Search Results - trained

Blog Post: Organizational Culture: what is it & how to build one [2022]: We could not stress enough the value of a strong organizational culture, especially in the current…; Added by Phil Strazzulla at 11:38pm on November 6, 2022

Topic: Meet Kay Kelison, Artist, Senior Sourcer, Speaker, Veteran and Proud Mother: nd Publisher Solutions Group (APS). She is a renown internet sourcer with varied background in the IT, Wireless, and Financial Industries. In her day to day at one of the most prestigious software development companies in the world, Kay is often sourcing prospects for lead Developers, Engineers, Testers, Security, System Admins, Business System Analyst, Project Managers, Program Managers, Media, Marketing, Search, Research, Recruiting, Sourcing, Online Media, On-line Networking, Blogger, and Social Media, etc I had the unique pleasure of getting to know Kay in Atlanta last September at Shally's BBQ mixer on his deck and was immediately charmed by her genuine warmth, humility, and passion for her work and family life. Nearly every speaker for Sourcecon paid a visit for a chance to mingle, talk shop and to taste some of the best ribs and brats in town - but my conversations struck me as memorable, notwithstanding it my first opportunity to finally meet Kay after hearing so much praise within common circles. She has this winning smile that speaks volumes about her ability to connect instantaneously on a human level that I found endearing. I made a friend, but likewise I found someone I grew to admire over the course of that evening. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to share her background with Recruitingblogs today. Q &A with Kay Kellison Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. Kay: I have a partner named Mary Cay Kelison and we have been together for 18 years, She is my soul-mate and an awesome Sr. Technical Recruiter. When we met, I was a bartender studying art and she was a waitress while studying dance/linguistics/french. Our life has been blessed with two boys. They have captured our hearts and add their own imprints in our world. Deacon Blue Kelison leads the charge at three years old. Chase Orion Kelison, age one, challenges Deacon as well as keeps him grounded. Besides my partner, my boys are the best thing that has ever happened to me. We have a dog name Jaxx Magee (named after street-fighter) and a cat that thinks shes dog, her name is Colly Magum. I was in the Navy for 6 years, traveled most of asia. Lived in Hawaii for those 6 years, honorable discharged in 1989 to go to art school. I have saved about 4 people’s lives , 2 dogs, and one cat. As an artist I have donated and sold my paintings around Seattle and on-line. I also make jewelry as a glass artist. I have donated time and art for the AIDS Foundation and Cancer Foundation which are very dear to my heart since I have lost a lot in my life to both diseases. I was brought up treating people that way I want to be treated and that when you see a stranger who is new to the area, or lost or need help. I without any hesitation will invite them to my home; especially around the holidays, I don’t like knowing someone is alone on the holidays. I also, will take the leftovers and we will hand out food to those on the street around our areas during the holidays. Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? Kay: Having ten years of experience, I have 10 years of strictly research, name generation. I don’t consider myself as a recruiter; I am a researcher who partners with recruiters. I also train and educate recruiters on all that is being offered and help them improve their knowledge of the forever changing web 2.0 generation. My partner, and I are both in the industry. Her specialty is corporate recruiting and strategy with a focus on international. My role is strictly internet research, training, and establishing parameters of communication within an organization. Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter? Kay: I am a Researcher/Trainer with AIRS Certification CIR, ACIR and I have been in the Recruiting Industry for 10+ years. I have made a career of Internet Research. As a Senior Internet Researcher and Trainer, I liken myself as a Sherlock Holmes of the Internet. I have great passion for the Internet and its unfathomable depths and unlimited potential. I believe in the hunt and don’t believe in stopping until I have found what I am looking for. I make strategic sourcing sense to my clients. With the demands of finding outstanding talent and keeping our internal customers happy, I form strong partnerships with Recruiters, working with them to create strategic plans and execute them so that clients are satisfied with the team’s efforts and results. I have had the pleasure of working with some amazing companies: Saltmine, Amazon, Microsoft –Ad Center as well as Microsoft India, Wachovia, T-Mobile…. At the present time I am the Sr. Researcher (aka Researchologist) for Microsoft Corporation in the APS group where I am a key player in building, training and setting the strategy for the Sourcing team. My approach adds value to Recruiting, explores, and exploits all old and new techniques for the best results. Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? Kay: I would say working for a start up company; it empowered me to carve out my niche. My passion for creating the research need and it gave me the means to develop my skills. With the support of those who saw me as a diamond in the rough… look at me now. I am a diamond! The manager who gave me this opportunity is no longer in the field, but I am sure he would be very pleased where I am in my career and would say “I knew it all the time” Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? Kay: I don’t have just one Mentor, I would say I have several who in most cases don’t even know the influence they have on me. Here are a few people that I appreciate for their influence on the sourcing industry Shally Steckerl, Rob Macintosh, Amy Beth Hale, Moises Lopez, and Carmen Hudson just to name a few. In someway, these are folks who helps confirm what I do, is a great validation and importance in our world of recruiting. To them, I would like to say Thank you! Six Degrees: Tell us about your job Kay: I am the Sr. Researcher (aka Researchologist) for Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group (APS) at Microsoft Corporation where I am a key player in building, training and setting the strategy for the sourcing team. At any given time I will be working with 2 - 12 recruiters. My relationships with recruitment staff is very important to me. The goal is to effectively communicate needs on both sides so we can accomplish some of the difficulties of finding top passive talent. My work is to take some of the pressure off the recruiters and do most if not all of the internet name generation, sourcing, research, etc so that recruiters can focus on developing the passive and/or active candidate relationships. It is important to me that WE as a team work together to be sure candidate as well as the hiring manager has the best experience possible while working with our teams. Six Degrees: Tell us about your industry involvement. Kay: I spoke at SourceCon 2008, it was my first time and it was the best experiencing to have the support of my peers in the industry. I really want to make change and become more proactive in educating others as well as being a SME in my field. I still feel that my job is relatively new concept to recruiting in a way that there needs to be distinguished role in order to accomplish all the different approaches in conquering the multi facets in our growing technology. Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? Kay: I would like to get into a leadership role focusing on research, training, mentoring and speaking about to leverage each other’s skills and passion. As I work with recruiters and partner with the businesses of the company, the demands that both sides are facing in hiring talented candidates needs to have a synergy between the Research/Source/Recruitment/Hiring process. I want to be a part of a new movement and make change in recruiting. Recruiting in general is still having a hard time understanding the value of “specialized” individuals since the industry seems to want to create a super recruiter that can do all things. This process is broken when you have so many burnt out recruiters that are tired of working to the brink of exhaustion. We need to divide our roles and responsibilities to make work more creative, effective as well as efficient. With the new Web 2.0 generation, it’s just too much to have one individual to succeed. Let’s make the change together! Six Degrees: Tell us of your other passions in life beyond work in our industry. Kay: As a hard hitting internet researchologist and data manipulating mad woman – most would not picture the artist that paints Picasso like abstracts as well as creator of glass jewelry and especially not, the six year career in the United States Navy. My family taught service above self and to help those in need. Mary Cay and I continue that philosophy and way of life with our sons, be being involved with the homeless over the holidays and charity work. My time and various artworks have been donated to both the AIDS Foundation as well as the Cancer Foundation. Like most Americans, we have lost so many to those diseases. Six Degrees: How Are You Going To Change The Recruitment Industry? Kay: I feel very strongly about how communications is broken in our own recruiting world. If we don’t address some of the issues that we face as a recruiting function, then we will never move ahead with the ever changing technology regardless of the industry. We need to utilize our strengths and interest that we hold within the recruiting industry. In recruiting, we tend to make hiring and candidates a “process” and tend to forget about the “human” part of human resources. I decided a long time ago to focus on the research/sourcing aspects of recruiting because of the vast amount of information and the forever changing ways to connect with the talent that is available passively. I am finding more and more corporations are trying to save money by asking one recruiter to do it ALL. This is a major problem, because no one can do it all and be effective, efficient, and still love their job. In fact we have lost a lot of good recruiters because of lack of work life balance that company’s claim they have. I want (will) to be part of a new kind of recruiting and make changes in our industry that support multiple resources to provide the best human experience for candidates and clients alike. We need to start looking at passion, expertise, specialization, to be key factors in areas that we are able to provide research/sourcing/recruiting to humanize the process. By empowering an individual and giving them the education to accomplish these things, then we as team will be stronger and better. My motto: Knowledge is Power and Sharing is Caring! I love working with recruiters and businesses that benefit from my passion and knowledge! Recommendations For Kay “I worked with Kay at Amazon.com and found her to be a thorough, diligent researcher and sourcer. Kay's knowledge of search, research and sourcing continues to impress me, and her ability to quickly understand the elements of a search would benefit any organization. Moreover, she is fun to work with!” May 10, 2005 Carmen Hudson “Kay is a sourcing PHENOMENON! I am consistently amazed at her ability to network with and discover amazing talent for her teams - she is also incredibly gracious in sharing her knowledge with her peers - Kay is passionate about sourcing, and her talent at it is well known - she recently spoke at SourceCon '08. Any organization that is looking to grow and flourish will be lucky to have Kay as a part of the team. She's a star!” September 15, 2008 Mary Hurlock-Murphy, Lead Recruiter, Avenue