Search Results - health-related

Blog Post: Make Your Next Hire a Boomerang — Benefits of Rehiring Former Employees: Resignations often come from employees we’re sorry to see go. But the end of a worker’s tenure with your company doesn’t have to be a permanent loss. In fact, their leaving could be an important…; Added by Phil Strazzulla at 4:49am on October 23, 2022

Blog Post: The Net / Net of Net Geners

The Net Net of the Net Geners

Presented by: Doug Douglas – National Engagement Manager at…

Added by Doug Douglas at 5:01pm on May 9, 2012

Blog Post: Free hiring: the secret of a $0 cost per hire: Let’s be honest, recruitment can be expensive both in terms of time and money. But does it really have to be that way? Here we list some great free tools out there that recruiters can…; Added by Nick Leigh-Morgan at 8:58am on January 18, 2012

Blog Post: HS Graduates Should Embrace Flexibility & Recruiters as They Enter College: Take Heed Millennials it Could be a Bumpy (But Exciting) Ride

It’s…; Added by Jason S. Capps, Ph.D. at 8:12pm on July 21, 2016

Blog Post: ERE/SourceCon Anaheim 2016: One Attendee's Perspective: ERE's SourceCon Anaheim was a stellar event. I arrived on a Tuesday Sept 20 -…; Added by Mike Rasmussen at 11:28pm on September 23, 2016

Blog Post: 110 Wordings for Employee Recognition & Appreciation (Shout Outs!)

Do appreciation words for employees have an impact on a company’s growth?

