They know what they want out of life and sometimes they just need some guidance or someone to bounce ideas off of or someone to talk it out with. You know, once you've verbalized it, then you're like, okay, yes, I can't do this or this does make sense. Introducing the Vixen Voice, a podcast for ambitious women entrepreneurs ready to move into their feminine essence, live their truth, and unlock their full potential. I'm your host, April Roberts. And each week, I'll be interviewing inspiring women who decided to take a leap of faith to pursue their dream. Women who believe that they were born for something bigger. Hi, and welcome back to another episode of the Vixen Voice. By the way, just wanted to throw out there, we are putting full episodes on YouTube these days. So if you haven't checked us out on YouTube, go check us out at Vixen Gathering. Our guest today is addressed beautifully in springtime colors as I am. So if you want a little visual stimulus, you can check us out at YouTube and watch our conversation. So today, it's my honor to welcome Bryce Bats. I got to know Bryce because I was a guest on her podcast and how fun is this title, Wine After Work. Unfortunately, I think we recorded in the morning or afternoon, so we did not get to have wine while recording. So we're going to have to do that another time, but I love that topic. And Bryce is the co-founder and chief matchmaker of Career Collective. She's also a career coach and a speaker. So today we're going to kind of dive in, learn all about her story. She has some really interesting tidbits to share with us. And we're going to talk about picking the right job and designing your life around your dream job. So welcome, Bryce. How are you? I'm doing great. I am thrilled to be here and so honored, so thank you for having me. I love it. I love it. And I always like to share, as you know, if you listen often, I'm coming to you from Nashville, Tennessee. I am home today and Bryce is in Raleigh, North Carolina. So we're kind of in the same part of the country. That's right, both both in the South and I'm here in my office. Our corporate headquarters is in Raleigh. So I spend most of my time here now used to work from home a lot. And now I'm in the office primarily. I love that. So let's talk about your story first. And then I kind of love it to get into what your work routine is. Bryce and I were chatting about wardrobe before we hopped on. It was really fun. So I just I kind of love sharing these things because I think the world so different today, right? We have these hybrid work environments. We work from home. We work from the office. So I find it fascinating to hear what people are doing and what their day looks like. But first, Bryce, share with us. How did you become a matchmaker, which really your recruiter for the AEC industry, right? Architecture, engineering and construction. If I got that right, that's correct. Love it. And then you also do career coaching, which is amazing. So just share with us like, how did you get there? How did you decide I'm going to be a matchmaker and a career coach? So I feel like most people kind of fall into recruiting. It's not like you go to college and decide I'm going to be a recruiter or even grow up saying I'm going to be a recruiter one day or a headhunter. And it is so much like matchmaking. You know, you're making the match between the candidate and the client very similar to dating and we reference dating a lot in the job. But I went to NC State for undergrad, business management. I had started off in textiles and found that I hated chemistry and it was not what I wanted. So I could talk fashion all day because I thought, oh, I want to do fashion merchandising. But quickly switched to business management, met my now husband senior year of college. We moved to Florida. He's actually in the AEC industry as well and took a job down in Fort Lauderdale and I did not know what I wanted to do. So I had a few different sales roles. I was still trying to figure it out, which I'm always jealous of those people who grow up and know exactly what they want to do. I'm like, oh, gosh, I don't know what I want to do. There's so many choices. And I think there's even more choices now than when I was in school. So went back to to get my MBA at Nova Southeastern. And when I did, I met a girl who was working for the farm. I ended up working for for about 12 years. She said, you should come do this. It's the same industry as your boyfriend's industry. There'll be some crossover. She's like, it's sales. It's fun. It's mostly male dominated. You know, we'll kill it. And I was like, OK, let's do it. So finished my MBA, started working, started off as a recruiter and then slowly moved into account management. And we had a Fort Lauderdale office at the time. And then later some things happened with the company. I moved back to North Carolina and that's when I worked remotely for years and years, but we had a Tampa office. So occasionally I'd go to our Tampa location and that is where my business partner worked. His name is Edwin Pauli. And he and I had a good working relationship, but we were always buying for the number one or two spot in the company. And I think I would drive him crazy because he would call me and say, what are your numbers for the month? And I'm like, I don't even know. I'm just head down working. He's like, yes, you do know. You know your numbers. Like, no, I'm just trying to beat you. But really, I always had a goal in mind and wanted to do my very best. I will say I'm very money driven and I was money hungry and, you know, I had big goals. So years later, he and I started talking about starting our own company because there just wasn't much upward mobility where we were at and some things were happening. So finally took the leap. He was in Denver. He had been working remotely for a couple of years, moved to Raleigh since I married half kids. Yeah. So he came here and we're two and a half years in and we are both go getters. So we've scaled to 21 people and we have a Tampa location and a Raleigh location and it's been fun and wild and I would have it no other way. We