A | Razorfish “Kay is on the cutting-edge of deep search and candidate sourcing. When ever I work with Kay, I feel like I come away learning something new. Kay is a true wealth of knowledge when it comes to interactive search and sourcing and it has been a real pleasure working with her.” May 1, 2008 Peter Kaye, Sr. Recruiter, Avenue A Razorfish “Kay is by far one of the best Sourcers/Recruiters I've worked with. Her knowledge and expertise is boundless and unmeasurable. She's always coming up with excellent strategies and ideas on sourcing and candidate generation. She's a pleasure to work with.” May 1, 2008 Jenafer Park, Recruiter, Atlas, a Microsoft Corporation subsidiary “Kay is best, if you need to find anyone or anything via the web she will show you how!!! She is a self taught master at web sourcing, she spends 1:1 time with every new Recruiter on my team and I always take advantage of getting her on my calendar to learn new tricks of the trade. She is best I have worked with; she is always available and loves to help. A definite team player who thrives on helping my team become more successful. Highly recommend” May 1, 2008 Shannon Barbour, Recruiting Manager, Avenue A | Razorfish “Kay is an incredible team-mate. Her experience, knowledge, drive, determination and creativity really shine through, and you see it when you work with her. Her passion for research, how to use it, how to share it are all things that make her great at her job,. Kay is a pleasure to work with and an awesome team member. GO TEAM SPIDERS!” November 9, 2007 Bryan Reichert, Prospecting and Networking Manager, aQuantive, a Microsoft subsidiary “Kay is an amazing sourcer! She comes up with candidates that are right on. Kay assumes ownership and does what it takes to get the job done. I recommend her without any reservations.” June 6, 2007 Nelia Hayes, Senior Recruiter (Account Manager), Microsoft - Windows Live “Kay is a very smart, dedicated worker that is motivated by using key sourcing techniques to find information that enables recruiters.” July 7, 2005 Tameiko Davis, Senior Technical Recruiter, Washington Mutual “This woman is phenomenal at what she does. She is able to source potential candidates quickly when others have failed. I recommend her without reservation...she is excellent at what she does.” June 17, 2005 Vicki Cohen, Staffing Manager, Saltmine “Kay is one of the brightest stars in internet research I have had the privelege of working with; she is also one of the most determined when it comes to producing results. Professional, fast, and very committed to the needs of the organizations she represents, Kay is a recruiter's dream to work with!” June 5, 2005 Claudia Faust “I worked with Kay at both Amazon and T-Mobile. Kay would source candidates and I was her customer as a technical recruiter for both companies. Kay is excellent at finding good people and she gets what you are looking for very quickly. She uses her intelligence to find what you want. She is persistent and reliable and I would recommend her highly for sourcing. She adds value to any recruiting team.” May 12, 2005 Perry Brunner…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 1:37am on November 3, 2008

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: Why Use A Recruitment Agency - Benefits of using a Recruitment Agency for Employers: It’s no secret that for a substantial number of years the words ‘Recruitment Agency’ have perhaps been a little more than a tarnished phrase…; Added by Leigh Gillatt at 4:16am on July 19, 2019

Blog Post: 11 Key HR Metrics: How to Measure & Use Them Intelligently: At some point, most business leaders have looked at their Human Resources department and wondered, “It would be really great for budgeting, planning, or defining our business strategy if we could…; Added by Phil Strazzulla at 3:57am on October 21, 2022

Blog Post: Non-Monetary Incentives that BOOST Employees’ Morale: Make no mistake, employee performance incentives are a critical part of what makes a business successful. Traditional employee incentive programs are focused mainly on monetary rewards like…; Added by Phil Strazzulla at 3:21am on October 23, 2022

Topic: Meet Jeff Newman, Empathetic Eccentricity: Passion in Recruitment, Punjabi Cooking To History of Baltic Republics: thenticity. My friends, rarely has someone been so transparent in his quirks, been so effusive in his passion in our trade, and so in love with candy, wife and gaming ... but within it all ... a love for his fellow man. He identified the 9/11 perspective, one I share ... a crisis which taught lessons. We found the inner core of what drives this business for not only successful people but also successful human beings. Jeff is one of those successful 'human beings' because he has been shaped, by circumstance, to view his own personal mortality. Even so ... its also part of who Jeff truly is as a person to pull himself forward, look his client in the eyes, and be driven to know what he can do for his fellow man. He is the embodiment of the reality our friend Steve Levy often speaks of ... the People skills 1.0 few people pay mind to, preferring a run from basics and onwards to all things 2.0 We know that without people skills 1.0 we have fads and gimmickry. In Jeff, we have someone who can count 1.0, 2.0 and so forth and having lived them before they were terms. A 'people' person in a people 'industry' - imagine that. Jeff reflects the conscience of Industry Leader, Don Ramer and his themes of bringing empathy, transparency and love to our passion for humanity and I am esteemed to have observed this in his own words. We have authenticity as a driving force in a veteran recruiter like Jeff, not for love of dollar alone, but for love of looking in his reflection and valuing what he represents. It matters to Jeff, it matters to me and it should matter to all of us. It isn't a value that is fait accompli in this industry regretfully. I see talent in Jeff, his colleagues at