The Resilient Recruiter
Recruitment Coach Mark Whitby
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How to Increase Billings 400% by Integrating Automation with a Personal Touch, with Christina Stroud
The recruitment process is inherently human-centric, involving evaluating soft skills, cultural fit, and personal interactions. While AI can streamline specific tasks, it may struggle to assess these qualitative aspects effectively. As a recruitment business owner, how do you marry automation and artificial intelligence with a personal human touch? My special guest, Christina Stroud, shares her insights and perspective about this subject. She has a unique approach to engaging with her clients and candidates while leveraging automation with a personalized human touch. Christina is the founder and CEO of Group928. She’s a seasoned Human Resources professional with over 30 years of experience specializing in start-ups, acquisitions, and exits in private equity environments. The company has grown by 400% in just three short years from $125,000 in the first year to over $500,000 in 2023. This showcases her ability to build a client base from scratch, and design and implement sales and marketing strategies while continuing to exceed her client’s expectations. Episode Outline and Highlights [01:57] Chrstina’s Transition from an HR professional to a recruitment business owner. Insights on how her HR experience played a role in her current success. [07:49] Nobody said it was easy - overcoming a challenging first year of entrepreneurial leap. [12:41] Growing the company to 400% - discussing two critical success factors. [18:18] The importance of stepping out of your comfort zone [28:13] Leveraging AI & automation while applying a personal touch. [40:33] Launching her podcast and engaging with thought leaders. [48:01] The most significant challenges that Christina had to navigate [58:49] What is next for Christina and Group 928? An Entrepreneurial Leap is No Walk in the Park, But Undeniably Achievable For many reasons, shifting from a recruiter to a business owner can be difficult. The risk and uncertainty, working long hours, and lack of security and benefits can deter many from the entrepreneurship journey. Overcoming these roadblocks is achievable - and Christina proved it is. This is how she described the first year of her entrepreneurial journey: “It was hard. I, you know, that first year, it was hard for me emotionally. I had never stepped away from a regular paycheck. And so to go into owning my own business, not having a steady income or a check that gets directly deposited every other Friday was very nerve-wracking for me… It hurt my ego a little bit when I went two months without getting, uh, a paycheck, but then once I got my company started, uh, I was glad that I did and it made sense, but that transition, uh, is very hard for a lot of people and it was also hard because I had never done any type of sales or marketing or bringing in new clients.” It was not a walk in the park, but Christina’s mindset and belief system helped her figure things out and pull things together. She revealed two critical factors that significantly contributed to her success. Christina’s Two Critical Success Factors In three years, Christina grew her company by 400% from $125,000 in the first year to over $500,000 in 2023. This is an astonishing achievement, as companies usually plateau after reaching their first six digits. Christian shared two critical success factors: Getting out of her comfort zone: “I had to take every little thing that needed to be done as a challenge. I did all the work myself. I was, you know, doing sourcing and interviewing and all the emails and communication. And that taught me a lot of new skills and things that I had to try and push myself to do that I hadn't done in a very, very long time”. Christina shared how she had to learn technology and AI, start her podcast, and other new skills. Leveraging automation for sales and marketing - this was also not easy for Christina because technology is also not
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