Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Sandy Springs, Georgia. It’s time for Sandy Springs Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here with Rachel Simon, another episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. This episode is brought to you by Connect the Dots Digital. When you’re ready to leverage LinkedIn to meet your business goals, go to Connect the Dots dot digital. Rachel. Excited to be here.

Rachel Simon: Hi Lee, how are you?

Lee Kantor: I am doing well. This is another episode virtually instead of in the studio. But you know we’re making it happen.

Rachel Simon: We make it happen. I don’t know what we did in the presumed days, but, you know, it’s a good backup plan. So here we are, and I’m super excited about our guest today. Um, we met at, I believe, one of my LinkedIn local ATL events in the spring. And we just hit it off and I knew he’d be a great guest for our listeners. So I’m very happy to welcome Richard McNeal. He is a senior partner with Talentfoot Executive Search. So Richard, welcome to the show.

Richard McNeal: Yeah, great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Rachel Simon: Absolutely. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about you and what you do?

Richard McNeal: Sure. So, you know, as you mentioned, I’m a senior partner here at Talentfoot Executive Search. We’re a boutique search firm that’s been around roughly about 14 years, female owned and led, really known for primarily recruiting and marketing and all things digital. Our founder came from the advertising world, so that’s where we kind of have our niche Awareness. But from there, we’ve really expanded into a lot of other areas outside of that focus. So even though I’m personally involved in marketing and Ecom primarily, also a big focus in sales, technology and HR and finance. So those are our other practices. And then typically our clients are usually lower to mid market, maybe series B to C 30 to 300 million. But we’ve worked with larger clients as well. And they typically come to us when they’re looking to scale from a digital perspective. They maybe don’t have a marketing team. They don’t have a digital marketing team set up, they don’t have a CMO. And they look they come to us to really help scale their business from a digital perspective. And I’m personally involved in searches, primarily director to C-suite. So anything from a garden variety director of digital marketing, VP of E-comm, VP of demand Gen, chief digital officer or chief marketing. And I also do a lot of just general C-suite search like a CEO, GM or president. So that’s a little bit about us and what I focus on day to day.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. And it’s so I’m excited about this conversation because, you know, obviously I talk LinkedIn all day every day. But I think when we can look at it from, I don’t tend to, you know, focus on the job search side and how candidates can be using it. Candidates can be positioning themselves and what ultimately recruiters and those hiring managers and decision makers are looking for when they are looking to source those potential candidates for whatever roles are coming up. So I think that this is going to be a lot. We have a lot to talk about, a lot to talk about.

Richard McNeal: Yeah, there’s a lot out there.

Rachel Simon: Um, so let’s dive in. I mean, what what do you see? I mean, you’re very active on LinkedIn. You post, I think, every single day, which is very impressive, I will say. Um, so you’re on the platform a fair amount. Like, what do you see as those, uh, what helps candidates really stand out when it comes to being found by recruiters on the platform?

Richard McNeal: Yeah. And I think really the way it’s evolved, too is, you know, a lot of folks are now treating LinkedIn essentially as a resume, right. Your digital resume. So and that’s typically as recruiters one of the first places we’re going. So I think as if you’re a candidate or someone who’s on the market, what you really want to do, what we try to see as recruiters is underneath the hood from your titles. Right. Because especially in marketing, like a marketing manager can mean a bunch of different things depending on the category, how big the company is. Is it B2B is a B2C? So any way that you can list out very similar to a resume like what you’re doing day to day, and then also key accomplishments, because obviously what we’re looking for as recruiters, and particularly with companies that are in growth stages, they’re trying to scale their business. So we want to know how you’ve been, how you’ve done that, how you’ve helped scale other companies, how you’ve driven leads, acquired customers and some of the metrics and numbers around that. So I think that’s always helpful for sure. And then this is maybe like an interesting subtopic. But I do think, you know, LinkedIn has evolved into a place where you get to know people personally as well. And I think we could discuss on ways to to do that, not to do that. But I do think from a candidate perspective, getting a sense of like how someone is personally their disposition, their what values are important to them that can help us also vet fit from a culture, mission or values perspective and just get to know people personally before we even get on the phone with them, right? Or on video.

