DG Recruit Podcast

DGR 150 Deal Killers The 6 C's

There are some distinct deal killers to watch out from and it doesn't start at the closing table. Make sure you heed these 6 C's of deal killers so that you're not blindsided! What do you think? Any other deal killers to add here? As always, if you need advanced coaching one to one, reach out to [email protected] for more bespoke training!

DGR 149 10 Client Negotiation Tips in Down Recruitment Markets

In down recruitment markets, clients are looking to kick recruiters when they're down. You can't even blame them because that's the obvious play to deploy that the general public is used to doing.  That's why it's critical to learn the RIGHT word tracks so that you don't lose negotiation ground with clients on rates and expectations on how to partner. Too many average headhunters have let clients walk all over them - this is a travesty that could've been avoided. Top headhunters do not...

DGR 148 6 Communication PRO Tips!

As a terrible communicator in my teens and really struggling to connect with humans, it was a LONG journey for me to grow into a top salesperson by the time I hit my early 20s in my recruitment job as a globally top-ranked headhunter year after year. Here are 6 communication PRO tips that I've learned along the way to become really good at my sales job. It came through practice, implementation, and improving day in day out. As with all things recruitment, nothing is brain surgery - it's ...

DGR 147 7 Tips to Build Wealth and Achieve Success

These 7 tips have helped me change my mindset from being a broke waitress at 22 to millionaire by 30. Seriously. These 7 tips was how I built wealth & achieved success. It was a journey, an adventure, and a challenge that was fraught with twists and turns, all of which who made me who I am today. I hope these 7 tips can apply to your life wherever you are in your journey!

DGR 146 KPIs to Become a Top Biller

Over time, your KPIs are going to change and vary as your business grows, but when you first start out, volume is your best friend! Hear how I got started in the industry to build my client book from scratch. These are the KPIs my manager expected me to hit. I took their word as gospel and went all the way to the top of the billing leagues with the targets I was given and THEN some. If you have any questions, hit me up at [email protected]

DGR 145 5 Trends in Agency Recruitment You're BOUND to Face

In the next 5-10 years, here are 5 trends I predict will seriously impact recruiters' lives in the agency side of the business. These are based on observations that I've noticed that has changed the way the market works, the way I work, and what is important headed into the next decade to set yourself and your business up for success. If you're serious about this industry, then you have to compete at a whole another level - it's a different ballgame at the top if you want to monopolize e...

DGR 144 4 Tips to Cold Call like a PRO!

As a cold caller shot caller since 2011, I have benefited massively from cold calling like a pro. Here are 4 tips to help you get your cold calling head on straight. It's like bungee jumping. Seems like a terrifying thought but once you make the leap, you're having the best time of your life (not that I've ever bungee jumped, but I definitely did skydive so it's kinda the same idea lol). Make sure you learn what the pros do and GET PREPARED so that you can make your calls count. Like I s...

DGR 143 5 Tips to Success in Sales

Recruitment is a dual-sided sales job: you must sell the candidate to the client and the job/req to the cando. In order to both well, I have 5 tips to share with you in order to increase the effectiveness of your sales efforts. As always, review our podcast if you're enjoying the coachings & send any questions/comments to [email protected]

DGR 142 5 Market Updates AND Coaching TIPS!

This podcast episode covers some market updates headed into second half of 2023 and includes a WEALTH of coaching tips on the following topics: Entrepreneurship vs working at a recruitment agency Switching agencies or staying Market conditions & what everyone else is seeing! Career advice on how important it is to get into selling Notes about technology advances like AI and Machine Learning If you have any questions or want to coach with Dandan directly, message her at dz@dandanzhu...

DGR 141 Preview of My Book: Agency Recruitment 101!

In this podcast, I go through the 13 chapters of my book & what it all entails! I wrote Agency Recruitment 101 with this mission in mind: spread the gospel of agency recruitment far and wide so that more people can understand this career, business, and profession more! If you'd like to join my book launch, make sure to sign up on dandanzhu.com and reach out with any questions and comments!

DGR 140 5 Qualities of Highly Profitable Recruitment Niches

Recruitment success is very much centered around how your business is set up and what niche you're searching. Like any endeavor, environments matter and if the commercial market you're operating in is unfriendly or inhospitable, you could work hard and be sorely disappointed. This is why picking the right niche is so important. Many recruiters are assigned their market starting out but it may not be your "forever" niche. Make sure to consider these 5 qualities that the most desirable and...

