From Toxic Boss to Conscious Leader: A Recruiter's Journey of Self-Realization with Dom Farnan

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]:

Man, I am excited about you guys listening to this amazing episode talking about how you can become A better leader. But before we get started, the elite recruiter community is launching December 1st. I cannot wait to bring together A lot of a lot of you guys, get a chance to, like, interact, get a chance to have you guys, you know, meet other great recruiters that are working on Leveling up also. So it's gonna be a fun year in the elite recruiter community. And on top of that, definitely stay in touch for details for the 2024, make it your best year ever where I'm pulling together some of the coaches, some of the speakers that we've had. And we're just gonna, like, you know, have them share just to make sure that we make that everybody rises in 2024. Alright. Hope you guys enjoy this episode.

Benjamin Mena [00:01:11]:

I'm excited about this episode of the Elite Recruiter podcast. I have a special guest, Dom Farnon, And we're here to talk about evolving as a leader. And, you know, I've I've met so many leaders in the recruiting space, and most of them, A lot of them for a long time are not self aware of how they are acting with their team, what they are doing, sometimes the damage that they're doing, Or what if they're actually uplift uplifting your team. Dom came across a self actualization where she realized that she had to change as a leader. She had to grow as a leader. And this is an inspiring story For when you're in that leadership position, how you can make those changes to be a positive impact. So, Dom, welcome to the podcast.

Dom Farnan [00:02:01]:

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Benjamin Mena [00:02:04]:

So, it's the question that we always get started with. How did you even end up in this wonderful world of recruiting?

Dom Farnan [00:02:13]:

I didn't really have a choice, as much as I wanted a job. I was young. I had graduated high school Early and, I took an internship in marketing. And when that ended, my boss said, well, why don't you go down to HR and talk to them? Maybe they can use you somewhere. And I said, okay. So I went with the head of HR, this amazing guy, Rod, and I was like, well, what do you have for me? Like, I'll do Anything. I'm in college. Like, just I wanna stay working.

Dom Farnan [00:02:40]:

It's really important to me to keep learning. And and he's like, well, I'm hiring recruiters. How about that? We can train you. I had no clue. I just said, alright. Let's let's do that. We'll see how that goes. And so It started that way, and I didn't really research anything other than that.

Dom Farnan [00:02:57]:

I was just like, okay. I'm all in, and here's what I'm doing.

Benjamin Mena [00:03:01]:

And real quick, I Should have added this to your introduction. You've also recently wrote in a book too.

Dom Farnan [00:03:06]:

Mhmm.

Benjamin Mena [00:03:07]:

Do you wanna talk about that real quick before you I do a a deep dive into your recruiting background?

Dom Farnan [00:03:11]:

Yeah. Sure. So my book is called now here, a journey from toxic boss to conscious connector. It is a bit of a memoir and a story, and it starts Really, in 2020, when, you know, I had the beginning of, I would say, my dark night of the soul as many people did that year. And, I started to go deep in my inner work and healing journey, and I really just was curious about myself because externally and I share this in the book. Like, it looked on paper like I had it all. If you looked at my life, you would be like, wow. She's crushing it.

Dom Farnan [00:03:47]:

It's amazing. She's got this house. Everything looked great. But internally, I I was so disconnected from My essence and my emotions, I was a workaholic. Like, there was not an any knee there. It was just a shell of a person. And so I began feeling really depressed, and it was years of this high functioning workaholic depressive, energy That caught up to me in COVID when I wasn't able to distract myself through traveling and through having a lot of work and being busy all the time and and masking all of that. And so, you know, I I got serious, and I I heard a little voice inside of me that was like, you need to do something and you need to do it quick because this is not gonna end well, and, like, we're very concerned about you.

Dom Farnan [00:04:34]:

It was almost like my guides or somebody was telling me something was serious. So, You know, I I made an investment and I hired my 1st, coach, and she really helped. It was a catalyst that began this journey that I'm still on. And so in my book, the funny story is it it's called now here, but the the reality is, like, I'm still not done here yet. There's all this work I'm still in, and maybe we'll talk about it later because I'm definitely in this rebirth process of Who I have known myself to be and who I'm becoming.

