Lonni shares her journey into recruiting, her why behind getting into the industry, and how she became LinkedIn's favorite #RecruiterFriend.
Lonni shares her journey into recruiting, her why behind getting into the industry, and how she became LinkedIn's favorite #RecruiterFriend.
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Chit Chats with Lonni is mixed and produced by Ann-Catherine Desulme .
The song at the end of the episode is called Hold Up! by Houston Artist $hun.
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Jalonni Weaver:
Hey, y'all. You're listening to Chit Chats with Lonni, a podcast that was created to unpack some shit, while also amplifying black and brown voices. I'm your host Jalonni Weaver and I hope you're ready to chit chat. Hey, y'all how y'all doing. Good. All right, let's get into it. This is Recruiter Friend, episode two, and I know you guys are probably like, why is she doing an episode called Recruiter Friend, if the title of her podcast is, Chit Chats with Lonni? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's unpack that.
Jalonni Weaver:
I didn't want to do my podcast named as Recruiter Friend, because I'm more than a recruiter. I'm Jalonni. If one day I want to become an astronaut, I have to rebrand myself and that's no fun, but I will be talking a lot about recruiting, career pivots, career changes throughout my podcast, because it is a part of me at the moment. I am a recruiter, I do recruiting, which means that I have the recruiting team. So I want to give you guys a history of how I got into the occupation of recruiting, because I know that is a hot topic nowadays. It's really hard. It seems like, if you're career pivoting from one pivot to another, from one career to another, it seems like it's difficult to get into recruiting. And so that's what I want to talk about today is how I got into recruiting, the things I did, the steps I took.
Jalonni Weaver:
What is recruiting? What transferable skills do you need to get into this industry? And my why? I feel like everything I do has a purpose, has a why. And I feel like talking about that purpose and that why, will give you guys a better understanding why I'm so passionate and if you're here from LinkedIn, you know that I go hard for my company. I go hard for the job that I do, because it's something that I truly enjoy and I'm thankful for. So how did I get into recruiting? And I never really knew recruiting was a thing. I knew that there were recruiters out there and I knew their job, but I thought that HR, everybody that worked in HR did recruiting. I didn't know that there were different departments within HR. I just thought, "Oh, everybody's a recruiter." I quickly learned that talent acquisition is in HR, but it's totally separate in a way, or it feels like we're just different from the actual HR function.
Jalonni Weaver:
And so in my last episode, I talked about how I ended up having an interview with three black women. And they were all in the recruiting industry, talent acquisition. And that really is what caught my eye into actually getting into this industry. And I was like, "Wow, I want to be that person that students or people look at and they can connect with and they see themselves in this industry." They see themselves on the other side, I want to be able to give people that look like me, chances that maybe they've been overlooked for different things and now they're getting the chance and the opportunity because of me. Because I saw something in them that maybe other recruiters didn't see, or they looked past them. And so that was one of the reasons why I got into it. I didn't really know that I liked recruiting until my internship.
Jalonni Weaver:
So I intern with a financial institution and for nine weeks I learned all things, talent acquisition. So I learned from how to review resumes, how to decline resumes, how to submit resumes to a hiring manager, how to have a candidate call. So I was able to get on the phones and call candidates and to let them know, "Hey, you're moving forward." Or getting to know candidates. I got to do that process. I got to sit on the phone and hear offers being made. So this was my true introduction into recruiting. And I'm thankful for it, because I would have never figured out that this is something and a path that I wanted to take until this internship. And so I know y'all are probably like, "You know you have to be in school to get an internship." Well, at the time I was in school and I was getting my master's in human resource management. I always frowned upon, or didn't really frown, I guess that's not the right word, but I always thought that internships were for undergrads instead of graduate students.
Jalonni Weaver:
And I quickly learned that graduate students can get internships and we're just as smart. And that doesn't make us less of a grad student. And I was pride and I was happy that I was in this space with a bunch of undergraduate students. And here I am getting my masters and coaching these students while we're in the internship. I'm having, one-on-ones talking to them about why I started my masters, literally being that mentor for these students. And I didn't even know it. It was just something I was passionate about and they would ask me questions about how did I decide to pivot into this with the art background? That was when I knew like, okay, I have a calling. This is something that I'm really good at. This is something I can take far. I can be that figure that people are looking up to, or that people want to be like in a way, not trying to sound real vain, but it's different.
Jalonni Weaver:
Because I never had somebody to look up to in this industry, at least, like I met some really good people, but when it comes to looking up to someone or seeing someone good or someone giving me a chance, nobody ever gave me a chance. I worked for everything that I have and I'm still working my ace off to get where I want to be. But I think that the recruiter who helped me and guided me through my internship program was probably one of the best recruiters, hand downs that I've had in a long time. And till this day, I still think that if it wasn't for him to see potential and see that, even though I was a art student, or I'd never have done recruiting, he gave me a chance and I wouldn't be where I am today without that chance. And that's all people really need, is a chance.