were talking yesterday and we said, we could have done it slowly and not had an office and probably saved ourselves some stress. But I'm like, that's just not our style. Yeah. No, I love that you bring that up and I have so many questions from things you said. I think you and I are just a lot alike. I can relate to your story in so many ways, but yeah, I love that you shared. First of all, I love Tampa and I love Raleigh. So you're into like amazing cities. So I guess my first question for you is the industry you're in. Do you guys stay kind of regional with your offices or do you have clients all over the country? Like what does that model look like for you? Yeah, really great question. We work nationwide and we only do direct hire permanent placement. So we've got great clients all across the country and I will say, you know, we were still recruiting during COVID, but it served us well. Even then working in our production roles because we had clients in New York who weren't hiring who weren't going into the office and then clients, you know, in Florida who never skipped a beat, really. Yeah, I love that like diversification, right? And client base. It's so important. And it's a concept that I think often, especially newer under promenures don't think about. So I love that you're all over one other thing. I love Bryce is that, you know, you have a very specific niche and I know it's a large industry, AEC, but a lot of times when I'm coaching, especially some of my newer entrepreneurial clients and even the women who have been in business for a while, one of the most difficult things is for them to pick a niche because they want to serve everyone. And I know personally, my financial planning business, when I said, okay, I do retirement planning, like my business doubled like that. Like the moment you clarify what you do. So one, I'm curious, like, were you very intentional? Did you know you wanted to pick a niche and were you intentional picking the one you did? Or did you fall into it because your husband wasn't it? Or you had opportunity? Like, kind of, how did you, I guess, end up with your niche and I'd love to hear how intentional it is and what difference you think it makes in your business. So when I took the position that I worked at for 12 years, that they were doing some accounting and some other things, some office positions, but I was in the AEC team, basically, and just helped the AEC industry. So when I left to start Career Collective, I had a lot of clients call me after the fact or find me even on Facebook, which is so funny, you know, LinkedIn's huge, but I have older clients who are on Facebook and they sent me messages and my cell phone never changed. So I had them texting me. Where'd you go? We need you. So it just made sense to pick up and start working with those clients again. And when Edwin and I started, we said, well, AEC is what we know. It's what we do well. We have established clients in this industry. Now we have talked about and have started working on some more ancillary rules within the AEC industry, so not just architects or engineers, but I recently placed a financial controller at an architecture firm. And we've talked about, you know, other industries that we may move into later, but right now we're like, this is what we know. This is what we do well and we'll stick with it. And I do think it makes a big difference because we know the industry so well when new recruiters come in, if they've recruited before, they know LinkedIn, they know indeed, but they don't know the industry. So we can teach them the industry and then the rest is easy. You know, you're looking at a resume, you're looking for buzz words, keywords, you can start talking to them and you can find the right person. I love it. I love it. So let's talk about the journey of two and a half years scaling to 21 team members because that's of course you're in. I mean, what you do is recruiting, so does that make that easier? You know, a lot of a lot of my clients I know are really scared to hire. Like, that's one of the most intimidating things. And I know having a business for 16 years, it is one of the most difficult parts of hiring and I had even worked with recruiters who specialized in my industry and even that didn't work as well. So, you know, one, let's just talk about challenges you guys had in hiring or how you did it successfully so quickly. So let's talk about it as you, the business owner versus being a recruiter. Sure. In the beginning, we started in a small co-working space and I remember just setting up my laptop, looking for folks and Edwin was still moving. So I'm boots on the ground by myself and Raleigh and we're trying to find the right people and I will say it was very challenging in the beginning. Number one, to find people we wanted on our team. We had never hired before. We were both sole contributors. So moving into a leadership role was so different for us. Again, I had made many matches placed over 500 candidates and roles, but I'd never hired for my own company that way the way we were doing. So we made so many mistakes in the beginning and looking back now, you know, we can laugh about it, but it did cause us lots of stress because there were people who had to be let go. There are people who were not the right fit. So in the beginning, it's to have plus you're trying to sell the company, which really is just you've got your LLC, you've got this big dream and you're trying to sell that to someone else and tell them why they should come work for you. And we knew from the very beginning, culture was going to be really important for us because we came from a place where that was really lacking. And I think recruiters can get a bad rap and we can be like used car salesman and, you know, it's dog eat dog. So we wanted to make sure that we were hiring people that could get along that could work collaboratively. We say we are the collective here at career collective, so we've got to work together and have each other's backs because we're competing with other recruiters in the industry. You know, we don't want to be competing amongst each other as