Her Story
About Cortney
My career in talent acquisition spans nearly 13 years, though it started in a different form back in 2009 when I began recruiting high school students for the university I attended. After four years in university recruiting, I transitioned into corporate talent acquisition and staffing in 2013, starting with a staffing agency called Aerotech. Since then, I've worked across different industries and companies, building my expertise in recruiting and relationship management. I've been with Amazon for almost four years now, and my role keeps things interesting because change is constant. Last year I was supporting non-tech program manager positions, and now I'm on a team supporting hardware development roles like engineering managers. My typical day is never really typical - it involves working with hiring managers, supporting multiple positions, and wearing many hats. The role combines customer service, sales, program management, candidate relationship management, and hiring manager relationship management. What makes this career so rewarding for me is the ability to make a real difference in people's lives, especially when I'm working with candidates for hourly or warehouse positions where I can truly see how a new opportunity could change their life and their family's future.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Cortney
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The funny thing about talent acquisition and recruiting is that nobody, for the most part, grows up and says they want to be a recruiter one day - I certainly never thought about it until one of my sorority sisters told me she started doing that, and it all trickled down from there. If you enjoy working with people and making a difference, not only in your company and your employers' lives, but in the lives of individuals who are looking to better themselves and their careers, talent acquisition is a really rewarding career. It allows you to see growth in yourself and growth in others, and it really allows you to make a difference in someone's life. I see the most excitement and feel like I'm making the biggest difference when working with candidates for hourly temp-to-hire positions, warehouse positions, or roles where you can truly see that this could change their life for them and their family. If someone wants to get into recruiting, the best way to do that is to start looking at what kind of roles are available near them, even if it's starting off at a staffing agency. That's what a lot of us in the corporate recruiting world did before we got into corporate recruiting. I think that's a great way to kind of get thrown into everything, learn the ins and outs, and be able to then build your experience from there to one day become a corporate recruiter.
02What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The ability to earn trust is incredibly important to me, whether it's with a hiring manager and their team that I'm working with, or a candidate that I'm working with. I always want to make sure that I am building trust with those individuals, so I really value trust in a professional relationship. I also value when individuals have a bias for action and are interested, eager, and want to move fast. They want to put in the time and effort to have a successful hiring process, whether they're a candidate or a hiring manager. I really value individuals who move purposely and with intent. Personally, I value that I always try to find a way to relate to someone. Even as different as our backgrounds and experience may be, there's always just a little something that you can find where you can say, oh, I've done that too, or oh, I understand that. Being able to sympathize with others, empathize with others, and be relatable - I think that's a really important value too as a talent acquisition individual.
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