the office do as well. but today my friends, it is important all of you see it as well which is why I take great pleasure in introducing a valued contributor to our community today. Meet Our friend .... Jeff Newman. Jeff Newman, Senior Technical Recruiter at Genesis10 • RecruitingBlogs Profile • Linkedin Profile • Office Email and Personal Email • Office Number: 212.688.5522 ext. 20 Q&A with Jeff Newman Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. Jeff: One of my strongest recruiting traits is that I really am not much of a game player. I am the same guy at home, as I am talking with a candidate, talking with a peer or making friends with someone in Human Resources. My essence, the core of Jeff Newman, is to take everything with a smile, good and bad, and remember that this too will pass. I do this at the office, at home and occasionally at the Gym (to know me is to hug me). I am married 11 years as of January 18th. The key to my marriage is communication, being friends first, and nodding, leaning forward, and looking right in her eyes while saying “I agree”. It is kind of cool that that works in Sales relationships too, eh? Senda is my wife’s name and she is an MSW/CSW who specializes in HIV/AIDS. She works as a Senior Social Worker for St. Mary's in Harlem http://www.stmarysharlem.com/jsp/. I figure that her good work might make up for some of the things I've done while, what’s the word the hardcore ethicists use now, “rusing”? When I started, we called it Pirating...kinda like the folks in Somalia but without the heavy weaponry. Most important in my home life is the fact that Senda knows that recruiting often has lot more failure then success. We get hung up on more then we get to hear “AWESOME, I have been WAITING for someone to call me at work who I never heard of!” I had a boss once say to me that this is a Business of Failure. What do you call a baseball player who only succeeds three times out of ten? Very rich. The trick is to try and take that home as little as possible. At least in NYC, non-corporate side recruiters (especially in IT) are looked at better than muggers but still worse than building contractors, in terms of social status. You can't behave like that or you will start to believe you are that. Most of all, you cannot take the fact that out of 75 calls you made that day, 70 amounted to nothing. You take home the 5 that were successful and leave the negative ones in the office. I also am the pet human of 2 of the coolest cats in the world. Cleo has had Senda and I for 11 years, she is all black and she has had us since she was still taking milk in the bottle. She likes to lie in our bed and she sleeps with us every night. Goofy, our tabby, is about 2 years old and he is chock full of energy. Senda taught him how to play fetch with toy mice and he can do this for hours on end. He and Cleo are not the best of friends, however. Six Degrees: Tell us about the after-hours version of Jeff Newman Jeff: As anyone who has spent more then 10 minutes with me will tell you, I am quite unusual. If I was richer, they’d call me eccentric and I’d be on the front page of the NY Post. I feel that you can never have enough knowledge, learn enough things, and or try enough new things. I try to keep my span of knowledge broad, even if just to use as tidbits when forming a relationship. I genuinely am interested in everything from Punjabi cooking to the history of the Baltic republics. One thing unusual in our house is that we don't own a television. We watch DVDs through the PC and all the major networks post their shows through their websites so we don't miss much. At then end of the day, I think we only watch Lost, Fringe and 30 Rock, anyway. We watched the Presidential Debates streamed live through MSNBC.com and Meet the Press on the treadmill at the Gym. With the rest of the time, we talk, we read and we go out with friends. We'll play board or card games together and PC Games alone. My wife is an Everquest addict, she has been playing since 1999. In fact, I'll often call her by her EQ name. I'll pick up a new PC game every so often, from Spore (which stunk) to anything by Paradox Entertainment. Senda and I are also big Science Fiction fans, especially with Star Wars, but not limited to that. We go to I-Con every year and other Sci-Fi conventions when they hit NYC. As a Technical Recruiter, I have often made great connections through this world. Between us, I'd still be involved even if I was hunting for Admins. If that wasn't enough, I am also a StumbleUpon fan. If you are unfamiliar with that, check out the site. Make sure you have a good block of free time and don't say I didn't warn you. One more thing that I think really is important to understanding me is that I have Multiple Sclerosis. Go figure: I survived 9/11 yet was diagnosed shortly thereafter with MS. Nothing gives you greater focus and better understanding of whom you are that having a challenge of that nature. I usually don't mention it, or make a big deal about it but in terms of recruiting it has been very helpful. I can empathize and understand much better the unique challenges that everyone faces, even if I have never walked in those shoes. And it really does make for great stories. Every candidate has different and unique needs and helping them get through often means the difference between a placement and a turn down. Six Degrees: How many years as a recruiter? Jeff: I have been an Staffing Firm side recruiter for 10+ years. I have always done technical/IT staffing, through the good and bad times. I have never hesitated to place a different skill set if that was what the client wanted from me however. In recruiting you can specialize but you should never limit yourself. Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter? Jeff: Ahh, I wish I could say I was embarrassed to admit it, but, another thing that people who know me will tell you is that Newman doesn't really get embarrassed much. I graduated Columbia University http://www.columbia.edu/ in May 1998. I was married for 6 months and had spent the majority of my college career enjoying myself as opposed to studying. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up but I knew I needed a job. I sent out 200 plus resumes. A Technical Recruiting firm, Recruit Dynamics, had called me in because I had JAVA on my resume. I had JAVA there, because I was pumping that resume as much as I could, and once I had read a book on JAVA. They had a 6 month contract in Rochester, Minnesota for an entry level programmer. I replied that I really wasn't a developer I had applied for the recruiter role. You know, the one with no experience needed. The lady who brought me in came out and said the boss would meet with me, but not until lunch. It was about 8:30 AM at the time... I said no worries and was it OK if I waited here. I waited 6+ hours, to finally interview with the President of the firm. After an hour or so, he said, “Jeff, you know nothing about recruiting, in fact you know nothing about business. I do like the persistence of someone who will wait hours for an interview. Let's try it for 30 days and see what happens.” The irony is what kept me in the office wasn't truly persistence. It was the air-conditioning, free coffee and a bunch of magazines. I had no money and no place else I had to be. That's why I stuck around. 10 years later. I think it was a good decision. Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? Jeff: For me, it was the Death of COBOL following Y2k. For the year leading up to Y2K, COBOL developers were naming their rates. People who had taken a class in COBOL in 1978 and had been driving a cab ever since, were getting high paying contracting gigs. Everyone needed COBOL/MAINFRAME experts, they were paying for them through the nose and you couldn't find one not booked up to save your life. It was fun, the money was great, and I was very busy. Then came January 1st, 2000. The world didn't end, the machines stayed A-OK and I had to fire 50+ contractors. Developers, who a year ago wouldn't take your calls, were calling everyday. There was nothing we could do to help any of them. This taught me two very important lessons. First, it said don't focus your recruiting in one area or skill set. Diversity is the spice of life and to spread out as much as possible. The second thing it taught me was to keep your skills cutting edge or you could wake up one day and find yourself as obsolete as a Blacksmith after the invention of the personal automobile. A close runner up is the .Com bubble. The lesson I learned there was do not take commission payments in stock. Speaking of which, if anyone is interested in shares of Flooz, I have PLENTY! Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? Jeff: I cannot name one specific person who I model myself on, but I have taken many different pieces from people over the years. The Big Boss at APS-Botal was a guy name Steve Sayetta. He had arranged for me to attend an 8 hour NYATS seminar. I complained as it was really focused on Admin recruiters and I only did IT. He said, “Newman, if you learn one thing, it will have been worth the time you spend.” I really believe that and have applied it to my recruiting career. I have worked with some amazing people over the years. TK Sheridan, Tom Sheridan and Paul Sheridan at E-Claro taught me the basics of the industry, from how to calculate a bill rate to the best way to close off a call without hurting someone’s feelings. Peter Elia, from APS-BOTAL (now Infinity Staffing), got me to better appreciate the importance of details. Peter is also one of the best relationship managers out there. He was also the best boss I ever had, because he had served “in the trenches” and knew what it was all about. Darren Greif, the IT Staffing Director from the Bachrach Group, is the best closer you have ever seen. He could see all the problems in a deal that would need to be gotten over before anyone else. As a manager, his policy of helping you to do better without interfering with what was working was amazing. Lately, I have been introduced and begun working with Steve Levy. I had read his blog, seen his comments on recruitingblogs.com, his blog and ERE and then I got to meet him in person. At first I was a bit star struck. But then I got to work with him and I thought, “And I got all veklempt of this?” Kids may admire and want to emulate sports heroes and guitar wizards, but since I started reading their works, for me it has been guys like Glenn Gutmacher, Shally Steckerl and Steve. What I have learned from him has just been fantastic. I try to learn as much from everyone I work with as I can get. Your talents can only get better through knowledge and practice. [I had other things to say about Steve but he knows where I live and work] Six Degrees: Tell us about your day in the life at the office Jeff: Well, right now I am with Genesis10. Genesis10 is one of the largest privately held business and IT staffing firms in the nation. The company was started in 1999, and has grown, on average, at a rate of 44%. One of the main reasons I chose to join Genesis10 is founder/CEO Harley Lippman. His bio really impressed me. Every company is a sailing ship and much can be told about how it will travel if you know her captain. Personally, I am a senior recruiter on a team dedicated to supporting one client in midtown NYC. The client has an awe inspiring need for excellent developers, especially in C++/UNIX. The process is one of the most difficult hurdles I have ever seen candidates need to get through, including two technical screens, a code review and then a final interview. It does ensure that our client is only getting the crème de le crème of the industry. This was the first time in about 6 years that I have ever been just recruiting, as opposed to a full desk. It is also the first time since the start of my career that I have been just supporting one client. With Genesis10's depth of resources and it's commitment to providing the best people, both technically and personality wise, I feel very comfortable in this role. It was an adjustment for a bit however. Six Degrees: (A) What other companies' recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples? Jeff: I am mainly acquainted with the firms in NYC. Our business, especially in IT, all seems to be 6 degrees of one another. I have heard buzz about many of the firms in our sphere, good and bad. Recruiters and sales people tend to gossip. Based on my second sentence in this paragraph, I will go with discretion being the better part of valor. Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why? Jeff: The way you can wake up and have the market give you a surprise, I'd be uncomfortable guessing anything at this point. I don't just think our industry will change, I think the United States is changing. I couldn't even hazard a guess as to where we will be in a year. To quote myself from above, all you can do is “take everything with a smile, good and bad, and remember that this too will pass.” Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there? Jeff: While at the Bachrach Group I helped to train a number of Junior recruiters. This was one of the most satisfying experiences of my career. It was a talent I didn't know I had and I really enjoyed it. At some point, I'd really like to be able to that again. Past that, I'd like to retire at 50 but if you look at my 401k.... To get there, you just need to work hard and get lucky.…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 12:34am on January 19, 2009

Topic: Meet Andrew Heywood, Global Recruiter Veteran from Google, Apple, Adobe - Dog's Best Friend: dogs. * Email Andrew Directly Andrew Heywood is a veteran recruiter/sourcer with corporate staffing experience at Google, Apple, and Adobe. Andrew has developed extensive International staffing experience including Japan, Korea, India, China, Zurich, London and Australia markets. In addition, Andrew has project management, and sales expertise both in domestic and international markets. He has lived and worked in Japan for 4.5 years and gained additional international travel experience in Germany, Singapore, Philippines, Canada, and Mexico. Andrew is multi-lingual, speaking Japanese (JLPT3) and Cantonese (basic) in addition to his native English. Andrew's specific areas of expertise include: Diversity Recruiting Best Practices, Google ATS, HRIS, Hire.com, Filefinder, Offer Work-flow (Google specific), Internet Sourcing Training, Boolean Searches, LinkedIn, Conferences, Corporate Directories, Alumni directories, Associations, proprietary database, job boards, networking, and cold calls. Q&A with Andrew Heywood Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. Andrew: I am currently single living in Northern California with my two wonderful dogs Kiseki and Surf. They are both 4.5 years old and I adopted them from the rescue organization Norsled (http://www.norsled.org/available.html). My family (father, mother, sister, brother) all live in California and I spend time with them when I can. I am an active person who loves the outdoors and is involved with various sport activities (triathlons, hiking, yoga, badminton). I use to be a Collegiate Division I, Cross Country runner and still love to run to this day. When I am not playing a sport, I love to keep up with my Japanese and volunteer my time with the dog rescue group Norsled. I spent over 4 years living/working in Japan prior to moving back to California (Jan 2005). I have then caught the travel bug and love to explore new parts of the world when time allows. Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? Andrew: I have been recruiting for over 7 years. I spent my first 3 years working for a recruiting agency in the heart of Tokyo Japan, then following working in house for Google, Apple, and Adobe once I moved back to the United States. Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter? Andrew: Prior to recruiting, I had just graduated from college and spent one year as an inside sales representative for MA Laboratories in San Jose California. I then moved to Japan to teach English in the country side for a year adventure before I settle down with my career. Little did I know that coming to a country on the other side of the world would open up a new career that I am very passionate about today. I had just completed my English teaching contract with the JET Program and moved back to California two months before September 11 2001. The job market had crumbled and there were no jobs in sight. I attended an alumni networking event for the JET Program (the program I taught English for in Japan) and there was a recruiting agency there trying to find young talent to go back to Tokyo and train to become a Head Hunter/Recruitment Consultant. I had no idea of what being a Head Hunter/Recruitment Consultant was all about, however I decided to take a chance and move back to Japan. The company Access Technology Japan (ATJ), really taught me the hard nose basics of sourcing and recruiting great talent. I was recruiting sales, marketing, IT professionals and developers. This was not only my first time in this profession, however I was recruiting Japanese nationals into foreign companies in Japan (which add another level to the learning curve). At the same time, I was also developing my Japanese language skills. I have never work so hard in my life however at the same time enjoying every minute of it. There was no such thing as a 40 hour week, I would call it more of a 60 - 80 hour week including working Saturdays. The colleagues who worked with me in the office were from all parts of the world (Japan, Canada, USA, Australia, Romania, China, Taiwan, New Zealand, etc) which made the experience even more exciting. If I look back at the various challenges learning recruiting in that market, I realize how much I learned as a 23 year old getting into the business. After ATJ, I decided to move back