In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with David “Daredevil” AuClair, a Senior Acquisition Specialist at CohnReznick. He started his career at Robert Half.

Listen in as David discusses the value of “upstream thinking” for any recruiter looking for an effective way to solve recurring issues that come with the role. Additionally, he speaks on rejection and failure, saying that it pays to own your mistakes in order to extract the lessons you need to move forward.

David also gives his best outreach practices, which include making use of the 60-second audio message feature offered by LinkedIn. At the core of his various strategies is a firm determination to stay authentic with every message and piece of content you put out there.

He preaches getting to know candidates and helping them figure out what they want to do with their lives. This, says David, is a powerful way to build relationships (and potentially bring in referrals) in the long run.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [01:19] Why “Daredevil”?: The role of courage in recruitment

●      [08:03] Personalizing 80% of your messages to candidates

●      [10:17] All about the reticular activating system

●      [14:02] How recruiters can deal with rejection and failure

●      [18:49] Life as a recruiter in a startup versus a larger firm

●      [24:05] Winning outreach practices

●      [29:48] Adapting to a tougher market as a recruiter

●      [33:00] Distinguishing yourself with candidates

●      [36:33] The importance of personal branding for recruiters

●      [40:42] Why utilize audio messages on LinkedIn

Key quotes:

●      “I like to think that, at this point in my life, fear is no longer the thing in the seat of the car driving all of my decisions.”

●      “The solution that I found in the last six months has been consistency, staying organized, and reaching out to these candidates in every way possible.”

●      “There’s something to be said for someone seeing your posts on LinkedIn. It gives you credibility.”

●      “When LinkedIn allowed you to send 60-second audio messages, that’s how I’ve been getting some of my greatest successes.”