Christopher Sweeney
co-foundedZarak, Sweeney & Associates Legal Recruitment (“ZSA”)
in 1997. In a legal recruiter career that has spanned more than 18 years, Christopher has made a name for himself as CEO & Co-founder of ZSA, Canada’s largest and only national legal recruitment firm. Many aspects of Christopher’s path make him stand out as a tenacious and tough leader, including his success. His goal is to ensure ZSA remains the number one legal recruitment company in Canada. For the last fifteen years, ZSA has been regarded as the gold standard for legal recruitment in Canada. What makes Christopher’s career remarkable are two characteristics that run the gamut through Christopher’s professional and personal life, tenacity and toughness.
Firstly, Christopher has always remembered to never give up, and his tenacity has served him in creating and maintaining the business. In short, Christopher remembers his mantra, “failure is not an option.” Although Christopher has suffered financial and personal losses over the years, his drive to succeed pushes him to remain 100% dedicated to ZSA. Christopher doesn’t exacerbate problems, but instead pushes through the obstacles to achieve greater successes and achievements.
Secondly, Christopher knows that when times are tough, he is tougher. In the simplest of terms, he is confident. This confidence is powered by his successes, education, and cold hard logic. Christopher’s ability to work hard, multi-task, and never give up, has powered his success.
Christopher Sweeney Turned A Belief in Himself and A Lot of Hard Work Into Success
Christopher grew up in Montreal, Canada. Christopher was the youngest of five children in a large Irish family. Christopher spent his childhood summers at the family cottage in Laurentians surrounded by natural beauty. Christopher grew up in a standard middle class family. Despite neither of his parent’s graduating from college, Christopher went on to pursue various degrees. Christopher credits his drive to pursue his education, as well as his confidence, to growing up surrounded by family members that loved him, protected him, and cared for him.Christopher’s Approach to Life and Loss
As a child, Christopher endured one of the most difficult losses. When he was 12 years old, his older brother, who was the closest to him in age, was killed in a sudden traffic accident. To experience such a loss at such an early stage was incredibly difficult for Christopher and his entire family. After the loss of his brother, everything was different, as Christopher became instantly aware of how easily life can end. At a young age, people tend to think of themselves and others as being immortal. However, the death of Christopher’s brother abruptly shattered this myth. Christopher remembers the feeling, “one second he was there and the next he was gone.” This loss led Christopher to shape his approach to life, as he now appreciates every moment.Christopher’s calm, direct and logical demeanor was only strengthened from further life experiences. As a child, Christopher and a friend were out in a boat, when the boat tipped over. Christopher remained calm and noticed that his friend was tangled in the ropes unable to breathe. Although his friend was in a sheer panic, Christopher remained calm and untangled his friend. Additionally, Christopher’s ability to remain calm and act quickly in a crisis saved his son’s life. He is still haunted by the memory of almost losing his son to a speeding van just outside of LAX. Due to his quick assertive action under fire, his son stopped in his tracks and avoided a potentially fatal collision. Christopher confessed the memory still sends shivers up his spine.
Modest Beginnings
In addition to Christopher’s life altering experiences, his diverse employment history has helped shape his character. To date, Christopher has worked in over 37 different jobs. When Christopher was in sixth grade, he got his first job delivering newspapers. Christopher believes this job provided a great business foundation because the job required discipline and money handling skills. For example, rain or shine, the paper still needs to be delivered six days a week. Every week, Christopher collected money from his customers, and this process taught him how to handle money. Additionally, Christopher attributes his toughness to his experience working on the Canadian railroad, doing manual labor (using a sledgehammer). Christopher was working with a number of tough individuals, and he learned to absorb pain and loss and keep moving. Christopher recalls a major lesson of the railroad, “keep your head high and an eye on your back.”Christopher recalls that founding ZSA was not a straightforward or easy task. One of the most memorable experiences in his life was ZSA’s first day of operation. Christopher remembers sitting in the office, with only a fax machine and a telephone, hoping that it would work out. He had not yet installed a computer. Even then, he knew and understood that failure was never an option. Christopher put every cent he had into the business, and worked six and a half days a week for six months without receiving one red cent. Over the course of six months, Christopher saw his wife, who lived in London, England at the time, only twice, and at night he would sleep on a sofa in a child’s bedroom at his Aunt’s house. In his eyes, there was no Plan B, he was going to survive, and ultimately succeed. Even though Christopher learned a lot the hard way, his company became an incredible success. Nevertheless, constant challenges arose in the legal recruitment profession.
