Why Relentless Work Ethic is Key to Executive Search Success, with Vince Dunne, Ep #227

When he started his search firm, Vince was told that you would make 100 grand in year one if you're lucky. In his first year, he did more than $600k in revenue! Was that just a lucky year? Definitely not. He would not even consider his 12 years in business his best year. What are Vince’s key strategies in achieving this phenomenal result? In this episode, he shares two things: his belief system and his hard work.

 

Vince Dunne is the President of Dunne Search Group, an executive search firm based in South Carolina. For the last 12 years, he’s specialized in recruiting salespeople for the biotech industry and has helped build some of the most important companies in cancer testing.

 

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [01:56] How Vince got into recruiting and how he was able to shorten his learning curve.

• [10:26] Transitioning from a top recruiter to a recruitment business owner.

• [14:27] Overcoming the scarcity mindset: would you be friends with a close competitor?

• [16:34] Pulling off $600k in his first year of business. 

• [25:51] How Vince set up 210 interviews to land 70 monthly placements.

• [35:10] Discussion on Retain vs Contingent?

• [36:53] Vince reveals his team size and structure.

• [42:10] How to pitch an exclusive search arrangement with your client.

• [45:25] Topic on tech stack and approach to reaching out to clients and candidates.

• [56:03] How to “make a name for yourself.”

• [59:12] The biggest adversity Vince faced in his career.

 

Pulling off $600k Revenue in His First Year

Vince and I talked about his motivation to transition from being a top recruiter to launching his search group. “But I noticed I was getting my clients. Nothing was handed to me, and I thought it was because ‘Vince will figure it out. You know, he's. He's doing well. He's rookie of the year.’ I'm hitting all my numbers every quarter… So I was getting my clients anyway. So why am I splitting my business? And so I felt like I was ready. I've got enough clients out there of people that want to do business with me.” Knowing that he was ready, he took on the challenge of becoming a recruitment business owner, leveraging the skills he learned and the relationships he built over the years. Remarkably, he was able to make more than $600k in revenue in his first year!

 

I wanted to dive deep into the causal factors of this phenomenal success. Vince believed that he was just lucky. But you will find out as we continue our conversation that there are two main ingredients for his secret sauce: his belief system & hard work. Vince was really competitive and strictly adhered to his no-fail mindset. He would reach out to ten people before 9:00 AM daily to generate leads. These traits enabled him to shorten his learning curve when he was just a rookie and surely contributed to his success as a business owner.

 

How to “Make a Name” For Yourself

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