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I’m saying the quiet part out loud: if you don’t build your sales muscle, growth stalls - no matter how talented you are. In this episode, Julia Arpag, CEO and Founder of Aligned Recruitment, shares with me how she went from five weeks postpartum and laid off to building a seven-figure tech recruitment firm by treating selling as service, investing early in mentorship, and using LinkedIn + networking like a real funnel.
Julia’s journey began in August 2023 when she was unexpectedly laid off while on maternity leave. What could have been a destabilizing moment became the catalyst for something extraordinary. While briefly accepting a W-2 role, she started selling for a friend’s startup recruitment venture on the side. Within months, she closed three retainer clients. That early traction forced a pivotal decision: continue playing it safe, or step fully into entrepreneurship despite fears around sales, taxes, and “not knowing enough.” She chose the leap.
Rather than trying to figure everything out alone, Julia invested her earliest earnings into mentorship by hiring an executive coach who had sold a recruitment agency for $28 million, a LinkedIn writing coach, and systems experts. Inspired by Carol Dweck’s Mindset and the philosophy of “Who Not How,” she built her sales muscle, reframed selling as service, and adopted a growth mindset that became foundational to Aligned Recruitment’s rapid success. She reminds us that for women entrepreneurs especially, seeking support is often the difference between staying small and scaling meaningfully.
We also explored Julia’s tactical wisdom as a recruiter, including why job seekers should treat their search like a sales funnel, how to optimize LinkedIn to be discovered, and why networking consistently outperforms cold online applications. At a deeper level, Julia challenges the idea that business success must come at the cost of personal well-being. Her philosophy is clear: build a business around your life, not the other way around.
This conversation is a powerful reminder for all of us that profitability, purpose, and peace can coexist. Tune in to hear my conversation with Julia Arpag and how she is redefining what it looks like for women to lead, sell, and scale without losing themselves in the process.
Chapters:
Chapters:
01:12 👩💼 Meet Julia Arpag Founder and CEO of Aligned Recruitment
02:34 🚀 From Layoff to Launch Building a Business After Maternity Leave
07:32 📈 Smart Strategies for Scaling a Recruitment Firm Fast
16:12 🤝 Why Sales Skills and Mentorship Change Everything for Women Founders
22:51 🔎 How Recruiters Really Search for Candidates
23:32 💼 Making Your LinkedIn Profile Work for You
24:50 ☕ Networking Tactics That Beat Online Applications
26:59 🌍 How Values Driven Tech Companies Hire Diverse Talent
Links:
Website: www.alignedrecruitment.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-arpag
Connect with Julia on LinkedIn and explore Aligned Recruitment’s website to learn how values-based leadership and smart hiring strategies can transform the way you build teams and careers.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-arpag
Connect with Julia on LinkedIn and explore Aligned Recruitment’s website to learn how values-based leadership and smart hiring strategies can transform the way you build teams and careers.
Thank you to our podcast sponsor
Go From Expert to Thought Leader with the Genius Discovery Program.
Book Directly with Kent: http://talktokent.com
We're always seeking aligned sponsors.
⭐️ If you're interested in supporting our podcast - one episode or a season, reach out to Adrienne at Adrienne@sheleadsmedia.com.⭐️
⭐️ If you're interested in supporting our podcast - one episode or a season, reach out to Adrienne at Adrienne@sheleadsmedia.com.⭐️
Reach out to Adrienne: hello@sheleadsmedia.com
Visit our website: www.sheleadsmedia.com to learn about upcoming events or to work with me directly and get the clarity you’re seeking.
"I love ♥️ listening to The She Leads™ Podcast!” If that thought crossed your mind at any time while listening to our special show, I’d love it if you would take a moment and give our podcast some love too. To do so, simply Rate, Review & Follow Us on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Taking this simple action helps my team and I to spread the word about all the incredible guests featured on The She Leads Podcast and contributes overall to helping women leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere! 🗺 Also, if you haven’t done so already, please +follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much!!
— Adrienne
- (01:12) - 👩💼 Meet Julia Arpag Founder and CEO of Aligned Recruitment
- (02:34) - 🚀 From Layoff to Launch Building a Business After Maternity Leave
- (07:32) - 📈 Smart Strategies for Scaling a Recruitment Firm Fast
- (16:12) - 🤝 Why Sales Skills and Mentorship Change Everything for Women Founders
- (22:51) - 🔎 How Recruiters Really Search for Candidates
- (23:32) - 💼 Making Your LinkedIn Profile Work for You
- (24:50) - ☕ Networking Tactics That Beat Online Applications
- (26:59) - 🌍 How Values Driven Tech Companies Hire Diverse Talent
- (36:59) - ⚖️ Building a Business That Supports Your Life and Family
Creators and Guests
What is The She Leads Podcast | Rewriting the Rules for Women Leaders & Entrepreneurs?
