Confessions of a Recruiter
The show is hosted by Blake Thompson and Declan Kluver who respectively own Vendito Consulting and Blended Employment. Both have been in Sales & Marketing Recruitment for over 5 years. The podcast is about opening the door to the recruitment world and creating a community of recruiters who can share funny stories, educate and have honest conversations about the industry and their experience. All episodes are powered by xrecruiter.
Confessions of a Recruiter
Chris Beh - Behtech Recruitment | Confessions of a Recruiter #105
Meet Chris from Behtech Recruitment, whose inspiring journey—from the finance world to working at a leading recruitment agency, mowing lawns for 24 hours, and ultimately creating a successful tech recruitment agency—is nothing short of amazing.
With a decade of experience in the recruitment industry, Chris shares the innovative strategies he employed, starting from a cold desk, like leveraging reverse marketing and the power of referrals to build a robust client base. Discover how his unique approach to sourcing candidates extends beyond traditional platforms and how he harnesses the strength of a recognisable industry name to enhance his business presence.
Owning a business is not just about success; it's about creativity, passion, and resilience. Chris discusses the challenges of entrepreneurship and the vital support systems that have helped him along the way. With Behtech's specialisation in recruiting service technicians, Chris has carved out a niche that inspires confidence in clients dealing with specific pain points. Learn about his efforts to maintain personal connections with clients, his personal brand's impact on social media, and initiatives like Toolbox Talks, which focus on industry challenges such as onboarding and retention, fostering mutual growth between his agency and its clients.
Imagine a podcast that not only serves as a platform for service managers to share challenges and solutions but also acts as a business development tool. Chris explains how this innovative concept can uncover unexpected opportunities and drive new business. Reflecting on his own entrepreneurial journey, Chris reveals the emotional and practical shifts required in turning dreams into reality, highlighting his agency's impressive growth and his personal motivations behind the career shift. From aspirations of achieving significant financial targets to fostering a collaborative mindset within the recruitment industry, this episode promises to inspire aspiring entrepreneurs to pursue their goals with determination and vision.
· Our Website is: xrecruiter.io
Hey guys, it's Chris at Baytech Recruitment. Catch me, Dec, blake and Serge, for Confessions of a Recruiter. You don't want to miss it.
Speaker 2:Thank you for sharing an hour of your time today, mate. I know you're a busy recruitment director now running your own business. Outstanding job with Baytech Recruitment, mate. Thank you, good job. Thanks to you, guys, I love it Absolutely love it.
Speaker 3:Thanks for entrusting us. It looks awesome, thank you.
Speaker 1:It's exciting, it's just amazing to be able to think three months now BayTech Recruitment, a really fantastic time for me, the family and just something to own and to be so proud of. So I'm really thankful to.
Speaker 2:XRecruiter. What I think might be helpful for the audience is to give them a bit of context on Chris Bay, what he's been up to, how he got into recruitment, what he's doing now. So I guess I'm going to give you a big high level overview and then maybe fill in the gaps if I've missed anything. So you've started your own recruitment agency three months ago yeah, that's correct, baytech.
Speaker 1:Recruitment. What do you recruit? So Bay Tech recruitment is all about service technicians. For the last decade, I've specialized across field service technicians in the aftermarket, something that's been my specialty throughout my recruitment career.
Speaker 2:Nice. So service techs yeah, that's correct. Any specific location, like what's the geography?
Speaker 1:National, national. We're specialized nationally. I've been recruiting nationally for the last decade Right Even done New Zealand. So I recruited for some of my clients in the past and up to the last year before Christmas across in Auckland. Wow.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, we'll dive into how you do that a little bit later. Perm recruitment.
Speaker 1:TEM recruitment. Perm 95% is is perm based on the role. Where I've come from. I've never really specialized across the legalities and the insurances when it comes to trade qualified technicians on a temporary basis, so it's more specialized across a permanent space.
Speaker 2:Nice, okay, and so you started your business three months ago. How much recruitment experience in total do you have, though? How long have you been in the industry?
Speaker 1:10 years 10 years, 10 years 10 years Specialized across technicians. Yeah, I stumbled across recruitment. I was a credit manager prior to that and sort of stumbled across in my first role in agency.
Speaker 2:How did you get from credit manager to recruiter?
Speaker 1:So I was with Fairfax Media for 20 years. I went through basically collections all the way to management, went for an interview with an agency where I started who advertised for a credit manager role with Transurban. They said have you ever thought about recruitment? And my thing was Fairfax was redeploying a lot of their credit work. So I thought it's an opportunity for me to change. Why not give it a shot? With 20 years credit background experience, they decided to put me in trades of all places, not utilize my experience across finance, but throw me in a discipline of trades and technical and operations. And I thought you know what Give it a crack, worst I'm going to do is fail.
Speaker 2:Was there any method to that Like?
Speaker 1:why Shortage Skill check? So the agency at the time didn't have any personnel across in that space, so they thought it's a very sort of blue collar space. Look after mechanics potential. You know trades persons Give it a go. He's a guy that can speak to speak. Give a trial, trial and error.
Speaker 3:And here I am, 10 years later Did you start with a book of customers.
Speaker 1:I went yeah, I had. Well, the way I started was very old school. So there was, it was an extremely cold desk, there was no one there, so for me at the start was jump on, seek add, chase new clients. So the first role that I picked up was with SMS Diesel, based at Lidcombe, was a parts interpreter. So from parts interpreter, the guy that I put forward was actually a technician, so he was on the tools, so I was able to leverage him and he worked for Middleby, middleby, australia, at Smithfield. So I spoke to him and got a reference and the reference was the MD from Middleby or Goldstein, esswood, who then became my next client, who I then serviced for the next six years with 35 technicians, and that's how I got into techs.