well. So all that to say is we made so many mistakes in the beginning. Well, first of all, just the story that you, you know, that was one thing that stuck out to me when you said that you and Edwin used to compete and I love collaboration over competition. Right, especially internally because being in the financial industry for 16 years, like the theory was, oh, you hired visors and you create a sense of competition. Right. And like that edges them and it's interesting because my brother who took over my firm and has a large firm across the southeast of the United States. He really focuses on collaboration and working together as a team and it has scaled their business exponentially. So I love, you know, I kind of talk about this as like the new wave of employment, but really, I just, I don't think that people appreciate that how much collaboration really makes a difference and a business. And, you know, I know at Vix and gathering, we just shifted our model of how we're going to work with clients and suddenly my COO is like, oh, and let's do this and let's do this. And I'm like, I love that I'm not the only one coming up with ideas because like this new model just like she's clicked with. And she's like, and, you know, let's do this. And I just, I think it's so important to really focus on collaboration. Second, thank you for sharing that it was challenging for you because hiring is tough. And I think hiring is really tough at the beginning because you don't really know. I too, you know, just wrapped up my first full year of the Vix and gathering like full time and similar things. I mean, you know, and people came in and you try to make it a win-win situation to separate and set them up for success and not everyone sees it that way. And so that's like our biggest celebration that we have like a really solid team right now. We have solid third party like consultants and partners and like it makes life so much easier like life's too short to have a toxic or. I don't know if you've found this race, but a lot of people are bringing their emotions to work with them. And I don't think that happened pre 2020, right? Like, have you experienced that in your recruiting role and also being a boss? We have. And I think it's a generational thing too. If I can say that, you know, as I'm 45, so I come from a different generation than a lot of the younger guys that were hiring, you know, these men and women are. And they're mid to late 20s, some of them. So their work style is different, you know, they've been told they can go to therapy and it's a good thing and they should and they set boundaries and have, you know, work life balance and mental health is a key priority of theirs. Whereas I think when I started in the workforce, we were told a lot of times, don't cry at work, don't talk about your emotions, don't bring any of that into the office. And I think that makes it hard for women as leaders now too, because you were always told, you know, you got to show up in this way and lead like a man and be loud and, you know, that's not who I am and that's not who I'm going to be as a leader either. But talking about collaboration over competition, yes, you want to feel safe at work and I think that's the big thing coming into work, knowing you have a place here, knowing it's a safe space and that's why we've created SOPs and things to lay out the groundwork. So if you do have a question, you can reference that, but also we always say, go talk to the person at the next desk, you know, go down the hall and talk to your, your colleague and you guys work it out because we don't want that in fighting and crazy competition. Yes, it's sales. Yes, the numbers are on the board, but you should be competing with yourself. No, I love that. And I'm my financial firm. I had a 48 hour rule. Like, hey, if you're upset with someone, you have 48 hours to have a closed door adult conversation. And if y'all can't work it out, then then I will come in and mediate, but not solve the problem, like just because I was good at that, like facilitating conversation, right? But I think a lot of times people don't set those rules. And I guess that's what I'm talking about because I'm all for transparency in the workplace. Like, I really, you know, we're a small team and we're digit, we're remote. So I'm like, hey, like, if you're having a crappy week, like, I kind of need to know, right? Like, you don't have to tell me I had a fight with my husband. I don't need to know the details, but just come in and be like, you know, so actually on Monday at our team meeting, we rate ourselves on engagement one to 10. And, you know, sometimes somebody will be like, hey, I'm an eight. Like, I don't know what's going on. I'm just not sleeping well or I'm having some personal stuff going on. And like, we don't have to get in the weeds. But then the team kind of knows like, okay, I might have to like step in and like help out or you might need some help or you might be a little off this week. So I'm totally for transparency. And I think it's critical when you have a small team and especially a startup because it's a different environment. Like, I love you have SOPs and stuff. But it's just this, like, when you're taking me on an emotional roller coaster every time you get on a team meeting like that, I just, I don't know, I'm like, am I supposed to be okay with this? Because I personally like, I mean, I don't, I don't stuff my emotions down. I've learned tools to like handle my emotions, right? So that I'm in a healthy mind frame. So like, I love that people talk about mindset and mental health and everything, but it's just like, okay, but where's the line? And I think that's really interesting in today's workplace. Well, I think you hit the nail on the head because it's knowing what's going on with other people without getting to overly personal because it's life and you're always going to have things going on. And sometimes those things are going to affect how you show up at work or they're going to affect you being at work physically. You know, if you're in an office situation, we're hybrid Wednesdays and Fridays from home. And