How Cameron Fakouri Gets Tax Professionals to Job Offers in Three Days Without the Runaround

Anthony Codispoti (00:00)
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast, where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. As you listen today, let one idea shape what you do next. My name is Anthony Cotaspodi, and today’s guest built a career inside the machine he now disrupts. He spent years at EY and Armanino learning exactly what it takes to make Tax Manager.

interviewing hundreds of candidates and watching good accountants get passed over by recruiters who couldn’t tell a waterfall calculation from a balance sheet. He walked away from that track, tried a couple of pivots, and eventually landed on a model that most recruiting firms have no interest in. Place them, then coach them. The conventional wisdom says that that slows things down.

His results say otherwise. Kamen Fakuri is a CPA, former tax manager, and the founder of Rezzecheck, a career consulting firm exclusively serving tax professionals in public accounting. He holds a master’s in accountancy and a bachelor’s in psychology. And he’s built Rezzecheck around the idea that the person doing the recruiting should actually understand the work. That’s something worth paying attention to in

what Cameron built, and more importantly, why he built it. But before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Ad Back Benefits Agency. Listen, if you run a business, you’re likely stuck in the cycle of rising insurance premiums. You’re paying more, but your team is getting less. And many people can’t afford coverage at all. So we do things differently. We offer a solution that provides your employees with unlimited access to doctors, therapists, and prescriptions.

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Imagine being the advisor that becomes a hero by introducing this to your clients. See if they qualify today at addbackbenefits.com. All right, back to our guest today, the recruiter and career strategist of ResiCheck, also the founder, Cameron Ferkuri. Thanks for making the time to share your story today.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (02:34)
Hey Anthony, good to be here. How are you?

Anthony Codispoti (02:37)
I’m doing well. So, Vickery, before Rezzeecheck, there was a stop that probably doesn’t get a ton of attention on a resume. So you left a stable tax manager role and spent about a year building a business process automation firm using a combo of Python and Excel VBA. Walk me back to that period. What were you solving for?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (03:02)
Yeah. So I’ve, I’ve had a very non-traditional career path, as you might’ve learned already, Anthony. so I was a tax manager and you know, spending day in day out, looking at spreadsheets just didn’t feel fulfilling to me. So, ⁓ fast forward a little bit, I decided to open up a business consulting firm where I would try to automate and help streamline processes using Excel, VBA and Python. and that was still, I felt like I was just still staring at a screen.

You know, instead of spreadsheets, was code or, you know, something else. And I had to do some real self inventory and I discovered that I really loved helping people. And what I’m really good at is helping them through the process of where I used to be, which is public accounting and tax. So I put pen to paper, started Rezzee Check. ⁓ And by the way, it’s called Rezzee Check because Rezzee for resume.

Check for checking resumes. That’s what first started was just a you know, quick resume check sort of situation But it’s evolved to something so much bigger So that’s kind of where my mind was that when I departed from the tax world into business consulting and then back into the tax public accounting world But in a different kind of suit so to speak

Anthony Codispoti (04:14)
So you had had lot of experience ⁓ interviewing hundreds of clients when you were, candidates, sorry, when you were at Arma Nino. You were on the recruiting team, but there was something about the process that felt like it was broken to you.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (04:27)
yeah. So when you are at one of these firms like UI or Armanino, let’s say as a tax manager like I was, they ask you, say, hey, who wants to volunteer to ⁓ interview the candidates, review the resumes, network with them, and then we’ll ask you for your opinion afterwards. And we think, hey, that’s great. What ended up happening was ⁓ I felt like, and I’m not alone in thinking this, I felt like we were being used as props rather than actually caring about our input.

So we meet with these candidates and we’d say, I really think so and so they need to be hired. They have the right attitude. They have the right skills. ⁓ And then behind the scenes, they wouldn’t get hired because maybe they found someone at a lower salary or someone else who just kind of fit their ⁓ budget framework. So I felt like we were being used more as a face of the firm rather than actually taking our input into consideration. I thought that we could do better, I think. ⁓

You know, yes, we are working on spreadsheets all day. It’s accounting, but we’re human at the end of the day. And you want to make sure you hire someone that fits that culture and you can spend a lot of time with.

Anthony Codispoti (05:35)
Okay, so tell me about Rezzeecheck. What do you guys do? What makes the model different from all the other recruiting firms?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (05:43)
Yeah, great question, Anthony. So, you know, as an entrepreneur, I feel like I’m always pivoting, I’m always evolving, but ResiCheck at its core focuses on taking time with the candidate and with the client, as opposed to a recruiting firm that just kind of churns applicants, right? I mean, listen, this is a business, right? So we make money by placing candidates, but that shouldn’t be the focus or the driver of the business, I think.

And this comes from my father, he’s an entrepreneur as well. He always told me it’s all about the relationships, right? So if ⁓ I’m just trying to flip candidates and fill spots and make my commission, then that’s not the relationship, right? That’s not gonna last three, five, 10 years. So ⁓ I think what makes ResiCheck different is we take our time. I get to know you. ⁓ We have touch points weekly.

we get to the real heart of your question. And the question usually is, do I want to work for this firm? Do I want to work for that firm? Why? Why not? As opposed to, hey, there’s an opening here. You should apply. Let’s get you in. Let’s get you in. Let’s get you out. Boom, boom, boom.