Benjamin Mena [00:05:09]:

Awesome. And I'll make sure to have a a link for that book in the show notes. So definitely check the show notes out for a link to the book. So looking at your journey as recruiting, like, you pretty much started straight out of, like, you know, almost like high school, college. You've been in the space for a good amount of years. It looks like for a while, you were a solo entrepreneur. Can you talk about that?

Dom Farnan [00:05:29]:

Yeah. So I'm solo. So I worked in corporate. My 1st job with James Hardie, I was there, like, 5 years. That was, you know, when I was young, super young. And then That team went to a different company. I followed them there and stayed with the same group of mentors and people that were Helping me in my career. Was full time there for a couple of years, and then I got a little itch to wanna do consulting.

Dom Farnan [00:05:55]:

So we worked with this amazing woman named Iris Libby, and she's still one of my mentors and friends, and she's just amazing. I call her my fairy godmother, but She she had a company that we work with, and we were in corporate. And and I was really interested because I like the fact that she worked with so many different companies. Like, it was fun working in corporate for one thing, doing one thing, but I I'm multi passionate, and I have a lot of energy, and I get excited by challenges. So I'm like, I think consulting is my vibe. So let me try this out. So she hired me. It was really funny because I was the youngest person on her team, and she's like, I would never hire anybody this junior, yada yada yada, but I pulled your astrology chart.

Dom Farnan [00:06:34]:

I think it's in the cards for us. Like, I love you. I wanna train you up, and, like, I'll mentor you. So that was my 1st foray into moving into consulting. And and from then, I work with hundreds of companies throughout my career. I I ended up leaving her organization and kinda building my own book of business Through contract recruiting and consulting gigs, and that became pretty robust. And so by the end of 20 teen, I had a lot of clients I was working with as a solopreneur recruiter, corp to corp, or or however it was structured. And it the work was too much for me.

Dom Farnan [00:07:11]:

There wasn't another hour in the day that I could squeeze out any more actual work. And so I was terrified, but I was like, you know what? I think I need to come out to my clients, bring a team on, have people start helping me, train them up. I don't even know how I'm gonna say this to my clients because I think they only love me, but let's try it. And so that's what I did. So then in 2019, my company, Dot Connect, was Was really birthed as a team, but before that, it was my own consultancy for a long time. And, you know, Where I feel my strength was as a solopreneur was just my ability to adapt to a lot of different industries. Because I worked at everything from big tech to start up to CPG to health and wellness to Anything you name it, I probably worked in the industry.

Benjamin Mena [00:07:59]:

Oh, wow. And your your company, you scaled up pretty fast and pretty hard.

Dom Farnan [00:08:05]:

Yeah.

Benjamin Mena [00:08:06]:

You know, to the, like, you know, recognized by the Inc five thousand. You wanna talk about that?

Dom Farnan [00:08:12]:

Yeah. So, It happened fast and furious. I mean, 2019, we had a client, I would say, is our main client. We had a big team of recruiters, about Ten recruiters embedded within 1 organization, helping them build an entirely new division from the ground up. I played a role of Kind of head of talent for that project. We we went to about 30 people on our team that year. And then going into 2020, we were cited. We were feeling like we had a good revenue projection.

Dom Farnan [00:08:42]:

We were continuing to get work. And then COVID hit, and everything just stopped, Like, full stop. So our team went down to about 10, 15 people. We had a little bit of work. We kept that main client. They were still hiring. But, you know, at the same time, when I first started my team in 2019, it's not like anyone trained me on leadership at all or management. I did not know anything about leading a team.

Dom Farnan [00:09:10]:

I had never managed people. I was always just worrying about myself. And so The crack started to show in in 2020. We kind of made it through that year. But at the end of that year, we got Busy again. People wanted new contracts. People wanted big, huge teams of recruiters to come in starting in January and early q one of 20, you know, 21. And, that really led me to looking at myself and what wasn't working and my team's Drama and all of the things that started to show up, because I was not a conscious leader and because I was not an embodied Leader.

