Data-Driven Decision-Making for Effective Hiring with Thad Price

Intro [00:00:00]:

Welcome to the elite recruiter podcast with your host, Benjamin Menna, where we focus on what it takes to win in the recruiting game. We cover it all from sales, marketing, mindset, money, leadership, and placements.

Benjamin Mena [00:00:19]:

Alright. Before we get started on this podcast, I am excited that the elite recruiter community has launched. So definitely check the show notes, jump into the community. Roscoe, yeah, I know that I asked the question every single podcast about what book has impacted their career, so we're gonna start a book club. The 1st books for the month of December is gonna be Vivid Vision and Top Biller. And feel free to pick 1, feel free to read only 1, but But we're gonna definitely talk about them closer towards the end of the month and definitely excited about, everybody growing and learning. And on top of that, The recruiter growth summit is going to be in January. I should have the, invite out next week that you could sign up.

Benjamin Mena [00:00:59]:

We're gonna have some of the best speakers that we've had. Definitely excited about, you guys growing in 2024 because I think this is, Like, we can make 2024 the best year for every single listener. So excited to grow, and, hope you guys enjoy this podcast. I'm excited about this episode of the Elite Recruiter podcast. I have my special guest, Thad Price, who's the CEO of Talluru, to talk about A very important thing when it comes to hiring, are we making data driven decisions, or are we making emotional Hiring decisions. And one of the things that we have seen this year is the impact of so many companies making Emotional and nondated driven hiring decisions. It is we've seen it across the board and is, like, decimated, like, the the tech landscape. So it's one of those things, like, could they have made smart hiring decisions way back when, and it could have changed the the trajectory of many Employees' lives.

Benjamin Mena [00:02:02]:

So, Thad, I'm excited to have you on the podcast to talk about that and many other things. So welcome to the podcast, Thad.

Thad Price [00:02:07]:

Benjamin, great to be here. Thank you so much.

Benjamin Mena [00:02:10]:

So one, we always get started. How did you even get started in this wonderful world of recruiting?

Thad Price [00:02:17]:

Well, believe it or not, I responded to a newspaper ad. That sounds crazy this time, right, in in this a in this day and age. But I was in college, and I responded to a newspaper ad. I was in, a little town called Fredericksburg, Virginia right outside of DC. And, so I moved off campus, and I needed a part time job. And so there was a there was an ad in a local newspaper, again, newspaper, for a Someone to help with customer service, flexible hours while I was in school. And I was like, that sounds like a great opportunity for me. At that time, I was majoring majoring in economics, And I was fascinated with the labor market, but, you know, at that first at that time, I knew it was, you know, a company, you know, working in the Internet, looking for customer service, Helping people, you know, find jobs.

Thad Price [00:03:05]:

And so I responded and, you know, one thing led to another. And so I was brought in to to provide customer service and then manage customer service and then, you know, grew with that company. He was a founder owned business and left as BPM business development forged a lot of a lot of partnerships and then joined, at that time, Jobs2Careers in 2013 moved from outside of Northern Virginia to Austin. So I've been here at Jobs2CareersNow, Touro for, little over 10 years. And so it's been an amazing journey and, you know, excited to excited to to continue to innovate how companies Recruit in fine talent.

Benjamin Mena [00:03:48]:

That's phenomenal. I love that you literally went from, like, a customer service person to now the chief executive offer officer It all in the recruiting space. Love that.

Thad Price [00:03:59]:

Well, you know, I think customer service is so important. You know, I think all relationships are built on a partnership. And, you know, the all the you know, a lot of great hires that we've had in over my career that I've had had been in, serve had been in the service industry, whether it's been, hospitality or whether it's been restaurant. You know, the ability to deal with people that are unhappy and work through problems is, I think, Definitely, underrated in business.

Benjamin Mena [00:04:27]:

Oh, real quick before we, do jump into the whole the interview and the podcast, Tell the listeners a little bit about Tower.

