How does a professional recruiter find the right candidates for banking and finance services clients?
For more than 20 years, executive recruiter A. Gregory Hunt has been matching professional candidates with incredible career opportunities in the fields of banking and finance. His track record has been above his client’s expectations. But this kind of matchmaking is complicated.
The right candidate-career fit must have the right mix of:
- Experiences, skillset, and willingness to grows
- Culture and relationship harmony
- Work-life balance
- Virtual and in-person availability expectations
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Financial and benefits fit
- Career growth trajectory
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A good match will also include criteria that are unique to the hiring company. Recently, candidates and companies alike have asked Greg how the magic happens. We asked him some of the most common executive search questions so we could share with you.
Q: How did your background prepare you for professional recruiting in banking and finance?
Greg Hunt: At 16, I decided I wanted to be an Accounting professional. My extended family was into accounting. I got a degree in accounting, and worked for Arthor Andersen. I worked there for 4 years, then went to work for a film distribution company as Director of Finance and eventually was promoted to Controller.
In my early 30s, I realized I just didn’t have the passion or energy for the industry. I was stuck behind a desk. I was resentful. There wasn’t much room for my personality in accounting.
I belonged to many associations, and recruiters called all the time. One of the recruiters I had become friends with asked me “Have I ever thought of getting into recruiting?” At first, I responded, ABSOLUTELY NOT. But two years later, I called him. He said, “You’re going to be great. You have a personality, a network, and a following. You sit on a couple of boards. You already have people you can call.”
Working in-house within the accounting industry for so many years, and being connected in the industry gave me perspective, an understanding, and an advantage. So I made the jump to a national recruiting firm.
Q: How did you go from there to starting your own recruiting firm?
Greg Hunt: At the national recruiting firm, I was the oldest one on the team. I was married and had a kid. I learned valuable things about the business.
For example, in executive search, there are two sides to the equation. Job order comes from the top down. Our manager would find the client and give us the job order. Then the candidates came from the bottom up most of the time.. The whole team of recruiters had the opportunity to find a candidate. If I was the lucky one to find the right candidate, then the manager and I split the placement fee. The manager brought in most of the client business and the recruiters, it felt like, were always scrambling and competing for candidates. The system didn’t work for me.
I was motivated and inspired to do both sides of the job.
Q: There’s more to running a business than finding and matching clients and candidates. How do you manage the minutiae while building relationships?
Greg Hunt: I was talking to an advisor a while ago about how I could possibly ramp up to help even more companies find the talent they need while helping people discover the perfect career opportunity. How could I help four or five times more businesses, without sacrificing meaningful relationships? A career is such a big part of someone’s life. Having an impact in that way is very important to me.
He said, “Greg, you do it all. You’re the everything. It’s the nature of being an entrepreneur. If you could duplicate yourself, that would bring value to the business. You need to figure out how to get rid of the operational things that you do every day. Someone else should do that. You need to spend a lot more time talking to candidates and building the business.”
He was absolutely right. So over the last couple years, I’ve been building a team. In addition to the accountant and financial advisor I already had, I have banking and hiring consultants, strategists, writers, marketers, social media experts, a project manager, and a designer/developer that I work with on a regular basis to cover basic business needs and propel me and the business forward. (Who do you think is helping with this interview?!)
Now I can focus on what’s really important: the people.
Q: So, what is a “typical” day in the life of an independent executive recruiter, when there is no such thing as a typical day?
Greg Hunt: It’s true, as an entrepreneur and business owner, there’s no such thing as a typical day. No daily routine here. It’s a lot of fun to have variety, even though it’s a lot of work.
It’s good that I was already in the industry, that I had early professional experience on the inside of banking and financial services. It’s also good that I have a “figure it out” mentality whenever anything new comes my way. And new things happen all the time.
Having an accounting background, I’m very cognizant of KPIs (key performance indicators) on the candidate side and on the client side.