Speaker 2:Okay, so heavily reverse marketing. Yeah, sounds like yeah. Okay, how do you find these service techs? Because we were talking just before and generally they're not on LinkedIn. I mean, most recruiters are on LinkedIn, that's our bread and butter, but for you, where are these service techs hanging out? How are you sourcing and finding candidates?
Speaker 1:It's important to have a name With everyone that's specialized across recruitment. So for me finding my technicians, people know me, whether it's candidates or clients. It's a lot of my stuff is through referrals. So for every contact point I do with a client, I always ask for a referral from someone within an industry or someone they'd recommend me reach out. Similar to that with my candidates Back end of SEEK Facebook. I'm looking at platforms that obviously these guys aren't across the corporate space so I'm looking for other forums, other platforms to attract my market.
Speaker 3:And what's your referral strategy? Because I think, like we were chatting earlier, and it's probably one of the biggest downfalls or unimplemented skill that recruiters just don't even think about we're all just thinking about the next deal, the next placement. We don't ever sit there and sometimes nurture a relationship to the point where we go feel like confident enough to ask them for a referral. So how do you break down? Is there a certain time that's best asked for a referral? What do you say? How do you say it Every conversation? A new client meeting? Would you ask Yep? A new client meeting, would you ask Yep? A brand?
Speaker 1:new meeting, especially with me at the moment. So I'm doing something that I've never done in the past with my toolbox. Talks that I'm committing and I hate like this forum is something so out of my comfort zone is. One thing I want to do is connect Baytech to a greater level, to get my brand greater. I'm known Chris Bay across the technician space, but Baytech isn't. So for me it's important to get the message, but, more importantly, it's better for me to be able to connect those that I specialize so for people to understand what the market's like, to get an appreciation of what you know, their colleagues in a different company, the pain points that they're sharing together company, the pain points that they're sharing together. So that's why I'm utilizing that more now than I ever have before for it, rather than a job flow or a pipeline or anything like that, it's more about a greater audience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, interesting. I was actually watching a podcast recently around building a brand and there's three pillars to building a brand, and there's three pillars to building a brand is either educating, encouraging or entertaining. You can kind of choose all three. You can choose one of the three. So the strategy for building Baytech it sounds like educating, connecting people together, sharing experiences, getting everyone together. Is there a bit of a community aspect to that or At the moment there's too many silos.
Speaker 1:I mean, I remember, I remember Sir Zip, one of my biggest clients that I've had for the last 10 years. Rodney Brightwell, the GM of operations, came to me and this is. I was knocking his door for years, two years it took me to knock on his door and he said, no, every time, don't use agency, so use other agency or whatever. Knock on his door and he said no, every time, don't use agency, so use other agency or whatever. I was recruiting for another company, miele, and he said I'm sick of you taking my techs, jump on board, come with me, I want you to recruit for me. So ever since that, seven years ago, zip has been one of my key clients. It's just about having that educating what I'm trying to to do, how I can work and help you better and as a result, yeah, they're one of my key clients and it continue to grow that's awesome with techs.
Speaker 3:How do you? Because, like, I come from a trade background, but many techs are not trade qualified, are they?
Speaker 1:no, no. And those that are trade qualified. There's other obstacles. So FIFO, you know, going for mining, construction, eba so many obstacles because it's finding those guys that are trade qualified. We're losing more Less. Skilled immigrants are also coming to Australia since COVID, since the pandemic, excuse me so I'm having to adjust in my process, which is good. So, going for fourth-year apprentices I'm now signed up to TAFEs in New South Wales and Victoria, speaking to some of the teachers there and networking with them to give them an opportunity for their fourth-year students to say hey, if you're looking for a permanent role, you've just done your time, here's someone that can assist you in your aspirations in terms of employment. So it's giving them an opportunity to grow as well.
Speaker 3:Getting outside the box instead of just relying on those C-cards.
Speaker 1:You can't. I don't advertise for a reason. A lot of agencies will pick up a job and I respect that. One of the things that I was always told is, as soon as you get a job on, you, put an ad up. I've done one advertising in the last four years.
Speaker 2:What was?
Speaker 1:that, for it was for a category manager, because it's not my wheel space. Yeah, I think it's lazy. I think I've done it once for sorry I lie, I've done it once for Baytech, and that was for the purpose of branding, because Baytech was an unknown commodity. But I think it's lazy. For me, it's about knocking the doors down. A client has come to you looking for a solution. They can put up an add-on seek for 400 bucks. My role is to find their unicorn.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's talk about finding a unicorn, because candidate sourcing for everyone is different and we hear some recruiters have a really strong routine process box to tick I've done this, I've done this, I've done this. Some recruiters just go straight to seek, straight to LinkedIn. They never use their database. There's a big spread of what the natural instinct of the next step is when you do get a job on, so walk us through. Let's say Zip, they come to you, they go hey, we need a service tech in Queensland. What's your process to find these candidates if you're not putting up job ads?
Speaker 1:Okay. So first of all, with someone like Zip, it's a different case. I'm working with them for nearly 10 years now, so knowing what their pain points is what they're looking for in terms of not just desirables and qualifications but also their personal and the cultural fit within the organisation. So, hypothetically, knowing Zip, you're either looking for a licensed plumber or a licensed electrician, or a minimum technician that's got diagnostics and service skills to be able to utilise Also a cultural fit. So I know the factors. I wouldn't look in my database transparently because I should, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1:And I'd recommend that everyone does the way I work. If I've got a good technician, I'll float them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I see I already know your database is exhausted.