Dom Farnan [00:09:50]:

I I tended to point fingers at everybody else doing all the other things and putting a lot of blame instead of taking a look in the mirror and taking ownership and responsibility for my role. And, you know, I believe that leadership is not a title. It is in in action. How do you act? How do you be? It's not just a title that you're given and then that's it. You really have to honor it, and you really have to, examine if you even want it. I also believe that everybody, no matter what your role, no matter what your Length of time in the industry or not, you can be a leader. And so as I my philosophy on leadership evolved, I really wanted to, You know, invite my early career folks and my senior folks to be leaders in their role, but it was an invitation. It wasn't like, Here you are, and you're doing this now.

Dom Farnan [00:10:44]:

It was like, this is available to you if this resonates and this is what you want, and I will support you In the growth of your leadership skills, different to how I ever felt in my career. And there were some instances where I felt super support and it was great, And there was most instances where I was just on my own and left to figure it out, and there wasn't a lot of, development or anything like that.

Benjamin Mena [00:11:08]:

Noah, I got a leadership question for you. Definitely for new leaders out there that are building their own firms and have have, like, started hitting some sort of growth. You know, you sound like you're a high performer or you are a high performer. You're you've done very well supporting many clients. I've seen that there's sometimes a struggle of high performers and, we'll say, big billers becoming great managers. What advice would you give to them to become that great leader?

Dom Farnan [00:11:35]:

Yeah. Delegate and elevate. You know? It it depends. You you have to pick a lane. Right? I think for me, it was initially a challenge because I had a really big ego, and I Felt like if I didn't do it, it wasn't gonna be done well or right or whatever story I was telling myself at the time. In reality, Really reframing my role as a leader to be in service to the team and to help them Grow their skills and confidence instead of, you know, let me just do it myself because it's easier for me to do it, and it takes me 5 seconds versus explaining it and And then empowering you and then encouraging you and supporting you and all of that. So I think for the people who are high Performers who are trying to build an organization around their capabilities, understanding the role that you wanna have. Because if you wanna stay in your individual contributor, high performing top billing role, that's awesome, but that's not a company.

Dom Farnan [00:12:35]:

That's just you being a solo person like me. If you wanna build a company, then you need to make a decision, and you need to invest in yourself as a leader. Find a coach. Find a mentor, find a community, tap into resources that will support you in that evolution because there is a big difference between worrying about yourself and all the money that you're building and then supporting others in their development.

Benjamin Mena [00:13:02]:

Okay. That's that's great. And I know You wrote the book talking about, like, you realizing that you were, you know, a toxic leader and hitting that tar toxic point. What was the point where it just, like, you realize that's what was happening?

Dom Farnan [00:13:17]:

Yeah. I think for me, there was just Drama in my team and gossip, and it felt dysfunctional, and it didn't feel cohesive, and it felt, it also felt like I was contributing to that dynamic. You know, initially, it was a a small team, very familial. There was a lot of former Relationships within the the dynamic. Friendships turn then, they're working with me, or family members, and then they're working on my team. And so Really understanding how to reimagine boundaries and how to get the team to view me as a as a respected leader And not their friend and not their sister and not their cousin and all the things that were at play, but it also came back to me Taking ownership and responsibility of what I was going to do and how I was going to show up and, like, not Blaming, not pointing the finger, and not saying you guys are all a a disaster and I'm I'm not. It was really like, okay. We're gonna put a pin in this Culture and team right now, I'm gonna go deep in my work and really sort this out, and then I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna show up differently.

Dom Farnan [00:14:29]:

But I'm also gonna invite you on the ride with me. Like, I made a commitment to my team. You know? It's not like I just buried my head in the sand for 6 months and went On some, you know, sharp discovery walk, I really was like, I am so sorry. I didn't even realize that This is really, like, how we're feeling and how I'm feeling about this. And so I'm committing to you In my own leadership development, I'm going to invest in a coach. I'm going to invest in this. I'm going to do this work. I'm gonna, You know, do my healing work that is scary.

Dom Farnan [00:15:03]:

I'm going to face off with myself and hope that I can change this dynamic, and I knew that I would. I knew I knew when I started the journey, like, I was being called forward by something To really show up in my essence and not in my ego. For the longest time, I was in ego.

Benjamin Mena [00:15:24]:

And it's gotta be hard to I I I feel like it'll be hard to admit that to your team. How did your team take that when you started the journey and Start talking to her about the journey.

