Recruitment Superhero with Gina Peckman

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Hire Her Podcast by Talent Collective, presenting conversations with inspiring women in talent. And get ready ladies, because this is the last time you're going to hear a man's voice on this show.

[00:00:12] Hi everyone and welcome to Hire Her, a podcast put on by Talent Collective. And if you don't know what Talent Collective is, we are a community for women in the recruiting space. So welcome.

[00:00:25] My name is Krista Tan and I am one of the co-founders of Talent Collective and I'm joined here by my co-host and co-founder, Natalie Stones.

[00:00:36] Hello!

[00:00:38] And we are really, really excited today to bring you a very special guest. Today we have Gina Peckman. Gina is one of our members at Talent Collective and she's been a member for quite some time now.

[00:00:50] And she owns her own recruiting firm and has for many, many years. So she has a lot to teach all of us. I would definitely say she's a top expert in recruiting and somebody I really look up to and admire.

[00:01:05] And we're just really excited to have you here today, Gina. So why don't you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself and your recruiting journey.

[00:01:14] Thank you, both of you. And I am so enjoying Talent Collective and gosh, the pressure's on with that introduction. Jeez. You know, I've been around for a very long time, but it went so fast.

[00:01:28] So been in the exec, been in the recruiting world, I will say for 30 years, started my own firm when I was, I do it by children's ages. So my 38 year old son was one. So if that gives you an idea of how long I've been recruiting, but started my own firm when my youngest was two. So then I was 37.

[00:01:49] So everything's done by children's ages and when, and when I did something. So yeah, been around a long time in this world. And I was listening to one of your other podcasts and she said it was before really talent was the name and that's for sure. It was called personnel or staffing, both those terms. So been around a while.

[00:02:12] Okay. Well, tell us a little bit about the firm that you run today and the work that you're doing right now.

[00:02:18] So started this firm, we rebranded about four or five years ago, but prior to same company, it was called Dynamo Recruiting. Again, started it when one of my children, let's see, she was two. So 30, it'll be 30 years coming up here shortly.

[00:02:36] And really just felt like at the time I had zero business starting a business, was an entrepreneur at heart, always have been, and just decided I, you know, honestly, I was way too cocky for my own good and just thought I could do it better.

[00:02:55] I mean, really, let's just be really honest in the podcast. And so, and had no, no reason to think that other than I just did. And so I went out and started a firm. I did a business plan for my husband that, and we were talking about this recently, that I, if I could make $34,000 a year, that would really contribute to the family.

[00:03:19] And did a business plan for him and said, this is why I wanted to do it and started the business. I did 90,000 in a quarter and we were off and running. And, you know, you look back on those things and you go, I have zero idea why I started, how I started it.

[00:03:40] I just remember, you know, three, four young kids at the time working until three o'clock in the morning. You just, you just kind of take a leap if you have that kind of personality. And that's what happened.

[00:03:52] Oh my goodness.

[00:03:53] Fast forward to almost, you know, 30 years later. Who knew?

[00:03:57] Well, you had good reason to be cocky if you build 90K in one quarter after setting a goal for $35,000 in the whole year.

[00:04:06] To say the least, he's been very supportive since day one. Yes. He's like, oh yeah, let's go do this. So, so we have, yeah.

[00:04:15] Do you have, do you have any future plans for the business or are you kind of just, okay, smooth sailing? We're going to keep on doing what we're doing now?

[00:04:25] You know, if you would have asked me that question a year ago, I would have said, yeah, smooth sailing.

[00:04:30] But I, over the last, I'd say nine months, I really have been thinking about that.

[00:04:36] I hate the word retirement.

[00:04:38] And I've been writing a lot about ageism because I never felt that until maybe the last year or so when people keep asking me if I'm retiring.

[00:04:45] And I, you know, honestly, I don't, I'm not making any big announcement in this, in this podcast, but I think that, um, I do think there's another career there for me.

[00:04:57] I'm getting involved in local politics here in Kittitas County.

[00:05:00] And that has really become, um, extremely important in my life and also something that I want to do.

