December 5, 2024 • 19 mins
Stephanie is joined by Elise Gay, Executive Search Partner specializing in the Legal and Life Sciences division of ThinkingAhead, explaining her "Roomba" process for search, sharing a unique way to exercise, and talking about avoiding the "post and pray" approach to recruiting, why (and how) to always recycle in your work, and the importance of self care and a positive mentality outside of the office.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Stephanie Maas (00:00):
Hello, welcome to The Talent Trade. I am super
(00:04):
excited to be here. I'mStephanie Maas, partner with
ThinkingAhead Executive Search,and today, my excitement level
is through the roof because ofthe guest that we have today.
She has been an all star withour firm since the minute she
joined, although what I loveabout her story is it took her
(00:26):
quite a few minutes to find herway with us. However, she showed
tons of promise and potentialand was just so dogged and
professional and did so manythings right, we knew that once
she learned her niche, that itwas going to be a okay. She has
consistently been a top producerfor us. I am super excited to
(00:48):
have with us Elise Gay, part ofour legal practice. Elise Gay.
Welcome.
Elise Gay (00:54):
Thank you so much. Stephanie, very glad to be here
and like they say, if we have tolive up to what our dog thinks
we are, I'll have to live up towhat you think I am every day.
So good challenge.
Stephanie Maas (01:07):
And I feel like somehow I just got called a dog.
But anyway, moving right along.Okay, so one of the things I'm
super excited about with you,Elise, is you have kind of
coined a process with our firm,which is part of your immense
impact since you've joined us,and I really want you to share
that in detail, where it camefrom, how you execute it. You
(01:29):
really implemented somethingkind of new to us, and I think
this has really catapulted someof your success over the last
couple of years. So share withus the how, what, where and when
and why behind your process ofthe Roomba?
Elise Gay (01:44):
Yes, so I'll explain kind of where the Roomba term
came from. But I would also liketo point out my background. I
came to executive search. I didhave a sales background, but I
also had an internal HRbackground, and and so I
remember learning and trainingon this side of the house and so
(02:06):
many recruiters will say, youknow, I don't post jobs, or I
don't post on LinkedIn, I don'tshare what I'm working on,
because I'm supposed to only becalling or I'm supposed to only
be going after passivecandidates. And I really think
of the Roomba number one asworking smarter, but number two
is like, almost like a businessjust turning on their open sign,
(02:29):
right? You pull the string onthat neon sign. That doesn't
guarantee that you're going tobe successful, or that you're
going to get customers in thedoor, or that you're going to
keep your business afloat, butit's a signal to the world that
you're open for business. And Ithink a lot of the Roomba idea
is really just in support ofthat. And so the idea of really
(02:51):
talking about the Roomba, atthinking ahead and in business,
literally came from when I firststarted here, a little over six
years ago. My kids were muchyounger, and I don't know about
you, but on Saturday morning,I'm like, I want to get my
chores done because I want to beoutside. I want to exercise. I
want to go do fun things with mykid. I want to kick my feet back
and enjoy time with family andfriends. So it's like, how can I
(03:15):
multitask in doing my householdchores, right? To get done
quicker and get to my fun stuff,right? And I think again, we're
going to take this back tobusiness. But I really started
this because I used to havethese little one pound hand and
ankle weights that you wouldlike Velcro on, and I would put
those on, and I would fold mylaundry so that I felt like I
(03:37):
was getting exercise while I wasfolding laundry. And I would
crank up some 80s music, or Iwould turn on a podcast for work
that I'd been meaning to listento, and I would listen to that
while I'm folding my laundrywith my weights on, and at the
same time I was running mydishwasher, I'd be running my
clothes washer and my dryer, andI would literally have my Roomba
going on around my house. So Iwas like, All right, I'm getting
(03:58):
these chores done. We're goingto have some fun this weekend.
