Gina Peckman

An interview with the Founder.

Gina, What's it like to work with you?
The strength of my business comes from how I approach relationships. You may be my candidate today, and my client tomorrow. It's important that I know you well: your skills, how you work, your personal preferences, your desired work culture. I spend a lot of time getting to know these details. I do the same thing with the companies I source for; it's my job to know what's really going on inside the company walls, whether it's internal corporate culture, the health of the company, or the current climate in the market. I make personal, long-term investment in each hire, and maintain relationships with both clients and candidates. This unparalleled focus on relationships is the reason for my 90% repeat business rate (the other 10% accounts for new business)!

What qualifies you to place candidates in the roles you source?
Experience. I've been placing high level candidates for over twenty years in a range of roles and across a variety of industries. And during those years, I've pretty much seen it all. If you have a challenge to face with your company, chances are that I've seen it before and have successfully addressed it.

My company has an HR department. Why do I need to hire a recruiter?
You may think you have the resources to find the talent you need. However, the best candidates—the ones who will make a long term impact on the success of your business—are not going to show up on job boards or on your web site. I maintain relationships with those candidates, and they will take calls from me even if they are currently employed, because they know I'm looking out for the best opportunities for them. This means I have access to the kind of talent that you won't find anywhere else.

How do you measure the success of your placements?
Many employers are in such a hurry to fill a role that they can't see the long-term goal, and they lose the talent 6 months to a year after they hire. I measure success first by the fit of the candidate to the role and the company, and then by the longevity of the hire (many firms don't bother with the second criteria). This means a search can take longer, but the resulting hire becomes an integral part of the team, not a temporary patch. My candidates are placed in roles where they will stay, and make a difference.

I understand searches are expensive, and often don't yield results. What kind of risks am I taking in hiring you to help me with my search?
Because of my unique Performance-based Hiring model, your risk is much lower than with a retained search, and your results are consistently better than with a contingency search. With those models, you pay for time and effort, with no guarantee of success. With my model, you pay for results.

What is your biggest achievement?
Two that come to mind: 1. Raising happy and healthy kids, who still want to hang out with their parents. 2. The milestone of having had my married name for more years than my maiden name!

Your hometown?
Cornhusker; but switching, now a DUCK (due to my son's college choice).

What is something no one else knows about you?
I am a dancer, dance all the time. You don't have to be a good dancer to be my friend, just like to dance! (Or at least like someone who likes to dance!)

Dynamo Recruiting President Gina Peckman has been professionally interviewing, hiring and managing teams for quite a long time (longer than she'd like to disclose!) She is certified in Behavioral Interviewing and is licensed by the state of Washington as a General Manager, Personnel Consultant. Active in the Human Resources industry and community, Peckman is affiliated with the Society of Human Resources Management (SRHM), and multiple networking organizations, including the Recruiters Network. Peckman has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal as a "leading recruiting entrepreneur."