Jalonni Weaver:
They need somebody to see something that others don't usually see in them. And that's one thing that I am also passionate about, especially on LinkedIn, is just sharing tips and tricks on what we look for when we're recruiting, what we look for when we're sourcing candidates. So for those that don't know what sourcing is, it's when we go out and we find talent for roles that are open and that we're working on. I think that a lot of people don't know that you can have a lot of transferable skills when it comes to recruiting. You don't need a degree to be a recruiter. Majority of the people in the field or in the industry, don't have degrees. They will literally teach you what you need to know. And it's a beautiful thing. Like recruiting is one of those things that if you have the basic transferable skills such as customer service, multitasking, people skills, wanting to learn, being ready to deal with change, because talent acquisition is forever changing.
Jalonni Weaver:
Especially with this market that we are in. The market is hot. Candidates are declining offers left and right. So it's how do you retain the best candidate? How do you retain employees? How do you find the best candidate? The best qualified, diverse candidate? I made it, my goal and I told myself this, I said, "Jalonni, when you become a recruiter, your goal is to bring in qualified, diverse talent." And I know automatically you guys are going to think that when I say diverse, I'm automatically saying in race, but that's just not diversity. Diversity is people who are in the underrepresented community, military, from the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities. That's what I talk about when I say underrepresented. And so that has been my goal since day one, since I got in this recruiter seat, is to put people that usually don't have this chance in front of hiring managers and at least get them a conversation.
Jalonni Weaver:
Now, once I push you through to the conversation round with the hiring manager, it's on you. I did what I needed to do, and I need you to do your part now. And so after that, there is not much more that I can do. Like I'm relying on you. And this is when I take it in my hands is when I have somebody and I do a lot of early talent roles. So when I have a candidate that is a really strong candidate, but they may struggle. They may struggle with talking. They may struggle with knowing what's on their resume, or before they even get to talking to me, they may submit their resume to me. And that gives me a chance to ... I usually coach them. So if I know that this is a solid candidate, a strong candidate, before I submit their resume to the hiring manager, if their resume doesn't show what they're telling me, I'll ask them to correct their resume or add or take away some things.
Jalonni Weaver:
Because when that hiring manager looks at the resume, they're not going to spend that much time reviewing the resume. They're going to look to see if they see those skill sets that they're looking for in the job they're hiring for. And if not, they're going to say it's a no. So, that's where I come in. And I'm the advocate. I'm telling and teaching, "Hey, you're a strong candidate, but we're just going to get you a little bit stronger, or we're going to tighten some loose nuts." And then when it comes to that conversational piece, some people are nervous. Like I'm nervous right now. And it's just me talking by myself and I'm nervous. I'm not really good at public speaking, but here we are. And so there's a lot of people that just freeze. And my goal as a recruiter is to make you feel comfortable.
Jalonni Weaver:
So when I have recruiting conversations or started off, I don't like stuffiness. That's one thing that I really can't stand is just like a stuffy environment. And even this podcast, like I told my producer, I don't want this to be stuffy. Like I don't want it to be the normal podcast where we're going back and forth asking each other questions. I want it to feel really relaxed. And that's how I am in my work environment. I want the candidate to feel relaxed enough to share with me things. And I'm not saying you have to get personal and tell me what you do on the weekends. But you get the more authentic feel from somebody when they're loosened up. And when they're feel like they're comfortable and they trust you and it opens up another area of vulnerability.
Jalonni Weaver:
And so my goal with every candidate is to just remind them that I'm just a person with a title. Like, let's forget that I'm a recruiter. And it's two people just talking. I want to learn about your background. I want to learn what interests you in the company. I almost said it. I must interest you in the company that I work for. And I also want to know what motivates you? What is your reason? What is your why? And I don't mean that in a bad way, but you can learn a lot about somebody when you figure out what they're looking for in their next job opportunity and what makes them happy. For example, if I'm talking to someone and I ask, what has you looking? You know, because the job market is hot. So I feel like everybody that has applied is actively looking and some people will share with me that they're looking for a remote position, because they want to have a life outside of work.
Jalonni Weaver:
And they want to be able to have that flexibility, which I totally get. Some people will tell me they're in a toxic work environment. And I advocate strongly for mental health. And I advocate strongly for, if a work environment is not for you, then leave. There is nothing wrong with that. And this goes back to me thinking about how people used to say that if you don't stay in a company for a long amount of time, you're a job-hopper. So my longest job was two years and I don't consider myself a job-hopper at all. I consider myself that if I no longer feel like this place is adding value to me, I'm leaving. Why should I stay somewhere? And there's all these jobs out there. I will not settle and I will not put my health second. My health, mental health comes first, regardless of how much I'm getting paid, flexibility, work environment, like my mental health and health come first.
Jalonni Weaver:
And I will stand strongly behind that and I will support anybody that feels the same way. I had somebody tell me in a interview today, that the reason that they left their job is because management was going down the drain. And you know, most people would be like, "They're talking about management. That's so bad." I respect that person because they left a job that was paying them great money. They left that job and they're unemployed at the moment. And they're looking for a culture. I strongly don't like that word culture, because what exactly is culture? Culture can mean a lot of things. So at my company, we don't say culture fit. We say cultural add. So our "culture" is forever evolving. And I'm learning now that the top three things that are important to job seekers is work and life balance. That's huge. The "culture" and then the growth opportunity.