DGR 139 How to Dominate Your Recruitment Market

In recruiting, I play a game called monopoly. I want to have the most market share in any niche market I endeavor to take on. This is the POINT of the game and how many top-billers survive and thrive without having to stress out and work themselves to exhaustion every year. The foundation to dominate your recruitment market is no easy feat, but it's pretty straightforward what activities drive market share consolidation. Take a listen at the 8 tips I have for you from A-Z to dominate your ...

DGR 138 The #7777rule

The #7777rule was and is still something I adhere to in order to reach financial, career, and professional success in any endeavor I undertake. Listen to the full episode for what it is, how I came up with it, and 5 reasons why it's critical to set yourself up correctly to actually achieve your goals instead of just dreaming about them.

DGR 137 Mike Williams Carnegie Search Interview

In this interview, Mike Williams, founder of Carnegie Search, shares his journey from learning the business to becoming a business owner of a niche recruitment firm that is thriving. Mike shares his tips and tricks, as well as personal experiences and insights on recruitment as an industry both philosophically as well as tactically. Both are important elements of understanding the underlying motivation and drive of recruiters as well as how to succeed at doing a great job of it. If you h...

DGR Ep 136 How to Qualify Clients & Reqs

I recently had a terrible client call in which he (a recruitment owner) lambasted contingency search since "so many clients were not serious". Ironically, he was also one of those clients, which I revealed during the call. Whether you do contingent or retained, you should carefully vet out the seriousness and commitment of the client to fill to the role versus sending you on a wild goose chase. Even for retained, you want to avoid this situation bc our game isn't to collect part of the fee...

DGR Ep 135 6 Tips on Mental Health In Recruitment

Recruitment is a long game. It's not a reactive job like working in a factory or in retail. You have to keep yourself going to reach your goals and achieve on a daily basis. As much as your manager may try to keep you motivated and help you, at the end of the day, all you got is yourself to be your cheerleader and accountability partner. Here are 6 tips that help me keep my eye on the prize as an agency recruiter. At this point, money can't be the sole reason to keep hustling - it goes d...

DGR 134 NO Excuses Mindset

To become successful, mindset is critical, as we all have heard. Having experienced the highs and lows of mindset, I personally know this to be true. It's no coincidence my best years in production have always been a result of not making excuses & being highly action-oriented. Here are 6 tips on how to curate a NO EXCUSES mindset as it relates to agency recruitment! Now, go on and get that $! As always, rate this podcast & message me [email protected] with anything and everything you'd like...

DGR 133 Which KPIs Leads to DEALS

There are 3 main categories of KPIs and then mini-KPIs that lead you to the result of the intended reward. In this podcast, I break down how the KPIs connect to one another and how important QUALITY is. You can hit your KPIs numerically but it's a moot point if the quality isn't there.

DGR 132 How to Navigate Toxic Sales Environments

A lot of agency recruiters start off at college grind shops aka boiler room type sales environments where toxic sales culture is the norm. I grew up in such a shop and stayed, thrived for 5 years, which is abnormally long considering the dropout rate to be close to 80-90%.  These 7 tips are from my lived experience of how to navigate toxic sales environments to win at all costs. TRIGGER & LANGUAGE WARNING: negativity, mentions of sexual harrassment, alcoholism in the sales workplace; e...

DGR 131 5 Tips on Minimizing Droppers

Droppers are everyone's worst nightmare. I believe strongly in never putting up deals in the first place that don't stick. There really is no point in doing that and it hurts everyone in the process. My dropper rate is about 1 every 2-3 years (I'm perm so that's a contributing factor for why it's low). For some reason (actually many reasons), I just have an insanely low dropper rate which is why recruitment is very profitable for me and has made me wealthy. It's not by coincidence, it's ...

DGR 130 Tips on Client Meetings

People have been asking, now that client meetings are right back to it, how to best prepare for and win over people during these high pressure business opportunities to drive relationships. In this podcast, I break down 6 major tips on how to best handle client meetings so that you can maximize each get together to the best and ideal outcomes. As always, make sure to join dandanzhu.com in order to keep in touch on all my trainings, advice, and tips on sales & recruitment. If this podcast...