Thad Price [00:04:34]:

Yeah. So, you know, Toweru is a, talent attraction platform. We're a talent matching engine. So what we do is we sync directly with your jobs that are live, with your applicant tracking system that you're currently using for your recs or or your, your your CRM specifically where you're actually capturing candidates, and we sync those candidates directly in those systems, And we advertise those job free jobs for you. It's very data driven, and we allow companies to target a cost per application goal per job, And we work to reach those goals and objectives. And the way to think about our business is originally when we were jobs 2 careers were focused on building a point destination, which was a job site, you know, similar to Indeed, similar to ZipRecruiter. And what we found was there was a really great opportunity to Open up our platform and to essentially turn the Internet into a help wanted sign. So the idea was our job search plumbing Could be available in lots of different job sites because there there are a lot of job sites out there.

Thad Price [00:05:33]:

And there's a long tail. Right? There's a long tail of job seekers, and that's what Recruiters really want is you want unique job seekers that you can't find anywhere else. And so the idea was if we could aggregate this long tail of Job seeker activity and talent supply under 1 platform and allow it to be data driven, then we create could create a lot of value for, for recruiters and for talent acquisition teams. And, you know, that's what we built. So the Tower ad platform helps companies reach talent, that they're not finding and allows a data driven approach to be able to ensure that we're using the signals that's happening, you know, inside the ATS or the CRM to ensure that we're driving the candidates that companies need to be successful to fill the candidate to fill the pipeline of candidates to get the hires they need at the end of the day to be successful.

Benjamin Mena [00:06:21]:

And, you guys mostly focus in which industries for the prop the platform?

Thad Price [00:06:27]:

Yeah. So, frontline, essential worker, commercial staffing, Light industrial, that's where we spend all of our time today. Not so much professional staffing or professional roles, but all in in high volume, high volume. A big need in the economy today as you can imagine, especially we haven't gotten into that yet, but, like, especially given the change of The hourly worker and the frontline worker and the needs that, you know, that that that the ship that's been occurring over the last probably 5 years.

Benjamin Mena [00:06:58]:

And I think that's, like, one of the the interesting things is that sector of the economy is there's so much demand right now. Yep. But a lot of the focus is on, like, the professional sector of the economy.

Thad Price [00:07:10]:

Yeah. Well so it's when when I when I chat with customers, you know, It's they don't necessarily realize the the big change that happened. You know, I would say probably that started happening probably 6 or 7 years ago, and that was This idea of marketplace gig work, right, that didn't exist. You know, the ability to turn on an app and Drive for Uber or turn on an app and deliver for DoorDash or deliver for Instacart or any of these other platforms. And When you think of the income earning potential and the ability to work when you wanna work in these marketplaces and platforms, It provides a lot more flexibility than you find in a typical, you know, in a typical frontline job. Right? And so when you think about Who are you competing with? You know, you're not competing with your traditional employment competitors. Right? You're not Or your traditional competitors in general, you're competing with this whole new, wave that's been happening because, Now when we when we survey job seekers in our in our our our talent community, we found, you know, coming out of the pandemic that the number one thing other than Pay that people are looking for is flexibility. And that's always been top of mind for so many job seekers, but they never really had flexibility At that kind of frontline essential worker hourly, position, now that's changed because you can work when you wanna work.

Thad Price [00:08:36]:

You can Turn on the app. You can turn off the app. And so now we're having to redefine what work means for many for many, for many people.

Benjamin Mena [00:08:46]:

Yeah. It's it is really crazy. It's at least I'm in the government contracting space, and the fun thing about government contracting is many times The government wins the work to the lowest cost provider or the lowest cost bid. So many times, like, I've had some, Like, conversations with potential clients, I was like, you guys bid it here. You guys are looking for all the skill set. You're looking for this person to be in the office 5 days a week. And then I, like, I'll hop on and, like, look at some data. I'm like, they can make almost as much money driving Uber or, like, Uber Eats or even, like, One of them, if you're gonna laugh, like, McDonald's actually paid $5 more an hour than, like, this government contract role.

Benjamin Mena [00:09:25]:

And it was just, like, Bobergasse said that this massive shift in the economy has happened.

