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Well known for her 30 year history of high dollar production and growth-oriented leadership, Kathleen has worked extensively with companies and individuals to leverage learning as a business success strategy. Clients ask Kathleen to work with them on increasing Production, Profitability and building high-performing recruiting teams in the Executive Search, Perm and Staffing industries. Having served as Chief Learning Advocate with Global Recruiters Network, Inc (GRN), Kathleen worked with the almost 200 franchised offices to implement a learning strategy that increased system-wide and individual office revenues by launching over 1000 hours of annual learning content. While National Practice Leader with StarbridgeGroup, Inc. Kathleen worked with training and consulting companies around the world to recruit and hire executive talent to convert their business goals into reality. Her tenure in the learning business has included highs and lows in her various roles as practitioner, search team leader, building and managing a 15 person search firm, as a franchise owner and a franchise consultant and learning leader. Kathleen now works with a variety of recruiting and human capital companies as a speaker, trainer, coach and business consultant. Kathleen began her professional career in 1980 when she traveled around the country teaching sales effectiveness to thousands of fund raising executives on behalf of a national non-profit organization. After several years, Kathleen shifted into sales, starting with opening new territories and moving up to Vice President of Sales for an educational software firm. Moving into recruiting provided Kathleen with a powerful way to leverage her sales and executive experiences, and her long history of helping executives build organizations and struggle with career decisions established her as a trusted advisor and coach. Kathleen has remained a leader in the executive search industry for the last 20 years of her recruiting career, and was selected in 1995 for membership in the Pinnacle Society, a recruiting industry honor society recognizing 75 of the top executive recruiters in North America. Kathleen was honored to serve as President of this prestigious organization for 4 consecutive years, and has now returned to the organization as an honored member Emeritus. Kathleen’s core expertise is in helping others learn and get things done. Working with others as coach and consultant, she is known for helping her clients build dreams, make plans and execute to create results. Often that means laying out a roadmap, identifying roadblocks and building a detour so the journey is productive. Kathleen Kurke specializes in Productivity and Profitability Coaching in the Recruiting Industry. If you or your team would like to make better choices on working Job Orders to increase your production and pro tability, reach out to Kathleen at kathleentkurke@gmail.com.
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Shift Happens – Now What?
By Kathleen Kurke | Sunday November 12, 2018
If doesn’t matter when you got into this business, there’s one thing we can all say for sure: Things have changed since you started.
• Maybe you started when your ‘data base’ involved cardboard pump cards, written planners and fire-hazard high piles of resumes.
• Or, maybe you started when you were still tethered to your desk by a twirly phone cord that was always getting tangled.
• Was it when there was an actual human gatekeep answering the phone that challenged you to come up with clever and sneaky ways to have her put you through?
• Or, was it in the days when the sound that caught your attention while you were supposed to be making calls was the fax machine spitting out a new resume instead of the “you’ve got mail” ding?
• Was it when you were you certain that the blossoming job boards would put our currently flourishing $26B dollar industry out of business?
Regardless of whether these examples make you wince or cry, they’re tangible reminders that things in our business change. Always have, always will.
And, there’s more.
We can be searching for a client for days or weeks on end and feel surprised (and, angry) when things have changed on their end and they no longer need or want what we’ve been looking for.
Or
We don’t talk to a candidate for days during an interview process, for whatever reason (it’s never our fault, right?), and then we’re surprised (and, angry) when things have changed, and they’ve now decided they’re going to pick up and move across the country to pursue their passion for frisbee golf.
Or
A client for whom we’ve been doing great work gets acquired by a company that fired us last year and all hiring will now be going through the parent company. Ooopsi.
Here’s the truth: SHIFT HAPPENS.
Always. Everywhere. Always has, always will.
We cannot control it.
We cannot stop it.
But, we can acknowledge it.
And, even more importantly, we can assume it.
So, we can ask about it.
Build questions asking about change into every conversation with candidates or client so you’re a part of the change process as it’s happening and not feeling like the victim of change at the back end.
“What’s changed?” REALLY ask it, and REALY Listen for the answer. Listen like the answer matters, because it does!
“Last time we talked, A, B and C were your priorities. What are your current priorities? In what order of priority?” Asking this question demonstrates you’ve been listening. You’re feeding back the specifics of what you’ve heard, and it increases the quality and specificity of what you’ll learn in return.
“We know change is a constant, so let’s assume it’s a part of your reality. What’s different than when we started our work together?” This is a great question for giving the candidate and client permission to share their truth.
Always talk about change. Don’t let it be the elephant in the room. Assume it’s happening, you just want to know the details. Ask questions that require more thought in answering than “what’s new?”.
SHIFT Happens – Be a part of it.