on Friday, our team meeting is virtual and we'll go over our peaks and pits for the week because I think it is important to lift the veil a little and let people know things are going well, but also things that aren't so great. Yeah, I like that. Actually, I should add that to my team meeting because we do our wins. And with my coaching clients, I always say, what are your wins and what are your challenges right now. So I like that we need to, you know, it kind of comes out in the conversation, but I like putting that as part of the conversation. I'm stealing that from you. So thank you. This is what I love about podcasting. I think you and I talked about this. Like every time I host, I learned and every time I'm a guest, I learned something. So it's like really amazing. So sure. Love it. So I'm curious from your standpoint, just in your personal experience, you were remote for years. Now you guys have the corporate office and your hybrid. So like, what's your personal preference? What do you like? What have you found works for you? Yeah, before we started career collective, you would have heard me say, I want to be remote all the time. Every day. This is what I prefer. And having two young kids being remote was very helpful because I could take them to school, pick them up, take them to everywhere they needed to be. But I also got a lot done because I wasn't home and I was very focused. I think sometimes, and maybe it's not for everybody, but sometimes people think you're at home and you're watching TV or you're just walking the dog all day or doing laundry. I'm like, no, I'm getting massive amounts of work done. But now that we've opened, I do love being in the office and I will take a, you know, a remote day when I need it. If my kids have an award ceremony or, you know, you know how crazy May is, end of your parties and things like that. But I do like being here and having FaceTime with the team, especially being in a leadership role now, being able to see them, being here for them and not just being there for them on the phone or over video. But I think for them, it's really nice to have a hybrid option. So they can work a few days from home. To me, that is the best of both worlds. Yeah, I agree with you. I remember, well, first of all, I remember the first time I worked remotely, which was COVID when we were forced to work remotely. And luckily, I was in Houston. So I remember, like, it was like March 27th. I had to shut down the office and we had one day's notice. So I had to make sure every of my whole team had laptops. Like, we all knew how to commute in. Like, we literally had one day to go to remote. It was so crazy. And then we opened back up May 1st. So it wasn't that long in Houston. I think we went back like May 20th. Like, I let them stay home for a little bit and sort things out. But I remember, like what you're saying, I was like, why am I so tired at the end of the day working at home? And I realized that you didn't have breaks in your day because I was just jumping from Zoom to Zoom to Zoom. And you didn't have that moment where you walked down the hall and had a coffee chat with someone or checked in with a team member or whatever. And yeah. And so I had to, at that time, my business coach was like, I need you to go take a 10 minute walk at lunch. I need you to do this. I need you to do this. And so luckily early on, I learned to like kind of break the day out because I think a lot of people thought, Oh, this is great working from home. And then they hit the burnout wall because they didn't realize, you know, one, it's nonstop to your visually overstimulated. So I always coached my clients on like, take a break and just close your eyes because it's a lot looking at the screen all day and having lights and everything. But yeah, I totally hear you like you can't so much done at home, but you almost have to guard yourself from that so that you don't work too much. Right. Right. And you're not leaving the office. You've got your computer. You can walk to your home office at any time. The big change for me with COVID was then having both my kids home and my husband. I was used to having the quietness of being home all day alone, just me and the dog getting everything done. And then suddenly everyone was at home and it totally flipped the script. You had also asked about what my day looks like a little bit. And then I would work out at lunch to break up the day and to give myself a break. I enjoy going to a class or the gym. But now I find I work out in the mornings because I want to get that out of the way, get dressed and then come in for the day. Yeah, no, I love that. I work from home all the time now. And at first I loved it and I'm not loving it anymore. I'm going to find a co-working space to go to two days a week because when I was hybrid, like three days in the office, two days at home. I love that because by Thursday I was so excited to be at home. And I also underestimated the commute, meaning that was my time to like power down, transition into home. And you know, you have to learn to do that when you're at home. My coach clients do that. Like, "Hey, before you walk through that door and become mom and wife, what are you going to do to get yourself prepared?" So thank you for sharing that. I think it's important. What shifts have you had to make going back into the office so that you could maintain your lifestyle at home? And like you talked about moving your workouts from lunch to the morning. So what are things that are important to you that you maybe had to re-prioritize or shift with that change? Yeah, I love to get a workout in. So now I'll work out in the mornings before I was kind of journaling and meditating in the mornings. So now I find I'll do that at night. And if I'm reading my Bible or having any time with God, I'll do that in the evenings because there's just, I get up at five. There's only so much time in the morning. So typically I go to the gym and then come straight to work. And one thing we implemented was flex work hours. So I'm typically here from seven to four. So my husband would take the kids to school and then