In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews recruiter Patrick Brickhouse. Patrick shares a formative story about moving to Seoul in 2010 to teach English, emphasizing the growth that comes from stepping out of one’s comfort zone. He discusses his recruiting philosophy, urging recruiters to evolve their approaches and leverage personal strengths rather than rigidly following established methods. For business development, he advocates treating contacts like friends to build genuine rapport, citing a successful client win that began with a casual, pitch‑free outreach. He advises his younger self to focus on and cultivate strengths, noting his people‑personality as vital to recruiting success. On happiness, he recommends staying "young at heart" by reconnecting with childhood joys. His favorite book, Console Wars, taught him that small, scrappy challengers can outmaneuver industry giants, reinforcing a David‑versus‑Goliath mindset. He shares a favorite quote—"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle"—highlighting kindness in business relationships. Finally, he directs listeners to find him on LinkedIn for networking. The episode blends personal anecdotes with practical recruiting and business advice.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite makes the process of becoming a published bestselling author as simple as sipping your morning cup of coffee. You can learn more about Authors Unite at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Patrick Brickhouse with us. He's a recruiter of all trades, so welcome to the show, Patrick.
Thanks, Tyler, appreciate you having me on.
Of course, man, thank you for coming on, and we'll dive right in. So the first question that I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Well, for me, back in 2010, I moved over to Seoul, South Korea, and I lived there teaching English at an academy for about 3.5 years. And I learned some pretty valuable lessons from being, you know, kind of a fish out of water. And as someone who lived most of his life up until that point in the same small city in upstate South Carolina, you know, I kind of learned that you have to sometimes put yourself in uncomfortable and unusual situations and see settings because the growth that you get in return is incredibly valuable. You're kind of forced to come out of your shell and learn more about who you are, and I definitely wouldn't be the same person today if I hadn't challenged myself to do that.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Well, in recruiting, I think it's important to evolve yourself and how you approach it, you know, just as much as the methods of recruiting do. You have to kind of stay ahead of the curve and find what works for you personally. There are a lot of recruiters out there who swear by their methods or methods that you read about in recruiting books and stuff like that, but I like to recruit with my own strengths. And I think any recruiter who is feeling, you know, stagnant should try to branch out and always test new ways to search and talk to people about the roles.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice, so not necessarily industry-specific?
Right. Well, I would say, you know, and this might be an unpopular opinion, but for me, when it comes to the business development aspect of recruiting in particular, I think you should speak to people more like they're your friends, not necessarily business associates. You may have some misses depending on the person, but I feel it's kind of best to get a rapport going with someone that seems natural and not really forced. You know, people tend to want to do business with those, you know, that they feel they know, not someone who is just copying and pasting a pitch or script. So one of the best clients I ever had, I got because I reached out to them without a pitch. It was just a friendly, how's it going over there? And that got the conversation going.
I love that advice. Thank you for sharing that. And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I would probably say focus on your strengths and cultivate those, even if they don't seem like they'll apply to a career or, you know, to a career that you're going for, you can always find a way to incorporate them into what you're doing. You know, I'm a people person, I enjoy conversation, and when it comes to recruiting, that's been absolutely invaluable.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
My opinion on that is just to stay young at heart, you know, do things you enjoyed when you were a kid. You know, business is business, and Of course, we should all work hard to get where we wanna be, but at the end of the day, I think you should find a way to connect with your childhood or maybe a simpler time in your life. For me personally, it does wonders for my overall mental health and happiness.
And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
I would say it's a book I read a couple of years ago. It's called Console Wars. And this was a book about in the late '80s, early '90s. It's actually about Nintendo and Sega and their competition. And it was basically about how Sega was able to come back from failure. They hired a guy out of Mattel who was responsible for bringing Barbie back and bringing, you know, Matchbox cars back and everything. And he basically came in and said, you know what, we're failing, but we need to change things up and challenge them. So, um, I learned that no matter how gigantic an adversary is, you know, a small scrappy challenger with crazy ideas can overturn it and give them a run for their money. You know, it's such a great David versus Goliath kind of story, and it made me realize that you should never be intimidated by the big guys. You know, you just kind of stand tall as you possibly can no matter what.
And what's your favorite quote and why?
Uh, my favorite quote is, uh, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." Um, I think it's important to remember that everyone has struggles in their lives, and we can't assume to know anything. You know, we can't assume to know what someone's going through. You know, and that applies to business as well. When you're building relationships with people, I think you should always try to be kind because again, you don't know what's going on behind the scenes. So treat everyone with respect and kindness.
I agree, man. Thank you so much for coming on. A lot of wisdom there. And the last question I have for you is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
I would say LinkedIn. I'm on there every day. It's not hard to find me. You know, the last name like Brickhouse, just type it in. So, but yeah, I'm on there a good bit. So that's probably the best way.
Awesome, man. Thank you again. We really appreciate it.
No problem. Thanks, Tyler. The podcast you just heard was recorded with Anchor. If you want to make your own, download the Android or iOS app completely free from anchor.fm/podcast. That's anchor.fm/podcast.
