Dr. Dorcas Tan: A Passionate Leader Redefining the Recruitment Industry

Dorcas Tan
Dorcas Tan

The rapidly changing business world is shaped by leaders who possess the foresight to identify challenges and the determination to create solutions. They are driven by a passion to bring about positive change and an undying commitment to their goals. Dr. Dorcas Tan epitomizes this leadership quality, leveraging her two-decade-long career to bridge the gaps in the recruitment industry.

Tan’s journey began with a 15-year tenure in Executive Search and HR, where she held various senior HR leadership positions in leading multinational corporations. Her expertise and leadership capabilities were further polished when she led a team of over 30 consultants in an award-winning banking and finance recruitment branch of one of the world’s largest executive search and recruitment companies.

Tan’s accomplishments extended beyond that, as she spearheaded teams of up to 700 personnel across all projects for a world-renowned staffing company. Her contributions were instrumental in the success of notable initiatives, including Changi Airport Group’s award-winning Changi Experience Agents program.

Driven by a personal mission to empower other leaders to succeed, Tan took the leap and founded Recruit Inc Pte Ltd in 2014. Through this venture, she harnesses her wealth of experience and industry knowledge to address the evolving needs of the recruitment industry.

Let’s explore the below interview highlights to uncover her inspiring story.

Could you give our readers an insight into your company and its inception story?

Recruit Inc Pte Ltd was founded upon a culmination of my passion for connecting talent with opportunities and addressing the gaps I observed in the recruitment industry. I have had the opportunity to sit on both sides of the fence as an external and internal recruiter.

After more than 15 years of working in executive search and human resources and seeing the challenges both employers and job seekers faced, I was inspired to create a more efficient and personalized recruitment service.

In November 2014, leveraging my extensive network and industry insights, I launched Recruit Inc Pte Ltd in Singapore. The company’s mission is to seek the most qualified candidates for our clients that best fit their needs and become a valued partner as a one-stop HR solutions provider.

With a dedicated team and an innovative approach, we quickly established ourselves as a trusted partner in the local job market, especially in the Healthcare Sector, consistently delivering quality results.

What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a business leader, and how have you overcome them?

The initial years as a business leader at a startup like Recruit Inc were probably the toughest. Some of the biggest challenges I have faced include attracting talent, securing funding, and establishing a strong market presence. Attracting talent in a competitive recruitment market requires developing a compelling brand and business model.

Establishing a strong market presence involved leveraging social media, and creating partnerships to enhance our visibility and credibility. By focusing on these areas and remaining adaptable, I have been able to steer Recruit Inc towards steady growth and success.

How do you stay up-to-date on industry trends and incorporate them into your business strategy?

This is a very important question. Nothing is more important for a business leader than developing himself. I ensure that I look after my own development, just as I encourage my staff to look after theirs. Staying up-to-date on industry trends should be in every leader’s DNA. More important is how we use these insights to incorporate them into business strategy to maintain a competitive edge.

Having run this business for 10 years now, I have built up a vast network. I make it a point to engage the people in my network frequently, across all levels of seniority, to hear and learn from them. They are the richest source of information on trends and new developments. I have also had a few mentors among them who have provided me with valuable guidance, especially on matters affecting their industry.

I also attend conferences, seminars, and workshops to learn from experts and network with peers. One other favorite source is LinkedIn. I follow industry influencers, join relevant groups where I can, and participate in discussions to stay updated on current trends and network with professionals.

Can you share an example of a time when you had to lead your team through a challenging situation, and how you supported them through it? 

The first 3 years of the company’s history were the most challenging. Like any other start-up, we were a new kid on the block with no credibility, and we had to find the right people to build the business quickly. We also had to secure funding to pay for necessities that were critical for the business, and the reserves from my savings were depleting at a faster pace than revenues.

