By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, Affiliate Partner, JobMachine Inc.
(720) 733-2022

As a personal favor, please CLICK HERE to send Amy an invite on Linkedin. Insert her email: Amy.Richman@starwoodhotels.com


Email
Linkedin Profile
Connect with Amy

“It was an absolute pleasure to work with such a talented industry veteran. Many people with far less illustrious achievements would sit back and revel in their accomplishments but Amy continues to challenge herself, learn, and push the envelope. Add hard experience to a clear vision and purposeful direction and the resulting fuel is what propels her towards success. Never loosing sight of her goals, Amy works smart and genuinely cares about those around her in a very empowering way. I strongly endorse this industry leader.”
Shally Steckerl, Recruiting Consultant/Trainer, Starwood Hotels

Our continuing series on the rank and file and thought leaders who make us proud of our vocation. Today, compliments of her biggest fan, Shally Steckerl, who made the introduction, we meet Amy Richman, Sr. Director, Corporate Staffing at Starwood Hotels & Resorts in White Plains, New York.

Amy has nearly 20 years management experience in human resources within fast paced, rapidly expanding companies. Her expertise includes recruitment, recruitment strategy, and employee relations. She is a strategic planner, with a talent for analytical decision-making and problem-solving skills. Six Sigma Green Belt trained, she has been continually recognized for exemplary client focus and the ability to develop employees’ professional growth and improve productivity.

She leads a corporate Staffing team responsible for filling 300 positions on average per calendar year for all corporate functions including, but not limited to legal, IT, HR, Marketing, Finance. Amy helps facilitate Starwood’s global leadership training seminar, Leading Starwood, and Led a North American team focused on revamping the corporate on-boarding program lengthened from 4 hours to one week. She has successfully emphasized a significant reduction in cost per hire by reducing reliance on fee sources introducing low fee sourcing techniques, in addition to encouraging a “culture of recruitment” through a variety of internal initiatives.

Q&A with Amy Richman,
Sr. Director Corporate Staffing, Starwood Hotels & Resorts

Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world.

Amy: “I have an amazing family. My husband and I have been married for 12 years and we have two great kids, 9 and 4. We live in northern Westchester county, in “the burbs” of New York City. We have a crazed lab/chow puppy named Luke who enjoys destroying anything but dog toys and eating anything but dog food. What else is new, right?”


Six Degrees: Detail Hobbies, activities/interests unfamiliar to readers

Amy: “When my daughter was born, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to take a few years off to spend time with the family. It sounds amazing in theory, but while I loved being at home with the kids, I needed something extra, call it a left brain, right brain thing. So, to that, I had always had an interest in jewelry design. I took some classes and before I knew it, I had a business. I focused on that for a couple of years and then felt the need to get back to recruiting. I keep it up mostly as a hobby now, but also use it as a means for charity for school and organizational charitable auctions.

On another note, this year I took up long distance running. It’s become a bit of an obsession, gear and all. I’m shooting for the New York Marathon in 2008. Anyone need a running partner for training?”

Six Degrees: How many years as a recruiter?

Amy: “I’ve been in recruitment strategy for close to 20 years, but really started “recruiting” about 12 years ago, at Prudential Securities.”

Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter?

Amy: “I had been working in recruitment strategy for Price Waterhouse supporting the North America practice. I loved it, but felt there was something obvious missing. While I had been trained in interview techniques, I had never actually run searches and was delivering strategic vision and initiatives to recruiters in North America. What’s wrong with this picture?? I left Price Waterhouse to pursue getting a grasp of what it really was to recruit and haven’t looked back since. I’ve hired for entry level through SVP for all corporate functional disciplines including Legal, HR, Marketing, Finance, Risk, Real Estate, the list goes on.”

Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career?


Amy: “I’d have to say being thrown into the deep end at Prudential Securities. I had virtually no tactical recruitment knowledge and shortly after starting was given the interim role of running a team of 12. I was junior, a true deer in the headlights and simply had to make it work. It was the single most difficult, yet rewarding learning experience of my career. I grew the most professionally during that short two year time frame.”

Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after?

Amy: “I’d have to give that credit to my close friend and trusted mentor, Allan Goldberg. He hired me to work for him at Gartner as a recruiter and really pushed me to focus on the big picture, without losing sight of the day to day, in addition to teaching me the value of networking. He’s been an incredible example to me. He left Gartner in 2000 and started his own agency, Quest Resource Group LLP based in Stamford, CT (shameless plug).”

Six Degrees: Detail your position, responsibilities, size of your staffing organization:

Amy: “I’m blessed with the opportunity to run the corporate staffing organization at Starwood Hotels. After being at home for a few years, I had the time to really research to find the right company and culture for me. The Starwood opportunity came to me through networking and it could not have been a better fit. Amazing culture, great learning opportunities and just enough rope to hand myself. Love it.

I have a small, but mighty team of 4 and we are responsible for not only staffing primarily for our corporate headquarters office in White Plains, NY and assisting with staffing for our corporate offices in three additional locations, but we also play a strong role in working with our divisional counterparts to create bridges in staffing initiatives and process around the globe, including work resulting in development of divisional referral policies, creating an internal lead referral database, creating and implementing global vendor contracts, revamping corporate onboarding initiatives, etc.”

Six Degrees: List/detail speaking events, awards, publications, where you have you represented your company:

Amy: “I’m a member of the Southern Connecticut chapter of SHRM and was nominated in 2007 for HR Leader of the Year. What a terrific honor. I’m humbled by the company I was up against! What a group of talented people!”

Recommendations For Amy Richman


“It was an absolute pleasure to work with such a talented industry veteran. Many people with far less illustrious achievements would sit back and revel in their accomplishments but Amy continues to challenge herself, learn, and push the envelope. Add hard experience to a clear vision and purposeful direction and the resulting fuel is what propels her towards success. Never loosing sight of her goals, Amy works smart and genuinely cares about those around her in a very empowering way. I strongly endorse this industry leader.” August 13, 2007
Shally Steckerl, Recruiting Consultant/Trainer, Starwood Hotels

“I was fortunate to work under Amy’s leadership during my initial contract assignment at Starwood Hotels. She is an intelligent, dedicated and personable individual - a resourceful leader in the field of recruitment. She has an excellent rapport with her team - always willing to offer guidance and support while allowing them to take ownership and excel in their roles. I found Amy to be quick witted and strategic in all situations; she is highly competent and a valuable resource for any organization.” February 22, 2008
Keisha Hope Eder, Consultant, NAD-HR, Starwood Hotel & Resorts

“Amy is the very epitome of energy, talent and competency. Amy was responsible for directing staffing activity for Corporate Services (Finance, Legal, Marketing, etc) and Technology during a high growth period for Gartner and in the challenging hiring environment of the .net boom. In every instance she developed and executed strategies to deliver results, while successfully overseeing the activities of a team of recruiters. Just as important Amy forged solid relationships with management and team members, always inspiring confidence in her ability to lead and deliver. Without exception Amy achieved every goal we set and consistently exceeded expectations. Amy knows what it takes to build a successful staffing program, but she also understands the nuances necessary to successfully complete an individual search. Amy is a wonderful, energetic and engaging individual who has earned my highest regard both professionally and personally.” February 20, 2008
Allan Goldberg, Vice President, Staffing, Gartner


View my profile on RecruitingBlogs.com

LinkedIn | Bio | MSN | Skype