I'm a recruiter, and a lot of how I find talent and clients comes down to showing up at events around South Florida.
In the last few weeks alone, I went to a commercial real estate event called CCIM, took a field trip with my NLX networking group to a CPA firm, and heard a county commissioner speak at a Chamber trustee event at the AKA hotel in West Palm. (The commissioner was Marcy Woodward, the vice mayor of Palm Beach County.) The Chamber in particular continues to be a great source of connections for me.
I go to a lot of these. And over the years I have learned what works at them, partly by watching what doesn't.
The Right Question
One thing I have learned not to do is walk up to someone and lead with the ask.
"I'm a recruiter and I want to help you hire talent" turns people off fast.
So my approach is to ask questions rather than talk about myself. I'll talk about myself if someone asks. I also skip the boring "what do you do?" Instead I ask what someone is excited about or what they are working on. Getting someone's excitement going makes the whole interaction better.
Bad With Names
That curiosity tends to carry the conversation, which is a good thing, because I have one real weakness in these rooms. I am terrible with names.
Someone tells me their name and it's like a dancing monkey in my ear. I forget it immediately. So I lean on name tags and business cards in the moment, and on my tools afterward. My CRM, my email, and LinkedIn are how I keep track of people.
It is not the most natural thing in the world for me, but the system works.
Showing Up
Of course, all of that only matters if I actually make it through the door, and getting to the event in the first place is its own hurdle. I went to four high schools in four years and moved around a lot, so I was always the new kid. Even now, walking into a room where I know people, I often get that feeling of, let's just skip it, go home, I've got work to do.
I have to fight that urge and ride out the uncomfortable feeling. It almost always ends up being great. I'm glad I stayed, met some new people, or got to talk about my business a bit. The discomfort is real, but pushing through it is almost always worth it.
But really, where the magic happens for me is in trying to understand how I can be helpful to other people. Sometimes that means pulling someone who is hovering awkwardly at the edge of a group into the conversation. Sometimes it means introducing two people who should know each other. That is the part I enjoy the most.
Two Kinds of Charisma
There's a reason that part appeals to me, and it ties back to an idea about charisma I think about often. There's a quote attributed to Winston Churchill's mother, Lady Randolph Churchill. She talked about being at a party and meeting two different people. She reportedly said something like: "After sitting next to Mr. Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in England. But after sitting next to Mr. Disraeli, I thought I was the cleverest woman in England."
That's two different ways charisma works in networking and relationships. It is great to be the big personality at the party. But it is much more important to make other people feel seen and valued and important. That lasts longer in terms of your impact on people.
I think about that every time I walk into a room. I am not trying to be the most interesting person there. I am trying to be the one who makes the other person glad they showed up.
Being a Connector
That is how I see my job. I am a connector, a bridge between talent and the clients who need them. I want to be thought of that way, and not just in a business sense.
It helps that I am not just placing one type of role anymore. Right now I am running a chief marketing officer search alongside sales and legal roles. My clients are spread across the country, with open jobs in San Francisco, Texas, and New Jersey, even though most of my relationships are here in South Florida. The connecting is the same wherever the job is. I've written before about why the best part of this business is the shared success, and connecting people is where that starts.
Conclusion
You don't have to be the most interesting person in the room to be good at this. Be genuinely curious about other people and willing to assist them. That is what drives the business. Some of those connections come from events like the ones I support around the community.
If you are looking to connect with talent or find your next role, reach out to me today.
