Jennifer Rensburg

I honestly attribute my success to having really good leaders and mentors throughout my career that have taught me how to be a servant leader, that have taught me to be confident, and given me the skills needed to take the next step. I've been really blessed to have really great leaders and mentors in my life, and that's why I think it's really important for me, where I'm at in my career, to give back the same way.

The best career advice I've received, especially around female leadership, is being confident and not being afraid to stand up for your decision. I think a lot of times we second-guess ourselves, or maybe we aren't 100% confident when we want to push back or roll something out. For me, it's always been really important that if it's something I think is the right thing, and something I think will benefit us, that I really stand up for that and have confidence behind that. If it's something worth it, you've got to be confident. You can't be afraid to really stand up and advocate for that.

My advice to young women entering my field is to be confident in what you say and what you do. I think having a strong work ethic and being confident in your skills and ability really will take you far. Sometimes we get in our own head, and we really start doubting ourselves and our skills, and I think we always tend to undersell. You need to be able to say, you know what? I can do this. I do have this. I can learn this, and I am ready for the next step. Being able to have that confidence in yourself and your skills is so important and something that we, as women, sometimes tend to pull back on a little bit, because I think we're more compassionate, we're more able to see it holistically, and sometimes we feel like maybe we don't have the skills, or maybe we are missing it. And most of the time, we do. We already have it. So it's just that confidence piece that's really key to being successful in your field and being able to have the confidence to take the next step.

In recruiting right now, the way that the economics has been over the last few years, there's just been a ton of layoffs at that white-collar level, which would be recruiting. Being in a support function, that's always a vulnerable area. So we have a lot more people on the market in this space than jobs available, making it a really tricky time. We do always see cycles of this happening, so I do think it'll ramp back up, but the uncertainty with AI and how it is impacting the industry, especially the support groups, does leave a little bit of uncertainty for what the future holds. That's definitely something new that we'll have to kind of navigate and see what happens over the next 3 to 5 years.

Being a servant leader is really important to me. I think leading with realistic expectations and compassion is something that I really value, not only when I manage, but how I lead others. That goes over to family life, too, having children and being able to lead a family. It's important to have that balance between accountability, but really leading with that compassion and making sure that you're doing what's best for the person, and meeting them in the way they need to be led versus implementing what you think is right on them.