Ep 234 - Career Growth, Networking, and the Impact of AI in Recruiting with guest Justin Dixon

Are you curious about the rapidly changing world of recruiting, the secrets to effective networking, and how artificial intelligence is reshaping the job market? In this episode of The Quiet And Strong Podcast, host David Hall sits down with Justin Dixon, founder of Hire Tomorrow and host of the Growth Capital Podcast. Together, they explore Justin’s 18+ years of experience in recruiting, his journey to entrepreneurship, and the realities of starting a business just as the world shut down in early 2020.

Whether you’re building your own business, searching for your next opportunity, or fascinated by how technology is transforming career growth, this conversation is packed with insights that will inspire and empower you. Learn from Justin’s practical advice and behind-the-scenes stories about helping thousands land new roles, navigate workplace dynamics, and make smart moves for their financial future.

Listen in, level up your career strategy, and be strong.

Episode Link: QuietandStrong.com/234

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Justin Dixon, founder of Hire Tomorrow, a recruiting firm based in Austin, Texas,  has more than 18 years of experience in recruiting. Justin has worked across the spectrum—from agencies, to fast-paced startups, to Fortune 500 companies. In January 2020, he took the leap into entrepreneurship, launching his recruiting business just as the world was about to change. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Justin has continued to grow his company by helping private equity firms and startups find the right talent to scale their teams.

Justin is also passionate about investing—in both people and businesses. On top of his recruiting expertise, Justin is a real estate and angel investor, and the host of his own Growth Capital Podcast, where he dives deep into the journeys of entrepreneurs, investors, and CEOs.

With an MBA in Business Management, Finance, and Corporate Strategy, Justin combines a strategic mindset with a people-first approach. He’s here today to share his journey, insights into hiring and building teams, and some hard-earned lessons about entrepreneurship, investing, and the power of playing to your strengths as an introvert.

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn

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Transcript

Justin Dixon [00:00:00]:
I've helped a lot of people get jobs and, you know, I don't get paid for this stuff for, for a lot of it. And, you know, being in recruiting, while I fell into it out of college, it has become a very strong passion of mine because I can not only help companies grow with my talent bringing in people, I can also help people get into jobs that they may not have thought they could get into. I've had a few people get 30, 40, 50% increases in their compensation just by changing jobs. And, you know, while I don't get thank you cards for every person I place, it just, it makes me feel good that, you know, I've probably helped hire well over a couple thousand people in my career.

David Hall [00:00:43]:
Hello and welcome to episode 234 of the Quiet and Strong podcast, especially for introverts. I am your host, David hall and the creator of Quiet and Strong Dot Com. This is a weekly podcast dedicated to understanding the strengths and needs of introverts along with strategies for success. Introversion is not something to fix, but to be embraced. Normally, we'll air each episode on a Monday. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a review or a rating that would mean a lot to me and help others find the show. Tell a friend about the podcast and help get the word out there that introversion is a beautiful thing. Today's guest is Justin Dixon, founder of Hire Tomorrow, a recruiting firm based in Austin, Texas.

David Hall [00:01:25]:
With more than 18 years of experience in recruiting, Justin has worked across the spectrum, from agencies to fast paced startups to Fortune 500 companies. In January 2020, he took the leap into entrepreneurship, launching his recruiting business just as the world was about to change. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Justin continues to grow his company by helping private equity firms and startups find the right talent to scale their teams. Justin is also passionate about investing in both people and businesses. On top of this recruiting expertise, Justin is a real estate and angel investor and the host of his own growth capital podcast where he dives deep into the journeys of entrepreneurs, investors and CEOs. All right, well, welcome to the Quietestrong podcast, Justin. Justin, it's great to have you on today.

Justin Dixon [00:02:19]:
Yeah, no, I'm excited to be here. Excited to have a good chat.

David Hall [00:02:23]:
Yeah, we're going to talk about the work you do in your podcast, but tell us about yourself and your journey to the work that you're doing now.

Justin Dixon [00:02:30]:
So I've been in recruiting my entire career. I kind of fell into it right out of College back in 2006. I didn't really know that recruiting was a career path. Like that was not something that I. You go to school for. I was looking for a job and found it and kind of stuck with it. I spent over 18 years in recruiting in some form or fashion. I have worked in an agency, I've worked in startup as their first recruiter.

Justin Dixon [00:02:55]:
I've worked in big Fortune 500 companies. And then back in January of 2020, I thought it was a bright idea to quit a very stable corporate job as head of recruitment for a wealth management firm in Philadelphia to start my own recruiting business right as Covid was starting. So needless to say, that was not the ideal scenario or ideal time to start a recruiting business. But I'm still around, I'm still here, which is great. And so I've been doing that for a little over five, five years. So it's been, it's been a lot of fun.

David Hall [00:03:24]:
Yeah. What were all the factors? Like how did you decide to go into business for yourself and did you have fears around that or were all the factors?

