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Blog Post: Virtual Career Fair: Definition, Best Practices and Case Studies: The unprecedented pandemic…; Added by Rakuna at 7:39pm on March 13, 2021

Blog Post: Virtual Career Fair: Definition, Best Practices and Case Studies: The unprecedented pandemic Covid-19 leading to worldwide quarantine has created a visible shift in how businesses operate. As the world’s entering the “New Normal” and everything is slowly…; Added by Rakuna at 11:41pm on October 8, 2021

Topic: Recruiting and/or HR position in Massachusetts - Permanent or Contract, Full-time or Part-time: (A software company that provides a flexible platform for delivering innovative and interactive video experiences on the WEB.) • Recruit and hire WEB professionals: Project and Product Managers; Sales Executives, Sales Support (Senior Account Directors; Inside Sales/Business Development; Software Engineers; WEB Developers; and, QA by using the Internet to source candidates to potentially save the company $300K annualized in recruiting fees to placement agencies. • Provide support to managers in dealing with personnel issues. 2007 – 2008 HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER TANDEMSEVEN, INC., Plymouth, MA (Consulting firm that specializes in the architecture and development of complex e-Business portals and applications for Fortune 500 companies with a focus on User Interface design. Reported directly to the CEO. • Served as a member of the Management Team and support the CEO and managers, as the company’s first HR professional, to recruit, screen and hire professionals, nationally, to staff the company’s consulting projects. Hired 22 new employees in one year (CTO, Technical Architects, VP Finance, User Experience Architects, Sr. Director of Marketing, Visual Designers, Front End Developers, Sr. Director of Marketing, VP of Sales, etc.), and 6 contractors. • Provided Human Resources to establish a comprehensive program that meets audit requirements. Advise the CEO on: terminations, insurance, benefits, conversion of employees from contract to permanent employment; and, dealing with sensitive personnel issues. • Developed and presented the company’s first Orientation Program. Worked with Sr. Managers to establish a 2 day training for the company’s User Experience Architects. • Initiated and managed the weekly meeting of the Management Team to provide and update information about staffing the companies consulting projects. Compiled data weekly about current projects, expected sales wins, employee and contractor availability, and a pipeline of potential candidates so that staffing resources were assigned to projects to produce revenue. 2002 – 2007 SENIOR DIRECTOR, GLOBAL HUMAN RESOURCES Oracle Corporation / Demantra, Inc., Waltham, MA (Oracle acquired Demantra in July 2006. Demantra was a software company that developed solutions in demand management supply chain – SCM, trade promotion – TPM, and marketing analytics). From July 2006 to January 2007, I worked at Oracle to assist in the transition of former Demantra employees to Oracle. My title/position was Senior Recruiter. My main responsibilities were to recruit, screen, and qualify sales, pre-sales and inside sales professionals for the former Demantra Sales Team and OracleDirect. AT DEMANTRA MY RESPONSIBLITIES INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING: • Provided the CEO/President and members of the Executive Team with human resources support in the US Headquarters, UK/Netherlands, and Israel offices that aligns human resources processes with business strategies and operating goals. Reported to the CEO. • Served as an advisor and Business Partner to the President/CEO, works with managers and employees to solve individual and organizational issues. • Monitored the organizational climate and assisted management in pro-actively ensuring the retention of key talent in the US, Europe and Israel. • Recruited, screened and hired the following professionals: sales, pre-sales, telesales, implementation/professionals, project and product management, marketing product, direct and communications, R&D, and SVP’S/VP/directors/managers/executives in every department. Utilized the Internet, employee referrals, and direct sourcing saving the company placement recruiting fees. PAGE 2: I LEVITT • Developed the following programs - company wide performance management system, comprehensive compensation structure based on job function and bonus eligibility, employee recognition program, Employee Handbook, New Employee Training, facilitated technical training, exit interview, hiring and layoff plans. • Annually negotiated and implemented the benefit program including: insurances (health, dental, LTD, STD, life, and employee assistance), Flexible Spending (FSA), and 401(K). • Managed the internal operations and the work environment, including chairing the Move Committee to relocate and negotiate new office space, managed the physical move and vendors to design and furnish the US headquarters office. Negotiated office space in the Israel Office. • Reported to the CEO/President, served as a member of the Executive Team / Operations Team, supervised and mentored the HR Manager in the Israel Office and administrative assistants in the US. • Responsible for the due diligence of personnel, benefits and contractors to sell the company. Worked closely with Oracle personnel to close the Demantra office, negotiate space in the Oracle Offices for Demantra employees and supervised the moving of personnel and files. 