I would pick them up after work and they could go to aftercare for a little bit. So implementing those hours was helpful for me, but I will say it was a tough transition in the beginning because I had so much time being completely remote and then coming into the office. I had to figure out what worked and I was working with a coach in the beginning because one of my values is fairness. Apparently I found out when I joined a mastermind. And so with my business partner, we're 50/50, I felt like I needed to structure my day the same way as him. And my coach told me you've got to stop shooting all over yourself. You should do this. You should do that because it was taking its toll on me. And I will say, you know, I was super stressed. So I had to ease into what worked. And now I feel like, you know, obviously I pull my weight. He pulls his. We're good at different things. But we have the same end goal in mind. And so it did take a little while. So I would say, give yourself some grace, whether you're moving into a new position or starting a new company to figure out what really works and what you need personally. Yeah, I love that you talk about how your coach worked with you because I work with my clients a lot about their calendar and how to architect it and what's the ideal structure. And I just feel it's something that not enough people take time to do. Like, I can't tell you how much time I spend looking at my calendar in the future and planning ahead so that it's easy during the week or the month and like all the hiccups are gone, right? So I love that you're highlighting that because I just think it's so important. And like you said, otherwise, we do should all over ourselves. Like, I should get a through Z done. Well, if you put it on your calendar, you're going to see that you're not going to get a to Z done well to the degree. Like, maybe you can get it all done. But do you feel good about it? Do you feel accomplished? Like, did it suck your energy in the next day? You're in front of clients and you have nothing left. And so I think really, I love that you had a coach and you reflected on that and you were able to create what works for you. Because the other thing is even outside of like family and other responsibilities, I love that you brought up your core value because I think your core values should be reflected in your calendar, just like your goals, right? But we also all have different bio rhythms. Like, you know, I wake up very early in the morning too. So like, don't expect anything from me past 4pm because the brain's gone. Like that energy is gone. Yeah. After 4, moving on to other things. And occasionally, if I have something going on, I will check my email. I will respond. But mostly, I'm done when I walk out of your 4.05, 4.10. And I'm pretty good about leaving on time because then that's my time with my kids and walking the dog or cooking dinner or taking them to dance and whatever needs to be done. It's interesting because right now, I'm usually very good at like three or four. I'm like, okay, done, done for the day. But I have like two keynotes next month. We're launching something like there's just a lot of deadlines right now. You know what I mean? It's like one of those seasons where it's kind of like, okay, head down. And I was like, why am I so tired? And I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm working till six or seven every day. So because I don't have a family. So I don't have that compelling reason, you know, to leave the office. I started setting an alarm for myself. Like, I set the alarm for four o'clock because sometimes in the day you'll get into things and like time just disappears and two hours goes, right? So just like sharing, I shared that with someone and they're like, oh my gosh, you changed my life with the setting of the alarm. And it's like, because I love to your point, like you want to go spend time with your family and your kids. And you know, like there's no one expecting my time. So I have to like frame it. So I don't overwork myself. And I still understand that I need my time. Like it's important that I do things. I will be burnt out and your brain needs to break. Yeah, 100%. It's interesting. I had a headache the last two days and I never get headaches. And it's because I've had more screen time than normal. And so Saturday, I'm like, okay, going hiking with a friend. I'm going out to nature. I'm not looking at a screen all day. We're going to like disconnect and do these things. So thanks for sharing. And I always share because if you're listening, like give yourself permission. Take these breaks. We all feel like, you know, this has to be attached to us 24/7. And we have to check email. And so what other hacks do you do, Bryce, to help you balance and focus on things that are important outside of work? Yeah, this is good. One of my other values is about efficiency. And I like to accomplish a lot in my day. I do. So I think that's why I get up early and work out. But we were talking about fashion and I don't have time to shop and I love clothes and I love to get dressed up. So I do rent the runway. I rent clothes from Newly because I can literally look on my phone and decide these are the things I want shipped to me. These are the things I can wear for the next couple of weeks and then I will send them back. And it means my items in my closet are fresh and fun and new, but I'm not spending hours either online or shopping in person, which I don't know how I ever enjoyed going to the mall in the past because now it just seems so overwhelming. I'm like, there's so many choices and so many stores and it just is a time suck for me. But the other thing similar to that is I have my groceries delivered and this is something my husband and I have done for so long. And now my 14 year old, she likes to cook, but she'll say, why don't we go to the grocery store? I'm like, who has time for that? We are going to order on the app and I know there's a small markup and I've had this to bait with my friends. I'm like, but you're not spending as much money in the store because you're not getting distracted by things