DGR 129 How to Never Get Laid Off

Agency recruitment is an extremely recession/depression/layoff proof profession, assuming you can produce. Like many revenue generating roles, if you're good at generating revenue, you're always going to be safe from layoffs. Regardless, I break down a number of factors to consider for any role and hopefully you can help utilize this in determining the market you recruit for or evaluate your existing labor market headed into a rough year ahead. As I've continued to say, please do leave...

DGR 128 Coaching on Candidate Calls

As an agency recruitment professional, we literally live off of this skill. The better you are at handling candidates on calls, the more money you make and the more you get per hour since you're doing it better than your competition. Master your candidate calls by following these tips and tricks! If this podcast is helping you, make sure to DROP US A REVIEW - pls do it - I thank you! In the meantime, hit me up at [email protected] with any comments or questions!

DGR 127 WHAT YOU NEED to start a Recruitment Firm

I cannot stress enough how bad of an idea running a recruitment firm without sales or recruitment experience is. There is a reason why headhunter fees are 20-35%. It's because this ISN'T an easy pop-in and win business. It takes expertise, experience, perseverance, cleverness, will-to-win, investment of time, and ingenuity to sustainably succeed. If you're one of the very rare exceptions to the rule, bravo for you. But the majority of people would be well off to heed my advice on this:...

DGR 126 Master your MPC Pitch (Most Placeable Candidate)

MPC - most placeable candidate - was a term I heard once I started DG Recruit, my recruitment firm only services top-billers or up and coming billers. But this was something that I mastered. In my world, we called this the "candidate sell-in". I used this exclusively to drive client engagement and sign-on new accounts. This is the ONLY thing that works to get clients signed up. There is no point to reinvent the wheel or to try something new. This is it, day in and day out. Nail you...

DGR 125 How to Stay Positive in Agency Recruitment (and life)

In this podcast, I share 4 strategies on how to regain your positivity, motivation, and hope when it comes to recruitment (and life). Everyone has moments of doubt, unhappiness, hopelessness, and fear. This is normal. How you react to it determines the outcome, no doubt. I've used each of these 4 mindsets to help myself out during tough times and I hope it will help you get what you need out of this episode. As always, a nice bit of swearing and a plea for reviews at the end, you've be...

DGR 124 Stacy Kelly Recruiter Prep Feature Interview

Stacy is an absolute boss at recruitment, sales, and mentoring/supporting other top billers. As a top-biller herself, she broke 6 figures her first year in the biz and regularly earns in the $400k mark (Covid was an exception but even then was $200-250k). Like many other top-billers, Stacy also holds real estate assets and has a successful work-life-balance and fulfilling family life. She shares so much valuable advice here that is sure to benefit both those considering recruitment as ...

DGR 123 How I built an Executive Search Desk from Scratch

I was 26/27 when I decided to take on the challenge of building out executive search as the next step of my career after 3-4 years of working the pharma market as a niche recruiter for a specific vertical. Now, I wanted to make even MORE money while working 'less'. Due to the size of exec placements, you could absolutely make less placements but make MORE money! The beauty of this magnificent desk of exec search revealed itself shortly. Within 1 year of working at half-mast, I broke $600...

DGR 122 6 Pro Sales Tips (Phone Sales Only)

*explicit language warning Of course selling today isn't just about phone sales. If that's how you're going to do it, it's 100% the hard way versus leveraging the internet, but I digress. Today's topic is about old school recruitment phone sales to land clients. There are 6 major tips that I certainly learned the hard way that actually works to build a book of business and convert cold contacts to live clients. Drop me a line at [email protected] if you have any questions/comments.

DGR 121 What EVERY Junior Recruiter NEEDS to hear

*Explicit - language warning This is a heartfelt spiel that I genuinely want EVERY. Single. Junior Recruiter (or someone who isn't already a global top biller) to listen to. Recruitment at the highest levels requires a strong mental state and confidence to persevere. It isn't a game but you have to find the fun in it. I share 6 tips here that I hope can be useful to you as you look for ideas, mentalities, and approaches that can get you up and running asap and on your way to stardom! ...

