IAM558- Hiring Expert Places Candidates in Long-term Positions

Jackie Ducci is a hiring expert, and founder of Ducci & Associates which is a talent acquisition agency servicing Fortune 500 clients nationwide. Her firm boasts an astounding 90 percent success rate placing candidates in long-term positions. Jackie’s 15 years in talent acquisition (and consequent front-row seat to countless closed-door hiring conversations) led her to write her first book, Almost Hired.

• CEO Hack: Keeping the right people around me
• CEO Nugget: (1) Stay true to yourself (2) Trust your own guts
• CEO Defined: Being the vision setter

Website: https://ducciassociates.com/

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Jackie Ducci of Ducci & Associates. Jackie, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Jackie Ducci 0:39

Hi, thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

No problem. Super excited to have you on and what I wanted to do is read a little bit more about Jackie so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Jackie is a hiring expert, and founder of Ducci & Associates which is a talent acquisition agency servicing Fortune 500 clients nationwide. Her firm boasts an astounding 90 percent success rate placing candidates in long-term positions. Jackie’s 15 years in talent acquisition (and consequent front-row seat to countless closed-door hiring conversations) led her to write her first book, Almost Hired. Jackie, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Jackie Ducci 1:17

I'm excited, let's do it.

Gresham Harkless 1:18

Let's do it. To kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to get started with your business.

Jackie Ducci 1:25

Oh, great. Thanks. It's interesting. I fell into this career a little bit by happenstance. Years ago, when I was fresh out of college, I stumbled into someone at a networking event who ran a boutique headhunting firm, and we hit it off and he asked me to come to work for him. In my early 20s, I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I thought, let me try this and just see how it goes and I just loved it. I'm really fascinated by the people aspect of business and how having the right people in the right places can make or break a company's success. So I always viewed my role as a recruiter, as really important and helping these clients be the best that they could be. So worked for him for many years.

Then in my late 20s, I will never forget this day, there was a review that he was doing of several employees in the office, including myself. He told me that he thought that I was a better business developer than I was a recruiter. I remember the time feeling very offended by that, like, how dare you tell me I'm not good. But I realized he was right and I was great with clients. I thought, if my skill is business development, then I should probably have my own company and that was sort of like the lightning bulb moment when I started my firm and it's been amazing since then.

Gresham Harkless 2:47

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that. It's just as you said usually the biggest aspect of business is you may have to make sure that you get the clients that come in the door. So usually if you're strong in that aspect, then definitely starting a business is a way to do it.

Jackie Ducci 3:00

For sure and I thought there are a lot of people that can't do business development very well. So if I partner with great recruiters, we're going to be more successful and thankfully, I've been able to do that.

Gresham Harkless 3:10

Absolutely. Yeah, it makes so much sense. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper here on exactly how you work with clients. Can you take us through exactly how that process goes in some of the services you're providing?

Jackie Ducci 3:20

Yeah, definitely. So couple of things, we are traditional headhunting firms, so we help our clients fill difficult openings. But what makes us a little different is that we also offer consulting services for those business owners. So for example, in my years, as a recruiter helping fill those target roles, we just see companies making the same mistakes over and over again, or they're doing something wrong in their hiring process. Then they wonder why they have a retention problem. So a lot of the value that we can provide is to just work with them in the bigger picture. So it's beyond just like finding the right candidate. It's also about explaining to the business owner, here's how you can improve your hiring process and just be more successful with it all around. So I like to say we're this one-stop shop for anything hiring-related.

Gresham Harkless 4:13

Yeah, that means, that makes so much sense. I love what you touched on earlier as well, too, because I think a lot of success is making sure you get the right people in the right place. I think sometimes when we look at businesses, we sometimes forget, when you peel back the onion of all the numbers and all those stuff is made up of people and trying to put those people in the most successful place so that they can exceed expectations.

Jackie Ducci 4:34

Yes, absolutely. It's so important.

Gresham Harkless 4:37

Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce and it could be for you personally or for your organisation. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Jackie Ducci 4:45

Yeah, I think it's just that additional service that I was saying about the consulting I just don't see many recruiting firms at all that do anything like that. I think they're just concerned about making their fee and moving on. It's just about filling audience seats. We really don't do that. I mean, we're looking at these hiring issues holistically, we really want the right fit, because we look better when the right fit is made. But it's also just educating that entrepreneur, that business owner about how they can be better, frankly, without the support of a recruiter, sometimes. If we can teach them how to hire better on their own, think of how much more effectively the organization is going to run. So I love that educational component and working with other CEOs and hiring managers to help them be better at hiring.

Gresham Harkless 5:33

Absolutely, and just as you said, it sounds like it's a lot more long-term focus, because I think, of course, you can get that hire of the person to go in. But if you never know how to do that hiring, then the next hire or if that person doesn't stay in that position. You don't have kind of like the, I guess, the tools or the ability to be able to make additional hires.

Jackie Ducci 5:55

Yes and what's also really interesting to me is like, I feel like CEOs, hiring managers, whomever. They tend to just, I mean, they're in their business every single day. So that company is what they live and breathe. From where I'm sitting and where my team is sitting, we deal with hundreds of companies. So our view of hiring is just broader. So come in and say, Look, I've dealt with so many companies, this is what I see the common pitfalls being. So it just helps. I think sometimes, for business owners to work with someone who's got a broader perspective, I could just help maybe shed light on things that they wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Gresham Harkless 6:29

Yeah, absolutely. And I think a lot of times, we fall in love with our companies or the organizations that we work for. So sometimes we see all the great things, but to be able to see like, oh, maybe this is something we can do differently, just because this will have more success as far as hiring because the XYZ company is doing when it gives you a lot of those best practices that we sometimes don't have because we're entrenched in our organization.