In a nutshell, yes. …

Added by Phil Strazzulla at 7:54pm on November 5, 2022

Topic: Meet Richard Kenny, Talent Acquisition Consultant: "When I Grow Up I Want To Be A Recruiter": In college I knew I wanted to be in Recruiting. I went to the local bank and asked if ... I could work for free as long as they will allow me to learn about recruiting. Since I had a compelling argument why they should hire me, they said sure. "I attended a two day training session that was put on by David Szary, founder of The Recruiter Academy. I still keep in contact with David today. He is one of the early influencers that energized me around recruiting and thankfully I still have that passion today" • Richard (Rich) Kenny) • Talent Acquisition Consultant • Minneapolis, MN • Recruitingblogs.com • Linkedin • Facebook • Twitter • Community Volunteering: Habitat for Humanity • Personal Causes: United Way • Cell: 612-860-1116 • Email • Business Website: www.talentacquisitionconsulting.com • Personal Website: www.richardakenny.com I had the pleasure of meeting Rich at ERE and shook his hand at the reception. It so happened that Rich sat behind me during several of the speaker events and we got to know one another and his passion for our industry expressed itself in earnest. As an accomplished talent acquisition professional with experience across multiple industries. we shared a deep appreciation for sourcing passive candidates, but as a modest individual, you dig deeper and you find that Rich merged the recruiting programs of two of the world’s largest airlines; not a small feat. He has earned a diverse resume of certifications: • SPHR (Senior Professional Human Resources) • AIRS (Advanced Internet Recruiting Strategy) • CSSR (Certified Social Sourcing Recruiter) • CIR (Certified Internet Recruiter), 2008 • CDR (Certified Diversity Recruiter), 2008 • ACIR (Advanced Certified Internet Recruiter), 2008 • DDI (Development Dimensions International) • Targeted Selection: Interviewer, 2008 His experience has substance, his desire to enrich his capabilities to a worthy recruitment methodology is endless. The question remains, what makes Rich interesting aside from his resume credentials? My friends, this is one of the few people I have ever met in my career who KNEW they wanted to be a recruiter when they grew up. How he became a recruiter and what he offered to enter the industry says as much about his tenacity then as it does for his future success. He lays it on the line. Q&A with Richard (Rich) Kenny Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. Richard: I am very close to my family. My parents have been married for 40 years. I have two older sisters, two nephews and two nieces. What I do have is a wonderful group of friends all around the country that I enjoy spending time with. For the last 10 years, I have been in talent acquisition roles where I traveled a majority of the time, allowing me the opportunity to meet great people around the country. I currently live in Minneapolis, MN, but previously lived in Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit and Toledo. I am a passionate football fan. Specifically, I have been a Michigan football fan my entire life. I have traveled several times to watch them in bowl games and attended many games while living in Michigan. Reading is something I do avidly; I read on average a book a week. I try to rotate in a fun book, industry book and professional development books. Currently, I am reading Dan Brown’s book “The Lost Symbol”, while also reading a book by Clay Shirky, called of “Here Comes Everybody”. There is one TV show that I watch every week either on TV or on the internet and that is 24. I have been addicted to it since the very first episode. If I seriously think about it, I think I have watched the entire series at least two times. Philanthropically, I volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and I am a supporter of the United Way. While working on a Habitat for Humanity home I realized that I could give back to the community in so many ways. I still want to remain active with Habitat builds, but I also realized that I could gain and give others value by helping people in their career search. Recently, I started a networking group in Minneapolis for HR professionals that are in transition that meets every Tuesday. Also, I speak to college student groups on networking, dinner etiquette and the transition from college to corporate. Additionally, I developed and delivered a presentation in Orlando, FL to The Institute of Internal Auditors local chapter and at Right Management in Minneapolis, MN on how to use social media in the job search for candidates. Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? Richard: I recently consulted for C&S Wholesale Grocers and Compass Airlines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. I am actively looking for my next role in talent acquisition or to continue consulting for companies. I have been in the staffing industry for 12+ years, most recently with Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines. I was recruited by Northwest Airlines after speaking at a client conference for Peoplescout in Chicago. Northwest offer me an opportunity to design their recruiting program and after the merger with Delta, I merged the two recruiting programs of two of the world’s largest airlines. Prior to Delta and Northwest, I lead the field recruiting program at 7-Eleven. We hired over 20,000 people every year for our stores, management and district management roles. My first role out of college ended up being with Comerica Bank thanks to that experience. I started as a Sourcing Specialist and I had to source candidates for our operations center without a budget. I actually was very successful finding candidates; it was an awesome role. After that I was involved in college recruiting with Comerica. In college I knew I wanted to be in Recruiting. I went to the local bank and asked if I could work for the summer. They told me that they were not hiring. Since I am determined, I asked if I could work for free as long as they will allow me to learn about recruiting. Since I had a compelling argument why they should hire me, they said sure. After all, I was a very low cost employee. A few days after starting, the only recruiter they had resigned, this allowed me to jump in and learn about recruiting. I was still an unpaid intern but a great experience. Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter? Richard: As a kid, I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps. He was in sales as a buyer and seller of metals—always building relationships, traveling occasionally and loving what he did. I see recruiting as the best sales job; you get to match people with companies and great opportunities. While I was in college, I knew I wanted to be in human resources, and while I looked at the other disciplines in HR, recruiting seemed to be the perfect fit for my personality and passion. After starting my first job out of college I attended a two day training session that was put on by David Szary, founder of The Recruiter Academy. I still keep in contact with David today. He is one of the early influencers that energized me around recruiting and thankfully I still have that passion today. His training, thought process, as well as his energy around this industry inspired me to make my mark in recruiting as well. Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? Richard: I think it was that I loved to learn new things and be involved and provide input to the recruiting processes within the companies I worked at. At 7-Eleven, I truly had my big break in the industry. I was involved with our corporate office on many projects and initiatives, so when the staffing leader in our headquarters made the decision to leave, it opened up an opportunity for me to move into that role. Since I was heavily involved in all the projects, contributing content, it made me an ideal candidate for that role. It also helped that I was willing to pack up my life and start over in a new city. If you are willing to relocate and start over, you will be presented with greater opportunities. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? Richard: My father is my true mentor and the person that I look up to every day in my life. Aside from him, I have a couple mentors in my live. My first Mentor would be James Nyhan III. He was the first person to hire me at 14 - well actually the second. For my first job, I worked at a golf course picking up golf balls on the driving range. The owner gave me a bucket and a hard hat and asked me to pick up golf balls while all the golfers where trying to hit the kid with their best shot. I decided I needed a new job, so I ended up working for Jim at his family owned sports complex. It was a bowling center, volleyball facility and miniature golf course all in one. Jim inspired me to work hard and be the best that I could be and he definitely was the person that inspired me to have the work ethic that I have today. I consider the entire Nyhan family an extension of my own family and I still consult for the company today. Beyond that, in the recruiting profession, there are so many people that have inspired me, guided me, supported me and made me who I am today. It would be difficult to identify all of them now. So many people have given me the opportunity to succeed. I have gained knowledge, insight, and inspiration from so many people and I continue to build new relationships and grow existing ones. There are a lot of talented people in this industry, so I feel that having one mentor is not enough. You need to model your career off of everyone you come in contact with, because everyone has something to contribute; good, bad or indifferent. The key is that you have to take those learning and figure out how to apply them. Six Degrees: Tell us about your latest gig Richard: I recently consulted for C&S Wholesale Grocers, I implemented iCIMS – iRecruiter Talent Management Platform and worked on some process improvement for their volume hiring program. I also consulted for Compass Airlines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. I worked on re-implementing Taleo Talent Management Platform, sourcing strategy and redesigned their recruitment process for the entire organization. Six Degrees: (A) What other companies' recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples? Richard: I spent most of my time in the high volume hiring side of recruiting. I led efforts to hire hourly employees across multiple industries, retail managers and district managers. There are several companies that have great recruiting programs. For inspiration, I look at company like AT&T with Chris Hoyt, who built an application for mobile devices. I also look at companies like Sodexo that are trying the social media route and making a significant commitment to this avenue. There are so many other great companies and talent acquisition professionals out there. Too many to individually identify. (B) In what aspects are they superior? Richard: Everyone is saying that recruiting has changed and social media and mobile devices are the future and in some cases have already taken over. I agree that they are the future but what they really are is an extension of what recruiting was and is today. It is still about relationships, networking, picking up the phone and talking to someone, meeting someone for coffee, shaking someone’s hand. Social media just allows us to do it more efficiently. I think these companies are superior because they are embracing social media and mobile recruiting. There is no manual on how to do it, they are trying, retooling, rethinking, and making it work. If you are not willing to try new things, and old things that maybe did not even work the last time, you will not expand your recruiting toolkit. Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why? Richard: While I think social media and mobile devices are important, you really need to have a great employment brand, career website, applicant tracking system and the ability to manage your candidate pool through a talent community. Without these things, nothing else matters. You have to have the basics right first. Six Degrees: Tell us about your broader involvement within the staffing industry: Richard: I attended several conferences a year. I normally attend the Staffing Management conference, SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) conference and ERE Expo. I have also attended NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) and some of the regional conferences as well. I have spoken at several conferences around the country, as well as client conferences, organizations, and on college campuses. My focus is typically on social media in the job search, high volume hiring strategies, technology in recruiting, successful college recruiting programs and relationships with student groups, including networking topics, dinner etiquette and transition from college to corporate. I personally have received several awards for my efforts in college recruiting. In addition, my recruiting teams have received several awards for our contributions to the organizations successes related to recruiting efforts. Six Degrees: How has the recession effected your particular industry niche? Richard: The recession has impacted so many great people. I have many colleagues in the airline industry that have been impacted by the recession, fuel prices and mergers. Recently, I decided not to move to Atlanta after the merger between Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines, but I did spend nine months in Atlanta leading the program and merging the two processes. Several members of my team that followed me to Atlanta had their positions recently eliminated due to the economy. Due to this recession so many great people will change industries, some will change functions, some may retire and others may do other things. I think that all professionals need to pay it forward and try to help all of our colleagues find that next great thing. If we all just help one person, think of the difference we can make. Six Degrees: Aside from simply the generic term “Networking” what specific efforts have you made on your own behalf, or on behalf of colleagues to broaden your opportunities. Are there specific groups, both online and in-person that have proved fruitful in extending your personal brand and job seeking prospects? Richard: Networking is important, but there are so many other things that are important too. Be a sponge. Read as much as you can (online, print, books, blogs, etc.) and not just about your industry, but world events and leadership too. Share your knowledge with others and listen to others, because they have great things to say. If you are not employed, attend conferences, renew your memberships, gain certifications, be active. There are so many things you can do to stay connected. I recently attended the ERE Expo in Hollywood, FL. At this event, I connected with so many great people, thought leaders and people passionate about recruiting. I also landed an opportunity for a short term consulting project, which I recently finished. It is also important to attend vendor presentations. Not only to stay up on what is going on, but also to network. People that have jobs in our profession are attending these types of events. I have spent a considerable amount of time working on my personal online brand, website, and I am also planning on starting blogging as well. Six Degrees: Given your own Trial and Error experiences as a Networker, what advice do you have for your peers on what NOT to do? Richard: The biggest thing you can do would be pick up the phone and call someone, meet for coffee and communicate regularly. As your network grows, it gets harder and harder to keep up with people. If you could just send an email on someone’s birthday, if you know that someone is getting married, etc. Try to find reasons to connect with people. Personalize everything! Make sure that you respond to every message, follow-up on what you say you will do. Take virtual connections to real life when possible. If someone sends you an invitation to connect, you should also thank them for the connection and offer to help them in some way. Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there? Richard: I am looking at a couple career options. I am looking for that next leadership role in talent acquisition or to continue to be an independent consultant. Most of my background has been in high volume hourly and salary hiring. I also have significant background in system implementations (Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), applicant tracking systems (ATS), etc.). I have been heavily involved in sourcing, internet strategy, website design, branding, process management and improvement. I am also looking at some opportunities on the vendor side with ATS and RPO providers. I am doing so many things to find my next opportunity but also the right opportunity. I have been attending conferences, vendor meetings, speaking on recruiting, helping others with their search, reading, networking and applying for opportunities. This profile is one in a series titled Monday Member Showcase. It was originally published on RecruitingBlogs.com, a recruiting and HR community, where I am a featured contributor. To read the whole series please click here.…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 11:31pm on January 10, 2010