The go-to podcast for women entrepreneurs scaling to $1 million and beyond while building lasting wealth — real talk, no fluff.
Each week, host Adrienne Garland goes deep with bold women entrepreneurs, executives, and leaders across the globe — stripping away the sugar-coating to get at what actually matters for driven women growing their businesses for profit and impact. Adrienne is a Professor at NYU and Rice University, an entrepreneur and advisor, an MBA grad, and that bold business friend who asks the questions other women in business podcasts shy away from.
Topics covered: scaling to seven figures and why it matters for women and the world, funding women-owned businesses, amplifying your voice and visibility, building high-value networks, leadership, designing entrepreneurial ecosystems that benefit humanity, the importance of financial acumen and literacy, and wealth building strategies
Less than 2% of women-owned businesses scale beyond seven figures. She Leads exists to change that.
Subscribe now and follow @sheleadsmedia on Instagram for She Leads LIVE events and more.
Leadership isn't just changing. It's evolving in ways we're only just beginning to imagine. And women, we're not playing this game anymore. We're the ones reshaping the entire field, building models, movements, and businesses that serve more than just a few. On the She Leads podcast, you'll hear real conversations with women who've broken through all kinds of barriers, revenue, identity, orders, and expectations.
Adrienne Garland:There's no sugarcoating here, just the truth told by those who are living it. I'm Adrienne Garland, entrepreneur, strategist, educator, and creator of live experiences, gathering women leaders together for over a decade. And this is the She Leads Podcast.
Adrienne Garland:Hi, everybody, and welcome back to the She Leads podcast. We are here in New York. It's a snowy and freezing cold day, but we are back with another episode of the She Leads podcast. And I am very excited to welcome our next guest. Her name is Julia Arpag, and she's in Atlanta, Georgia.
Adrienne Garland:And I think it's I think it's pretty cold down there too. Not not quite New York weather, but I think it's I think it got cold the last couple of days. But Julia is the CEO and founder of the tech recruitment company, Aligned Recruitment, that she's built and grown to a 7 figure firm in less than two years through grit, determination, and expert hiring strategies. Through her work as a recruitment leader, speaker, and executive coach, Julia has helped hundreds of leaders hire exceptional talent. And on a personal level, she has two adorable sons, a delightful husband, and two crazy dogs.
Adrienne Garland:Listen, Julia, that sounds like every day is an adventure. Oh my goodness. So, oh, we're gonna have so much to talk about today. I'm just so inspired by you and what you've been able to build in such a short period of time. But before we dive into all of that good stuff, I'd love to just hear about you and your background and why you decided to launch your own recruitment company.
Julia Arpag:Thank you, Adrienne. It's so good to get to chat with you today. Thank you for having me. I'm so, so honored. And as far as what made me decide to start aligned recruitment, I had been thinking about it for a good year or so, but it felt terrifying for a lot of the same reasons.
Julia Arpag:Pretty much everyone I talked to is terrified to start their own business because I just didn't know how it was gonna go. I was a good recruiter. I've been a recruiter for years, but I didn't know how to sell. I didn't know how to open up an LLC. Like what even is that?
Julia Arpag:I don't know anything about entrepreneurship taxes. Like there just felt like so many unknowns that felt like massive hurdles. I was a young mom. I had just so much going on. It just felt terrifying.
Julia Arpag:So luckily my CEO back in August 2023 when I was five weeks postpartum with my now two year old son gave me a call and he was like, hey, the business is going under. We're out of money. I'm so sorry. I've got to lay you and everyone else off. He himself hadn't taken a paycheck in months.
Julia Arpag:So that was the kick out of the nest that I needed to do the thing I've been thinking about doing.
Adrienne Garland:You always hear the story of, like, the, you know, almost the the worst thing that we can imagine happening, you know, getting fired, getting laid off. It it you always hear it was the best thing that happened to me because and, you know, there's a variety of of next things that come after that. So no matter what, though, even if did give you the kick to, you know, start your own business, you could have very easily gone and gotten another job. So what was the what was the the reason that you decided at that time, especially with everything that you had going on in your life, you could have chosen. Let me let me take a a stable path just to, you know, solidify here, and then I'll start my business in another couple years.
Adrienne Garland:But no. That's not the choice you made.
Julia Arpag:Why not? Well, you know what's crazy, Adriana, is I actually did take a w two job at first. Isn't that insane? So I reached out to everyone in my network. I was like, hey.
Julia Arpag:I just got laid off, and I got six job offers within two weeks, which was incredible. So I took the best one, but one of those other offers was a friend of mine had spun up literally just the website of aligned recruitment. She was like, I don't know how to sell. I don't really know how to recruit either. So could you like just work on this super part time, like maybe five hours a week, keep your full time job?