Dom Farnan [00:15:35]:

Yeah. My team and my husband were like, good luck with that. Everyone looking at each other, slacking, like, are you hearing this? It's She's crazy. I don't think she's gonna change. Like, LOL, you know, all the the things. We I saw that and I heard that, and I don't blame them. I I don't blame them, and it's not perfect. It's not like I declared this, and then everything was not rocky.

Dom Farnan [00:15:59]:

And it was amazing. Like, I declared this with a lot of humility, and it it took a lot for me in my such my ego, high performing way To humbly go, yeah. I realized this isn't working, and it's a lot more me than it is you. I know I've been telling him, you you all, it was you? It's actually me, and so let me just try and dissect this. And and I want you guys to know where I'm at and know that I'm a work in progress And know that it's it's not constantly moving forward. There were steps moving forward, and then there were steps back. And, You know, in your healing journey, at least in my healing journey, what I found is giving myself a lot of grace and self love and acceptance For who I am as a human, I'm imperfect. It's ugly.

Dom Farnan [00:16:48]:

It's not, you know, straightforward. It's very windy road. And It's not like as soon as I was, like, I'm a conscious leader now. Like, everybody believed me. I really had a lot of, embodiment work to do. I went to Peru last year in April of 22, and my my guides that I was working with said to me, the word of this Year and this trip for you is embodiment. So it's not about all the talking that you go out and do and the preaching. It's about The being and how you're embodying what you've been learning so that you so the people Feel energetically like you are showing up differently.

Dom Farnan [00:17:27]:

Like, it's really a reflection in your energy of the growth and the changes. That's hard for people because not everyone subscribes to growth mindset. Not everyone believes that you can change. Most adults I've been told, you can't change and you are the way you are, and that's that. And that's okay as well. And they we saw that on my team. We saw some people that were like, I'm not into this. I don't care.

Dom Farnan [00:17:49]:

I don't wanna be here. I don't wanna change. I don't wanna grow, whatever, and they moved on. And others were like, if she can do this, Maybe I can too, and maybe there's something here for me that I wanna discover about myself. And so I think it's really like Showing up in in humility and being open and and and letting them know I'm not perfect.

Benjamin Mena [00:18:11]:

And it's like like I said earlier, it's Gotta be hard as a leader to sit there and, you know, look at your team and be like, I'm not perfect. I need to work. But, okay, this kinda goes into the next question I have is It's a 2 part question. What are some of the results that you have seen in your personal life by going through this transformational change as a leader.

Dom Farnan [00:18:34]:

So many things, but the first one that comes to mind is my marriage. So when I started this journey and really made this commitment 3 years ago, The back of my mind, my intention was how do I save my marriage and get it on track? And it was It was a dysfunctional relationship for many years. We were together for a long time. We have a son, and we Had come to places many times where we were like, are we even gonna do this anymore? Like, we don't know. We don't know. But we're we're still together. Okay. So When I started this work in 2020, like I said before, my husband was kinda like, alright, whatever, and and was of the mindset of, you know, I don't know if this is gonna work.

Dom Farnan [00:19:19]:

And then I invited him to join me on the journey, but he wasn't on my same timeline. He was like, you do you and stop worrying about me. Like, I don't wanna do this stuff that you're doing, this healing work. So it wasn't until last September Where I invested in working with a relationship coach specifically so that I could discover more about how I am in relationship with people, not just in my marriage, but with people. And I invited him and I just said, look. I'm gonna do this. I I would really love it if you decided to do something. If it's therapy, if it's a men's group, if it's a coach, whatever.

Dom Farnan [00:19:57]:

But I'm gonna leave it to you, and I'm not gonna worry because the work I'm doing is for me. It's not for you, and it's not for, anything else but myself. And I just left that there with him. And then he decided to get a coach. And so he started working with a coach, and I'm working with 1, and then we work with them together. It's been a year now, and it was only about last month where we really came to each other with this new energy, this renewed sense of, connection. Almost like we burned down everything. All the old stories, all the old drama, everything gone.