Life after the Recession of 2009
During therecession of 2009
, Christopher’s business dropped by 50%. Christopher confesses it was incredibly difficult to stay afloat during the recession, and the company let a lot of people go. After about 18 months, business bounced back to about 80%. In the good times or the bad times, Christopher remembers that failure is not an option during any economic downturn. He plans on continuing to grow ZSA into different areas, such as Accounting and Banking. While Christopher may not practice law, he has a lot of respect for lawyers. Christopher acknowledges that working as an attorney is a tough job. Lawyers work incredibly long hours, and if they are not productive, they are often pushed out. He would like to see some changes in the legal profession, namely law firms taking greater risk and partnering with clients. For example, law firms in the past would charge hourly rates regardless of outcomes, but now there are exceptions to the rule such as venture law corporations. According to Christopher, nailing ourselves to the billable hour is detrimental to the industry and the individual attorneys.Mentors
Christopher gives credit where credit is due and is grateful to those who have helped throughout his professional journey. While working with Quarry Dougall, Christopher worked with two mentors that shaped his career. Both Garth Quarry and Joe Macrae were very successful legal recruiters, and they taught Christopher the business. Christopher acknowledges that watching and learning from these mentors was incredibly helpful to his career. Christopher is also grateful to be working with his business partnerWarren Bongard
. Even though Warren and Christopher are markedly different, their skills complement one another making for a great business partnership and a stronger organization. Last, but certainly not least, Dominique Tardif, Christopher’s wife, has also allowed Christopher to see things differently. He thanks her for being an amazing confidant, friend and partner.Christopher’s Tips for Recruitment
In the recruitment profession, often one asks what makes a great candidate. First and foremost, a great candidate must have strongcurriculum vitae
. A strong candidate should be someone with impressive academic credentials who has worked with a top employer for a number of years. Christopher prefers to see a candidate that has worked for a few top firms rather than someone who has moved around a lot. For a senior attorney, a candidate should have a strong book of transferable business. If a candidate has a great personality, this may help, because people want to work with people who are friendly. Overall, a great candidate needs strong academic credential, valuable experience, and the ability to bring in good numbers.Christopher knows what it takes to be a great legal recruiter. First, recruitment is not a science, it is an art. There are a number of hard working smart people who lack the artistry required to close the deal. So, if you are just starting out, work on your closing because if you can’t close you won’t be a great legal recruiter. When Christopher takes on a legal recruiter, he trains by throwing new employees into the deep end. Typically after four months, Christopher knows whether the person will work out. However, there are always surprises. Sometimes a recruiter is a late bloomer or personal issues affect a recruiter’s performance.
Want to work with Christopher? You will need to prove to him that you are competent, bright, and an ambitious team player. Christopher is a logical straight shooter, and he does not have patience for excuses. Christopher gets frustrated with employees that do not apply the rules and follow through when the employee is specifically asked to complete a task. Despite going through a painful divorce, a house flooding, and several other obstacles, Christopher keeps going and his ideas almost always become reality. He likes to de-stress by going to a movie, reading the paper, or going for a quick flight. These activities make it a lot easier to digest and move through stressful periods. One of Christopher’s keys to success is that he is always available. Although he may be traveling, Christopher is available twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. When Christopher is on vacation, his cell phone is with him at all times.