Julia Arpag:And I was like, oh yes, this is exciting. So I took the W-two job but while I was still on maternity leave, I started selling for Alliance recruitment and we quickly took off like first second third months we closed our first second and third clients. So and these were all on retainer and and pretty big checks to be totally honest with you. So I was like wow this is so I went back to that W-two job I had accepted and they became a client. They were like okay no worries we think you're amazing so we'll just work with your firm as one of your clients if that's the way to work with you.
Julia Arpag:It was incredible like it really it really was just me seeing this is gonna be possible. Like I am gonna be able to build this thing. And that friend who had spun up the website, I eventually bought her out because she she we just weren't on the same level obviously. Right? So from from the success I was having, I just knew we'd be better off parting ways.
Julia Arpag:So that's how Aligned became mine. And now, yeah, it's really just been a crazy journey from there.
Adrienne Garland:Oh my god. It it it just sounds like the the universe gave you seeds to to grow and that woman was a catalyst to, you know, all of this success, which is, you know, people different people have parts to play in our lives and they may not be the ones that, you know, you ultimately go on the whole entire journey with, but they're the ones that like that started or sparked that journey. And that's such a wonderful thing. I I have a very similar well, it's not a similar story. It's a similar spark that just there was just someone in my life that said, oh, hey.
Adrienne Garland:I know this person that, you know, is looking for someone to teach entrepreneurship at NYU, and I thought of you. And from that, it has turned into almost like the greatest gift in my life. And I always think about, gosh, if I'd never met this woman, what I'm doing right now would have never happened. And I'm just grateful for that. And, you know, she's off doing her own thing.
Adrienne Garland:She doesn't she doesn't care that I'm, you
Julia Arpag:know, not not that she
Adrienne Garland:doesn't care, but she doesn't, you know, care that I'm teaching or anything. But she really she really changed my trajectory and I'm so grateful for that. And I'm sure there's so many people out there that can relate to that and have stories like that. But so getting the first couple of clients, especially, you know, at that time must have been so exciting. But in order to keep that momentum going, what were some of the strategies that you put into place?
Adrienne Garland:Because that could have just been a blip. Right?
Julia Arpag:Oh, it could have been, and I was terrified it would be. Right? I was like because the the weird the reason I got those initial contracts was people I'd recruited for before. So they knew I was good. They knew it'd be a good product, but I was like, I'm very quickly gonna run out of people I've recruited for before, and then what am I gonna do?
Julia Arpag:So what I did with the very first check I got is I hired an executive coach who knew how to sell. She herself had started a recruitment agency, sold it for $28,000,000. Like she was the real deal, knew what she was doing. So with the first check I got, I turned around and gave it all right back to her and worked with her one on one for three months. And to this day, she's one of my closest mentors.
Julia Arpag:We still text every single day. Now two and a half years later, She has been single handedly one of the biggest catalysts of the success of Align's recruitment because I knew what I didn't know and I didn't know how to sell. I had only ever recruited. I had never been, it's called a three sixty recruiter, someone who both brings in the new business and then recruits on it. I'd never done that.
Julia Arpag:So I learned from her. I learned all of her tactics, then I hired another coach who helped me learn how to write on LinkedIn, then I hired another coach who taught me how to automate and systematize. So I just kept figuring out what I needed to know to get to the next level, finding people who knew how to do that, learning from them, and then making it happen.
Adrienne Garland:This is so interesting. I do not hear a lot of women owned businesses employing this strategy of not trying to figure everything out on their own. So many women try to figure every single aspect of business out on their own, and we feel guilty when we don't know how to do things like sell or, you know, just operations or anything like that. What what made you hire somebody? Like, how did you know that that was the right thing to do to hire a coach?
Adrienne Garland:Because that's not often the first thing. We hire the coach before we're experiencing a problem. I hear a lot of people hire a coach when they hit a wall, they're facing a challenge, but not preemptively. So how did you get to be so smart? Because that was such an incredible strategy, really.
Julia Arpag:That's so kind, Adrienne. Thank you. Honestly, because I wanted to skip the part where I was spinning my wheels and didn't know what to do next. Right? I already knew I didn't know what to do next.
Julia Arpag:I was like, why waste time just, like, mucking around trying to figure this out when clearly people have figured it out? And it wasn't a crazy it wasn't a crazy investment. Like, it was all all said and done. I paid her $6,000 over the course of three months. I made that money back in the first contract I closed.
Julia Arpag:Like it was a no brainer for an ROI. Like right? It was just like this would be dumb not to do this. So I I just I very much believe in growth mindset. I read the book mindset back in 2020 when my recruitment career shifted radically during COVID because obviously the world changed.
Julia Arpag:I was lucky not to be laid off then, but it did pivot the type of recruitment I was doing, which dramatically changed my life because that's when I started working in tech recruitment and that's what brought me to what I'm doing now. So I think reading that book and just really developing that mindset where I'm never stuck, I can always figure it out. I just need to figure out what resources are needed to get me to where I want to go. I've just always been really quick to get those resources, put them in my backpack and then keep on moving.