Dom Farnan [00:20:29]:

And now we're seeing each other in a new light. And it's so interesting because I keep telling people, it's like I'm dating Again, like, I have, like, a boyfriend. Like, it doesn't feel like someone I've known for 18 years that I've been married to for 12 years. It feels like I don't know this new man in front of me, so it feels exciting. And and it's so It's just so special to me, and that I would say has been the most profound change in my life. And I know, like, I've been praying for this, And this is what I told him. We had lunch last week and I started crying, and I was just like, you know, this has been the biggest prayer in my heart, And I've just been holding this vision knowing that if I do this work and if I'm brave and if I'm willing to really let All this stuff go and and you're willing to as well. Like, I knew that we could reconnect and really know each other from a place where we are 2, You know, fully formed emotionally intelligent adults.

Dom Farnan [00:21:29]:

When we met, it was like, I had a lot of baggage and I was young, and he had a lot of baggage when he was young, and then we met and boom, we're together. And there wasn't any conscious level of anything. You know? So really this this consciousness work has rippled in so many areas of my life, but I would Say, I'm my most proudest, like, accomplishment in all of it beyond my team and all that other stuff has been how it's impacted my marriage.

Benjamin Mena [00:21:53]:

I absolutely love that. And I'm gonna ask the same question, and let's kinda take a step away from, 2023 has been a very interesting year in the recruiting world. So as you've gone through this this journey, what are some of the results that you've seen also in your business?

Dom Farnan [00:22:10]:

Yeah. So I would say, You know what? Our team was on in 5,002 years in a row for the last couple of years, and that was Exciting and impressive and and fun and, you know, expansive. I'll also say Last year brought me so much joy to win 6 awards on comparably for our culture, for our leadership. And this is from your own team telling you what they like about you and your company, and so that was really touching because it felt like, You know, just a little star on all of the the hard work. And the team knows what they know and what I share very publicly about this journey, but there is also the private moments behind the scenes that I've had to go through, The the death cycle of my identity, of my labels and titles and ego, and There's been a lot behind it. So to me, to have that, that that's been really close to my heart. And Now I'm just so proud, like, seeing where many of my team have moved on in their careers and what they're doing and how they still engage with each other on LinkedIn and how we support each other, and how we look out for each other, and how many of them are calling, texting, and emailing me that They can't wait till business picks up. They wanna come back here.

Dom Farnan [00:23:33]:

They're ready to go. Like, still we're still very connected because, ultimately, we were All living the same values, and we have the same vision that we were working towards together. And for me, I I always said, It doesn't matter if you work for me for a day or a year or 5 years or forever. The time that you have working with us in this company, I wanted to be the best. And so that was really what I was going for was it you know, I knew that nobody was gonna stay here forever. That's okay. It wasn't about that. It was like, how do you feel when you're here And you're in our team and in our organization, and it's unlike anything that many of the team have talked about.

Dom Farnan [00:24:11]:

I still stay in touch

Benjamin Mena [00:24:15]:

A lot of them, and they're telling me what they're doing, how the new

Dom Farnan [00:24:15]:

teams are, and their new leaders are. And it's a lot of the same stories where it's it's not That pretty and it's not that welcoming and it's not that, collaborative and team oriented, which is really sad. But I think that, You know, all of that is good information that there's still work to be done in corporate.

Benjamin Mena [00:24:33]:

And I I think that's super awesome because so often When somebody leaves an organization, most people leave an organization due to leadership, and they're like, see you later, Sayonara. I hate this place. I'm gone. But, you know, with 2023 being an interesting year in the recruiting space, they're looking at you like the next opportunity to join back up. Mhmm. That says a lot about you.

Dom Farnan [00:24:57]:

Yeah. I'll I'll I will receive that because I I believe that, and it's been A very trying and challenging and interesting year, but at the same time, I also believe that Things are gonna come come back. It's not gonna be like this forever. Like, I've lived through a couple of these cycles, be it this is the most challenging one for sure. But I do, trust that everything is happening in in divine alignment and timing and, you know, For for me, for us, for the collective, so I don't feel like, you know, it would be any other way. I'm I'm happy with where we're at.

Benjamin Mena [00:25:37]:

And if for anybody else that's dealing with a lot of challenges this year, wouldn't it cool and we'll focus on, like, economical challenges and the industry, What advice would you have for them at the moment for that for going through all this?