Anthony Codispoti (06:56)
So it’s the company that’s hiring you. That’s your client, right? And then you’re going out and you’re finding folks that you think would be a good fit for the open.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (07:09)
Yes, so a residue check is made up of two main funnels, right? It’s the recruiting side and the career coaching side So yes from the recruiting side. It will be a firm like ⁓ Arma Nino or maybe a midsize firm that’ll reach out to me and say hey Cameron I know you have the network. Can you help me find some good quality candidates?

Anthony Codispoti (07:30)
Okay, and then from the coaching side.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (07:33)
The coaching side is where the candidate is having trouble finding a role or maybe they’re getting interviews, but they’re not getting offers. So we talk about what you can do differently. We do interview prep. do resume review, not do, resume checks, original routes, right? And even when they get hired, they want to do ongoing coaching with me because I’ve been there. I’ve been in that, that

ladder climbing competition in corporate America, right? How to get from associate to manager. So ⁓ we talk about office politics, what to say during your performance reviews, how to stand out, how to be a top performer because, you know, I walk the walk. So I’m trying to give back as much as I can in terms of the career coaching side.

Anthony Codispoti (08:20)
And as I understand on the career coaching side, you only have a limited number of folks that you take at a time. Why is that?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (08:28)
Yeah, Anthony, mean, I don’t think it’s any secret that, you know, the more work you have on your plate, the less quality you’re able to provide. Right. So I cap it at 10 candidates max, because I want to make sure they get my full attention. And, and again, this all goes back to me trying to right the ship of public accounting. So if you’re familiar with public accounting, I feel like

as an associate, a senior, even as a manager, they try to push as much work as they can on you, right? They try to milk you for everything you’ve got. And it’s obvious the quality of your work is going to deteriorate hugely. So I try to keep that in mind when I set my cap at 10. In fact, I’m thinking about going a little bit lower, maybe a six or eight, we’ll see. But 10 has been a good balance for now.

Anthony Codispoti (09:20)
That’s a good threshold for you at the moment. So it’s interesting on the coaching side. When you said that, I’m like, he’s helping folks find jobs. I don’t know, maybe sometimes you’re coaching somebody and that ends up being who you place with a client who’s hired you to find somebody. But once they find a job, then not all the time does your coaching terminate. You said they still want your help.

kind of navigating that corporate world and how can I, now that I’ve got this job, use it to advance my career. What are some of the most common…

pitfalls or things that surprise people when they’re in the corporate world and trying to climb that ladder that you’re able to help shine a light on.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (10:09)
That is a great question and I don’t want to give away all my trade secrets today, Anthony, but I will give you a taste. ⁓ So you might have heard this, the secret really is communication, but you can’t just say, communication, know, communicate more. That’s, that’s not helpful. So we talk about, ⁓ you know, if you have questions, you don’t want to go knock on the person’s door, every question you have and you co-elite them into maybe three to five questions.

You ping them, ask them specifically, do you prefer an email discussion, a Zoom discussion or in person? The trick here Anthony is getting them outside of their comfort zone. Because if you’ve known an accountant or a CPA, they’re not always the most personable type of people. So my specialty is getting them over that hump from being the person that sits in their desk quietly and does the work that they’re told to being the person that

goes out and knocks on doors and gets answers and thinks proactively instead of reactively. So it’s really a mindset shift. ⁓ And that all falls under the umbrella of communication.

Anthony Codispoti (11:23)
And not to play stereotypes, but I’m gonna guess this is difficult for a lot of folks in the accounting space, right? They’re great at the numbers, being behind the screen or the spreadsheet. The communication aspect is probably a little bit more challenging for a lot of folks.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (11:38)
⁓ 100%. sometimes we’d go over scripts, what to say exactly. maybe it’s an email script, maybe it’s an in-person script. And, ⁓ for some people, it is difficult. That is for a lot of people, the reason they got into accounting is because they think it’s the type of role that they can sit quietly in a corner. And maybe some roles are like that, but let’s, let’s be real. ⁓ most of them are not, especially today. You need to, you need to be able to, ⁓ you know,

flow, you need to be able to raise questions that are important to the job. ⁓ And down the line, you’re expected to pass on that knowledge to the new people that get hired, you’re expected to mentor. So if you’re not a good communicator, it’s just going to be a domino effect of bad situations at the company.

Anthony Codispoti (12:26)
What are you seeing in terms of remote work in the fields that you’re playing in? Are folks still being able to, can they work remotely with these kinds of roles or are people really wanting to bring them back in office?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (12:40)
That is a great question, Anthony. And that is the hottest topic that I deal with every day. I feel like there’s a culture war between the hiring firms and the candidates. So as you can imagine, the hiring firms are trying to get almost everybody back into the office for reasons we can talk about later. I mean, the other side of this is candidates looking for purely remote work. So there’s this little disconnect here.

⁓ and let’s be honest, I’m a remote worker. I don’t know about you, Anthony. Are you, it looks like you’re in a studio right now, right?