Adrienne Garland:Gosh, this, I love this strategy. I love this message for women entrepreneurs. And it I mean, that coupled with the the right sector that you're in, the expertise that you have, your grit, your determination, it's it's all of those different ingredients that have grown your business to 7 figures and beyond in two years. But this is what I want women to hear that there is another way. We do not have to figure every single bit of the business and scaling it on our own.
Adrienne Garland:It reminds me very much, and I I just wanna say the the book that you just mentioned, Mindset by Carol Dweck, who is an incredible researcher that has done a lot of studying between the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. We talk about this in entrepreneurship all the time. And a lot of people, you know, they they do have a fixed mindset and it's not a bad thing. We just need to cultivate that growth mindset if we want to to grow and to not get stuck by challenges. And it also reminds me of another book that I read, I think it was, you know, last year in the last couple of years called Who Not How.
Adrienne Garland:And you're reminding me of that book. So instead of figuring out how do I do that, you find who knows how to do that and who has done that before. And let me get their help to move forward. So, you know, I don't know if you read that book, but you're you're following that advice whether you read it or not, which is incredible.
Julia Arpag:Yeah. I love that author, Benjamin Hardy. He's written a lot of fantastic scaling books. So he's one of my favorite authors. I've read pretty much everything he's written.
Julia Arpag:He's awesome.
Adrienne Garland:Ah, okay. So who not how? And, I mean, I think that this is a success strategy that so many women do not employ. And it could be the reason that, you know, less than 2% of women owned businesses get past the million dollar mark. And I've spoken about this before on the podcast, but the reason that I'm so just interested or even like hell bent on helping women to figure out what are the the things that you need to do to get past that million dollar mark, it's it's, you know, it's great to be able to say I have a million dollar business, but it's so much deeper than that.
Adrienne Garland:When you have a business at that million dollar mark, as long as your expenses are not, you know, outpacing your revenue, it oftentimes opens up the ability to have profit. And when women owned businesses have profit, they take that money and they actually do good things in the world with it. So, you know, I mean, I think that you've given advice here, but do you have any other advice for for women to, you know, scale quickly, efficiently, smart that goes beyond what we've been talking about.
Julia Arpag:Mhmm. And let me say, I completely agree with you. One of my favorite quotes is money in the hand of a good woman changes the world. So I think about that whenever I have blockers about money or whenever I'm feeling weird about, you know, selling or charging for my services. I'm like, no.
Julia Arpag:Like, the more money I have, the more I give away. The more money I have, the more generous I am. And that is a gift to the world. That does change the world. Statistically, women give away a ton more money than men.
Julia Arpag:I'm not to say there's not lovely, generous men out there, of course. Of But as female entrepreneurs, on average, we do give away substantially more. So Mhmm. That always encourages me. It's just my profit are my profits are for a purpose way bigger than myself.
Julia Arpag:So I would say the biggest thing that's encouraged me kind of along the lines of this growth mindset thing, Zig Ziglar is another one of my favorite authors. He has a quote about learning. And basically, he says, if you refuse to learn, no one can help you. If you're determined to learn, no one can stop you. So every single day as a business owner, I come up against something I don't know or something I can't figure out.
Julia Arpag:Or just today, I was doing a ton of outbound business development. That's not fun. No one's like, oh, yes. I get to spend three hours cold calling people I don't know. How awesome.
Julia Arpag:But you know what I did is I said to myself, Julia, if you don't learn how to do this, you can't be mad if you don't grow. If you learn how to do this really well, you will grow. It is inherent. If you learn, you do the learning, and then you just do the steps, you do the reps, you go to the gym, you work out, you go right, like whether you feel like it or not, that is what's gonna change the structure of your life and of your business. So that's something I just always keep in mind.
Adrienne Garland:Do you think that building that sales muscle is one of the most important things that people can do for their business because I I feel
Julia Arpag:like most important thing. Hard stop. 100%. There is nothing more important. It doesn't matter if you have an amazing product or service or website or operational ability.
Julia Arpag:If the world doesn't know about it. If no one's paying you for it, then you don't have a business.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. What is the thing I mean, you just said, and I agree with you, it's sort of like whether you feel like it or not, whether you feel cringey or not, whether you feel like you're annoying or not, you just sort of put in the reps. But what are some of the things that women can do to get past that fear factor that someone's going to, you know, make a nasty comment, tell you, you know, about who you are, all the things that prevent us from doing outreach. What beyond, like, just gonna do it whether, you know, I want to or not. What are some of the things that you even if even advice for people, but what are some of the things that you do in order to kinda just put in those reps?