to California and begin my career in recruiting in the states. I ironically had more experience working in a foreign country than I did my own. When I moved back to California in January 2005, Google had just begun its growth frenzy and I had heard great things about working there. I applied and my good friend who was working in the AdSense department referred me to the staffing department. I landed a contract role where I was able to contribute to many of the emerging technical offices (China, Japan, India, Zurich, and Australia). I focused on technical positions from individual contributor to higher management. I spent a total time of 3.7 years at Google (2 years contract and 1.7 years as a permanent employee) focusing on a variety of technical roles not just for over seas offices but the Mountain View Head Quarters and YouTube San Bruno office. I also had the pleasure of working for Apple Computer and Adobe Systems during the time I was a contract recruiter. I am currently starting to work on a free-lance basis venturing into a new chapter of my recruiting career. Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? Andrew: Without a doubt it would be during my first recruiting job at ATJ in Japan because it gave me the opportunity to feel the sense how much you are impacting a persons life and career. I learned so much during these years that I am using these basics to this day. A specific example of this is my experience working with a Japanese Sales Manager candidate. Although he did not accept the role I was recruiting him for due to his family situation, he told me I was one of the best recruiters he has ever worked with. It was the first deal I lost, but realized the relationship and trust I built with this person lasts a lifetime. We still keep in contact to this day and he has referred many people to me. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? Andrew: I have learned so much from many people I have worked with in Japan, Google, Apple and Adobe. It is hard for me to point out one particular person as I have had the honor of working with some top notch recruiters and people. From each experience, I take aspects I lack and try to grow from there. Six Degrees: Tell us about your most recent gigs. Andrew: My most recent position was recruiting technical roles for the YouTube San Bruno offices. I was located on site in San Bruno California. Google in general has a staffing organization consisting of hundreds of recruiters, although my group consisted of 5 recruiters at YouTube. Six Degrees: (A) What other companies' recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples? Andrew: I also had great experiences working for Apple Computer and Adobe Systems in their staffing organizations. Although each different in their own respect, they each have top notch teams and candidate process management. Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why? Andrew: I feel the current state of the economy is definitely impacting the recruiting industry as a whole as many companies are freezing head count and laying off employees. “HOW DOES ANDREW 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? Andrew: At Google, they would receive thousands of resumes a day. however not all the hires came from general applications. More came from sourcing, various events and referrals. Google takes recruiting very seriously and will use these methods to find the best talent. Six Degrees: What is the source of the "Most Hires" collected from at your present employer? (In terms of Quantity #) Andrew: The source of most hires would have to be through proactive sourcing and employee Referrals. 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? Andrew: The source of lowest cost of hire would be through general application. Google has created a great environment in which top talent proactively apply. It is truly amazing the talent that works at the company. Six Degrees: What talent niche groups do you target and are these particular talent areas specialized under your review? Andrew: Through out the last 4 years I have focused on various software engineering professionals (back and front end software engineers, web developers, flash developers, product management, and system operations,). Also I have a niche for hard to find roles specifically language specific for instance korean and Japanese speaking engineers. Six Degrees: What types of training in sourcing/recruitment are available to you and have you taken advantage of? Andrew: I feel very lucky to have worked for some great corporations here in the Silicon Valley who make a great investment in the training of their staffing professionals. I have been able to take advantage of online, seminar, and video conference training. I always strive to continue and develop my skills. 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? Andrew: In house ATS and the internet (Blogs, Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, boolean searches, job boards, patent searches, alumni groups etc.) Some of the tools we use here in the U.S. do not translate to finding great talent directly as with other parts of the world. For example with a more private sensitive country like Japan, it is harder to do a Linkedin search to source good talent. Many people are very reluctant to put their information on the web. It is more about the referral process and face to face interaction which takes more time. Although the up and coming engineering talent often will have their own blogs or web site. They are more keen to engage in this but one will have to be able to at times understand Japanese as it may not be in English. Six Degrees: What tools (technology or old school file folder, for example) did you first encounter early in your recruitment career? Andrew: When I first started recruiting, I used a Japanese phone book and in house database at the agency I worked for in Japan. The first three months I worked at the company, I was cold calling (cold calling was still going on strong in that market at the time) 8 hours a day then spending the rest of my day meeting candidates at coffee shops and at the office. The tools were very limited and I also attended many conferences to meet candidates and various hang out locations. Since in Japanese culture many people go out to drink after work with co-workers, I often would go to a local bar or club to meet potential candidates. In fact, some of the people I met at these local hang outs I placed into different companies. 