Anthony Codispoti (13:17)
I’m in an office. So,

but I mean, I work with people all over the country. I interview people all over the country. And so, yeah, and I built teams of folks that, you know, are around the world. And so I’m a big fan of the structure, but I understand the pitfalls from it too.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (13:35)
That and you hit the head, the nail on the head there. There’s pitfalls. So you could be a type of person that thrives in a remote environment or just the opposite. So it’s it’s a nuanced situation. I know today we want black and white. We want yes, no answers. But, you know, if you’re a candidate looking for remote roles, you just understand that there are not a lot out there. And if there are, they might be paying a little bit less. So and on the flip side, if you’re someone who likes to be in the office, those firms

are going to have to meet you at a little bit higher rate to get you into that office. So it’s this constant struggle we’re seeing right now. It’s a culture war between the candidate and the firm.

Anthony Codispoti (14:13)
Mm hmm. And I think one of the nice things about the remote work is you’re able to expand the pool of people who would be potential candidates for you. Gives you a much bigger group to pull from. The downside is the obvious, Like there’s collaboration that takes place a lot better in person. so it’s just, and you’re dealing with that all the time, it sounds like Cameron.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (14:35)
Yeah.

I am and on that note, I will tell my candidates that hey, if you’re trying to make manager in four or five years, which is considered a fast rate, being there in person will help your chances. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong or it should be this way or that way, but that’s just how it is. Right.

Anthony Codispoti (14:55)
Tell us about your placement guarantee.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (14:59)
So placement guarantee, ⁓ that could mean a couple things. In the recruiting world, the guarantee is that the candidate that I help place at the firm will be a good match. And if they’re not, if they decide to leave or if they’re terminated within three months,

then depending on the arrangement, you’ll either get a partial refund or I’ll help you replace that candidate with a new candidate. But that hasn’t happened to me yet. All the candidates I place, they know what they’re getting into. And if you talk to any of the candidates I work with, they’ll tell you that Cameron is a no BS kind of guy. He’s a straight shirt. He tells you exactly what to expect from this firm. It’s tough leaving a firm for another firm and

You from my time joining EY and Arminino, you’re shown all the beautiful things the sperm has to offer, right? You’re shown the great green pastures and the perfect picture. And then you get there and you’re like, ⁓ this is not what I signed up for. I, as someone who’s lived that, I try to avoid that at all costs. say, listen, this is what it’s going to be like. This is the pay structure. This is when you’re probably going to get your raise, your promotion. These are the hours that are expected.

This is what they prefer in terms of remote versus hybrid versus in office. So I want there to be no question, no hesitation when you’re joining that firm.

Anthony Codispoti (16:28)
Makes sense. Obviously, the way that you approach it though, Cameron, takes more time. It seems like it would slow down the hiring process. But looking at your results, you’re getting folks to offers in three days. What is happening in your process that kind of defies this assumption that the approach that you take is really slowing down the process?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (16:53)
Again, it’s just being straightforward. It’s saying, hey, listen, this is what we have. If you don’t want it, that’s fine. Just let us know right now. So it gets rid of lot of the noise that’s involved in recruiting. ⁓ know, some firms do three, four, five rounds of interviews and that’s great, but…

You know, usually both parties know within the first one or two interviews if it’s going to work or not. And if they don’t know, that means that there’s a blockage of information. There’s something that’s not being communicated correctly, whether it’s from this side or that. you know, at ResiCheck when I started this company, I tried to do things differently. And right now taking our time, being straightforward, being transparent has been working. And I think that’s the right way to go.

Anthony Codispoti (17:45)
And so if I’m hearing you correctly, I think part of the unlock for you is that you spend more time with the candidate upfront, explaining to them what this opportunity is like, and maybe perhaps even coaching your client to say, Hey, I think this person is a really good fit for you. Let’s, you know, do away with the five interview process and, know, let’s try to shorten this up so that everybody’s getting into a decision point a lot faster.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (18:17)
Absolutely. And we could talk about what the clients wants a little bit. The firms, hiring firms and you might’ve heard about this, but everyone’s looking for a unicorn. Anthony, I don’t know if you’ve ever had to hire anybody, but it’s like, we all want that perfect person at the perfect salary. And part of my job is to bring things into perspective. So for example, I had a firm who says, I don’t want anyone who does not have a master’s I say, okay.

And asked him, how many of your current employees have master’s degrees? ⁓ about half. And then you ask, well, those half, that half that does not have the master’s degrees, are they top performers? Yeah, a few of them are. I said, well, okay then. Then there’s an opportunity to explore outside of this rigid requirements of having only a master’s degree. And he yeah, I didn’t think about that. So sometimes it’s just bringing things into perspective. ⁓ If I find a unicorn, I find a unicorn. But more often than not, it’s about

you know, meeting on the level of what you really need and setting the expectations upfront.

Anthony Codispoti (19:23)
Yeah, rather than like, I’ve got this imaginary list of checkboxes that I think I need to be able to meet. In reality, yeah, maybe that master’s degree doesn’t really guarantee that I’m getting a better fit for this role.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (19:37)
I know partners who had 2.7 GPAs in college and they’re partners now. So what does that tell you? Right? ⁓ You can only do so much. You can only explain so much of your story on a piece of paper, which is the resume.

Anthony Codispoti (19:50)
Yeah, there’s the old adage. How’s it go that A students teach and B students work for C students?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (19:56)
Yes, yes, that’s true.