Blog Post: 5 Things to Consider Before Purchasing an Applicant Tracking System: Added by Sean Pomeroy at 10:04am on October 27, 2015

Blog Post: Account Management: what is it & best practices: Establishing excellent client relationships is one of the cornerstones in building a thriving business, but achieving that can be a daunting task on account of how stiff competition can be and how…; Added by Phil Strazzulla at 7:31pm on November 5, 2022

Topic: Meet Claudia Faust, "Pearls of Wisdom Delivered Not Only on Wednesdays": book Profile Email: claudia@improvedexperience.com Phone: 954-692-3553 OR 877-344-4300 Meet my friend Claudia Faust, Independent provider of recruiting services including executive search, professional staffing and passive candidate sourcing. As a recruiter and leader of corporate recruiting organizations for 14 years, Claudia Faust brings her passion for people and analytics to hiring and retention. Over the years she has recruited and managed staffing organizations for globally recognized brands such as T-Mobile USA, Amazon.com, Microsoft, Sprint PCS, and Burger King Corporation; her expertise includes executive search, staffing, recruiter development and training, metrics development and implementation, workforce planning, recruiting technology and vendor selection. Claudia took this opportunity as a featured member in our interview series to do something those who know her are quite accustomed to: she shared of herself for others, and in the most personal, poignant way. When you venture forward, her responses regarding home and history, - be it children, marriage, and career, - she shares the type of deeply personal and introspective flashbacks that good friends do on a warm summer night sharing a few spirits under a full moon. When all is said and done, you leave refreshed and empowered someone cared enough about you to entrust a part of themselves. For anyone who knows Claudia, it is a familiar take away in what it is to befriend her. She is entirely authentic and even more formidable if you recognize her wisdom is not solely pertaining to a certain day in a week. Truth be told, I look forward to conference season each Fall and Spring, it gives me an opportunity to see friends new and old, and in each venture I get a hug from my friend Claudia and that endearing smile that is so sincerely welcoming. Claudia is many things, not least among them a class act and someone who so consistently provides value to her industry. More importantly, Claudia is a friend to something far bigger than you or I - she is a confidante and mentor to the daily visitors of RecruitingBlogs.com, not to mention the spotlight featured guest sharing "Wednesday Wisdom" Improved Experience builds feedback portals to help companies measure and improve the engagement and retention of their best talent. From earliest contact and throughout the employment life cycle, the Better HiresTM suite of products measures and benchmarks critical indicators of workforce engagement, employer brand, and recruiting effectiveness. Improved Experience products are real-time and subscription-based, utilizing patent-pending survey technology. Sales, operations and customer support are provided from Dallas, Miami and Copenhagen Q&A with Claudia Faust Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world, Claudia. CLAUDIA: I currently live in Plantation, Florida, about 10 miles inland from Fort Lauderdale. I say “currently” because my husband and I speak often about other places we’d like to live, and who knows where we’ll be five years from now. My husband is a brilliant, kind, wonderful engineer, and we’ve been married for three years; it took me forever to find my match (you’d think that as a matchmaker I would have been better at choosing a life partner for myself, but that wasn’t the case for me), so he sits firmly at the top of the list of blessings I count every day. I also happen to think he’s the cutest boy in the world, but that’s another story. I didn’t know my husband when I moved to Florida six years ago, and the story of how we met is too good not to tell you. At the time I was actually dating someone else: an Italian Count I had met while on a cruise from Venice to Istanbul; I dated the Count for over a year while thinking long and hard about what I wanted next from my life. In the summer of 2003 I decided to leave T-Mobile and step headlong into his world; we traveled frequently between his homes and businesses in Italy and south Florida for many months before I concluded that this nomadic life was not for me; I missed my kids and my friends, and even my work -- alas, I was living someone else’s fairy tale; it seemed only fair to acknowledge it and move on. It was the middle of January by then, and I had a choice: I could return to Seattle, or stay in Florida for a while. I chose the second option (no brainer), and took a condo on the beach for a much-needed sabbatical. It was a life-changing four months: I ate when I was hungry, slept when I was tired, and even recruited a bit here and there to replenish my savings account. But mostly, I walked the beach for hours every day. Family and friends came to visit, and I began to feel like an improved version of my old self once again. It was at sunset on one of those beach walks that I had a chance meeting with the cousin of one of my neighbors, a dark-eyed Turk with a quiet smile and a European accent wasn’t easy to place (turned out to be Denmark, where he had spent many years on his own journey). We chatted for a moment and then I went for my walk, returning an hour later to discover that he was gone, but a note in a bottle was carefully tucked into my sandals. The rest, as they say, is history; we were married two years later at sunset on that same beach, and my life feels like it has come full circle. Our blended family is split between two continents: in Denmark it includes a son, two daughters, and four amazing grandchildren, and here in the US, two sons and two more amazing grandchildren. Note the underscore on amazing , and yes I do love being a Grammie. Last summer our family expanded again with the adoption of three feral kittens that have since domesticated well and taken over both the house and our hearts. Life suits me just fine these days. SIX DEGREES: Tell us about a day in the life, what is that eclectic past time that makes you tick? Make us believe, Teresa “We Hardly Knew Ye!” CLAUDIA: Travel is perhaps the most visible pleasure for me – it doesn’t matter