Jalonni Weaver:
And that's something else that I think that in recruiting, the growth opportunity can evolve, but you're forever going to be having that people interaction. So even if you become a people manager and start managing a team, you're still going to be recruiting. You may just recruit for higher level positions. Like my current manager is a director and they get the high level positions. They get the executive positions. They get the ones that we need, this high level person that's going to be working in Australia. So they get the fun roles, whereas us people that are just starting out, we get the early talent, which I love early talent. Let's start there, so I could do early talent. Honestly, I could do it for the rest of my career and be happy, because I feel like I'm doing more.
Jalonni Weaver:
It's that satisfaction of, I'm talking with people that are probably around my age and they're just looking for a door. They're looking for a chance. They're looking for a opportunity. Some of them have never had a job. They may not know what it's like to work in corporate America. They may not have ever done a real life job. You know like you can have a real life job and not be in corporate America. They're just trying to figure things out. And I'm 26. I feel like I'm still trying to figure things out. So I'm just relating with them. And those are the best conversations I have, and being able to put on my coaching hat, coach them, get them to the next round. And then now they have a job offer. I was able to get a candidate twice as much as what they wanted.
Jalonni Weaver:
I was able to get that for them because I believe, and this is just me personally, as a recruiter, if you have a degree and you have somewhat experience doing something and you have that understanding and you can execute, you know how to do the job, you just need somebody to give you a chance. Like you've done it. Maybe not in this large capacity, but you've done the work. I believe that you deserve a chance and you don't deserve to just be brought in at an entry level, like an associate level position. I think that you deserve to be brought in at like a specialist, analyst level, maybe even a manager, depending on how much experience you have. I've talked to master's candidates, I've talked to doctorate's candidates and it amazes me how the job market no longer is about education.
Jalonni Weaver:
So you can have a degree, and I know somebody is going to absolutely despise me for saying this, but degrees don't hold the value that they used to hold back in the day. We are looking for people with experience in roles and that have done the job and have degrees. Like that's a plus, but I've seen it happen time and time again, where somebody was hired that has experience over somebody that may hold a PhD, because they're able to do the job. They've worked in this industry. They worked in this field, they have that experience and it's really sad. So when I see people in college and wanting to work and get real life jobs and they have the experience, but may not as much as the hiring manager may want, I'm all for pushing them and giving them that chance. I've been able throughout my time, as a full cycle recruiter, get two college students that are graduating with their masters, get them a job in the ID and E space, diversity, equity and inclusion space.
Jalonni Weaver:
And it was such a beautiful thing. And so this is my why. This is why I do what I do. This is why I show up. This is why I give tips and tricks to my LinkedIn Community, my Instagram Community, social media. This is why I advocate so hard for the underrepresented community, because there's not many people like me and others that are doing this work that genuinely care about the people that we give jobs to, or want to give jobs to and genuinely care about the candidate experience. Genuinely care about following up. There's not many. And so this is why I am Recruiter Friend. I know that circles back around to originally what this episode was supposed to be talking about. But this is why I call myself Recruiter Friend, because I see myself as that friend, that's here to give you the real spiel deal.
Jalonni Weaver:
But at the same time, I want you to work to, I want to see you work. I want to see you win. I want to see you succeed. And even if the position that I may have be recruiting for, or maybe recruiting for, isn't for you, I still want to see you win on the outside. If you decide to decline my offer, when I call you, I want to know, "Hey, let me know when you do find a new position." And if it's outside of the company, I'm the one that's up under your comments, like, "Congrats. You deserve it." Because, rejection is just redirection. And that's how I look at that. And everybody that I talk to in recruit, and I have a conversation with, I feel like that's a bond and a connection being created. You spent your time with me to learn about this role and learn about the organization that I work for.
Jalonni Weaver:
And I got to learn a little bit more about you and got to push you forward. And so this is why I do the work that I do. And I'm going to continue to do the work that I do. And throughout these podcast episodes, I'm going to be answering questions and sharing stories with you all. So they may be recruiting stories. They may be just stories that people are afraid to share in the public eye and they want me to read. And so if you guys have any questions, comments, be sure to fill out the form. There's a form in my episode notes and I will be looking at the questions and I will be answering them throughout each episode.
Jalonni Weaver:
So once again, I just want to say thank you for listening to the show today, please rate, subscribe, review, and then also share with your network, your community. I want these messages to get out to many people, because there are so many job seekers out there. And I feel like some of this information that I will be talking about, people need to hear, or people want to hear. They just don't know where to find it. And I'm going to keep it real, regardless. I'm going to keep it my honey, as I like to say. And so thank you again for listening and I look forward to the next Chit Chat. (Singing).
Jalonni Weaver:
The music today is by Houston rapper, $hun. (Singing).