2000 - 2001 DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES, US OPERATIONS (One-year contract) Keyware Technologies, Inc., Woburn, MA (Belgium owned company that provides software authentication solutions with a focus on biometric technology): • Developed, integrated and standardized human resources policies, procedures, and benefits, in three US offices that were previously separate companies, including hiring practices, insurance plans, 401(K), employee handbook, performance management, training, compensation structure and job descriptions. • Recruited, screened and hired strategic sales, marketing, and software engineering personnel saving the Company $400K in recruiting fees by utilizing the Internet, employee referrals, and direct sourcing. • Provided hands-on employee relations support to managers in the two Massachusetts offices. • Developed a workflow system in the Internet Division with software engineering, design staff and project manager that established a schedule for customers to make changes to existing Web sites with the result of increasing cooperation between departments. • Managed two human resources professionals in the Virginia office. Organized and coordinated the reduction of staff in the Massachusetts and Virginia offices. • Reported to the VP of US Operations. HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER (Six-month contract) Keyware – Internet formerly Newton Online Business Solutions, currently Embarc, Waltham, MA (Web design and integration firm): • Developed a professional human resources structure including: orientation program, revised and updated the employee handbook, and provided support to management in dealing with sensitive employee issues. • Recruited, screened and hired technical WEB professionals (designers and software engineers), sales and project management staff. Reported to the President and CFO. 1999 - 2000 TECHNICAL RECRUITER (Nine-month contract) Charles River Development, Burlington, MA (Software Company that develops trading and compliance software for the investment and financial industries): • Recruited, screened and hired software engineers, senior level executives, sales, CFO, VP of Consulting, and consulting / implementation managers and staff saving the company in excess of $350K by locating candidates on the Internet, employee referrals and direct sourcing. • Created and implemented strategic hiring plans with senior management. Reported to the President and CFO. PAGE 3: I LEVITT 1997 - 1999 DIRECTOR, HUMAN RESOURCES (Three-month contract to start) Systems Engineering, Inc. (SEI), Waltham, MA (Professional Services Company that develops software solutions utilizing Microsoft technologies): • Developed and managed all human resources functions including: employee relations: orientation: hiring and terminating staff, and, performance management. • Recruited, screened and hired Microsoft and WEB technical professionals utilizing the Internet, direct sourcing and employee referrals to manage and staff consulting engagements saving the company approximately $500K. • Negotiated, implemented and introduced new health insurance and 401(K) Plans saving the company a substantial amount of money. • Provided guidance to Senior Management in recommending solutions to deal with employee problems and issues. Reported to the President and served as a member of the Executive Committee. 1994 - 1996 PLACEMENT SPECIALIST Micro Tech Professionals, Inc., Waltham, MA (Recruiting and placement firm that provided contract and professional personnel to high tech and financial companies): • Recruited, interviewed, and placed technical candidates in contract and permanent positions in software engineering, technical writing, MIS, and course development. • Contacted managers and human resources to obtain qualified job openings, sourced and presented qualified candidates, negotiated salaries, and, closed placements. • Participated in trade shows and job fairs to recruit candidates, and presented workshops to professional groups about interviewing techniques and resume preparation. • Responsible for closing 30% of the firm’s business placing approximately two candidates per week. The company employed a total of 6 Placement Specialists. Reported to the President. PRIOR EXPERIENCE IN LIBRARIES: HEAD OF INTERNAL OPERATIONS: PERSONNEL, BUDGET & FINANCE Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, Boston, MA (State Library Agency): Managed the human resources, financial and internal operations of the agency. Interim State Librarian – Requested by the Board to take this position for 9 months so that the Search Committee could recruit and hire a permanent State Librarian. DIRECTOR OF LIBRARY INFORMATION SERVICES, C.V. Hogan Regional Center, Hathorne, MA LIBRARIAN, Massachusetts of Mental Health, Boston, MA EDUCATION University of Pittsburgh, Masters Degree of Library Science (MLS) University of Pittsburgh, Bachelor of Arts (BA) Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Massachusetts State Agency Management Development Program PAGE 4: I LEVITT ADDENDUM A PUBLICATIONS: “Getting that Job: The Interview”, Boston Broadside. “Managing Change” in Practical Help for New Supervisors, Garten, Edward, Ed., American Library Association. “Library Pay Classification Practices”, Library Personnel News. “Guidelines for Job Sharing: An Alternative Work Option”, Library Personnel News. PRESENTATIONS: Department of Employment Security, “Interviewing Skills” Society of Documentation Professionals, “Where the Jobs Are?” Society of Documentation Professionals, “How to Work with a Placement Agency” Boston Computer Society (University of Mass., Lowell Chapter), “How to Get a Job in High Tech” Massachusetts Writers Association, “Preparing Your Resume” Northern Society for Technical Communication, “The Interviewing Process” Vermont Library Association, “Answers to your Personnel Problems” PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: 495-128 Human Resources Collaborative CERTIFICATION: Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Certificate of Librarianship PAGE 5: I LEVITT STAFFING CONCENTRATIONS: LANGUAGES and TOOLS: 4Gl; .NET; Access; ActionScript ; API’s; C; C++; C#, CASE Tools; CICS; COBOL; COM/dCOM-; CORBA; DHTML; FORTE; GUI; Informix; JAVA; JavaScript; Lotus Notes; Mat Lab; MQSeries; MUMPS; Oracle; PeopleSoft; Perl; PowerBuilder; Progress; Real-time; SAP; SAS; SQA; Sybase; SQL (MS, PL, Server, Sybase); Visual Basic; Visual C++; Visual Interdev; Visual J++ WEB TOOLS - Active X, Active Server pages; AJAX; ASP; .Net, Cold Fusion; CSS; DHTML; Flash; Flex; HTML; Indesign; JavaScript; JS; MS Illustrator, Photoshop, Visio, XAML; XHTML; XML; XSLT; XUL OPERATING SYSTEMS: NT; Windows (95 and 98); Vista; UNIX; DOS; OS2; MVS; VMS; WEBSPEHERE APPLICATIONS: Accounting; Advertising; Analytics, Artificial Intelligence; ATE; Authentication; Banking; Biometrics; Business Processes; e-Business; CAD/CAM; Client Server; Collaboration Management; Compliance Systems, Consulting: Data Communications;; Database; Demand Planning; E-Commerce; Education; Email; Electronics; Environmental; Factory Automation; Financial; Financial Services; Graphics; GUI; Hardware; Health Care; Human Resources; Imaging; Instrumentation; Internet / WEB-Based Applications, Portals; Inventory; Investment; Marketing Analytics; Manufacturing; Medical; Messaging; Modems; Middleware (MQSeries, Fusion); Networking; Payroll; Portals; Printers; Portals; Publishing; Real Time; Re-Engineering; Robotics; Security; Semi-Conductor; Server; Supply Chain (SCM); Telecommunications; Trade Promotion Management (TPM); Trading Systems, Video Conferencing; Streaming Video; WEB-based Video; Word Processing; WEB; Voice, Face, and Fingerprint Recognition.…; Added by Irene Levitt at 6:29pm on August 11, 2008

Blog Post: Virtual Career Fair: Definition, Best Practices and Case Studies: The unprecedented pandemic Covid-19 leading to worldwide quarantine has created a visible shift in how businesses operate. As the world’s entering the “New Normal”…; Added by Rakuna at 5:37am on July 23, 2021

Blog Post: Navigating Virtual Recruiting during Turbulent Times - Tips & Best Practices.: COVID-19 has made fully-remote teams and virtual recruiting become the new normal. Despite hurting the job market and presenting an unprecedented challenge for recruiters, the pandemic also speeds…; Added by Rakuna at 10:18am on October 27, 2021

Blog Post: Virtual Career Fair: Definition, Best Practices, and Case Studies: Even as the global pandemic is slowly becoming a thing of the past, virtual recruiting is here to stay. Virtual recruiting, at heart, strikes a lot of similarities to traditional campus…; Added by Rakuna at 5:15am on November 8, 2024

Blog Post: Interview with Laura Harlos, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air: Added by Soapboxholland at 5:14pm on December 1, 2010

Blog Post: International Staffing Perspectives: PASCALE COGNARD, Staffing Specialist, Freescale Semiconductor - France: By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, A JobMachine Affilate Partner…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 10:21am on July 30, 2007

Blog Post: Top 11 College Recruiting Platforms for University Recruiters

Attracting the brightest young candidates is essential to many businesses and should be one of the top priorities in most talent acquisition strategies today.

