Kelly Usher didn't plan on a career in recruiting. Her path went from dance and entrepreneurship into logistics, then internal talent acquisition, and eventually third-party recruiting with the Journey Recruiting team. In this episode she and Will Jenkins talk about what changed along the way.
Kelly's main point is that agency recruiting is sales through and through. Internal recruiters fill roles for one company. Agency recruiters have to win the search, sell the role to candidates who aren't looking, and keep both sides moving toward a hire. She explains how the work differs between internal and third-party seats and what carried over from her time in logistics.
Trust runs through the whole conversation. Kelly talks about earning it with clients and candidates, coaching people through a job change, and managing expectations on both sides so nobody gets surprised late in the process. She also shares how she splits her time across several open searches at once.
For freight companies weighing an outside recruiter, the episode is a look at how the work gets done on Journey's side. Journey offers executive search, retained, and contingent recruiting for freight, logistics, and supply chain roles; the recruiting page covers how each model works.