Dom Farnan [00:25:50]:

Get creative and get clear on yourself. You know, if you are in between opportunities right now, if you're taking a pause or you have a forced pause, It's your time to really go inward to you. Like, what is your heart telling you that you wanna do, that you can do? How can you take your skills and do something different? Don't bang your head against the wall trying to find another recruiting job with the Thousands of other people that are trying to find another recruiting job right now get creative. I know many of the earlier Career folks on my team, some of them went to agencies. Some of them went and left already and are doing different types of roles right now as they're waiting this out And showing their resilience. And I believe, you know, the reality is yours to create. You're powerful. You're an infinitely powerful being.

Dom Farnan [00:26:43]:

So if you play the infinite game, you just get creative. You get creative. What can I do? I had a woman that I met at the Chamber of Commerce here in Laguna where I live who started a dog walking business, and her business is booming, and she's happy, and she's in shape, and she's outside with dogs. Why are we not all doing this? You know? Like, I'm gonna be the one with her. Like, this is it. So I just, you know, like, Be open. Be open and get curious, like and, you know, create whatever you wanna see. Like, the there's no rules.

Dom Farnan [00:27:13]:

There's no rule that say, like, just because you did this means you have to keep doing it. That I'm I'm in the same boat right now. Just because this is all I ever knew Doesn't mean that this is all I'm gonna ever do.

Benjamin Mena [00:27:26]:

And you've used some of your skill sets and you've expanded Hey. Expanded your book of business into some other things. You wanna talk about that real quick?

Dom Farnan [00:27:34]:

Yeah. Of course. So, you know, a big focus is is what I'm passionate about and what's bringing me joy. So right now, I'm enrolled in grad school. I'm getting a degree in consciousness In action, which I believe I live and embody, but I'm kind of putting some finer tuning around it, that will feed into a PhD Program focused on regenerative business and visionary studies. So this is, like, really, really out there. Like, what is the the next Future of work and leadership going to look like. I don't know, but I'm gonna be leading that.

Dom Farnan [00:28:04]:

So that's exciting for me. I'm also focused on, You know, leadership coaching and bringing consciousness into companies via their CEOs or their heads of people, those are the 2 types of clients that I tend to work with. And I love that because it shows that there are conscious, curious leaders out there. There are people who want to go from burnout to breakthroughs and who want to Feel, empowered and excited and not frustrated and who really wanna bring this work to their teams so that they can support their teams and And turn their organizations into human potential development companies. All this AI and all that that's great, that's that's gonna be helpful for a lot of people. But at the end of the day, we're still human beings working together within companies. And so people who invest in human potential development are the forward thinking companies. And that's what I'm focused on, excited about, and really, you know, doing at the moment.

Benjamin Mena [00:29:03]:

Yeah. I love that because it's it's One of the things is, like, recruiters or one of the things for everybody in every industry, like, we have this identity, and we're so attached to the identity of what it is and How we did it, like, the years that we've done it. And I think, like, COVID is definitely part of the time, and 2023 has been another time where you have to, like, I don't wanna say, like, Shed the identity, but a worker in creating a new identity to even sometimes just take care of your family. Yep. Put food on the table. Yeah. Keep business coming in.

Dom Farnan [00:29:30]:

Well, 100%. I've been going through an identity and ego death for over a year, For a couple of years now, for sure, and it's morphed multiple times. And this latest one really has hit me. It's felt really Heavy to see a company that I've built that that was so amazing have to contract. But my husband said something really good the other day. Like, you have to contract to then expand again. And one of my coaches told me yesterday, You know, a caterpillar doesn't know that when it goes into a chrysalis, it comes out a butterfly. It has no idea, but it's in the chrysalis, and every part of the caterpillar has to die.

Dom Farnan [00:30:12]:

Everything has to die for it to become the butterfly, and it cannot ever go back to being a caterpillar. Okay. So for me, that really resonated because I feel that's what I'm in right now is this this chrysalis of things that will that I identified Myself as which was very much my company. Like, that was it. We, me, and Dot were they said the same. You know? And Ebac, if you look at our numerology charts. We have the same charts as a business and as a person. So it was very intertwined, but what I will say is that I'm I'm trusting I'm trusting the process, and I'm relinquishing control, And I'm letting the ego go and going, this is part of my journey.