Justin Dixon [00:03:33]:
Yeah, yeah. Well, definitely had fears because I'm very much a risk averse person and my wife is very similar. So it took us a few years to really get the courage and the timing and all that stuff right. But, but the impetus was really, I read a book called Rich Dad, Poor dad and it was a little bit of a light bulb moment in my life and in my wife's life. So I was working at Comcast at the time as a recruiter there and I was living in Philadelphia and I was walking to work and I read this book and I was like, holy cow. Like there is. Because I grew up in a very small town and I had the same kind of financial education that most of the world has and that is get a good job, invest in your 401k, you know, and hope you've got enough in retirement when you hit 65 and hopefully the market hasn't crashed the year before you want to retire and, and hopefully you have enough to retire. And.

Justin Dixon [00:04:24]:
And so I was on that path. I was investing and maxing out my 401k and doing all the things that I thought were the only way to, to, to kind of live or invest. And then this book kind of opened my eyes to being an entrepreneur and investing in yourself and in businesses and in real estate. And so I literally was walking to work and I finished the book and I was like, holy cow. Like my brain shifted and I was like, I need to figure this out. And I was married at the time. And so I was a little nervous because I, you know, I had a brain shift. But my wife and I were, you know, on the same path.

Justin Dixon [00:04:55]:
And I said, I said, hey, just read this book and tell me what you think. And she luckily had the same light bulb, was like, we need to, we need to shift our path at the moment. And it took us, that was probably 2018. It took us, you know, four, two, two or three years to really kind of get things together. And in 2018, I graduated, I finished my MBA, I left Comcast, I went to work for this wealth management firm called Glen Mead. And I really had no intention of quitting that job a year later. But my wife and I were putting things together and putting things in place, both financially to set ourselves up financially to have a cushion, but also mentally to prepare for, you know, potentially a worst case scenario if it fails. Right.

Justin Dixon [00:05:40]:
And so that year we bought a duplex in Pittsburgh. So we had some passive income coming from that. We owned a condo in Philadelphia. We ended up moving out to the suburbs, downgrading our lives, downgrading our expenses at the time when all of our friends are increasing their expenses and having kids and buying houses. And we were doing the exact opposite, all for the, the goal of giving us enough Runway or giving me enough Runway to quit a job, start a business, and, you know, give myself enough, enough Runway to make it, give it a good go and, and hopefully it would be successful. So it was a process to go from. I think I want to change how I'm investing my time and not trade my, my time for money, which is what you do in a job. And I wanted to go start a business and try to make a different path in the world.

Justin Dixon [00:06:32]:
And. And so that's what we did.

David Hall [00:06:34]:
Yeah. I also thought rich dad, poor dad was great. You kind of talked about what it was against, but could you just. In a nutshell, what was, what's the philosophy behind it?

Justin Dixon [00:06:45]:
So in a nutshell, and I haven't read it for a while, so I don't, don't take this as like a book review or anything like that, but essentially it talks a lot about, there's two paths. You got the rich dad and the poor dad. And the poor dad is kind of the traditional American training on what to invest both your time and money into. And those things are get a good job, work for 30, 40 years, hopefully, maybe if you got a pension, that's great. But those obviously are going, going away for the most part. And so you've got to invest in a 401k, and then hopefully that develops enough so that you can live off of that money for the rest of your life. And the rich dad was like, I'm going to take the money that I earn in a job and I'm going to buy real estate, which is, you know, an investment property, which hopefully is going to generate income so that your. Your passive income theoretically will grow to the extent that it outpaces or at least matches your earned income, which then you hit the magical financial freedom number where you effectively don't have to work or earn an income to essentially be able to fund your life.

Justin Dixon [00:07:54]:
And so there's a lot more nuances to that and buying businesses and all that fun stuff. But that's the thing that really resonated with me, was this whole notion of passive income. And first of all, investing in real estate is not always passive. Honest about that. There's a lot of active stuff that goes into it, but there are ways to be a passive investor. And I spent about two and a half years being a very active investor in multifamily real estate, and now I've shifted back to being much more passive, where I find people that are being active investors and finding properties and I invest my capital with them, which makes it very passive because I don't have to manage the property, I don't to deal with anything. I just bet on the horse, essentially, and hopefully that they execute their business plan well enough that it generates income and I don't have to worry about anything. I don't have to clean toilets or deal attendants and all that fun stuff.

Justin Dixon [00:08:46]:
So there's nuances, but that's kind of the. What I took away from it was this notion of passive income and developing enough of that to outpace my earned income so that it frees me up to still work if I want to, or take a month off or a year off. And it doesn't impact how I live, essentially.

David Hall [00:09:04]:
Yeah. Awesome. So we're going to get into more of the work you're doing and your podcast. But first, you are a fellow introvert. So what's the strength? What does introversion mean to you? What's a strength that you have because you're an introvert?

Justin Dixon [00:09:17]:
It's interesting to, like, think about being an introvert being versus being an extrovert, because I can be a little bit of a chameleon. I can force myself to go into social situations and not come across as an introvert. But I think about the differences in energy. And one of the things that I've learned over the years is what things that I'm doing or who I'm hanging out with give me energy or take away my energy. And I think being an introvert or even being an extrovert, knowing those things is, is a superpower because then, you know, like I went to a conference in Vegas that had over 3,000 attendees. It was, and I had, and you were booked meetings ahead of time. And it's just rapid fire for two days. And I knew that after that conference I would need to take at least two days to recuperate.