Julia Arpag:Yeah. That's a great question. So I'm not a white knuckle just grin and bear it kind of person. I need to believe in what I'm doing, and I need to believe in a higher purpose for what I'm doing. So there are some times when it just does come down to discipline.
Julia Arpag:Like, I just don't feel like doing it, But my why is so strong that that's what helps me persevere through those moments of lack of motivation. So for me, my why is faith and family. I'm a Christian. I'm a mom to two sweet little boys. I have an amazing husband that I mentioned earlier, and all of that motivates me to keep going every day.
Julia Arpag:And a huge principle of sales that has massively helped me is that my goal is to serve, not to sell. So the reason I'm reaching out to these business owners and leaders is because I am a very good headhunter. My team are very good headhunters. If we work with them to help them go hire the mission critical people they have to hire, their business will be better for it. Yeah.
Julia Arpag:So I'm trying to serve them. Right? Like, I'm giving them something. I'm like, this will help you. This will make you better.
Julia Arpag:This will help you accomplish your goals. So as a female entrepreneur, keep those two things in mind. Number one, your why. And then number two, you are serving.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. And you really are solving a problem for these tech companies because these tech companies are they're they're building their businesses. They're they're refining their tech. They're trying to make it the best that they can be. They're not in the business of being out there looking for the best people because they're heads down in product development.
Adrienne Garland:Maybe some people in HR have an eye on that, but your you and your team are the ones that are out there every day talking to probably as many people as you possibly can to try and understand, like, who's good, what's their skill set, where could they potentially fit. Let me just ask you a question on on that end because you really do have two groups that you're you're serving. You have to have a group of people that are always ready to go, but you're placing them too. So it's like a constant stream of, like, having to talk to people, understand their skill sets, and then with the companies being able to say, wait a minute, I have the perfect person for you because you're talking to probably thousands of people all the time. How do you sort of manage those two things?
Julia Arpag:Mhmm. That's a good question. So a more strategic approach than what we do is, yes, we have this amazing network of candidates we've spoken to for past roles and the roles we're currently working on. But when we sign a new client, yes, we we reach into that pool first, but we launch a totally tailored search to them and their role. I have found most roles are different enough that we really can't just throw a batch of old candidates at a new role and call it a day.
Julia Arpag:Like, really do need to conduct a thorough intake, we call it, the call where we basically ask all the questions that we have of that client. I have one right after this actually where we review the job description and we review the company information, but then we have a ton of questions about like, okay, what exactly does this skill set have to look like? What exactly does their day to day look like? If it's a sales role, what exactly does their quota look like? Their deal sizes?
Julia Arpag:Their time it takes to move a prospect through a deal? All those kinds of questions that we need to ask and then we go to market and that's when we do the head hunting. So we're not just having candidate calls all the time, we're having targeted candidate calls with people who are fit for the roles that we're currently looking for.
Adrienne Garland:Hey everyone. So for years, I've been working with Doctor. Kent and sending people in my network his way. He does so much impact work. What do I mean by that?
Adrienne Garland:Well, he helps people create books and podcasts and things like that. He even helps with this podcast behind the scenes. Doctor Kent is my thought partner. Anyone listening knows that we all need to do what we can to get our thoughts, opinions, and voices out into the world and how important it is for women to invest in other women and for women to hire other women. I am all about that and you all know that.
Adrienne Garland:But in this case, I think doctor Kent is an exception. He's doing something really different via this new program that he's launched called the Genius Discovery Program. So he wants to work with people like me and like you who are impact driven. Doctor. Kent has an intensive program that goes for a month.
Adrienne Garland:He also has a three month program where he figures out where you're headed with your brand, your business, your speaking, and your signature story as a thought leader. I've known Doctor. Kent for a long time. So believe me when I say that he has a ton of experience working with people that are looking to make an impact but might not know exactly how to approach them. So if you're interested in talking to him, can go directly to talktokent.com, or you can send me a DM on Instagram at She Leads Media, or just shoot me an email over at hello@SheLeadsMedia.com.
Adrienne Garland:So okay. This is a whole line of questions based on my students who are really having a hard time finding roles. Now all of them are not in the the tech field, so probably some of your answers might be a little different. But it seems to me that any company would probably approach hiring for a role like that where they, you know, they have a recruitment firm that helps them to identify candidates. What are some of the things that either, you know, tech people or, you know, some of the my graduate or undergraduate students who are looking for a job, What are some of the things that recruiters are going out and looking for?
Adrienne Garland:Or is it really dependent upon the specific job? Because we need to give some advice. Yeah. Let's let's help
Julia Arpag:the kids out, Adriana. Yeah. You girl. So I would say you've got like, your LinkedIn is a free billboard. Like, that is where recruiters are.