In today’s competitive hiring…

Added by Rakuna at 10:50pm on November 13, 2024

Topic: Meet Julia Margherita-McInerny, Adobe Alum - Enjoying The Hunt As A Fearless Sourcer & Her Starbucks: infrey Show Fan of the following: Captain C.B. Sully Sullenberger and Starbucks Coffee Company Admire of : Shally Steckerl and JobMachine Cheatsheets Quote: " .. You can find us walking the dogs downtown Willow Glen stopping at Starbucks to refuel" Community Volunteering: Human Society, ASPCA, PugPros, Local Hospital, Reading for elementary school students through a Junior Achievement program" • Email Julia: juliamargherita@sbcglobal.net • Phone 408-504-4061 ** Currently Seeking New Opportunities** Q & A with Julia Margherita-McInerny Julia Margherita-McInerny is a Corporate Sourcer based in San Jose, California. Her staffing areas of expertise are in Advanced Internet Research identifying passive candidates, full-cycle recruitment, cold calling, and networking. She has worked at prominent Silicon Valley companies such as Intuit, The Gap, and most recently, as a Talent Scout at Adobe where she worked for the last three years until this past February. Julia has experience targeting varied job req disciplines, i.e., Marketing, Product Management, Human Resources, Legal, Corporate Communications, Internal Communications, Real Estate, Corporate Architecture & Construction, Visual Merchandising, E-commerce, User Experience Designers, Visual Designers, Technical, Engineering, Finance, Internal Consulting, and Customer Support. Life is an adventure, and Julia has a team effort supporting her latest chapter. Aside from her recent job search efforts, Julia has experienced the more satisfying life transitions that come with a recent marriage this past October with her husband Tim McInerny and building a nest with their two dogs, Carson the Mastiff and Lola the Pug. Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. Julia: My husband Tim and I were married this past October. We had a beautiful wedding in Los Gatos, CA with 150 of our closet family and friends. We are settling into married life quite nicely along with our two dogs Carson the Mastiff and Lola the Pug. We are working on adding to our family! Since we both waited to marry a little later in life, we feel very lucky to have found each other. I’ve always said that finding your soul mate is like searching and finding the perfect candidate -- sometimes you have to search high and low and wait for the right one! We enjoy eating out and trying new restaurants. We also love entertaining and having friends and family over. On the weekends, you can find us walking the dogs downtown Willow Glen stopping at Starbucks to refuel or going to the dog park. Anyone who knows me knows I am an extreme animal lover. If I could adopt all of the stray and rescued dogs and cats out there, I would! I am a strong supporter of the Human Society, ASPCA and try to help PugPros, a local pug rescue group when I can. When I was growing up, I really wanted to become a veterinarian but I think it would be too hard for me to see animals hurt and in pain day in and day out. I can’t even make it through commercials about abused animals without shedding a few tears and forget any movies where the family pet passes away in the end!!! I also enjoy reading in my spare time. I’m always game for anything Oprah recommends! I also never get tired of a few of the classics including "Catcher In the Rye", "The Great Gatsby", "To Kill A Mockingbird", etc. For kicks, a good laugh and to keep in touch with the girly side of me, I’ve also ready the "Confessions of a Shopaholic" series! I have done some volunteer work in the past at a local hospital as well as reading for elementary school students through the Junior Achievement program. I’ve always found volunteering very rewarding and hope to donate more of my time soon. I try to stay active and make it to the gym a few times a week. I’ve dabbled in yoga and core training classes. I also love playing tennis and have played golf a few times but get frustrated easily! Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? Julia: I started recruiting in an agency in San Francisco in 1997. I placed paralegals and case clerks in some of the top law firms in SF. Prior to settling in staffing, I was a paralegal right out of college and worked for a large SF law firm mostly working on environmental and insurance defense cases. After 7 years working for lawyers, I decided it was not the right career for me -- I wanted to interact with people not documents day in and day out! I had always had an interest in human resources and recruiting so I decided to make a go of it. It was an easy and welcomed transition for me and I never looked back! After working for the agency for a few years, I desired corporate experience and really wanted to work for an internal staffing organization so I landed at Gap Inc. as