Speaker 1:So I use it, I'll use it, so I'll do it for. So what I'm utilizing with CRM which I haven't been good in the past is for emailers. So looking for those transitional candidates that are not active, that may be passive, that may be uncertain things have changed. So to keep a more temperature gauge on them these days something I hadn't done in the past. But I know for mine that if I've got a good tech, I'll float them and they'll place anyway. So if I was to send a licensed plumber or a licensed electrician that's got industry experience with Zip, with a direct competitor or whatever I know, if he's fitting within the salary expectations, passes a medical and psychometric test and police check, he'll place. I don't have to worry about it, it's done deal. So that's why I don't utilize the database as much.
Speaker 2:Is that going to be a strategy for 2025 to use the database? Yeah, a hundred percent.
Speaker 1:So one of the things that I'm looking at internally is to improve my process in terms of growth and referrals, as I said, be a little bit more personalized. Most of the guys know me, whether it be clients or candidates, know that I'm very personal in my approach. I'm very direct, very transparent. But one of the things I want to more focus on is my personal approach. Birthday things I've started sending out which I've never done in the past, just a bit of a touch point for those candidates and clients that say we're a little bit different than everyone else.
Speaker 2:What do you do, sorry? You send out a birthday, a text Just say happy birthday, yeah, just something.
Speaker 1:I mean one of my mates, steve. He's done something for that for the Christmas period, which I thought you know may have been laughter across my industry, but you know what? I took a step back and I thought how would it be received? And it doesn't take much, that's a little thing to count.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 100%, so you've been doing it for 10 years. Why, in the last three months, would you do something new that you've never done before, like what's Fear?
Speaker 1:Fear Overcome my fear. I don't think I was mentally ready, and those that were important to me around me supported me and encouraged me to be able to take the jump.
Speaker 3:I don't think I was in the right mindset, yeah, but even to do like thinking outside the box for sending a text message for someone's birthday. What's changed in the last three months in you since going out on your own Like what are?
Speaker 1:you like, why what's the worst you can do? One of the I guess it's a bloody good question. Oh sorry, it's a really good question, but what's the worst that's going to happen in life? As long as I'm not doing something that's going to have any impact on my brand or my family's brand, as in Baytech, why can't I try something and fail? Did you always have that mentality? No, no, I was too, and those that are important and thanks to, like Matt and and stuff um, that are building me up to that resilience even more. Um, and facing those fears is is it's going to make me better. And you know, like doing this session, which I'm so stoked to be able to face my fears in, doing something similar like this is is it's going to make you bigger. It's going to make you grow. So if you've got the right people around you to support you, encourage you and help you grow, you'd be stupid to turn that away.
Speaker 2:You know it's interesting that you say that because you know we sit down with recruiters all the time at all different stages of their journey, whether they're a candidate manager, whether they're a senior consultant, whether they've gone out on their own or scaled big agencies, and we find that the biggest transition, the biggest shift when they go from being a recruiter to starting their own recruitment agency, it's almost like the damn wall breaks and they just do the same thing over and over again as a recruiter. Then the damn wall breaks and they just do the same thing over and over again as a recruiter. Then the damn wall breaks. They go out on their own and they have so much more creativity and passion and enthusiasm for what they do, like sending birthday texts, like sending Merry Christmas cards.
Speaker 2:As a recruiter you probably wouldn't get proactive doing that stuff, but now, running your own business, you're starting to get creative around. How can BayTech educate my audience? How can I connect other people to each other to be able to get more value from each other? So it's really interesting where you're at at the moment, where you've just got this abundance mindset and you're just trying everything and failure is okay and you keep cracking on and it's just how far you can push it.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's exciting. It's exciting Like and you know it forces you, which is a good thing to happen. Like even the photos on Facebook and social media in terms of our office and our merch line. It's getting it out there. It's getting the brand and saying I'm so excited to have my brand out there. I want people to feel like they're helping me and my family grow and I'm helping them. It's a two-way street.
Speaker 3:Are you finding you're having that conversation with clients? Yeah, like mate, what are you doing? And then you're like that just rolls straight off the tongue.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:The reason why you've called it Baytech, the reason why you're doing it for your family. You called it Baytech, the reason why you're doing it for your family. You find that happens a lot more now. You're chatting with clients and they get around it, it's so.
Speaker 1:I find clients now that I've got my family business and a family-owned business and my own operated business. I mean some of my clients are connected on my socials so they see, like my son who's part of the photos and stuff like that, and they know how dear to my heart it is and for them to have that impact and to help us grow and they're just jumping on board. They love it and they know they'll ask the question why Baytech? I mean Steve Fullip was the one who came up with the name yeah, yeah. So he'll probably listen to this have you bought all the naming rights? He's after a little bit of it.
Speaker 2:I think he's in the process of copywriting it and then licensing it too.
Speaker 1:He's texted me three times to say did you mention it was me? So I've thrown it out there. But yeah, it was him. He knew how proud I was of my brand, my name, my family, most importantly, and we wanted to recognise that it was all about technicians. We are a specialized service technician recruitment company nationally, so why not own it?
Speaker 3:Who do you compete with? Like there may be someone running a desk elsewhere, but I don't think there's that many. There's no such thing as a dedicated technician recruitment specialist in Australia.
Speaker 2:Well, I haven't come across anyone.