Justin Dixon [00:10:09]:
Extroverts would go to that and they would get a ton of energy from that because that's their environment. And so I think over the years, I think one of the things that I've learned is really to set my calendar up because being a business owner, I can't just sit behind a computer and, you know, recruit all day. I need to go out and generate business. I need to go out and network. And so, you know, I, I kind of almost like invest my time knowing that I'm going to need to regenerate that, that energy at some point down the road. And so just knowing those things that give you energy and take away your energy has really helped me to still do the things that I need to do to generate business. But also it allows me to know, and even with my wife, like, hey, I'm going to this event, I know I'm going to need to like decompress. And so that's really a power, really powerful to know the different things that give and take energy.

David Hall [00:10:59]:
Yeah, absolutely. And that's, that's a lot of it. But also I always talk about, you know, beyond the energy. As introverts, we need time. You know, we, we definitely want to spend time with our friends and family. We need to collaborate, we like to collaborate with others, but we need some time. But we also need some time to think and focus. How important is it for you as an introvert to find that time to be strategic, to think about, focus on some projects and work?

Justin Dixon [00:11:30]:
Yeah, it's interesting. I, I definitely, I've read the, you know, deep work book, Cal Newport and that whole philosophy of like going into the woods for three months and, you know, just thinking is scary because like in an entrepreneur, like, you have to, you have to continue to do the things. And so one thing that I've done kind of to do that in micro doses is to essentially set my calendar up because I do a lot of, kind of strategic, kind of high thinking tasks in the morning. And so because I know by the end of the day my energy levels are going to be dropping and I need to do more mundane tasks in the afternoon that don't really take a lot of, a lot of energy and focus. And so I think structuring my, my days and weeks to carve out the time necessary to just think about, okay, I'm trying to go after this type of client or I'm going to go to this conference. How do I need to set myself up for that? And so really adjusting my schedule to tap into the times of the day and the days of the week that I know, okay, this is a heavy focus. So I need to set aside two or three hours to focus on this one thing versus, you know, just letting my calendar kind of rule my time. You need to own your time.

Justin Dixon [00:12:42]:
Even if you're an employee or an entrepreneur, you know, you know, either you're, you're, you rule your calendar or your calendar rules you.

David Hall [00:12:50]:
Yeah, and that's, I found that too as an introvert that you need to have that time to think, you need to have time to focus, you need to plug in, recharge. You know, if you do have an all day event at a conference, you know, you can prepare for it, which is helpful, but afterward you need to put in that downtime somewhere, you know, so the calendar is really key for all of this. And it's not just about recharging, it's also about getting some things done and using your gifts of deep thinking to do that. Yeah, I agree. And also on this show, we bust myths. Is there an introvert myth that you want to bust today?

Justin Dixon [00:13:27]:
Well, I would say that I think because I started my career in a very sales kind of bro or kind of area, you kind of have to force yourself to be that mold. Right. Because I was in a sales organization and you know, it was a very boiler room esque, you know, dating myself a little bit here, but a little bit of a boiler room as kind of environment where, you know, I was hanging out with a lot of extroverts that were, you know, just crushing red Bulls and you know, doing sales calls and stuff. And so, you know, I was putting myself and kind of almost trying to match their energy and their, their effort. And so I think one of the myths is like, you can't, you can't brute force this. You're going to have some type of a crash at some point. So if you're an introvert, I don't think that being in a sales environment is not for you, because I was successful and I know a lot of people, there's a lot of different ways to be successful in that type of environment. It's just, you know, not trying to brute force it because that doesn't always, always work.

Justin Dixon [00:14:30]:
It might work in the short term, but definitely, you know, you're going to pay for the, pay for it down the road, I think.

David Hall [00:14:35]:
Yeah. And I often talk about that. For the most part, there's not jobs that are specific for introverts or extroverts. Just as an introverted salesperson, you might go about things differently, which is absolutely fine. I was just talking with somebody on his podcast and, you know, probably a lot of programmers are introverted, but there could be extroverted programmers too. And you know, he was talking about an extroverted program that works for him. And it, it's just, there's generally not particular jobs. It's just you might go about your job differently, you know, you might build relationships differently and, and it's all good, you know, being true to yourself.

David Hall [00:15:12]:
You're going to get much farther than trying to be something you're not.

Justin Dixon [00:15:15]:
Yeah, I, I agree with that for sure.

David Hall [00:15:18]:
All right, so you're a fellow podcaster. Tell us about the growth capital podcast.

