Tuesday, February 27, 2024

 


Dave is retired from The Ankenbrandt Group. We’ve spent over 30 years working together recruiting, arguing, negotiating, and laughing about work while managing the firm. I remember my first recruiter job description written on a napkin from a local coffee shop, my first deal closing and all the months of work to get to that point. Since then, there’s been lots of deals and many ups and downs, but we’ve always held our standards high at the firm and continued our good work.  The family company has been a challenge and a pleasure for me.  I’m excited to take the helm and continue to recruit for our amazing clients.

Dave will be missed but for us he’s just a phone call away – unless he’s offshore fishing.

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Who do you know?

 



So, you’ve been using the power of YES to reach out to people. That’s positive networking and it is key to finding a new job. It’s all about who you know. How many applications have you sent into companies with no response? Some people have sent 100’s.  You must get in front of the hiring managers and LinkedIn is a great place to do that.  How to find more people to connect to?

1.     Research companies within a commutable radius of your home.

2.     Find the hiring managers at those companies and send them a connect.  Most people are nice and will accept a connection. 

3.     Follow up with a quick elevator pitch about you. 

This may not always work but it’s a quicker way to get in front of Manager/Director/VP than going through their application process.



Wednesday, September 6, 2023

The power of YES... and

 


When I’m recruiting on social media, I’ll ask for someone to connect to me and if I can send the job description. Occasionally, I get a NO. It doesn’t happen that often but when it does, I think about the power of YES. You can open your network, develop more friends, meet your new boss with YES.

Think about this - If you’re not interested and happy in your job you can always say, “Yes, please send it, although, I'm  currently very happy at my job.” Who knows the job could be an amazing fit if not you just made a new connection/friend. Use YES, and.

By using YES, and - It keeps the connection open and creates a positive interaction.  Positive YES networking can get you a job, a spouse, a new friend, a business associate. It opens your world to new people and ideas.  Say YES.

Monday, July 31, 2023

New Adventure

 

Montana was amazing! I came home refreshed and ready to work. New and exciting things are on the horizon for Ankenbrandt. After over 40 years recruiting Dave will be retiring by the end of the year. He will still be available for special project work!

I have a great business development teammate on board to work on our Tampa Bay business– Lily Salem. We work together at Career Bright.  You'll find her at a few business events all over Tampa as well as reaching out to new CA, TX and TN companies!  We also have Mark McKay on board handling all Operations – all the stuff I’m bad at like programing phones and fixing computers. He created our new logo!  Amanda will still handle all our accounting and billing.  We’re off and running to an exciting new adventure.

Looking forward to the company's future.

Monday, May 8, 2023

Flow

 


Wow! I’m blessed that had a great year last year both with my business and personally.  The business had a good start to 2023. Now I’m sitting in a slump – my flow is gone. I tried to work harder, create new approaches to recruiting and just push hard. Still no flow. Getting out on the boat over the weekend was relaxing but still no flow. So, all the trying to attempt to create flow- it’s not working.  My solution - I’m going on vacation. I feel like I should still be slugging away at work, but the Universe seems to be telling me it’s time for me to take time off and chill. So, off I go to an island for some rest and relaxation. I’ve found real downtime energizes me. 

Looking forward to reenergizing and coming back to a great work flow! 

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Grace

 

So, life moves on and things get back to normal.  It’s odd to say but they eventually do. Works is back to normal, daily life - pretty normal. 

I’ve learned these last few years to give lots of grace to myself and others. As we head into the holiday season remember to give grace. It doesn’t take much to be kind and gracious to others. 

Pass on the grace and have a very happy Thanksgiving.

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Salary Swing Dance

 

So, California passes a law stating as an employer you can’t ask salary history which is supposed to protect the future employees from losing money and unfair discriminating practices. From my understanding the company can ask salary expectations. Most people believe that it’s against the law for me to ask salary expectations.   I’m a recruiter working with multiple companies and a variety of salary ranges. I’m also not the employer.  The CA rule has been making difficult for recruiting due to this misunderstanding. 

It’s like this weird salary dance between candidates and me.  I’m the in between – the person negotiating to make both parties happy, the company and the candidate with the offer. Usually, I’ll get a range but occasionally the person won’t give me one which makes it awkward to work with them because every time I present a job it’s another guessing game and we're dancing around the salary. It's exhausting. 


Hey candidates, take advantage of a recruiter looking to negotiate a great salary for you – give them your expectations for salary! Keep it easy! They will get you more money.  It’s all in the same realm of questions we ask about, commuting, remote work, healthcare, vacation, salary etc. For a recruiter is just another item on our check list to make sure you take the offer – if you get an offer.