Terrassa Scott: A Covid career-pivot

An email rolls in after 6pm on a Thursday from one of our top-performing Recruiting Coordinators at SAIC. The subject reads:

“I’ll be a recruiter next week!!!”

That’s right-three exclamation points!!! That’s how excited Terrassa Scott is to begin her first rotation as a Recruiter in SAIC’s comprehensive recruiting training program. Terrassa’s email was a note of gratitude for introducing her to the Recruiting Coordinator opportunity that started it all. She said that the job “feels like what I’m supposed to do” and “that feels amazing”.

Emails like that have kept me feeling fulfilled in the staffing business for 25 years. Terrassa was referred to me by a longtime client and I wanted to share our recent conversation. I hope it inspires others who are considering a career change.

Terrassa was an Executive Assistant who loved to collaborate with HR to schedule interviews and work with candidates. She affirmed her strengths in relationship-building through personality assessments and wanted to pursue a career in recruiting, but searched in vain for over eight months. Eventually, the HR Executive at Terrassa’s company recommended Schechter Reed as a resource.

Terrassa found the Recruiting Coordinator posting on Schechter Reed’s website. As an Executive Assistant, she had skills in time management, process improvement, customer service and a proven ability to operate in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment. These skills transferred well to recruiting.

Now at SAIC, working remotely for the past six months, Terrassa has learned to work with candidates and hiring managers, schedule interviews, generate offers, and manage the applicant tracking system. She is especially grateful for her amazingly helpful and supportive team. In a short time, she has moved up from a Recruiting Coordinator supporting Recruiters to a Recruiter (with a Recruiting Coordinator in support of her).

Terrassa shared with me, “The Futures program at SAIC is unique. It is so nice to have guidelines, mentors, and formal training before you become a Recruiter. You get it in bite-sized pieces at first and then start to dig deeper. SAIC assigns you mentors, who are very helpful and want you to succeed.”

I’m so happy to see Terrassa succeed and look forward to watching her progress at SAIC.

If you are in need of a #recruiter, #coordinator or an #administrative superstar or you know someone who seems well-suited for those roles, let’s chat!