Testimonials

While I have known Steve for a long time, I have just recently had the privilege of working with him to secure talent for our west region sales team. Steve's knowledge of the industry, his extensive candidate database and his numerous connections allowed us to secure three very sought after individuals that are now part of the Hartford sales team. I look forward to working with Steve and his team moving forward and I would highly recommend you do the same if you are looking to secure top talent in the employee benefits arena.

Steve is masterful at building professional and lasting relationships. He is insightful in his business and is quite intuitive about people. Steve's communication skills and strong business acumen have, and will continue, to serve him well in his field of specialty as an Executive Recruiter. He is a real pleasure to work with. I highly recommend Steve and Spencer James Group to any firm or candidate looking to enhance productivity and results.

Steve Faulkner helped us with a search last year that resulted in us hiring a great Stop Loss sales professional in Ryan Valek. Ryan has exceeded our expectations from both a production and cultural fit standpoint.

Working with Steve Faulkner has been an incredible experience. His professionalism, persistence and passion for recruitment makes him stand out in a highly competitive field. Steve's ability to identify top talent and align it with organizational needs is remarkable.

I highly recommend Steve for his outstanding work in filling sales roles within the employee benefits sector. His deep understanding of the industry, coupled with his meticulous approach to matching candidates with the right opportunities, ensures top-tier placements. Steve’s professionalism, dedication, and excellent communication skills make the recruitment process smooth and efficient. His ability to identify and attract exceptional talent has been invaluable to our team.

Over the past 20+ years, I have worked with various recruiters a number of times both as a candidate and as a sales leader looking to hire talent and when it comes to ancillary benefits, Steve Faulkner is one of the absolute best. When it comes to hiring, Steve is extremely thorough in understanding your competitive advantages and matching you with the right candidates. As it relates to new career opportunities, Steve does a fantastic job in understanding your unique abilities and identifying cultural fits. More than anything else, Steve has served as one of my professional and personal advisors and for this I couldn’t be more grateful.

I highly recommend Steve Faulkner as an exceptional independent recruiter. Steve played a pivotal role in filling three challenging positions that had been vacant for months. His deep understanding of the ancillary sales rep community was instrumental in identifying the right candidates swiftly. Furthermore, Steve's strategic guidance led to tangible improvements in our company's policies, removing obstacles that had previously hindered our recruiting efforts. Steve's professionalism, expertise, and commitment to excellence make him an invaluable asset in the recruitment field.

I have worked with Steve and his team for a number of years and have found his professionalism, experience and insight to be invaluable. Not only from support and help with recruiting new talent, but also getting a better perspective and understanding from the candidate side. Steve and his team bring a hands on approach, taking the time to really understanding our specific needs bringing qualified talent for open opportunities that we have on our team. Thank you Steve for all your continued support and help and fun along the way.

Steve and The Spencer James Group are exceptional, value-creating business partners in the world of employee benefits consulting and brokerage talent acquisition. Steve helped our Employee Benefits division recruit and land incredible, top-tier client-facing talent that accelerated a critical market for our team. Steve invested in our business, deeply knew our culture and was our first call for talent needs.

Steve has recruited several insurance leaders for us and always does a great job. He knows the insurance marketplace really well and has a very strong process of recruiting and refining high quality candidates. I highly recommend Steve for anyone looking to recruit high-quality insurance talent.

I’ve worked with the Spencer James Group for over three years and their ability to pre-screen and deliver top-notch candidates is unrivaled. They bring integrity and a long-term approach so often ignored in the industry. The candidates they have brought us have exceeded our expectations without surprises. The Spencer James Group not only has the candidates – they ensure the right fit.

As a group sales rep exploring new opportunities Steve's advice and help was first class. For group reps who find themselves in a similar position as a job candidate know that you can TRUST Steve and that he will advise you on what is best for YOUR career.

Steve is the consumate professional: deep knowledge of our industry, strong relationships with key leaders, and an ability to bring value to all parties involved in the hiring process. Steve is the gold standard for recruiters.

Steve is a positive straight-shooter who knows the insurance hiring market inside out and backwards. He reached out to me as a recruiter in the late Spring of 2015. Right from the start, I found Steve to be responsive, resourceful, effective, personable, caring and honest. His far reaching network in the insurance industry is impressive, and he has a knack for seeing what could be a good employer/employee match. For example, he persuaded me to interview with a company that I initially wanted to pass on, and throughout that process, I was surprised to discover that I could see myself working at that company, and that it would have been a good fit. When I later choose to turn down that company's offer for an out-of-industry offer I received at the referral of a personal friend, while honest that he was bummed out, Steve was positive, supportive, encouraging, and confirming that I made the best choice for me. I'm sure that a corporate recruiter has many hats to wear and many different parties to keep happy....but Steve made me feel like he really had my best interests at heart. Thank you, Steve. It was truly a pleasure working with you!

Steve is a highly industry knowledgeable and sophisticated search professional with a comprehensive national database of employee benefits and financial service candidates. He is a "student of the business" who always stays abreast of industry organizational, regulatory, compliance and M&A developments. Steve is also very "wired" into the U.S. group insurance carrier marketplace ranging from the largest group carriers to the employee benefits brokers and consultants. He daily stays in touch with the industry’s sales and service candidates. Steve has developed an excellent national network so he can provide a good candidate pool leading to successfully completing his search assignments. He is also able to "take the pulse of the marketplace" in terms of how individual carriers are faring and what it takes to be a competitive employer to attract and retain top talent. This feedback to his clients in invaluable so compensation and benefits can be more “fine-tuned” to maintain a market-competitive talent acquisition strategy.

Steve and the Spencer James group are outstanding! I have had the opportunity to use his services a couple of time over the past few years when I needed to hire an Account Manager. My consulting firm is on the smaller size, so the the time savings are awesome! His screening and review process was able to present to me just the right candidate! I did not need to sort through a bunch of resumes, web services, missed appointments, etc. when using Steve's company. Additionally, he is able to ask questions of the candidates that I might not have been able to. For anyone considering utilizing a candidate search firm for their next insurance industry hire- you can't go wrong with Steve and The Spencer James Group.

Steve is everything a recruiter should be; responsive without being pushy, knowledgeable without being condescending, funny and professional. I let him talk me into an interview and 4 months into my new position, I am so glad I did. I'm so grateful to Steve for believing in me as a candidate and counseling me as a person. Highly recommended!

Steve is the best recruiter I have worked with in my career. Knowledge, preparation and guidance are unparalleled. I highly recommend you talk to Steve if you are looking for a change.