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? Andrew: The only expectation of being a recruiter was from my sister who first started in the business when I was in college. However at the time I didn't pay attention to her line of work and just remember her always doing research for her company. I didn't find it exciting at the time and before joining the agency in Japan and was a little hesitate but had no other job option. Six Degrees: Worst mistake, biggest goof, lousiest practice you thought would fly but didn’t…and how that was a learning experience? Andrew: My biggest mistake when I first began recruiting was my pre-qualifying skills. It was so tough in the Japanese market to bring someone in from a cold call that I remember often times not doing a good job pre-qualifying. I learned right away how to be smarter with my efforts versus working harder. Six Degrees: “Best practice” you are most proud of developing (now or in the past) in your recruiting career? Andrew: One of my strengths is my customer service and relationship building skills. I believe one of the best practices I tried to leave with each opportunity is treating each candidate as if they are the only person I am dealing with. I have been commented on this often and have conducted many informal training on my style. Although very busy I always try to make each person feel specifically special trying to at least leave them with the good image of the company even if they didn't get the job. Recommendations For Andrew Heywood “I have known Andrew for many years. He takes great pride in matching people with the right job and takes a personal interest in their continued success and career development. I have seen many people walk up and thank Andrew for helping them years earlier.” March 18, 2009 Paul Peissner, Alliance Manager - Business Development Specialist, BMC Software “Andrew has contributed enormously for building the engineering team for Google. He has realized great trust among line managers as a Recruiter who can actually deliver. Andrew has a very challenging assignment to hire world's top notch engineers with Japanese language qualification. Regardless of the challenge, with the three years that Andrew has worked for Google, Andrew has achieved to build a great engineering team in which the team he built is making enormous contribution to the core product development. Andrew is greatly experienced Recruiter where he can manage the entire recruiting life cycle. He has great sustainability in the way he manages candidate and client relation. He also has great interpersonal skills in the way he knows how to gain and maintain trust with candidates. I have worked very closely with Andrew at Google for two years and I highly recommend him as professional recruiter.” September 2, 2008 Tim Hayashi, Recruiter at Google Inc. “Andrew is such a pleasure to work with. He is a sincere, genuine, hard worker who will go above and beyond what the job entails. I enjoyed working with Andrew on my team. He's one of the most polite people I have ever met and has a kind, gentle heart. Andrew is a superstar performer and I'm glad that we were able to work together.” February 11, 2008 Gina Pak (gpak@longview-inc.com), Recruiter/Coordinator, Google “It was great working with Andrew. He always has a positive attitude and develops a great rapport with his work colleagues. Andrews works hard to get things done in time. I highly recommend him to anyone!” February 11, 2008 Dennis Ho, Recruiter at Google “Andrew is an excellent recruiter who knows how to close the deal. He finds the candidate, gets them through the process, and gets them to accept the offer in an efficient and timely manner. He understands the importance of making the sale.” February 11, 2008 Christopher Cheung, Internet Sourcer, GOOGLE “Andrew is an amazing recruiter. He is soft spoken but articulate. I’ve worked with Andrew at Google in different groups but we often worked together to source/recruit Japanese professionals for both Mountain View and Tokyo Google offices. Andrew gave me some great tips and resources on finding Japanese candidates. We often shared ideas and brainstormed on ways to find the Japanese Google talent. He is very smart, resourceful, responsive and friendly. I had a great time working with him and he is one of the successful recruiters that I know of at Google. You can never go wrong hiring Andrew!” February 10, 2008 Ritu Singh, Partner Solutions Organization Sourcer, Google “Andrew is a friendly and passionate recruiter. He speaks Japanese and has good skill to recruit software engineers internationally. He works hard to hire good software engineers in Japan as well as those in U.S. who would like to work for products targeted at Japanese market.” February 9, 2008 Junji Takagi, Software Engineer, Google “Andrew is hiring lots of Japanese software engineers in US and in Japan. He works with a certain amount of teamwork and helps me often.” January 31, 2008 Jun Inada, Engineering Recruiter in Tokyo, Google Japan…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 2:51am on March 30, 2009

Blog Post: 29 Best Books on Recruitment (MUST Read Resources for Recruiters): Continuous learning is paramount to your growth as a recruiting specialist. That’s why we have spent hundreds of hours going through lists of must-read books on recruitment, looking at reviews,…; Added by Phil Strazzulla at 11:41pm on November 27, 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