DGR 120 Amanda Brandenburg Founder OpusLex Partners Recruiter Prep Interview

Amanda Brandenburg, founder of OpusLex partners, is a gamechanger and top biller at the highest levels. A pro at both temp & perm recruitment, sales and recruiting, Amanda is the ultimate recruitment leader, producer, and inspiration. In this interview, Amanda shares so much valuable insight about her own career as a real estate investor, recruitment entrepreneur, and top-biller that anyone can learn from. Tune in for the full walkthrough of what you need to know if you're seriously co...

DGR 119 Recruiter Prep Feature Interview with Matt Abbasfard

There are top billers and then there are people who really knocked it out of the park. For these people, recruitment was like for many of us, an accident, but it was life changing and exceeded even the wildest of dreams. Matt Abbasfard is one of those people who broke unto the recruitment scene with a big splash as a top-biller from the first year he started, breaking $230k+ in his first year in the biz and over $500k in his 2nd in terms of personal earnings. That is insane notwithstandi...

DGR 118 The Modern Agency Recruiter Playbook

This one is a good one. Instead of operating on dinosaur recruitment tactics, here are SIX tips on what MODERN agency recruiters are doing. Recruiting has changed a LOT even since when I started not so long ago in 2011. Now, it's EVEN more volatile, innovative, and ripe for disruption IF you know how to play the game. Recruiters fall into two camps: one who follows the traditional methods of recruiting like cold-calling and outreach versus those who add in marketing and utilizing the int...

DGR 117 How to Sell Well (for both salespeople AND recruiters)

As a full-desk recruiter since day one on a brand new desk, I was cold calling clients and candidates to build my book from a standing start of zero. I had literally NOTHING to recruit for so I had to essentially bullsh*t my way into mattering within my market. I had to fight tooth and nail and learn this business ASAP or else I would fail and starve since I was on a godawful, low base lol. Here are the strategies I adopted that helped me crawl of nothingness into dominating and monopo...

DGR 116 How to Keep Focused as a Recruiter

As a recruiter, our brains are going 100 miles an hour doing a million different things. As much as that ability is a superpower, it can also be extremely hard to stay on task and get sh*t done as well! In this podcast, Dandan shares with you some of her own struggles with focus, how recruitment has evolved over the years, and how external factors are making things worse for everyone to stay and keep focused. What are your thoughts? Drop us a line, comment, or email at contact@dgrecrui...

DGR 115 Recruiter Prep Feature Lee Ammer

As an ad sales professional who transitioned into recruitment, Lee has started earning money that he never thought was possible through traditional careers and jobs. Like many top-billers, he works hard & exhibits many of the key traits we witness top producers in this industry to possess. Hear his career advice on how you can evaluate this career for yourself, his earnings trajectory (this will BLOW your mind!), and also his advice to you. Check it out on Youtube if you'd rather see t...

DGR 114 Recruiter Prep Jenn Zinschlag Top-Biller Interview & Feature

DGR 113 Tips to Succeed as a Senior Recruitment Professional

As a senior recruitment professional, the career now gets really fun. You already know the basics, how to do deals, and the grind is pretty straightforward at this point. Now, the challenge is to continue elevating your game and building up your mastery of the art of recruitment. It won't take too long for you to completely nail this career, but it does take effort, hard work, and continued learning. Here are 5 tips that will help curate more success for senior recruiters 2-5 years i...

DGR 112 Tips to Succeed as a Junior Agency Recruiter

As someone who started off knowing nothing about recruitment, I started selling and recruiting since it was my job that I was responsible to do. Here are the top tips of what helped me "make it" as a top-biller to set my career up for success in my market and within a large recruitment firm to make a name for myself. I hope these 5 tips help you get ahead in your career - send me  your wins, challenges, and questions to [email protected] For coaching options, join: Recruiterprep.co...

DGR 111 Recruiter Prep Interview with AJ Mahmoud Founder, Scott Humphrey

Hear our Recruiter Prep interview with AJ Mahmoud, Founder of Scott Humphrey to learn more about his career, life, and experience within the recruitment industry.   AJ shares critical advice AND lessons from his journey in recruitment including the following highlights:    -Why he left a 6-figure job to take a 50% decrease on his base to do recruitment, banking on himself to land commissions - How he became a top-biller - How much $ he earned in recruiting compared to his career...

