Alison Jacobi

I'm a really passionate person, and I'm relentless when I want something. I take things head-on. I actually started my career working for a charity that helps orphans in the inner cities, and I had a really difficult childhood, so I always wanted to give back to the community. I realized how rewarding and fulfilling it was, and I wanted to keep doing that but in a different space. I attribute my success to really actually caring about what I'm doing and feeling like I'm making a real difference. That's what gets me up every morning. I've always been very authentic in everything I do, and I've always had this innate ability to know what's good for me and what's not, and where I'm meant to be. I love the feeling of helping people. I've hired over 250 people, and I've placed half of the West Coast region at CBiz. I love nothing more than changing people's lives and watching them grow from becoming a manager to a partner. Just watching their career trajectory and knowing that I was able to help contribute to that, and seeing the growth of these candidates, that just keeps pushing me further. I also started an H-1B initiative that became a firm-wide initiative. I realized there was all this talent we were missing out on because candidates were afraid to move since their current employer was funding their H-1B. I partnered with leadership and made this initiative where if candidates under a visa come on and we do their H-1B, and they're in good standing with the firm, we would support their green card. That resulted in three people becoming citizens that I personally placed. Things like that really mean a lot to me.

I would always tell women to always stand up and stick up for yourself. Don't be afraid to be seen, don't be afraid to show up and have a seat at the table, because you deserve that seat at the table. Don't let anyone else make you feel otherwise. It's okay to own your authenticity. No one is perfect, but just be yourself, go for your goals, and do not let anyone tell you that you do not deserve a seat at that table. Sometimes you have to deal with people of all different personality types, and it's about navigating it, but you guys are just as important as the person that you're afraid of.

One of the biggest challenges in my field right now is the changing economics of the industry. Clients are more hesitant to pay traditional placement fees, and tighter budgets require agencies to be increasingly strategic and value-focused.

At the same time, I see strong opportunities in high-demand geographic markets, particularly in the Southeast, as well as in leveraging AI tools to scale more efficiently. Expanding recruiting strategies to include underutilized talent pools, such as H-1B candidates, also presents significant growth potential.