CIO WORLD Magazine features Dawn Hendricks in the “WOMEN IN TALENT ACQUISITION MAKING A DIFFERENCE in 2023” edition
Dawn Hendricks: From Mundane to The Monumental
Discover How One Woman’s Trailblazing Ideas Transfigured the Recruitment Industry
Navigating the tricky business landscape of today’s market can be a challenge for organizations of all sizes. To ensure success, it’s essential to have a team of talented individuals who are in the right place at the right time.
It’s a simple but powerful concept – Having the right dynamic traits can make all the difference!
Having a successful business takes more than just good intentions; it takes an intrepid and malleable atmosphere that can move and switch direction on a dime. Companies must understand that having an ambitious plan is only one piece of the puzzle; there must also be an all-encompassing familiarity with the market and a profound appreciation for their personnel.
Dawn C Hendricks understands this well-worn fact and knows that a dream team can only be built by having a clear vision, an intimate knowledge of the market, and a deep respect for the individuals who make up the company. As they say, it takes a village to reach the top, and with the right plan and personnel in place, any mountain can be conquered.
Her career began with a humble beginning in the recruiting world, starting as an assistant within a Fortune 500 company and ultimately paving her way to becoming the President and CEO of a National Recruiting and Consulting Firm. With an ingenious perspective, she saw the opportunities for improvement within the industry and was determined to fill the gaps, bringing a new approach or a fresh concept to the table. After partnering with other recruiting and consulting providers, Dawn and Omari Franklin, the Co-founder, came up with a business model that would provide customers with effective support.
By creating FM Talent Source, a certified minority and woman-owned enterprise, she has enabled companies and job seekers alike to ascend to new heights. As a bridge-builder, Dawn is the conduit that unites companies with solutions and people with opportunities.
At her core, she specializes in finding the perfect addition to any team. With the use of her expansive network, she can connect the right people to the right opportunity. Their expertise and innovative technology allow her to accurately identify and screen candidates – ensuring the clients can find the right person to further their business goals and mission. As the firm’s motto goes, they’re dedicated to delivering top-tier results: “Right people, in the right place, at the right time.”
Through it all, Hendricks has faced numerous tests. From every day to the extraordinary, she has confronted financial tests, interpersonal tests, customer trials, cyberattacks, and legal hurdles. Each one has pushed her to her brink, teaching her the power of endurance and fortitude. Thanks to this, Hendricks has emerged from each challenge more resolute, more knowledgeable, and more prepared for anything life throws her way. Her struggles have taught her that, no matter how hard the situation, you can always persevere and rise above.
Let’s set sail on this remarkable journey to discover her extraordinary mission to revolutionize the recruitment industry! Who knows what exciting discoveries await us?
From Recruiting Assistant to Fortune 500 Manager
Hendricks’ journey to success began with her humble start in the recruiting industry – Starting out as an assistant at a Fortune 500 company and ultimately becoming the President and CEO of a National Recruiting and Consulting Firm. With an innovative mindset, she identified the gaps in the marketplace and was determined to provide a solution to bridge them, either through a novel concept or a new take on an existing service. Having worked with other recruiting and consulting providers, she, alongside co-founder Omari Franklin, crafted a business model that would provide customers with the support they needed.
When they first launched, they set out with a personalized, collaborative, and results-oriented approach to support their candidates in achieving their dream job. With every individual they worked with, they pursued providing guidance and constructive feedback, offering an extra layer of support that would help make all the difference. They were particularly aware of the needs of minority candidates, recognizing the importance of providing them with the information and knowledge they needed to get ahead in the working world. With their commitment to inclusivity and dedication to providing only the best assistance, they endeavored to ensure that all their candidates were on the path to success.
Conquering Business Obstacles
FM Talent Source is a minority and woman-owned professional services firm that provides business and workforce solutions to help organizations across the country conquer essential business obstacles in financial management, grant management, and human capital strategy.
Their impressive roster of clients includes federal, state, and local government agencies; Fortune 500™ companies; and non-profit organizations. With a history of providing reliable recruitment strategies and integrating effective project and quality management tactics, FM Talent Source stands as a beacon for their client’s success. By utilizing powerful technology and innovative approaches, FM Talent Source gives its clients the tools to meet their organizational goals and thrive in an ever-changing landscape.
FM Talent is on an important mission: to help organizations across the United States tackle their most complex business challenges and reach their ultimate goals. They know that with the right people at the helm, any organization can reach success. That’s why FM Talent is committed to connecting its customers to the best resources available, using its internal recruiting and project management strategies to accommodate its customers’ business needs. They do this through managed services solutions or by providing a single resource because they truly believe that the right people get more done. As the best resource for their clients, FM Talent is proud to be the go-to for finding the right people to get the job done right.
Power of Having The Right People
FM Talent provides management consulting solutions across industries with a methodology that is built on a solid foundation. Their project management methodology is designed to provide the highest levels of quality, and the firm is ISO 9001-2015 certified, ensuring that quality management is at the heart of their operations. This commitment to quality is carried through their internal processes, which are reviewed and updated on a quarterly basis in order to meet the highest standards of compliance and continuous improvement. This attention to detail, along with their experienced and knowledgeable team of employees, ensures that FM Talent can provide customers with the best possible service for their management consulting needs.
Having “The right people” connected to the same mission and goal is the secret sauce for success. By leveraging their tools, approaches, and methodologies, these individuals can work together in perfect harmony. They use their unique culture as a competitive advantage and have even created ten different fundamentals that serve as a guidepost for how they do business, ensuring that no matter who you encounter in the organization, you will receive the same quality and level of excellence, coupled with kindness and care. It’s not just about results; they also focus on how they accomplish those results, creating a culture of behaviors that ensures everyone is on the same page. They may not be the only organization doing good work, but they certainly stand out among the crowd.