Justin Dixon [00:15:22]:
Yeah, so because of a lot of the clients that I work with in my recruiting business are, are tied into the private equity M and a startupy world, I was like, why don't I create a podcast where startup entrepreneurs can come on and we can have a conversation about their journey from going from maybe an employee to a founder and then having essentially private equity and venture capital people on to talk about. Okay, well, what type of investments do they look for and when. What type of founders do they like to see and talk to and all that stuff. So I'm kind of creating a little bit of this ecosystem of, you know, startup founders, investors, whether they're venture capital, I've had a few angel investors on, and then, you know, mid market CEOs that have kind of either founded a business that has been successful or they've kind of come in after a founder has taken it to the point where they can and they, okay, cool, I'm going to take it to the next level. So it's kind of an interesting dynamic to have all three kind of sides of a, of a transaction in the lifecycle of a business to learn about their journeys and their expertises in and what kind of made them successful in their kind of area of that, of that kind of three pronged Stool, if you will. So I'm not super deep into. I think I'm hitting 30. I think my 35th episode is going to launch next week.

Justin Dixon [00:16:36]:
So, you know, it's still an infant, but it's a lot of fun. And I interview people every day for my job. So this is just an interview where I record it and share it with the world. So it's a little bit interesting.

David Hall [00:16:47]:
Yeah, that's awesome. And you know, another myth is, you know, introverts, that's not. You can't be a podcaster, you know, that's an extrovert thing, which is absolutely not true. We have a lot to say and it's a really good way to share our ideas, have a great one on one conversation like we're having, but, you know, share it with everybody.

Justin Dixon [00:17:09]:
Well, I think you and we were talking about this kind of before we recorded. I keep my comfort, my, my interviews very conversational and I don't really send out a lot of prep because one, I don't want people to have canned responses for certain things. But I think it probably you sent out a list of kind of suggested topics or potential questions that, you know, we were going to talk about, which I think is really helpful because while I didn't create responses for, for all of them, it gives me a little bit of an idea of where the conversation can go. And also, if my guest is an introvert, they may want to be more prepared. Right. And so I'm going to take some, some kind of, I'm going to steal that, that learning from you and start to craft some more specific questions for my guests or at least topics that we will probably cover so that an introvert may prepare for those questions. And an extrovert probably won't even look at the email. So it'll be, it'll be, it'll work for everybody, essentially.

David Hall [00:18:02]:
Yeah. And I mean, it's, you know, I always tell people like yourself, it's not a script. You know, I'm not just looking at my script and asking you the next question, but it's a framework and we do better with preparation. And you know, Justin, it's like often we need to think before we speak, but you know, when we're talking about our expertise, in my case, introversion, I could do this interview, like if you were interviewing me, I could do the interview without any preparation if you were asking me about introversion, you know, and same with your expertise.

Justin Dixon [00:18:33]:
Yeah, I think one thing to call out because I've led people, I've been a manager of people. And one of the things that's really important is to know the people on your team and how they. How they need to be treated or how they think. Right. Because, you know, I can go into a conference room and sit down and we could have a topic, and I can lean into a talk as I. Or think as I talk kind of motion where you're really just kind of spitballing. And sometimes I can be very successful in that. But I know that when I was leading some people earlier in my career and I was like, okay, well, I know at least one person on my team is very much a.

Justin Dixon [00:19:09]:
They think and then come back or at least they want to prepare before the meeting so that they can be prepared to talk. Because we've all been in those meetings where there's one person that just always has to say something, even if it's not very insightful, right? They're. They just feel obligated to, like, talk because they're probably the most extroverted person in the room. But then there's always that one or two people that never say anything. But that doesn't mean that they don't have good ideas or bright ideas. They just need the time to think about what they're. What the topic is or what the question is and then come back with a more thoughtful response. So I didn't learn that right away in my leadership career, but once I.

Justin Dixon [00:19:45]:
At Comcast, we did an assessment called Insights Discovery, and it kind of gives you kind of your different colors and what color you are and all that stuff. And once we started to do that, you could tell who the extroverts were and then you knew how to communicate to them. They just want the bullets, right? They just want give me the bullets and get out of my way versus somebody else. They may want the backstory, right. They may want all information so they can then kind of think about it and provide a response. So that's one thing that I learned, you know, kind of midway through my. My managerial career. It's really helped to kind of make sure that everybody on the team is.

Justin Dixon [00:20:17]:
Feels like their opinions and thoughts are being heard.

David Hall [00:20:20]:
Yeah, that's brilliant. And so important, especially as a leader. And that's. That's something. It's like generally as introverts, we think and then we speak. And sometimes you're right, sometimes we can get into the rapid fire and we do great. But often we need to think, you know, and as a leader, it's the meeting leader, the meeting facilitator. It's Important to provide an agenda for those people that need to want to gather information.

David Hall [00:20:46]:
Because I'm definitely somebody that wants to know as much as I can about something. So, you know, I can look at the agenda ahead of time. And again, it comes back to managing your week and looking ahead like, okay, I need to know more about this. Here's some points I want to make, here's some questions I want to ask. And I will say this. I think as a leader, you need to be prepared to let people respond after. But it's not the ideal to me. If you're an introvert, you should be participating in that meeting as much as possible by preparing, speaking early and making it known that you, you have some valuable things to say and building that reputation that you have some valuable things to say that, you know, that can take some time.

