We have all seen an award winner accept a prestigious honor from their peers, whether in our work industry, a committee or organization we are a part of, or just on television. Whenever I see that moment of honor, I aspire to one day become someone who is looked up to and respected enough to receive such recognition. In a split placement network of close to 500 firms and over 1,300 recruiters, it is easy to feel as though your efforts are going unnoticed; however helping others when there is no financial gain for yourself is one of the true signs of a leader. The following split story highlights not only a great international split, but also a member going out their way to see others achieve success.
At a Global Conference meeting held in Denver, CO, a member, Jim, from Georgia, connected with several strong members in the network, one being the regional director for the Canadian membership, James. Jim’s firm planned to work several international roles and he has been hoping to find some solid candidate providers they could reach out to at this meeting.
As a follow-up to the meeting, Jim emailed James with a General Manager position in Canada that he was going to be discussing with his client that very afternoon, asking James for advice on how difficult the role looked to source, who could help source for this role, and any other help James could provide.
Many times, when something like this crosses your desk, you immediately get selfish and consider whether the job is in your industry, if you could take on the recruitment for it, and what is in it for you and your business. If it is not a match, which in this case it was not as James does nothing with regards to pumps/fluids, it would be really simple to not respond to the email and carry on with your day. However, that lack of response is doing nothing to build up respect for your name or brand, and also not helping the organization you belong to.
Instead, James racked his brain for fellow members he knew of that worked that particular space and took the time to introduce Jim to fellow Canadian member, Henry. He worded it exactly like this, “I don’t know anything about pumps/fluids but if I had that order the first guy I would call would be Henry.” How reassuring to hear such confidence in someone able to assist you, likely hours or minutes before you take a client call.
Well, James was completely correct in his introduction, and not only was Jim able to secure the role from his client, a 100,000+ job at nearly a 30% fee, but Henry successfully sourced it, and the two ended up splitting a $33,000 fee, with the added benefit of a happy client now knowing that the firm can handle those international positions well.
While James did not get a portion of that fee, he now has two very happy members that appreciate and respect him for connecting them, and I am sure that the next time he needs a favor or job filled, they will return the favor of responding to him with any help they are able to. I encourage you to stop the next time your mouse hovers over the “delete” button on your email to first consider what other options or reply you could provide the partner on the other end.