli:Hold out on January or the first month of, or July, july or Jan. Yeah, yeah, they're two pretty good ones because end of financial year, it's, it's.
Blake:It's funny because a lot of people have a psychological Like time frame that they want to stick inside, whereas Declan and I we're just like, oh, we'll do, we've got an idea, we'll just do it tomorrow. But a lot of people like, yeah, it's got to be either, you know, first of January, after the financial year, new quarter, and there's like these calendar, yeah, these, there's calendar psychological events that a lot of people work around, which is really interesting. So you weren't on migraine for your first 30 days of business. It sounds like no, no, no that's okay.
Declan:And and you've also got two kids yeah, two kids.
Blake:And at that point you're like, oh, I'm gonna do it.
Eli:Yeah, two kids. And at that point my youngest wasn't in daycare. He started at the end of Jan, so it was me fielding calls and then him in the background. I was like how unprofessional does this sound, particularly with new clients, and most people are parents themselves. So they're like I get it. Maybe they wanted to sport me even more, this poor.
Blake:Yeah, mother starting a business, kids in the background, even when he's a daycare.
Declan:You just have him on the recording in the background.
Blake:Yeah, so how do you juggle that then? Because you know, going on maternity leave, having a baby, starting a business now you've got two babies that would be for anyone. That would be a like big moments in their life where Perhaps starting a business might not seem like it's the right time. So why did it seem like the right time for you going through all this, all these life events?
Eli:for me, whenever I've taken my biggest risks, I've had my biggest success going comms. Only, you know, whatever I've done in my life starting a business, I've had the most personal and job satisfaction from doing something that is more risky and there has been, in turn, more reward. So I knew that doing it at that time I was gonna see and having the support of a, you know, an amazing husband and friends and things like that. I felt like you know, I can't fail.
Blake:Yeah, yeah, it's really important to have especially your partner backing you to go hey, just do it. You know we'll get it sorted. You know however it turns out, it'll turn out, but obviously it's turned out really well.
Eli:Yeah.
Blake:So your first 30 days is about 44k. Now or it, I guess Now or it. I guess we're at nine weeks in 10 weeks in business. What are you sitting on?
Eli:So so far I've billed for this month. So how I bill, or how I calculate my billings per month, is on start date. So the first January was like 44K, last month was about 50K and then March I'm on 103K 103 and we're like 14 days into March. Yeah, I'm hoping for one or two more.
Blake:Wow, so that's a 200K plus quarter yeah.
Eli:That's insane. Your first 90 days?
Blake:Yeah, it's insane, we're going to have to update our showcases that they've completed to say what's possible. I mean, that's pretty impressive. Are you proud of yourself for that?
Eli:Yeah, I'm, I'm blown away. To be honest, it's been amazing. Yeah, I'm in shock, to be honest.
Blake:Yeah.
Eli:How it's all sort of fallen into line. I know that I've worked very hard to get to where I am and you know, 100k is an amazing feat and I feel like it's only just the start, really, of it truly is yeah.
Blake:So what were you billing then?
Blake:Because and I know I keep referring back to a lot of conversations I have with recruiters- but, I'm just trying to put myself in the mind of a recruiter that is aspiring to perhaps be like you one day. Yeah, and sometimes the conversation is like how much am I willing, like what's my billing is going to drop to in my first year of business than what I'm used to? So if someone's billing you know 500K a year, let's say they'll go, oh, you know, maybe. Oh, if I just bill 250 in my first year, I'll be really happy. That's typically a lot of the sentiment that we get where it seems like it's almost the opposite for you. Are you on track or are you doing? Are you billing more than you were in your last agency or less, or what? How does how does your first 90 days compare to what you're typically used to working for someone else?
Eli:Yeah, so if I was to continue, this trajectory would take me about to 800 across the year, and last year I was 750. Yeah, nice, 7 to 750.
Blake:Why are you billing more now in your own business than you were previously? Because a lot of people think your billings will decrease in your first 12 months. For you, it's the opposite You're actually increasing your billings and achieving more. Is it because you're better this year? Are you working harder, are you? Are you, is it your business that people are like, hey, I want to do work with Ellie, or like what? Do you attribute an elevation to your billings in your first 12 months?