David Hall [00:21:36]:
But just understanding that dynamic makes all the difference because, yeah, some people are going to think out loud and some people are going to, you know, take their time, share what they think is most important. Neither way is right or wrong. They're just different. And when we don't understand that dynamic, you know, we're not going to be as successful as teams.

Justin Dixon [00:21:56]:
Yeah, well, and also, I, I've been in meetings a ton where I have a question and, or I have an answer to a question and I never say it, but then somebody else says it or ask that question and I'm like, well, that, because you may think it's a dumb question, right? And I, I, I, I will say that, you know, a lot of things, A lot of times when I'm sitting in meetings, I'm like, I have a question about something and maybe it's a stupid question. I don't want to look stupid. Right? And so you don't ask it, but then somebody else does and they're like, oh, that's a great question. Or like, you know, it creates another, another kind of tangent on, on the question. I'm like, damn it, I should have said something. Right? And so, you know, it, you know, so I just wish I would have, like, trusted my gut back in the day. You know, the older I get, the less I care. And so I, you know, ask dumb questions and I'm okay with, with that, or I just ask questions.

Justin Dixon [00:22:44]:
And so I think if you're an introvert, you're listening to this and you, if that resonates with you, it's like, just, just try it once. Like if you, and maybe it'll kind of help you to kind of become a little bit more conversational. Or, or at least it'll give you the idea to ask, you know, ask questions that pop in your brain because there are probably other people are thinking the same question.

David Hall [00:23:03]:
Yeah. So when I started my podcast, I definitely wanted to give a voice to the strengths of introverts, Bust miss, that kind of thing. But I've also found just some powerful benefits. Like, it's been such a great networking tool. I've met so many great people from it. You know, also, it's, it's, it can be a great marketing tool, whether you're the host or you're the guest. What benefits have you found from podcasting and maybe did any of them surprise you?

Justin Dixon [00:23:33]:
Well, one, I don't like creating content. So it is a very easy way to have content that is up to date, real video, audio. You can, you can snip it and do whatever you want to do with it. So I've got a marketing consultant that, you know, loves the fact that I've got a podcast because it allows her to create a bunch of content versus me having to force myself to record those awkward videos of just you standing here and saying, this is the five things you should be thinking about when you're writing a resume. It's like, that's so, so anyway, so it's, for me, it's a very easy way for, to create content. The content lives on forever. And so, you know, if you post it all over, you know, LinkedIn and, you know, Spotify and YouTube, it, it's there. And so people can find it years down the road.

Justin Dixon [00:24:21]:
I've had people, like, I had a podcast two years ago about commercial real estate, and I've had people still commenting on things that I've done two years ago that I've never haven't touched in a long time. So. So I like that too. I think, you know, because I'm an introvert, I don't love the sales side of being an entrepreneur. And so it allows me to have a, a soft outreach to a potential somebody that could be a client down the road. Right. Without being like, hey, I want to help you recruit your next executive. I go, hey, I want to have you on my podcast to talk about, you know, what you like, what you don't like, what your career journey is, etc.

Justin Dixon [00:24:57]:
And, and they get to know me a little bit more. I get to know them, and it could be a little bit of an easy way to generate business. And also, you probably experienced this. You get to learn that everybody's story is different. Right. Like, I Mean, I've talked to, I don't know, a dozen or two startup founders, and everybody's got a really unique different path. And to your point earlier, like, there's no right way or one way to do this. So there's a ton of benefits.

Justin Dixon [00:25:23]:
And with the way that technology and AI is getting up to speed, the whole editing and creation of the content is so much easier now. It's made my team's life a lot easier because they can just upload it into a bot thing and it'll spit out shorts and all these other pieces of content. So it's made the actual production a lot better and a lot easier, which is nice.

David Hall [00:25:50]:
Yeah, very cool. And we've been talking about, you know, you founded Hire Tomorrow and you brought in your recruiting experience to then form your own company. What was it from your past experience that helped you then lead a company?

Justin Dixon [00:26:08]:
Yeah, I would say a lot of skilled practitioners, regardless of what the skill set is, think that, well, I'm a good recruiter. I'm a good, you know, plumber or roofer. I should go start a plumbing or roofing or recruiting business. And so what, the skill set of being a recruiter does not necessarily mean you are a, going to be a successful leader of a business. Right. Or an entrepreneur in that business. So I've had to really learn about the other parts of building a business. But I think, you know, having the educational MBA background that I got in 2018, plus working and networking with a lot of successful entrepreneurs, I've been able to kind of tap into their, kind of their experience to pull into what I'm trying to build here at Hire Tomorrow.

Justin Dixon [00:26:50]:
And the business is still, is small at the moment. But I, you know, we're in the, in the kind of a growth mode right now. And so, you know, one of the skill sets of being a recruiter is I can go find people or skill sets. Right. So if I know I need a good salesperson for my business or I need a good marketing consultant, I know how to go find them versus just Googling marketing consultants. Right. So I think just the skill set of being able to find things and with the, you know, with, with LinkedIn and all these other tools that you can go kind of tap, virtually tap people on the shoulder and say, hey, here's what I'm looking for. Does this align with what you're trying to do? It's that that skill set has made it, you know, a lot easier for me to kind of go build the, the ecosystem of the team that I'm, I'm really trying to look for.