Thad Price [00:09:32]:

Yeah. And and many business businesses are are feeling it right now, Right. Especially with inflation, wage inflation. But, you know, I think it's I think it's great for the American worker. I think that, when we think about the ability to work and provide, you know, what we've all talked about for years, work life balance, You know, for this section of the labor market that didn't necessarily have a lot of it, I think this movement, it you're gonna continue to see, and it'll be interesting to, you know well, it'd be interesting to see how things change. But I think the the big key is businesses need to adapt to this because If you look at all the trends in the labor market, you know, we have we have a void. We have a void. And, you know, when you think of every everything else that happened, you know, during the pandemic and the labor market is one big piece of that, you throw in the baby boomers.

Thad Price [00:10:25]:

Right. And you're in a whole a whole another issue. Right? And think about this. Right? What have we experienced as a society in the last probably 3 years as far as real estate. Massive gains in real estate. Massive gains. Right? Now who knows with high interest rates kinda where all that chicks sound like so weird. But, anyway, Many baby boomers made a lot of money on their homes, you know, over the last probably 18 18 to 24 months.

Thad Price [00:10:53]:

And so that's usually where a lot of the wealth is for so many peoples, you know, especially at retirement. And so the baby boomers are just They're out. Right? They're out

Benjamin Mena [00:11:03]:

of the

Thad Price [00:11:03]:

workforce, and, you know, they're not coming back. And and so we need to really think about if they do come back, they'll They'll work when they wanna work. Right? They'll work for they'll drive for Uber. They'll deliver for DoorDash. That's what they'll do. Right? They won't necessarily won't necessarily have kind of that traditional employment. So we've got this void in the labor market, and so it's gonna be really interesting to see How this shakes out, and you're already seeing in some sectors that, you know, had, you know, you know, lost so many baby boomers like health care and education. See huge, huge issues in those industries today.

Thad Price [00:11:39]:

And one one that I think we've seen a lot of and that I see a lot of is is bus drivers. Yeah. So Yeah. Huge need huge need in in in the in the market right now. So, you know, it's it's interesting to be on the sidelines, you know, Serving this industry through technology and and also kind of in this re, I guess this change of the labor market and this change of change in work.

Benjamin Mena [00:12:07]:

Well and it kinda goes into a few a few questions I have. Like, one of the things, like, when I'm sitting there talking with candidates, Top of mind is the impact of inflation that it's had on them. How how do you think companies can really prepare themselves to really address Somehow, benefits wise, with inflation, we're there if they can't also increase the amount of money they can get.

Thad Price [00:12:29]:

Yeah. I think the big thing you can do is set expectations. You know, be transparent. You know, communication will set you free in so many areas in life. Right? If you actually are if you actually have communication and you're open and you're transparent. You know, in our business, for an example, when we think about 2022, 2022 was an incredible year for us. 2023, we serve a lot of mid market and enterprise companies, And a lot of the budgets, were reduced, especially given a lot of the, market uncertainty in q 3 and q 4 of last year. And so this year, you know, we've had to make some we've had to make some changes to our business as well.

Thad Price [00:13:08]:

And so every business is faced with this or or has been faced with Some changes due to inflation, due to business office, the macro environment, like, everything. I think the biggest thing to do is to be transparent. Right. And the other thing to do is to also have you know, I I can't stress this enough. You know, have more stay interviews with your team. Let them know that when things are better, you know, they'll be more for them. And let them know where they can Where they can go and where they can grow within your company, especially when we think of when we think of, these platforms, Gig based work and and how folks are redefining how they work. You know, the one thing that these businesses can offer is a career opportunity.

Thad Price [00:13:53]:

It's transactional It's transactional income. Right? It's I turn on the app. I deliver something. I get paid. That isn't that's the opportunity for so many employers is to really talk about career growth and where you can go and where you can grow with the company and what's in it for me and and Celebrate the stories of people that started here like me that was in customer service and kind of grew with a company. Right? Celebrate those stories internally, and I think that's the big. That's, you know, the advice that I would give, companies today.

Benjamin Mena [00:14:24]:

And I kinda wanna dig a little more into this this stay interview kind of thing. So I know there's a lot of recruiters in certain industries that have been hugely impacted by economic conditions and, You know, macroeconomic conditions and, you know, the the team members that are still there. Like, how do you properly do a stay interview to like, Hey. Things are gonna get better, hopefully. Well We're gonna we're gonna ride and ride together.

