Updated October 2026. An excerpt from my book, Work Your Network!, about how I got my start as an executive recruiter.

“If I get a suit, can I start on Monday?”

I guess Roger Howland liked my answer, because he said yes. I went with my Mom to Mervyn’s and bought a gray corduroy suit, the kind with the brown patches on the elbows. Then we went to Goodwill and bought another suit that was slightly too big, but it was a suit.

I was 17, and I started at General Employment that next Monday. It was a glorious day. I walked in with long hair and a cheap suit, thinking I looked great. Roger gave me a look that I mistook for admiration, and I said, “Not bad for a day’s notice, huh Roger?” I swear I said that. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Roger asked me if I wanted to recruit accountants or computer programmers. I guess I thought about it too long for his liking, because he said, “Never mind, just sit over there, Joe. You’ll place accountants.”

The Miscellaneous Manager

It was a small office and everybody helped everybody else, so even if you worked accounting you still looked at every job that came through. One day a job came in for an MIS Manager. I told Roger I had the perfect guy for it. “Great, Joe, let me see the resume.” He read it and said, “Joe, this guy is a General Manager.” Yeah, I said, he’d be great for the Miscellaneous Manager job.

“Joe!” he said. “MIS stands for Management Information Systems, not Miscellaneous!” Like I said, if I can do it, you can do it.

The mentors who wouldn’t let me quit

I found just about every way possible to struggle in the recruiting business. I tried to quit twice and was talked out of it both times, first by Mike Hopper and then by Dennis Billingsley. Both of them believed I had potential, even when I didn’t have faith in myself.

Roger had sent me to work for Dennis in the San Francisco office of General Employment. Dennis is one of the most outgoing and friendly people I have ever known. Walking down the street with him, all kinds of people would say, “Hi, Dennis!” and he would say hi back, even if he didn’t know them. He was always in a good, playful mood, and he’d boom out someone’s name across the office just to pull them over for a quick chat. People loved Dennis, and they still do. Today he works with me as my Vice President of Recruiting.

The day I told him I was quitting, we were having lunch on Pine Street. Me with a slice of Round Table Pizza, Dennis with a homemade sandwich. I said, “It’s nothing personal, but I’m not making enough money to make ends meet, and I’m going to resign. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

Dennis got very quiet, which was not like him at all. A minute passed, then another. Then he stood up, walked about ten feet away and threw his sandwich on the ground as hard as he could. When he finally sat back down he said, “I cannot believe, Joseph, with all the time I’ve put into you, you’re going to quit!”

I had never seen him like that. I said, “Okay, I’ll give it another six months.” He said, “OK.”

I worked under Dennis for two more years. When I finally did move on, he let me go. I think he knew my wings were strong enough, and he liked that I wasn’t giving up on being a headhunter. I was just moving to a smaller firm with fewer rules.

Paul Austin and the power of coaching

I went to work at Ryals and Associates, a firm of 25 recruiters in Oakland, California. Bobby Ryals and Iris Brody-Lopez were the owners, two wonderful women. What really sold me was one of the best salesmen in the world and another great manager, a Texan named Paul Austin. Paul built up expectations so high that when I started, people said, “So you’re the new superstar Paul Austin has been bragging about.” I felt like I had to live up to my reputation.

Paul was a patient teacher. Anyone can coach someone who wants to be coached, but Paul coached people even when they didn’t want it. If you wouldn’t listen, he came at it from another angle, and then another. He stayed after people for their benefit, not his, until they got that big “Aha!” moment and thanked him. That’s a rare gift.

The year the pipeline paid off

In executive recruiting it takes a long time to reach a payoff. You put work in the pipeline, and months or even years later you see a result. Until then, I’d put things in the pipeline and then spend my time staring at the other end, waiting to see what came out. In 1988, my first year at Ryals, I finally worked hard enough, long enough, to see the results. A light went on. The hard work really does pay off. Funny how a little taste of success motivates you.

Instead of sprinting from the bus stop at 8:29 a.m. to make an 8:30 meeting, I got to work at 7:30. Most days I made more than 100 calls. I set a goal to make $100K in 1989, and in December I went to see our accountant.

“Jill, I need you to print a copy of the Produce Exchange invoice.”

“Not now, Joe, I’m doing payroll.”

“Jill, remember in January when I told you my goal was $100K this year? This client says I can pick up a check today. If you print this invoice, that commission puts me over.”

“Really, Joe? That’s great! I’ll do it. Congratulations!”

So I drove my 1975 orange Honda Accord out to the Produce Exchange in San Ramon, California, and picked up the check. At 21, with a GED and a degree from the School of Hard Knocks, I had made $100K. Pretty good, huh?

Starting Joseph Michaels

Then I quit to start my own company. Mom and Dad weren’t thrilled. I finally had a good career going, and I was walking away from it. (Years earlier, at a parent teacher conference, a teacher asked my Mom, “Mrs. Pelayo, do you know your son has a behavior problem?” She said she wasn’t aware of it. She had never seen me behaving, ever!)

I don’t recommend starting a business unless you’re willing to give it two to three years of your life. When I started Joseph Michaels in 1990, my first employee, Gerald Craig, and I gave it everything, 7 in the morning until 7 at night. (How ya been, G!) One night after we wrapped up, I went to Costco and Office Depot, bought furniture, business machines, pictures and a coffee maker, and went back to set it all up. Before I knew it, it was 3 o’clock in the morning.

You get these rushes of energy all the time when you’re starting a business, and it was like that for three years. I worked, I ate and I slept. In 1991, my Mom and sister showed up at the office with a birthday cake because I’d told them I was too busy to go out. I actually asked the receptionist to have them leave it at the front desk! Thankfully someone talked some sense into me. The whole company went into the conference room, sang Happy Birthday, and I ate my cake as fast as I could before saying, “Thanks for coming, but I gotta get back to work.” When you’re starting a business, you devote yourself to it like a monk.

Smile, dial and work your network

I started mailing a newsletter to my clients called The Network. We mailed 25,000 copies of the last paper issue, and today the list is even larger by email. Each time we mailed, nothing happened at first. Then the next day came a phone call, and the day after that two more. It was a good strategy, and at the time hardly any of my competitors were doing direct mail.

I nominated our firm for awards to build our name, and I started speaking, including to the Institute of Management Accountants. People often misquote the Bible as saying money is evil, but it actually says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Building something good takes hustle, and I hustled. I worked all the time. I smiled and dialed, and I worked my network.

If I can do it, you can do it.

Keep reading

This is an excerpt from Work Your Network! by Joe Pelayo. Read more: Leading Executive Recruiter, Executive Recruiters Story From the Book Work Your Network! and 18 Ways to Find an Executive Recruiter.

Hiring? We can help! Email Joseph Michaels International at info@josephmichaels.com. Looking for your next role? Visit josephmichaels.com.

Warm regards,
Joe Pelayo
Joseph Michaels International
Host, The Top Five News Show