[00:05:07] So, so we'll see, but you know, what's fascinating is everything that I've done in this career meld into that career research and gathering facts and learning how to deal with different personalities and being on boards.

[00:05:20] I'm on three boards, I think right now, um, in Kittitas County, public boards.

[00:05:25] So I have to thank this career for leading me to potentially another career.

[00:05:31] So we'll see.

[00:05:32] Oh my goodness.

[00:05:33] Well, you are one busy lady.

[00:05:34] It sounds like that's probably been a theme throughout your life.

[00:05:39] Um, now I always say, if we have another career, we're actually going to be matchmakers, like romantic matchmakers.

[00:05:46] Oh, I've done that.

[00:05:47] I've done that.

[00:05:48] I'll never forget Gino.

[00:05:50] I got, I hooked up Gino and Gina.

[00:05:52] We won't use last name.

[00:05:53] Oh yeah.

[00:05:54] They got married.

[00:05:55] Oh yeah.

[00:05:58] A hundred percent hook people up.

[00:06:00] A hundred percent.

[00:06:00] Same.

[00:06:01] It's exactly the same as recruiting.

[00:06:03] Right.

[00:06:04] And you know, their personality.

[00:06:06] It's like the early dating app.

[00:06:08] We should have thought about that.

[00:06:09] Like being recruiters and coming up with a dating app.

[00:06:11] Cause you have all their profiles, you know, everything about them.

[00:06:14] Oh yeah.

[00:06:14] Gino and Gina, as far as I know, are still married.

[00:06:21] His mother made cannolis for me, by the way.

[00:06:24] Just saying.

[00:06:25] And Gina of that couple is not you.

[00:06:27] It's not me.

[00:06:28] No, but I had to, I had to marry them off.

[00:06:31] Like he was Italian and she was wonderful and had my name and like, yeah, it was a match

[00:06:36] made in heaven.

[00:06:37] So there you go.

[00:06:38] What a cool story.

[00:06:40] Okay.

[00:06:40] So I want to double down a little bit on the cocky comment.

[00:06:44] Um, so I, I admire that.

[00:06:48] And I love that.

[00:06:49] Um, and part of our podcast, the goal is not only do we have conversations with inspiring

[00:06:55] women and talent like yourself, but we also want to understand who helped inspire or motivate

[00:07:00] or elevate you when you were starting out early in your career.

[00:07:04] Um, so maybe if there was someone that helped position you to feel confident to start your

[00:07:09] own business.

[00:07:10] So that's actually question one.

[00:07:12] Question two is about this potential next chapter in your life.

[00:07:17] Is there anyone in particular that has really inspired you to get into politics?

[00:07:23] Yeah, both.

[00:07:25] I'll take that first one first.

[00:07:26] So I was thinking a lot about this and I do have to give credit to a woman who owned an

[00:07:31] agency.

[00:07:32] So when I started recruiting, there were three main services in town in Seattle and they

[00:07:38] were all ran by women.

[00:07:39] There were really no men in talent at the time.

[00:07:43] So I think all three of them were inspiring to me, but I worked for two of them and they

[00:07:49] were, um, it, it was, it was no joke training.

[00:07:53] So hold onto your hats, all the new TAs, but we actually used to get a paper, um, and we would

[00:08:01] have to go through the Sunday paper.

[00:08:02] I was, I was really classically trained, uh, to work.

[00:08:08] I guess this is, I, we worked right.

[00:08:10] Sunday paper circled all the advertisements, who's hiring, who's not.

[00:08:15] I had to get into the car with the CEO.

[00:08:18] We would do 50 calls a week and I had to go in, in to an office and present, uh, 50 calls.

[00:08:26] And then we'd get back in the car and she would tell me everything I was doing incorrectly.

[00:08:30] Sometimes she'd put something in I was doing right.

[00:08:32] But mostly it was critiquing that call, 50 calls a week.

[00:08:36] And that was my job.

[00:08:37] And I think it taught me everything.

[00:08:40] It taught me how to work.

[00:08:42] It taught me how to be diligent, to know every building and every person in those buildings

[00:08:49] in Seattle area.

[00:08:51] And then I went on to run her service.

[00:08:54] Um, and we had two locations and lots of staff.

