Let me start off by saying that I LOVE my job.  I am one of those people who knew at an early age what I wanted to do in life and have been lucky enough to get paid for doing what I am passionate about.

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Dawn, setting up an impromptu omelette breakfast

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Recruiting is a true art form - although it has taken me some time to realize that.  I had a good teacher, my father started his career in recruiting.  In the early 70’s being a recruiter was equivalent to being the janitor.  You bought information from the census bureau, looked up job titles, called people randomly and wrote letters on the typewriter and used the US Postal mail to contact them. I have recruited for some of the best and the brightest, including working for many start-ups during the high-tech boom.

It didn’t really take a lot of skill to be a recruiter back then, you posted an ad and if you were good at selling your position to a candidate and could navigate them through the ten other offers they had, you won.  This was a time when there were more jobs than skilled candidates and the candidate owned the market.  I remember those times fondly, picking up a potential candidate from the airport (we would even fly them in from the Bahamas if they had the right skillset), setting them up at a glitzy hotel, wining and dining, offering lots of stock, etc.

After joining Eliza I realized that there is so much more to it and that perhaps I had become complacent.  Recruiting in today’s world, with the internet, social media sites, job boards, and plain old networking really is an art form and  one that will probably never be mastered.   That and the fact that I work with a group of people who are brilliant, passionate about everyting they do, and are always on the cutting edge of doing something new makes me think and think and think.  How do I find these people that will compliment our office and thrive in our environment?

During one of our brainstorming sessions we came up with the “Speed Recruiting” concept - which is new, different, sexy and original.  A great description of Eliza and a great example of thinking outside the box.   At the end of the day it is all about matching the right people with the right company.  Those that are happy and passionate about what they do have no choice but to be successful - they are driven by things which I can’t describe or articulate, but can see in everything they do.  These are the people who belong at Eliza.

What is life like at Eliza?  Fabulous, exciting, exhilarating and trying not to laugh too hard - we don’t take ourselves too seriously here.  Of course, those same things and people that make life at Eliza so wonderful, can also drive me nuts, but being the head of HR I am responsible for enforcing the “no strangle” policy, so during those time I keep my hands in my pockets.

Just consider me and the recruiting process at Eliza a work in progress. Now if you’ll excuse me, my ten year old is waiting to give me a lesson on using Twitter and Facebook.