Relationships matter more than ever in recruitment
Many people stumble into recruiting. Josh Berger always knew this was his path.
At 19, when other teens were still figuring out their futures, Josh was interning at leading executive search firm Korn Ferry.
Every single college internship he accepted was in talent acquisition, and by senior year, he was so committed that he accepted a full-time role at an elite boutique staffing firm, commuting 1.5 hours each way from Connecticut to NYC while completing night classes to earn his degree.
A decade later, Josh's passion for talent has only grown. And he's recently discovered what he believes is a significant opportunity in his industry: a platform that's reinventing relationship-driven recruitment in a digital age.
A counterintuitive opportunity in the talent industry
2023 wasn’t a great year for recruiting agencies. Banks, funds, and tech companies scaled down internal talent departments and external partnerships alike. Key accounts pulled back; even long-term clients were reluctant to pay vendor fees.
As companies slashed talent acquisition budgets, Josh noticed something interesting. A fellow recruiter who’d just launched his own agency was "up to their shoulders in new business” from a platform called Paraform.
“It used to be that you could have a phenomenal year by leveraging one or two existing accounts. But in an environment where veteran firms with decades-long client relationships struggled, this small scrappy platform comes along, and recruiters who joined are saying ‘no, we’re busy.’ I got curious.”
Bringing new ideas to a 30-year firm
Josh decided to pitch Paraform to Glocap. ”This was my second time scaling a tech recruiting practice from scratch,” he shared. “The first time, I didn’t ask enough questions, and I realized I should show more curiosity. I decided to dig deeper into Paraform because it seemed very active, so whatever they’re doing must be working.”
Understandably, he was initially met with skepticism. The prestigious firm established a strong business over three decades of doing things by the book, and had a few questions for Josh before moving forward:
“They said, ‘What’s in it for them? Do they charge you?’ And I said no.
‘Do they work for us?’ And I said ‘no, they don’t work for us,’ and explained the model.
‘OK, create an account.’ I had to have several internal meetings because the Glocap brand has been around since 1997 and have always maintained deep relationships across respective industries. It’s a reputable brand and we wanted to make sure it was a good fit.”
What convinced the Glocap team was not only the types of clients recruiting on Paraform, but also how the platform’s model represents a shift back to relationship-driven recruitment.
Modern recruitment’s fatal flaw
In an industry increasingly obsessed with metrics, Josh has witnessed firsthand how the pursuit of KPIs destroys quality. The math seems simple enough – more candidates equals more placements – but reality tells a different story.
If you look purely at metrics and tell recruiters, like many large agencies do, “30 candidates sent per day is the standard,” the quality will drop.
On Paraform, recruiters are rewarded not for volume but for precision matches that create lasting value.
“I stress the importance of high quality at all costs. I would rather relinquish a role to another search partner than put forward someone just to meet the expectation of high volume.
What excites me so much about Paraform is you're working with co-founders who are making founding placements that will make or break their business. You’ve got to take that seriously. The quality and speed of their work could cost an ambitious, growing startup millions, or cost them everything.
Doing lazy screening or putting something forward just to hit a number is doing a disservice to yourself, a disservice to the community Paraform is looking to create, and a disservice to the reputation of the industry as a whole.”
Transparency means greater accountability on both sides
Josh believes the way Paraform rewards recruiters encourages higher-quality submissions. It also encourages greater accountability on both sides; over time, he sees the platform helping move recruiting towards a more relationship-driven future.
”Paraform is a meritocracy in the sense that the rating you’re given on the platform is based on output. You’re not getting a rating based on what you've done in the past; that rating reflects the quality of your service right now, your current track record.
There’s increased transparency too, because clients are also given a rating. That’s new in the recruitment market – clients haven’t been assigned ratings before during a buyer’s market. But being able to see these ratings on our end helps us; it holds clients accountable.”
This level of transparency benefits anyone who’s genuinely looking to grow. Paraform provides a consistent stream of feedback to calibrate and narrow down criteria to move candidates forward in the process.
That rating will tell you everything that you need to know about a recruiter’s objectives and their ability to execute on it. If I send 5 bad candidates, maybe my 4.95 drops down to a 4.8, 4.7, or less. That results in less interest, and being accepted to fewer roles.
It works the same the other way. If there's a client that comes in overzealous and says, we want to grow, we’re gonna 10x, but can't move qualified talent beyond the first round interview, their rating drops. It’s a fair and balanced approach.”
What AI can’t replace in recruitment
Josh believes that as AI makes advancements in augmenting workload efficiency in recruitment, deep relationship-building will become even more important:
”If you don't have relationships in recruitment, you’re putting yourself in a position to be one of those recruiters or one of those agencies that becomes displaced by AI. Sending outreach messages, cold calling, or flagging a profile are replaceable skills.
What's not replaceable is this human component to look under the hood and understand what makes a candidate match with your client. When I approach candidates, I am incredibly relationship driven. I’m usually not dealing with candidates who are directly applying into roles – I've been referred to them or they've been referred to me by someone I trust or someone they trust. I immediately try to find out what matters to them most by nurturing the relationship from day one, asking all candidates ‘what do you want?’
This question is especially important when you’re looking at startups because it's usually not the money that’s going to blow you away, at least not in the short term.
When we moved a candidate who was completely happy at Google into a startup environment, we knew the candidate would really have to believe in the company. The brand name wasn’t recognizable compared to the most popular search engine in the western world. But maybe the startup would give them something else they value highly, or provide a roadmap to get them to where they want to be in several months and beyond.
She didn’t know she wanted to work for a startup, but when I dug into what she wanted, she described the exact culture, environment, and trajectory of the company whose offer she ended up taking. She had several options, but it wasn’t a surprise when she told me ‘yes, I accepted the offer’ because I knew what she was aiming for since day one.
Paraform is tapping into that relationship driven component that can't be replaced. The recruiters who are mindful of it, who place relationships at the core of their practice, will stand to benefit long term.
Recruiting is a people-driven industry, it's always been a people-driven industry, and I believe it will always be a people driven industry.”
Building on early success
Josh recently placed a Founding Senior Software Engineer for an AI company in NYC. He plans to continue keeping Glocap Tech’s quality bar as high as possible to maintain their 4.9+ rating, while increasing both the volume and consistency of their placements on the platform.
"Recruitment gives back more to those who push quality," Josh says. "I see the criticism our industry gets, and it drives me to deliver a higher standard and take pride in what we provide – talented people."
Glocap has already carved out time to discuss how they can ramp up their efforts on the platform. Josh is confident that they’ll find success.
“We’re just getting started on Paraform – the impact that we're looking to make is huge. This is just the beginning.”
Ready to start recruiting and earning?
Apply to join Paraform today!