Richard McNeal: So those would be my tips, um, as it relates to the candidate perspective. And then if you even want to talk about the job search, it’s it’s it’s it’s the go to platform. But it’s tough out there. Um, and I always recommend to candidates that, you know, whether you’re internal talent acquisition or recruiter like myself are usually dealing with a lot of in the last two years, there’s been a ton of inbound candidate traffic, like a ton. Um, whereas, you know, during Covid in 2021, it was kind of flipped around. You know, it was more, um, the candidate inbound candidate leads weren’t in the same at the same volume. But if you’re on the job search, be mindful about the kind of roles you’re reaching out to be, right? I mean, and I’ve seen it right, like some candidates sending sending in their application or reaching out and it’s clear they haven’t done their homework on the role. So being targeted around the kind of roles you’re interested in, being personalized and sending those bullets out to talent acquisition or recruiter about why this role interests you being succinct but personalized. I think that segmentation and personalization to recruiters or internal to is important, and just being consistent, like it’s tough out there. There’s a lot of people on the job search and there’s there’s some churn on the market despite the economy, you know, being in a relatively good position. So just being consistent around it, I think is important. And luckily, you know, if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to to break through at some point. So I know I kind of threw a lot out there, but yeah, I would I would describe you gave us a.

Rachel Simon: Lot a lot to unpack. Um, I want to kind of go back to what you were talking about when it comes to, um, the accomplishments piece, because this is something that I discuss with my clients as well when I’m helping them with their profiles, particularly like in the experience section and their about section. Um, often people are talking about all the responsibilities that they had in their past roles of, I did this, I managed this, I, you know, here’s 27 things that I was responsible for versus to your point. What are some key quantifiable accomplishments that I can list versus, um, that are going to be significantly more impactful and show the what I bring to the table and what I can actually make happen for an organization. So I’m so glad you brought that up, because I think that’s such an important clarification. And just like if you can make one change in your LinkedIn profile is to think about, can I can I think about those accomplishments in my past roles? Yep.

Richard McNeal: And I think if you know the kind of talent I work with, although they tend to be more digital or performance marketing focused, but even if you’re on the creative or content side, like some roles, have a creative or content piece. So ways you can talk about like this is the website I optimized and this was the impact. Like here’s a link to it Or no content, collateral, or other kind of ways to showcase how you put materials or your creative knowledge to use. I think that’s always important as well, particularly on the marketing side. So those are just a couple other ways you can also outside of quantifying it, you can also put something behind it because sometimes clients will want to see that down the road anyway.

Rachel Simon: Yeah using the adding the media. Yeah. Show some like portfolio pieces. Yeah I think that that’s a great point. Um, what is it that as the on the recruiter side like if you had to share like what are the what’s the first thing that you would go to when you’re looking at somebody’s um, profile? Because I know I’ve, I’ve had a, a tour of the back end of LinkedIn recruiter because I obviously don’t have it. Um, and it’s very different than what we’re seeing on our normal, you know, LinkedIn screen. So what is it that like you have to have this nailed down if you want to stand out?