Julia Arpag:Recruiters are on LinkedIn. So your LinkedIn needs to be gorgeous. Like I need to look at it and immediately be able to tell exactly what you do, exactly where you've done it, exactly what your bragging points are. So if it's students, know, likely you only have maybe an internship or two under your belt, you haven't necessarily had a full time job yet, that's fine. Brag the living crap out of whatever you did in that internship.
Julia Arpag:Brag the crap out of what you did as a leader in an organization on campus, but you've got to show me how you can do the role that I'm headhunting for. And you've got to be super clear. Like, if you're going for a product manager job, make that your your title on your LinkedIn. If you're going for a software engineer job, like, you just gotta be super specific. Don't just say operational guru.
Julia Arpag:I see people do some stuff like that, I'm like, no, guys. That's not helping you or me or anyone. Don't do that. So, yeah, be super specific. Flush out your LinkedIn as much as possible.
Julia Arpag:And then I actually do not recommend that people apply to jobs. I know that's crazy. That is a very hot take. That is not my recommendation. Your chances of getting selected are less than 1%.
Julia Arpag:So you should not waste your time. That is gigantic waste of your time. Yeah, huge waste. So way better strategy is back to sales. Everything is sales.
Julia Arpag:You need to run your job search like a sales funnel. So you start a sales funnel with reaching out to your warm leads. So you need to reach out to every single professor you've ever had, every single student you went to school with who has not landed a job, your brother's employer, your sister's friend, like everyone in your world ever. And just ask for referrals, ask for just quick fifteen minute coffee chats. You'll get a lot of no's for sure.
Julia Arpag:People are busy, but you'll get a couple yeses. And that's how you're gonna get your foot in the door. And that's how you're gonna get an interview. And that's how you're gonna get a job.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. Wow. Wow. So the two pronged strategy here is use your network. And we say this all the time.
Adrienne Garland:Your network is your net worth. Use your network and really work it and and employ, a sales approach. And then secondly, put a ton of emphasis on creating your your showcase, your billboard on LinkedIn. But but but don't waste your time on applying to lots of jobs because they just go through, you know, a tracking system. And unless you're, like, a a perfect exact match, you're never gonna get a call.
Julia Arpag:And for your students, especially who don't have a ton of work experience, they're applying to these jobs at the same time that someone who's been in that exact job for five years is applying to that job. So that they're just not gonna look good on paper compared to that person. So that's why they've got to work their network. Like, that's just a way higher likelihood of them landing something. So you you wanna make sure your students are using their time well.
Adrienne Garland:I'm going to make sure that all of my students listen to this part of this episode because it really is. I do think it's a hot take, and it is definitely not advice that is given. So I like this because it's it's very efficient. My next question has got to do with the tech industry in general. Right?
Adrienne Garland:The tech industry always has been and continues to be incredibly hot. So it's also an industry that is not very friendly to women. So how do you balance that if at all? Because the you know, you're obviously looking for the best candidate. And we've heard a lot about, well, there's not a lot of women in tech.
Adrienne Garland:And then we hear, well, there are a lot of women in tech. People just aren't looking for for women in tech. So how do you make sure that who you're looking for has almost a broad enough lens so that you might be so so that you are bringing in people that you that might not necessarily be the first sort of, like take of who these people are?
Julia Arpag:That's a good question. So we absolutely never discriminate, of course. And we don't tolerate that if our clients wanna discriminate, they're like, we'll only hire men for this job or we'll only hire people who don't have kids for this job. Actually, candidly, we had a client who wanted to work with us who said they weren't willing to hire anyone who had young kids in school because they were concerned that they would have to go get their kids from school and then come back and keep working. But they were like, that's not okay.
Julia Arpag:They can't leave their desk even for the thirty minutes it takes for school pickup. So we respectfully said this is not a good fit like that. We're not willing to work for a company that treats its people like that. People like that do exist in tech. You're correct.
Julia Arpag:They do exist. Luckily, we are a values driven organization. We're very loud about that. We're very transparent about that. So we attract fellow values driven organizations who agree with us that we're gonna find the best candidate for the role.
Julia Arpag:And if it's a woman, if it's someone with young kids, if it's someone with a disability, if it's someone of color, we don't care. Like we're looking these are the these are the specific things required for this position and we're gonna go out and find the best person for that. That being said, you're right that there are fewer women typically in the tech industry as a whole. There are fewer people of color in the tech industry as a whole. So that means we have to do some intentional diversity recruitment where we go specifically look for those categories of people and bring them into the recruitment process, which does take more time on the headhunting front.
Julia Arpag:I'll be totally transparent with you, but that's worth it. And that's something that we're very intentional about and we have some clients who care deeply. We have others who don't, but we stick to our processes and our values either way.
Adrienne Garland:I love that so much because there are so many women that are interested in tech and they just feel, you know, pushed out and pushed aside and, you know, they're they're always sort of losing out. Unless unless it is more of a femtech type of oriented company, then they feel like it's maybe a little bit more equal. What are some of the things that women that are in tech can do to maybe enhance their visibility or increase their profile so that they are looked at more?