Eli:I would say marketing. Now that I'm running my own business, I am very strategic and have like a marketing plan with what I'm getting out there. So I'm getting every week. I'll have set things that I'll do on every day and I seem to be getting more roles from that, from my marketing. Not to say I didn't focus on marketing last year, but now I'm really proud I've got my business. I'm like let's promote me. I've got this great Google review, let's put this up. And so I put a lot of emphasis on marketing myself out there.
Eli:And I do think as a result of that, I've had a lot of people contact me candidates, clients and like hey, I saw your XYZ Congrats on opening the business. Or someone's flicked me, you're linked in, you know you're the person to go to about development roles. So I feel like I'm marketing myself more now that I have a business. I'm really proud of that, that I'm, in turn, getting a lot more coming off that.
Blake:That's awesome. Yeah, that's not an answer that I was expecting, but it makes a lot of sense, you know, getting yourself out there more because, hey, it's me, it's my business.
Eli:I'm working exactly the same. I've always worked incredibly hard, Like when the kids go to bed, I'll log on, I'll do my admin, I'll do whatever I need to do. My son was up at 4.30 this morning. I got up, I started head hunting some candidates. You know I have to, you know, obviously, fill these jobs. But the thing that is different is that I am, yeah, marketing different.
Declan:And what do you? Where do you get your ideas from? Like someone who's traditionally not much into marketing, you know, do you go to any consultants? Is it just gut feel, is it?
Eli:gut feel yeah gut feel. Yeah, yeah, gut feel I sort of do the same thing every week Marketing. It's not always like some super creative idea. It's like I never used to post every week my last week last year, my jobs. But every Monday I'll put my whole run sheet of what I'm working on at that time.
Declan:We haven't seen too many videos, though, of Ellie.
Eli:Yeah.
Declan:Is that something that's going to?
Eli:I am not. I'm not the type of person that's. You guys are amazing at what you do with getting out there doing your videos and everything like that. Me they all just look a bit like shambolic. No, I don't want to that's not a path. That's not a path. I'm like no me filming it on my phone. No, not my brand video. Nothing done by Serge, everything that's done by me.
Blake:Like no, I just you know what it's like, something that you learn to get into. For me, let me tell you a bit of a journey, of the video journey that I went on, and with Declan's support. Firstly, I hate getting in front of the camera. Well, I don't hate it, but I just I will avoid it at all costs. Yeah, if I have to do it, I'll put a brave face on. Declan's always been into his videos.
Blake:He's really good at just not overthinking things and just getting it done and putting it out, which is super kudos to Declan. Yeah, yeah, you like that Do you pump up for a Wednesday morning, whereas me I kind of like overthink it. I'm like, oh, what am I wearing? Yeah, my bag's here, my bag's gone. Yeah, what am I saying? All this kind of thing.
Eli:Yeah.
Blake:And so it's something that just the more you do and force yourself to do, the more natural and comfortable you feel in it. And then, all of a sudden, one day you'll be like, oh, let's get the camera out, I've got an awesome idea, let's put this out and stuff it. You know this will be good enough, whereas it just takes a lot of practice. Basically is what I'm saying in short. So if you need to come into the office and sit down with Sergey once a week and just pump out a couple of a couple of, your run sheet.
Blake:You could just sit there, tele-promptor up, sergey. Hey, it's Monday. These are the roles we've got on today Boom, boom, boom, boom boom.
Eli:Do you think there's better traction from having those videos versus just a traditional post? Absolutely yeah, mix it all up.
Declan:Yeah, people want to see Ellie. They want to see the director behind the post.
Blake:Yeah, because what you could do it could be a video of yourself, and then you could still write in the post your run sheet and then you attach the video and they get the best of both worlds. I actually did a poll the other day and it was do you prefer reading content or do you prefer watching content? I think there's like 350 votes dead, even 50-50.