Richard McNeal: Well, I would definitely go back to you have to be able to show under the hood behind titles, right underneath titles. That’s big. Um, I think I think some of the other pieces and I will maybe I answer this in a different way as a recruiter when I’m also typically and this is sort of outside the candidate control. A lot of times what I’m looking for is not just similar category or industry as a client, similar vertical, but revenue size, right? Like where is a company at in scale? Are you at did you come on board at 10 million or are they 30,000,050 100? Because that can help benchmark our recruitment. That can help kind of calibrate our recruitment efforts, because obviously we’re trying to look for talent has worked at a similar scale, not always in a in a plug and play regard, but that’s part of our strategy. So I guess I would even say if you can, if you’re thinking about how to tailor your profile even to talk about the revenue impact or even just how big the company was, because often as recruiters, right? Because then what we’ll have to do usually have a list of scale companies we’re looking for, but we don’t recognize one. We’ll have to go in and see, like how big it is, right? Or what the scale was or what kind of fundraising point is it? Was it at? So those are the things that I think are important, particularly in the work I do. So if you can frame your if you can frame it a little bit more data around that, I think that’s helpful as a candidate to kind of share the impact. And just as a recruiter, that’s another piece that that I’m looking for. Because if someone is at a $10 million company as a VP of marketing, that’s a lot different from someone who’s at a 200 or 300 million, right? So it just gives me a sense on how to find the right fit, and it can make you maybe stand out more for specific roles where that revenue scale or impact is important.

Rachel Simon: Interesting. Lee, before, I want to jump into the content piece that Rich was talking about, but I’m going to throw it to you and yeah.

Lee Kantor: Can you share a little bit? I mean, you’re talking about kind of, um, behind the scenes of what it looks like, but can you walk through, uh, you know, when there’s a job listing, like what happens when you get like, a thousand people, you know, respond or 100 or whatever? The number is some big number. And can you walk through how it gets kind of narrowed down and you get to an actionable amount of people? Because I can’t imagine if there’s a thousand people that apply to something, or even in the hundreds that you’re going down and reading every single person’s thing manually. So can you explain how it gets kind of cut down to where you’re in a pile where you’re actually reaching out and having a human conversation with somebody. Do you mind sharing what that looks like? So a person who is applying can get some context of what they’re throwing themselves into?

Richard McNeal: Yeah, for sure. And I can make I think it would probably be helpful to, to make a couple distinctions. I mean, typically when you’re working with recruiters, particularly at a higher level, we’re not just throwing out app postings and hoping someone applies. Now, that can be often part of our tactic to either create more candidate flow if we need candidate flow or, um, to be able to create visibility for the role. Because what we’re typically doing is actively, actively recruiting, right. And that could be sourcing. And that’s typically sourcing from our own database and utilizing our research team and also doing original research in LinkedIn. Right. So a lot of that is going into LinkedIn sourcing based off the skill set, the candidate profiles and the revenue range, and sending targeted segmenting segmented messages. So there’s kind of like two different ways to look at that. Um, because from a sourcing and reaching out perspective, it takes a lot from a recruiter standpoint, it takes a lot of resources. And being very intentional around how we’re messaging the people. It’s a lot of marketing, right? How we’re messaging, how we’re reaching out, the kind of message that we’re sending to them to to get the right people to pay attention and lift their head up. So that’s more from the active, right? Recruitment. We’re we’re headhunting is the term I don’t love that term. But that’s what we’re doing is actually going after talent that we know is aligned. Now to the other part of the question as far as the postings. Right. Because it’s it’s wild out there. If you go on the LinkedIn, you can see like 300, 400 people apply. Now, internal HR is probably are probably the folks who are using that tactic more than I would be necessarily, since I’m an active, you know, search consultant and recruiter, but in the ways that I’ve utilized it before, if I do need candidate flow is we have ways of searching.

Richard McNeal: We’ll do keyword searching to look for the right applicants, to look for the right skill set, the right titling. So we try to kind of start at that top of funnel and then whittle down from there. And then, you know, ultimately if you know, I have found candidates, it doesn’t happen a ton, but I have found candidates who have applied to a role. If I put a posting up and just need some candidate flow who are all aligned and very quickly, what we’re doing is I usually reaching out with an email or even a text, depending on where I am with the client search, right very quickly. And I do think if I can say from a talent acquisition standpoint, we tend to be a bit more aggressive than internal talent acquisition because we’re just motivated in a different way, right? So we’re usually reaching out pretty aggressively, um, particularly if someone applies. But those are just some different ways to look at kind of distinction between active recruitment, which is the world I’m living in, which we do sometimes utilize and put up postings compared to, you know, those postings out there where you see 300 or 400 applications. And again, when you try to go through those applications, it can be cumbersome. And it takes it takes a lot of searching and filtering, but that’s not usually the first place we go to as a recruiter. So just a sense of kind of I hope that’s helpful. As far as how we approach a search project, I’m happy to answer any other.

