Influential Woman · Recruitment

Mandi Robinson

Director, Global Client Delivery, Randstad Sourceright

Palm Harbor, FL

2Awards received

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Vincennes University - Microbiology Degree Member Associates with Disabilities Program Member Global Pride Business Group

Her Story

About Mandi

I've spent 22 years in recruitment, specializing in RPO for manufacturing clients across every kind of manufacturing known to man. After graduating with a microbiology degree, I started at Eli Lilly as a microbiologist, but quickly realized I preferred talking to people over staring at a microscope all day. I moved to Florida and began my recruiting career, and I haven't looked back since. For the past nearly four years, I've served as Global Client Delivery Director for Merck (EMD Serono), managing operational delivery across 17 countries in Latin America and North America. My team and I are responsible for filling all manager-level positions and below for our client. Coming back to the life science side has been awesome given my background. I'm passionate about solving problems and bringing innovative solutions to clients while making sure my team delivers seamlessly. I'm never bored - my work ranges from projects in Costa Rica to developing toolkits on high-volume hiring for manufacturing. I'm proud to have led this account through an insanely crazy workforce situation in the U.S. while keeping my team intact and stable with the least amount of attrition in my region.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Mandi

01What do you attribute your success to?

I think the passion for it - I absolutely love solving problems and being able to bring solutions to the client that are innovative and support them. I want to make our team feel like they are delivering seamlessly to that client. It's really about constantly asking questions and never siloing myself as a recruiter to just what I was doing. If I was on a call and someone mentioned a technology or part of a business that I had not heard about before, I would certainly ask all the questions I could. I volunteered for projects, you know, volunteer yourself for things that you don't know about. That's one of the most common questions I get - how do you know all this? Because I constantly asked and said, oh, I'll help. That's a huge part of it.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

Learn as much as you can and ask a million questions. I never siloed myself as a recruiter just to what I was doing. If I was on a call and someone mentioned a technology or part of a business that I had not heard about before, I would certainly ask all the questions I could. Volunteer for projects, you know, volunteer yourself for things that you don't know about. That's one of the most common questions I get - how do you know all this? Because I constantly asked and said, oh, I'll help. And that's what did it. A huge part of it.

03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I think the world of recruitment process outsourcing is changing, and so one of the challenges is how are you going to constantly innovate and constantly work in a strategic manner that's going to put you above competitors, or above them going out to potentially look at your competitors. I think that's the biggest challenge right now, especially in this economy.

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