Blake:I voted and I said reading yeah, I'm reading too, cause it like when I watch I'm like let's get to it, like where I start skipping around and then I miss it and I have to go back to the start, try and watch it again, cause I'm being too, you know, too rushed with trying to get through the video. But with reading you can just focus, concentrate and then move on.
Eli:So perhaps A bit of both. A bit of both Done. I'll be in here running up and down, you know commercial.
Declan:Cardboard sign. New roles yes.
Blake:Can we do that? Before Ellie leaves mate, Can we get her a new roles Cardboard sign? That would be so good.
Eli:Done.
Blake:Yeah. So what's? What's the future then for for your agency? Do you plan on just sticking to yourself being a high biller? What's like? What's the strategy with your agency? What's the game plan?
Eli:I actually had this conversation with Matt Cosson last week about what I want to do. What do I want to achieve? And I think for me I just enjoy working. For now, it's at least for two years, until I know how to run a business and securely, um, and feel confident I could pay a staff member to do whatever they need to do. Um, I probably wait two years till operators Me. The most I do is probably get a VA, yeah, yeah.
Declan:You just love it.
Eli:I just I do. I just could never imagine. Um and each to their own. There's a lot of people that love to move into more management, team management positions. That's not really my style. I don't think I'm that great at it I really do think it's just um. Where I succeed is just knowing what I need to do of a day and getting it done.
Blake:You see, that's that's an amazing self-awareness. A lot of people aren't self-aware to go. You know what? I'm not really much of a manager, I'm just going to hear, do what I do and then move on where I think. Typically, when you first get into your career, it's like oh, I'm going to be an individual contributor, then I'm going to manage people and I'm going to go and add these like people responsibilities where I think it's a lot of people, when it's a little too late, they realize, oh, hang on, I should have just been a recruiter and I would have been happier, more successful and, um, being way further ahead in life If I just stuck to what I was good at rather than pushing myself into what traditionally a lot of people think is the corporate ladder.
Eli:Yeah, totally. I think working one-on-one with, like, say, a talent manager or a resource, that's great, but the more and more you remove yourself from the recruitment process as you have more people below you, I feel like I'd always want to be a um actively recruiting manager. If that's the way that the business went down, I'd never want to not be in the trenches and understand the market and um experience the same things as people working with me 100% yeah, it's like, yeah, you feel once removed, I've never not been billing yeah Whenever I've managed.
Declan:How do you um? Do you focus just on South East Queensland or do you have roles all over Australia? Or what's your approach to geographical regions?
Eli:Um. So back in the day when I progressed up from talent management, I opened up a desk for one of my companies. Um, I was doing South Australia, tassie and Darwin, and I was recruiting remotely from.
Blake:Brisbane, yeah, the most the three worst locations to recruit.
Eli:South Australia is a hidden gem. South Australia is one of my favorite places to go For the wine or the recruitment.
Declan:Um, no, it was um, I don't know.
Eli:It's just an amazing place. Darwin's amazing Tassie is amazing. So I'm not scared about recruiting remotely because I know that I can do it. If you have a computer, you can remote, you can work from the moon and recruit.
Blake:to be honest, you don't have to be.
Eli:You don't have to be in that state. Um, actually, I'm just about to get a few roles on for Sydney, so I like to think myself as national slowly but surely. I don't want to take off, take on more than I can accommodate really. I want to give the same level of service for each role.
Declan:And would you see yourself now like getting on the plane, going to visit clients, doing those trips?
Eli:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Blake:Would you have done that in the past?
Eli:That's what I did, yeah.
Blake:Oh yeah, I was in Adelaide.
Eli:I was up in Darwin.
Blake:Wow.
Eli:You know, in my hard hat and boots I'm getting jobs on at the construction site and that is awesome. Yeah, it was, it was amazing.
Declan:So that type of content that'll light up yeah.
Eli:That's the videos that you need. I could just do that around here. Just try and stand out in front of some construction site.
Blake:I don't think everyone would even realize hey, just get some jobs on here.