[00:08:58] And so, yeah, that's, that's how I started.

[00:09:01] So I do have to give credit to those early day women.

[00:09:05] There were three and I worked, I happened to work for two of them and we had to wear, we

[00:09:09] had to dress up and we had to wear pantyhose and newspapers and pantyhose.

[00:09:14] We'll just talk about that.

[00:09:16] There you go.

[00:09:17] Of which I don't get a newspaper now because I'm not that old and I don't own any pantyhose

[00:09:23] ever.

[00:09:24] So there you go.

[00:09:25] Krista and I didn't have newspapers, but we still are of the age where we had paper and

[00:09:31] like file folders of.

[00:09:33] A hundred percent.

[00:09:34] And so current day recruiters like what?

[00:09:37] You had like, um, drawers of files.

[00:09:40] Yeah, we did.

[00:09:41] And we had stuff, no pantyhose, but we did have to dress up.

[00:09:45] And so.

[00:09:45] For sure.

[00:09:46] I will tell you that as of this year, my head of customer success, we will have every paper

[00:09:52] I ever had digitalized, digitized.

[00:09:55] And that's what I was working on this morning.

[00:09:57] And it has taken her a year to get all my folders and every document.

[00:10:03] There's probably about a million documents now in our ETS and they are all digitized.

[00:10:08] And it was super strange ladies to take the file she's giving back to me and throw them

[00:10:13] in, in the fire.

[00:10:14] And I still have the original Rolodex that I had.

[00:10:26] And I stuff it down here just to remind me of our, our beginnings.

[00:10:30] So yeah, everything I'm saying, I'm sounding extremely old.

[00:10:33] So, but I do use co-pilot and I know all about AI.

[00:10:37] So there you go.

[00:10:39] You are with the times.

[00:10:42] Okay.

[00:10:42] So with the politics part, is there something that got you something, someone that has inspired

[00:10:50] you to consider that journey?

[00:10:52] Yeah.

[00:10:53] You know, I am not cocky like I used to be, but I do have a pretty high EQ and I've been,

[00:11:01] I think a lot about that.

[00:11:04] I, when I look back, I have been active my whole life.

[00:11:10] I was kind of on the cusp when the Vietnam War was ending.

[00:11:13] I had an MIA bracelet.

[00:11:15] I followed somebody back when I was in high school.

[00:11:18] Like if I really look back at it.

[00:11:19] So I've been involved in that area forever, but my writer, and I'm going to give him a

[00:11:26] huge shout out is Mark Ribbing from Nasset Wave.

[00:11:30] He's the CEO and Mark was the deputy director of communications for Obama.

[00:11:35] And I really think Mark has inspired me to serve.

[00:11:39] We've written together for over 15 years and I've just always been fascinated by it.

[00:11:46] Um, so I'm really honored to do this deep dive into my civic duty, if you will.

[00:11:53] And it's been great.

[00:11:55] Yeah.

[00:11:55] I'm serving on all kinds of boards and we're creating a town, which when else would you

[00:11:59] get to put a town together?

[00:12:01] Literally.

[00:12:02] We just came up with our values.

[00:12:05] It took us a year to incorporate our values where everybody would have a voice.

[00:12:09] So yeah, that's exciting.

[00:12:12] Everything I'm, everything that's taught me through this recruiting world is coming full

[00:12:16] circle into some political, some political ambitions here.

[00:12:20] Yeah.

[00:12:20] Very cool.

[00:12:21] We'll see.

[00:12:22] Wow.

[00:12:23] It teaches you a lot.

[00:12:25] It teaches you not to have any ego and to be really humble.

[00:12:29] Yeah.

[00:12:30] You're doing it.

[00:12:30] You're doing a 180, I guess.

[00:12:32] Complete 180.

[00:12:33] I don't know anything.

[00:12:34] I have no ego and we're just gonna, I mean.

[00:12:39] Same thing.

[00:12:40] We're just gonna leap because I always leap.

[00:12:42] We're gonna leap and see where we land.

[00:12:45] Yeah.

[00:12:45] There you go.

[00:12:46] Okay.