Anthony Codispoti (20:00)
So you’ve got a psychology degree with a concentration in specifically in industrial psychology. ⁓ It’s an interesting combination with your CPA background. How does that combo help you and what you’re doing at ResiCheck?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (20:16)
Well, let me give a little disclaimer to your listeners here, Anthony. I am not psychic. I cannot read minds. ⁓ But it has come in handy throughout my career, even when I was a tax manager. It’s it’s almost like a mechanic not knowing how an engine works. Right. So in other words, I wanted to know how the human mind works, how personality traits ⁓

function in an office setting, how nonverbal communication can send the wrong message sort of thing. all of this has been very helpful in my career, not even professionally, but personally as well. And I think it gives me an edge because it’s almost like you’re

you’re encouraged now that I, you know, I, I have a degree in psychology, I’m encouraged now and encouraging myself to dig deeper into someone’s story rather than just kind of taking it at face value. And when you peel back the layers, you start to understand a little bit more about this candidate, ⁓ why they did the things they did or how they can tell their story to a hiring firm in a way that makes sense. So, ⁓ and at the end of the day, I just love

I just love learning. wish I could be a full-time student honestly and psychology was an awesome subject. I highly recommend anyone who has some extra time just do some YouTube videos, know learn about learn about the mind, you know, everyone’s got one.

Anthony Codispoti (21:47)
It’s a terrible thing to waste, right? So some of your LinkedIn content, Cameron, is pretty direct. I mean, you’re kind of calling folks out when you say things like, stop explaining waterfall calculations to recruiters who don’t understand. Are you intentionally kind of poking the bear a little bit? Like, do you find this confrontational approach is effective for you?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (21:50)
Exactly.

100%. ⁓ We are living in a world where, you know, you don’t know what’s what’s AI on Instagram, or you don’t know if someone’s saying something because they want the clicks or if it’s actually factual and helpful, right? So I try to cut the BS ⁓ and just get straight to the point. You know, especially as a former tax manager.

It’s all about billable time. And if you’re wasting time, it’s, it’s not going to look good on your utilization records. So I try to save people time about being very straightforward, very blunt, give them the information they want to know. And yeah, I think it’s been working out.

Anthony Codispoti (22:53)
You know, another topic that you’ve written about is how accountants often feel undervalued and they burn out. Say more about that. Why do you think that’s specific to the accounting profession?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (23:07)
It’s, it’s, it’s not specific to the accounting profession, but it is what I have the most experience with. And it’s, it’s, it’s very nuanced, but in general terms, you know, you have a partner at the top who’s taking home equity and you have the employees at the bottom and it’s in the partner’s interest to get more business. Right? So the more business they get, the more the employees need to work. The problem is.

Tax law has changed so much over the past years that there’s just too much work. And the employees are expected to work 55, 65, 75. And if you’re a big four, maybe 80, 90, a hundred hour weeks just to get the job done. And we don’t get paid overtime. So it’s an interesting situation that the partners are excited for the business, but the employees are kind of feeling the burn and…

You know, it’s tough. That’s the biggest reason people leave public accounting firms is the burnout. It’s the billable hour goals. So ⁓ it’s tough out there. mean, I’m sure you’ve heard stories of people being burnt out, especially since COVID days.

Anthony Codispoti (24:29)
Yeah. And when folks are burned out in the public accounting firms and they leave, where are they traditionally going with that kind of experience?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (24:38)
So you’ll either stay in public accounting, but you will ask first, say, hey, what are the goals? What are the chargeable hour goals? That’s a metric. Or they’ll go to industry, which is a private firm. Let’s say you go to Disneyland and you work as a tax director or an internal auditor or something like that. And usually those hours are a little bit more stable at 40 hours a week, which is heavy for any public accountant. you know, you have

You have options. lot of candidates don’t realize that. Some people think they’re stuck in public accounting. So part of my job as a career coach is to explore those options.

Anthony Codispoti (25:16)
And so for some of those folks are those options then just going to private industry like, you know, larger companies, need their own in-house account.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (25:26)
That’s definitely one of the exit routes for sure. It depends if you’re in tax or audit. You could also work at the government. ⁓ I hear that’s a little bit more slow pace. So it’s kind of, it depends on your personality, right? Are you the type of person who wants something new every day, who enjoys the challenges? Then maybe public accounting is what you got to stay in, but maybe you can negotiate for part-time public accounting or negotiate for fewer hours or better PTO. So.

There are options out there, are opportunities, but I think a lot of people don’t realize that. They think they’re just stuck in this hamster wheel of public accounting.

Anthony Codispoti (26:08)
Take me back to the early days of ResiCheck. How did you get that first client?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (26:14)
that’s a funny story actually. ⁓ You know, before I had a real idea, I had a feeling of what I wanted to do. I wanted to help accounting professionals and students. And so I went to a coffee shop and sat down with my laptop before I had any business name or anything like that. And I overheard one of the baristas talking about a networking event called meet the firms. And ⁓ if you

been in the accounting world, you know what this event is, it’s the biggest event where the students go meet the hiring firms and it’s the time to shake hands and introduce yourself. And as Barista was super nervous, he was talking to his coworker, like, I don’t know what to say, what should I wear? I don’t know what to expect. And it was the coincidence of him being right there and me sitting in that coffee shop was crazy. I called him over, I said, hey, couldn’t overhear you.

⁓ you know, introduced who I was and sat him down. We talked for a good half an hour, 45 minutes, and he, he really felt good after that conversation ended up getting a job not too long after. So that was kind of proof of the concept of what I was trying to accomplish. And you know, going back to you sitting in front of spreadsheets all day, that felt so fulfilling compared to my previous work. So I was hooked ever since that happened. It was, that’s what I knew.