And that's kind of the ideabehind it. And work is deploy
all of your resources so thatyou can have confidence in the
hard work that you have to do toget stuff done for your clients
and your candidates. So that'sthe background. The same
(04:18):
mentality absolutely applies inexecutive search. You always
have to work hard at this job,but you can still work hard and
work smart. And again, when youserve other people's needs in
this job, you always serve yourown. So how can you serve people
faster but also better and morethoroughly, and how can you
(04:41):
serve more people? That's reallythe name of the game and being
successful in executive search.So I think a big part of my
mindset in this job is that youhave to be confident and humble,
you have to be patient andurgent. You just have to be
organized. Period. There'sreally no and I think you. Have
to be tunnel focused andadaptable, and I think you have
(05:03):
to be both proud and polite andhumble at the same time. So
there's a lot of ands in thisjob. One thing that I've always
thought about in this role isthat you have to be a bit
selfish with your time. Well,selfish on that surface level,
sounds negative and sounds selfserving. It's actually not,
(05:25):
because I think when you come tothis job, when you come to your
desk every day, you really haveto think about that efficiency
and spending your time on tasksthat are going to move the ball
forward for your clients andcandidates. And how can you take
the same hours in the day thateverybody else have and kind of
get that job done. So we'vetalked about deploying
(05:47):
resources. I think that we canthink about those resources in a
couple different buckets. Whenyou're in executive search, we
all have job postings. We canall post on LinkedIn. I call
those things kind of the extras,or the icing on the cake, if you
will. Again, that's that Roombakind of working in the
background. And what I want tochallenge people to think about
(06:12):
is that that's not a post andpray, if you will, kind of a
situation. It's not always theand it's rarely, by the way, a
one to one relationship. I'mgoing to post a job, the perfect
candidates going to apply, andthey're going to be the one that
gets the job. But I would liketo challenge people to think
about posting or talking aboutwhat they're working on on
(06:32):
LinkedIn or just kind of on someplatform, whether it's a mass
email, a newsletter, any toolthat you're using to get your
work out there really just doesa lot for you. In the
background, again, it's thatRoomba running while you're
making the calls, while you'reprepping the candidates. You're
really building presence andfamiliarity with candidates and
(06:52):
clients. You're establishingyourself as that market master.
I also try to think about, ifI'm posting a job or I'm posting
on LinkedIn. What's my goal forthe week? And let me make my
post about that. Let me make itintentional. What I'm posting
and putting out there shouldalmost be like a hey, this is my
goal this week. I'm working onthis particular search, and
(07:14):
that's going to be very closelytied to goals and metrics that
I'm measuring myself by. I alsothink publishing and posting and
talking about on some kind of aplatform what you're working on,
it can get you referrals. It canget people talking in the
marketplace. It can also get youcandidates and connections that
maybe aren't even on LinkedIn orsocial media, but they have a
(07:36):
friend who is and the friendshares things along. So I think
that there's just huge power inposting and sharing, whether it
be videos, whether it be a blogthat you do, but just having
that presence can really be hugefor your personal career, and
again, for serving your clientsand candidates. Well, I also
(07:57):
think another bucket to thinkabout when we think about that
Roomba. Again, kind of vacuumingwhile you're folding your
laundry is, you know, leveragingsupport of what some people call
a project team. You know, if youhave a team that sources for
you, if you have a marketingteam that helps you build job
announcements, deploy thoseresources. Don't be afraid to
(08:19):
delegate and to use that Roomba,but again, make sure that what
you're delegating is directlyhelping you to meet your
immediate and urgent goals.These, you know, research team
sourcing teams, they're alsogreat for just helping you to
find candidates, but not onlythat, to find new clients, to
find dream clients that you wantto work with to help you connect
(08:42):
more deeply with hiring managersin your space, or certainly with
candidates in your space. Videois a huge platform. I have done
a little bit of video. I haveother colleagues I think that
have really embraced video andgotten huge results again, just
positioning themselves as amarket master and positioning
themselves as an expert in theirspace, and just building that
(09:05):
network for today and for downthe road.
Stephanie Maas (09:08):
Walk us through newsletter and email campaigns.
Elise Gay (09:12):
Mmm hmm, making sure that you are either delegating,
running newsletters in thebackgrounds or running email
campaigns in the backgrounds ofyour phone call, of that muscle
on the phone, can get you somebig results. I'm also a huge fan
of marketing in the same spacethat I'm recruiting in. Some
(09:33):
people call that show my work.But again, I think that gets you
confidence. It gives youcredibility. It can often get
referrals. It can help you gainthat market Intel. You're really
also potentially finding newclients to take that same body
of work that you're working on,if it's not exclusive, and kind
of recycle it immediately andplace more candidates and make
(09:54):
more impact.