[00:12:47] From cocky to huckle.

[00:12:48] Okay.

[00:12:49] Next question.

[00:12:52] So this next one, I encourage you to be vulnerable with us.

[00:12:56] I think anytime we can be vulnerable about just our lives and the challenges that we've

[00:13:01] been to, it really creates that connection, that vulnerability with other people.

[00:13:05] So if you could tell us maybe some kind of serious challenge that you've either had in

[00:13:10] your personal life or your business throughout the years and what that has taught you and

[00:13:16] how you've moved forward from it.

[00:13:17] Yeah.

[00:13:18] That's an easy one for me.

[00:13:20] And it affected both my family and my professional life.

[00:13:23] And I'll be a little cautious about what I say.

[00:13:25] But prior to cyber theft, I had a cyber theft.

[00:13:31] I was only the third in the country.

[00:13:35] And, you know, clarify that the data didn't technically leave the building, but it did.

[00:13:41] It was gone.

[00:13:44] And so I made a decision with my family to do the right thing.

[00:13:50] And I was just a small boutique business.

[00:13:52] And I went after that data and I spent four years in court and I had never even, you know,

[00:14:01] I mean, the speeding ticket was the worst thing I had ever had.

[00:14:05] And that taught me everything.

[00:14:07] It taught me, you know, when you get on the other side of something like that, it's been

[00:14:12] eight, nine years now.

[00:14:15] You, I'm not saying I look back with fondness, but I am thankful for some things going through

[00:14:21] that.

[00:14:22] First of all, I'm really so honored that my kids saw us risk our whole financial world,

[00:14:32] our family to do something that was right.

[00:14:36] And you don't always do that, right?

[00:14:39] You, some, a lot of people take the easy road and this was by no means shape or form an easy

[00:14:43] road for four years.

[00:14:45] And it taught me to be a hundred times better leader and manager and pay more attention to

[00:14:53] the detail.

[00:14:53] I'm not necessarily a detailed person.

[00:14:56] I have a fabulous staff that's all in the details and love them and trust them.

[00:15:02] But it taught me to be smarter, you know, more, more engaged for sure.

[00:15:08] Um, just in, in security and making sure your data is safe.

[00:15:13] And, and I think for me, for coming out of that, I think the hardest thing was as a recruiting

[00:15:20] professional, I thought I knew how to hire and, and you get caught, right?

[00:15:26] Like, I don't care who you are.

[00:15:28] There are mistakes that you make.

[00:15:30] And, um, and I, I had made a mistake.

[00:15:34] And so, yeah, so that taught me everything.

[00:15:38] And, um, and I don't take anything for granted and much more, uh, have a high EQ around all

[00:15:45] of that situation.

[00:15:46] So yeah, we're on the other side of that.

[00:15:49] Thank goodness.

[00:15:49] And, uh, and it was so funny because the following year, um, my, which my ATS was fabulous during

[00:15:58] that whole thing, they were subpoenaed, Boldhorn, by the way, shout out to them.

[00:16:02] We will never switch because of that.

[00:16:04] And the next year they put security, um, protocols in place.

[00:16:09] So that would have never have happened and couldn't happen now.

[00:16:12] And then my insurance agent, it was so funny.

[00:16:16] He sent me a note and the following year, there's all the cybersecurity into your insurance

[00:16:20] policies, which was never the case when we went through that.

[00:16:24] So, so there you go.

[00:16:26] And the other two cases, just as a reference, uh, that had been really hit the papers was

[00:16:31] Corn Fairy.

[00:16:32] And so it was three agencies where data, yeah, left the building.

[00:16:37] So I don't know.

[00:16:38] Anyway.

[00:16:38] Yes.

[00:16:39] Well, that must have been, like you said, just a, uh, a learning experience.

[00:16:45] Um, we had a, at one of the agencies I worked at, the agency I worked at, we had a theft,

[00:16:52] um, situation too, but it was not data.

[00:16:54] It was money and it was a lot of money and gifts and all of these things that went undetected

[00:17:02] for a very long time.

[00:17:03] So, um, it, yeah, it can be very, you know, makes you feel like a victim.

