This past week, recruiters gathered in our Nashville office for the semi-annual Compass Meeting. As the name would suggest, Compass Meetings allow the entire ThinkingAhead team to come together to ensure we are pointed in the right direction and encourage one another.
The two-day gathering was full of bright spots, from celebrating multi-decade anniversaries, to unlimited hot dogs in our suite at the Nashville Sounds baseball game. Concluding the meeting was a state-of-the-company address from our President, Greg Boucher. We were reassured that ThinkingAhead is moving toward record-breaking success for yet another year. TA recruiters are consistently delivering on promises to clients, and in turn, more clients are trusting us with their searches.
Each meeting of the conference was an illustration of a different important factor in that success:
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- Learning from the strengths of one another:
Our conference kicked off with addresses from three recruiters who have learned unique lessons in their time at ThinkingAhead. Derek Schlender, a Partner from the Banking and Commercial Finance team led a discussion about the imperativeness of gaining a client’s trust, listening thoroughly to understand their needs, and finding ways to keep a candidate invested in the hiring process. “People who feel heard are so much more ready to buy,” Derek said. “The key is listening.”
Next up was Elise Gay, a Partner from the Life Sciences team, who offered invaluable insight to her fellow recruiters on the importance of keeping a record of work. “The size of your paycheck is directly proportional to your ability to document and demonstrate your process, your work, and your value,” she said.
Finally, Rachel Mayes, a Life Sciences Recruiter shared with us the many benefits of using LinkedIn as a tool. She gave tips on engagement, ideas to post, and ways to connect and network on the platform. She astutely likened LinkedIn to a Roomba, constantly working away in the background if given the ability.
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- Training new recruiters well:
Our second meeting was a panel discussion among four rookie recruiters. Even though they have only been at ThinkingAhead for around a year, Paul Toshner, Rachel Mayes, Emily Page, and Jennifer White have already made incredible strides in their career and have learned enough about their role to offer insights back to their teams. This was a testament to both the thorough training offered to recruiters at TA, and the desire of long-time recruiters to continue to learn and grow from all their peers.
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- Investing in DEI:
The second morning of the conference, we had the privilege of learning from Dr. Candace Warner and Amiee Sadler of People3, a DEI training center based here in Nashville. They emphasized that diversity and inclusion is a journey, never a destination, and that building a “world-class culture” comes from continuously growing cultural intelligence. They then led us to important small group discussions and a question-and-answer session. By the end, everyone was left with something to ponder and a better idea of what it means to create a “world-class culture.”
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- Investing in our community:
Towards the end of our conference, Ben Kessler, who leads our Philanthropy Advisory Committee introduced a new partnership with PENCIL, a nonprofit that invests community resources into Nashville public schools. Ben assured us that this would be not just a financial contribution, but that recruiters would have the opportunity to go into classrooms and work with school-aged children here in our community.
Summer Compass was a few triumphant days of celebration, learning, and enjoying the fellowship of peers from near and far. We have been encouraged and replenished to keep satisfying and earning clients until we get to do it all again in January.
If you’re looking to hire, give us a call or check out our current opportunities here: https://thinkingahead.com/opportunities/