you don't need. So it just saves your list for you. I can add those things to my cart and have them delivered. And I know some people are funny about wanting to pick out their own produce and things like that, but I add the shopper and I tip them well when I find what I like. I had to get over that as well. So Bryce, I love that. The funny thing is in 2017, I gave a keynote speech to like a room full of female financial advisors. And I made this joke about how we have to be ready and look good and kind of on a man's schedule. And I was like, so I used to like shave my legs one day, you know, do my hair the next, but now I just get a blowout once a week. And the funniest thing is all these women came up to me afterwards and they go, really, you get blowouts every week? Like, this was the big takeaway from like, yeah, my talk about culture and branding yourself. Right? I was like, tell us about the blowout. Yeah, but you know, it's interesting. I guess that was the front wave of what we're talking about, like finding these hacks to be convenient. And I had had a lot of male mentors and men do this all the time. And I don't know why we women felt so guilty doing it. So I love to hear that you have all these hacks. I do the same with my groceries. And in fact, I do daily harvest because I notice I need like fresh fruits and veggies. And since it's just me, like it's organically grown, freeze frozen the same day on their farm. So I'm like, okay, how do I, you know, eat healthier? So I love that we have so many choices today. Thanks for sharing your favorite hacks. And if you're watching us on YouTube, drop your favorite hacks below. We women need plenty of help. We have too many roles. We have too much to do in a day. So if you have any time saving hacks, share it with us below because we'd love to hear from you. Awesome. Oh, I love this. This is so fun. So let's talk. We'll just go ahead and go to fashion since we both love fashion. So you mentioned like the mall. When I agree here in Nashville, Green Hills Mall is actually pretty nice. But if you go on the weekend, which I used to live across street from it. So I'd go in the middle of the week at night and no one's there. But the weekend, I can't even get a parking place. And there's a huge parking lot. I've gone there multiple times and just turned around and left, like not even gone in. So for me, it's more about like, where are all these people coming from? And I thought the economy wasn't good. Why is everybody shopping? Like it's mind boggling. That's so true. We have an office across the street from our office here in Raleigh and a mall rather. And we'll walk over there occasionally to grab lunch or something. And there's no one there during the week, but one of my colleagues was telling me yesterday, but don't go on the weekend because it's so busy. It's insane. And then I live near more of like an outdoor mall and same thing. And it gets so busy on the weekends. And during the holidays, you want to completely steer clear. And that's an online shopping helps. I agree. And it kind of makes me sad because, you know, this is, I mean, I grew up in like very South Mississippi. So one of our hobbies was shopping. Like that was one of my joys growing up, like going shopping with my mom and sister. And so it's kind of like, it used to be like self care to me, like just to go wander around like a nice store, even if I was window shopping. But now it's just gotten, it's like, I don't understand. I'm always like, where did all these people come from? And I'm an extrovert and I love people, but it's overwhelming when you go into a mall now. So for me, it's kind of sad, but, but I'm totally, but actually, do you know that the man, I learned this. So the gentleman is European who designed the mall structure. And it was meant to be more outdoors, like the one near you and like a very pleasing aesthetic environment. And so now you're in this, and you're in the industry of architecture, engineering and construction. But malls are designed like casinos to confuse you and encompass you. So you spend more money. And so actually, the gentleman who designed the first mall before he died said, Oh, I regret what I've created. Like, how interesting is that? Oh, wow. That's super interesting. Yeah. And now we're moving back towards these outdoor malls. That's where everybody wants to be. But that makes a lot of sense, especially now in the past two, you would see a lot of teenagers at the mall. And I guess they're just spending all that babysitting money that they've earned. I know, I know, I love it. Awesome. Okay. So what I'd love to do is ask you to put on your professional hat now. And what are like three tips you could give for your clients who are hiring? How do you help them hire well? Or what do you think is most important thing you do? Because I always felt like the recruiters that understood our business better gave us better prospects. Right? Like you said, so many, sometimes you get the used car salesman, like mentality. And you know, even in the financial profession, that was the same with financial advisors. So you really, if you actually did a good job and gave personalized service, like people almost didn't believe it. They were cynical. So I guess number one, how do you overcome that with clients? And then number two, what do you think is the secret to your success and helping your clients hire? Yeah. One way we overcome that is telling them that we only specialize in the AEC industry. So this is an industry that we know really well. We've been working in it within for 15 years. We know the ins and outs of it. So that helps put their minds at ease because it is such a niche industry. A lot of times they'll get resumes from recruiters that have nothing to do with what they do. You know, somebody in oil and gas is not somebody who can design a building or get the land ready for the building. It's completely different. So it helps that we know what we're talking about. But the other thing is it's really, truly a partnership and we like to be solution focused. We don't want to just fill a job and move on. You know, I'm, I