I have always embraced giving opportunities to fresh starters in the industry. We took in a handful of new recruitment consultants who barely had any experience. But it wasn’t that we had many choices. I had to focus on getting clients, and a lot of the other matters had to be left to the staff themselves. But they weren’t equipped, so we had to ensure they received the right amount of training and handholding.

It was really hard work because of the need for me to be involved in so many parts of the business. When things didn’t work out, a few staff members walked out. There were others who came in and took our intellectual property and our client lists. Staff who remained were visibly discouraged. We had to find new staff quickly. I leveraged my professional network to reach out to potential candidates and attended industry events to meet talent. We also used social media to spread the word about our hiring opportunities

To prevent burnout, I implemented flexible work hours, encouraged creativity, and fostered a collaborative culture that appealed to passionate and driven individuals. To build credibility, I worked on developing a strong pitch that clearly articulated our value proposition and market potential, and I updated staff on progress.

We celebrated every new client that signed with us to keep morale high in the company. We focused on delivering exceptional results for our early customers, and I encouraged staff to share success stories to use as case studies to build on our momentum. These efforts resulted in keeping a steady pool of staff, gaining client trust, and building a story for ourselves. I am pleased to say that a handful of the staff who went through the initial years with me are still here today. We will be celebrating our 10th anniversary this November, and all credit goes to them.

How do you measure success in your business, and what metrics do you use to track progress?

I think we are not different from any other company in terms of success indicators. Revenues are definitely key. Without revenues, nothing else matters. In our weekly meetings, we focus on only a few things since we are SMEs:

  1. What are the deals each person is working on, the deal sizes, the expected duration to close those deals, and the roadblocks preventing these deals from closing?
  2. What does each person’s pipeline look like, what are the sizes of deals in the pipeline, and how near or far these are vis-à-vis our targets?
  3. Potential business opportunities the company is exploring. Are there any opportunities we could have missed?
  4. How are we doing as a team? How is each one feeling? As their leader, what support do they need from me?
  5. Costs – How are we doing in terms of costs, and are there potential areas for cost savings?
  6. Any other matters that require attention.

We try to be as practical as possible, keeping meetings short and to the point.

What advice would you give to aspiring business leaders, and what qualities do you believe are essential for success in leadership roles?

This is an easy question yet a difficult one because there are just a host of endless qualities leaders need to have, and no one quality works independently nor are qualities mutually exclusive. Each quality reinforces the other when it is needed. Every leader has different and unique qualities to tap into.

The difference lies in how a leader uses each quality accordingly, depending on the circumstances. In my view, leaders need to have a strategic bird’s-eye view of the company. When things don’t go as planned, it is easy for leaders to try to solve the problem themselves, getting caught in the nitty-gritty—things that don’t matter. Having a big picture for me is simply to have my staff always think about the purpose for which the company exists, where it’s headed, and why they are here.

They must have seen what they can contribute and how they can be rewarded. When everyone knows what their purpose is, ideas flow naturally. I tend to leave the details to my staff, and I respect, trust, and empower them to do what they need to do. This entails having an open mind to accept different opinions. The more their opinions differ from mine, the more I welcome it. After all, they’re much closer to the details than I am.

As a business leader. I never settle. I am never satisfied with the status quo. What keeps me awake at night is constantly finding new opportunities and new ways to do things. That’s the value I bring to them. Thus, my role is to open up doors of opportunity for them. They decide which door they want to walk through and how they want to walk through it.

Never sink into complacency, even when the company is doing well. Knowing each person on the team individually, their strengths, their interests, and their developmental areas is important. Spending time with them is crucial. Once they are clear about what they want and need to do, I hold them accountable as I hold myself accountable. In this respect, leaders need a sufficiently high level of Emotional Quotient (EQ) and a cool head, especially in moments where accountability is lacking and you need to reinforce discipline.

Related to this, then, is finding the right people. If leaders surround themselves with people who are passionate about what they do and who are ethical and have integrity, even when leaders are not around, the staff will keep the company running. It’s not always easy to find the right people. It is equally important to have the courage to let the wrong people go.