Share Our Lives: January 2024

 

Hi Friends!  I am here to linkup with the ladies at "Share Our Lives" formerly NJAM.  For their first linkup this year, we are introducing/reintroducing ourselves AND talking about the jobs we have had- so fun!

 

Hi! I am Holly and the blogger behind "Pink Lady"

 I am faithful and God is #1 for me

I am wife to Rob

 Mom to Diana and Eva

 

and Remi our Frenchie of course :)

 Stepmom to Kayla (and Marshall), Ally and Zach

 and "Mimi" to Baby Sylvie Lynn!

I am Diane and Pete's Daughter

and Matt's Sister

 I am a Recruiter by trade and have been in the industry for over 25 years!  I LOVE what I do :)

 

This is my home office

 In my spare time, I love watching my girls do their thing- Theater and Dancing for Diana and Hockey, Softball and Dancing for Eva- they are my world!

 

I also love to read and have been part of a Book Club I helped start here in town with friends I met through PTA

and I am so grateful for a group of friends I met at different stages here in town too- I love going on adventures with them, trying different wines, enjoying shows, traveling and even just sitting around talking in our pj's - grateful for my peeps!

I am also an avid volunteer- I Co Chair the Windham Blackout Cancer Committee and we are governed by the non profit organization Project Blackout.  We raise funds and awareness for pediatric cancer

 

 

so now..onto one of my favorite subjects and that is JOBS!  JOBS have always been a big part of my life...my own jobs...finding jobs for others...following peoples' jobs and careers...definitely an area of passion and here are the jobs I have had...

Babysitter

 

I love kids and started babysitting at age 9!

McDonald's Worker for SEVEN YEARS!  Part of high school and all of college

 

This job was so much work and I believe instilled in me the work ethic I have today- never glamorous but always had fun and learned how to work with the public.

Resume Editor at a Staffing Firm

This was my break into the staffing industry and I didn't even realize it at the time.  I scored a summer job through a friend editing resumes as I was a writing major and sitting in the office, as I worked, I would listen to the recruiters all day and decided that is what I wanted to do forever- I was completely bitten by the bug!

My three jobs at college kept me busy for four years while I wasn't studying and/or partying-ha!  They were...

Tutor at the UMD Disabled Student Services and Tutor at the UMD Writing and Reading Center and Box Office Manager for the UMD Theatre Company

Salesperson for Pitney Bowes

This was my first job out of college.  I learned how to sell and manage my own time but I wasn't passionate about what I was selling and was itching for something different

Recruiter at Adecco

and then I answered an ad in the Boston Sunday Globe and the rest was history.  I was hired by a Family Franchise as a Recruiter for Adecco and got to do what I knew I would love

Recruiter- New Boston

A few years later I was recruited by a competitor and my career at New Boston Select Staffing started as a Recruiter and I worked my way up and by the end of my tenure there, I was a Vice President, overseeing all of the offices up and down the east coast.

 

Given my role was so large by the final years, I oversaw different business lines but I have to mention OPIS as I have in past posts.  That professional experience still stands out as the best of my career.  Our company president came to me and told me she needed help saving a sister company- they were giving her one last chance to turn it around and she chose me to do that.  It was the scariest thing I have ever been through professionally BUT also the most rewarding and the team I hired back then was there with me and not only did we make the division successful but we became friends for life.  I will never take that experience for granted!

Director, HR Placement Practice at BFS Associates

When it was time for me to move on from NBSS which had become Placement Pros, I did some networking and landed my next role thanks to a referral from my client.  I landed at BFS and started their first ever HR placement practice with no prior experience.  I LOVED IT!  I knew I had found the specialty area that was meant for me.  I so enjoy working with HR professionals and I am thankful I fell into this sector.

Co President at Pharmaceutical Strategies

I wasn't looking for a new job as I loved what I did at BFS but one of my old bosses, who I truly respected, recruited me.  He had tried three different times up until this point but the last time was when he "made me an offer I couldn't refuse." Due to being able to save OPIS for his prior organization, he asked me to come in and save his pharma staffing company. During the three years I was there, we tripled our revenue, hit records and made the company extremely profitable.  This is an example of money not buying everything...like happiness.  I wasn't happy.  I was stressed all the time AND I wasn't doing what I loved.  I was pulled into the behind-the-scenes business responsibilities and got away from the day to day of recruiting which is my passion.  I was so torn but knew I needed to leave and do what I love again.

 

I then begged Dan at Willmott to hire me...it took him awhile but he finally came around :)

and now I am currently a VP for Willmott  where I recruit HR professionals

I am now an individual contributor meaning I do my own recruiting and selling and "run my own desk." I do not oversee any staff or other parts of the business.  I love the flexibility this role and organization give me now while I am raising my kids but I am always hungry for more. I am hungry to run my own organization and I feel I am putting the pieces in place to do that eventually.

What do YOU do for a living?  If you have read this, you will know why I ask.  I can't help myself.  I love talking careers and LOVE helping people find the places they are meant to be!

 

 

Linking up with Share Our Lives HERE