Episode 19: Alex Joslin

Speaker 1: Welcome to the Secrets of Success podcast, a series for recruiters by recruiters, I'm Danni Rainert. And in each episode, I have candid conversations about careers in recruitment, with some of the best talent that #TeamEames has to offer. They'll be giving you a glimpse into the highs and lows of their careers, their motivations, and drivers, and their secret to success in the industry. You can listen and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and other favourite podcast platforms. Let's meet our next guest.

Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Alex. How are you?

Speaker 3: Very good. Thank you. I'm very pleased to be here.

Speaker 2: Good. The fun. Fantastic. Well, look, I should be thanking you for taking the time out. I know you're extremely busy at the moment. , so thank you for taking the time out to join me for a session of secrets of success. I really appreciate it. And, and looking forward to chatting with you this afternoon.

Speaker 3: Absolutely. Yeah, the same here. I've been looking forward to this, so yeah. Good to be here. Lovely stuff.

Alex, for people that don't [: 00:01:00

Speaker 3: Sure. So, I've been in recruitment for it'll be four months on Christmas Eve, funnily enough. It's the first, the first time that I've done any kind of recruitment role. So, I came from directly from university. I came as an associate consultant, joining the tech team here at Eames and, I'm on the infrastructure team specifically. So I work with Robin who's my line manager who deals with infrastructure specifically, and that's kind of my subject specialist area at this time. So, yeah, no, I've, I've not, not done anything before, so I'm enjoying it.

Alex, wanna take, you give, [: 00:02:00

Speaker 3: Yeah. So [00:02:30] a few things really spring to mind there. The first one was, , you've got to be comfortable with the, the pressure of, of the job and the environment, not just the pressure from, you know, the expectations which will be on you, but also the pressure that you have to deal with yourself in the environment, surrounded by many ambitious and, and driven people. It's, it's, it's gonna be, , a shock. If you feel like it's gonna be very relaxed. There's, there's a lot of people who visibly are very driven and motivated and that will rub off on you, whether you, you like it or not. And [00:03:00] it's what, and it's how you deal with that pressure that really will dictate how successful you can be. And, I think, secondly, it's, it's acknowledging that unlike so many roles out there, this is a very much a job that is almost based off of yourself and what you bring to the party.

the extra work and the extra [: 00:03:30

Speaker 3: And that's what mentality got to come in for when you start. And [00:04:00] so you can't be lighthearted, you can't be on the fence, you can't be coming into recruitment like, oh, I'm not sure you can't have too many reservations cuz it's those reservations which will eat away at you in your first six months and will kind of yeah. Expose a lot of the, those fears that you had will probably come to the forward. And that, that can't happen. So that, that would probably be my two key ones. I, I would suggest for, for someone who is naive about the group

agree. Cause I think anyone [: 00:04:30

Speaker 3: Would say, , having networking's a big part of the role and that applies to within the company itself. And I think you've got to, as quickly as you establish your, your desk as it were, you've also gotta establish your, your friendship network at the, where wherever you land at the end of the day, because I think it's was what helped me. , there, there was a period of time where I, I, I had a lot of people who I knew at the company who changed their minds, cuz obviously [00:05:30] being, being a new starter, people are, are kind of susceptible to those sorts of changes of emotions. And it sort of left me in the lurch where I had to think about what I was doing and, and, and if it wasn't for, for the, the people that I met at Eves and the great people who supported me through that period of time and made me realize that, you know, so long as I'm happy here, I should crack on that was what that was, what really sorted, , my reservations out at that time.

you can, where wherever you, [: 00:06:00

Speaker 2: Absolutely great advice. Great advice. And look, I know you are quite a modest guy, but you would agree that hopefully you'd agree that you've had a very, [00:06:30] very strong start to your career at Eames and recruitment. Let me tell you, you have, okay, so you absolutely have, I wanna make you blessed, but yeah. So what do you think that people can do specifically in terms of the actual role itself coming into the office and, and how people work, what do you think other ACS can do to really set themselves up for success in that first three months, which is a really critical period.