Anthony Codispoti (27:35)
For you, that was kind of like proof of concept. Yeah. Like I can do this and there’s a need for it and I’m good at it. And so that it sounds like that person wasn’t a paying client. That was just sort of like you validating the process. So how did you get that first client who actually took money out of their pocket and gave it to

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (27:36)
I was in the right place.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Ooh, yeah. So, um, it was a lot of hustle, a lot of online hustle. So you already mentioned LinkedIn, you know, you got to be posting content. You have to let people know who you are. Um, as an entrepreneur, you learn that you got to give a lot of free stuff out first to kind of prove who you are, prove, know, what you’re talking about before someone trusts you enough to put money in your pocket. So, um, I think my first clients was a client from Reddit.

It was a Reddit thread talking about, Hey, what’s up with resumes? How do I do this? And so I gave some advice, left a few comments. We started DMing and then I told him, Hey, 20 bucks, I can do your resume. And 20 bucks now thinking about that, you know, that’s very low price these days. So, but yeah, I know I was very happy. It was another proof of concept sort of thing. It made me feel, ⁓ like I was, I was definitely on the right track.

And after that, it just became fluid, right? After you get those first few reviews on Google, that’s when it starts working out.

Anthony Codispoti (29:01)
Okay. So again, without giving away the trade secrets, tell us some of the low hanging fruit for folks in the accounting space that are working on their resumes. What are some of the most common mistakes that you see people?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (29:15)
The most common mistake is putting your whole life story on a resume. And I’m actually teaching a class about this tomorrow at one of the colleges here. ⁓ The resume should be able to deliver as much information about your relevant skills and experience in the shortest amount of time. In other words, you should be able to pick up the resume and within a few seconds know if this person is qualified, not for the job.

but qualified to move on to the next round, which is the interview round. So people tend to put their whole life story, they put 20 years of experience on there. I’m like, come on, dude, like you just need the last five to 10 years and whatever’s relevant. So I don’t need to know about your subway sandwiches experience if you’re applying for a tax manager role, right? ⁓ And then another thing is quantifiable metrics. ⁓ So.

You know how many tax returns do you prepare? How many clients do you have face to face time with? And if you’re not a professional, maybe you’re a student. What’s your GPA? What was the highest grade in your tax class or how many people were in your group when you did that group project? These are all quantifiable metrics that give the resume some weight. Some. Some you know that that extra level.

what’s the word I’m looking for? It’ll come to me in a second, but it’s better than just telling a story. It’s much better to have the story with those metrics, with those numbers, those that real tangible result.

Anthony Codispoti (30:51)
Do you stick to the rule that ⁓ CV has to be one page?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (30:56)
Now you’re getting controversial, Anthony. I like it. ⁓ Yes, for the most part, I do recommend a one page resume. ⁓ It’s just cleaner that way. Unless you are an executive, if you are going for maybe senior manager or director or principal, or even I do partner resumes too, then it’s okay to have two pages. Again, as long as it’s relevant to the job that you’re applying for. I don’t want to hear about, you know,

you coaching soccer on the weekends on your resume. Right. I just need to know that you have the skills, you have the experience. Let’s get you an interview.

Anthony Codispoti (31:33)
Yeah. On, we talked about your clients, you’ve got two sets of clients, right? You got the folks that you’re coaching to find the jobs and to move through and advance in their career. And then you’ve got the companies where you’re helping to place candidates with them. Are most of those clients public accounting firms? Is that primarily who you work with?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (31:35)
Thanks.

It’s actually a pretty good split right now. If you’re asking Anthony, if I’m understanding you correctly, you’re wondering if most of my clients are hiring firms versus career coaching clients.

Anthony Codispoti (32:06)
Yeah, I get no no no no. Thinking specifically about the side of the business where a company is hiring you to play somebody with them. I want to get an idea of who that client is. Who’s a good fit for you on that side of the business?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (32:21)
Gotcha, gotcha. So this is a client who just needs help hiring because they either don’t have enough time to to set up the whole process, the job post, the interviews, ⁓ keeping track of everything, or it’s someone who’s tried and failed time and time again. They’re just not getting any traction or they’re not getting the quality candidates that they think they’re asking for. You know, usually there’s a disconnect.

Maybe they’re not posting the right terms in the job listing. Maybe, you know, what happens is I ask them all the details of the job, the benefits, the salary, the PTO, and I start uncovering things that they thought weren’t important, but they actually are. They’re things that people want to know about. You know, how does your firm celebrate success? You know, in the tax industry, we have deadlines. So how do you celebrate the deadline? Do you have deadline party?

Do have yacht parties? Do you do team barbecues? Things like that. This is what people want to know just beyond the compensation package. So the type of client that I think I can help the most is just, ⁓ you know, the, the client who, who’s, who’s trying and not getting anywhere, or they just too busy. need to call them the big gun. Someone like me, someone who is a CPA who can talk the talk, speak the language and really get technical with the interviews.

Anthony Codispoti (33:49)
So it may be an accounting firm, it may be a company that, you know, they’re not, their specialty is an accounting, but they need an accountant internally, could be any of those.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (34:00)
Yes, as long as it’s in the accounting space. ⁓ I will say most of my clients are public accounting firms, but I have placed industry private account accountants as well.

