How to Leverage Global Talent to Scale Your Local Recruitment Agency, with Troy Ashby, Ep #226

The Resilient Recruiter

How did a Certified Public Accountant launch and scale his recruitment business from the ground up? In this episode, you will hear about Troy’s journey in starting and growing his search business! Troy shares the hurdles he faced and his strategies to overcome them and thrive.

Troy is the President of Benchmark Search Group in Dallas. He founded the company in 2018 after working at one of the Big Four accounting firms and more than a decade with one of the largest national recruiting firms.

Troy has built Benchmark’s reputation as a trusted advisor for sourcing and recommending the right accounting talent, specializing in direct hire placement, executive search, and temporary staffing for accounting and finance professionals.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [02:02] How Troy got into recruiting and was almost fired in his first 90 days.

• [08:00] Winning Best Place to Work for Working Parents.

• [11:57] Key challenges in Troy’s journey of building his own business.

• [21:44] Time tracking exercise to improve efficiency while focusing on value-adding activities.

• [24:00] Hiring a VA and fostering an environment where your team members are proactive.

• [33:09] Doing things differently to improve the training component.

• [42:40] Troy shares insights on what he had learned while running his search firm.

• [50:01] Troy’s three most important metrics in running a search firm.

Overcoming Showstoppers When Launching a Search Firm

How a successful search firm owner started his journey is always interesting. Most often, launching your recruitment business can be extremely challenging! Even if you are an excellent recruiter, running your own business is a different ball game; nothing can fully prepare you for it. Troy shared his journey from being a solo entrepreneur to building his own team. Below are the takeaways from the challenges he had, and I am sure you will be able to relate if you are already running your own recruitment business:

• Starting as a solo entrepreneur: Troy knew he needed to hire, but it took him nine months to hire his first employee.

• Slow initial growth: His hiring process was slow, which resulted in impediments. However, Troy focused on hiring top producers from other firms who were looking for a better culture fit, enabling him to build a core team over time.

• Lack of infrastructure or processes in place: When he started to scale, Troy realized he didn’t have enough infrastructure or processes to support his growth. He established SOPs and initiated training programs to create a more scalable structure.

• Trying to do everything: Troy became a bottleneck as he felt he needed to get involved in everything. He struggled with the need to control all aspects of the business. He eventually learned to delegate and focus on higher-level activities.

Fostering a Proactive Team Environment for Virtual Team Members

A good sign of a great team is when your members come to you and ask to take stuff off your plate rather than you having to reach out and delegate the tasks. This behavior describes Troy’s team, especially his virtual assistants. How do you foster a proactive team environment with a virtual team?

Troy fosters a proactive team environment, even with onboarding virtual assistants, by treating them as integral members of the team rather than just freelancers. He emphasizes the importance of full integration, where the VAs are not just completing tasks but are actively involved in the business. An example is when his first VA quickly took on leadership responsibilities and even helped onboard a new marketing VA while he was away, demonstrating trust and empowerment.

Another approach is to ensure that the VAs are involved in the company's operations and goals, which fosters a sense of ownership and commitment. This approach allows them to proactively take on tasks and support the team, contributing to a strong and cohesive work environment despite the physical distance and different time zones.

Troy’s Top Three Metrics in Running a Search Firm

Metrics and KPIs are not there to micro-manage your team but rather guide them in ensuring that they are prioritizing tasks that contribute to your organization’s bigger objectives. I wanted to know Troy’s take on the three most important metrics to measure his team’s success. He gave a straightforward response: “Recruiters have to have at least, ten interview screens... And then six client interviews in a week... If you end up with three a week, you're going to end up with one to two placements a month. And so there's a scaling factor to that. Then, on the client side, there are at least two meetings with clients every single week. And then that will be five to eight also interviews a week.”

Troy Ashby Bio and Contact Info

Troy Ashby, President and Founder of Benchmark Search Group, founded the company in 2018 after working at one of the Big Four accounting firms, in addition to more than a decade of experience working with one of the largest national recruiting firms. With more than 20 years of professional service experience, Troy has built Benchmark’s reputation as a trusted advisor for sourcing and recommending the right accounting talent, specializing in direct hire placement, executive search, and temporary staffing for accounting and finance professionals. Troy is responsible for overseeing business development and talent acquisition along with P&L responsibility, marketing, and operations.

Troy’s greatest joy comes from encouraging and helping others, personally and professionally. He has a genuine passion for people, developing long-term relationships while working to make a lasting impact in the Dallas Fort Worth community – Troy takes a servant leader attitude to heart and delivers excellence every day. He has a proven track record of building teams, creating culture, and empowering associates, clients, and candidates to win!

He has a passion for developing long-term relationships in both business and his community. He has been actively involved in various professional and civic organizations around DFW chairing committees or serving on boards including the Richardson Family YMCA, The Family Place, the Dallas Regional Chamber, and the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce. He is a graduate of Leadership Dallas and Leadership Richardson and has also been an active volunteer in March of Dimes, Genesis Women’s Shelter, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. He has been a guest speaker for multiple professional associations including the Risk Management Association (RMA) Young Risk Management Association (YRMA) and the Dallas Society of CPAs. Troy has also been cited in industry publications such as the Journal of Accountancy as an expert source

Troy received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Oklahoma State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant and previously worked in public accounting at Ernst & Young, Arthur Andersen, and Whitley Penn. He and his wife Cayce have two children, Owen and Claire. Troy places a strong emphasis on family which is why he has built a strong internal corporate culture for his employees, centered around a workplace that has been designated as a Best Place to Work for Working Parents for multiple years.

• Troy on LinkedIn

• Benchmark Search Group website link

• Benchmark Search on Facebook

• Benchmark Search on X (Formerly Twitter)

• Benchmark Search on Instagram

• Benchmark Search on YouTube

People and Resources Mentioned

• Clockify

• Asana

• The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call

• Mark on LinkedIn

• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby

• Mark on Facebook

• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

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