Jackie Ducci 6:50

100% Yeah, that's so true.

Gresham Harkless 6:53

Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack, so this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Jackie Ducci 7:04

Yeah, so this is a big one. Keeping the right people around you in your business, I think is so important. Some people are more sensitive to others around them than other people are. But I'm one of those people that really feeds off the energy of who's in my space. So I think a great CEO hack is just bringing the right people in, but also firing quickly. If you know that somebody's not a good fit. I have been guilty of not doing that. Many people I know have been as well, when you've got one person in the company who's just not working for whatever reason. Maybe they're negative, maybe they have toxic energy, they're not good at their job, whatever it is.

Everyone's always kind of afraid to pull that trigger, because it's uncomfortable, right? We don't like to admit that somebody's not working. But it's a real distraction. I think the quicker you can acknowledge something's not working and just like get the cancer out, it really can have a positive impact on the business.

Gresham Harkless 8:02

Yeah, absolutely. I think I don't know if you find this is the case, as well, to a lot of times, CEOs, and entrepreneurial people are very optimistic as well, too. So sometimes when we have that cancer, we can see ourselves changing it or helping that person to be their best self. But a lot of times, we have to think about the whole entire organization, not just that one person.

Jackie Ducci 8:21

Well, exactly, yeah, sometimes it's just not a good fit. It's not anybody's fault but the quicker you can acknowledge it and say we all need to move forward, the better off everybody is.

Gresham Harkless 8:30

Absolutely. So now I'm going to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget and this could be like a word of wisdom or piece of advice, it could be around hiring, or some piece of advice that you would tell your younger business self.

Jackie Ducci 8:42

I think staying true to yourself, especially nowadays, there's just we're all bombarded with so much information all the time. There's social media and whatnot, just opinions everywhere and it's just a lot. I think, at the end of the day, as the owner of your business, you just have to come back to your own gut and make your decisions based on what you know or feel is best rather than all the noise around you. So some of the best decisions I've made are times where I've just sat quietly and said, Okay, this is what I know is right, even if people around me that I trust are saying no. They're not right all the time. So you have to trust your own gut.

Gresham Harkless 9:24

Absolutely. A lot of times we need especially if you're an innovator, or you're doing things against the grain, a lot of times you are going to be doing things going left when everybody is going right. You have to be able to see the long-term success of the business and make those decisions.

Jackie Ducci 9:39

Absolutely. Yep.

Gresham Harkless 9:41

Awesome. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO and we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Jackie, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Jackie Ducci 9:53

To me, it's about being the vision setter, as opposed to following someone else's vision. So I always look at my role as being the leader, guiding the team, which I don't take lightly. Because it's really humbling actually to know that other people are on your team and they trust you and they're following you. It's like a huge responsibility that is not lost on me. So, yeah, I think it's about just being the one to be that guiding light for the other people following you, as opposed to just being on board someone else's team. By the way, the world needs both types of people and there's nothing wrong with either one. But I think that's what differentiates a CEO from everyone else.

Gresham Harkless 10:33

Absolutely, no, I think that makes so much sense. I think a lot of times, you're helping so many people reach their goals and then also feed their families and do so many things. It puts everything in perspective on what you're doing. But just like you said, it's hard to be a CEO, if you're not leading anybody, so you need both sides of the coin, for sure.

Jackie Ducci 10:51

Absolutely. Yeah, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 10:54

Awesome. Well, Jackie, I truly appreciate that definition, and I appreciate your time, even more, what I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can get a hold of you get a copy of your book and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

Jackie Ducci 11:09

Awesome. I guess the only thing that I would add since you have a lot of business owners listening to your show is that the best advice I can give to everyone is to look at any retention issues that you have proactively and not reactively. I feel like the biggest mistake I see company owners make is that when they've got a problem, they think, okay, how can we retain the people that we have, whereas what they should be doing is changing the prototype of who they're letting in the door in the first place. You can fix your retention issues with hiring. I would just encourage everyone to think about that. I think your company will be better for it if you can figure out how to have a new prototype for who you're bringing in the door if you're having problems. What was the other part of your question? Where can they reach me?

Gresham Harkless 11:55

Yeah, reach you and get a copy of your book.

Jackie Ducci 11:57

Sure. So the books available on Amazon, the book is for job seekers, and anyone looking to make a change, it's sort of advice from behind the curtain of how hiring actually works. So that's on Amazon. Then my website is ducciassociates.com. It's d u c c i associates.com. There's a contact form there and you can learn more about us on the site.

Gresham Harkless 12:18

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Again, we will have those links and information in the show notes. Definitely appreciate the reminder that a lot of times, we have to make sure that we are bringing in the right people and have that correct prototype when we are hiring and a lot of times that's the first and best step to be able to make those decisions and bring those right people in the right seats.

Jackie Ducci 12:37

Absolutely. Yep.

Gresham Harkless 12:38

Awesome and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Jackie Ducci 12:41

Thank you so much. Thanks again.

Outro 12:43

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

 

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