Lee Kantor: Well, the reason I’m asking is that, um, obviously all I do is interview business people. And I know a lot of folks that are, you know, in between things and maybe they’re working as a consultant today, but they are looking for some sort of a, you know, a full time job somewhere. And they just I’m hearing a lot of I don’t want to say horror stories, but a lot of frustration in terms of, you know, they’re applying for lots of things. They’re not getting any response back. Um, and it’s just they just get frustrated by the, the process. So I was trying to get some insight into, um, the process from these people that, you know, are moving from maybe a large organization where they’ve been, you know, laid off, and then all of a sudden they’re trying to get back in and they’re not getting any traction whatsoever.

Richard McNeal: So I guess going back a bit to earlier point, then I do think it just takes it takes consistency, personalization and just making sure that message is sent. Because just sending an application in with all the noise that is out there and the number of applications is likely not going to get someone to pay attention. I had a colleague who actually was a recruiter, and he was looking for a job, and he was asking me for advice and I told him the same thing. And ultimately he, you know, put he put targeted applications in, uh, so I would that’s another thing I would recommend is don’t apply to just everything. Be targeted about your approach and then following up. Whether it’s a direct email, there’s tools out there to pull a recruiter or talent acquisition or HR email. Following up directly on LinkedIn and back to his example, he put those applications in and then ultimately after keep tapping them on the shoulder, got a response right. He maybe got like 1 or 2 interviews ultimately, or at least got a thumbs up or thumbs down, you know, some kind of update.

Richard McNeal: So and it is tough. Like I don’t think honestly, I don’t think there’s a magic bullet. Right. And I think what you have to look at from an internal talent acquisition, which is not the side I’m on, is often those folks are not just working on 10 or 12 requisitions. They’re doing internal HR things. They’ve got policy. They might just be even a 1 or 2 person shop. And it can be tough to keep up with it, because I know it’s tough for me. Sometimes I’m only doing recruiting like that’s all I do. So I just think it takes being Intentional about the rules you’re applying to and then doing the right personalized follow up, whether it’s direct email, whether it’s LinkedIn to talent acquisition to the recruiters. Because I do think that consistency does help punch through. And I will say I’ve had people that that do that tactic with me. And ultimately, I may not have the bandwidth every time they reach out to respond, but I usually do try to respond after a few times, right? So it does help get attention for sure.

Rachel Simon: So I was going to ask you because you again, I mentioned you’re very active on LinkedIn and you post very regularly there. Do you think it’s a good strategy to for people to like candidates who comment on your content? Are they breaking through the noise? Like, are those people that you would be paying attention to and be like, oh, Joe, is this guy? Joe’s been commenting on my content pretty regularly. I’m going to check out his profile, and then maybe he is potentially like in your target market for a role somewhere.

Richard McNeal: Yeah. No, I definitely think it’s it’s helpful whether commenting or sending a direct message, because I wish I almost had an assistant to respond to all the LinkedIn messages I get. But I can guarantee you most recruiters and I myself, even if I can’t respond at first. But I see your commenting, posting, or sending me a message, I’ll at least take a look at your profile. And then if I’ve got an urgent need or a client need, then most likely you’ll get a response from me, from me, depending on where I am with that search. Now keep in mind too, as a as an active recruiter or search consultant, what I’m trying to do is is deliver for clients primarily. So if my desk is really slammed with projects, unless they’re someone’s profile is really closely aligned, I may not have time just to reach out to you just for networking, but that is part of why the consistency is helpful too. Because once my desk maybe I close some searches, things slowed down a bit. Then I can ramp up the candidate development side and I can reach out and make those connections where I can. I will go back to my messages, be like, okay, who messaged me a while back that I liked by just simply didn’t have time to connect with them because that’s where those networking connections and that consistency helps because then I can develop my network, understand more of your background, and then I might have a surge down the road that, um, that’s well aligned. Right? So a lot of my ability to interact with people on LinkedIn depends on just kind of what I’m trying to deliver on right now, if that makes sense.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, yeah. Good luck keeping track of your LinkedIn inbox. That place is a crazy hot mess sometimes.