Anthony Codispoti (34:10)
Okay, so ResiTech is still relatively new company doing well about two years old. What do you think the firm looks like at year five if things go the way that you predict?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (34:24)
Near five, I will be on a beach with a coconut and the company will run itself. No, just kidding. ⁓ no. So I see Rezzee Check being a multi-state operation. And the reason I say that is because every location, for example, Orange County is very different than LA. The firms in Orange County, in my opinion, ⁓ are a little bit more, ⁓ empathetic.

to candidates in PTO versus in LA, it’s more of a hustle culture. So I see ResiCheck spreading across, ⁓ you know, Nashville, Denver, across the globe and having specific offices that focus on that niche, that culture. ⁓ I want it to be a place where candidates can feel free to come in, ask for help, ask for advice.

meet with a person. ⁓ And I want, want Rezzee to be synonymous with quality, whether it’s quality candidates or quality career coaching.

Anthony Codispoti (35:37)
How do you think you bridge from where you are to where you want to be? Because right now this is built around you, right? CPA who can screen things technically. Have you thought about what that scaling looks like?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (35:52)
I thought about it. It’s scary. You know, as an entrepreneur, you’re wondering what’s next. Like, how do I do this? Right. ⁓ so I’m capped at 10 candidates right now. And if I’m going to increase that cap, I’m going to need some help. So it might be time for me to start hiring someone for my company. One of these days that’s eventually going to be the next move. ⁓ but yeah, so it’s, it’s.

It’s an ever changing evolving situation, right? Like you said, I’m just under two years. ⁓ If I’m around in five years, which I know I will be well, I still be focusing on recruiting or something else at that point. ⁓ My guess is I’m going to be staying in this in this world for a long time because this is my niche. This is where I live now.

Anthony Codispoti (36:43)
Are there thoughts to add additional services, additional areas of focus?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (36:49)
100%. I have partners asking if I can do executive coaching for some of their staff. I do ongoing career coaching, like I mentioned earlier, I’m teaching a class at a college tomorrow. So there are other revenue streams. But you know, one of these days, you need to kind of sit down and carve out exactly what you want to do so that your attention is not taken.

elsewhere in places that might detract you from your overall goal, right? That’s the key. I love doing the teaching. I love career coaching. ⁓ So it’s a constant battle between the two.

Anthony Codispoti (37:29)
Yeah, I want to ask you a couple of questions about AI camera. Get your take on this. First of all, are you using it in any way in your own business?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (37:40)
Yes, absolutely. I think, you know, in order to be an entrepreneur these days, you need to be leveraging some sort of AI. And it’s just, it’s a way to streamline automatic tasks or streamline repetitive tasks. And that’s what I love about it. ⁓ It’s funny because I used to be considered a really good writer, right? I was in the 90th percentile on the GMAT for verbal and writing.

And now when I send a really nice email, people think it’s AI. I’m like, okay, so, you know, I’m not getting any credit anymore. But just checking your emails now is what I love. Looking for factual errors, looking for punctuation errors, things like that. And I don’t know if this qualifies as AI, but things like Zapier to automate certain things. So when someone sends me a resume, it’s automatically put in the right folder. It’s very good for organization.

for career coaching, I highly recommend, for example, if you’re a candidate trying to find a job, I highly recommend using AI to practice your interview skills. So you can have a mock interview with AI now, and that’s one of the best ways to get the jitters out, to get the bugs out. And you can even give it the job description of the job that you’re interviewing for, and it could give you custom questions.

I will say that there’s no way to 100 % prepare for an interview, right? You’re never gonna know exactly what question you’re gonna ask, but you can at least get the most common ones out of the way. So I highly recommend that to the candidates.

Anthony Codispoti (39:16)
So the way that you’re talking about using it, still through a chat interface. You’re kind of feeding in your resume. You’re feeding in what the job description is. And then say, hey, hit me with some sample interview questions, and so I can practice my answers. But there’s not a tool where there can be sort of like a live dialogue.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (39:37)
So I think chat GPT has that live dialogue. I think they have that now. There are other companies who, yeah, if you haven’t tried it, you got to give it a shot. It’s really cool. ⁓ and you don’t need to be talking about getting a job either. You can talk about the weather or, know, how to ski and it will talk you right through it. ⁓ but I think what you’re also referring to is specific AI just dedicated for interview prep, which will actually talk back to you. So there’s two things with that.

Anthony Codispoti (39:42)
You know what? I think you’re right.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (40:06)
There’s one version for the candidates, kind like we were just talking about, what Chapter 50 kind of does, where you’re a candidate, you want to practice, and it’s a back and forth dialogue. There’s another tool that some firms are using, not any of the firms that I work with, but some firms are using a tool that will screen the candidate using AI. And that’s gone a lot of backlash. So I don’t know if you want to imagine for a second, you’re applying for a job, you submit the resume,

And of course they want you to type everything out in their, in their custom form as well. It’s not good enough that you just send the resume. They want you to retype it and you, get a call or schedule a call with an AI rep. And that rubs some people the wrong way. It makes them feel like the company doesn’t care enough about them to speak with them personally. So it’s tough. You know, you have to ask yourself as a candidate.

What is my threshold? is my, you know, how, how soon do I need this position? And am I willing to go through an AI process and, do the whole thing? Or if I’m, if I’m done with this and, know, try again next time.

