CEO Jean South from Hire Served

CEO Jean South from Hire Served

What a great show we have lined up here!  Jean South, CEO at Hire Served joins us today talk about what Hire Served is doing in the Heroes Community.  Jean and I have some on going banter so it was really fun interviewing her.  She really has a big heart and always looking to help our community heroes. She is a wealth of knowledge and she shares some great advice that everyone can incorporate into their lives.  Here is a snippet from the show…

GUEST:  You’re not seeing all the dollars that everyone anticipates that you would see.  And I had to really evaluate, you know, what do I want?  What is my purpose in life, and how am I going to execute that?  And how am I going to be able to serve, and continue to serve, our community?  And as I looked around, I was actually trying to get a job with other recruiting firms.

And every time I looked at other firms, what I saw missing was purpose.  Nobody was having the conversation of purpose.  And for me, what I know is when we leave service — up until that moment, we’ve all kind of been flying under this banner of saving the world.  Right?  I’m —

HOST:  Yeah.

GUEST:  — in some way, shape or form, feel like I’m saving the world.  You know, even if you’re a cook in the army, right?  You’re cooking the food that the warriors are eating that are saving the world.  You’re saving the world.

HOST:  Yeah.

GUEST:  And all of a sudden, we leave that bigger banner of purpose.  We start working for a civilian organization that may or may not have a mission that aligns with our internal purpose.

HOST:  Right.

GUEST:  And we get lost.  And suddenly, you don’t know who you are.  And you start asking yourself who am I?  Should I have just stayed where I was?  What did I do wrong?  What’s broken about me that I can’t find where I belong?  And a lot of transitioning service members get placed into roles because of their skill set.  And so, no one’s asking them what lights their fire.  What drove you to serve in the first place?  What made service the thing that wakes you up?

And it’s different for all of us.  Just because we’ve all served and feel a call to duty, that looks different for every single warrior I’ve talked to.  And so, if you don’t dig into that purpose and understand that first, you end up putting someone in a place where they have a matched skill set, but they don’t necessarily have a matched heart condition.  And when you do that, we’re actually creating this identity crisis for our warriors.  And when they leave the company because they have an identity crisis and they don’t know what they’re wanting to be when they grow up —

HOST:  Uh-huh

GUEST:  — it creates this feeling in civilian organizations that our community is not reliable and they don’t stick around.  And that is the opposite of what we want.  And, so, I looked around, and I didn’t see anyone else focusing on that.  And I had to make a decision of do I sign up to work for somebody else doing something that I halfway believe in and fulfilling — you know, partially fulfilling – my how is all about connecting.

HOST:  Right.

GUEST:  But I knew I wasn’t going to be doing it in a way that my soul believed was right.  And, so, now do I start my own company?  Do I risk my family’s finances?  Do I risk my name?  Do I put out there that I’ve started a company which – oh, by the way, if you say I did this and then you fail miserably, that could be super humiliating.  You know, that could be hard.  Do I put all of that on the line and try to do this that I believe is the right way to do this?

And so that was my big decision.  And it came down to really understanding risk and reward and what was most important in that moment.  And, so, in that moment, I was terrified.  But the amount of risk I was taking on versus the potential to actually live my purpose and to be able to help other people live their purpose and understanding that I could change lives for the people who put their lives on the line for me every day, like, it just kind of wasn’t a choice.  I mean it was – like, it was, ’cause I had to decide to do it, but it was just clearly obvious that if I could make this work and live this life that allowed me to change the lives of the people who have done so much for me, then, like, who in the world wouldn’t do it?

And, so, I just – I did it, I jumped in.  I won’t say it has been, like, peaches and cream every second.  I mean, this is hard.  Building a business is hard.  But, I mean, I think you can hear it in my voice; right?  This is – this is where I belong.  Like –

HOST:  Oh yeah.  You’re very passionate.  Yeah.  Without a question at all, you’re very passionate about what you do.  As long as I’ve known you – or since – in the short period of time, let’s say.  I’ve known Jean for years.

GUEST:  Forever.

HOST:  It seems like we’ve known each other forever.  But one of the things that, every time I’ve talked to you and we’ve talked about what it is that you’re doing, or anything that you’re doing for that matter, you’re very passionate about it and you can easily pick that up in your voice hands down.  And you’re always, always wondering how you can help the next person moving forward and whatnot, and that’s one of the things I absolutely love about you.

One last question for you:  For the listeners that are out there right now and they’re just – their hour’s upon them, what advice can you give them?

GUEST:  Perfection is the enemy of the good.  Don’t sit around hoping that you’re going to get right, planning, you know, a lot of small businesses never get off the ground because someone said you can’t have a business without a business plan.  And, I mean, I have a half of a business plan.  Take Action on that dream, it’s better then sitting around trying to write a perfect plan that is never quite perfect enough and that you never execute.

To listen to the entire interview Click Here