Richard McNeal: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Rachel Simon: I definitely I don’t know if you if you’re, um, your strategy involves using the starred messages, but that’s what I use to keep track of messages is like, if I want to make sure I don’t lose a message, I will star it, and then I can easily go back and find it because otherwise it is so easy to lose track of stuff in there.

Richard McNeal: Yeah, right. Like it’s those little things just to make sure that it’s kind of like in your email inbox. If you need to respond to something, you pin it or flag it. It’s like the same it’s the same thing. Yeah, that’s definitely one tactic that can that can work. Yeah, that.

Rachel Simon: That place is messy. Um, let’s talk a little bit about, uh, you know, on almost every single show that, uh, Lee and I do, we talk about AI. It comes up all the time. It’s kind of a hot topic these days. Uh, so how does AI and all of the different. I like tools, functions like development. What does how does that interact in your world?

Richard McNeal: Yeah. So I would say from a candidate or from just a maybe not a candidate perspective, but just kind of trends, I guess. Um. You’re right. I mean, it’s it’s top of mind in every form, one way or another. I think from a marketing perspective, there’s a lot of it happening around, like a lot of ways it’s getting utilized around ad tech content creation. Um, so is AI going to replace every job? I would say probably not. But the people who don’t know how to utilize it or leverage it are probably at a disadvantage. So just becoming more familiar with how to leverage AI or any technology really is, is an asset to someone’s career development. It’s kind of a no brainer. What I would say I’m seeing from a, um, client side is companies who are leveraging or utilizing AI, and some of those tools get enough traction where it’s freeing up maybe content development that can be done in different ways or more quickly. It can, um, maybe eliminate some of those administrative tasks is is the leaders I’m talking to, then maybe they’re a director to VP or CMO or then having to look at the underneath that org structure and trying to shift resources, or maybe roles that had a fairly AI focus and how to shift those roles, roles that maybe have focused on another area of the business, maybe be more strategic.

Richard McNeal: So that’s where it could. That’s where I think I see a lot of decision makers or leaders trying to figure out the the way that AI has had an impact, how to then shift their organization and teams. If some of the that time that’s dedicated in the past to generating content or other um, other areas is now being replaced, is just shifting those resources in an effective way? I’ve heard that directly. Um, and also keep in mind, too, that you’ve got talent you’ll likely want to retain. And just making sure a lot of crafting kind of the the skill set or re crafting the scope of someone’s role. Um, and then another thing I would say, too, that’s really interesting is just the funny thing about marketing. I’ve talked to so many CMO or marketing leaders who, of course, are already doing anything from comms, PR and demand gen to, you know, sales enablement or Ecom or the customer digital journey. The CMO is not an easy job to have. Is it? Often getting thrown on their plate now like, oh, you want to be part of this AI task force so we can enter, you know, figure out how to do AI. So a lot of digital marketing or just marketing leaders are now getting some kind of strategic leadership on AI thrown onto their plate as well. So I don’t know.

Rachel Simon: But it’s interesting that it’s interesting you say that because I was at a professional development talk in the spring and, um, somebody was doing this. Amazing. It was a session was about AI. It’s obviously a big topic. And talking about how organizations have to create an AI policy like it is. You know, ten years ago we were talking about you have to have a social media policy. And now it is we have to have an AI policy. And so I’m not surprised to hear you say that the CMO is getting pulled into how do we develop this AI task force or policies and procedures? Um, because ultimately the company has to protect itself, but protect their employees as well, and how they’re using these tools. And it’s like a brave new world out there. We don’t know what we’re doing.