Anthony Codispoti (41:20)
So I understand this conversation from both sides of the table. So I’ve hired folks before where I’ve gotten in excess of 100 resumes. And at that point, it just wasn’t, and this was before some of the AI tools that we have now, at that point, it’s just not feasible for a human being to go through that and even consider all of them. So.

you know, a few years ago when I was in that position to be able to feed that into some sort of a tool that is going to take over a of that work for me, man, that’s awesome. But the flip side of that is if I’m the one looking for a job, right, and I’ve been assigned some kind of robot to talk to.

that feels dehumanizing, right? It’s like, I mean, because part of what you want in an interview is what was your gut feeling with the person? What was it like to interact with them? Did they feel genuine? I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t know that that’s really what the AI is good at doing right now. I think it’s probably looking more for speech patterns.

Like, were you saying the right kinds of words? I don’t know, what’s your thought on this,

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (42:35)
A few things there. me me talk to one thing you said the feeling of wanting to hear the person and see if they’re a good fit I want your listeners to know that an interview goes both ways So it’s not just the firm trying to see if the candidates a good fit as a candidate You got to remember you’re interviewing them too. So you got to see if they’re a good fit for your life So that’s another reason why I think face-to-face or voice human to human is a better route Back to your question about AI interviews

It’s funny because a lot of ⁓ places are legally not allowed to make a hiring decision based off AI, right? So you can’t have AI reject anyone. So what they’re doing is they’re using AI to filter based on keywords or by match. And so that’s the main focus of AI in recruiting, right? So there’s a rumor out there that AI is just going to reject you automatically. That’s not true.

But depending on how your resume is written, it can filter certain resumes in or out depending on the keywords. Back to the AI interview, ⁓ I feel like it’s almost double work for the recruiter. If they use an AI module to interview a candidate, that recruiter has to then watch the playback and determine if they’re a good fit.

It’s kind of like, why don’t you just interview them in the first place? So to speak. So.

Anthony Codispoti (44:03)
Why not just have the human

to human connection right there from the very beginning? Yeah.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (44:07)
Yeah,

it’s a symptom of a new technology that we just want to put everywhere. So maybe we overshot there and we’re going to reel it back soon, but that’s kind of where we’re at now.

Anthony Codispoti (44:17)
⁓ I want to go back to something you just said, because I’ve had friends that have applied for jobs. They click the submit button and within a split second, they get a rejection email back. And so I think this is what you’re talking about where they’re filtering for certain keywords. What coaching generalized coaching can you provide around that?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (44:30)
Mm-hmm.

Great question. Let me answer in two parts. Number one, if you get kicked out within minutes or I don’t know, maybe a couple of hours, there’s a chance that you might’ve answered a knockout question incorrectly and that will automatically knock you out. For example, if the firm that you’re applying to cannot sponsor visas, but you mark, yes, I require visa sponsorship, that’s legal. That’s an automatic knockout. So that might be happening.

Back to your question. ⁓ So what you need to do when you’re applying, when you’re submitting a resume is you need to match the resume with the job listing. What I mean by that is you need to borrow keywords and phrases from the job listing and update your resume with those same keywords, those same phrases. Assuming you have that experience, you do not ever want to lie on your resume, right? It’s okay to estimate, never fabricate. That’s what I say. So

When you feed that newly updated resume into the system, the system has a copy of the job listing. So they have all the keywords and the phrases, and they’re going to see how closely your resume matches with that job listing. And if you use enough of those keywords, if you match that experience and skill, it’s probably going to float your resume up to the top. So that’s my advice. And I know what you’re thinking, Cameron, I got to do that for every job I’m applying to. I’m applying to 50, some people 100 jobs.

I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is you do want to do that for maybe the top five firms that you’re applying to. The ones that you really, really, really want to get into. Other than that, beyond that, you can use a general resume. Just know the more detailed you get, the more you can match that resume to the job listing, the higher chance you have.

Anthony Codispoti (46:29)
Well, and I guess I might even this isn’t my area of expertise, but I’m always a fan of putting the extra effort right. If this is a job that you want. And that’s kind of what you’re saying. You’re like, hey, you know, it’s not if it’s a job, you’re sort of kicking the tires. OK, send the general resume. But if you’re going to spend the time to apply to the job anyways, you know, put in a little bit of extra elbow grease so that you’re putting your best foot forward. Give yourself the best chance possible.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (46:40)
Mm-hmm.

100 % and I’ll say this the old days of just throwing in your resume and getting a call back or not here They’re over you got to do more You have to network online on LinkedIn. You have to go the extra mile I recommended one of my client one of my candidates bring donuts to the front desk because you couldn’t get past the front desk So you have to think outside the box and think you mentioned this you will be rewarded for going the extra mile

Anthony Codispoti (47:26)
I like that donuts to the front desk because right. I’ve heard from so many people trying to apply for jobs, the same complaint. It’s like, I don’t even get a chance to talk to a human. just get rejected outright. And I’m, you know, a little bit old school in some ways, though I love the technology. I’m like, how can you find a way to make a personal connection? You know, are they geographically close to you where you can go in?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (47:40)
Yep.