Speaker 1:No, you're right, there are agencies that do work on service technician roles, but there's no specialised consultant, no, none at all.
Speaker 2:Why is that? Is it a tough? Is it just notoriously tough?
Speaker 1:It is tough, but everything's the same. Like you couldn't give me IT CIOs or you couldn't be CFOs, Everyone's specialised for a reason. You need and this is the thing that's going to be more paramount as we move in the future is there's going to be a relevance with whether it be other platforms or AIs, et cetera. You need to be specialised across your industry, Otherwise, you're not going to have the confidence in your target audience to be able to resolve their pain points.
Speaker 3:And you mentioned Toolbox Talks. So you're going to be when's the? Are you going to put that in February? What is Toolbox?
Speaker 1:Talks. So Toolbox Talks is a way for me to communicate with service managers or managers of that level, whether it be GM of operations, to talk through some of the pain points, whether it be onboarding, marketing, retention, staffing issues, even hiring processes, some of their KPIs, service level agreements, so they can get a collective. I know with COVID was a massive talking point with the guys and I know we don't like to talk about the pandemic, but with technicians. A lot of the guys were either put off, stood down because of the face-to-face contact. So how a lot of companies struggle to recover from that, both on the sales side and the technician side, in getting back the staff to where it should be, which is good for me as an agency, back the staff to where it should be, which is good for me as an agency. But it's also good for them, the service managers, to get an understanding that they're not on their own, that there are other clients and other companies that are going through the same pain points that they are.
Speaker 2:Okay, so is it a podcast? Yeah, okay, so it's a podcast where you get service managers in, talk to them about what challenges they're facing, how they're overcoming them, market knowledge and then sharing it with other service tech managers Correct?
Speaker 1:Correct and I think it's important because they don't have a voice. Yeah, service is a different beast. Things like sales, things like and other areas are revenue generating. Business Service primarily is not. So.
Speaker 1:One of the other key focus Could it be 100%, 100% so one of the the frontline sales team almost? And that's one of the things that I've discussed with a couple of clients. If you get the right mindset in your technicians, a lot of the people wants a lot of technicians. Once they work, walking through a door, if you've got an oven problem or a dishwasher problem, consumers have got trust in the technicians. They've got nothing to gain by saying, oh, your washing machine is also on the blink, you might want to upgrade that. Yeah, so why not benefit the technician and give them a little kickback and say, hey, if you get a sale in on your Westinghouse or whatever Miele product, if you get a sale from a consumer that you're doing service on a dishwasher, why not give them a 10% kickback and you'll get a new sale in it's training staff asking that? One extra question while I'm here.
Speaker 1:And that could be your potential future salesperson 100%, and it gives them opportunity to get off the tools so to utilize their skill set of the product and of the brand and in a different capacity where their body's winding down or they want to change. They want to look at sales, they want to look at marketing, they want technical expert. It's utilizing the loyalty, the service that they provide and growing them within the organization.
Speaker 3:Because, mate, imagine linking that podcast into a little Facebook group. You walk into client meetings, you've got 150, 200 texts in a Facebook group, Like immediately. You've elevated yourself.
Speaker 1:It's creating a greater forum, and I think that's what I want. I want to create a little village for these guys to go to and I want them to be able to connect outside of that as well, so that they've got the confidence whether they're in different industries, they can talk to each other as well, you know, starting a podcast as a recruiter is the ultimate BD tool.
Speaker 2:I was speaking to a recruiter probably about 12 months ago.
Speaker 2:He started a brand new desk in healthcare, didn't know how to get into the CEOs of hospitals, aged care centers, all this kind of thing, so he started a podcast and basically he just re-approached the same CEOs general managers of these hospitals, healthcare centers as a podcaster and wanting to learn more about their career and how they've gone about their journey.
Speaker 2:And now he's got like a direct line in to every single decision maker he's been trying to prospect with for six to 12 months. Hasn't been able to crack the code. Now re-enters as a podcaster, has an opportunity to sit down with them for an hour, talk about their experience, build rapport and then after the podcast he goes yeah, obviously I do recruitment, I can help you out, blah, blah, blah. And then all of a sudden now he's got a multimillion-dollar desk because he started a podcast and re-approaching the hiring managers or the top dogs to try and build up the pipeline. And so if you are a recruiter and you're starting a podcast Toolbox Talks, for example perfect way to get in front of hiring managers, build rapport and then grow your desk as well.
Speaker 1:That's the plan, but that's not my focus. I love it. I mean, that gives me a drive to go giddy up, giddy out there. It's something that's never been done. It's something that's never been done. These guys feel like they're doing everything on their own. For me, it's giving them that voice and, if I can be a conduit or or a help drive to say you're not on your own, we're here to help you. And and that's that's my role as a recruiter it may not be a sale, it may not be a placement. My role is to assist them on a pain point, um, and that's that's my way of giving back 100 now.
Speaker 2:That's a really good way of doing it. A lot of people get started to giving back and all that kind of thing and then they start to fall off the bandwagon after.
Speaker 3:Forget why they started.
Speaker 2:What's the stat for podcast episodes?
Speaker 3:I think the average of podcasts goes for six episodes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you go past six episodes as a podcaster, you're in the top 1% of podcasts. You're in the top 1% of podcasts right now Don't turn them back.
Speaker 1:boys, Don't turn them back.