think, pretty good at building relationships and that is what has made me successful. Like I said, I've worked with some of those clients for 10 plus years and then they found me when I left and I'm either still working with them or have recently turned them over. I recently turned them over to somebody on my team. So I think it's building that relationship from the beginning. And that takes the client telling us as the recruiter, you know, what their benefits are, what makes their company stand out, how they're different. You know, what's important to them rather than just, oh, I need a professional engineer with 10 years of experience who can run a team. Okay. That's, you know, your, your short list. But, you know, tell me more about the person that you're looking for and then tell me what makes you as a company stand out so I can help quote unquote sell that to the candidate. So I think that's where that partnership really comes into play. And then us as the recruiter, we're guiding them every step of the way, both on the candidate and the client side. So if we have clients who want to do one virtual meeting and this started a lot during COVID and then make an offer, sometimes we have to slow them down, like, Hey, this person's interviewing with three other firms. It doesn't look great. If you're just, you know, talking to them once and making an offer, we know you're excited. And they may think, well, that looks great to the candidate because I've talked to them once and I'm so sold on them, I'm going to make an offer. But, you know, the psychology of it is, well, it came so easily. I don't know that this is the right opportunity for me. Plus, I'm still interviewing with these other companies. And if they have an offer in hand, these other companies will ask, okay, well, what, what's the salary of that offer? Where do you rank them? You know, what are your thoughts on them? You're giving away all your cards. So that's when it's, to me, it is a little bit like dating and you have to, you know, we have to keep some things private during the process. Until you make that match at the end. So it's a, it's a lot of guiding the client on, on what's happening on the candidate side and behind the scenes. And then how we can better help them and get the right person in the door. Yeah. I love that. And I love it from your perspective talking about the psychology. It's like dating because I always had this three interview process. And I wanted it, you know, that was when we were in person and maybe one would be virtual, but I always wanted to change the environment I met them into. So like it kind of changed up or like who was in the room, different things. And it's interesting because one, if they make it to the third interview, they're like, wow, I really appreciate you put all this time in. And two, if they don't make it to the third interview, I just we did out a potential problem later because they didn't really want the job or we weren't really a match. And that's how I need it. But I love like the additional tips you added because I never thought about it like, yeah, you are putting all your cards on the table. Right. And how can you compete? Yes. And for us personally in house, we use that three interview process as well, where Edwin and I will jump on the phone with the potential recruiter for 10, 15 minutes, just a quick get to know you, we feel them out because some things you're able to weed out pretty quickly. They won't fully remote or if they say some things that multiple red flags. I'll never forget. I was doing an interview in my car that says it was just the first phone interview Edwin and I are on the line with a candidate and my daughter sitting in the front seat with me. And I'm texting him red flags, red flags, and they're dying laughing and I'm like, no, this is not great. Those are few and far between, but it happens sometimes. Plus, like you're saying, when you meet with them multiple times, we typically do a phone, then our manager will do a virtual, then we'll have an in person meeting. You can flush some things out, you know, that may eventually come up on that third meeting. And we've gotten to the finish line with some candidates and then the in person meetings, not great. So I think it's important to have multiple touch points. Well, I agree. We always did the screening interview too. We called it like the 20 minute phone and that was really just because you can look great on paper and then the minute I talk to you, I can tell that your energy is not a match or not a cultural match. You know, there's a lot of things and what we tried to do for a period was get them to send us videos, but that gets very challenging. So then I was like, let's just get on the phone. So I love that. Thank you so much for those tips. So your podcast is called Wine After Work. My question is, what's your favorite kind of wine? I love red wine. My favorite is Pinot Noir. And in the summer, I will drink rosé because red can get a little, you know, it's hot outside, then your wine's warm. So rosé or Pinot Noir. I love it, love it. And I always love to ask because at the Vixen Gathering, we're about also calling in our feminine energy and work because like you said, our generation was trained, like lead like a man. And, you know, there's some things where our masculine energy works and there's some things where our feminine energy works. So Bryce, when do you feel most feminine, like your feminine energy is flowing? That's a great question. Well, I think again, it starts with the clothes and how I'm feeling. Like, did I get a workout in that morning? Did I have time to wash my hair and put on an outfit? I like, funny enough, one of the guys in our meeting this morning said, your hair looks different. I was like, I washed it. That's all that happened. Because like you, I wash it like once or twice a week and then it's a lot of dry shampoo, you know. So that helps. And then I think just coming at things from a place of ease, which it's easier to say than do sometimes, especially in a startup or, you know, when you're doing something super scary, but just take a deep breath