Anthony Codispoti (47:56)
take a box of donuts, something, right? Like show up in person, do the thing that nobody else is taking the extra effort to do.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (48:04)
100 % and if you’re not in the same state that shouldn’t stop you, you can still message them on LinkedIn. You know, that’s that’s my go to as much hate as LinkedIn gets these days. That’s the best way to network and to cold open with some of these some of these firms. So yeah, you got to go the extra mile back in my day. You just applied and you got a call back. That was those are the good old days, huh?

Anthony Codispoti (48:29)
All right, I want to switch gears on you now, Cameron. I want to talk about one of the most challenging things that you’ve ever had to overcome personally and what that taught you.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (48:41)
Yeah, that’s a good question. ⁓ I’ve had a lot of challenges in my life. And, you know, the one that comes to mind is, you know, it might not seem like it was that bad on the outside, but as someone, you know, who I am, it was pretty tough. And this was back when I was in college for my master’s program. ⁓ And the first semester, I was on academic probation, Anthony. Can you believe that?

It was not nice. ⁓ it was, is I was having too much fun. I was letting my responsibilities go and I got that letter saying, Hey man, your grades aren’t up high enough or you’re going to get kicked out if you don’t, if you don’t do better. And that was a wake up call. And it really threw me into a spiral of depression, Anthony, because I, know, my family is an immigrant family and we know anything about, people who come to America, they want their kids to get straight A’s.

I needed to be a doctor or lawyer. So I was already not a doctor or lawyer. So was already, you know, very high pressure situation. ⁓ And what I had to do was I had to basically pivot my whole life. I had to stop saying yes to all these social events. ⁓ I had to start going to study groups. I had to basically lock myself in the room and just get my life in order. And eventually,

I got my first A in economics the next semester and I was so happy. The way that it just, it brought life back to my soul and it told myself I could do this. This is possible. The work I was putting in is creating the ⁓ desired output. And that was enough for me. So, you know, it was tough getting over that hump because…

This is your career, right? If you’re studying for accounting and you know, you’re going to be CPA, this is basically your career. And it was a huge wake up call. ⁓ and I try to apply that now with everything in my life. So if something’s not going the way I wanted to, I have to do a little self inventory. What am I doing? Right? What am I doing? Wrong? Let’s do more right things than wrong. Let’s pivot. Let’s say no to those parties. You know, let’s say no to taco Tuesday or $2 margaritas. Let’s focus.

on our goals and how to achieve them and that I carry with me every day.

Anthony Codispoti (51:07)
So I can see how that would be really tough, right? There’s these outside pressures from your family and these expectations. You had already chosen a path that was not sort of the preferred path. And now here you are on the verge of being kicked out of college your first semester. ⁓ That weighs on you heavily, right? I mean, that’s a real gut punch. What do you think actually, I mean, that’s the wake up call, but what do you think was, I don’t know, the propellant?

that told you this is what you actually had to do.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (51:42)
propellant that told me this is what I actually have to do. ⁓ I looked around. I looked at my bet my one of my good friends who was in the class with me. He got an A on these exams and I was not getting a’s. ⁓ I saw my other friends not joining us at the bar because they were going to study groups. So for me, I just had to look around. I was surrounded by people who were great examples and I was so focused.

on just having fun, having a good time, partying, that I lost track of that. So ⁓ it’s one of those just things you have to grow out of. I don’t know if you ever had any fun like that in college, Anthony, did you?

Anthony Codispoti (52:25)
We’re going to leave the conversation focused on you today, Cameron. I’m going to plead the fifth. Yeah, OK. I think just a couple more questions here. What’s your favorite thing to do outside of

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (52:28)
All right. ⁓

I love skiing. I used to be a snowboarder, snowboard for 20 years and just recently switched to skiing. So it’s physical activity. It’s outdoors. I love nature.

Anthony Codispoti (52:50)
All right, that sounds like a good time. Just one more question for you today, Cameron, but before I ask it, I want to do three quick things for the audience. First of all, to get in touch with Cameron for query, got a couple of options here. First, you can go to his website, which is rezecheck.com, R-E-Z-Z-Y check.com, rezecheck.com, and also find him on LinkedIn. And the username on LinkedIn is just C for query, C-F-A-K-O-U-R-I.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (52:52)
Thank

Anthony Codispoti (53:20)
And if you didn’t catch that, that’s all right, folks. It’s going to be in the show notes. All those links will be there in the show notes. Speaking of the show, if you’re enjoying it today, please take a moment to subscribe wherever you’re listening. It also sends a signal that helps others discover our podcast. So I appreciate you taking a quick moment to do that right now. And as a reminder, you can be the hero advisor that helps clients give their employees access to therapists, doctors and prescription meds that counter intuitively

increases their net profits, real gains that can change how a business is valued. So contact us today at addbackbenefits.com. Last question for you, Cameron, a year from now, what is one very specific thing that you hope to be celebrating?

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (54:05)
Well, my wedding for one, I think I mentioned earlier before a call I had a fiancee, we’re doing our thing. I also want to celebrate, you know, business related, 105 star reviews on ResiCheck. So right now we’re at about 35 after a year or so. So next year I’m hoping to triple that, hopefully more. So we’ll see.

Anthony Codispoti (54:28)
All right, that’s a fun one. Well, Cameron Fakuri from ResiCheck, I wanna be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate you being here.

Cameron Fakouri, CPA (54:39)
My pleasure, Anthony. Thanks for having me.

Anthony Codispoti (54:42)
Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us. And if one thing stood out, put that into action today.