Interview #1: Alex Guggenberger, Founder at Reekru
Please note this series was inspired in styling and function by Julie Ann Howlett’s Women in Tech blog series. She is a female entrepreneur with a passion for sharing people’s stories and fostering community engagement. Check her out!
Tap Your Network series was designed with a purpose to share stories about professional networking, with the hope of showing job seekers the importance of networking and provide practical tips to build and manage your professional network. Over the years, I’ve experienced the benefits of a great professional network and the struggles of entering into a new career. I’ve come to realize that building your professional network with the right contacts is one of the greatest investments you can make.
For our first, Tap Your Network interview, I interviewed Alex Guggenberger. He has spent years meeting with both recruiters and job seekers helping them better recruit and look for jobs in the 21st century and beyond. With a passion for helping people find meaningful work, he co-founded Jobiki and founded Reekru, both software platforms that help people and companies discover each other with a personalized process.
We discussed how networking helped him uncover pain points in the marketplace, friendvestor communities, and he shared an important question that you should always ask during your one-on-ones. This was a video interview and we transcribed it using otter voice notes.
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Adam: Hi Alex. Thanks for joining us today on the first interview series on how to “tap your network”. Alex and I met actually over Twitter about three, four weeks ago, and found a lot of common interest in the jobs and recruitment market. So maybe you could just tell us a little bit about your life and how you got involved in recruitment and jobs?
Alex: Yeah, I’d say a lot of people, I think it’s accidental. That’s the first thing that I always talk about when people asked me how I got into it. For me, I wanted to be a doctor when I went to college and university and then quickly learned it wasn’t something I was passionate about. I ended up doing accounting and business and wanted to climb the corporate ladder, and was fine doing that and selling out. But when I was in college I was looking for work and just felt like it was a horrible experience.
For me, I was like, okay, what would this vision be? What would a perfect job seeker experience be? And for me, it was, I want to find the right company. Being a younger boy, you look for more than just the job title and job description. You want to learn and build your career. A solid foundation for the rest of your career going forward.
So, for me, really where that came from, was a lot of networking and a lot of meeting with recruiters. And, over the past three years, I’ve been meeting with recruiters all the time, asking them a ton of questions and learning from them. I that’s allowed me to see a lot of the problems they have without even specifically asking them, hey, what’s your problem. You kind figure it out through the context in which they’re talking about these issues.
And, through that whole process was able to find these real niche problems that recruiters have and have been able to tap into a lot of those problems. I felt like a lot of friends of mine and a lot of job seekers were just like we’re sick of applying to jobs. We don’t find the right company that’s going to fit with who we are. And then for recruiters, it was a lot of these companies and recruiters were having trouble getting noticed and getting in front of these candidates.
I built Reekru to provide recruiters with a personalized recruiting platform. This allows them to use video use, customized messaging and build a personalized web page for every single candidate. So 10 X is that candidate experience for them.
Adam: So you’ve identified two big problems in the marketplace. With Jobiki you realized that people are looking for meaningful work and it’s very difficult to find that through all the vast amount of information out there. And with Reekru you’ve identified that there’s this competitive marketplace for high talent, high tech talent, specifically. How many conversations have you had with recruiters to figure out these pains points?
Alex: Yeah, I think that’s one thing I wish I would have kept track from the beginning. I am sure it’s above 100 or 150. If you look at my schedule,
I’ll probably meet with six or seven recruiters a week. Right?
On top of that, I met with about 85 or 90 job seekers in six months. And, so you add all that on and I’ve met with a lot of people and learned a lot from a lot of different people.
That’s where your network comes in and being able to recognize when you finish with meeting with somebody, you say, “Hey, I want to learn more about this topic, who do you know out there that has a different viewpoint than you?”
“hey, I want to learn more about this topic, who do you know out there that has a different viewpoint than you?”
That’s allowed me to meet with more people because getting a referral or an introduction from somebody else is important. Your email or your message goes right to the top of the list.