and try to have fun with it. That is one of my other core values is fun. So whatever I do, I'm trying to, you know, love it and inject some fun in it, regardless of what it is. I love it. Yeah. One of mine is adventure, which I think working from home all the time is why that becomes challenging because I don't have enough variety in my day and like interaction with other people. So I try to like go out and do something every day. So I think it's so important to know your core values. But I loved your answer because you hit on so many core feminine energy traits, like ease, because really your feminine energy is when you're flowing. And like you said, so many times, especially with a startup, like you're trying to push and make things happen, which is very masculine energy. And sometimes you just have to surrender and like, okay, I've done all the work. The best is coming. And I think that's, that's so important. And it's so funny. I was on with a client yesterday. I consult and she's a lawyer and she has her own law firm and she goes, I just needed something pretty. So I went and bought the sparkly binder to put my notes in for my coaching call. It's like, I was like, yes, yes, you do. Good. Good. Yeah. And then the working out is so important because feminine energy needs movement. Like dancing is so good for feminine energy. So I think you're like very in touch with your feminine. I love those tips. Thanks for sharing. So my next question is, what color is your feminine energy? Oh, I would say pink. Oh, yes. And has been forever and ever, as long as I can remember. Same for me. I love it. So if you're listening, remember, you can go to the show notes and get all information on Bryce. If you want to know more, if you're in the AEC industry and you're looking for an amazing recruiter. Definitely check them out. But Bryce, that's not all that you do. You do career coaching as well. So do you want to share with us that? And what are some other ways that our audience might find value from chatting with you or following you? Yeah, I do, coaching as well. And that was something I started working on during COVID. I think we all had that time and space to kind of get quiet and say, what's next? What do I want out of life? And there's so many parallels between career coaching and recruiting. So I got certified as a career coach and I was doing that on the side when we opened Career Collective. And so now we've brought it in-house. So if we have people within the AEC industry or just, you know, people in general who are looking for coaching, we are happy to help them in that way as well. I love it. Yeah, and I think I read somewhere that you also really help women in the construction industry. Yeah, it's so male dominated. So I think to be able to talk to another woman who will have your back. And then most times women know what they want next. They know what they want out of life. And sometimes they just need some guidance or someone to bounce ideas off of or someone to talk it out with. You know, once you've verbalized it, then you're like, okay, yes, I can't do this or this does make sense. So somebody to talk about that. And then I love strategizing with them as well. You know, if there's someone who's looking for a job, being able to help them in that way. I love it. And give them the tips of LinkedIn and help them with their resume and, you know, just those harder things to tackle. Yeah, so important. So again, all your pertinent information is in our show notes. And by the way, if you have not subscribed to The Fix and Boys, go to our website, subscribe. And every Tuesday and Thursday, we deliver these resources to your inbox. So that makes it really easy to find our amazing guests like Bryce. But Bryce, what's an easy way that our audience can find you if they want to follow you and learn more? Yeah, well, as a recruiter, I live on LinkedIn, so you can always find me on LinkedIn. You and I just connected there, which I love. And then our website is mycareercollective.com. Love it. Nice and easy. Awesome. Bryce, again, it's so fun. I can't wait to wear maybe in the same city, or maybe we can just have wine via Zoom one day. Who knows? I would love to come back. Not be incredible. Well, now this was on my list, you know, I've been, but it's been a while. So you might need to grab a drink there. Yeah, definitely. I am six minutes from downtown, so I can be there in two seconds. I'd love to have you. Okay. Awesome. Well, everyone, as you know, I always talk about how the world needs more love and more feminine energy. So my challenge for you today is how can you show up more in love? We talked about collaboration and the workplace today. So think, how can you show up and be more loving, more compassionate, more understanding at work? And how can you expect the same from others? Really, it's not just about giving, but it's about receiving. So, Bryce, what final message would you like to share with our audience? Yeah, well, just in line with what you were just saying, I think it's really important to call out the good things you see in people. I was walking out of the gym yesterday, and I saw Mom with five kids, and I'm thinking these kids are home from school or daycare or whatever for the summer, and she has gotten herself to the gym with all these kids, and it was very impressive. And I said that to her, and, you know, she may not hear that from anyone else today. Your colleagues, someone in the grocery store, you know, I just think a kind word or compliment goes a long way, and we all love compliments. I agree. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time today. Everyone, I hope that you have an amazing day, and I will talk to you soon. Thanks again for listening to the podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to hit subscribe, so future episodes are automatically downloaded directly to your device. And if you want access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources we mentioned, visit vixangathering.com/podcast. Thanks again for listening, and I'll catch you next week for another episode of The Vixen Boys. ♪♪ [MUSIC PLAYING]
