Stephanie Dwars

After college, I was working in retail. Eventually I worked my way up to a supervisory role, which included onboarding and training new hires. It wasn’t exactly “recruiting,” but it taught me a lot about what goes into it. A little while later, I saw an opening at a staffing firm and thought it could be my path into proper recruiting. So I applied and started from there.

I’ve always been interested in mental health. In fact, as a kid, I wanted to be a social worker. I briefly studied it in college, but eventually realized it just wasn’t for me. That led me to study Human Resources, since I figured I could help people and still work within the mental health field. From the moment I was hired at Hope Network, my goal was to recruit for these clinical roles. After about six months recruiting for Direct Care roles, there was an opening for my current position, so I went for it.

When every facet of the full-cycle recruitment process goes as planned – I have productive meetings with hiring managers, I generate interest from candidates, I conduct solid phone interviews, and maybe I make an offer or two.

In recruitment, there’s a lot of highs and a lot of lows. I have a great team that listens and offers solutions, so I make sure to rely on that support system.

Make sure your resume is cleaned up: no spelling errors, accurate work history. Put in the work to research the companies you’re interviewing with.

There’s a lot of sales in recruiting since we’re basically “selling” the company. If recruiting didn’t exist, I’d probably get my realtors license and sell houses.