David Hall [00:27:34]:
Yeah, that's interesting. You're using those to build your own business as well as, as you're also helping other people to build their businesses.

Justin Dixon [00:27:40]:
That's right.

David Hall [00:27:41]:
That's great, Ed. You know, you, you were talking about networking and things like that. How important is the human connection in your business, in recruiting?

Justin Dixon [00:27:53]:
Well, I think in my, well, my business is definitely very important. I think with, I don't know how much we want to get down the AI rabbit hole here, but with the, with AI being really plugged into the recruiting process. So if you're a candidate looking for a job, you can hire an AI bot to apply to a thousand jobs for you a day. Right. And while as a candidate they may, that may sound really awesome because all you've got to do is hit the easy button and this bot will, will apply to jobs. And then on the business side, you know, businesses are using AI to help sort those resumes. And so there's this like AI kind of tug of war of more candidates, better filters, et cetera, et cetera. And so what's also becoming interesting is candidates are using AI in an interview, right.

Justin Dixon [00:28:38]:
So if you're, you can have AI loaded up on your laptop and it can be listening to the interviewer asking you questions and can provide you answers so that you can sound a lot smarter than what your actually background kind of warrants. So it's kind of this interesting thing where I feel like the more that AI and kind of content gets generated and AI gets kind of plugged into the world that I'm in, being in person and seeing people in real life is becoming more and more important. And so I've kind of invested over the last year really a lot more of my, my time and capital into going to in person networking events. Because the types of clients that I'm going after in the private equity and startup world, they're getting inundated with business development outreach and stuff that is just generated from, from AI and they're not responding to messages, right. And now AI is starting to call people. I had an AI bot call me yesterday and it was very, very clear it was an AI bot. Not. And so it's just this, there's this fascinating, we're in this kind of fascinating point with AI where we don't know if it's AI.

Justin Dixon [00:29:46]:
AI is generating a lot of content which is relatively okay. Some of it's good, some of it's terrible. And so the human element, being in person, shaking somebody's hand seeing. Having lunch. I had lunch yesterday with a couple of people and it was just like so nice to get out and see people in person, even in a small setting. So I think it's becoming and will become more and more important, especially as people may not trust what they're seeing online because it can be just AI generated and the AI content is becoming very, very good from a quality and like, I don't know if it's real or not perspective, which is a little scary, frankly.

David Hall [00:30:22]:
Yeah, yeah. And I am not. I have not looked for a job for a long time. So that's very interesting. I, you know, I'm not in the world of looking that you can easily apply to so many places now. And that's. That's fascinating.

Justin Dixon [00:30:38]:
Well, it's fascinating, but also it's becoming an issue for small businesses because a lot of the clients that I work with are startups, small businesses where they don't have the internal capacity to sort through hundreds of resumes that they get. And also they don't have the time or experience to set up the internal systems or applicant tracking systems to be able to sort through a lot of the junk that gets brought in. I'm helping a very small company right now hire a director of sales and we've received a few hundred applicants and a lot are not the right fit. Right. And so, you know, I can't tell, I can't say that they're all bot led. They probably are more human led than bot led. But bigger companies are the ones that are getting hit the worst from a total applicant perspective. I've seen jobs that are posted for 48 hours and they get thousands of applicants.

Justin Dixon [00:31:32]:
And unfortunately, if you are one of a few in That,000 or 2,000 applicant pool, that's actually the right fit for the job. It's going to be very difficult for your resume to get sorted by AI and to be put in front of a recruiter to then schedule an interview. So again, we're in this kind of really interesting time and I can't speak to all the other AI kind of products and industries out there. But what I'm seeing in my world is it's really interesting. I'm getting brought in to help clients sort through the mess because they don't have the time or capacity or experience to do it. And so it's actually making what I do a little bit more valuable and more needed. Even though a lot of companies are kind of shifting away from hiring people to hiring bots. And I think that's or AI I should call it, I call them agents, I shouldn't call them bots as little.

David Hall [00:32:20]:
Right, right.

Justin Dixon [00:32:21]:
Demeaning to the, to the agent. Sorry, I apologize. Agent.

David Hall [00:32:23]:
So, yeah, what are other challenges in recruiting that startups and other businesses have?

Justin Dixon [00:32:30]:
Well, I'll use a real life example. I won't name any names, but we're, we're trying to hire a director of sales for an early stage company. And it is, we're trying to fit three positions into one. And I've seen this throughout my career where you, you're building a business, you're growing a business and you only have a finite amount of money that you want that you can invest in, in hiring somebody. And so the, you try to cram everything that you need into one, into one hire. And so that's the one of the bigger challenges that I see with, with Start or with startups and early stage companies is being able to really determine what are the key criteria that we're looking for in a person to fill a position. Because we can't hire somebody that's great at accounting, great at sales, and great at marketing all in the same person. That person might exist, but there's maybe a handful of people which of those three things or three kind of areas that are really three different people, which ones are the most important? And then we can go find, you know, the other ones as the, as the business grows, or you can use fractional or consultants and things to kind of help move the, move the ball down the field.

