Juli Testa - Recruiting
After being told that she is 'dispensable' Juli got on her bike and went hunting for a place to work that showed some respect for her talent.
My name is Juli Testa, I am 24 years old and just graduated in May with my MBA. I have been in the recruiting field for about 3 years and have not had it exactly easy. I kind of fell into this career, on accident, having gone in to an internal interview with a recruiter by the name of Kristen for an accounts payable position. After meeting with her, she told me that she felt that I had the personality to do what she did. I am the type of person who will try anything once, and I was hired within 2 weeks of that interview. I began recruiting in Architecture & Engineering, while still going to school full time for my MBA. I was employee of the quarter a few times, always hit my goals, usually exceeding them.
When my boss decided to move to North Carolina, I thought that it was my chance so to speak to step and run the office successfully. Boy was I wrong!! We had a lecture from our VP on each of us were “dispensable” and business would “go on with out us the exact same way”. What we felt should have been a motivating speech, was quite the opposite. That very same day I ventured out to find my new career path.
The south Florida job market is meek, and finding a job is a full time job. Using recruiters can be a great resource, but what do you do when you are a recruiter? I did the only thing I knew how, find another recruiting company with a better culture, a place where employees truly are appreciated and valued. I located a company by the name of MRI or Management Recruiters International. I met with my office owner, Adam, and immediately knew this is where I wanted to be. He took a chance on me, as normally he did not like hiring recruiters with recruiting experience.
I started here last September, almost exactly 1 year ago to date. I fell into advertising recruitment because my very first placement was a web designer within an agency setting. I built my desk by myself, with guidance from Adam, and some training here and there. Relationship building is really the value added part of recruiting, and I had that, at least on candidate end. I learned how to market to clients, maintain a client list, interview candidates better than I ever had, and of course following through the entire process. After a few short months, I have already billed enough to make it to our annual “pacesetter” trip which will be in the Dominican Republic next year. Pacesetter is a trip for high billers and cash in earners, and it is a privilege to go. I have been blessed with a great team, a great office owner, and a great office with values that I also believe in. It is because of my career growth that I finally feel like a successful woman in the business world.