In this business, our KPIs on the candidate side are associated with how many folks we are talking to, how many are getting through the funnel, how many are getting in front of clients, taking interviews, receiving offers and getting jobs. Some people are surprised by this, but It takes about 35 steps to get a successful placement; all these 35 steps all have to go RIGHT. It’s simple, not mind blowing, but it’s a lot to get someone from A to Z.”
On the client side, we have our KPIs, too. I know the market, the companies that will benefit from what we’re doing, so we are strategic about which companies we work with. We can’t help everyone. All business is not good business. I have to be strategic in terms of the business I take on and the clients I have.
One of the things that I’ve done consistently over the last 20 years of being in this business, is to keep a notebook l next to me at all times. The notebook is page after page of names. Every day I will start with 15 names in my notebook; these are people I need to reach out to. As the day goes on, I get a call, an email, and I end up adding 10 names. For example, a client will reach out, or I need to schedule an intake call with a potential client, or do interview-prep with a candidate.
Not all of these clients work out immediately, but they are all valuable. I often find, a few months or a couple years later, they will call. Every day is different, but very day is tied to our KPIs. We don’t get paid unless we place a candidate.
I’m always asking, “Where are we in the process? Who are we talking to? Who are we interviewing this week?”
Q: You mentioned interview-prep. What is that?
Greg Hunt: In fact, I have to do interview-prep after this interview. A good recruiter should help candidates prepare before the client interview. Interviewing is nerve-wracking. I want to have a conversation with every candidate to get them comfortable before they step into the room or launch Zoom.
I often have known people at the bank or financial services company for years, and I try to provide as much background as possible about the interviewer, the company, the mission, the group, and even the people on the team, if I know them. I like to help candidates think more strategically about the way they respond to questions or the questions they ask. It helps both sides have a more meaningful conversation.
I like to believe that I am better than most executive search recruiters because of my accounting background. I know what to ask, what to look for, what clients are looking for. I know what can set someone up for success, and what challenges might come up.
Candidates tell me, “no one ever asked me that before.” Part of that is being strategic, seeing beyond the numbers, and understanding the industry.
Q: You often talk about how Willing to Hunt is all about relationships. What do you mean by that?
Greg Hunt: A great recruiter is proactive, responsive, follows up, and is a good listener. Remembering something from a past conversation shows that you care about them, you hear them, and you’re trying to help. But this describes any great relationship.
It takes time to build great relationships. In any given day, I might:
- Conduct a followup call with a candidate or client to understand how an interview worked out
- Perform an candidate interview prep
- Communicate with clients about candidate pipelines and market intelligence
- Meet with my content strategist, social media advisor, or marketing team
- Interview a client or candidate for a podcast
- Coordinate and host calls with other black and brown recruiters
- Prepare for a charity event by reaching out to sponsors
- Collaborate with industry associations on DE&I related topics
It’s a variety of activities, but you’ll notice that all of these activities depend on talking to people. And all of them are focused on the core business and the KPIs.
Q: How are you using media to develop more business relationships?
Greg Hunt: A lot of “meeting people” is behind the computer since the pandemic, but I do believe in the power of face to face. Every year, my company hosts the Banker’s Charity Golf Classic to bring together a diverse group of professionals from the banking and finance industries. It gets rave reviews and not only do we raise money for charity, but we also all meet some great people and have a good time.
We also host invitation-only virtual “face-to-face” events so that Black and Brown women and men can discuss supporting and promoting diversity in the banking industry in a private environment. These conversations are so very enlightening and they strengthen bonds, empathy, and understanding in our workplace.
That said, I can get a whole lot of eyeballs on the business using a website and social media outreach. We just launched a blog and podcast, and we’re creating new content based on people’s career search and hiring experiences all the time. We also like to introduce talent and provide hiring and career advice on LinkedIn. Media is just another avenue to meet people.
Even with all the media, my favorite way to reach new talent and clientele is to cultivate relationships through my personal and professional networks.
