E.R.N Podcast – Pam Cox

Podcast Transcript

David: Alright guys another episode of the executive recruiting Network we are blessed to be here with Pam Cox from Apama Recruiting Solutions she’s been in the business for over 30 years and
Pam has been servicing clients and making wonderful placements on for her clients for over 10 years now over a decade and we’re happy to have her here to share some insight and any hiring managers any candidates listen to this um it’s going to be a tremendous episode you’re going to get a lot of insight to what it means to be an actual recruiter what it needs to find the right talent any business owners that are watching this I’m listening to this really pay attention because the success of your business relies on having the right people you never become the your business will never flourish and become what it’s meant to be if you can if you don’t have the right people in the engine to service it so Pam is really excited to have you on with us and please just kind of tell us about your company you know who do you help and how did you get into it.

Pam: Okay well I’ve been recruiting as you mentioned all my life but this last company has been for the last 10 years and my business model is pretty simplistic and the reason I got back into it is because I absolutely love it and I’ve been away from it for a while and it was something that I can succeed at and I love being in the mix and understanding how companies tip-in and that type of thing so basically I got back into it I had to learn all of the new things like LinkedIn and all of the technical things that are going on in today’s market and basically my business model is I don’t work with a lot of companies I work with companies who got one placement wonder I want to truly partner with companies and so I found really good successes with that and being able to work very closely with talent acquisition and the hiring managers but I understand exactly what they’re looking for because time is our enemy and you’re paying me so if I’m just slapping resident resumes at them and they don’t understand I don’t really truly understand what they’re looking for well they can do that on their own what I am doing is actually focusing in on what you’re looking for trying to save your time and finding the exact candidates or the role that we’re trying to fill so that’s basically in the lab but the last nine years I worked a lot in medical device and pride in all levels of medical device but primarily
sales and sales management.

David: Awesome, why do you like medical device? that’s you know I didn’t think I would but I kind of fell into it and that was about again nine years ago and I find it so interesting because of all of the innovation in medical and all the challenges in medical device all of the challenges that these sales people run up against and trying to build their clientele and how they have to really
understand things like navigating the operating room navigating the hospital which is totally different animal itself understanding nursing homes and home health and long-term care facilities and all of that it requires a real gift and it’s interesting to me to learn about the new technology so that really keeps me fired up and going so that’s why I really enjoy it I like wearing every day

David: That’s going to be tremendously helpful when you understand the industry you know you really understand the industry it’s going to help you to find the right people for those companies won’t be say are some of the more difficult parts of recruiting for that industry.

Pam: Well I think there’s a couple different things in some cases the client companies want a certain level of salesperson and they want a certain piece of background like you know medical device operating room experience proven success in Prior companies and all of that and sometimes they’re not willing to pay the base salary I mean it used to be that when I first started medical-device who I was working with who is basically a guarantee and straight Commission now it’s become a deal where there is a base salary and there are commissions and so I think the challenge sometimes it’s just finding the level of expertise that my client wants compared to what they’re willing to pay and you know a lot of times there’s nothing they can do about it because that’s the budgets of budget the budget and I managed to succeed in spite of it but that’s one of the challenges in some cases and the other is you know there’s really no other real challenge other than that because the people that I’m working with are realistic about what who they’re looking for and they’re not asking me to find like God and pay them $5 an hour or something like that you know is and you know most of the time the territories are very manageable the hiring managers are great to work with and so really I don’t even have any other challenges other than sometimes the expert expectation doesn’t match up with what they’re willing to pay that is few and far between.

David: That makes a lot of sense now what are some things you’re out there on the ground for you’re seeing what’s going on I’m helping multiple companies find their right fit
their right person what are some things that you can recommend to a hiring manager or a company owner to make their offer more attractive what are things that they can do to help them land those top-tier candidates you know from their competition.

Pam: Well the first thing is to have a really good recruiter who can source those out the competition which is what I do but the other thing is it’s really become more and more important to have not just the base salary but people are looking at the package so things such as what is the car allowance what does the current mean is if you don’t have a company car what are you willing to give these people and a monthly car maintenance and you can vary between you know like 350 s 400 dollars a month up to 650 or 800 dollars a month but you know that’s something that’s the candidate is really looking at and that’s money in their pocket the other thing is to has things like a company credit card where they don’t have to necessarily put everything on their credit card the other thing is to offer talk to your benefits health lines down dental and me even rather than paying them in a big base salary came more of their dependent coverage be more of the percentage of whatever they have to pay monthly for the for the benefits that’s huge again that’s money in their pocket it’s not taxed and they really appreciate it because most of these people have families and they are dependent on having a really good benefits and when you look at what dependent coverage sometimes is even with a really good company with good benefits it’s really expensive so I think that’s one key thing that people can really zero in on or what are these things around the comp what is the package that we can offer these people that will really make them feel valued and also really put more money in their
pocket.

