The long road that brought me here, and why it may be of interest to you.

 

I can honestly say this is not the professional destination I originally had in mind.  Before owning a recruiting business I had a lengthy career in behavioral health and oversaw treatment facilities in several states.  Even though I was an administrator overseeing program operations (hence the master's degree in public administration) my senior management teams and I spent quite a bit of time working hand-in-hand with our in-house HR and recruiting folks.  We were doing everything we could think of to keep pace with turnover, literally day in and day out.  Sometimes we did ok, and other times... not so much.  I did my best to research every possible "talent acquisition" option, and tried hiring most of the major staffing firms to help us keep our vacancy at a reasonable level.  It was a constant struggle, and I couldn't help but to think that we were missing something.  Years went by.

 

And then things got worse.  The aftermath of the pandemic and the national labor shortage pushed our staffing to a crisis level.  I was proud to work with great people to keep those programs stable, and we did weather the storm, but it shouldn't have been that hard.   That experience led me (out of both desperation and necessity) to start Ascend Career Services on a laptop from my home.  Taking recruiting into my own hands was what needed to be done in that moment, but I also felt that in the next phase of my career it was going to be important to find a way to help leaders stop chasing their tails.  Something had to be done to break the cycle of setbacks and frustrations that are the inevitable result of an organization being perpetually under-staffed.

 

Going out on my own and starting a new recruiting firm was a big step.  I knew I needed to learn more and sharpen my skills, so I enrolled in a series of training programs.  In the early days of Ascend Career Services, my base of knowledge grew quite a bit, and I was excited to learn additional recruiting strategies and techniques and put them to work as we acquired new clients across the US.  But I still could not find that silver bullet I was looking for.  My other revelation was that traditional-style recruiting services are far more expensive than many nonprofits or private businesses could pay, and the growing trend of employee job-hopping made that model even less viable.

 

And then something new caught my attention.  That "thing" was AI.  It seemed promising, but I had to wonder if it was just hype.  Could it actually have practical application in recruiting?  And so the experimentation began.  My hope was to develop the type of service that I would've been thrilled to purchase when I was running programs.

 

Obviously, these new technologies are still evolving, but when the right AI tools are used in a way that is focused and guided by real-world recruiting experience, and mixed with the right amount of genuine personalization in the candidate outreach and messaging...  Well, let's just say it changes a lot, especially as it pertains to passive candidates.  

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The bottom line is that if you are not doing any "outbound" recruiting (i.e., reaching out and targeting passive candidates who are not actively looking for a job) this is a huge opportunity.  It is an entirely new and untapped pool that can supplement and significantly add to the applicant flow that you are already bringing in. 

 

And the best advances are the most recent.  Our way of bringing it to you is in the form of an AI-powered hiring engine.  Once built and configured properly, it works non-stop to source, screen, rank, and reach out to large volumes of candidates that most employers will never make contact with.

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At the moment, it's mostly just large corporations that are using AI to maximum benefit in recruiting.  But it doesn't have to be that way.  This stuff is accessible to most everyone, and truthfully the biggest obstacle is the learning curve.  And that's where we can help.

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If you'd like to hear more, I'd be happy to explain how our small and specialized team puts this into action, as well as what new possibilities it creates.  And if the conditions are right, maybe we can help you take material steps toward resolving your personnel shortages.

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My advice:  Don't take the long road to realize the benefits of these new technologies.  The tools are here and available right now.  Let us show you what AI can do today to strengthen your organization's personnel situation in a way that is both effective and affordable.

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Best Regards,

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Patrick Metcalf

Founder and CEO of Ascend Career Services

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