where I go or how I get there: I can be packed in a heartbeat, and if I forget something they probably sell it there too. There are so many beautiful places to see in the world, and fascinating people from every culture to meet. How can my feet not itch to start the next great adventure? I’m not athletic by any stretch of the imagination, but my interests are eclectic; I like to bike, ski (the jet-, water-, and downhill variety), snorkel, sail, and go for road trips in my Z3 (straight six, open road, let the big dog eat…you know what mean). I’ve also started working on a dive certification this year because the Bimini Road is both in my back yard and on my Bucket List. I love baseball (to watch, not to play); hate pub crawls (although hanging out for a while is lots of fun); love dancing (took belly dancing lessons my first year in Florida); and learned to hate golf the minute someone insisted I had to keep score. Pretty much a classic Gemini. SIX DEGREES: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? CLAUDIA: It feels like a lifetime, but it’s only been 14 years. Even though I’ve run a software company for several years now I still tend to think of myself as a recruiter first. SIX DEGREES: How did you get started in recruiting? CLAUDIA: I took a job at an executive search firm in Seattle back in 1995. The owner wanted to train someone to do candidate development for his clients in the wireless telecom industry; I spent the next two and a half years working beside him on what I like to call my hands-on MBA. I didn’t know much of anything about how big business worked before I met Marc, and I soaked up everything he was willing to teach me. It was an excellent education, and I’m thankful for it to this day. In 1997 my curiosity about the software industry drew me to a consulting firm that placed contractors at Microsoft; it was my introduction to technical product development and the “back office” side of the Internet, and I grilled the developers and architects I placed there to understand how all the parts fit together. This is where I also accepted what a geek I am at heart: my recruiting library contains books like “C for Dummies,” and “From Cloud to Code” that opened for me the world of a well run software organization. There was no shortage of recruiting opportunities in the late 90s in Seattle; I was recruited to Amazon.com next (where at one point my work load exceeded 400 requisitions); rather than obsess over the obvious, I mostly focused on sourcing and headhunting executive talent for new lines of business. This part of my job was pretty funny, by the way. Recruiting as a function was new to Amazon at the time and there wasn’t a lot of respect for the role there yet. So I was instructed to “go find candidates for the executive team to talk to” – but new business lines were so top secret before launch that I wasn’t even allowed to know what they were. So calls to prospects were interesting to say the least (“Hello Fortune 500 Executive, we’re looking for exceptional leaders with full P&L experience to lead business lines that I can’t tell you about or I’ll have to kill you. Interested?”). Lucky for me the Amazon.com brand was powerful even then, and the doors that it opened with candidates were truly amazing. In 1999 I joined yet another great Seattle company, T-Mobile USA, where I had the good fortune of leading Corporate Talent Acquisition for several years. If my time at the executive search firm was an experiential MBA, T-Mobile was my final exam. TMO was in a massive growth mode that year that came to a screeching halt when the Internet bubble burst in the economic recession of early 2000, and then rebuilt with locomotive speed in the years that followed. TMO gave me hands-on experience as a recruiting leader; I worked with an amazing team of recruiters, and had a front row seat to the effects of both good and bad HR and recruiting practices on every functional area of the business. It was, as Charles Dickens penned, “the best of times and the worst of times” as the company grew from fewer than 10 thousand employees to more than 22 thousand in four short years, and simultaneously grappled with stunning turnover rates in many departments. There’s a silver lining to every cloud though, as what I learned there became the catalyst for product development that would follow at Improved Experience. SIX DEGREES: Tell us about your company, “Improved Experience” CLAUDIA: Improved Experience is the company I founded with Alise Cortez in 2006, to provide enterprise feedback solutions for HR and recruiting. Some of my biggest frustrations as a recruiting leader came from the incredible lack of data (and data collection systems, for that matter) that were available to feed the decision making process when allocating recruiting resources, or planning outreach initiatives. It occurred to me that if I could somehow capture feedback from all of the stakeholders in the hiring process – candidates, new hires, hiring managers, recruiters, even my boss sometimes – and present it in a simple and compelling way, I could put critical business intelligence into the hands of recruiting and HR leaders to measure and improve business performance. So we built an online “feedback portal” technology – a diagnostic platform that measures and manages perception in the hiring process, after onboarding, and throughout the first year of employment. It took two years to finish the engine and the interactive survey technology that feeds it. Since then, we’ve released two products: Get Better Hires, a tool that explores candidate and new hire feedback and engagement; and Make Better Hires, a tool that explores feedback from the internal business customer about Quality of Hire, recruiting services and support, and talent market conditions. SIX DEGREES: What single event had the most impact on your career? CLAUDIA: I don’t think that for me it was a single event; rather, it was the opportunity to see recruiting from so many different perspectives: executive search, contract agency, corporate recruiting and corporate leadership. Each has its own unique drivers for success, and that understanding has powerfully impacted my view of recruiting as well as the business solutions my company offers today. SIX DEGREES: Do you have a mentor? CLAUDIA: I’ve been fortunate to work for some great companies along the way, and some very smart people. Janice Dilworth hired me at T-Mobile, and I still consider her a mentor; I wasn’t sure if it would