a Sourcer and stayed for 5 years. I had the pleasure of working on all of the fun, creative jobs in the company including Advertising and Visual Merchandising. My hiring managers were the brains and talent behind all the Gap commercials and photo shoots -- I thought I was the “coolest” sourcer in town!! At that point in my career, I wanted to get exposure to the high tech and software industry and landed a contract gig at Intuit where I was hired to support Marketing and Product Management. Intuit was a wonderful experience and the free tax software was an extra bonus!! I joined Adobe Systems in 2006 as a Talent Scout and was brought on to source for the G&A functions including Marketing, Finance, Legal and Human Resources. I was also fortunate to get exposure to many other business functions within the company including User Experience Design, Professional Consulting, Customer Care and Inside Sales. I challenged myself every day with hunting for User Experience Designers/Architects and Computer Scientists!! Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? Julia: It’s hard for me to narrow it down to just one event that has most impacted my sourcing career. Every company I’ve worked for has been unique from the other. Working for Gap in 1999 was really exciting -- we had prospective candidates beating down our doors wanting to work for the hip khaki retailer! Then the dotcom boom burst on the scene and we were fighting to save recent hires from going to start ups! It’s been such an experience watching the cycles of the economy and how it’s affected sourcing over the last 10 years. By the time I joined Adobe, I realized just how much I had learned about sourcing and what it takes to truly find and attract the ultimate passive candidate. One project that does come to mind was at Adobe and I was asked to become part of a team of recruiters and sourcers to staff a customer care center located in Canada. We were given the task of sourcing and filling over 100 positions within a very short period of time. The open positions were very technical and skill specific. The screening process for each candidate was very lengthy and detail-oriented. Sourcing for 100+ positions in a small market with a limited talent pool proved to be very challenging. I was not really familiar with the market in Canada let alone the complexity of the regions but I had to learn very quickly! Along with sourcing the candidates, I was also managing full cycle recruiting on this project. Through excellent team work and exceptional hiring managers, we were able to meet our goal and complete the project. This was very rewarding and will always have an impact on my career. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? Julia: I have been fortunate to have had many different mentors to whom I have looked up to throughout my career. I have had some wonderful managers who have been truly devoted to guiding and developing my skills as a Sourcer. I would have to give kudos to one of my managers at Gap when I started as a Sourcer who told me “you have to be fearless”. I remember being scared to death to make my first cold call! But I jumped in feet first and guess what happened!? The person on the other end of the phone was rude and hung up on me! I didn’t let that stop me - the more calls I made, the easier it became! I haven’t tried to model my career after anyone specific. I’ve really tried to make it my own and play upon my strengths. I have learned and gained best practices from all of the wonderful and talented Sourcers I have worked with throughout my career. I do, however, admire industry leaders such as Shally Steckerl and Dave Mendoza. Six Degrees: Tell us about your most recent gig as a talent consultant at Adobe, Julia. Julia: During my time at Adobe, there were three Talent Scouts (Sourcers) including myself, each supporting multiple recruiters. I had the opportunity to learn about many functional areas of the company but the most recent group I supported was the Technical Recruiters. This team of recruiters supported the business functions including Creative Solutions, Knowledge Worker, Advanced Technology Lab, Platform and Adobe’s User Experience Design organization. My main job was to source and build pipelines of candidates -- both active and passive. To find the “best of the best” and find out where they live, both physically and virtually! I conducted a lot of research of professional organizations, conferences and dove deep into social networking sites. Six Degrees: (A) What other companies' recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples? Julia: Definitely Microsoft for its complexity and best practices through word of mouth. They are always such a fun company to watch and have no trouble attracting prospective candidates. It’s exciting to see how their brand evolves and how they change their recruitment marketing. I try to educate myself and follow the trends by reading different recruiting blogs and news stories. Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why? Julia: I think all the general hype around social networking sites are and will have an impact on the role of a Sourcer now and in the future. Most or all of the Sourcers I know spend at least 90% of their time networking and searching sites such as Linked In and Facebook. I really feel they will eventually take over completely. Perhaps even take the place of job boards -- at least for a means of sourcing candidates. Six Degrees: Have you been involved in broader industry events as of yet? Julia: No speaking events or awards to mention -- yet!! Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there? Julia: I really feel I am in a good place right now. I am content in the role of a Sourcer. I enjoy the “hunt” and like the research aspect of the job. It is a thrill to source and develop a candidate that results in a hire. I am looking to be a part of a cutting-edge recruiting organization that isn’t afraid to push the limits. I thrive in a team environment where I can learn from my colleagues and feel my ideas are being heard and contributed. As long as I’m feeling good about what I am doing on a daily basis and my work is rewarding, that is all that matters to me. “HOW DOES THEY DOES JULIA DO IT?” Six Degrees: How many applicants at your present employer do you estimate are hired from your corporate website as compared to how many are hired through referrals? Julia: In my experience, the companies I have worked for have focused on continually increasing the number of hires through employee referrals. In general, the number of hires from referrals fluctuates between 30-40%. It seems companies are constantly trying to improve their employee referral programs to make the rewards more enticing for employees to refer great people but truth is, in this economy, it is more challenging. In general, I think about 10% of hires come from a corporation’s website or posting. A strong number of my hires have come from Linked In. I think in this economy, people are more open to networking and referring colleagues/friends for open jobs. In these tough times, people are more apt to help one another. Six Degrees: What is the source of the "Most Hires" collected from at your present employer? (In terms of Quantity #) Julia: In my experience, it really depends on the positions you are recruiting for. If I’m looking for a Computer Scientist or a specific type of Engineer, most of these hires seem to come from recruitment research done either internally or externally. Typically, these guys won’t have their resumes posted on job boards so a passive pipeline must be identified. There are some positions that are filled by job board resumes however, the types of positions I have worked on, require much more digging! Six Degrees: What is the source of your "LOWEST COST OF HIRES" - (least amount of invested resources for the easiest hires, regardless of quality) at your present employer? Julia: In my experience, a low cost hire is someone who has applied or submitted their resume in response to a posting or a resume posted on a job board. Also, prospective candidates who are already in our resume database are a good source. There could be someone who applied for one job but may be right for another. I usually go after the “low hanging fruit” first and I’m not implying they may be less qualified in any way -- the right candidate could be there right under your nose!! Another way to keep the cost of hires low is to leverage your own network. Reach out to current and former colleagues to see who they may know. Linked In has a great feature where you can send out job descriptions to your network to help with your sourcing efforts. No matter where I go or who I meet, I try to network -- you never know who you could meet! Six Degrees: What talent niche groups do you target and are these particular talent areas specialized under your review? Julia: I have had the opportunity to research and target numerous niche groups for the areas I have supported. Most of the positions I work on require digging and finding conference attendee lists, white papers and other publications, user groups, etc. For example, I have worked on a lot of User Experience Designer positions and this talent pool does not post their resumes on general job boards. The good talent is usually already working and in high demand AND receiving lots of calls from recruiters! There are a handful of niche designer websites/job boards I have to target to get their attention and potentially look at their portfolio. Six Degrees: What types of training in sourcing/recruitment are available to you and have you taken advantage of? Julia: In the past I have taken a few of Shally Steckerl’s seminars as well as attended AIRS training classes. I still use JobMachine’s cheat