“At the beginning of this year, we as a company made a discovery. We are not recruiters. We have tried to recruit talent ourselves and we seem to go through 3-5 people until we find the right person. If our recruiting success rating was a baseball batter average, we would be batting below .200. When you compare our own recruiting success or lack thereof to our sister companies and competitors, those stats are simply not acceptable anymore. Therefore, we had no other choice but to try something different. When it came to recruiting people on our own, we were the definition of insanity = doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Last fall I was introduced to Kirk Adcock at Kimmel. Kirk found some success with the construction side of our organization and with several of our sister companies. I will admit, I was very doubtful and somewhat expecting not just Kirk, but any recruiter to fail in any attempt to find service salesmen.
Having been a service salesman for most of my career, I know to well the specific skill sets, tenacity, work ethic, attitude…needed for this position. However, with my back against the wall, I burned the boats. No turning back…we made the decision in January of this year that we were no longer recruiters It’s time to let the professionals do what they do best. We will stick with HVAC and Plumbing services and let Kirk and his team stick to recruiting.
Kirk has landed us two fantastic hires this year. Candidates that are now teammates…people that we would have otherwise never found on our own. We are in the process of fulfilling several more positions between our Memphis and Nashville offices, and I am confident that Kirk and his team will be successful yet again. His reach, his team, his attitude and drive on behalf of S.M. Lawrence has been second to none. I have five pieces of advice that I would give to anyone in my position contemplating hiring Kirk and his team.
Let them See Behind the Curtain – Explain to Kirk what you are company goals are for growth, org chart and what good looks like in other candidates.
Trust the Process – Let the professionals do their job. Don’t second guess their ability, resources and loyalty to your company with every candidate.
Communicate your need, the attributes of the position you are looking to fulfill and let Kirk’s team know your process for hiring and on-boarding.
Give Feedback – Don’t hold back. Give Kirk the truth about every candidate. Share your concerns. He would rather you be blatantly honest with you rather than you “settle” for a candidate you did not think was an absolute fit for your team.
Build a Growth Plan Together with Kirk in his team. Don’t just let him know your needs for today, but for next year, three years, five and ten. Great candidates come and go. Just because you have all the right people in the right seat on the bus today, doesn’t mean the ride will be as smooth tomorrow.
We view Kirk as an extension of our team – he is a trusted partner. I would highly recommend Kirk Adcock to anyone who is looking to add quality talent to their company. Kirk was the ‘different result’ we were looking for.”
