Recruiter Tyron Giuliani leaves Optia to focus on coaching

Tyron Giuliani, one of the most prominent recruitment specialists for the marketing industry in Asia-Pacific, has stepped down from his position at Tokyo-based Optia Partners to concentrate on social media lead generation coaching.

Giuliani spent 14 years at Optia and has worked as a social selling coach since 1998. He became an official member of the Forbes Coaches Council in October 2017.

As a LinkedIn trainer, Giuliani said he aims to use his experience acquired in previous coaching roles and in executive search to help entrepreneurially-minded people around the world use the platform to generate B2B sales and engagement. He operates a seven-week program reinforced by Q&A sessions, with a goal of coaching around 20 clients per month.

Giuliani does not limit his coaching to specific business sectors, but said there is lots of scope for advertising agency executives to use LinkedIn more effectively. He said most agencies fail to use the platform properly for employer branding or new business.

“Agency heads should be on there showcasing what they do,” he said, noting the democratic nature of LinkedIn as a platform. “You have the same platform as Sir Martin Sorrell, and you can dominate it” with the right strategy.

Part of the problem is that the advertising industry continues to see LinkedIn as “boring and unsexy”, he said. “They just see it as a place to get talent. They’re following the rules. But no one’s made the rules…It’s a client-generating tool. If you treat it as an online CV-holder, you’re missing out.”

He said boutique agencies are “working it out faster than big agencies” and pointed to some individuals in the US, including Tom Goodwin, head of innovation at Zenith, and Josh Fetcher, co-founder of BAMF Media, who appear to be using LinkedIn to its potential.

Giuliani said he would no longer engage in full-time recruiting and expressed frustration with the advertising industry for its reluctance to innovate its approach to hiring talent.

“It got to the point where I realised nothing is changing,” he said. “There’s apathy in the market and I want to deal with people who are really enthused.”

Giuliani continues to be based in Tokyo. LinkedIn has a small presence in the Japanese market, where people tend to favour Facebook for making business connections. By contrast, around 70 percent of white collar professionals in the US have LinkedIn accounts, Giuliani noted.