Speaker 2:So once you get past six or seven, because it takes a lot of energy, coordination, time, finding people, all this type of stuff. So it's not easy running a podcast, but there's two really big benefits. There's obviously one giving value back to the community, which is why we started it, and two, there's actually a direct financial benefit when you start building relationships and finding reasons to reach out to hiring managers or building an audience that we didn't anticipate originally. We've only realized this a year, two years on going. Wow, the podcast is actually one of the biggest drivers of new business for our business that we didn't anticipate. So, yeah, so you know, we started because we just wanted to learn more give back.
Speaker 2:There was no good recruitment podcast similar to you. There's no good service manager podcast out there, I'm sure. And so what you may find and we'll see, you know, in one or two years is, as you grow that audience and give value, that will probably be one of your biggest drivers of new business development for your company is just getting in front of people and showing up every time.
Speaker 1:And you guys, and if that's a byproduct financially, my family and I are not going to complain. Don't get me wrong, but brand awareness I think that's the greatest thing as well is getting Baytech to go. Oh, if that company is using Baytech, why aren't we? And that's the question. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'd love to dive into Baytech for maybe five, ten minutes, kind of shift gear a little bit, because starting your own business is always a daunting, scary, scary moment. So I guess I want to frame it around why you started and the conversation just even today. You frame everything you know my family, me and my family Sounds like that's the biggest driver.
Speaker 1:That's my purpose in life. My father is my greatest, and Matt was talking about this in his session yesterday. What are your three most influential people? Well, two of those is my father was one. He was working two jobs to ensure that four kids under four had the best lives that they could. And my son, my daughter's not at age to understand, but they're my purpose. So, for whatever I do, whatever I can do to make their life better, to set them up for success, whether it be going jumping, facing my fears or doing something I wouldn't ordinarily do, if it's going to make them better and set them up, why not? That's what it's about. That's.
Speaker 2:Bayteth. What were the risks? What were the risks that were going through your head? So let's call it. Six months ago, you were thinking about starting your own agency. Maybe your current employer didn't give the leads or the branding or the support that some other recruiters perhaps get if they specialize. You thought I'm doing this all on my own. I could just go start my own business and keep cracking on. What were they like, the risks that you were considering, though? Um, obviously there's a heap of benefits but what are the risks?
Speaker 1:there's still risks. Um, you and, and anyone that knows me, I'm 48 and a dog doesn't change its spots overnight. I'm still facing the fears, anxiety, anxiety, the scare changing my mindset, and that's something that I'm building up and that's why I wasn't ready till up until six, or probably February last year was when I knew that I wasn't going to stay with my current employee long and I actually sat down with my manager and said that in February that I'm looking to start my own business. It was law-knowing at the time, really, yeah, so we've got a passion for law. Anyone that knows me knows I love my lawns. But I had to think of my long-term plan. I thought at 48, how long am I going to be pushing the self-propelled and the edge of force? So I was coming off the cracker of a quarter and I sat down with my. I did my wrap-up for the end-of-year review and I sat with my manager at the time and I said pretty much in my summary I basically said that I was done. How?
Speaker 2:did you say?
Speaker 1:that? What did you say? I was shy of reaching which is the pinnacle. With my prior August I was about 30 grand shy of reaching the elite crew blue crew in my previous organization I was 30 grand of that and done a career.
Speaker 2:What does that mean specifically? Is that like a yearly billing?
Speaker 1:So if you reach 800K in a year in a financial year, you get a trip away with those that are elite, that have made that Very select few. So we're talking about in a totality of probably about 90 consultants. You're looking at the top 10 to 15 consultants that go that qualify.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you build 768?
Speaker 1:768. So a PB quarter, consecutive PB PB year and a consecutive PB quarters. So I finished up with 768. And I said in my yearly review feedback that I think I've achieved every pinnacle that I could have, every peak that I can. So I will be looking at my future and the reason, the mentality for me, was a self-generated desk. I started technical and operations or trades and services in Greater Western Sydney five years ago no clients, no candidates, blank piece of paper. To get it to five years consecutive high sixes, to the 760 that I achieved. What was your first year? Five years consecutive high sixes to the 760 that I achieved. What was your first year? 580 grants and then it was 600s. We were in the sale year. It was about 670, 702, then 768.
Speaker 2:So you've been slowly growing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:About $3 million in over $3 million in five years, which is all self-generated. So, honestly, my mentality, which is what was conversed, was why get paid 35 cents a dollar for a desk that I was generating myself? So my thing was if I can do this here, why not do it?
Speaker 2:on my own. Okay, so you were originally going to start a lawn mowing business. How far can you go down the garden path with that? Do it on my own, so okay, so you were originally going to start a lawn mowing business this time how did you go down the garden path with that?
Speaker 1:I was thanks to Fox lawn mowing. Thanks to Fox mowing, I actually trialed in November. So I had some annual leave in November the year before and took a week off because I wanted to trial it in the middle of summer and trial it. It was bloody tough. It was bloody tough like 38 degree heat.
Speaker 2:So wait. So let me just get this right. So you took a week and you'll leave to go mow lawns.
Speaker 1:So a guy that I worked with in credit opened his own franchise under the Fox Mowing franchise and said come join with us. You're your own boss, you mow on people's lawns, You've got the flexibility for the kids and all that sort of stuff. And I thought, you know what I'm going to try it. And stupidly me, rather than picking a quiet season or a cooler season, I go why not hit it when it's at its peak in the middle of summer? So I gave it a go in summer and it was tough.
Speaker 3:How many ones did you mow?
Speaker 1:Six Six.
Speaker 3:In a day or a week In a day. In a day.