Julia Arpag:Oh, great question. You're gonna think I'm a broken record. All of us are in sales. Every single human is in sales because you're constantly selling yourself to your current employer, your future employer, your current your future spouse right like even on the personal level you're in sales. So I would say treat your career like you're in sales.
Julia Arpag:You need to be if you are gainfully employed and you love your job awesome you need to be raising your hand and looking for opportunities where you can get more visibility to senior leadership so they think of you for promotions. If you're looking for a new role same thing I said about your students make your LinkedIn work for you make it a billboard make sure you're highlighting all of your accomplishments so that way you can get headhunted But more importantly, you've got to be working in that network and you've got to be reaching out to people. You've got to be even if it's a casual coffee chat, you've got to be on people's radar. So no matter what your job is, if you're in engineering, if you're in product, if you're in marketing, you're in operations, you are in sales.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. I think that's so important. And that is definitely when I was coming up through corporate, that was not something that we were encouraged to do. We were very much encouraged to sort of keep our head down, be very loyal to the company that we're at, and not you know, we I worked at a cable company, we were not allowed to go speak on industry panels unless we got it cleared with the public relations department. And so yeah.
Adrienne Garland:So there was, like, a a lot of discouragement from going outside of the organization, and only people that were the most senior of leaders were able to do so. So it really hampered, like, a young person's ability to get any type of, you know, visibility, attention, or even build our network outside of the organization that we were in. And I think that that like, I'm I'm Gen X. So I think a lot of women that are in my generation have that that thought in our heads like, oh, we have to be careful with what we say because we don't want to, you know, harm our organization in in any way. Meanwhile, the organization doesn't really care about you.
Adrienne Garland:We learned that. True. We all learned that the hard way.
Julia Arpag:We've all learned that. Yep.
Adrienne Garland:Yes. So I I do think that people more and more understand that that they are their own product or their own Mhmm. Brand, and they have to do many things in order to show that they they have skills that that go beyond the company that they're at. So is that also something that you maybe look for? Like, what else have these people done?
Adrienne Garland:Have they written an article? Do they have a point of view? Like, do you beyond just the LinkedIn billboard, right, their their profile, do you also take a look at some of the ways that they interact or the articles they write, if they have a sub stack or podcast or anything like that.
Julia Arpag:That would not be nearly as important as just what's actually on their profile. So I wouldn't say that candidates need to stress about I mean, you have a full time job. You have a family. You don't need to spend all your working out or all your waking hours writing articles and hosting podcast. Like, no.
Julia Arpag:You don't need to do all that to get headhunted for a job. What we're looking for as recruiters is basically the skill sets you have that they match the skill sets the employer is looking for. If you also have an industry related podcast, if you've also written an article like awesome that looks really good but that will definitely not make or break your candidacy and make or break whether or not a recruiter reaches out to you. That's more for your personal visibility just so people in your industry can see you know what you're talking about, you're good at what you do and a lot of this visibility is not just for recruiters it's for leaders. Like I use my LinkedIn heavily because I am in a dedicated Dallas role right?
Julia Arpag:I own a company But even for people who aren't, your LinkedIn is there for you to post and catch people's eye and catch people's attention. Even just to have a conversation, maybe it won't lead to a job. But the more you can present yourself as a leader in your field, the better.
Adrienne Garland:How is AI affecting the tech industry and recruitment and and things like that? Is it a is it a skills gap issue? You know, what do people need to do to just make sure that they are keeping up with the constantly changing world of tech?
Julia Arpag:You know what's so funny, Adrienne? I get this question all the time. This is like every other technological revolution that's ever happened. Right? Like back in the day, the the printing press was shocking.
Julia Arpag:Like, it's total disruptor. Like, Everyone can have books? Like, that's ludicrous. It's gonna destroy our society. Right?
Julia Arpag:That didn't happen. Like, our society is different, but it's not destroyed. So my perspective on AI is that it's like literally the industrial revolution. It's like any other shift in society. Yes, jobs will change 100%.
Julia Arpag:There are going to be skill sets that currently exist that won't need to exist in two, five, ten, fifteen years. But we are so adaptable as people. Is how we got to where we are, is that humans are the most adaptable species on the planet. So as a recruiter, I've changed even my own workflow and the way I run my business with AI. Like we now have AI sourcing tools whereas we used to have to do everything manually.
Julia Arpag:We now have AI note takers right? Like we have all these amazing tools that just free my team up to do the more high high touch white glove kind of service that really makes people feel good, makes our our clients like us, makes our candidates work with us. So I would say that's the case for every job and that's why I keep coming back to your relational skills, your ability to talk to people, your ability to build your relationships. That is never not going to be a primary skill set that you need to get ahead in any industry, any career, whatever you do.