Richard McNeal: Yeah, yeah, there’s a lot of, um, there’s a lot of interesting, I think, interesting conversations I’ve had for sure, for how leaders are thinking through that. And then if I can just make another comment on trends out there in marketing and e-com, all my clients in some form are talking about social commerce, like TikTok shop how to you know how to reach Customers on those platforms. Not all, but a significant amount of my clients lately have been pretty consumer focused. So they’re all sort of feeling their way around tick tock shops, social commerce, how to manage that growing space as well. So not necessarily on the AI side, but just another trend that I’m that I’m seeing.

Rachel Simon: Um, yeah.

Richard McNeal: Common digital side.

Rachel Simon: I’d be curious, uh, also because, um, Edelman put out their annual thought leadership, uh, report about a month ago, maybe. Um, and it’s on my to do list to, like, write a post about it, but how more and more on the B2B side, like having thought leadership from a company from the, you know, the executives is such an important decision making factor when it comes to, um, who people are going to be doing work with. Um, and so I’m wondering if you are hearing anything on the thought leadership side as well.

Richard McNeal: Yeah, not as much on the B2C, B2B side as much from in the TikTok world, but more so on the consumer side. And just a lot of brands trying to figure out, like even is this platform right for us? Um, but to go back to a basic thing, I know we talked about this before on the B2B side is, you know, clients not always, which I’m sure you know about. We’ve discussed not fully utilizing LinkedIn to. To for employer branding, for differentiation, to make themselves more aware to potential talent. And I and I’ve had candidates to first couple more maybe earlier stage companies growth stage that where clients haven’t had their presence digital front door built out as much. Wondering why that’s the case and why new employees don’t have their new employer listed in their experience, those type of things. But that just to go back to that, to the B2B side, that that it hasn’t always been a major hurdle as I’ve worked on searches, but candidates ask questions about that. So and I know not all every company has a resources dedicated to, you know, go do a full branding on LinkedIn and employee engagement or prospective employee engagement. But it is something candidates obviously pay attention to and ask questions. Um.

Rachel Simon: Well, they can reach out to me and I will help them with that because it is super important. Uh, Lee, do you have any, uh, any thoughts questions on the AI, uh, topic? Because I know that’s a topic that we love to chat about.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Is it a value, you think, for candidates to be doing, getting some of those certifications, even if they’re free certifications from a lot of the different, um, platforms out there, like HubSpot or, or, um, some even the specific AI ones that allow you to kind of learn and get some sort of a certificate of learning or completion. Is that something that you would see as valuable, or it would check some box to at least get them to, you know, the level where they’re having conversations?

Richard McNeal: Yeah, I think it never hurts. Um, particularly if, you know, there’s a lot of people I’ve talked to who are maybe in between roles or impacted by some kind of layoff, and you can kind of keep your, keep your, um, you know, muscles in shape as it relates to AI and technology. And I have seen a lot of people who have put that on their profiles, and particularly with martech and the different ways they’re utilizing and implementing AI, I think it’s definitely never hurts. I don’t know if it always pushes someone over the goal line, but on a search, but at least helps show that they’re continuing to stay engaged, to stay, um, you know, within the trends. And there’s been a lot of people out there to maybe not always at the level I’m conducting searches on, but, you know, maybe fractional or freelance folks who are utilizing some of them. Maybe they’re in between roles or they’re fractional or freelance thing has really worked out on the marketing or digital side. So I think being able to demonstrate how you’ve done that and even on just on specific projects, going back to how you’ve used different tech tools, how you maybe implemented CRMs, leveraged AI ways to demonstrate that on LinkedIn or on your, um, is always helpful, for sure. So I think it never hurts just to keep those those tech muscles in shape.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. For sure. I mean, I think, you know, these days, I know in marketing I see this in different groups. I’m in like there’s a big marketing communications Facebook group that I’m a member of, and there’s been just lots of women in that. It’s it’s a women’s group in that group just, you know, who are talking about it being, you know, months taking months and months and months looking for their next role. And it’s very challenging out there. So, you know, I’m hoping that people listening just take to heart some of these really these really helpful tools and strategies that we’ve been talking about of like, again, really clearly positioning yourselves, focusing on those accomplishments, you know, quantifying things as much as you possibly can and then ultimately just doing a good job of building relationships with the right people that can potentially open the door. Yeah. And the next role for sure.