Stephanie Maas (09:55):
That's another thing you touch on there. I want
to expand on this recyclability.Any top producer I've ever heard
has been a top producer,consistently over time, is
highly specialized in theirniche to allow for this idea of
recyclability. So can you expandon that a little bit for us?
Elise Gay (10:13):
Absolutely. So I think such a key to being
successful in this business ispattern recognition. Is being
able to look at the market andgo, Okay, this is a consistent
need in my market. Now, how canI be someone to help fill that
need over and over again,whether it be for one client
(10:36):
multiple clients, building acandidate base that is
recyclable is so important. Andagain, I think on the surface,
that might sound a littlenegative or maybe a little
callous, but it really helps youto serve more people when you
can build relationships in aspace very like a very tunnel
(11:00):
focused approach, almost you'rebuilding relationships in a very
specific geography with a veryspecific job duty. And you can
go and get more searches, morecandidates, and it's almost like
you're able to take people fromone search, maybe that were the
runner up and place them quicklywith a different client that has
(11:23):
a need in that space.
Stephanie Maas (11:25):
So I just want to clarify. Recyclability is not
placing the same candidate overand over again every two years.
It is taking the work that youdo for any one search and taking
those candidates who didn't getthe job and continuing to serve
them and other clients byworking the same position with
(11:48):
other clients. So we serve manyat the same time.
Elise Gay (11:51):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Stephanie Maas (11:53):
Super exciting. So the other thing I want to
talk about you specifically isyou operate at such a high level
of production, I know you havetremendously high standards for
yourself, and yet, I also thinkone of the things you do really,
really well, is combine thisRoomba for work so you can be
(12:15):
more efficient, serve morebetter, faster, etc, but then
you also take it off the field,or you use the word, you have to
be kind of selfish. But if it'sthe right kind of selfish, it's
self care, especially someonethat is so high producing,
oftentimes and high functioning,there's this misconception that
they've abandoned all else, andthis is all that they do. And I
(12:35):
think you're truly one of themost well rounded folks that
perform at your level that we'veever seen. So can you talk me
through that a little bit?
Elise Gay (12:42):
Absolutely, I do think the idea of Roomba is
absolutely self care, and it isnot selfish, and it's something
I'm a huge believer in. I am amom of two. I have a husband who
travels pretty extensively forwork, so we have two careers,
and we are a dual incomehousehold, but as much as he is
(13:04):
amazing and jumps in and helpswhen he's home, a lot of times,
I am a little bit of a singleparent, and I have a
Labradoodle. But yes, I thinkyou have to take care of
yourself in this job. Isanyone's life perfectly
balanced? Of course not, but Iam just a staunch believer that
if you don't take care ofyourself outside of work, this
(13:29):
job must become infinitelyharder, and it's just harder to
lift yourself off the ground,because the positive mentality
is so huge in what we do, beingable to sit down and talk to
people and smile even throughthe hard days, is super
important and what we do so I dobelieve that your personal
habits truly fuel yourprofessional success. And what I
(13:52):
mean by that, you know, we allhave different things that fill
us up, but for me, I thinkexercise has just become so
important, and it really hasnothing to do with physical
appearance, but it is purelymental stress relief, anxiety
relief for me. I mean, exerciseis just paramount for me. Sleep,
(14:13):
although sometimes I don't getenough, I find I have to be
pretty disciplined about mysleep habits, eating and just
calendar management in general.How am I? You know, I try to
look at my calendar as Okay, inthis week, this is what I must
accomplish professionally, andthis is what I must accomplish
personally. Are there thingsthat I need to say no to in
(14:35):
order to be laser focused onwhat I've got to get done for
the week? Are there things I canturn down. I'm also the older or
the more seasoned I've gotten,I'm just a big believer in
having space for a little bit ofsilence and a little bit of
stillness, and that reallybreeding creativity, I think, on
(14:57):
and off the field in work and inlife. Life. And sometimes that
can be sitting with a cup ofcoffee and thinking about
something like this on aSaturday morning, or sometimes
it can be, let me just block off30 minutes at the end of my day,
and instead of making 10 morephone calls, there's something
with work that I need to justlet those creative juices flow a
(15:19):
little bit. Let me turn myselfon Do Not Disturb and let me
just kind of think in a littlebit of white space about what I
need to get done. I feel thatmost of us in executive
recruitment, we are urgent, weare fast, we are furious, but
you can't always live in thatfight or flight mode. I think
(15:39):
you have to change over toarrest and recovery time. I've
just realized, the longer I'vedone this, the importance of
that for me, I am a big mind,body, connect person, and I
think that having work habitsthat are working smarter, not
harder, and giving myself thisspace is so important, and I
(16:01):
couldn't do this job without it.