sheets! I recently participated in one of Craig Silverman’s webinars. I also subscribe to the recruiting/sourcing blogs and keep abreast of the news that way. I really like reading the daily blogs for tips from other sourcers or recruiters. Six Degrees: What recruitment software tools do you use in your day to day recruitment activities & do they translate effectively within all of the different countries where you recruit? Julia: Google and Yahoo search engines for Boolean searches of course! I have also been exposed to Virtual Edge, Filefinder and other ATS. Most of the jobs I have worked on have been based in the U.S. or Canada but it is important that any tool we utilize can be used globally as well. Six Degrees: What tools (technology or old school file folder, for example) did you first encounter early in your recruitment career? Julia: When I worked for the agency, we were still using hard copies of job orders and Excel spreadsheets to track candidates! I also used something similar to ResumeMix. Six Degrees: How did your expectations of being a recruiter compare to the actual, first time you got on the phone or in the cubicle? In your opinion, how do people's assumptions about our vocation differ from reality? Julia: When I worked for the agency, it was easy because all the candidates I called or interviewed came to us to register so there was no fear of the “unknown response!” I remember the day I made my first cold call -- sweaty palms and all! Of course the person on the other end of the call was rude and eventually told me never to call them at work again! What a way to start! But I kept going and it got easier as time went by. It’s easy to sell the company you are working for but it’s another story when you don’t know ANYTHING about what the person does that you are targeting!! I find it easier to let them talk about what they do. It helps me really learn the technology. Six Degrees: Worst mistake, biggest goof, lousiest practice you thought would fly but didn’t…and how that was a learning experience? Julia: Well, everyone makes mistakes now and then! I think the most important thing I’ve learned is to gather all of the pertinent information from the candidate the hiring manager is looking for -- leave no stone unturned. You really need to know their compensation expectations, relocation requirements (if needed), visa needs and any other expectations in the beginning of the process to avoid any obstacles down the road. Six Degrees: How do you personally expect to facilitate change within our industry, and/or at your place of work? If you started that process, outline the problem, your solutions, and the vision. Julia: I don’t know that I can change our industry but I can certainly work on changing and improving on my skills. If I can contribute creative ideas to an organization, I will feel good about what I am doing every day. I have good days and bad days -- there are some days when I feel like I’ve been spinning my wheels with no results but that is what happens in the staffing world! Six Degrees: What are some of the frustrating aspects/obstacles to your day to day as a staffing professional and in general? Julia: There are some days when I feel I haven’t accomplished much…..no matter how much research or digging I do, I still haven’t produced a viable candidate! I will complain and be frustrated one day and the next I will find three great candidates -- it’s very cyclical. Six Degrees: What are the most common themes of strategic and/or tactical mishaps involving past or present HR/Staffing org? Julia: I think staffing organizations sometimes get a bad rap. There are some individuals out there that think recruiters are paper pushers who sit back and wait for resumes to come in and offer no value to an organization. When in fact the reality is, there is a lot of strategic work that goes on behind the scenes. There is a perception out there that most staffing organizations out there are more reactive than proactive. This is simply not the case. Six Degrees: Considering all of the frustrations you have experienced in your career as a recruiter, -- what inspires you as you continue in your career? I try to remember all of the hires and successes I’ve had. It is so satisfying identifying and developing a candidate who gets hired and eventually comes on board and is so ultimately happy where they are. Also, working with a supportive team keeps me going. If my colleagues are happy and are having fun with what they are doing, it is very refreshing! Six Degrees: What one thing do you ideally hope to accomplish in 2009? Julia: I really want to double or even triple my current networks! Six Degrees: Anything you want to plug? Julia: I am currently looking for my next sourcing opportunity - please contact me if you are interested in reviewing my resume!…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 11:31pm on April 5, 2009