Dom Farnan [00:30:55]:

This is part of the story. This is one of the things that I've done, But it also needed to happen so that I can go on to do the greatest work of my life. So I think if you reframe it that way, you know that there is just so much more in store for you. Like, recruiters, we, a, we're resilient, but, b, we're we're people people. Like, we're relationship people. So go back to basics. You know? Who do you have relationships with that you pay where you connect with? And really be intentional about it. Be intentional about who you're connecting With where you're spending your time, effort, energy, and money, you don't have to sit and doomscroll on LinkedIn all day or every other place to then be for a job.

Dom Farnan [00:31:31]:

Like, get off the Internet and get into your life And see what comes of that.

Benjamin Mena [00:31:36]:

Oh, a tube's going. It it gets everybody.

Dom Farnan [00:31:39]:

Only? I know. I'm I'm I'm victim to it too. I had I have to take LinkedIn off my phone from time and time again because it's too much.

Benjamin Mena [00:31:47]:

I'm probably, like, every other week, I'm like, delete this in Slack's Instagram, delete Facebook. Alright. Had it back on there. I love that. So hey, Dawn. Before we move on to the next part of the podcast, is there anything else that you would love to share about all this?

Dom Farnan [00:32:00]:

No. I I think it you know, I think I've hopefully, people have some some food for thought And some some things to reflect on with themselves and know that collectively, like, we're in this together. It's This is what it is, but but we will make it through the other side. Like I said, I've been through these cycles a couple times now. Doesn't discount the fact that it's Challenging, but, leaning on faith and belief and feeling like everything is happening for Us and the collective, I think that's really beautiful.

Benjamin Mena [00:32:36]:

Awesome. So the next section is we call quick fire. So first question is, What advice would you give to a brand new recruiter that's actually just starting off in our industry?

Dom Farnan [00:32:47]:

Get a mentor, will be a sponge, And stay curious. Growth mindset and your ability to learn and, like, categorize a lot of information quickly is going to be your best friend.

Benjamin Mena [00:32:59]:

Awesome. And same question before a recruiter that's been around the block 5, 10, 15, 25 years. What advice would you give to them to see success or stay successful?

Dom Farnan [00:33:10]:

Yeah. Stay curious. Growth mindset. Be open. What can you learn? You know, what else can you learn about yourself? What can you learn about your clients? What can you continue to do to learn more? I think, again, And growth mindset in the infinite game is going to be your best friend.

Benjamin Mena [00:33:27]:

Awesome. Is there a book that has had a Huge impact on your own personal career and success.

Dom Farnan [00:33:34]:

Seth Godin's linchpin. I love that book. I love Seth Godin. I'm a big Seth Head. He's like the best. He he also just wrote a new book called the song of significance, which I think is amazing. Talks about The future of work and teams and leadership and how people wanna work for companies that are significant and impactful and purpose and heart led and, anything from Seth is amazing, but linchpin is a good one because it talks about how you tap into your magic and become a linchpin in Whatever role that you're in and that you don't have to just be a cob in a wheel. Like, how do you how do you even understand and identify what your magic is, and it kinda works you through that process.

Benjamin Mena [00:34:11]:

Yeah. That's awesome. And one of the cool things about us recruiters, like, we're we're so good at people. It's a skill set whether you're introverted or extroverted, it's figured out, Like you said, that thing that makes you different that you can really stand out for. So I'll I'll I'm definitely gonna check that book out. Do you have a favorite rec tech tool at the moment?

Dom Farnan [00:34:29]:

I mean, I'm I was an early gem person when I was not called gem. I don't even remember the name it was before. Still love. Let's see. Also big supporter and fan of hired. Will be near and dear to my heart. I wanna say I was probably the the, Like, highest producing placement recruiter I've hired back in the day, and, they became a client of ours for a little while. So Love using that if you have, if you don't have sourcing and you need help and you have budget, like, they're a really good option.

Dom Farnan [00:35:02]:

And what else? I'm curious about x hiring and what that's going to look like and how that's going to evolve. Someone brought that up to me the other day, and I'm not on x. I'm on threads and all the other things that Just feel overwhelming social media wise, but I think that could be interesting. I'm also curious about Forbes jobs. So I've had some conversations about kind of joining that community. So So those are some of the things that I've been poking around about.

