An Interview with Travis Lind
How do you get to know a client, their challenges, their culture, so that you may identify the best candidate(s) to fit their needs?
In my role, I help recruit for asset managers and insurance companies, assisting with sales, sales management, strategic accounts, portfolio managers, and marketing positions. Our financial services clients want for us to understand the DNA of the type of people they work for – in order to ensure they will have a strong fit within their team. Personality match is key and what helps make them successful in their role.
Often our clients let us interview members of the team/leadership to get to know the culture and help envision what organization is like so that Hirenomics can best tell that story. We want to be an extension of their firm. This opportunity brings perspective that ultimately helps us make the right candidate match. We want these clients to retain their people long-term so that they can be most impactful in their role.
What is unique in the way Hirenomics conducts a search?
We conduct a very thorough deep dive into the role -- even with our long-term clients. We don’t take short cuts, it’s important for us to fully understand position and opportunity within the organization. We aren’t rushed, and we don’t cut corners.
Hirenomics’ clients deserve the best. We try to reach out to 150-200 + people to be as thorough as possible. We unearth and identify the very BEST candidates to bring forward.
We are known for the way we treat candidates -- a lot of recruiters simply don't call candidates back. We do. We work together with the candidate to determine if the position makes the most sense for them. Hirenomics’ candidates know that we will be honest with them. We strive to identify superior talent, those that meet the qualifications, have strong track records, and align extremely well with our client’s culture for long-term retention.
What’s unique about Hirenomics as a firm?
Our process is what guides us to a successful outcome. The best firms are ones that do things the right way, are consistent in their approach, as simple consistency may produce the greatest results. Hirenomics has and is willing to continue to evolve as a recruiting firm, but we won’t change what has helped us be successful.
We are intuitive. We strive to build relationships. We are consistent in our approach and process. And we are disciplined.
Recruiting has changed over the past decade significantly. Talk about this, what changes have you seen that you embrace? What are some challenges?
Companies are looking for Diversity and Inclusion in their hiring. Hirenomics continues to be very thoughtful and creative in identifying ways to drive more diversity to their clients. The business models of companies have changed due to technology, compliance (more rules & regulations), they have ambition to become more diverse, while profitability has been driven down. Our client’s needs are the biggest change. The roles we typically recruit for are being consolidated.
We’ve embraced and evolved our approach based on these demands. Some roles or even pockets of the world are less diverse, less inclusive. We must adapt. Hirenomics brings these challenges back to our client and advocates for things like relocation support or hiring candidates that may not have as much experience within the role they are seeking to hire for that may initially require more years in the job. And we’ve had successes getting those commitments from leadership, where they instead would have made sacrifices in talent.
What do you see as your primary role with your clients when it comes to conducting searches on their behalf?
In certain terms we are essentially branding our client, helping build awareness for their business, team or culture, we are telling a story, educating people to have them on their radar. Hirenomics works very hard to save our client’s time, getting past the typical recruiting nuances, being most efficient by bringing that top talent forward that they wouldn’t have found without our support as an extension of their hiring team.
Why should I choose Hirenomics as my executive recruiter of choice?
It’s important in the beginning when we are building a relationship with a potential client, that we spend a good amount of time learning about each other. We have turned potential clients away if our values are not a match. Hirenomics feels a strong relationship is critical to the work we do; we must have clear and consistent expectations, it’s essential to our reputation as headhunters. We have a strong history of closing our searches, we dedicate a large amount of time to each search. It’s important that we establish trust early on.
What’s important to you about your firm’s reputation?
Hirenomics is not a transactional organization. We want our clients to say we’ve earned our money. We’ve been doing this for a long time. We are honest people who always work really hard to do our best. Hirenomics has the client’s best interest in mind in the way we treat candidates, we represent their brand well and are stewards of their brand. We often say we are only as good as our last search. Consistency in quality is important to our team. We want to see our clients have success, and take pride knowing that we had a hand in placing the executives that directly impacted their results.
What types of clients do you seek to work with?
We tend to look for companies that have really good cultures, that are good to their people, and strive for excellence in their business. A-caliber firms, from small boutiques to large companies. Those that have a good process, products, people. A great reputation.
When we call candidates, it’s important to us that when they hear Hirenomics, they know that we represent high-quality brands and bringing them a great opportunity.