[00:17:11] Right.

[00:17:11] And like very glad you were able to do my thing.

[00:17:16] Yeah.

[00:17:16] I'm not, and I'm not a victim and you do have to get through that and you have to, you know,

[00:17:22] a vodka a day.

[00:17:23] Um, you know, that was, that was, I don't drink that much, but that was, you know, one way,

[00:17:28] but I do, I think the perseverance and just, um, you know, I don't think you learn unless

[00:17:35] you go through something pretty traumatic in your lives and, uh, that teaches you that,

[00:17:42] you know?

[00:17:42] And so, yeah, the perseverance and I mean, honestly, nothing fazes me.

[00:17:49] So you're right.

[00:17:50] You don't grow unless you have some sort of turmoil to come out on the other side of.

[00:17:56] Um, yeah, absolutely.

[00:17:58] So we're kind of coming up close to time.

[00:18:00] So I'd love to just ask one final question.

[00:18:04] Um, I'm kind of going a little bit off the script here.

[00:18:07] I always go off script.

[00:18:07] Who am I kidding?

[00:18:08] I never followed.

[00:18:09] Yeah.

[00:18:10] Who cares?

[00:18:10] Notes.

[00:18:11] I never follow it.

[00:18:12] I never follow it.

[00:18:12] I never follow it.

[00:18:20] Because I've seen a lot of different sessions that we've had within the platform of talent

[00:18:23] collective.

[00:18:24] We have a lot of female entrepreneurs, either solopreneurs or fractionals or agency owners.

[00:18:30] Um, the information you just shared is an amazing like life lesson for them or like business

[00:18:36] lesson for them.

[00:18:37] But is there anything kind of new or innovative or unconventional that you would recommend

[00:18:44] And for these ladies as they're charting their own entrepreneur.

[00:18:49] Yeah, I was thinking a lot about that, too.

[00:18:51] And I have to go back to Mark and I's collaboration.

[00:18:53] I've always had a voice in my business.

[00:18:57] I and all the in-house recruiters, please don't send me nasty notes.

[00:19:02] But I'm not a big proponent of job descriptions.

[00:19:05] Let's put the bar out there.

[00:19:06] I understand you have to have them.

[00:19:08] I understand legally you have to create them.

[00:19:10] But I have never posted a job description externally for my firm.

[00:19:17] So what we do is we Mark and I write these amazing stories and we tell a story about our companies and what we're looking for.

[00:19:26] And we have a readership on LinkedIn.

[00:19:29] They call quite a bit.

[00:19:31] It's like 78 percent of LinkedIn tells you, I think the numbers.

[00:19:36] And don't quote me because this is a couple of years ago, but it was like nine percent of the candidates in LinkedIn listen to a recruiter.

[00:19:44] And ours is like a 78 percent.

[00:19:46] I do believe it's because of the way we write and we write at a very elevated level.

[00:19:52] And so I think it's so funny because we get business also from the writing and our clients love the writing.

[00:19:59] But I then in turn, I never see them take on that voice and write their job descriptions differently.

[00:20:07] And this really did come from a company years and years ago called Cranium.

[00:20:11] And Richard Taft was an amazing man.

[00:20:14] It's a game if your kids are still around.

[00:20:18] And they came up with all these funny titles and everybody was going crazy at the time because it was like the CFO was, you know, the chief of one or money or something like it was just fun.

[00:20:30] And I think it created this buzz.

[00:20:32] And I at that time found a voice.

[00:20:35] It wasn't Mark.

[00:20:36] And then fast forward to Mark, it's collaboration over 15 years.

[00:20:40] So innovative.

[00:20:40] Innovative.

[00:20:41] I think you need to, you know, do something out of the box.

[00:20:46] Like there's just, you know, yeah, do something out of the box.

[00:20:51] And as much as I hear it does grind me because over the years I have heard, oh, this is going to change recruiting and this is going to change recruiting.

[00:21:00] And I was speaking with someone from Indeed who was a great guy, but he said in this meeting of 200 people, I was on the panel and he said, you don't need to build relationships.

[00:21:12] You know, you're just going to have it all in the data.