A Hybrid Approach to Business Solutions
FM Talent Source stands out in the highly saturated market of providing professional services to the federal government (federal civilian and DoD). They offer a hybrid approach, providing both consulting solutions and recruitment services, and this makes them stand out in the industry. As a hybrid company, they have the unique ability to provide bona fide consulting services and solutions, as well as the internal infrastructure and capability to recruit and staff their contracts in-house. They have the edge over their competitors in the “War for talent,” as they are able to move faster, and their internal services keep their pricing very competitive. Not only do they provide their services to the federal government, but they also offer their recruitment services to other companies (large and small). In today’s market, where the war for talent is at an all-time high, FM Talent Source can help get the right people in the right places with exceptional speed. That’s why they’re quickly becoming the go-to.
At the heart of FM Talent’s secret sauce is its ability to create repeatable and reliable processes that consistently deliver great value to its customers. They understand that all of the hard work and effort that goes into building a successful business can be easily undermined by a lack of trust and satisfaction. That’s why they’re so highly engaged with customers, being responsive, consultative, and solution-oriented every step of the way. They want to make sure that their clients feel heard and understood and that their mission and business objectives are being fulfilled. This philosophy has clearly been a success: FM Talent has earned over 95% of its rebid projects due to the relationships and trust they’ve built with their customers. It’s a testament to their exceptional work.
FM Talent’s Tech Transformation
FM Talent has made a substantial commitment to modernizing its technology operations with updates to its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System, applicant tracking systems, sourcing tools, collaboration software, and more. They’ve also employed a range of tools to support their sourcing and recruiting—from video technology to accelerate the interview process to systems that provide better collaboration and data visualization across the organization, providing more transparency to employees.
All this is designed to make sure information is easy to access and the whole experience is intuitive and streamlined. And with these investments, FM Talent is confident that its technology will continue to support the efficiency, accuracy, and speed of its internal processes for years to come.
Proactive Performance Tracking
FM Talent has a variety of metrics in place to ensure they are meeting their performance objectives across all departments and projects. Their internal methodology, 4DX, allows them to measure their progress weekly on lead measures and hold one another to a high standard of accountability. This allows them to make the necessary adjustments throughout the week to stay on track with their priorities. To ensure they are meeting their goals, FM Talent also provides monthly and quarterly reports. These reports highlight what they have achieved over the past period of time and help ensure that they are continuing to make progress. With this detailed approach to tracking performance, FM Talent is able to stay on the cutting edge of success.
The proactive approach to project management taken by this company allows for a predictable relationship that takes the guesswork out of it for its customers. Their project managers meet with customers on a monthly basis, where they discuss the performance of their staff, the health of their projects, and any programmatic updates. This regular cadence of meetings ensures that the relationship between the customer and the company remains strong and reliable.
At the core of this company’s success is its legendary customer service. Through these monthly meetings, customers receive and provide regular feedback on the project status, review metrics, and ultimately gain peace of mind knowing their partner is dedicated and committed to the success of their project.
Challenges Stimulate Growth
Hendricks has been tested in many ways, from the mundane to the monumental. Financial challenges, people challenges, customer challenges, cyberattack challenges, legal challenges—the list goes on. Each of these has pushed Hendricks to her limits and taught her the importance of resilience. She’s come out of each challenge stronger, more experienced, and with a better understanding of the world. It’s no surprise that she’s now able to tackle any problem or obstacle with confidence. Through these struggles, Hendricks has learned that no matter how difficult the circumstances may be, you can always persevere and come out on the other side.
Obstacles are a natural part of the process; they are designed to test you and prove what you’re made of. She has had to learn how to navigate her way through the challenges she has been presented with, relying on her faith in God and the sage advice of her CEO peer group while also working diligently on her strategic plan. Hendricks is thankful for the obstacles, for they have shaped her into a more experienced leader and have given her a newfound appreciation for the good times.
Her advice to anyone who has found themselves in the middle of a challenge is: “Don’t give up; keep going.”
Gain Ground
As a preeminent professional services firm, its commitment to excellence and innovation is unparalleled in the federal, state, and local governments, as well as the commercial and non-profit industries. They strive to provide best-in-class services in each of these sectors by drawing on their vast industry experience and expertise. To ensure that they are constantly advancing and growing, they have created a 5-year strategic plan that will help them reach their noble goals. Their plan includes initiatives that will help them create a unique and powerful presence in the markets they serve, expand their services and offerings, and enhance their customer service and quality standards. They are confident that by successfully executing this plan, they will be able to achieve their vision of becoming a dominant professional services firm.
Their 5-year strategic plan includes the following:
Sustainability
Profitable growth
Operational Excellence
Provide best-in-class service to our clients and employees
Success Recognition
FM Talent has received numerous awards. They are the 2-time winners of the Contractor of the Year award from our customer, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and also a 2-time winner of the Top 100 Minority Business Enterprise award in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
FM Talent Source was named a TOP 10 HR Consulting Company in 2021!
FM Talent Source, LLC was a Finalist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Dream Big Awards
Dawn Hendricks was named one of America’s 10 Women of Distinction in 2022 by Success Pitchers Magazine!
Dawn Hendricks has been selected as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in the state of Maryland and featured in the Women We Admire article 2022.
Dawn Hendricks has been recognized as “The 10 Most Inspiring Leaders to Follow in 2023” by The Inc Magazine.
