Julia Hager Windlinger

I attribute my success to continuing to adapt and be flexible. Also speaking up. I think it's really important to have your voice heard. I was not very good when I was younger, but as I've progressed in my career, I've gotten better and better about feeling confident and speaking up and sharing what I have to say, because it's valuable. Acting as a partner to get things done, instead of ordering people around, and so building those relationships around partnering - I think relationship building is one of my strengths, and that's really helped me. I'm also a strategic thinker, so being able to see the long term, especially when you're doing org design and you're looking at career pathing and career succession and planning, you kind of have to have a vision, so I think that has really helped me, being able to see that and then implement it. Learning how to communicate with people and their different communication styles and really having true and honest relationships with people, being authentic has really helped me also.

It was actually a book that my CEO gave me at Spiro called The Go Giver. The moral of the story is if you give more, you'll get more. The more you give, the more you'll get, and that's applicable to professional life and personal life. If you can help someone, even if they're not a good fit for a position I'm hiring for, I'll say, hey look, if anything comes up, I know a lot of other people in a lot of other industries, let me send your stuff over to them, see if they have anything. That matters. What you get out of that intrinsically from helping others, but also I've done that many times, and what ends up happening a lot of the time is you'll get referrals from those people, and then you'll find your hire through that. So I think that's been the most impactful - the more that you give, the more that you'll get out of it.

Advocate for yourself. Immediately. If you feel that you are going above and beyond, ask for the raise, ask for the promotion. Don't wait for things to come around to you. Be proactive. Network. Put a lot of time into meeting people. Those relationships will not only help you professionally, but personally, they'll enrich your life, and that will lead to your next role, or your next move, or whatever it is. And this is gonna sound corny, but do not continue in a role or in a space that doesn't serve you. That doesn't mean that you want to be a rock star and so you should go out and just throw away your entire career to pursue being a rock star, but it also doesn't mean not to do that. There's too many people who are completely unhappy in their roles. I would highly encourage people at any stage, if you know what your passion is, that's the first step - know what your passion is. Second step is, well, how can I combine that with income? Do that. Do what you enjoy. Life is too short.

In talent acquisition and recruiting, the market is a bit insane since COVID. It's been up and down. We're seeing a ton of people in the market with skills and a ton of job openings, but yet the unemployment is still staggering. Even though I see the unemployment numbers by the Bureau of Labor, it's still a very challenging landscape. Whether I was recruiting IT professionals, engineers, medical folks, or now advisors in the financial sector, there has been a lack of quality of candidates, even though there seems to be seas of people who are unemployed and looking for jobs on LinkedIn. Half or more of my algorithm is just people looking for jobs and me reposting and trying to help them find something. But when I go out to source and I'm looking out there, it's difficult to find folks who make the change or want to move. I also have seen mothers who take breaks to have children and try to come back into the professional world really struggle to do that. That's an area of opportunity - don't overlook the mom that took the time off to do the job that no one can replace her. Every job is replaceable, but no one can replace the mom with her baby. So don't penalize her for that. Actually, I would applaud that and give the due diligence and the chance for those mothers to be interviewed if they're qualified. I've seen a lot of companies missing out on good quality people because of their biases toward mothers. The market has just been unpredictable and very odd, very strange. And as we enter into this new AI era, I think it's gonna get a little bit scary. I'm trying to prepare my daughter for a literal human skill that is not going to be behind a computer.

My work and personal life values are pretty aligned, so I can't work for an employer that crosses any boundaries in my personal life. I would say work-life balance is my number one thing, especially as a mom. Being away from my daughter when she was so little was traumatic, and looking back, I wouldn't make the same decision now. So an employer that values work-life balance as much as I do is really important. I think strong ethics, being ethical, valuing honesty, integrity - someone that I can follow, a leader that embodies those values. Working with good people, conducting themselves with the highest standard of respect, which is just given, not something you have to earn - that's the normal way to interact with people. I also really value a high-producing team that is very transparent and looking at things to solve problems with positive intent, going into the conversation or that session having that positive intent, but futuristic. I also really like and value companies that are looking to the future and how we can utilize certain tools like AI and leverage that so we can continue to grow. Growth and development - I'm very passionate about helping others develop, and it's also important to me in every aspect of my life that I continue to develop as a human and as a professional.