Ciera Parker

My career path has been anything but traditional. I started in retail and retail management while living in New York City, but then I took a break to become a wife and stay-at-home mom for about 4-5 years. When I went through a divorce, I knew I needed to get back into the workforce and had to start from the bottom after that gap. I went to a staffing agency expecting administrative work, but everyone there was dressed for warehouse jobs while I showed up dressed for an interview. The intake coordinator noticed I stood out - I had my resume, all my documentation, I spoke well and presented myself professionally - and she said 'you don't fit' and offered me a position at the staffing agency itself instead. I had one interview the following week and started on October 9th. It was perfect timing because the office was right around the corner from my home and my children's daycare. Now I work in talent acquisition as the background check subject matter expert and auditor. I audit the entire team's background checks to maintain compliance for our client company and the federal SOX audit. If I see any discrepancies, I raise the issue right away so we don't fail the annual audit and face fines. I also build and audit job requisitions, do offers, schedule interviews, and handle the entire end-to-end onboarding process from interview to day one. I provide a white glove experience for candidates. One of my biggest achievements has been recognizing that I have a natural talent for finding problems in processes. I used to think I was being problematic, but I've realized I just naturally spot gaps and issues. When we hired new talent acquisition coordinators who weren't grasping the training, I looked at our SOPs and discovered they were completely outdated - different systems we don't even use anymore. I went in and fixed or updated all 72 SOPs because I believe in solving unnecessary problems that are right in your face. I'm really looking to grow in my career and branch into the operations side of things.