Speaker 1:In a day, and that was it. Yeah, I couldn't go back today too. I was absolutely nagging. I was absolutely nagging. Mrs loved it. She goes look at you. I went straight to bed. But that was my aspiration. I thought I'll park it for now. And then February last year, I spoke to his wife and she goes you want to own something of your own. Whether it's lawn mowing, whether it's recruitment, whatever, do it. I mean, I had an aspiration to own a CD shop after working in radio. A lot of dreams, but never came to fruition. But it was always about buying something for me, for the family, that I could put my name on, put it in the lights and be proud of it.
Speaker 2:How has that changed your relationship at home Now that you've got BayTech recruitment? Has anything changed for you in your personal life?
Speaker 1:A lot of flexibility being able to drop the little ones off at school, picking them up, pick them up from school if I want to. I think it's only a start. You know there's so much opportunity. What I'm looking for and I've been speaking to those closer what my goals look like in the next five years Obviously housing and all that's so expensive, but me to be able to set them up, looking at getting them an apartment in the next five years in their names so they don't have to worry about housing and stuff like that. It's for me setting them up. That's more important.
Speaker 3:Because the excitement on Steph's face. I remember the video call with the three of us and she's like nudging you and I think she was in the background off the call and she's like yelling at you to sign up or something when we were going through the feasibility of it all.
Speaker 1:She's like, yeah, she's like a pig in mud of it all. She's like, yeah, she's like a pig in mud, she's loving the. You know, do you want to get some new pens? Do you want to get some new merch? And I'm not saying no, like she's already ironed off the winter apparel. How about a Baytech umbrella? It's like and that's what if I can get them? I mean Harry, my seven-year-old. He's saying Dad, can I come to work with you? That's awesome, that's what you want. I mean, it's all about them, yeah 100%.
Speaker 2:It's all for them. So you're sitting across from us right now, you're poised, you're calm. For three or four months in business, mate, you've got an aura about you like you've already figured it out, but I'm sure there's been some well, correct me here if I'm wrong. I'm sure there's been some times where you thought, shit, what have I done here? Like, what are the oh shit moments that you've had? How many do you have? What are your oh shit moments in your first three months of business?
Speaker 1:Oh shit, where's my first placement coming from? Ticked that within the first week, so that was a nice. Oh shit, it's over. You did a placement in your first week.
Speaker 2:How did you really?
Speaker 1:how did you do that? I did it differently. So I went on to seek talent search because, having a new CRM and I love the CRM, by the way I wanted to get a database set up. So I thought, rather than ad chase, for me it was go to the candidate first. So I found a good candidate that was semi-passively looking, floated, and just dropped it and it dangled, it pinched. So, yeah, it was luck, right time, right place. There's still a lot of oh shit moments, though.
Speaker 2:Tell me about the most. Tell me about the biggest oh shit moment you've had.
Speaker 1:Biggest oh shit moment. I mean obviously, yeah, the placement was no. I still think you need to have your oh shit moments. This year is oh shit. It's like you're starting back again with an unknown and it's oh shit, I haven't got a secured salary. Oh shit, I've got a place in order for me to, and that's the unknown. But it's focus and control what you can control.
Speaker 2:Okay, but it's focus and control what you can control, okay. So I'd be interested to learn around you losing your salary for the first time ever. Really, how are you handling your life at the moment with no salary? Are you more conscious of what you're buying? Has your life not really changed? Has it improved now that you build however much in your first three months and you've got all this money in your bank account and you're podcasting and you're doing all this awesome stuff? What's changed for you, for your spending habits and your routine financially, now that you don't have a salary?
Speaker 1:I'm pretty frugal. Anyone who knows me I'm pretty frugal. Steve will call me tight on those, but I'm mindful of overheads. I mean, going to get an office for the first time in my life is a bit daunting, a bit exciting. You just got to stay in your lane. Control what you can control.
Speaker 2:Recruitment is like any other job, so you haven't changed your spending habits.
Speaker 1:No, I wouldn't think so. I mean I'm going to take the kids, and my wife and I have got our 10-year wedding anniversary in April. We're going to three weeks in New York. So if anything.
Speaker 2:Six months in business going to New York for three weeks hey, direct to life.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I don't know about next year. The first three months will be good, but it's about giving the family that experience and having those abilities to be able to do that. So, yeah, am I mindful? I'm still mindful. Has things changed? No, and they shouldn't. I want them to change for the better in the next couple of years.
Speaker 3:Mate, for most people they actually change for the worse. Like, start a business, most people bunker down and they're like all right, we're not going to be profitable, we've got to cut back on the budget. There's no spending Like typically, that's what most people prepare themselves for, so you should be incredibly proud that that's not the case.
Speaker 1:Well, you, know, steph mate, she's tight when it comes to finances. She just says you've got $5 to play with today.
Speaker 3:See, don't miss a beat when it comes to experiences like the concert, your passion for concerts and how in-depth you go there. Overseas travel, mate.
Speaker 1:it's awesome you only live once, and I've told my parents the same thing, as long as they don't leave me debt. You only live once. Enjoy this life. They've set us up as kids for success, which is what I want to do for my kids, and so why not? Any chance you can? What were you going to?
Speaker 2:say, blake, I was just going to tie back to your goals for your first 12 months, your second year, all this kind of thing in your business. To tie back to your goals for your first 12 months, your second year, all this kind of thing in your business. And going back to what you said Dec, around people's mindset when they start their business, generally people achieve thereabouts of whatever they focus on, kind of like driving a car. You drive a car, you're looking at the pole, you end up swerving into the pole. And what I find the difference is with just like someone starting their agency by themselves is the mindset they go in, thinking oh, as long as I, if I can break even this year, I'd be super happy. If I can make a placement in my first six months, I'd be super happy. And because they're focused on this goal, that's essentially what they end up achieving.