Richard McNeal: And if I can also just add to that too, is and I actually posted about this I think last week or something. But um, it can be really frustrating. Like as a candidate, like I’ve obviously talked to and engaged with people who have been on the market for a while, and it’s tough because as a recruiter, you’re, you know, clients are the one who’s who paid us. But we’re relationship builders. We want to help people like find their next role. So I definitely feel that. But, you know, I’ve also seen some bad actors out there who maybe haven’t maintained their professionalism and have let their frustrations spill over. And, you know, just definitely keep mindful that not just recruiters, maybe prospective employers will see some of that, those comments or that frustration. So and I get it, I feel it. But just to keep that in mind too, and just I think if you are consistent with some of the tactics, um, that I’ve tried to outline, I think it will work out. It will land you a role eventually, but I think just maintaining kind of the professional nature out there is important, because a lot of that stuff you can’t get back if you post it right. I mean, and I know you can’t. Yeah, I know it can be frustrating too. And that’s another thing. Like I’ve worked uh, part of what I’ve done is I worked a little bit in the due diligence space with, you know, there’s companies out there who will work and partner with search firms and other employers to scrape social media I for flag or reputational issues. So there’s a lot of people have such a big footprint out there now. Just got to be mindful about what you put out in the digital sphere and, you know, making sure it doesn’t impact where your next employer, um, where you, you know, become employed next.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. I’m so glad you brought that up because, um, I, uh, for any of anyone who spends a significant amount of time on LinkedIn like the two of us do, I have seen some very questionable things where I’m like, somebody’s going to see that. Um, so it’s sort of like, does it pass the grandma test? Right? Would you say, would you say it to your. Would you say it to your grandma? Um, and and I get it like it is a place for us to have our community and, and come for support. And I think there is a time and a place to share some, you know, to be going and saying, you know, I’m just I’m really struggling here. It’s my job search is taking a lot longer, but doing it in a way that is, is not, uh, overly negative. I think it’s the tremendous negativity comes in and that can become a liability. Um, you know, and I always, I like, I always like to say we want Lincoln to be an asset, not a liability for us. So let’s focus on how we can make it an asset. Right? Yeah.

Richard McNeal: That’s great. No, that’s a really good way of looking at it. And I always encourage I’ve had a lot of candidates say like, well, I’ve been impacted by, you know, layoffs or reduction or maybe they just left on their own. They’re like, oh, should I, should I make a post about that? I’m open to work. And I’m like, yes. Why? Like, you know, there’s nothing wrong with doing that. Uh, there’s been some hesitancy around that. I think, you know, you have to be mindful about how you do it, and you always want to be respectful to your prior employer no matter what went down. Because, again, people are going to see how you kind of conduct yourself in that on that platform. Right? So I think, um, I think there’s a lot I always encourage people to put themselves out there. Right. If they are on the job search, like there’s no reason not to not to kind of broadcast that you’re on the search because, uh, it helps draw up awareness, no doubt. But you definitely have to be you have to be mindful about how you do it. And I’ve seen more just I haven’t seen the frustration come when people say they’re open to work and maybe they’ve been impacted. I’ve seen it just bubble up on comments or posts or, you know, maybe someone, a recruiter posts about a role and someone hasn’t followed up with them and they maybe say some stuff they shouldn’t have said, but definitely, um, you know, as just the number of platforms and channels out there to kind of evaluate someone’s digital footprint. You just have to you have to pay more attention to it as a candidate, I think.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, for sure. So my last question is green banner yes or no?