Thad Price [00:14:52]:

Well, you know, Look. I think that, I think there's you have to be transparent. Right? I think people respond to that. Like, you you can't just Say, hey. Everything's gonna be great and unicorn and rainbows. Right? It's not gonna work like that. Right? You have to be just very honest with them and, you know, say, hey. Look.

Thad Price [00:15:13]:

This is what we're faced with. You know, we're seeing declines in wrecks. And, you know, you're you're one of the top. And, you know, I hope that we can continue to work through this together. There are no promises, but, you know, I want you here, and I want you here as long as you will be you know, I want you here as long as I can afford that you're here to have you here, and I want you here As long as you're willing to be here, you know, with me and set that expectation. And when we come through this together, there will be, you know, there will be on the other side of this, There will be a lot more opportunity for you, and I think that's what I think that's kinda what people, you know, are looking to hear. I mean, this is this business is very cyclical. I mean, You know, we've all seen it.

Thad Price [00:15:59]:

If we've been in it for 20 years, we've seen 3 or 4 of these, 5 maybe. I remember, you know, Latest one was, you know, when we think about, COVID in general when the economy just shut down. Right? No one was hiring. Right. No one was out and about, and and so businesses were just closed so that you know, we've been through this, but look what happened. That's what happened afterwards. Right? So I would say celebrate the experiences, reassure them that this is cyclical, And it will come back, and you're important to help me achieving my Objectives, and I need you here as long as I can continue to afford to have you here. Right? That potentially is out of my control, but I would I would just I would, You know, I would I would just be very realistic, but also be very caring and and supportive in in in what what it what it means On the other side of this.

Benjamin Mena [00:16:59]:

I absolutely love that you said it that way. I remember it was a place many years ago or 2 different places many years ago. One is Everything was sunshine and roses. Everything was perfect, and then all of a sudden, we did layoffs, like, literally the week of Christmas. Like, 2 days before Christmas, layoffs happened, And we're just all, like, shell shocked. And then it was another organization, and another time, there was just like, hey. We're going through some stuff. Like, We don't know where how it's gonna go.

Benjamin Mena [00:17:25]:

Our goal is to fight, and we want you to fight with us. Right? And, like, the team From, like, looking at the differences between the recruiting team that was just absolutely shell shocked by the Christmas literally Christmas Eve layoffs versus the team, like, You know what? Let's see what we could do to fight. Let's see what we could do to, like, expand our numbers, find ways to

Thad Price [00:17:46]:

Kinda like that.

Benjamin Mena [00:17:47]:

Become a revenue generator for the organization. Completely different team structure. We did lose somebody. Like, they they saw the writing on the wall. It was just like, well, you know what? I'm gonna jump. But the rest of the people that stayed, Like, they put on a different hat and they fought every single day. So, dad, thank you for saying that.

Thad Price [00:18:03]:

Yeah. And I love that idea of, like, we're gonna fight. Right? We're gonna go in this together. We're gonna fight. We're gonna win. The other side will be stronger. And you know what? You said you lost someone in that experience. I think I think that's okay.

Thad Price [00:18:15]:

Right. Because the people that are in there fighting are the ones you want are the ones you want in the trenches with you fighting. Right? If people aren't if they don't necessarily Have it, and they don't they don't you know, it's it's not in the cards for them, then, you know, you by being focused And being realistic with him, you give him the chance to opt out. Right? And so, that's a great way to think about it.

Benjamin Mena [00:18:39]:

So, and wanna kinda flip gears a little bit. So dealing one of the things that, like, we're dealing within the economy, at least in, like, the frontline sector is Really just a miss mismatch skill set of, like, how as a recruiter can you work with companies that kind of, like, Almost like guide them into, like, taking different skill sets than they're originally used to due to the supply and demand of that that that sector.

Thad Price [00:19:09]:

Wow. That's a big question. I mean, that that's a big question. I love the question. You know, I would say that, you know, skill Based hiring is is the key. Right? And anything that we can do to to focus on, You know, skills versus the all powerful resume, is so much more effective, especially in this idea of Candidate attraction and attracting candidates to businesses and and the idea that recruiting is like a sales funnel. Right? You gotta get candidates in the funnel. And then through the funnel, you go through the process and then you figure out, you know, who you know, you figure out you figure out the hires at the end, right, at the end end of that funnel.