Number one, never go into a meeting without an agenda or an idea about what you want to learn more about. You need to be hyper-focused. It’s more, hey, we’re going to chat about life for a little bit. But I also want to learn from you. And everyone likes teaching, and everyone likes learning. And so networking with an open mind and ears, it allows you to keep your skills up to the top-notch.
Adam: I think that’s a good point. What you’re saying is to make sure you’re reaching out to people that are the right fit for what you’re trying to achieve and it’s important to get different viewpoints.
How are you going about that to identifying the people that are a good fit for your learning objectives? What kind of research are you doing?
Alex: Yeah, I think as I mentioned a little bit earlier, the first thing is recognizing what you want to learn. And it’s not just, I want to learn about sales, or I just want to learn, or I want to learn about software development.
You have to be like, I want to learn about closing our first client or sales sourcing clients specifically through LinkedIn. And you have to be cognizant of that. Once you find out really what you’re trying to target, then you are ready to network.
- You start by going to your current network and you ask any, you ask everyone and anyone that you think would help you and just say, Hey, I’m looking to connect with somebody that can teach me about this specific topic. Who do you know out there?
- My secret weapon in recruiting, which is kind of ironic is Twitter. And I think that’s one of the things that people don’t look at. Everyone’s so inundated with messages through email and LinkedIn. If you can find a way like Twitter to be able to get in front of those people that you look up to. And I say, “Hey, I’m going to be in San Diego. Be in LA, or Chicago, wherever I am, does anyone know anyone I should meet with.”And half of the time I get about two or three contacts. Okay, I’m going to schedule meetings with these people. And a lot of those meetings are more just building my network beyond the environment, which I set and which I am in Minneapolis or Midwest. This way you can expand your network.
Adam: Right! So basically start with your network, try and get a few referrals from them. Keep expanding into pockets of networks that are hyper-focused on what you want to learn about.
Now, as your network keeps growing and growing, what are you doing to manage your network? Are you using ant kind of solutions?
Alex: Yeah, luckily for me, a lot of the networks that I’m seeking are around the businesses in which I run. I can house a lot of those networking connections within my CRM. When it comes to personal networks, I have an Excel spreadsheet that I keep information. Such as, I met with this person, and I was able to learn this and that.
When I started Jobiki, we started a friendvestor update. And so basically with investors, you update your them every month. Every month, you’re going to talk about your highs, your lows, your financial metrics, what are some of the things you’re working on? What are some of the things you’ve done? And so we did the same thing for our friendvestor, which are pretty much people who helped us get to where we are today, not financial contributions, but more of that learning contributions.
And so when I send out these messages, I asked them questions. “Does anyone know anyone?”And so that’s about 50, or 60 people at this point that I email every single month with questions and a lot of times, I’ll hear back from about 10 to 15, saying, hey, here are my thoughts and here’s a list of people that you should meet with.
Adam: I love the concept of a friendvestor. When you sent me an email, are you doing personalized emails? Or are you sending bulk emails?
Alex: Yeah, more of an email everybody. And then, I always find new people and ask them, I say, “Hey, we have a friendvestor update”. I’d love to add you to it. Are you willing to be to get an email from us once a month with updates on what we’re working on? And some questions that we have? And I’ve never had one person say, No.
Adam: This is valuable. If anybody reading this, no matter what you’re doing, if you can get a group of people that are buying into what you’re doing, and that helps you to get the right answers. That’s a real pro tip.
Alex: I remember earlier this year, I hadn’t sent one out in two months. And said, “Hey, I didn’t want to share anything because I didn’t feel like it was going well.” And so, when I sent that out and I got the responses back and they were encouraging and bought into helping me. And they said, “We invested our brainpower and our knowledge year into your business, and we want to know how we can help.”