Justin Dixon [00:33:34]:
So I think it's really kind of figuring out what, what you actually need in a position. And a good recruiter can help you do that because they can go kind of look at what you're looking for, know your business or your industry, and then help you kind of build that org structure. And then, you know, that's really one of the biggest things is just kind of having that focus on, okay, I need to hire a salesperson, so let me go hire a good salesperson versus somebody that can also do accounting or HR or, or whatever. And then what I like what I, why I really focus a lot on small businesses and startups is I like, they have a little bit of a brand issue because, you know, if you're trying to hire for Dell, which is a big employer here in Austin, they, everybody knows who Dell is, right. And so they get a ton of applicants where you may be a really cool startup, but you're not able to spend the money to get your job in front of the necessary candidates. And so that's where a good recruiter can come in and tell your story and get those passive candidates that aren't actively looking up or actively applying to jobs to be interested in your business. So it's that balance of like, okay, how much do I spend on marketing, how much do I spend on branding? But then maybe working with a good recruiter that can go out and kind of generate that buzz and that interest from candidates, that could be a worthwhile investment as well.

David Hall [00:34:50]:
Yeah. So do you have any general advice for the job seeker out there?

Justin Dixon [00:34:55]:
Network Hiring bots or just kind of sitting down and applying to a hundred jobs a day on your own is not necessarily the best way to do it. And I guess it really kind of depends on the level, I would say. But most of the people that I work with are kind of your kind of corporate employees, sales, marketing, accounting and finance leaders, et cetera. Network. If you see a job that's posted on a, on a company's website and you know somebody that works there, even if they're not in the same kind of part of the company that you want to get into, try to get your way in there. Because as a recruiter in a big company or a small company, referrals are put to the top of the pile, regardless of if they're, they're kind of on paper, the right fit, quote, unquote. So applying to jobs are important. Networking is important, even more important, in my humble opinion.

Justin Dixon [00:35:44]:
But a super simple thing, I've been doing this for over 18 years and it's very consistent is how it's almost not. It's almost like you shouldn't not have a professionally looking formatted resume because you can throw it into chat GPT and say, please format this resume or check for grammar. I'm still seeing resumes that are just visually terrible, formatted terribly. I had another company that I was talking to, they decided to reject a qualified candidate because their resume was formatted incorrectly, had, you know, had grammar errors, spelling errors, because that's your, that's your business card. That's your first entry point into a company. And if that's your first impression, even if you're a really good candidate. Well, if you don't put enough effort into having a good resume, what's your work product going to look like once you get into the company and get comfortable? So, you know, with AI and all these other, you know, technology advances, having a, it doesn't have to be the prettiest resume in the world, but just having it formatted correctly you know, bullet points instead of, you know, consistent bullet points, consistent font sizes, like just the simple things. It's amazing that that is still a lot of people just have a lot of, a lot of error.

Justin Dixon [00:36:58]:
So that's a little bit of block and tackle. But now you really shouldn't have any excuses to not have a properly formatted resume at this point. But more importantly, network, network, network, reach out to people to try to get you an introduction into that company that you're trying to go after is really, really important.

David Hall [00:37:16]:
Yeah, absolutely. And so you know, we're talking about that you launched out on your own but also a big part of what you do is you're an investor. What do you say to people? Maybe they just read rich dad, poor dad and now they want to get some more passive income where what are some options and ways to start and you know, to learn about opportunities.

Justin Dixon [00:37:42]:
I would say don't trust, don't trust what you see on LinkedIn or Instagram. Not everybody is as successful as they say. That's, that's one. But I think if you're interested in learning about investing outside of just the stock market or even interested in investing in the stock market is get as educated as you possibly can. You don't need to be an expert in everything but you like. So I started getting, I spent about two and a half years focused on multifamily real estate. So I feel very comfortable being able to have somebody send me a pitch deck on a multi family asset and be able to at a high level be able to say do I think it's worth me digging into or not? But I started working and investing in storage units. So I invested in a self storage unit or property last year and I didn't, I was fully passive.

Justin Dixon [00:38:29]:
I, I was brought the opportunity but I talk to the, the kind of the group that brought me the deal I needed to vet them. I got a referral from another investor that I trust and they said yep, I've invested with them before. And so I felt more comfortable. Even though self storage is a new asset class for me, I trusted the person that gave me the referral. I, I built trust with the, the investment company that brought me the opportunity and they allowed me to come in at a lower kind of minimum than they were advertising so that I could at least get my, excuse me, get my foot in the door and then be able to, if that goes well then I can increase my investment in, in the next deal. So I think if you're interested in getting involved in investing Outside of the stock market. Talk to experts, get referrals, because there's a lot of people that you probably know that are doing this or investing in real estate or, you know, crypto or whatever you want to, like, become interested in. Talk to people that have been successful.