Thad Price [00:19:51]:

So I definitely think that's important. Right? You know? We don't need a resume. It's all about skills. It's all about, you know, The individual, to the idea of, like, focusing success and showing that, hey. There these skills are transferable, and we should think about these other skills because we can't find the cancer that have the skills that you're really looking for. You know, what I would say is that would really lean in on, testing, like assessments, And see if you could prove a model, around that. Right? And and there are a lot of great companies out there that are, that are Providing terrific service on kind of redefining how we think about recruiting around kind of psychometric analysis And figuring out, you know, how to ensure that fit is important, you know, for the candidate, and fit's important, of course, for the company. Right? Goes both ways.

Thad Price [00:20:53]:

And so I would say try to build some stories, lean in on that, try to get some buy in. And I think I think they're I think all companies are gonna want data. Right? They're gonna come in, and they're you know, this is how I've been doing it for years. It's worked for me, and the recruiter is like, well, Yeah. What worked for you then isn't gonna work for you now because this market is totally different. But, yeah, I think you have to start somewhere, and I think the way to start there is, like, trying to test kind of AB test, right, a process, and getting some buy in in. And once you show buy in that hey hey. Let's let's try this candidate pool.

Thad Price [00:21:30]:

Let's run some some assessments. You know, let's let's, let's try this, and let's see how this candidate pool performs for you over time. And then I think Then I think you're in a better world to then to then show success, but I think you have to take a different approach. I don't think it's just gonna be, You need these candidates because I can't find these. Right? I think it's gotta be more more strategic for them long term of, hey. I've got this idea. You know, these, you know, science can predict. Let's use some science.

Thad Price [00:22:05]:

Right? And and versus I feel. And, you know, I think businesses will be more receptive to that.

Benjamin Mena [00:22:12]:

I I absolutely love the assessments. Is there any, like, good assessment platforms that you guys really like Or you'd recommend?

Thad Price [00:22:18]:

Yeah. I would I recommend Plum.

Benjamin Mena [00:22:20]:

Okay.

Thad Price [00:22:21]:

Plum. They're a a fairly new start up and have won some great Enterprise, companies. And so what what we like to think of is what we you know, what kind of our goal is When we think about assessments, I I believe in this idea called holistic job matching. And What holistic job matching is is that when you drive a quality candidate to a quality employer And you focus on fit. The impact to the job seeker or the candidate is Life changing, and the impact to the business is business changing. And the reason why I like Assessments, and I like kind of the move to that process is in a perfect world, companies like Taoroo would use Signals from, you know, assessments and testing and that type of thought process to in the way in which we attract candidates So that we can focus on quality over quantity. And everything that we're doing here at is focused on quality of connection and quality match. And what I mean by quality of connection is what tools and systems can we build to reach candidates faster, more effectively.

Thad Price [00:23:39]:

Right? So that it's more automated, and and we can get to the candidates quickly. Right? Because this business recruiting is all about speed. Right. So quality of connection and then quality of candidate. And I believe quality of connection can influence quality of candidate. Right? It ghosting. Right? People apply to jobs. You don't hear back, like, all of these things.

Thad Price [00:24:00]:

And so if you can connect quickly to a candidate and And figure out how to ensure that the candidates that you do connect to the employer are quality. The employer or the recruiter will connect faster. That will create this, like, cycle of, oh my god. I'm applying to a job, and I hear back this this whole, you know, black hole thing that, you know, I've been I've been experiencing for the last 5 or 6 years. It's over. Right? If I can believe in quality of connection and quality of candidate, then I can connect this entire cycle and focus on the fit. And that's what that's what this industry should be about. Right? A positive outcome for the job seeker and the candidate and a positive outcome for the employer because the right people can change a business trajectory.

Thad Price [00:24:48]:

Right? And that's what it's all about. Great people go great companies. And so how do you leverage technologies to be able to do that? And I think that That's the opportunity in the industry that I don't think anyone's solving very well right now. But if you can, then that is game changing for so many lives and so many businesses.