Eli:Yeah, yeah, but no, I'm totally open to travel, recruiting wherever I pretty much recruit, every single role, I'll do whatever.
Blake:How many roles do you need to recruit Like in a like at a time to feel comfortable to bill 100K a month?
Eli:My roles. So all of my senior roles are exclusive. So typically the fee for those roles will be like 25 to 15. So I always have a couple of those exclusive roles going and just ticking over each month and placing them and then I'll have and this is the property development moves a little bit slower. Each property development client will interview two to three times. They won't. It's not like Rezzy. You put someone forward that day, they walk out and they've got a job. So I need to have a couple of those senior property development roles that have those meaty fees. And then also I have some of the contingent smaller or lower, more junior roles that are in Rezzy that are quick, flick, tick and flick yeah.
Eli:So it's a bit of a blend. It's not how many, as much as what I'm recruiting each month. Does that make sense? Yeah, kind of.
Blake:So would you be recruiting? You know three or four senior roles and then five or six you know more junior roles, yeah, that are just like quicker, fast paced interview offer. Okay, I think that's a really good blend between having a big fee come in which makes all the difference and then having the little wins constantly ticking over where you always feel like you're making progress, Because some people that I speak to only just do the big fees and so they might be only doing two deals a month. I don't know how the satisfaction goes in just doing two deals a month, Like you'd rather one big deal a month, and then like five little ones that you're just like oh, I'm getting shit done.
Eli:Yeah, every week I like to place the role. If I get to Friday, I get real antsy. If nothing's like a come through for that week, I like that. It's an endorphin rush.
Blake:Exactly, I need that yeah.
Declan:Gets me out of bed. 100% layers to the cake.
Eli:Yep.
Declan:I always say and the little cherries on top of the layers, to the cake Deep deep things right here. There you go. What else you got for us?
Blake:How long do we have? I'm going to link den that Lays of the cake, guys. Cc Declan.
Lisa:My name is Lisa Englund and I'm director of Limitless Recruitment. I started my recruitment agency with X Recruit almost a year ago and I have not looked back Since starting my agency. I'm in control of my own destiny and I can't imagine my life being any other way, so if you are a recruiter thinking of starting your own agency, definitely get in contact with the boys from X Recruitment. Back to the episode.
Declan:Because there's a lot of recruiters that roll up. They don't know what they're doing for the day, like you know, they're a bit confused. They've got, you know, eight to ten contingent jobs on what would be the first step for them to be able to emulate what you've done or change from that scarcity mindset where they're, like you know, gasping for air every time they get a job on. They're poorly qualified, like how do you? Because I know a lot of construction recruiters and they don't believe that they can get an exclusive or retained job in the industry. They just think in their head that everything's contingent and because they're contractors, they're trying to muscle in on all fees and no one wants to pay the full price.
Eli:It's mentality. I think the more you say no, the client's thinking oh, they're saying no because you know they're worth it, they only work exclusive the more I said no to yes, I do work contingent, but on these higher, more senior roles I'll say I'm not working it unless it's exclusive and I won't work it. And it's almost never that the clients will say no.
Declan:How did you learn to say no? Because saying no is really hard and you don't actually become a good recruiter until you know how to say no. So that's probably why I think most recruiters go for their first two years just bamboozled and feel like clients almost bully them around because they don't have that backbone to say no. So now you're a business owner, it has even more weight when you, you know, stick up for yourself and say no. Do you remember the first time you said no to a client?
Eli:I think, to be honest I'll be 100% honest I've only really come into my own confidence and self-belief really in the last, say, two to three years. I've been doing it for so many years but as a consultant, as a talent manager or resourcer or dealing with candidates, I feel so confident, I know what I'm talking about. With clients, there was that master slave mentality for sure, Even though I had come from the development world or I could speak to these roles. There was just something in my head, there was just something internally in me that I wasn't that confident and it just was putting it into practice. Just one. You know, the next I said to me, said to myself, the next role that comes through, unless I get it exclusive, you know, you just need to put yourself out there and draw a line in the sand and just do it and the more and more.
