25 Quotes to Inspire Agency Owners & Their Recruiters

Even the most cursory glance at any social media channel will tell you this: People love quotes.

Humans, it appears, can’t get enough of these bite-sized inspirational messages. Favorite quotes guide us through work and life, help us narrow our focus and motivate us to excel.

If you’re an agency owner looking for knowledge and inspiration — and looking to inspire and educate your recruiters — read these quotes, and then share this post with your team. There is power in words.

1. “We’ve all met people with great talent but little energy. Sadly, they never live up to their expectations. Others of average talent, but with extraordinary energy, often achieve success beyond all expectations. That’s why self-motivation is so important.” – Lou Adler, CEO of The Adler Group, in his book, Hire with Your Head: Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Great Teams

2. “An employee’s job is to give his or her best work every day. A manager’s job is to give the employee a good reason to come back to work tomorrow.” – Liz Ryan, CEO and founder of Human Workplace, in Forbes

3. “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” – Richard Branson, CEO and Founder of Virgin Group

4. “The new employment model is here: Work 3.0. In it, work is on demand, virtual and remote — and it is just getting started.” – Gary Swart, CEO at oDesk, in TechCrunch

5. “Today’s recruiter must be a marketer, salesperson, career coach, and psychologist all in one. But, at the core of it all, recruiters have to know their own company, work with hiring managers, and really know how to assess people. If they can bring this all together, they can be superstars in their organization.” – Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder of Bersin by Deloitte, in LinkedIn

6. “A modern recruiter is one who is targeted, builds relationships and knows how to not only find candidates but also get them to respond.”Stacy Donovan Zapar, Founder of The Talent Agency

7. “It’s no longer about matching candidates to jobs – it’s about aligning your talent and organizational strategic objectives to ensure your employer recruits and retains the talent necessary to stay competitive and cutting edge today – and tomorrow.” – Matt Charney, Managing Editor at RecruitingBlogs.com, to LinkedIn

8. “You cannot succeed in recruitment if you genuinely don’t have an affinity and empathy for people.” – Peter Murphy, Owner and Director, Davidson Recruitment, to GregSavage.com

9. “So ‘top talent’ (mostly) gets to be called ‘top talent’ because they are simply better, more productive employees. But a significant benefit of these talented individuals is that they help you recruit more people like them, who in turn also are more productive than average, continuing to raise the overall performance level of the organization.” – Steve Boese, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder of H3HR Advisors, in SHRM.org

10. “Building a social footprint takes a lot of time, and the recruitment industry tends to have a very short-term mindset. People want results immediately, and they don’t understand that it takes years.”– Greg Savage, founder of recruiting companies Recruitment Solutions, Firebrand Talent Search, and People2People, to Smarp

11. “Hire a Chief People Officer if you don’t have one. If you do have one, make sure they’re empowered on the C-Suite level. It will be one of the most invaluable decisions you make.” – Meghan M. Biro, founder and CEO of TalentCulture, in Forbes

12. “It’s time for HR to finally put their money where their ‘big data’ and ’employee engagement’ mouths are. It’s time for HR to finally figure out how to implement sentiment analysis into their ongoing programs and initiatives.” – Matt Charney, Partner at RecruitingDaily.com, in that same publication

13. “Succeed at a high level and you can lead whatever way you want to lead. Not because you’re above the law (although you are), but because you probably got that way with a leadership style your team understands and values. If any action is consistent with that style, you’re probably good to go.” – Kris Dunn, Partner at Kinetix, in Fistful of Talent

14. “Until now, the focus of mobile recruiting has primarily been on the candidate. The future of mobile recruiting is all about creating seamless programs that make the process easier for both job seekers and employers.” – Jason Buss, Head of Global Talent Acquisition and Diversity at New Relic, in SmartRecruiters.com

15. “Engaging’ employees has little concern around automating rewards and badges. At its truest core, it’s about relationships: a real relationship between a manager and his/her direct reports. Trust, respect, fear, vulnerability, and faith — just to name a few — mash together and create a bond sacred to the individual participants… Too many managers forget their first job: let their teammates know ‘I give a damn.’ ” – Jon Birdsong, CEO of Rivalry, to TalentHQ.com

16. “An organization’s culture can become a key competitive advantage — or its Achilles’ heel. Culture and engagement are now business issues, not just topics for HR to debate. And there’s no place for organizations to hide.” – David Brown, et al in Deloitte

17. “People spend more time assessing which dishwasher they should buy than they do assessing which company they should work.” – Charlie Judy, Founding Partner at WorkXO, on his blog

18. “What is a modern recruiter? Someone who is honest first, knowledgeable second, consistent third, humble fourth, helpful fifth, and personable sixth.” – Steve Levy, VP of Customer Success at Crowded.com, to LinkedIn

19. “Candidates and employees need to understand the organization’s products or services. They need to know why it’s created, who it’s created for, and what problem it fixes.” – Sharlyn Lauby, President of ITM Group, in SHRM.org

20. “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, wait until you hire an amateur.” – Red Adair, Oil Well Firefighter and Innovator

21. “Engagement has to be human, because people trust people more than brands.” – Ana Alonso, Global Marketing Head Recruitment at Shell Oil, at Talent Connect

22. “When hiring key employees, there are only two qualities to look for: judgement and taste. Almost everything else can be bought by the yard.” – John W. Gardner, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under Lyndon Johnson

23. “Hire character. Train skill.”Peter Schutz, former CEO of Porsche

24. “What was most important were the relationships. If we didn’t have recruiters who could establish relationships with their candidates and with their hiring managers, then we found that nothing else really mattered. That was the differentiator.”Jennifer Shappley, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition, Express Scripts

25. “Never hire someone who knows less than you do about what he’s hired to do.”Malcolm Forbes

Learn more with TrackerRMS

Use the wisdom and insight in these quotes to build an amazing team, motivate your staff and achieve success. And for further insight on the recruiting industry, read more at the TrackerRMS blog — and then head over to our main site to learn more about our all-encompassing online recruitment software solution. TrackerRMS software can help you streamline operations, boost productivity and drive your bottom line.

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