Stephanie Maas (16:03):
So cool. Okay, just for a minute or two, just
touch on again somebody at yourlevel, dogged in their work
efforts. Take care of yourselfon and off the field. Talk about
how you maintain your motivationand mindset of being Uber
productive. Talk me through whatworks for you.
Elise Gay (16:22):
I think that a big part of this job is just picking
up the phone and making like thefirst 10 or 15 calls. We can all
get that call reluctance, orliterally sit at our desk and
go, I do not feel like it today.Maybe something you know has
gone on at work that'sdiscouraged us, or we've brought
something in from our personallife that's making us feel down
(16:46):
and giving us maybe some of thatcall reluctance that we can all
get. I think that if you canjust force yourself to get on
the phone and start talking andhave that mindset of being open
to the possibility of whatyou're going to come up with
that day that that gets methrough a lot.
Stephanie Maas (17:06):
Yeah it's kind of like that eat the frog
mentality.
Elise Gay (17:08):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Stephanie Maas (17:11):
Danny Cahill, what he talks about is, and you
know you talk about this too,is, if you rely on willpower and
discipline, that's only going toget you so far. But instead, I
loved his analogy about brushingyour teeth. You know, brushing
your teeth is not an emotionalact. You don't have to get
yourself hyped up for it. Youdon't have to convince yourself,
he said, but somewhere in yourconscious or subconscious, you
(17:31):
make a decision that you wanthealthy teeth, so therefore you
brush your teeth, hopefullytwice a day, but most days, at
least once a day. Do you eventhink about any kind of an
emotional response to brushingyour teeth. No, it's just part
of what you do. You know, if youweigh a certain length of time
before you get on the phone,it's going to become emotional,
because you're letting all theseother parts of your psyche come
(17:53):
in. So what I've observed withyou is you just have a standard
for performance. And for you,it's just, hey, I produce at
this level. I do this kind ofwork. This is just what I do.
And as a part of doing that, youdon't go in every morning and
go, gosh, do I want to get onthe phone? Do I not? You're
like, Nope, okay, I want to makemy 10, 15 calls. We'll see what
happens after that kind ofthing. And I get for people who
(18:16):
are highly emotional, that's ahard perspective. And I think
with somebody like yourself,where you've got this incredible
emotional intuition, and yetyou've really figured out how to
take the emotional out of justdoing the job. Kudos to you.
Elise Gay (18:29):
Thanks. Yeah. And I think if you, if you're trying
to build abs, the more crunchesyou if you, you know, set a
small goal, you do 10 a day,then you find yourself wanting
more. You know, you're like, 10was easy. I bet I could do 20.
And then you look a year downthe road and you're doing 100 or
whatever it is, but you have tobuild that muscle, and you do
(18:52):
have to push yourself. But I dothink taking the emotional piece
out of it is huge. And it'sjust, this is what we're going
to do today. It's you have totalk to yourself like you talk
to your kids sometimes, like,Hey, this is the plan.
Stephanie Maas (19:03):
Yeah, I'm the grown up here. I set the agenda.
It's just happening
Elise Gay (19:07):
Exactly.
Stephanie Maas (19:07):
I think I had that conversation this morning.
Super delightful having youhere. You're such an
inspiration, both because ofwhat you have accomplished, but
also who you are.
Elise Gay (19:18):
Thank you so much, Stephanie.