Benjamin Mena [00:25:07]:

Absolutely love that. I know there's a lot of, like, executive recruiters that I've been speaking with that are really leaning into High level assessments that help their companies have that proper match. So it's not just the frontline people. It is Yeah. Across the board. Like, there are ways to provide a increased service for your clients with that kind of stuff. So, yeah, thank you for that.

Thad Price [00:25:30]:

And you've

Benjamin Mena [00:25:30]:

t you've touched on a few times about, like, this emotional driven decision versus this data driven decision. And I think most companies, I I hate to say this, make emotionally high emotional hiring decisions. How do you shift from the emotional hiring process to more of a data focus and data driven? And as a as a recruiter, how can you help drive that?

Thad Price [00:25:56]:

So I think the big thing is to think about the recruiting process as a, You know, as as a sales process, but really a marketing process as well. Right? Recruiting is a little bit of marketing, A lot of marketing and a lot of sales. Right? I shouldn't say a little bit. It's a lot of marketing, a lot of sales. And, you know, with that, you need a plan. You gotta figure out where to start. I think so much in recruiting is very reactive instead of proactive, and not focused on the product that you're selling. Like, think of product marketing, when you're when you're selling against, you know, your competitive set, you know, why someone will buy your product compared to buying another product.

Thad Price [00:26:40]:

And you need to make sure you're celebrating the features, the benefits, like the why behind your product over another product. That's also the case for a recruiting. Right? Why would someone come work for you over another employer? And it's not just money, Especially now. It's not about it's you know, money is one factor, but it's it's it's everything. Right? It's brain like, all of these things. So I think so much of what we do today is, like, I need this person now. And then the recruiter is like, Okay. Well alright.

Thad Price [00:27:15]:

I guess I need to you know? Do you have the rec ready? Like, where do you want me to start? But we don't we don't necessarily take a step back strategically and say, alright. Well, what are you know, what's our purpose? You know, how are we different? Who are we competing against? There needs to be a strategic view of how we're gonna win. And I think without that strategic view of how we're gonna win, why would someone come work for said company, then I think We aren't as effective as a business as we should be. So, you know, I think I think so much is I think so much is reactive and not proactive. That's one of the that's one of the keys, I think, that we could as a industry, we could do a better job of.

Benjamin Mena [00:28:00]:

And that's, But, yeah, having that shift from a reactive recruiter to a proactive and modern day recruiter is it's a lot of work, but it's needed to be effective and it's needed to I mean, we've seen the under we've seen the recruiting industry. There's a lot of recruiting companies, internal, external, that have been impacted by stuff, and it's the modern day that is a true consultant is the one that's winning right now.

Thad Price [00:28:22]:

Yeah. You're right. Right. Again, going back to, like, marketing, you know, when you think about who you're who you're selling to, Well, your it's your ICP, your ideal customer persona. Well, what's your ideal candidate persona? Who are you going after? Who do you want? Who do you wanna recruit? And when you build that idea, and that's why there's so many parallels to marketing and sales. Right? When you kinda build that ICP for recruiting, Then you're gonna think then you're gonna say, alright. Well, now let me now let me build my battle cards, my competitive battle cards. Right? So, again, the marketing thing.

Thad Price [00:28:54]:

Right? Battle cards. How do I compete with this? How can I compete with this job, with this employer? What do I provide that they don't provide? Like, go to Glassdoor, research who you're competing against, the top competitors. Figure out, like, what people are saying and then try to figure out how you provide an alternative because you gotta remember, they're going to Glassdoor and reading all the reviews, You know, and taking it with a grain of salt, yes. But you can at least you can at least try to answer those questions before they actually go and read And absorb, you know, what they're saying about a competitor, what they're saying about your business. So I think it's it's better to be prepared. It's better to be intentional in the process and ensure that you have a plan, before Going all in on on trying to find the right candidate.

Benjamin Mena [00:29:39]:

I'd love that. Well, Thad, before we jump to the next part of the interview, is there anything else that you would love to share about that we've talked about or.

