How do you actually know what your customers or clients want?
Do you truly know how they perceive your company? Or competitors in your industry?
I have spent exclusively a decade recruiting for leadership roles in the hospital setting here in CA.
I had to step back and say, “Can I answer these questions clearly and confidently?
Maybe I am doing what I think they want but that is different from what they actually want.”
It was time to humble myself and be a bit courageous and call everyone I had ever served and say…..
- “Why do you work with me?”
- “Why aren’t you working with me?”
- “What is unprofessional and annoying that recruiting firms do to solicit your business?”
- “What is something that would ‘WOW’ you if a recruiting firm said or did?” (etc.)
I was a bit nervous at first.
But then, the first Chief of HR I spoke to shared 37 minutes of pure gold; she went on about things I had no idea were important to a small community stand-alone hospital, like hers.
I did this for nearly 2 months. I spoke with hiring leaders such as CHOR’s, Heads of Talent, Recruiters, Executives, in addition to many hospital leaders that were looking for work.
I didn’t need to guess what my ideal clients wanted, they told me what they needed.
The common theme I heard repeated on the myriad of calls I made to hospital leaders was, “I want to work with someone who is local, understands OUR specific market, and they have a President or Partner that is easily accessible.
My firm already embodied these things, but we didn’t reflect that in our name, social media, marketing, and/or partnership agreements.
That’s why we changed our name from Top Value Recruitment Inc. → Polonsky & Associates Inc.
To quote esteemed author and marketing legend Seth Godin, “Branding is about what people expect of you.”
Just like hospitals focus on Value-Based Purchasing which is based on the triple aim, we have our own triple aim:
Local & Reputable :
If you are a hiring manager looking to partner with a recruiting firm, or you are a candidate who wants the assistance of a recruiting firm, you can do 1 of 2 things to vet them:
- Look at their social proof. If you see they look professional, focus on your niche, and have a slew of recommendations from industry leaders, then you are in pretty good shape.
- If that’s not enough, ask the firm to give you 5 references in your industry that are big names you can call. If they can’t or won’t share this – drop them now.
Boutique:
We ALWAYS follow up. Good news, bad news, or no news. You will hear from us. The number one biggest frustration we hear is, “I did not hear back from my recruiter. I was left in the dark.”
Constant Communication is a core value of ours and we actually live it.
You also work directly with me, the President, or our Head of Talent. We made the conscious decision not to expand to other territories and add additional employees because we want our clients to know that when they work with us they will always get special attention, we will focus on their field, and the relationship actually matters to us.
Market Expertise:
We only recruit for healthcare leadership roles. CA is a big client of ours and they are much different than any other state. We understand the market landscape, the competition, appropriate compensation, and VBP.
If you aren’t in our wheelhouse we will happily refer you to someone else. We make sure to stay in our lane.
We have added Interim Solutions for HC Leadership, because every hospital and every leadership role requires something different.
If JCAHO is imminent and you have a critical role open, if a leader will be on leave for 3 months, or whatever your case is, we can talk about helping with an Interim Solution.
Our firm is here to stay. We had 64% growth during the pandemic, our market penetration and understanding is greater than ever, and we have an even bigger name to live up to now.