Hello, welcome to The Talent Trade. I am super
(00:04):
excited to be here. I'mStephanie Maas, partner with
ThinkingAhead Executive Search,and today, my excitement level
is through the roof because ofthe guest that we have today.
She has been an all star withour firm since the minute she
joined, although what I loveabout her story is it took her
(00:26):
quite a few minutes to find herway with us. However, she showed
tons of promise and potentialand was just so dogged and
professional and did so manythings right, we knew that once
she learned her niche, that itwas going to be a okay. She has
consistently been a top producerfor us. I am super excited to
(00:48):
have with us Elise Gay, part ofour legal practice. Elise Gay.
Welcome.
Elise Gay (00:54):
Thank you so much. Stephanie, very glad to be here
and like they say, if we have tolive up to what our dog thinks
we are, I'll have to live up towhat you think I am every day.
So good challenge.
Stephanie Maas (01:07):
And I feel like somehow I just got called a dog.
But anyway, moving right along.Okay, so one of the things I'm
super excited about with you,Elise, is you have kind of
coined a process with our firm,which is part of your immense
impact since you've joined us,and I really want you to share
that in detail, where it camefrom, how you execute it. You
(01:29):
really implemented somethingkind of new to us, and I think
this has really catapulted someof your success over the last
couple of years. So share withus the how, what, where and when
and why behind your process ofthe Roomba?
Elise Gay (01:44):
Yes, so I'll explain kind of where the Roomba term
came from. But I would also liketo point out my background. I
came to executive search. I didhave a sales background, but I
also had an internal HRbackground, and and so I
remember learning and trainingon this side of the house and so
(02:06):
many recruiters will say, youknow, I don't post jobs, or I
don't post on LinkedIn, I don'tshare what I'm working on,
because I'm supposed to only becalling or I'm supposed to only
be going after passivecandidates. And I really think
of the Roomba number one asworking smarter, but number two
is like, almost like a businessjust turning on their open sign,
(02:29):
right? You pull the string onthat neon sign. That doesn't
guarantee that you're going tobe successful, or that you're
going to get customers in thedoor, or that you're going to
keep your business afloat, butit's a signal to the world that
you're open for business. And Ithink a lot of the Roomba idea
is really just in support ofthat. And so the idea of really
(02:51):
talking about the Roomba, atthinking ahead and in business,
literally came from when I firststarted here, a little over six
years ago. My kids were muchyounger, and I don't know about
you, but on Saturday morning,I'm like, I want to get my
chores done because I want to beoutside. I want to exercise. I
want to go do fun things with mykid. I want to kick my feet back
and enjoy time with family andfriends. So it's like, how can I
(03:15):
multitask in doing my householdchores, right? To get done
quicker and get to my fun stuff,right? And I think again, we're
going to take this back tobusiness. But I really started
this because I used to havethese little one pound hand and
ankle weights that you wouldlike Velcro on, and I would put
those on, and I would fold mylaundry so that I felt like I
(03:37):
was getting exercise while I wasfolding laundry. And I would
crank up some 80s music, or Iwould turn on a podcast for work
that I'd been meaning to listento, and I would listen to that
while I'm folding my laundrywith my weights on, and at the
same time I was running mydishwasher, I'd be running my
clothes washer and my dryer, andI would literally have my Roomba
going on around my house. So Iwas like, All right, I'm getting
(03:58):
these chores done. We're goingto have some fun this weekend.