And I think that’s one thing that has allowed me to become to get where I am today is because I’ve been able to say, I don’t know, I’ve been able to tell people when I’m networking saying, “I want to learn more about this because I know absolutely nothing.” Again, being vulnerable and just being able to be yourself and say, “Hey, I don’t know anything. Does anyone else know anything?”
Everybody is willing to help somebody willing to learn. Because then it makes them feel a part of your business. And so it’s not just, Hey, I’m spamming all these people updating them on my life. I’m 24 years old. I have no idea what I should be doing sometimes. Some people who are veterans in the software as a service world know a lot more than me.
Adam: I feel like it never stops, you know, like, networking is always going to be so important. You can’t get anywhere without your network. There’s always something new that you need to learn.
I like what you said about humility. It’s important to attract the right people that will always be there to help you.
Alex: That’s one important thing. It’s not just about meeting people to meet with people. Without any reason. And what you need to do is you evaluate, okay, am I able to contribute to this person’s networking? And are they able to contribute to mine? It’s not just taking. I don’t want to just take knowledge, you know.
But it’s also “how can I help you?” I think that’s one thing that I always ask at every meeting. I say, “How can I help you?”
But it’s also “how can I help you?” I think that’s one thing that I always ask at every meeting. I say, “How can I help you?” A lot of times, you’re gonna get people who say, no, I have nothing right now, but I’ll keep you posted. And sometimes you get people that are like, I need help with this.
But so many people are like, wow, I’ve never gotten asked that question. And when we look at networking, we shouldn’t look at it as a take relationship. We need to look at as a give and take like your network is always going to be ebbing and flowing. And your network is always going to be there. You don’t want people to be like, no, don’t meet with Alex, he doesn’t care about you. He just wants just to take your knowledge and take your ideas.
It’s more about building things, where it’s like I’m giving and I’m learning from you. I feel that’s one thing that people don’t understand when they think about networking. It’s about long term thinking and you have to be able to give and take and provide something to somebody else. And then, you know, they’ll evangelize you, which is your goal, right?
Adam: I love that. I’ve never used it myself consistently like that. I always felt like it was implied, but if you don’t put it out there, you know, then the person may not be aware that you’re willing to help them right away in return, right?
Alex: Absolutely. One of the key things, it’s not a question you ask while you are shaking hands. It’s not the last question. And you want to provide a few minutes for it, maybe even five minutes, and you want to be like, how can I help you? Like, what are the struggles you have?
It’s not a last-minute, like, hey, let me know if I can help you in any way. See ya. It’s a direct question that you’re saying how can I help you? It’s more genuine when you’re sitting down rather than shaking somebody’s hands or walking up the coffee shop. It’s not as genuine, it feels rushed first when you’re sitting down, you’re in the right conversation.
Adam: Right, that’s great. So I think we’re kind of reaching our end of the casual coffee discussion for our 1st Interview Series on how to Tap Your Network.
In summary, you made so many good points here. Start with your networks, then expand through referrals. You suggested a great idea to build a friendvestor community and to always have the humility to show people your struggles. And, finally, networking is a give and take.
Those are all amazing tips, anybody who’s reading this, who’s is in job-seeking mode or looking to advance careers through a network or trying to find their way as an entrepreneur. These are all things that people can use to tap into their network a lot more.
And so I’m looking forward to seeing your companies grow. I think they’re going to be awesome. Anybody who’s reading this, who’s a recruiter and wants to know how to get in front of highly qualified candidates in a new innovative way should check it out, Reekru.
So Alex, thanks a lot for doing this and we’ll speak to you soon.
Alex: Yeah, absolutely love being a part of the process. Thanks.
About Adam Dorfman: Concerned about the stagnation in higher education and the rapidly changing jobs marketplace, I have been particularly interested in developing solutions that combine technology, managing professional networks, and building new career paths. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of Tap Your Network which is a personal CRM app designed for career advancement. If you are interested in being featured in this series, you can find me on Twitter or LinkedIn or leave a comment below.
