I had the pleasure of interviewing Andrea Jolly, a Senior Technical Recruiter at Teikametrics, the AI-powered platform for optimizing and growing e-commerce businesses on Amazon & Walmart.com.
Andrea is a recruitment professional with nearly a decade of experience in the field of talent acquisition, assessment, and development, working directly with many Fortune 500 companies such as General Motors, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, CVS Health, T-Mobile, and Fidelity Investments.
Spending most of her career in recruiting in some capacity, she has searched for talent, vetted talent, created talent strategies, and project managed various pieces of the hiring process (i.e., social media, email marketing, reporting, billing). She is fully versed in the full lifecycle recruitment process and working with clients, hiring managers, and key stakeholders at all levels. To date, she has hired several hundred candidates into roles and sourced tens of thousands of passive candidates for job openings. At the forefront of her personal recruiting and hiring principles are legal compliance and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
In addition to her recruitment experience, she also has technical expertise in business process documentation, automation, and systems.
Andrea holds a BA in Sociology and an MS in Crime & Justice, both from Suffolk University in Boston, MA. She is a Salesforce Certified Administrator and Certified Practitioner of The Predictive Index.
Thank you so much for joining us, Andrea!
What motivated you to choose technical recruiting as your professional career?
Andrea: I personally don’t consider myself to be purely a technical recruiter, but more of a generalist when it comes to recruiting talent. Tech recruiting has become more prominent in my career over the last couple of years and it seemed like a natural fit, as I worked in ops/systems for a time and became fascinated by technology. A significant focus of my tech recruiting experience has been in helping marginalized groups within the technical space, especially women. With that said, I feel like tech recruiting is just a sliver of the work I do, but I am proud to do it for so many reasons other than simply filling jobs.
What is it that excites you about tech recruiting?
Andrea: Tech recruiting is always evolving, just as technology does. As technology grows, so do the opportunities within the space for people to slide into. There is always something to do in tech, whether it’s code development, security, or project management (among many others). Becoming a more technologically advanced society requires adaptation and agility, so naturally, finding the talent to do that is necessary (and fun!).
What has been your biggest challenge in tech recruitment?
Andrea: The current market, at least in the United States, has been a challenge, without a doubt. Many may think this a roadblock, but I think of it as an awakening among companies and organizations. We’ve all heard of the “Great Resignation” and the other terms coined to describe the current state of the market, but it goes far beyond that. We are being required to look not only outward for talent, but inward at our companies, departments, and teams to see how we can do better. The minimum is not enough anymore (and I would say it never has been). Candidates for tech roles don’t just want the fancy office or free stuff; they want equitable compensation, flexibility, autonomy, and respect. It’s quite simple and not a lot to ask for, but companies are still on the learning curve in that regard.
What do you think is the future of tech recruitment and what state-of-art problems do you think needs to be solved?
Andrea: I alluded to this in my previous response, but the future of tech recruitment – and truthfully, recruitment overall – will require more than just hiring manager alignment and establishing interview guidelines; these are hurdles of the past. Recruitment has insight into a candidate’s world that others in a company do not, including People Ops/HR teams. Recruiters should feel empowered to share what they’re hearing and seeing with their HR counterparts in an effort to collaborate on how a company can improve. It’s less about the fun and free and more about the level of respect and psychological safety an org brings to the market. We can all do better in that regard.
If you had to share “words of wisdom” with a tech recruiter who’s about to start their journey in tech recruitment, what would they be?
Andrea: I have personally mentored and trained recruiters who are new to tech, and I will say that it can be quite intimidating, but it is so very rewarding once the learning begins. Don’t let the tech stacks and job titles get to you. Make meaningful connections with hiring leaders in tech. Google is your best friend. Above all else, don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice. We all start at the same point – with no knowledge of the space. Whether you end up as an engineer or a recruiter for engineers, you’re learning, and it never stops. That’s how it should be!
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Andrea: I am very active on LinkedIn and would love to connect with anyone who is open to it!
You can find me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreagjolly/
I also have a website: https://www.andreajolly.info/
This was very thought-provoking. Thank you again, Andrea for joining us and sharing your insightful experiences to inspire all the budding recruiters.