Justin Dixon [00:39:24]:
I joined an angel investing group locally here in Austin for. For a few reasons, but one of them was just to be able to interact with people that were more successful than I am at my. At my current moment. They've invested in a lot of different things. I got introduced to a couple investors here in Austin that I've invested with because of the relationship that I've built in the angel investing group, because they were invested in a few of their funds for a few years and have seen success. And so. And the last thing I'll say is, if you're talking to an investment firm that's bringing you a deal, don't just ask them about what their track record is on the good things that have happened. Because we've gone through so many cycles in the last few years with like, Covid and then interest rates growing, you know, way up and all of that.

Justin Dixon [00:40:08]:
You want to know, have they lost any investor capital? Have they foreclosed on any properties? And how are they preventing or trying to mitigate risk now in this uncertain environment? So, and you really want to try to get in as low as possible on your initial investment, especially if it's a new company that you haven't had vetted through through other people because you're putting your money at risk. Real estate is an illiquid investment, meaning you're. You can't just sell your stock tomorrow. There are ways to do it in other ways, but. And also, it's like going to Vegas. Only take. Only invest as much money as you're willing to lose. So, so don't.

Justin Dixon [00:40:43]:
Don't mortgage your house and go put that all. You wouldn't. You wouldn't mortgage your house and go put it all on black. Right, right, right, right. Let through that table. So. But I would. I've said a lot of maybe doom and gloom or whatever, but it's been a super powerful thing.

Justin Dixon [00:40:55]:
If you read any books about the most wealthy people in the world in history, they've owned real estate. And, you know, it's. It's all cyclical. And so I think, you know, things will be. Will kind of write the ship. But. But yeah, it's a lot of fun to learn new things about investing. And not just investing in the s and P500, which hit an all time high again today.

Justin Dixon [00:41:14]:
So, you know, there's a lot of other options out there. And also, last thing I'll say, apologize for being a little long winded here, but the investing in real estate, whether it's a 300 unit apartment complex, is not only for the rich and famous. Like you can get into it with a relatively small amount of investment and that could help diversify your portfolio outside of just being probably very heavily weighted on the stock market with your 401k and any other investment. So it's not only for the rich and famous. Anybody can really get involved. You don't have to be an accredited investor in every, in every deal. There are, there are ones out there that you can get into as a quote unquote normal person. And that was a really big eye opening thing for me.

Justin Dixon [00:41:52]:
When we first started, I was like, wouldn't it be cool to own that 300 unit apartment complex? Well, you can own a slice of that if it's, if it's being sold. So, so yeah, it's kind of interesting to kind of get into. And I could talk about real estate. I had a real estate podcast so I could talk about it all day.

David Hall [00:42:07]:
Very cool. Great advice, Justin. This has been a great conversation. Is there anything else you want to add today?

Justin Dixon [00:42:14]:
No, I would say, I mean, because my, my most of my career has been in recruiting. If you're, if you are an introvert and you're like, I, I, I hear what you're saying about networking or I hear you're saying about, you know, trying to get a job, let, reach out, let me know, I'm happy to help. I've helped a lot of people get jobs and you know, I don't get paid for this stuff for, for a lot of it. And you know, being in recruiting while I fell into it out of college, it has become a very strong passion of mine because I can not only help companies grow with my talent bringing in people, I can also help people get into jobs that they may not have thought they could get into. I've had a few people get 30, 40, 50% increases in their compensation just by changing jobs. And you know, while I don't get thank you cards for every person I place, it just, it makes me feel good that, you know, I've probably helped hire well over a couple thousand people in my career. And so if anybody needs any help or support or you know, help writing a better resume, you know, if they can't figure out, you know, plug it into ChatGPT, just reach out. I'm happy to, to be a resource I can, you know, now that I've gotten 18 plus years experience, I can at least help kind of pass it on and give it to somebody else that's, that's looking for a new job.

Justin Dixon [00:43:21]:
So yeah, happy to help.

David Hall [00:43:23]:
All right, and where do people find you to get your help or find out more about your business or your podcast?

Justin Dixon [00:43:29]:
Yeah, I would say easiest way is LinkedIn. I'm, I'm fairly active on LinkedIn so just drop me a note. My email address is just jdixon d I x o n@hiretomorrow.com shoot me an email and you know, let me know how I can help and would be happy to help or point you in the right direction or would you do whatever I can to, you know, if you're looking for a job, help you find that.

David Hall [00:43:49]:
All right. Thanks again, Justin.

Justin Dixon [00:43:50]:
Yeah, no, thank you.

David Hall [00:43:52]:
Thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate you. I hope you take the time to explore other episodes and learn from other amazing guests. Remember, if you're interested in getting to know yourself better, there is now a free type finder personality assessment on the Quiet and Strong website. This free assessment will give you a brief report including the four letter Myers Briggs code. I'll add a link in the show notes and I'd love to connect with you. Reach out to daviduyandstrong.com or check out the quietandstrong.com website which includes blog posts and links to social media for quiet and strong and much more. Send me topics or guests you would like to see on the show.

David Hall [00:44:32]:
So many great things about being an introvert and so we need those to be understood. Get to know your introverted strengths and needs and be strong.