#returnship

Enter Carlene Mahanna and Sonia Janovjak, two senior recruiters dedicated to broadening SapientNitro’s horizons and diversifying our industry. Carlene and Sonia have been instrumental to the success of the program, taking time out of their packed schedules to devote to finding the best talent out there who were ready to recharge their careers.

Why did you want to get involved with the Career Returns program?

Carlene: I attended a seminar at the 3% Conference three years ago in San Francisco. The seminar I was slated to join had been filled up and there was no room for me. I wandered into the next room, and it happened to be a seminar on the “Returnship,” something I hadn't heard of before.

During the Q&A part of the seminar I raised my hand and I introduced myself as someone who was a talent acquisition specialist at SapientNitro. I wanted to make clear to the women in the room that if they are thinking about returning to the workplace they have to be open to returning to the work place in a new way. They’d be at a different level and have a different title than they were used to and probably the most important, they had to be open and willing to rebrand themselves. It must have stuck a chord because after the session there were 10 women standing in line to speak to me. The woman who facilitated the session asked if I would like to partner, and I then pitched the program to SapientNitro and things took off from there.

Sonia: Our managing director Alyssa Altman got word of the program through a presentation in our Women’s Leadership Network. The team was highlighting the New York pilot and Alyssa was inspired by it so we decided to pilot this program in Toronto, too. I had heard about this type of program in other industries, but hadn't actually really thought about it myself. Then, appreciating that it was just launched, we had the opportunity to hit the ground running and build the program from the ground up.

How did you go about the recruiting process differently to find these candidates?

Sonia: It wasn’t a matter of using traditional recruiting and sourcing channels. I had to research local associations that might have career programs, or training, or networking opportunities that focused around getting people back into the industry—that was our initial approach. At the end of the day however, the success came from sending out a referrals email to our office. We received the candidate we ultimately ended up hiring from our own network, similar to how they placed the people in New York.

Did anything stand out to you about the candidate pool?

Carlene: They were mostly women, but it wasn't like everybody left because they went home to raise families. I think what I learned from the candidate pool, and what really stuck out was that there was a diversity of experience and a variety of reasons people leave the workplace.

Sonia: During the process, I had to focus on listening and appreciating that these folks have been out of the industry for a while. Some of them ten years, some of them three years, and usually due to a harsh circumstance, things like getting laid off or having a sick family member. One of the biggest topics of conversations I had was around understanding their motivators to come back.  

What was the most challenging part about choosing which candidate should move forward?

Carlene:  What was challenging was the number of people that really wanted to do it, but couldn't. I had to say no to many people even though I wanted to find a place for them somewhere. Because it was a pilot program, another big challenge was onboarding, and fleshing out what it's going to look like. Now that we've gone through it, onboarding is much smoother. I think the goal for this program is to create a model that can be adopted by any of our sister agencies, and by other agencies on their own. We want to help set a tone for change in our industry.

What have you learned from these returnees?

Sonia: I've learned that sometimes candidates aren't ready to come back. On the opposite side of things, the people that were ready got me fired up to help them find a way.

Carlene: There are a lot of brave people out there. There are people who have had challenges bigger than I have had, and they have not let that stop them. All of the people that I've talked to have had some story of ambition or positivity. People are resilient.

It’s also made me look at regular, full-time candidates in a different light. Now I look at a resume with gaps in it and instead of writing them off, I wonder why they had to leave. For me as a recruiter it's enabled me to be more open-minded.

How will this program help others?

Carlene: It helps our team by providing a different view of the work place. It will help our people learn how to work with someone who might be from a different generation or have a different working style. It will help returnees to adapt to a new way to work. Hopefully, they're going to learn from the younger people that they're working with, too. Additionally, if they didn't have a lot of knowledge around digital it's going to help them get there.

Sonia: I think that this will really empower us in terms of who we are and what we do. It sends a really nice message to the industry.

Do you have anything to add?

Carlene: I'm hoping that our own people see what we're doing as company and that it reminds them that we do care about our people. At the end of the day you spend most of your time in the work place, and it should be a place where you feel like you're taken care of. I would encourage people to spread the word about the program. I would encourage people to get involved. All you have to do is raise your hand, bring it to the table, and be willing to commit to making SapientNitro a better place to be.