Richard McNeal: That’s that’s a tough one.

Richard McNeal: Yeah, I would say yes. I mean, I never as a recruiter, I have never seen I have never not reached out to somebody because they have a green band. I mean, okay, so I’m, I’m looking more at, you know, at least first glance, like scope, name, rank, title where they’ve been, how they’ve articulated accomplishments, maybe ten years to a certain degree, although ten years are becoming a lot shorter. But I’ve never not reached out to someone because it says they’re open. I mean, that’s just that’s silly. I mean, I think that’s a little bit of analysis paralysis, perhaps, but, um, yeah, I don’t I don’t know what your opinion is on it, but I don’t it hasn’t held me back from reaching out to someone, because if they look to be a good fit, I’m, I’m going to reach out.

Rachel Simon: So, um, I that’s very helpful. No, it’s definitely like a point of debate, I think, in the LinkedIn consulting space. Um, personally, where I am not a fan of it is when there are consultants who use it. That’s a really good point.

Richard McNeal: Yes.

Rachel Simon: I don’t like that. I don’t think is the right use for it. I think it should be safe for somebody who is looking for their next.

Richard McNeal: Well, they flipped it as a ploy.

Rachel Simon: Correct. Like, I’m open to work with new clients is a lot different than I’m looking for my next employer to hire me. So I think it should be generally on LinkedIn. It could be. My tip for today is that we should use the the tools and tactics that they give us for what they’re intended for. So use the pronoun space to add your pronouns if you want. As opposed to what? Sometimes I see people put quippy little things in that part of their profile, you know? So use the tools for what they’re intended for. And that is the best way to kind of like be on the platform. And so open to work is intended for people looking for their next employer to hire them.

Richard McNeal: Agreed.

Lee Kantor: Now, Rich, what could we be doing for you? What do you need more of? Do you need more candidates? You need more companies to partner with you to help them find candidates. Um, what can we be doing for you?

Richard McNeal: Well, yeah. I mean, we’re always looking for, uh, companies that are looking to scale or, of course, you know, talent out there. Um, I am actually working on on one Atlanta baseball right now, although that that search seems to get is seems to be in some later stages, probably going to close in the next 1 to 2 weeks. So I do have a bit of a Atlanta base as well. But um, yeah, I mean, if you’re a company out there that’s looking if you need that director of E-com, that digital leader who knows how to drive leads on the B2B or B2C side. And that’s where we really focus. Right, is that’s my focus is day in and day out digital marketing on either side. And that’s where we step in, because we often can add something to where internal talent acquisition just maybe doesn’t know what they’re looking for. But we can help partner with them in the search process to get the right talent in front of them. And, you know, in the pipeline for sure. So, yeah, I mean, been going out a little bit of a our firm is nationwide and I have worked with a couple Atlanta based clients. Don’t have to be in Atlanta. But it’s always great with the local footprint. So you know if you’re a company out there that’s that’s looking to scale your digital digital team or candidate who is in the marketing or e-com space, you know, that’s that’s the area I work in. So I always love to have a connection. And if I can’t reach out immediately, just tap me on the shoulder a couple more times.

Lee Kantor: So now what’s the website and what’s the coordinates that connect with you or somebody on the team?

Richard McNeal: Yeah for sure. Well, of course I’m always, um, I’m always available on LinkedIn. Um, you know, and then in Talent Foot, we can just go right to the website is just talent foot. Uh. Com. And that’s where you can find us. We’re a Chicago based firm, but have a nationwide, nationwide presence. But yeah, those are the ways you can reach out.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Rachel. Great guest.

Rachel Simon: Awesome. Yeah, this was great. Well, thank you so much for being here today. Again, I’m sorry we didn’t get to be in person, but next time for sure. Um, and just so many great tips for on the candidate side. Um, and I know you’re just doing great work helping your clients find their next awesome employees, so thanks for being here.

Richard McNeal: Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor for Rachel Simon. We’ll see you all next time on Sandy Springs Business Radio.