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Jessica Willis
Partner and Senior Recruitment Consultant
“While teamwork is an important element of many parts of the hiring process, I think it stands out as a tool of its own for recruiters,” Jessica Willis says. “Here at Summit Search Group, we provide a partnership that really helps people do more: we help companies hire the right talent, and we help our candidates connect with more exciting opportunities!”
In this fall season characterized as much by sports rivalries as colorful foliage, we sat down with Jessica to dig into one of the secret weapons of any great recruiter: taking on the day as part of a dynamic team. How can we help each other shine?
“Working together, we all move forward,” she says. It’s a cornerstone of her everyday professional life, where Jessica connects high-energy candidates with exciting opportunities alongside her teammates. Check out some of her tips for making change, together.
Committing to Collaboration
“When you work with our team, you experience collaboration at every level,” she begins. “It’s between our recruitment specialists and clients, between our candidates and recruiters, and among our internal experts, too. That’s hugely exciting for me, personally, and for everyone who works with us. We don’t have a sense of internal competition here – we are most committed to the best alignment.”
That open, committed working environment pays dividends for both clients and candidates in the form of lasting, personal partnerships – not to mention the power of having an entire team of recruiting professionals at one’s fingertips.
“We work together internally, and that’s a huge part of who we are. We leverage strategies that play from strength to strength on our team, and that united approach leads to success after success. Hiring and recruitment isn’t transactional at Summit, it’s a shared goal. Your challenge is never one of many: it’s a real partnership with a real person.”
Understanding Hiring as a Long Game
Jessica also believes in collaboration from day one.
“Our work starts with a formal intake call, and we talk about everything: history, engagement, culture, everything to the last detail. When we share our clients’ opportunities, we make sure we paint the whole picture. Candidates today want to know how they can add value to an organization, and if they can add specific value to a given opportunity. An opportunity on paper is easy, but it’s also flat. You, as talent, can tell if you check off all boxes required, but does this opportunity check off your boxes? Will you grow, thrive, and learn from others? If you won’t, what’s the point?”
As an advocate for both clients and candidates, Jessica makes it her job to lead those big conversations. She focuses on long term fit, and real quality – for everyone.
“Long term success outweighs immediate compensation. Full stop. I share with candidates that if the motivation in your search is purely monetary, talk to your current employer first, let’s exhaust that opportunity for growth internally. More money helps us all move ahead in the short term, but if it’s not the true motivator, it doesn’t last. I want to check in with candidates in a year and hear how well they’re doing. I’m prepared to stand up for the quality of every fit: if we’re not building a team, or if a situation doesn’t look like it would work out in the long term, I’ll say so.”
Recruitment Built on Genuine Partnership
Jessica sums up her secret to success in just six words: true partnerships are about winning together.
“Competing means that nobody wins,” she elaborates. “At Summit Search Group, we truly want to work as an extension of the hiring, human resources, and executive teams looking to grow. I fully immerse myself in the culture to be sure I have a solid understanding of our shared goals. It’s about ‘we,’ not about ‘they!’
Our partnerships are so important to us. It would be much easier to be transactional, but that’s not what’s important. What’s important to me, and to our team, is helping companies grow. We are your partners. We’re here to help you thrive in ways you didn’t know were possible.”
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The Recruiter’s Toolkit: Jessica Willis on Teamwork and Collaboration in Recruitment
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