[00:21:16] And I hear that around AI now.

[00:21:18] It's going to eliminate, you know, all these jobs.

[00:21:20] And it hasn't changed.

[00:21:22] You have to connect into subject.

[00:21:25] You have to build relationships.

[00:21:26] And you can't build a relationship constantly asking for something.

[00:21:30] You have to really care about that.

[00:21:32] And that is our slogan as well, is caring as the competitive advantage.

[00:21:36] And I do genuinely believe that.

[00:21:39] So do things that are innovative and think out of the box and you're not going to lose your job because of AI.

[00:21:45] It just makes your job easier.

[00:21:47] I don't have to do a paper Rolodex and try to find somebody's name.

[00:21:51] I can, you know, pop it in and find, use a tool to help me.

[00:21:57] But at the end of the day, for 38 years, I can't believe I'm saying that, recruiting hasn't changed, you know, at its core.

[00:22:08] So there you go.

[00:22:09] But chat GPT is super cool.

[00:22:11] I'm not saying that.

[00:22:11] You can look at all kinds of things.

[00:22:13] There you go.

[00:22:14] We can help you write the stories for those job descriptions.

[00:22:16] It helps you write the stories.

[00:22:18] But I don't want to put Mark out of business, so that's not going to happen.

[00:22:20] But there you go.

[00:22:22] He's a communication expert, so we'll stick with the communication expert.

[00:22:27] But yeah, there you go.

[00:22:29] I did want to tell you something, though, because I really, one of the things, one of your questions was a placement that you made that was really important to you.

[00:22:38] And I wanted to let you know that I actually, there was no money exchange hands for this, but it was someone that I helped.

[00:22:45] I've always believed in helping women, especially around their finances.

[00:22:49] I speak a lot about compensation and helping women with their finances.

[00:22:55] And I placed someone.

[00:22:56] She had never worked outside the home.

[00:22:59] She was going through a divorce.

[00:23:01] And she needed a job because she was going to lose her house because she had to refinance it.

[00:23:07] And she couldn't refinance her house without a job.

[00:23:09] So I called in a couple of favors and she got hired.

[00:23:13] And she called me back probably, I don't know, three or four years later and said, you know, just I was honored.

[00:23:20] Just you changed my life.

[00:23:22] You got me this job.

[00:23:23] And the company had just gone, been acquired.

[00:23:26] She got a bunch of stock.

[00:23:27] And she was just, you know, a different person.

[00:23:31] And there was no money change hands for that.

[00:23:34] That was something that I wanted to do for her.

[00:23:36] So I would say, you know, it's not always about the placement.

[00:23:40] It's about really, you know, reaching out and once again, connecting with those individuals and helping.

[00:23:47] That will, money will come if you have an attitude towards that.

[00:23:53] Amazing story.

[00:23:54] There you go.

[00:23:56] Awesome.

[00:23:57] Well, thank you, Gina, for being here with us today.

[00:24:00] What a great way to start off.

[00:24:02] So sorry we had to start again, you know, living in the woods.

[00:24:07] Yeah.

[00:24:08] That sounds like a challenge.

[00:24:10] Yeah, exactly.

[00:24:11] Thank you.

[00:24:12] I'm so honored to be involved in this.

[00:24:15] You've built an amazing community.

[00:24:16] It was time.

[00:24:17] We needed a great networking event and something like that.

[00:24:21] So I've enjoyed it as well.

[00:24:22] So let me know how else I can help.

[00:24:24] I appreciate it.

[00:24:25] Thank you.

[00:24:25] And to everyone that's listening, be sure to look for Gina on LinkedIn.

[00:24:30] Is that the best way for them to find you?

[00:24:32] Yeah, they can find me there.

[00:24:33] They can find me at PS Partners at our website and reach out anytime.

[00:24:39] Okay.

[00:24:39] Wonderful.

[00:24:41] Well, we'll see everybody next week and be sure to like, subscribe.

[00:24:45] We're on YouTube and all of the podcast channels and have a great rest of your day, everyone.

[00:24:50] Thank you, ladies.

[00:24:52] Bye.

[00:24:52] Bye.

[00:24:53] Bye.