Eli:I just started doing it and it really is just putting yourself out there and practicing.
Blake:So how many jobs I'm just thinking practically here how many jobs did you say no to? It has to be exclusive and they ended up going with you. Exclusive Would it be like you'd lose one in two jobs that?
Eli:would come in. No, I think I probably only lost maybe like two or three jobs over the years.
Blake:So you'd say, no, it needs to be exclusive. They'd be like all right, oh mate, I'm sure there's a bit more to it.
Eli:No, like I just say to be honest. It's with clients that I've worked with. They know that I'm going to deliver. Maybe they have more. There are more recruiters that are operating in this market now that are knocking at their door, so I'm like, well, look, just use me exclusive and that's what it is.
Blake:Yeah, you know what. That makes a lot of sense, like if it was a new BD pitch or a new client and you're going no, no, no, it's got to be exclusive.
Eli:If it's a job, chase off, seek no way.
Blake:Hey man, I notice you've got an art up. You take that down right now. I'm about to fill that job.
Eli:But you know, I just yeah, I just tell them that's what it is, this is my fee for service, this is my fee, whatever it is, this is what I do and because I am so process driven, they feel comfortable knowing exactly what I'm doing when I'm getting the job brief on. I think communication is the key to winning jobs more, because being able to showcase what you can actually do measurable results that you've had in the past with new clients I have been able to get exclusive as well through them by saying I work with XYZ, going in prepped for these conversations and just standing your ground. What's the worst they can do? Say no and even if they go with someone else nine times out of 10, I feel confident they'll be coming back to me.
Blake:Yeah, nice.
Declan:I love that confidence Selling yourself first, then your company, then your product. It's more about you as an individual than anything else? That's awesome. And how often do you update your clients? Is it a weekly thing? Do you send them just an email? Do you call them every Friday?
Eli:With their jobs. If I'm working on jobs, yeah, I'll be in contact every two to three days.
Blake:Wow, that's quick. Sometimes with my guys and this is probably this needs to be a bit tighter they'll get a job and start working it maybe the week after because they're trying to prioritise other roles. If you get a job in, do you have some sort of internal KPI to be like alright, just got a job, I need to get these guys a candidate within 24 hours. What is that for you?
Eli:Yeah, absolutely. I always deliver a short list or candidates within two to three days, if not that day. If I've got someone that I'm working with that I can just call.
Blake:I pretty much have my roles and yeah, but Ellie, what if you're really busy? How do you achieve that? No, I drop everything as soon as I get a new role.
Eli:I'll work on it because, say, it is a contingent role but I have an amazing candidate or whatever. I'll just drop everything, call that person, put them forward, but then later that day I will start that process on the same day that I get the job. I'll wait, because when you headhunt from LinkedIn, that takes two to three days for people to start coming back to you. If you're starting a week later, then it's two weeks before you're even delivering something. So as soon as I get the job, drop everything, work on it and then return to everything else.
Declan:That's what's different, though. Most recruiters start their search from zero. You've already got a short list.
Eli:Yeah, I'm pretty good with knowing who's who in the zoo. My mapping. I've got my Excel spreadsheet.
Blake:You've got your piece of paper.
Eli:I've got my piece of paper.
Blake:Do you just have your home office and then you've just got pieces of paper everywhere?
Eli:I'm really tight. I know where everything is. It's not like Rain man, where they're all on walls, pieces of string.
Blake:No, it's all like, yeah, yeah, okay, it's all good eyes to file the way.
Declan:And working from home isn't for many people. Me and. Blake can't do it because we've got a work from home station but I've got nowhere to work from home, so it just gives me the ick, but you're a true high performer that crushes it at home.
Eli:Yeah, I love it. I'll watch reality on my lunch break. I'll go for a walk. I'm still structured in my day. I start every single day at the same time and finish around the same time. Go pick the kids up but go for a walk on my lunch break. Or, you know, as I said, go watch like a quick episode of reality TV to break it up. But I love it.
Blake:I don't know how you do that, Honestly.
Eli:I would be so distracted.