And that's kind of the ideabehind it. And work is deploy
all of your resources so thatyou can have confidence in the
hard work that you have to do toget stuff done for your clients
and your candidates. So that'sthe background. The same
(04:18):
mentality absolutely applies inexecutive search. You always
have to work hard at this job,but you can still work hard and
work smart. And again, when youserve other people's needs in
this job, you always serve yourown. So how can you serve people
faster but also better and morethoroughly, and how can you
(04:41):
serve more people? That's reallythe name of the game and being
successful in executive search.So I think a big part of my
mindset in this job is that youhave to be confident and humble,
you have to be patient andurgent. You just have to be
organized. Period. There'sreally no and I think you. Have
to be tunnel focused andadaptable, and I think you have
(05:03):
to be both proud and polite andhumble at the same time. So
there's a lot of ands in thisjob. One thing that I've always
thought about in this role isthat you have to be a bit
selfish with your time. Well,selfish on that surface level,
sounds negative and sounds selfserving. It's actually not,
(05:25):
because I think when you come tothis job, when you come to your
desk every day, you really haveto think about that efficiency
and spending your time on tasksthat are going to move the ball
forward for your clients andcandidates. And how can you take
the same hours in the day thateverybody else have and kind of
get that job done. So we'vetalked about deploying
(05:47):
resources. I think that we canthink about those resources in a
couple different buckets. Whenyou're in executive search, we
all have job postings. We canall post on LinkedIn. I call
those things kind of the extras,or the icing on the cake, if you
will. Again, that's that Roombakind of working in the
background. And what I want tochallenge people to think about
(06:12):
is that that's not a post andpray, if you will, kind of a
situation. It's not always theand it's rarely, by the way, a
one to one relationship. I'mgoing to post a job, the perfect
candidates going to apply, andthey're going to be the one that
gets the job. But I would liketo challenge people to think
about posting or talking aboutwhat they're working on on
(06:32):
LinkedIn or just kind of on someplatform, whether it's a mass
email, a newsletter, any toolthat you're using to get your
work out there really just doesa lot for you. In the
background, again, it's thatRoomba running while you're
making the calls, while you'reprepping the candidates. You're
really building presence andfamiliarity with candidates and
(06:52):
clients. You're establishingyourself as that market master.
I also try to think about, ifI'm posting a job or I'm posting
on LinkedIn. What's my goal forthe week? And let me make my
post about that. Let me make itintentional. What I'm posting
and putting out there shouldalmost be like a hey, this is my
goal this week. I'm working onthis particular search, and
(07:14):
that's going to be very closelytied to goals and metrics that
I'm measuring myself by. I alsothink publishing and posting and
talking about on some kind of aplatform what you're working on,
it can get you referrals. It canget people talking in the
marketplace. It can also get youcandidates and connections that
maybe aren't even on LinkedIn orsocial media, but they have a
(07:36):
friend who is and the friendshares things along. So I think
that there's just huge power inposting and sharing, whether it
be videos, whether it be a blogthat you do, but just having
that presence can really be hugefor your personal career, and
again, for serving your clientsand candidates. Well, I also
(07:57):
think another bucket to thinkabout when we think about that
Roomba. Again, kind of vacuumingwhile you're folding your
laundry is, you know, leveragingsupport of what some people call
a project team. You know, if youhave a team that sources for
you, if you have a marketingteam that helps you build job
announcements, deploy thoseresources. Don't be afraid to
(08:19):
delegate and to use that Roomba,but again, make sure that what
you're delegating is directlyhelping you to meet your
immediate and urgent goals.These, you know, research team
sourcing teams, they're alsogreat for just helping you to
find candidates, but not onlythat, to find new clients, to
find dream clients that you wantto work with to help you connect
(08:42):
more deeply with hiring managersin your space, or certainly with
candidates in your space. Videois a huge platform. I have done
a little bit of video. I haveother colleagues I think that
have really embraced video andgotten huge results again, just
positioning themselves as amarket master and positioning
themselves as an expert in theirspace, and just building that
(09:05):
network for today and for downthe road.
Stephanie Maas (09:08):
Walk us through newsletter and email campaigns.
Elise Gay (09:12):
Mmm hmm, making sure that you are either delegating,
running newsletters in thebackgrounds or running email
campaigns in the backgrounds ofyour phone call, of that muscle
on the phone, can get you somebig results. I'm also a huge fan
of marketing in the same spacethat I'm recruiting in. Some
(09:33):
people call that show my work.But again, I think that gets you
confidence. It gives youcredibility. It can often get
referrals. It can help you gainthat market Intel. You're really
also potentially finding newclients to take that same body
of work that you're working on,if it's not exclusive, and kind
of recycle it immediately andplace more candidates and make
(09:54):
more impact.
Stephanie Maas (09:55):
That's another thing you touch on there. I want
to expand on this recyclability.Any top producer I've ever heard
has been a top producer,consistently over time, is
highly specialized in theirniche to allow for this idea of
recyclability. So can you expandon that a little bit for us?
