The POZCAST: Career & Life Journeys with Adam Posner

Rebecca Oppenheim & Gail Buck: Building a Recruitment Business That Gives Back

Episode Summary

My guests today on #thepozcast are two of the “good recruiters” out there, actually they are some of the great ones because they give back for every placement that their firm makes. Rebecca Oppenheim and Gail Buck are the co-founders of nextOPP Search, a women-owned, B Corp Certified recruiting agency built on a one-for-one model. For every candidate hired, nextOPP donates career coaching services to a survivor of domestic violence working towards financial independence – Hire One Help One©. With over 20 years of combined experience in executive #recruiting they’ve partnered with companies from early stage development to Fortune 500 with a focus on building diverse and inclusive teams. They’re passionate about connecting candidates with meaningful employment and want to empower the next generation of women while doing it. I connected w/ Rebecca recently, talked shop, exchanged war stories and I knew I had to have her and her co founder Gail on to share their journey.

Episode Notes

  1. When did you know that a career in recruitment was right for you? What vertices to do specialize in? 
  2. What are so many recruiters doing wrong to give us good ones a bad name?
  3. I really love your model. Especially the fact that a for-profit B Corp business can be an incredible force for good. It really leverages all of our skills and powers for good to those who need it. What was that ah-ha moment to create this?
  4. Let’s talk about “unconscious bias” for those that don't know, what is it? How does it affect TA?
  5. Let's talk about attracting top talent AND retaining them from the POV of an agency recruiter, speaking to organizations. For me, the successful ones are the companies that focus on retention first over hiring. It’s a terrible cycle that starts w/ retention. However in today's market/reality, tenures have been decreasing drastically as people are lured to new and exciting opportunities. What can they do? 
  6. “Diversity” seems to be the buzz word of late, when I say that word, what does it mean to you? Double edge sword?
  7. What does the word “authentic” mean to you? 
  8. Engagement pods/ yay or nay? 
  9. What is the single best piece of advice that you have ever received? 
  10. What was your biggest career failure and what did you learn from it?