ive>, you, you will be doing [: 00:07:00

Speaker 3: Who, who am I to to think, you know, Bighead of myself, , for someone who's been doing it for two or three years plus, so there's always something to be gained from who you have around you. And if you have, , a support network, as I mentioned earlier around you, you should be able to confidently go up to these people and request information and tips. And that's what I really did. So [00:08:00] I would pull people to one side, ask them how they did this process, how they did that process, , drop emails to people to request advice, even if it was like how to, how to write this email better. How do I ask this question better? How do I say this situation better? What have you done when you've come up against these picking people's brain and asking questions is so key. I was told that on my, my introductory E , interview, sorry, from, from day one that are asking questions. Even if they're silly, there is no such fancy questions here. You got to be willing to ask the difficult ones and that's, [00:08:30] that's what I did. And I attribute a lot of that to, to why I was able to kind of acculate a lot of useful tips so early on, and then, and demonstrate them from out from the get go. Fantastic,

actical example of how an AC [: 00:09:00

Speaker 2: So it's great to see that you've taken advantage of that and used it to your advantage, which is fantastic. Certainly [00:09:30] lovely. So you mentioned Robin, who's your manager. , and he's been with the business this quite a while now, and he is our top billing contract recruiter, as well as your manager. So very busy billing manager, and I'm sure other ACS watching this will also be reporting into busy billing managers who, you know, those guys have a lot on their plates. They hire an AC and, you know, you need quite a bit from that manager in the early days. So what is your advice to other [00:10:00] ECS who are reporting into a billing manager and how you can kind of get the most out of that relationship, find the balance between, you know, being independent when you need to be, because they're busy, but also going to them for the right amount of help and support at the same cause you and Robin seem to have it absolutely nailed. I see how you guys work together. So what's your kind of top tips for people and how to go about doing that.

t, just because he's , well, [: 00:10:30

Speaker 3: Yeah. And you can almost lead by example, not many words have to be said. You can just kind of observe and, and recognize that there are certain patterns that they're are doing and lack of sponge. You absorb a lot of the, the good things and put your own personality in spin. That's something Robin told me all the time is that you can, you can copy what I do and try to, you know, mimic me. But at the end of the day, this needs to be [00:11:30] Alex. Jolin the recruiter. This can't be Robin 2.0, for example, this needs to be your own person. And that's really the, the key that they're gonna have so much, , to, to show you about directly using their time. And it kind of links back to, to sort of asking people outside your network, it's going that, that little step extra whereby they might not have asked you to do something, but you can still do it and still look at what they're doing to sort of improve.

holding, just letting them, [: 00:12:00

Speaker 2: mm, absolutely. And look, that leads me on to my next question as well. Cuz obviously Robin's not on the call right now, [00:12:30] but you, you are observing him and you are looking at someone who is one of our top global billers. What do you and you're right in terms of Robin's personality, he's not, you know, bouncing off the walls, really salesy in your face type recruiter. I've worked with recruiters like that for years and years, but he's not, he's very calm. He's very chilled. You know, he's a real, he's a real class actor Robin. So what, what have you, from your perspective that makes him a top biller, what are the things that he does that you think those [00:13:00] are the things that I'm gonna take away and do myself to make me as successful as possible? I

alking like I am to you just [: 00:13:30

Speaker 2: It's really valid. It's really valid. It's not, cuz I think in recruitment there can be the, the, , the, the keenness can there to close the deal and get as much margin [00:14:00] as possible, especially on contract. You know, I was a contract recruiter for a long time, get as much margin as possible, the biggest contract length as possible. But, , and there can be the temptation to kind of oversell a little bit, , and forget about the emphasis on the relationship and the fact that you are one han being, talking to another and nine times out of 10, being genuine and honest and open and, and down to earth is, is the best approach in order to, to, to build a relationship with someone and, and therefore, you know, do deals and, and [00:14:30] be a, and be a top biller. So, no, I think it's great advice for people to take away. And it's great that, that's the thing that you've seen in, in Robin that you can put your own spin on and

to be something I'm not. And [: 00:15:00

putting it into practice. Or [: 00:15:30

Speaker 3: Well, it is scary. Like you, you are completely right. I, I was, I was, I was terrified at times as well. I remember, the first time I had BD success, I was due to call a client and they, they invited me to call them bearing in mind, which is obviously the, best possible situation. And I was putting it off and putting it off and Robin could see that. I just wasn't.

sitting in the desk next to [: 00:16:30

want to speak to little old [: 00:17:00

S do a lot is put off the BD [: 00:17:30

That's I, I much prefer the [: 00:18:00

ing you make the mistakes as [: 00:18:30

Speaker 3: You. Yeah, no, thanks so much for have at me. No problem.

Speaker 2: Take care. Bye

Speaker 3: You too. Thank you. Bye bye.