Allen Ackerman and Ryan Brogan sit in their two-person office on the third floor with windows overlooking Lafayette Street in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood. On a warm July day, the light streams into their tidy workspace where a mini fridge with cool refreshments sits under the windowsill. A logo on the glass door of their office spells out Magnet Agency, making them easy to identify.
By definition, they are professional recruiters.
They’ve been here since the beginning. Almost three years ago, Allen and Ryan moved into the original WeWork location in Soho where they’ve remained ever since. They’ve stayed because of the community and the unique way that WeWork fosters member interaction. Becoming a member has also opened an unexpected door for Magnet Agency. Among a long list of clients that includes CBS, Estee Lauder, and Conde Nast, they’ve also made some key hires within WeWork.
Even if you spend a few hours with a potential candidate, how do you truly know that they will be a good fit for your company?
That’s where Magnet Agency comes in.
Allen and Ryan first met because they shared a common interest — not entrepreneurship, but DJing. Ryan was working at MTV Networks where he led digital and technology recruiting. Allen was writing and selling original software to Goldman Sachs and Sony.
They both were dabbling in startups and DJing on the side when Ryan’s boss introduced them and suggested they could learn a lot from each other. Both Allen and Ryan had backgrounds in recruiting and later decided to branch out and do their own thing.
“I saw a big gap between executive search and contingency recruiting for lower-level positions,” Ryan says. “And with the digital ecosystem blooming, there were all of these new positions that were out there.”
With that in mind, they created Magnet Agency in 2008. As a boutique recruiting firm, they specialize in hiring director level and above positions for a range of different fields including sales, marketing, finance, and technology.
“The idea was to create a model that borrowed all of the best elements from both,” Ryan says, “so the speed and agility of a contingency recruiting company coupled with the consultative professional one-on-one exclusive relationship of an executive recruiting company.”
Each position they fill receives the same amount of attention that is required to fill a senior-level executive position. The promise they make to their clients is to present three to five qualified candidates within the first two weeks and to complete the full search in six. Ryan says it’s not uncommon for executive search firms to take six months to a year to do what they can accomplish in a fraction of that time.
In plain speak, companies come to Magnet Agency with a critical need.
“Companies think they know what they want, but they don’t,” Allen says. “It’s up to us to figure it out, and there’s a lot of strategy involved.”
They take a holistic approach and pride themselves on their attention to detail and immersion in culture. Any organization’s culture is a huge part of who they are as a business and what they do. For each candidate, Allen and Ryan carefully take into consideration how the hopeful’s character and personality will fit into that unique culture.
Just because the match looks good on paper doesn’t necessarily mean it will be the right fit, Allen says. They want to make sure that it benefits everyone, so they are going to ensure the pieces of the puzzle fit before they take them out of the box.
“If it’s not a fit, we’re not going to try to cram you in because we’re going to have to replace you if it doesn’t work out,” Ryan says.
Most recruiting firms exist only to benefit their clients. But Magnet Agency is different. Allen and Ryan become so familiar with a company that they understand the pros and cons of each position. If they’re looking to place someone in a position that’s expected to work 70-hour weeks, they aren’t going to tell them that it’s a run-of-the-mill 40-hour week job. They are going to be upfront with them. It’s a win-win situation from both sides.
Ryan says the key to their speed and success are the connections they have with other firms.
“We have access to people that internally you wouldn’t know are looking because they’re already working,” Ryan says. “They’re not looking for a job; we find them.”
One of the reasons they have been able to maintain strong relationships in the community is because the two entrepreneurs work hard to maintain the boutique feel of their business. They’ve considered adding people to their team, but they work so well together that they don’t want to compromise the chemistry. It’s one of the things that sets them apart.
“It’s an important distinction that with many larger executive search firms, the partners don’t actually run the searches,” Ryan says. “They hand it off to the associate, but with us, you’re getting the principals, so one of us will run every search.”
Another key aspect of their business model is retention. “Our clients become a part of our family,” Allen says. They take pride in what they do, and they aim to build lasting relationships with their clients.
“The ecosystem in New York is on fire right now and we want to be a part of that,” Ryan says. “We don’t just want to be transactional recruiters that just place a bunch of people, we want to be part of a story.”
Not only have the men of Magnet Agency seen their fair share of qualified candidates, but they’ve also encountered some interviewees who eliminated their chance for consideration from the start. There are so many tips out there to help you nail an interview, but Allen says it’s the most obvious tactics that often get overlooked.
Allen stresses the importance of dressing appropriately. “Suits are no longer necessary most of the time,” he says. He advises: “Don’t skip out on researching the company. This will help you know what attire to wear, and it will also provide you with the opportunity to see if you have any contacts in common with whom you will be meeting.” And finally, don’t be late.
“Give yourself extra time,” Allen says. “And if you get there early, don’t show up more than five minutes before.”
Ryan’s advice for job seekers is to go get creative. “Never apply for a job,” he says. “Always create an opportunity.” Simply applying for a job can cause limitations, but if you want to stand out and you want to find a great opportunity, he suggests connecting with someone in person. “Think of the people that you most respect and admire, and then ask them to coffee,” he says.
In addition to Magnet Agency, Allen and Ryan are successful entrepreneurs separately. Ryan recently launched a project called 1xRUN, an emerging platform for artwork in any and all forms. They attribute their current success with Magnet Agency to past failures and projects that they’ve worked on individually. When they came together, they were able to combine their successes and learn from their mistakes to make Magnet Agency what it is today.
Photographs by Lauren Kallen