Blake:Oh, if I was at home, I'd be checking the fridge every 15 minutes. Oh, what's in there? Yeah, that's right, there's nothing in there. I don't know how you do that. So you started at a certain time, you finished at a certain time. Are you just super disciplined? Have you got an internal dialogue telling you like, because it'd be really easy if I called, that was a great episode, I'll just watch one more, but is there an internal dialogue that you have with yourself where you're like, come on, I'll be back to the phones.
Eli:Yeah, it's an inner anxiety that's like, oh my God, you know, the kids have woken up late today. I'm half an hour late I still think of, even though I'm running my own business. It's like I'm reporting into myself. I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to be late. It's just um.
Eli:That's awesome I don't know, I am very. You know the beauty of running your own business. You can take some liberties here and there and, like my son woke me up early this morning, as I mentioned, you jump on and I might have an earlier finish this afternoon because of that. But yeah, I'm very self-motivated.
Blake:Yeah, I mean Discipline Q-dos to working from home. Do you ever see yourself not working from home?
Eli:Um, yeah, if I got stuff, for sure, but right now, where I'm at, what do you dress when you're at home?
Blake:Do you like put on like a little bit of an outfit? No, I'm not wearing this at home.
Eli:But I do take. See, I have to take the kids to daycare so I'm not going in my pyjamas. So every day I do get dressed, I go to the gym, go for a walk. I've got boxing a couple of mornings, so I'm always like I'm not in my PJs on the couch.
Blake:Yeah, yeah, okay. Because, like I've spoken to a few people that work from home and sometimes they call it like the work kind of uniform, Like when they Like, changes their state when they're at home, because everything kind of blends in with each other, whether you're in work mode or home mode, because everything's all in the one spot To change their psychology of okay, I'm in work mode now they have like a little bit of a like a workout fit they put on. They're like all right, now, this is work mode. Do you have anything like that?
Eli:I pop on a blazer and I'm like I'm ready.
Blake:No, no Time, blazer, put your shoes on.
Eli:I mean by the time eight o'clock rolls around. I've already lived a life from like 5.30 or 6.00 am, whenever you know the kids wake up, that you know. Yeah, no, no, nothing like that, you just disciplined, military style.
Blake:Yeah, yeah.
Eli:Bouncing a coin on the bed, ready to go.
Declan:Where does that come from?
Eli:Because they have to make their beds in the morning.
Declan:Oh yeah, I mean, but for you, where does that come from?
Eli:Oh no, no military background, or where's my self determination come from? I don't know, it's just.
Blake:You said it was your admin. You said it was like admin before my family.
Eli:Every single person in my family has run their own business before or has been successful in their own right. That maybe some of that has rubbed off on me, that I've seen what they do to get their success or run their own business.
Declan:That Because it's inspiring and exciting, because so many recruiters and people in general just don't believe in themselves. Yeah, they don't think anything's possible for them.
Eli:Yeah.
Declan:And then they just go on and nothing gets achieved.
Eli:Yeah.
Declan:And you are that truly the complete opposite to that.
Eli:Well, no, I mean, it's taken me 10 years to get to this. Not taken me 10 years to get to this point, but to really believe in myself and be more confident has come over the last couple of years, but where what I can truly say to those people that are out there is you know, you just need to start, and where there is risk, there is reward and really just stay. No one time to a client to get exclusive and I promise you your whole world will change.
Blake:And that's what we're going to do about that. We're going to clip that up and send that out. I reckon Because you did say you wish you did it sooner.
Eli:Yeah.
Blake:Why do you wish you did it sooner?
Eli:Um Look, I think with running a business, it looks very hard from the outset, but now, when you're in it and you see what it is like and you have all these additional rewards, flexibilities, things like that, and then the ease of running the business, you're like oh my gosh, this is amazing. I really wish I had done this earlier. I don't know if I could have done it earlier because maybe I didn't have the tools, but now I have done it.
Declan:And the compounding trajectory of where you're sitting now is wild. Imagine the next two, three, four, five years.
