MEET THE ELYSIAN TEAM: HILARY ANDREINI

One of our core values at Elysian is that the work we do is about people–not just numbers and filling positions. We want to help place the best talent in the best positions in the creative field–and to do that, we look at each professional as a whole person with likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, and hobbies, passions, and skills apart from a job title or area of interest.

We want to know about you and your passions, and we want you to know us, too! So this month, you’ll be able to read our Meet the Team series to learn about our history as recruiters and members of the creative field. We’ll also be sharing some of our best advice with you.

We look forward to working with you!

Hilary Andreini

Hilary’s work pre-recruiting
I was an HR generalist and manager before I had my kids.  I began my HR career at Ogilvy & Mather in Chicago and then here in New York. After having my children, I began HR consulting for Greater Than One which eventually led to recruiting. The reason recruiting has worked so well for me is that it allows me the flexibility to work from home. The thing I have loved about my HR generalist role and now with recruiting, is the connections I make with my talent.  Building on my passion to connect, I am currently in the certification process for becoming a certified coach.  I will focus on folks seeking to transition to a new career or find their forgotten passion for their old one.

What are some coaching workshops you’d like to give?
To begin, I would love to hold a coaching workshop that’s based on Best Practices for LinkedIn and Resumes from a recruiter’s perspective. I currently do one-on-one coaching but in imagining what will work for our demographics, I think group coaching and workshops may be really helpful for people.

Top 3 pieces of advice for talent job searching:

1. Make your story clear. Don’t make the recruiter or hiring manager have to hunt for cohesive information about you and what kind of work you do. Hiring managers have limited time to search through a lot of resumes or profiles to go through so you want to really put your best foot forward. Be clear, concise and present a clear, easy story to read--nothing too wordy. And for LinkedIn, you especially want to make sure to put the right keywords in your profile. You’ll also want to make sure that you have an appropriate photo for LinkedIn. Your whole profile or resume is like a presentation, and you need to put your personality into it but still be professional.
2. Be kind, be nice, and be professional. Always put your best foot forward with all of your posts, communications, and profiles. E-mails are like mini writing samples and you should be mindful of the way you’re writing your e-mails or social media posts. Being thoughtful about your tone, content, and subject lines goes a long way. The little things add up.
3. Be honest about what it is you want, especially with a recruiter. Don’t try to play a game or tell people what you think they want to hear when they’re here to give you genuine professional advice. My goal is to place talent where they’re going to be happy and successful. Not every place is the right cultural fit.  The more honest you are with yourself, a recruiter or interviewer about what you want or don’t want, the better chance you have of finding a job that’s actually a good fit for you.

Biggest interview “don’t”
Don’t show up late or unprepared. And don’t avoid or forget to ask questions at the end. Asking questions shows engagement and interest. You should, however, avoid asking about vacation and money in a first interview. It should be all about what you can do for the company and not making it too much about what you want.

Biggest resume “don’t”
I would say that misspellings and grammar errors are the biggest mistakes I usually see. Not having nice, clean format is also something to avoid. When looking at your resume, it should be triple checked for spelling and grammar, with neat formatting and a clear focus on who you are and what you do. Each resume should be tailored to the specific job you’re applying for, too.

Greatest professional strength
My biggest strength is being able to connect with people and really listen to talent and figure out what it is that they want. As a coach, asking empowering and open-ended questions to help someone to uncover what they already know is always my goal.

Greatest professional weakness
I’m dyslexic and it can be hard for me to catch my own spelling errors, even after I have triple checked what I have written. In contrast, it has helped me developed a sense of humor about it and I’m more forgiving of everyone's humaness.

Hilary’s future goals
I’m close to being done with my certification for coaching and am very excited to transition over to coaching full-time later in 2018.  In the immediate future, I am enjoying recruiting while I finish my certification coursework.  I am also looking forward to participating as a coach or “Tribal Facilitator” at the World Happiness Summit in Miami in March.  

Hilary’s favorite thing about Elysian
I love how much we really care about our talent and clients.  We’re not just about the numbers.   Helping people to succeed in what they do, aligns with my core values. I also like that our size means we can be more personal than other staffing agencies and can offer a quality service to both our talent and to our clients.

Want to reach out to Hilary? Find her on LinkedIn.

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Hilary, and that you’ll check back next week to learn about more of our team members!

All the best,
The Elysian team