DGR 110 How to Handle Objections

Whether dealing with client or candidate drama, objection handling no matter how big or small the issue, is a KEY skill that is a make or break to get deals through the door or impede deals from closing. Here are a few tips on how to approach objection handling and selling so as to get your issues resolved so that you can either move forward to close processes out if things are looking worse than good. What questions or comments do you have? Send them to [email protected] and we'll m...

DGR 109 How to Deal with Counteroffers

Counteroffers are not a new phenom. You can bet a company will find it cheaper, easier, and safer to throw money at existing staff rather than a new hire that they need to pay a headhunter for ANYWAYS. If you're mostly going after passive candidates, you better cover counters til you're blue in the face, at EVERY stage, not only during closing or offer time, bc by then, you will be much too late. Don't be the person who ends up being used and abused to boost up someone else's salary at...

DGR 108 How to Interview Agency Recruiters to Find the BEST Hire

If you are thinking of hiring someone who already has agency recruitment experience, you have to proceed with caution because 80-90% of the industry leave the job and the turnover is bonkers. You don't want to be the sucker who ends up hiring someone from another agency and wastes your money, time, and effort on someone who fails at your firm before they hop off to their next gig. This has happened too many times to even the best of managers and producers simply because you want to believe...

DGR 107 Money Mistakes to Avoid

As someone very good with money, Dandan was able to leverage it fully to achieve FIRE by 28, breaking 7 figures networth by 30. Here are the major tips that Dandan implemented in her 20s and now to avoid being entrapped in a bad job, mortgage enslavement, and lack of freedom to build a life you want for the rewards you aspire to have. Do you have any tips? Comments? Share & hit us up! [email protected]

DGR 106 How to DEAL with Active Candidates

Yes, I say "deal" here because I don't enjoy working with active candidates as a choice or preference; we need to DEAL with the fact that they're already active. This poses a real threat to our time, our energy, and ultimately our survival in this industry if we let one too many active candidates get under our skin. The ideal goal is to work with the best passive candidates exclusively, but that's increasingly rare today, so you have to deal with what you got. Here are some tips on how...

DGR 105 Mental Health in Recruitment

To sustain a long term career within agency recruitment, you have to navigate the inevitable stress that builds up from this career of managing PEOPLE on both ends of the spectrum: clients AND candidates. While this job sounds so straightforward and easy, it is hardly anything but that! You have to manage your mental health in order to continue feeling great about the business, money, candidates, clients, your market, and your career. Hear 5 top tips Dandan shares that she reminds herself of...

DGR 104 DO NOT SELL TO HR PEOPLE

For lack of a better way to put it, if you're a young gun trying to make it staffing/agency recruiting/headhunting to get new clients signed up, for the love of everything that's holy, DO NOT SELL TO HR PEOPLE. If you didn't know, please do know this: They are NOT your friend. They are NOT on your side. They do not CARE about you/your livelihood and they'll get in the way. The only person you should be building relationships with are the HIRING MANAGERS IN YOUR CHOSEN FIELD OF SPEC...

DGR 103 Focus on Daily Activities NOT Vision and Goal Setting

A big aha moment for me has been realizing that my fixation on goal setting has been incorrect all these years. While I thought it was the root of my success in recruitment, money, and careers, it wasn't. Focusing on daily actionable small tasks are actually MUCH more important than any vision or goal. How has vision or goalsetting worked for you in the past? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

DGR 102 Interview with Amanda Brandenburg OpusLex Partners

Amanda breaks down top tips to help you better: - Assess clients & candidates - Manage your mindset - Learn her approach through her experiences of thriving despite pandemics and recessions Ultimately, Amanda brings her unique approach to growing her business, practice, and team; leverage her words of wisdom and mentorship! Reach [email protected] for more questions & comments

DGR 101 How to Determine if a Market is Candidate or Client Driven

There are undisputable benefits to working candidate-dry aka candidate-driven markets. It's way easier to dominate a space as a niche market specialist, you have less competition when you're more knowledgeable, and you're faster when you have deep relationships with top candidates and clients in your market specialism. Clients want your service, NEED your service, and are happy to pay top dollar in fees and candidate salaries because candidates are so hard to come by. Here's how you can ...