work so well at the beginning, because she was a veteran HR administrator and I had a lot of assumptions about HR that came from years of working in a third-party environment (the old “us versus them” mindset). Janice trusted my expertise when it came to setting a bar of excellence for the team, and I came to deeply to trust her abilities to set broader strategy and protect us from the politics inherent in really big, rapidly growing companies. I learned not only from her knowledge, but by her example. SIX DEGREES: How do you personally expect to facilitate change within our industry? CLAUDIA: I truly believe that if something can be measured, it can be improved. My work at Improved Experience is about leveraging perception to improve business performance. By creating a mechanism that collects and reports this data in a transparent and compelling way, we can deepen communication between all of the stakeholders: the internal business customers who drive the hire, the recruiters who make it happen, and the talented candidates and employees they want so dearly want to attract and retain. And if that helps to solve the problem of the dreaded black hole in recruiting, while building stronger businesses, I think we’ll have accomplished something amazing. SIX DEGREES: What inspires you as you continue in your career? CLAUDIA: I’m inspired by people who don’t give up, ever. Churchill once said, quite simply, “Never, never, never quit,” and I think that that is perfectly said. I’m inspired by the part of the human spirit that rises in adversity, that stands its ground, that finds courage, that clings to hope. My youngest son spent ten years in the hell of drug addiction; watching in horror, I was there with him. My first year as a recruiter was his first failed attempt at recovery; he was 14 years old at the time. He tried again to get clean when he was 18, and failed again. At 22 he tried a third time; 60 pounds under weight for his six foot frame by then, we all knew that he didn’t have many chances left. He finally did it, and remains clean and sober 4 years later. People who don’t give up are rock stars to me. SIX DEGREES: What is your next career goal? How do you expect to get there? CLAUDIA: You know, I still can’t believe I’m doing what’s on my plate today. In the past three years I’ve taken all I know of recruiting and built a couple of software products, filed a patent, and worked with developers all over the world to get it done. I still have two more products that need to be built to complete this suite of enterprise feedback tools. Who knows what will happen after that? All I can say is that I’m pretty darned sure I won’t be bored. Recommendations For Claudia “You have an amazing concept that will revolutionize the industry. Treating applicants with respect will allow a company to attract the best candidates, and maintain a large labor pool!” February 27, 2006 Kathy Gillen “Claudia is a very talented professional with the ability to make candidates feel relaxed during all phases. She follows up with candidates and lets him know the status in an inspiring manner whether the results are positive or not. Claudia is difinitely a champion among executive search professionals.” July 19, 2005 Jonathan Jordan, client “As an executive recruiter, Claudia shines! She possesses all of the technical skills and knowledge of a superb recruiter, as well as the innate ability to align with clients and candidates. Her even cadence and unfaltering delivery have earned the trust of top executives world-wide. Claudia reels-in candidates that had no intention of "leaving home". With Claudia you truly get what you pay for.” June 23, 2005 Christy Miller, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition, T-Mobile USA “Claudia is the very definition of what recruiters can and should be. In a world where so much focus is placed on process, Claudia is always looking for the desired outcome and managing to it with her stakeholders. A true a thought leader in her field, and among the most genuine people I know. I would highly recommend as a trusted advisor.” May 21, 2008 Michael Gaul, Director of Compliance & Fulfillment, American Background “Claudia was a great leader for myself and the entire recruiting team at T-Mobile. Her leadership and support never faulted and her consultative skills are beyond reproach.” August 6, 2007 Nathalie Becker, Manager, Talent Acquisition, T-Mobile USA “Claudia Faust was more than my manager, she is my mentor. She is a strong leader and extremely relationship oriented. She truly understands the recruiting industry and how talent is a competitive difference for companies. She is strategic in her approach to bring people and opportunites together. I recommend her highly to do retained search work or consult on best practices. Judy Wright” June 21, 2005 Judy Wright, Employment Brand Manager, T-Mobile “Claudia implicitly understands both the art and science of ALL aspects of recruitment. She is an incredible coach and mentor and very generous with her time and knowledge. I can’t recommend enough to partner with Claudia for any recruitment related needs. You are guaranteed a positive experience and solid results!” June 21, 2005 Annie Rihn, Sr. Recruiter, Zillow “Claudia has shown time and again her ability to find not only the right skillset but also the necessary personal qualities for senior level positions. Her attentiveness to the process makes candidates feel honored to have been considered no matter what the outcome.” June 14, 2005 Sharon Fitzpatrick, SPHR (LION), Senior HR Manager, T-Mobile “I worked with Claudia at T-Mobile. She is an exceptional recruiter and evaluator of executive talent. In addition to her great senior recruiting work she put together very good processes to improve the evaluation process and make the interview experience better for candidates. Claudia is very knowledgeable, and just as importantly, is a great person to work with. I recommend her highly.” June 10, 2005 Randall Birkwood, Director of Talent Acquistion, T-Mobile “I am pleased to endorse Claudia on two counts. First, as my manager, she was easily the most professional, supportive, instructive, competent manager I have had in my 20+ years in the workforce. As a recruiting professional, she has the best command of executive recruiting I have ever encountered and is a true class act.” June 8, 2005 Alise Cortez, Technical Recruiter, T-Mobile…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 4:40am on March 9, 2009