Speaker 2:But it's really different when it comes to ex-recruiter, because your first 12 months you're like, oh, I want to earn, I want to hit this big number and provide my family and go on an overseas holiday, and you're achieving all of that because that's where your focus is. And so I think it's really interesting to see the difference in mindset when you start out, like seeing you, you're glowing at the moment, mate, you're looking good. But some recruiters don't have that same path because they're just focused on doing one deal in their first six months, or, oh geez, I wonder how much business in the first year you're meant to make a loss. And then they end up making a loss in their first year because that's what they think business is. But it's nice to see people breaking through barriers, going outside their comfort zone, providing for their family and not jeopardizing their quality of life, which it seems like your quality of life hasn't changed or, if anything, it's improved having more time with family, friends, et cetera. So it's just, it's awesome to see. Thank you.
Speaker 1:And one of the things you say mindset it's not just on us as individuals and one of the fortunate things we've got in the XR group is having people that can help us strive and grow. So you're right, it comes down to our individual mindsets to want to exceed. But when you've got support, like you guys and obviously Matt and you surround yourself with people that want you to get better, evolve, grow, and for no purpose other than helping you, they've got no interest, no vested interest, like Matt has been phenomenal. He gets nothing out of it, just to make me better and to have that support and to have that greater community is just phenomenal.
Speaker 3:Mate. The impact. That's what gets us out of bed every day. It's the impact like hearing those stories, like that was not our starts in business. You know it's not common for many people, so it's. You know. The positive impact that this community brings to the whole recruitment community and obviously the hyper-focused version of X Recruiter. Like the impact on everyone's lives. It's crazy and it's only 90 days in.
Speaker 2:So what are your big rocks this year, mate? So it's 2025. We've just started. You want to start Toolbox Talks. What are the other kind of key achievements that you want out of 2025 for your new recruitment agency?
Speaker 1:That's a very good question. I haven't even sat down with Matt. Obviously there's financial. There's a financial target I want to hit. Do you mind sharing that 1.25. Nice, which is nearly double my PB.
Speaker 2:How are you going to achieve that? What are you going to do differently?
Speaker 1:Who are you?
Speaker 3:going to become to achieve that.
Speaker 1:Deep. That's a very good question, deccan. Thanks for the scripts and the preparation in your voice. Not, I'm the same, but better. I always say that because I'm me. What you see is what you get. What you see is what you get. One of the key drivers for me, which is pushing me to do things that I wouldn't normally do in the past, is I've had leaders come to me and say you're going to fail your family, wait what? So that still drives me. Yeah, and everyone goes through different leadership and different managers and you know, and everyone goes through different leadership and different managers.
Speaker 2:So a previous manager said if you go out on your own, you're going to fail your family. That's not very nice, yeah it wasn't.
Speaker 1:It wasn't at the time, but it drives, yeah, so to me now.
Speaker 3:I still think about what I got told when I resigned it just gets you fire in the belly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got that and you're not that good of a recruiter. I love it now. To me it just goes. You know what? You don't know me at all, and that was one of the things Matt sort of in Strive is you know who's there to support you, who's there to applaud you and help you grow, and you know who's not. So, going back to your questions, obviously there's a financial figure for me 1.25 million for the year Calendar year. Yeah, correct, I want to get my toolbox talk. One of the things that I'm looking at is charity or community. I think that's important. So things like mental health anyone that knows me that I've my previous radio days. I've got friends like Gus Warland who looks after mental health and Got you For Life, which is something that's really relevant. So I'm going to develop that further towards the year. So you've got an exclusive here on XR.
Speaker 1:Awesome you heard it first. So Black Dog is a big thing when it comes to guys aged between 18 and 55, mental health. So Gotcha for Life is an organization that assists those to say it's okay to not be okay and support awareness across the trades and services area. So that's something I'm looking at further from a mental health and just being more for my family.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. They're really good goals. You're going to have a lot to do over the next 12 months A lot, but it's exciting. You're really good goals. That's.
Speaker 1:That's a you're going to have a lot to do over the next 12 months, but it's exciting. It's exciting, um, because it's mine, it's my family's, um. Everything we do is is going to be reflected.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, talking about your resignation and then hearing your story about your resignation deck it's, it's. It's funny. Most recruiters think highly of their current employer, as you would right, and I mean. For me, when I resigned, it turned really ugly too. I thought I had a great relationship with my boss and when I resigned, said all sorts of things to me.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, same thing with yourself and a lot of the recruiters that I speak to. They all think that their current boss, they've got this great relationship with them. They've got this great relationship with their employer and it always is until they resign. And then you truly realize what type of relationship you have with your employer when you resign. And I would say at least eight out of 10 times when we speak to recruiters before they resign and start their own agency, they go.
Speaker 2:No, I'd be blessed on the way out. I've got a great relationship with my boss. Blah, blah, blah. They resign, they go. Holy shit, I'm getting legal letters. They won't talk to me anymore. You get personal threats yeah, personal threats, like it's crazy. Everyone's current employer is their best friend until they resign. And so I think you know, going through the experience with 80 plus recruiters now when they've, like resigned and, you know, gone a different direction to level their life up. It should be a really nice moment, but eight out of 10, I'd say it's not so nice and reality comes knocking on the relationship they've got with their employer.