David: I love what you just said, It doesn’t always come down to just the dollar amount is what you can build around the entire package that really makes people the right can diffuse comfortable and make it offer that you know that they can’t refuse right that irresistible offer now if you can give some advice to the candidates out there you know the ones that are there looking for a better opportunity they want to make themselves more presentable what would you say to the candidates.

Pm: Well I think so the things especially our day in time job stability it hasn’t been emphasized as much as it isn’t is now I mean a lot of people will you know stay late for ones of the company and then pick up and leave if it’s you know if something straining around the other side or like you know a thousand dollars two thousand three thousand dollars more I’m but I think a big thing is job stability and to be really aware from the beginning used that you start your career what you’re doing and how you’re building that career and also especially in a sales thing making sure you really succeed prevail when the awards hit the quotas and all of that I mean when you look back at your background you’re trying to get a new role the first thing that hiring manager especially a sales role is going to ask is what are your prior successes have you made President’s Club how many awards did you get how many trips did you win and how did you do that so it also to have a clear path if you are in medical device you should start medical device or try to get into it it’s very
hard to get into if you don’t have any experience but get into it and then stay with it and keep progressing in a very stable way if you if you show that you’re moving everyone a few years and don’t have more than one or two years and you’re in your background that’s kind of a red flag for a hiring manager because they put a lot of time energy and effort regardless of your prior experience there’s training there’s all of the onboarding and all of that kind of stuff and so they’re thinking I agree so this guy is going to be or girl it’s going to be successful maybe six eight months down the road then they leave you know like a year later what’s in it for me yeah

David: And this is this actually leads into our next topic is stay incentives like have you seen any companies do things anything creative to when they have the right person what can a business owner do to make sure that person stays and they don’t have that going that hamster wheel of replacing quality people every six to eight months just because someone offered them a few more bucks or a shinier package.

Pam: Well part of it is that and this is this is a challenge for people in you know working in the medical device field especially salespeople because they work really hard they establish a territory they take an underperforming territory and really make it you know see you know shine they’ve hit it out of the park they go like you know 250% over quota and then you know really keep building it up building it up and then one of two things happens or both is the company splits the territory so the guy after all this a person after all this work gets half the territory and the other
thing that happens is that they change the quota up pull it up so it’s almost unattainable so that’s one of the key things that really discourages employees in the device arena is many times the quotas and the territories are very difficult to you know you starting else okay but it’s very difficult to maintain and so and to continue to improve and anyone who’s in sales wants to continue making
more money so I think that is a huge piece as far as you know how you can keep people and there’s really in my estimation there’s two kind of companies there’s a people user company and people
builder company and people user company is just trying to grind out and you know churn through as many people they don’t care just you know get out there do the sales and all this kind of stuff and then will pay you as little as we possibly can and then we have a bigger bottom line the people builder companies are the people that want bring people on and really truly nurture them support them pay them fairly pay them well and recognize their achievements you know a lot of people you know I think the main reason they work is not just money its recognition its consistency it’s you know having a good boss you know so those are the things that well you know another thing to top management is I think having an open door or just having a channel so that you can understand what’s truly going out in the field many times the larger companies the people that make a lot of the decisions are really tuned in to what really is happening on the field out in the field what’s really happening out in the sales field why you know you’re pushing to get more sales but why aren’t they getting more sales what’s happening what’s going on you know are we being fair are we giving them enough support you know are we putting these territories together realistically is the con fair is it competitive that type of thing people think they’re being listened to yeah do they stay.

David: Absolutely they feel like they’re being treated fairly and respect oh yeah and they want everyone wants to feel that they’re part of something if they’re part of the company success and then rewarded for it and you make their vision their goal part of the company’s goal in the company’s vision you have an employee that never leaves.

Pam: Well and can grow within the company too that’s the other thing is too bright too but if you can provide advancement opportunities.

David: Absolutely you know you’ve given us so much on this episode how if I’m a hiring manager I’m involved in medical devices how do I get in touch with you how can I get more insight or possibly maybe even work with you is there an email that we can reach you out.

Pam: Yes in fact yes my email is pcox@apamarecruiting.com and the thing I guess I want to leave us all with is I would love to hear from anybody who wants to discuss this further and again I’m going after truly being a part of your company and being a partner to you and I see things differently because I’ve always owned my own company I’ve hire literally hundreds of salespeople trained hundreds of salespeople and managed many companies and in all you know because we have management consulting company so I bring a different perspective to the table so anyway I would love to hear from anybody who’s interested.

David: Awesome thank you so much for being on this episode and guys truly a pleasure and you watch to the end you definitely we’re in for a treat and we’ll see you on the next episode of the Executive Recruiting Network Podcast talk to you guys soon.

#ExecutiveRecruiterNetwork #Podcast #TashRizzo #PamCox #ApamaRecruiting

Follow Pam Cox on