Benjamin Mena [00:35:29]:

Okay. Yeah. I mean, both of those are gonna be, like, definitely worth watching. I'm with you on that. Like, x, I see you going after LinkedIn, but at the same time, I've heard that you're, like, $1,000 a month. So it's mostly on the enterprise side. Mhmm. So who knows? It'd be fun to watch.

Benjamin Mena [00:35:43]:

Yeah. What's your thoughts on the future of recruiting and artificial intelligence?

Dom Farnan [00:35:49]:

Well, I hope that AI Helps us do our jobs and takes all the admin off our plates. I mean, that's how that's how I see it being useful for us is really, like, How do we streamline and automate and have, like, a our AI be our assistant to some degree? I don't like the idea of AI doing interviews for us and, you know, replacing us in that way, and I don't think We're anywhere near that. I think that there's way too many legal issues, that could come come of that, but I see it being super useful in many ways, maybe even sourcing. I think it could be Super useful in a sourcing way. I know some recruiters now that are training up multiple AIs and multiple chat GPTs to help them with their sourcing efforts. And so I think, you know, recruiting companies will likely become smaller and more lean and mean, and you'll have these experts who are running different AIs to help them in Certain, areas for sure. So I think it's exciting, and I think you have to embrace it. You know? I think about when I started recruiting, I had phone books.

Dom Farnan [00:36:52]:

I didn't have Monster. There was no website. There was no LinkedIn, or maybe I was in the 1st 1000000 people who joined LinkedIn, but it sure as hell was used for recruiting. They didn't have LinkedIn recruiter. And so you just have to embrace it. I think if you're open minded and you make it work for you, then that's the best bet.

Benjamin Mena [00:37:09]:

Awesome. What do you think has been a huge part of your own personal success over the years?

Dom Farnan [00:37:15]:

It's so simple. I care. I, like, literally care. I give a shit about people, and our team cared, and that is it. That's all I would say. And it's shocking because it's so basic, but apparently, there are a lot of people who don't care and cut corners and don't have time and are intentional, and I think a high level of intentionality and a high level of pair goes a long way. And, you know, that is Your currency, and that is your your ability to to get ahead and and move through life. So for me, it's just like care and consideration and intention.

Benjamin Mena [00:37:53]:

Awesome. And this is actually one of my favorite questions. With everything that you've you know, now, the ups and downs that you've gone through, If you can go back and sit down with yourself, have a cup of coffee with yourself at the be very beginning of your career, what advice would you give yourself?

Dom Farnan [00:38:10]:

I would I would say start it's like start my company earlier. You know? Okay. Like, bet on myself earlier, trust myself more earlier and and have that belief. It took me such a long time to to get over this imposter syndrome. And I had worked within companies on teams, and I didn't have amazing, supportive, collaborative Colleagues in some cases, and I felt like I wasn't good enough. Even when I decided to to, you know, jump on building a team in 2019, I had so many nerves and was been terrified. I didn't even wanna have a website because I'm like, well, if this fails miserably, I don't want anyone to know I ever did this and tried this. And And it was really, really, scary, but now knowing the the belief that I had really guided me and, like, I'm like, why didn't you do this 10 years earlier? Like, what were you thinking? Why didn't you just go all out, You know, earlier and and so I just think people believe in yourself and trust your ability.

Benjamin Mena [00:39:18]:

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

Dom Farnan [00:39:24]:

I don't think so. I think, you know, I'm I'm I'm hopeful that this year ends, you know, smoothly for all of us, and we can Go into a new year with a fresh energy and a renewed sense of purpose and direction and collaboration, And really continue to just move forward.

Benjamin Mena [00:39:46]:

Awesome. Well, Dom, thank you so much for sharing. I know it's one of the tough things when you were An a leader or a new leader, like, the self awareness of where you are, the self awareness of how you are as a leader, and really just The story of you evolving to become a better leader, I think, is definitely inspiring. So thank you so much for sharing with the with the listeners.

Dom Farnan [00:40:06]:

Thank you so much.

Benjamin Mena [00:40:08]:

And for the listeners, guys, until next time. Keep crushing it.

Intro [00:40:11]:

Thanks for listening to this episode of the elite recruiter podcast with Benjamin Menna. If you enjoyed, hit