Thad Price [00:29:46]:

No. No. This is great.

Benjamin Mena [00:29:48]:

Alright. We are flipping over to the quick fire questions.

Thad Price [00:29:51]:

Great.

Benjamin Mena [00:29:52]:

And I I really looking forward to these just with your expertise and where you're at, like, in the industry. So brand new Baby recruiter just starting off in the industry. What advice would you give them to succeed?

Thad Price [00:30:08]:

Join all of the sales teams, groups that you can. Like, just go all in in sales. And then in your spare time, read all about marketing because that is to me what makes what is the What what's the change, but, you know, what's the difference maker or the change maker between, you know, a good recruiter and a great recruiter?

Benjamin Mena [00:30:32]:

I I'll personally say this. I think one of my biggest mistakes early on in my recruiting career was avoiding Sales. Probably could have taken my my career in a quicker direction, but yeah. No. I I'd love that. What about the recruiters that have been around the block? 5, 10, 25 years, what advice would you give to them to see success or keep on being successful?

Thad Price [00:30:56]:

I would say be open. Be open about things aren't like The way they were, and you need to change you need to change things. You need to look you look at different technology. You need to think about how, You know, candidates are communicating. Think about how you communicate. Think of look at other businesses and how they've been successful, and also think about, you know, the competitive nature of talent and and research more. You know? Know as much about the company you're working for As a company you're not working for, but you're competing against.

Benjamin Mena [00:31:33]:

Oh, great advice on that. Has there been a book that has had a huge impact On your own personal career.

Thad Price [00:31:40]:

Oh, gosh. There have been a number. I'm trying to think the best one. One one that a few years ago that That I really enjoyed is It's Your Ship, and that book is a great book. And the reason why it's a great book is it because it it means It shares ideas on how you can empower people to to feel like That they that the ownership that you have is the ownership they have. And I think ownership and responsibility are very underrated in society. When someone feels like they have ownership and responsibility and you empower them to have That ownership and responsibility, it's game changing and creates loyalty. And that loyalty is something you can't change.

Benjamin Mena [00:32:30]:

Oh, phenomenal. What's your thoughts on artificial intelligence and the impact that's gonna have on recruiting?

Thad Price [00:32:37]:

It's fantastic. It's it's fantastic from the perspective of our our value is to connect With people with and have a human connection. I embrace any technology that Empowers me with automation so that I can spend more time with people and connection. And I think the reason why I say it's fantastic is there are so many things that it can help us with In our day to day experience as a recruiter or a talent acquisition professional or a leader that can help give you that that start. And I think that that's how we have to think about it is, you know, when we moved from An agrarian culture to more of an industrial driven culture. The productivity gains were massive, And that's how we have to think about this. We can do more, spend more time with people, especially in recruiting because it's a human driven business. Right? It's a connection driven vision.

Thad Price [00:33:46]:

Quality of connection leads quality to candidate. And anything that we can do along the line to automate and essentially, you know, Be more productive in the daily tasks that, you know, we're all kind of caught up in. Oh, gives us more time to do what we actually love, and that's recruiting.

Benjamin Mena [00:34:03]:

Love that. If so got a question, like, looking back at your career. You started off as a customer service professional, And then you grew into management. You could have stayed customer service. What were some of the things that, like, really Personally drove you down that different path for growth.

Thad Price [00:34:23]:

Well, you know, I would say that when I think of when I think of that's a that's a really tough question. But, You know, I've always thought that customer service is embedded in every is embedded in every role. Right? And, You know, in my role today, you know, we have a number of team members, and my job is to serve those team members. I'm I'm I'm trying to run through walls. I'm rem removing blocks. Like, I'm providing them service. And I think every department Has you know, needs to really think of it as a service driven mindset to be successful, whether you're in accounting or whether you're in, You know, client success or whether you're in sales, like, everyone desires great customer service. You know, we've all, you know, we've all, you know, heard of the Nordstrom story.

Thad Price [00:35:13]:

I mean, like, it's it is all about service. And if you look at so many companies that have been built on service over the last, you know, number of years, Their legacy, you know, withstands time. And, you know, when I think about for me in a different role, This is just a different flavor of it. You know? I'm just I'm it's a different flavor of customer service, so that's how I think about it.

