Ashley Richards
Managing Partner
Construction & Real Estate Practice
Construction & Real Estate Practice
I was immediately attracted to Kaye/Bassman by the opportunity to build my own business within their company and become a partner, but once I got into the building, it was the people that attracted me most. I didn’t know anything about recruiting, but from the moment I walked in to the office to interview, I wanted to do what they did. The people were sharp, knowledgeable, friendly, and outgoing. Each person I passed in the hallway greeted me with a smile and a joyful hello. They had a passion so great that it was clear they loved what they did for a living. Recruiting wasn’t a job they had to do every day, it was something they got to do. Their energy and enthusiasm was truly contagious.
There are many proud moments since joining, including becoming a Managing Partner, however the one that I am most proud of might seem silly to most. I was recruiting on a tough search and identified a candidate who was a little junior for the opportunity, but I knew would thrive in the role and culture. My client reluctantly agreed to interview the candidate, and the short meeting turned into a three hour interview where she received an offer on the spot. The candidate called me immediately upon leaving the interview and was in tears; the offer was for $30,000 more than she was currently making. She would be able to pay off her student loans and start a savings account for college for her daughter. She was so full of joy and overwhelmingly appreciative. It was in that moment that I realized recruiting is not simply a sales job. We are changing people’s lives for the better.
I think the best description of Kaye/Bassman is an entrepreneurial incubator. KBIC allows for people to build their own business within the security of a larger company. You then have the ability to grow your business to a size that would allow you to become an owner in the larger company. KBIC offers the best training in the industry. Once you are up and running, you are surrounded by so many tenured recruiters to offer help and guidance along the way. I don’t believe there is another firm that allows you so much autonomy, while simultaneously funding your business. We are a company made up of the most diversely intelligent recruiters that all call each other family. Whether it is personal support or professional support, your family is right down the hall.
Also, Kaye/Bassman’s name alone gives me a strategic advantage in the marketplace; KBIC is the 800 pound gorilla. While I might not have been in this business for decades, KBIC has been. I get to utilize not only the company’s history, but also the history of the partners when speaking to clients and candidates. Even on the off chance that they are not familiar with the company, our stats alone separate us from the pack.
I am continuing to grow our business, but more significantly, I am investing my time and resources into the younger generation at Kaye/Bassman. I want to help others achieve what I have achieved. I would love to see the individuals that I mentor become partners in the firm and accomplish more than they ever thought possible. So often, it is just seeing more in them than they can see in themselves at the time. Recruiting is a tough business, but KBIC offers the best opportunity to be successful at it. If you have the drive, desire, and most importantly, the tenacity, KBIC will give you the other tools. As long as failure is not an option for you, you will achieve great things here.
Insurance & Risk Management Practice
As corny as it may seem, I believe in fate and being led to certain opportunities. Kaye/Bassman International kept popping up on my feed as a place I would be interested in on my LinkedIn and somewhere I should explore. With my previous place of employment, I was truly convinced that recruiting was no longer something I wanted to pursue. I took a stab in the dark and met with some of the partners here at KBIC…and the rest was history. The culture, along with their passion to consistently strive to do better, attracted me to want to be a part of something like that.
Most of my life has been in sales, whether they are outside or inside. Naturally I am sociable and LOVE helping people. I feel like with recruiting, the challenge in itself, keeps me motivated to do better for the clients and the candidates. The fact that we can pick up the phone and change someone’s life within minutes, is pretty cool if you ask me.
In recruiting, you have to be okay with rejection. It happens in every industry. I changed my mentality of looking at those conversations as a loss, but as a gain. I approached every dial strategically and made sure I left the call open ended – and that if anything ever changed for them, please feel free to reach out. Now, does it happen often? Maybe not as much as I would like but you leave the call with the candidate/client feeling as if you are truly a consultant and have their best interest in heart. You never know; this candidate may turn into a future placement or better, they could turn into a client.
Kaye/Bassman’s culture makes the organization. The partners, leaders, and individuals all contribute to the overall energy within the organization. You have the ability to control your own success here, whether that be financially or professionally. Kaye/Bassman allows you to be a true entrepreneur, which ultimately affects the quality of your work. The individuals can sense the quality through the phone through your presentation. There is a huge difference in the way we recruit here at Kaye/Bassman versus other search firms.
Keep your head down and grind! At the end of the day, you are held accountable for your activity and how you choose to view it. If you need babysitting, this is not a place for you. If you want to be a part of something grand, feel as if you truly are appreciated by executive leadership, have the ability to be proud of the direction that this company continues to go, then step right up!
Food Industry Practice
What most attracted me is a positive prior experience I had with recruiting. Before attending Graduate School and pursuing a career in Consumer Packaged Goods Product Development, I spent 2 years recruiting non-management professionals. I enjoyed it, and was relatively successful! What attracted me to Kaye/Bassman was the business and revenue sharing models that afford me the opportunity to become a partner and owner and KBIC’s extensive training on the processes to build high-value relationships and make high-quality connections with clients and candidates.
During my first year, I expended significant effort learning and executing processes to build high-value relationships with several candidates. I also made a few high-quality connections, resulting in 3 candidates being hired.
Kaye/Bassman gives me a strategic advantage as a recruiter by offering extensive training on the processes needed to become exceptionally successful; the training is practical in that it offers tools to overcome the inevitable obstacles encountered while executing the recruiting process.
Kaye/Bassman gives me a strategic advantage as a recruiter by offering extensive training on the processes needed to become exceptionally successful; the training is practical in that it offers tools to overcome the inevitable obstacles encountered while executing the recruiting process.
Healthcare Finance Practice
The fundamental attraction was the opportunity to start my own business with plenty of autonomy to make it my own without the expectation of conforming to specific standard. In short, I could be myself and develop my business without a lot of risk. Now that I am here, I couldn’t imagine working for another firm and that is because of the people and the culture. We believe in working hard and having fun, and the people under our roof truly want everyone to succeed. You are allowed to be the individual that you are and you are given all the tools to create your own business, all while working with the best professionals in the industry…and have a good time doing it.
I made sure each day that I was planned and ready to go; I spent weekends and evenings conducting research and identifying leads so that I knew every call that was going to be made that day before the day even started. I started each day before my candidates were even out of bed, so the first person they heard from when they got to work was me. This jump started my day which made me far more productive; I often had talked with more prospects before noon than others would talk with in an entire day. I won several awards based on my connectivity with the market, which was an indicator to me of being on the right path early on. Because of this consistent hard work, I was very proud to earn my way on my first Pacesetter sales incentive trip within 18 months (with no previous search experience) and also graduating to the Future Partner group in about the same amount of time.
The legacy of Kaye/Bassman automatically gives me a strategic advantage; with KBIC having over 30+ years in the industry, we are well known and respected as the leader. Our areas of expertise are many but we are very specialized, which clients appreciate because we sometimes know more about what is going on in their industry than they do! Another strategic advantage would be the people within the organization. There are a lot of tenured professionals under our roof and they are a diverse group that bring a huge wealth of knowledge; I know that I can seek help or input from any one of them without question.
Find an area that interests you, absorb and embrace the training that Kaye/Bassman provides, and treat this as if it is your own business…because it is. The sheer effort you put into it will result in your level of reward.