Elise Gay (10:13):
Absolutely. So I think such a key to being
successful in this business ispattern recognition. Is being
able to look at the market andgo, Okay, this is a consistent
need in my market. Now, how canI be someone to help fill that
need over and over again,whether it be for one client
(10:36):
multiple clients, building acandidate base that is
recyclable is so important. Andagain, I think on the surface,
that might sound a littlenegative or maybe a little
callous, but it really helps youto serve more people when you
can build relationships in aspace very like a very tunnel
(11:00):
focused approach, almost you'rebuilding relationships in a very
specific geography with a veryspecific job duty. And you can
go and get more searches, morecandidates, and it's almost like
you're able to take people fromone search, maybe that were the
runner up and place them quicklywith a different client that has
(11:23):
a need in that space.
Stephanie Maas (11:25):
So I just want to clarify. Recyclability is not
placing the same candidate overand over again every two years.
It is taking the work that youdo for any one search and taking
those candidates who didn't getthe job and continuing to serve
them and other clients byworking the same position with
(11:48):
other clients. So we serve manyat the same time.
Elise Gay (11:51):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Stephanie Maas (11:53):
Super exciting. So the other thing I want to
talk about you specifically isyou operate at such a high level
of production, I know you havetremendously high standards for
yourself, and yet, I also thinkone of the things you do really,
really well, is combine thisRoomba for work so you can be
(12:15):
more efficient, serve morebetter, faster, etc, but then
you also take it off the field,or you use the word, you have to
be kind of selfish. But if it'sthe right kind of selfish, it's
self care, especially someonethat is so high producing,
oftentimes and high functioning,there's this misconception that
they've abandoned all else, andthis is all that they do. And I
(12:35):
think you're truly one of themost well rounded folks that
perform at your level that we'veever seen. So can you talk me
through that a little bit?
Elise Gay (12:42):
Absolutely, I do think the idea of Roomba is
absolutely self care, and it isnot selfish, and it's something
I'm a huge believer in. I am amom of two. I have a husband who
travels pretty extensively forwork, so we have two careers,
and we are a dual incomehousehold, but as much as he is
(13:04):
amazing and jumps in and helpswhen he's home, a lot of times,
I am a little bit of a singleparent, and I have a
Labradoodle. But yes, I thinkyou have to take care of
yourself in this job. Isanyone's life perfectly
balanced? Of course not, but Iam just a staunch believer that
if you don't take care ofyourself outside of work, this
(13:29):
job must become infinitelyharder, and it's just harder to
lift yourself off the ground,because the positive mentality
is so huge in what we do, beingable to sit down and talk to
people and smile even throughthe hard days, is super
important and what we do so I dobelieve that your personal
habits truly fuel yourprofessional success. And what I
(13:52):
mean by that, you know, we allhave different things that fill
us up, but for me, I thinkexercise has just become so
important, and it really hasnothing to do with physical
appearance, but it is purelymental stress relief, anxiety
relief for me. I mean, exerciseis just paramount for me. Sleep,
(14:13):
although sometimes I don't getenough, I find I have to be
pretty disciplined about mysleep habits, eating and just
calendar management in general.How am I? You know, I try to
look at my calendar as Okay, inthis week, this is what I must
accomplish professionally, andthis is what I must accomplish
personally. Are there thingsthat I need to say no to in
(14:35):
order to be laser focused onwhat I've got to get done for
the week? Are there things I canturn down. I'm also the older or
the more seasoned I've gotten,I'm just a big believer in
having space for a little bit ofsilence and a little bit of
stillness, and that reallybreeding creativity, I think, on
(14:57):
and off the field in work and inlife. Life. And sometimes that
can be sitting with a cup ofcoffee and thinking about
something like this on aSaturday morning, or sometimes
it can be, let me just block off30 minutes at the end of my day,
and instead of making 10 morephone calls, there's something
with work that I need to justlet those creative juices flow a
(15:19):
little bit. Let me turn myselfon Do Not Disturb and let me
just kind of think in a littlebit of white space about what I
need to get done. I feel thatmost of us in executive
recruitment, we are urgent, weare fast, we are furious, but
you can't always live in thatfight or flight mode. I think
(15:39):
you have to change over toarrest and recovery time. I've
just realized, the longer I'vedone this, the importance of
that for me, I am a big mind,body, connect person, and I
think that having work habitsthat are working smarter, not
harder, and giving myself thisspace is so important, and I
(16:01):
couldn't do this job without it.