Benjamin Mena [00:35:41]:

So, I mean, there's a lot of personal drive, but also you looks like you've been in some places where there's been a culture of growth. How do you create a culture of growth for your organization?

Thad Price [00:35:55]:

I would say The first is celebrate those successes. Like, I think so many businesses I would say so many businesses will say, we're gonna go do this, and We're gonna build this great product, and we're gonna you know, we're going all in on it, and then it doesn't work. And then it peed. You know? You don't hear anything. Right? Crickets in the background. Yeah. 6 months later, 8 months later. And and we've we've experienced that as well a number of times.

Thad Price [00:36:28]:

But I think celebrating that, Hey. We're innovators. We're going down this path, and it may not work. But we're gonna go down this path and we're gonna share with you if it doesn't work, why it didn't work, what we're gonna do what we're gonna do better next time because the market is right, but the product may not be right. And so I think that the biggest thing is in you know, Google does a tremendous job of that. You know, how many products has Google created that, you know, some have been big wins And some have been complete flops, but they celebrate a culture of trying and failing. But when they when they hit it big, they hit it pretty big. And I think that's how businesses can really celebrate this culture of growth and then also the culture of growth for team members.

Thad Price [00:37:13]:

You know, celebrate the team members that, you know, have started in customer service and moved up to different levels in the organization In the company, I think that's really important. But, you know, going back to this, you know, I would say, first, celebrate the wins, celebrate the failures, Celebrate why what we learned from the failure. You know, talk about it. Don't just you know, don't just, You know, don't just have the crickets chirping in the background and everyone wondering, what happened? Well, I thought this was gonna work. Right? Communicate. Be transparent. And then the second is for people, I think that one of the reasons why we've been successful is because As our people have grown and our company has grown, and I think as your company grows And you, you know, you drive value. I think your people should as well, and you should celebrate The people that have been with you in the trenches, in the hard times, and the good times, and keep them, you know, keep them there with you.

Thad Price [00:38:16]:

Awesome.

Benjamin Mena [00:38:17]:

And this is actually one of my favorite questions, Thad. If you can go back and have a cup of coffee with yourself At the very start of your career, with everything that you know now and everything that you experience, what advice would you give yourself?

Thad Price [00:38:32]:

I would say I would say probably spend more time reflecting. I think that, you know, as I think about my career and I think about my accomplishments and, you know, what we're constantly focused on, you know, good thing is is that I'll jump in. Right? I will try to, Tear down a wall, help whenever whenever I can, train whenever I can, But I but I sometimes I can be more, you know, reactive than proactive, and I wish Sometimes I had a mentor that would say, there's something called the power of the pause, And I should pause more. I pause, but I should pause more. So I would probably I would probably say, you know, having that having that cup of coffee, I would say, Thad, power to pause, power to pause, power to pause. And I think that's really important. Right? Because when you pause and you think about things, you have a, Instead of just immediately kinda going at it, go at it. You can be more strategic in how you think about issues and how your approach issues.

Thad Price [00:39:43]:

And I I would say that Pause more than probably I have, in the past, and then probably pause for longer periods of time, right, as

Benjamin Mena [00:39:54]:

well. Awesome. Fantabulous. Well, Thad, before I let you go, is there anything else that you would love to share with the listeners?

Thad Price [00:40:02]:

Now this has been great, Benjamin. Thank you so much. Delighted to be here today, and thank you for the great conversation. And I hope your Listeners here have gotten some value out of labor market, what we're seeing, and, you know, leadership

Benjamin Mena [00:40:18]:

Oh, and recruiting. Of course. Well, that definitely wanna say thank you for coming on the podcast. You know, the important conversation to talk about how the labor market's moving, the impact of inflation has on your own team members, and some of the things that you can do to really just, You know, everybody wants to grow their team. Everybody wants to have a great team, and you've really hit a lot of points that is great advice for doing that. So thank you.

Thad Price [00:40:43]:

Thank you.

Benjamin Mena [00:40:44]:

Alright. For the listeners guys, let's crush this year. Thank you guys.

Intro [00:40:49]:

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