Advisory Email – July 2019

In the view of transparency, below is an excerpt from an advisory email I sent this month:

Pivots ahoy! As I say to the entrepreneurs I work with: 

“All good pivots should be grounded in…

1. Things that you’ve learned.
2. Your purpose/mission.”

Read on to learn about how I’m navigating VH’s first pivot.

UPDATES 🎉

• Was away in Madrid early July, invited as an adjunct instructor for the IMBA program at IE University. Feels odd to be called “Professor”.
• Redesigned website.
  • Welcome any feedback – is it clear who it is I’m serving and what I do?

GRATITUDE WALL 🤝

• Keith and the Spring team for an amazing work environment that allows for creative entrepreneurship.
• Eva Espinoza and IE University for the opportunity to work with their bright students.
• Kraig Docherty for some feedback and insights into the HR Consulting space.
• Olga Scherbina for expressing interest in supporting.

WHAT’S THE PIVOT?

VH is shifting from a job search platform to an HR Consulting agency.

Why? What have I learned?

1. Companies are interested in adopting a value-centric approach to recruitment. 
2. However, many struggle with understanding their own values/mission.
3. The first 50 employees build the foundation of your company’s culture, once that’s set, it becomes exponentially challenging to change it.
4. Smaller organizations lack the resources to bring in a senior HR person to build this strong foundation and strategy. 
5. Though I gain a lot of joy helping people find work they love, I much prefer working with smart and passionate HR professionals who stand for and support their candidates/employees.
6. Cashflow is more immediate for a consulting business vs. a platform. It’s less “passive”, but will allow me to see a greater impact with my work and will be far more rewarding for both myself and the companies I service.

My Purpose/Mission

Remains the same: To shift the way companies approach hiring, in order to:

1. Attract people who better align with their culture and values, not just skills.
2. By changing the demand for talent in the workplace, indirectly influence how the education system develops the talent of tomorrow – more emphasis on value discovery, personal development, soft-skills training.

Consulting work still aligns with it and will allow me to impart a value-centric methodology combined with industry best-practices delivered by supporting experts.

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS 📢
A good friend and amazing Career Coach – Charina Cruz is out with her new book: The Practical Guidebook to Career Success – Your Foolproof Plan to Get the Job you want (and more). Save 36% off with code “ImpactCareer2019”. It provides actionable activities, tips, templates, strategies and checklists to help you get the job you want, full money-back guarantee if you don’t find value in this guidebook.

NEXT STEPS 👣

1. Meeting with more HR advisors and consultants to explore collaboration opportunities and vet their work quality. Who’s already on my collaboration radar? Some to be confirmed:
   •  Lorie Corcuera (SPARK)
   • Teresa Duke (former Head of Recruitment @ Unbounce)
   • Charlyn Fothergill (Director of Career Services @ LighthouseLabs)
   • Crystal Henrickson (TalentCollective)
   • Paul  Lopusushinsky (Playficient)
   • Wyle Baoween (HRx)
   • Libby Stewart & Robert St-Jacques (7Geese)
   • Joel Peterson (Arbutus Search)
   • Kraig  Docherty (Quietly)
   • Matt Corker (Corker Collective)
   • Olga  Scherbina (previously CPHR)
   • Carla  Tancredi (Fitzii)
2. Quite confident that with this lineup I’ll be able to support companies from Recruitment all the way to Onboarding, Performance Management, and Leadership Training. Still welcome any intros to people that I might not be already familiar with.

Next: August 2019 Advisory Newsletter