Speaker 3:Why do you think we lag behind in that area so much as an industry? Like you? Look at tradespeople they go out on their own and, like one of my mates, he still works with his first ever boss that he left and he's been in business for like six, seven years and he's still working with his boss on joint jobs. They quote stuff like I feel like the recruitment industry is so outdated with this scarcity mindset Like how good would it be being able to call your boss as a mentor? They grow, you grow. You know you could share clients, not feel like you're. You know you're looking over your back all the time or, you know, then waste an opportunity, cost of lawyer letters and shit. I just don't know where it came from. Is that just professional services? I?
Speaker 2:don't know.
Speaker 1:It's a tough question and because through my last, I've only worked in two agencies, and for both good tenures, and I had some great leaders in both those organisations that didn't have that mindset. But you've got individuals, got individuals, whether it's impacting their P&L or whether it's. And even when I was told what I was told it's like shouldn't you be proud of getting a person to the pinnacle or the peak of where they can go? And unless you're going to give them something such as equity or something like that, where they're going to, why deter them? Why hold them back? Why kick them off? Why give them a bad off-boarding experience? My role as a credit manager is always to have them succeed me, and if I couldn't take them on that journey, as long as I could help them to be better off than where they came on, that was my job as a manager help them grow.
Speaker 2:It's interesting, isn't it? Like you see tradies, sparkies working at all different electrical businesses, all hanging out at the pub having a drink. How's your work going? Yeah, we're doing this. How's that work going? Yeah, we're doing this, but recruiters aren't so much like that. Like you find a very small amount of recruiters that might be like that. Is it ego? Yeah, insec. Small amount of recruiters that might be like that, but even still, yeah, insecurities, insecurities.
Speaker 2:I think it's like kind of like culture as well. Culture of recruitment is, um, is is very much like that. Like the, even the, even the recruiters that I would catch up with, um, that were friends of mine before they got into recruitment, like they wouldn't even be forthcoming with the clients that they work with. You're on a podcast right now saying that you've recruited for Zip for everyone to listen to. A recruiter would never typically promote the clients that they work with out loud like that because of the scarcity mindset and that's how they've been raised in the industry. We've got mates who wouldn't even tell you like candidate names or wouldn't want Google reviews. In case someone checked the Google review, found out who the person was, linkedin them, found out where they worked and then figured out who their client was.
Speaker 1:What so tomorrow? I've got to, I've got to catch up with Comcator, where I'll be doing a LinkedIn photo. I think that's crap, that mentality. You should be proud, the only one that's going to bring down. And if someone wants to drop their pants and give Zip Meal or Comcator or anyone like that a better rate, go for it. Are you going to get the service that you get from me? No, and I am proud to partner with those clients. It's something that it's. That's what it's about. It's a relationship, a partnership. Yeah, why not put it out there? I'm proud to be an extended arm of those companies and representing them, so why not Love that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's awesome and they bring so much credibility there's. You know, they probably have the same level of appreciation because you know, like what, build the right team and that's the basis of your business, like the value that a good partnership with a solid recruiter that's ethical and does the right thing. Yeah, I don't know, maybe it's, maybe it's just been around for years and this mentality is how do you shift it? How do you change it?
Speaker 1:You can't, you can't, you just be you. That's, and that's the joys we've got. I mean, we were talking about this in the minds session yesterday. One of the things that I'm excited there's no egos in XRecruiter. We're able to talk about collaborations.
Speaker 1:One of the things in the past was you talk about certain clients that you're working with and someone would go well, that's my account. Why are you touching them Like I'm the account manager, like internally, let alone externally? It's like, whereas we're talking as a collective group, we're owning our own, each different agencies where we've got more to compete per se. And it's like Chris, I can help you out getting the text here. Can you help me out across sales here? That's true collaboration. That's what agencies should be doing. If there's a small agency, a boutique agency, that doesn't do trades and services, they go well. I know a guy that does that. On the flip side is there's someone who does CFOs. I can refer that Our role should be to an employer to do what we should be doing, which is resolving their pain point. That's it, not what's best interest for us.
Speaker 3:But you can only get there once. You get that abundance mindset and that's probably what's happened in the last three months quite dramatically for many people, so it's exciting.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:All right. So 2025, we've got a big year, big year For Chris. We've gone to New York. 1.25 is the number. Do you see yourself growing your agency or are you focused on just being the best version of yourself in like a one-man recruitment agency? Like what do you see Maytech becoming?
Speaker 1:I don't want an empire, yep. One of the things I trailed at an agency was managing a team. It took me away from what I love doing. I got more involved in the dramas. I'd rather focus on my desk. I'd love to get in a position where we're looking at Steph not working. She can do assisting, whether it be admin, whether it be get her on the phones or whatever. As a candidate manager, harry's talking about joining the team in eight years, once he turns 15.
Speaker 1:So I want it to be a true family business. I don't want anything outside the family. I want this family venture.
Speaker 2:I love that. That's awesome. Well, chris, thanks for coming on today sharing your experience talking to us about BayTech. It's pretty inspirational. Hopefully any recruiters out there that share a similar type of mindset to you would be inspired to go out and start their own thing too and provide for their family. And if anyone wants to get a hold of Chris, reach out to Chris BayTech Recruitment. I don't know, if we can put links, can we put links? Give me a buzz, yeah.
Speaker 1:Drop me a DM, but make the move, it's worth it. Thank you, boys. Thank you for the opportunity for me and my family to go on this venture. No it's a pleasure working with you.
Speaker 2:Love that, thank you, thanks for tuning in to another. 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. Until next time you.