Eli:Yeah, it's going to be amazing.
Blake:I say this respectfully, but your agency is the worst it's ever going to be right now, but it's the best it's ever been. Does that make?
Declan:sense Like it's going to only get better from here.
Eli:Okay, wow.
Blake:See that paradox Wow. It's the worst it's ever been, but it's also the worst it's ever going to be, but it's the best it's ever been and it's just going to continue to build and get better and better and in 12 months time, when we're sitting here, we'll be having completely different conversations and stories about what the last 12 months has been like. So I'm super excited for that.
Eli:Confessions part two for Ascend Recruit yeah, watch this space.
Blake:It's coming First one year anniversary potty on how Ascend Recruit was.
Eli:Yeah, bring me back, let's do that.
Blake:Yeah, we've got to do that.
Eli:Oh my gosh. Yeah, I can't believe that. It's the worst it's ever going to be right now.
Declan:Yeah, it's a crazy thought yeah, it's been throughout when that? Yeah, oh Christ.
Eli:I'm going to pop some bottles Doing well.
Declan:Well done, ellie. We're super proud, and you've also done your first temp placement as well. Yeah, you're a temp recruiter.
Eli:Yeah, I'm recruiting across Australia. I'm doing every single role that could exist temp, perm contract I just failed a contract role this morning.
Blake:Did you? Yeah, how good. How are these just randomly popping up?
Eli:I don't know Good things happening to good people mate.
Blake:Yeah, it's nice to know that you have an arsenal of tools in the back end that you can really just say yes to whatever you want to work on.
Eli:Yeah.
Blake:Because a lot of recruiters that if they were starting a perm agency they got a temp or a contract role and they'd be like, well, no, I can't do that, and then they'd have to flick it away. But with you you can just be like, yeah, I can do anything.
Eli:Well, reverting back to the power of marketing, I have never done valuation before and I got approached from my like putting up my new business by a company and they specialize in valuation. And then I met with him and he's like what have you done in this space? And I said, actually I have done not that much, but I'm happy to help you on this job and see what I can do. And on my Monday run sheet I had I put the valuation job on there and I had a bunch of valuers that I'd connected with over the years. I've got like 10,000 connections on LinkedIn, so I got a pretty decent network and I only connect with property people. I had a fair few people come through and now I've got someone at that final stages that just reached out because I put it on the job list.
Blake:Wow.
Eli:I sometimes. You know what I've done in the past has led me to easier feels now.
Blake:Yeah, see, that's, that's awesome. I don't think people realize the power of sticking to a routine and doing that because every week you keep posting your run sheet. It might not have immediate impact or results right now Well, it did, obviously for you but typically a lot of people they'll do it one or two times, they won't get any candidates and they'll go, ah, whatever's, and they'll just stop doing it and they won't be consistent.
Blake:But if you just every Monday, everyone starts to create familiarity with you and your jobs and the moment they're ready they're like oh, what's that? What's that girl that keeps posting those jobs all the time I wonder what she's got. Maybe I'll reach out to her. And then all of a sudden it's in six months time where someone will actually reach out to you. That'll be a cracking candidate and you'd be like boom, I can place this guy anywhere.
Eli:Totally, as I said, like a place, people that I met with five years ago and then I just remembered them, or they're a connection, or whatever. Yeah, the networks you build today will lead to your success. What you're doing today will lead to your success eventually, anyway, but you know what I mean.
Blake:Yeah, 100%. Now. It's been super insightful. I appreciate you sharing your figures, your journey, how everything's going for you, and we're excited to see volume two on your first birthday.
Eli:Thanks, guys, I can't wait to come back.
Declan:Thanks for the transparency Ellie really appreciate it no worries, thanks guys.
Blake:Thank you Thanks for tuning in to another Confessions of a Recruiter podcast with Blake and Declan. We hope you enjoyed and got a lot of value and insights out of this episode. If you do have any questions or you would like to recommend someone to come on the Confessions podcast, we would love any introductions and remember the rule of the podcast, like share and recommend it to a friend. See you next time.