Adrienne Garland:I love that. That's so important. And it's so true because technology is a tool, right? It's not human. And there's nothing like human to human relationships.
Adrienne Garland:And, you know, I think too, even what you were saying for the students to be building these relationships, oftentimes somebody might think, you know what? Now that you're in front of me and I'm talking about this, I might just be able to create something for you. And that's not something that's posted anywhere. That's something that just comes out organically of a conversation many times. And it's like, you set yourself up to create that magic and more people need to do that and almost be less reliant on technology because that's creating something out of nothing.
Adrienne Garland:That's creativity. That is relationships. That's human interaction. So I I love that. For so for you and your business, right, you've gotten to seven figures in a couple of years, which is an incredible accomplishment.
Adrienne Garland:It's just wow. What do you see next for you and your business? Or, you know, do you have, you know, a goal of maybe selling to a larger company? Like, I'd just love to kind of hear your vivid vision for your future. I've thought
Julia Arpag:a lot about this because people always want you to have revenue goals or size goals or something. And I tried. I literally tried to set a revenue goal, but it felt so inauthentic and out of alignment with what I actually care about and what I actually value. So I talk a lot about building my business around my life as opposed to building my life around my business. I know a lot of founders who just pour everything.
Julia Arpag:Their whole identity is in their business and that's just never gonna be my story. I care too deeply about my family. I care too deeply about my faith. I care too deeply about my community. Again, I have so much that I have to have an alignment in my life that I'm just not willing to sacrifice all of it on the altar of the business, which I personally think is a way better way to live than the alternative.
Julia Arpag:So with that being said, I I loved what you said earlier about you kinda create your own magic. I've just remained very open handed. So my goal is always to operate profitably. Like, we're fully bootstrapped. We've always turned a profit.
Julia Arpag:We've never borrowed money. We've never taken VC funding. That is very important to me that we are always operating at a profit. And then my goal is also just again to keep my hands open. So transparently, I have had quite a few firms approach me about acquisition.
Julia Arpag:I'm entertaining a couple of those conversations. But because my hands are open, I'm not tied to any outcome. So if it's not advantageous for us to sell, we won't sell. If it is, we might. So we're just taking each year as it comes, and we're just being positioned for again, I love what you said, creating our own magic.
Julia Arpag:Yeah.
Adrienne Garland:Oh, so good. Thank you so much for being so transparent and open. I think that we need to have more conversations like this, especially women owned businesses that are super successful because what I love that you said is that you are living your life and having your business serve you rather than you serving the business. So many people do get wrapped up in this idea of like, you know, my business is my baby. And then, you know, if your business is your baby, then you're not gonna be making the most logical decisions for your business because who wants to, you know, chop off a a baby's hand in order to, right, to you know what I'm saying?
Adrienne Garland:Like Yes. Yeah.
Julia Arpag:You you can't pretend it's a person. Your business does not love you back. That's
Adrienne Garland:not what it is. Doesn't. And it is there to serve you, especially if you build it in the way that you have built it where, you know, your goals are are profit maintaining goals. And when growth happens, that's great. And whatever sort of comes your way, you'll be making those decisions, and you are obviously making informed decisions that are where your your values come first.
Adrienne Garland:And I love the fact that that's your line in the sand. Many women do not feel like they even have that choice. So to boldly call out that this is the way that you are operating, who cares what anybody else thinks, I admire that more than you know. So I hope more women listen into this and say, I'm going to approach my business and my life like that as well because we have burned ourselves the fuck out, and it sucks. Right?
Adrienne Garland:Mhmm. So we don't want we don't want profit, like you said, sacrificed on the altar of business. We we want profit so that we can do great things, but that we can also maintain our sanity and our relationships because they're priceless. They're priceless.
Julia Arpag:Exactly. Thank you for being.
Adrienne Garland:Julia, I'm so inspired by you. Thank you so much for spending time with me here today talking about all of the things. And let's just keep in touch because I I wanna I wanna just follow your journey, see what happens next, and continue to be inspired by you.
Julia Arpag:Hey, Adrienne. You're so kind. Thank you for having me. This was so, so fun.
Adrienne Garland:And before we go, if people would like to get in touch with you, if they'd like to hire your firm to help them recruit their their tech staff, how can they do so?
Julia Arpag:Great question. So the two best ways to find me, number one, I'm actually the only Julia Arpad on LinkedIn. So if you search my name, there I am. Wow. I'm on LinkedIn all the time.
Julia Arpag:So go ahead and connect with me and we'll have a conversation there. Another option is to go to our website alignedrecruitment.com. We have a form you can fill out and you can see all of our glowing testimonials. We have very happy clients who have said very kind things about us. So feel free to get in touch with me either of those two ways.
Adrienne Garland:Amazing. Well, again, thank you so much and have a beautiful rest of the day.
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