Mandy Gibbons Podcast Show... GUEST: Steve Gard

Steve is the Founder of The Circle Back Initiative, after his own experiences during the pandemic... seeing people suffering from mental health issues while also trying to apply for work... Steve created "The Circle Back Initiative" to improve the experience candidates receive after submitting a job application.

Steve is also the Founder of BenchmarCX, a software platform which allows you to capture candidate experience feedback at each stage of the recruitment process, and then benchmark the results against BenchmarCX database of employers by industry or role profile.

Steve also shares his own resilience and entrepreneurial story... We dig a little deeper into the insights of that... And finding inspiration, drive, purpose and resilience during challenging times.


JUST SOME OF THE GOLD IN THIS EPISODE:

Steve shares his leap into entrepreneurship after being in a career in recruitment, in 2019. How his plans and new business went out the window when the pandemic hit in 2020.

Steve saw employers were compounding the stress and anxiety of job applicants, during this time, by not getting back to applicants. And he decided to change this.

Steve talks about his mission for change so that applicants don't feel ignored... Getting a group of employers to commit to respond to applicants throughout the recruitment process. And to encourage other employers to do the same.

Steve launched The Circle Back Initiative in May 2020. Just over 2 years later, with over 140 companies throughout Australia, New Zealand... and they've now launched in the UK and the US.

Steve shares his own resilience story and insights into his own challenges and life experience with mental health and anxiety. Wishes he had have taken action on it years ago. How much better it made him feel seeking help for it.

How Steve nearly didn't start The Circle Back Initiative due to being told that it might upset the industry. And the lesson he learnt about not being able to please everyone.

Steve speaks about how important purpose is... and how he rediscovered his purpose during creating The Circle Back Initiative, during such a difficult time.

We talk about how scary it can be when applicants don't know the recruitment process, aren't followed up with (don't hear back)... When they're feeling helpless how much loss of control and pressure that puts on them.

The impact it had on Steve being able to help create change, so people are feeling like they're being heard and cared for.

The incredible feedback from employers. How candidates have specifically applied to companies who stand for and are committed to The Circle Back Initiative.

How The Circle Back Initiative creates a caring culture within the company.

Kmart, Office Works, LinkedIn that have 1000's of employees through to smaller companies that hire 5 employees have committed to this.

How companies often lose customers from the way they've treated job applicants... and how a company treats customers can affect potential applicants not wanting to work for them.

Steve shared that companies, for the most part, don't know what people are going through personally, individually in their lives... it's important to get back to everyone and treat people with respect.

There's 6 standards that need to be met with The Circle Back Initiative. Which drives better practice and far better feedback from employers "in house" recruiters... when reaching out to job applicants.

The amazing companies that have come on board to sponsor The Circle Back Initiative so Steve can make it free for employers to join.

The importance of congruence when it comes to connecting with people for organisations, with anyone that comes onto contact with their brand including employees, candidates, suppliers, customers.


You can connect with Steve here...
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-gard/
https://circlebackinitiative.com/



Mandy "Resilience Mastery" Gibbons
Resilience (And Emotional Resilience) Coach For Men