Stephanie Maas (16:03):
So cool. Okay, just for a minute or two, just
touch on again somebody at yourlevel, dogged in their work
efforts. Take care of yourselfon and off the field. Talk about
how you maintain your motivationand mindset of being Uber
productive. Talk me through whatworks for you.
Elise Gay (16:22):
I think that a big part of this job is just picking
up the phone and making like thefirst 10 or 15 calls. We can all
get that call reluctance, orliterally sit at our desk and
go, I do not feel like it today.Maybe something you know has
gone on at work that'sdiscouraged us, or we've brought
something in from our personallife that's making us feel down
(16:46):
and giving us maybe some of thatcall reluctance that we can all
get. I think that if you canjust force yourself to get on
the phone and start talking andhave that mindset of being open
to the possibility of whatyou're going to come up with
that day that that gets methrough a lot.
Stephanie Maas (17:06):
Yeah it's kind of like that eat the frog
mentality.
Elise Gay (17:08):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Stephanie Maas (17:11):
Danny Cahill, what he talks about is, and you
know you talk about this too,is, if you rely on willpower and
discipline, that's only going toget you so far. But instead, I
loved his analogy about brushingyour teeth. You know, brushing
your teeth is not an emotionalact. You don't have to get
yourself hyped up for it. Youdon't have to convince yourself,
he said, but somewhere in yourconscious or subconscious, you
(17:31):
make a decision that you wanthealthy teeth, so therefore you
brush your teeth, hopefullytwice a day, but most days, at
least once a day. Do you eventhink about any kind of an
emotional response to brushingyour teeth. No, it's just part
of what you do. You know, if youweigh a certain length of time
before you get on the phone,it's going to become emotional,
because you're letting all theseother parts of your psyche come
(17:53):
in. So what I've observed withyou is you just have a standard
for performance. And for you,it's just, hey, I produce at
this level. I do this kind ofwork. This is just what I do.
And as a part of doing that, youdon't go in every morning and
go, gosh, do I want to get onthe phone? Do I not? You're
like, Nope, okay, I want to makemy 10, 15 calls. We'll see what
happens after that kind ofthing. And I get for people who
(18:16):
are highly emotional, that's ahard perspective. And I think
with somebody like yourself,where you've got this incredible
emotional intuition, and yetyou've really figured out how to
take the emotional out of justdoing the job. Kudos to you.
Elise Gay (18:29):
Thanks. Yeah. And I think if you, if you're trying
to build abs, the more crunchesyou if you, you know, set a
small goal, you do 10 a day,then you find yourself wanting
more. You know, you're like, 10was easy. I bet I could do 20.
And then you look a year downthe road and you're doing 100 or
whatever it is, but you have tobuild that muscle, and you do
(18:52):
have to push yourself. But I dothink taking the emotional piece
out of it is huge. And it'sjust, this is what we're going
to do today. It's you have totalk to yourself like you talk
to your kids sometimes, like,Hey, this is the plan.
Stephanie Maas (19:03):
Yeah, I'm the grown up here. I set the agenda.
It's just happening
Elise Gay (19:07):
Exactly.
Stephanie Maas (19:07):
I think I had that conversation this morning.
Super delightful having youhere. You're such an
inspiration, both because ofwhat you have accomplished, but
also who you are.
Elise Gay (19:18):
Thank you so much, Stephanie.
Popular Podcasts
Monster: BTK
'Monster: BTK', the newest installment in the 'Monster' franchise, reveals the true story of the Wichita, Kansas serial killer who murdered at least 10 people between 1974 and 1991. Known by the moniker, BTK – Bind Torture Kill, his notoriety was bolstered by the taunting letters he sent to police, and the chilling phone calls he made to media outlets. BTK's identity was finally revealed in 2005 to the shock of his family, his community, and the world. He was the serial killer next door. From Tenderfoot TV & iHeartPodcasts, this is 'Monster: BTK'.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.