Evon Korbieh

I attribute all my success to my childhood and my parents. Both of them have been such an inspiration to me. Seeing my parents work hard and succeed in both a foreign country in Italy and a foreign country in America, and do well to the best of their abilities, has always inspired me to be the best for myself. We're not multi-millionaires, but we live a decently comfortable life, and I had a decently comfortable childhood. Just seeing them strive and work and do their best has always inspired me. I would say I attribute all my attributes to my mother, because she's just such a strong, strong woman. She's someone that never gives up, never says I cannot do something. If she can't do it, she'll figure out how to do it. I grew up seeing that, and I think it naturally rubbed off on me. My personality ended up being that behavior, and it just jumped on me as a person. My biggest inspiration is my mother.

The best career advice I've received was from a manager I worked with at ABM, and she told me to always double check. I know it sounds very mundane, but she said that in the mundane, there is power. She told me that conveying the little things that you do right every day is the power of excellency. She said, just be detailed, double check and be detailed in everything that you do, and you will see that you always do well, whatever you do. Even if you leave recruiting, if you go anywhere else, you will always do well. I took that advice to heart. Recruiting is not too difficult - I'm not a pharmacist, I don't deal with heavy math - but I'm doing something important in the fact that there are so many people out there looking for jobs, and I am the link between the person looking for a job and the job itself. In me being able to check and make sure that I do things the right way helps both me and the person that is finding that position that can potentially change their lives. The most powerful advice I've gotten is not a huge quote, but it's the importance of paying attention to the little things. That changes things a lot.

The market is tough right now, honestly speaking, so the advice I would give is different than what I would have said pre-COVID. I have a friend who's been looking for a job in recruiting for 3 years now, and she's a very good recruiter. I don't say that it's easy to enter into this field because it's a difficult field to enter, especially for somebody that just graduated from college. But I would say strive to find internships. Continue to apply, never give up on applications, and network, network, network, network. This is the only way that you can make it through in these very challenging times. Go on LinkedIn, go to events, go to job fairs. You have to put yourself out there and put your resume out there for people to be able to see you. You cannot do the status quo. You cannot even do what I did before - it's a different time. I cannot tell a person, oh, this is what I did, this is how I got a job, that was 10 years ago. With AI and everything else in between, networking helps a lot because it helps people to see who you are as a person. You'll meet the right person at the right time in the right place, but you have to put yourself out there to be able to meet that person at the right time, at the right place.

The opportunities I have are based on longevity. I've been in this industry for quite some time, so I've built a network of people that I know, people that I can reach out to. If anything happens, I have 30 people on my network already that I can talk to. The opportunity is the longevity of my career and the knowledge and the type of roles that I work in. The challenge is that I have to continuously learn. New technologies are coming through, AI is expanding and growing and shifting on a monthly basis, so I have to ensure that I keep up with technology. And not only keep up, but embed that technology in what I do on a daily basis to my own advantage. I cannot be lazy. I cannot do what I did 5 years ago. I can't even do what I did 2 years ago. I have to continuously strive to learn and to understand where the future is and where the future is going.

The value that is most important to me in my work is enjoying the experience of the role in which I'm in. When you enjoy what you do, it's easy for you to do it well. I've been so thankful that every company I've worked for - there could be challenges, there are challenging experiences - but I've enjoyed what I do. I truly, truly enjoy what I do, and that's what is most important to me. I cannot come into a job that I hate. I really love recruiting and finding personnel. In my personal life, I believe in work-life balance. It's important. You need to take the time off. You need to enjoy time with your family, with your friends, go out. Even if you're snuggling in your bed and watching Korean dramas, which I do most of the time, it's important to take time for yourself and care for you as a person, as a human being, to be able to be refreshed and do things well. So many people are burned out because they don't know how to balance life and work. They take work home, they do too much. They're mentally drained because they never shut their brain off. If your brain is active 24-7, it is not sustainable. You just need to have time to chill and enjoy and laugh and run and walk and see the sun.