Matt Allen: We Are Not Participating in This Recession

Matt Allen: We Are Not Participating in This Recession.

In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Matt Allen, founder of Verticalmove, a 20-year-old high-end boutique technical and executive search firm based in Seattle, now moving into the Phoenix area. Verticalmove specializes in the placement of senior level software engineering and tech positions, both on contract and permanent.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Verticalmove has seen a drastic shift from hiring primarily on a full-time to a contract-to-hire basis. It is a shift embraced by many other recruitment firms due to the flexibility and cost-saving benefits of contractors—factors that companies value today more than ever.

While there is a thick air of caution around full-time recruiting in today’s climate, Matt discovered a gradual resurgence in Q3 as some companies have begun to hire for the long-term once again, especially as news of a possible vaccine is becoming more hopeful. He likens it to how the economy played out in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, in that a number of major stakeholders and executives saw a “land grab” moving forward while many other companies are struggling to recover from the recession.

For Verticalmove, Matt realizes that, if nothing else, building relationships with potential new hiring managers is “the key to getting through these economic upheavals.” Contrary to what most might think, more people are actually picking up the phone today. And more often than not, they are picking up the phone from home, which opens up new opportunities to form a more personal connection with leads compared to before the outbreak. By taking the time to reach out during these uncertain times, and leading with value, any business can quickly set itself apart in the market as a reliable and trustworthy partner.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [1:22] A primer on Verticalmove

●      [5:41] How Vertical Move is faring amid COVID-19

●      [8:08] Switching from recruiting on a full-time to a contract-to-hire basis

●      [13:09] Why companies are now recruiting less and how they are adapting

●      [19:06] How to give clients the confidence to pay a retained firm upfront for hiring whole teams

●      [27:34] Dealing with fewer job applicants during the pandemic

●      [34:07] Building an application tracking system

●      [37:48] Stand out in the market by becoming a subject matter expert

●      [43:10] Desire to add as much value to your constituents as you can

Key quotes:

●      “Full-time recruiting is definitely down. However, we are seeing, as we progress into Q3, something that is very similar to what we saw during the 2008 financial crisis. It was a pause, and a lot of companies started to absorb the bad news and figure out ways to move forward. [...] I think the types of companies that we tend to service are forward-thinking enough that they want to get ahead of the land grab.”

●      “Our business is a very relationship-driven business, so other than going out and focusing on the ‘net new’, the expectations we’re setting for ourselves is that we’re planting seeds, we’re establishing relationships. [...] The relationships are the key to getting through these economic upheavals.”

●      “We have started to think of ourselves as a sales organization who happens to recruit.”

●      “If we reach out with value rather than solicitations, if companies need us, they’re going to opt in.”