I had the opportunity to interview Jeremy Bonewitz the Manager, Global Talent Acquisition Infrastructure at Stantec. I’ve been really impressed by his work in recent years and hope you enjoy reading this interview.
1. Tell us about your work experience in recruiting – how did you get your start, how did you progress, where are you at this point in time?
Well, it’s been quite the journey to say the least. In 2008 my brother-in-law at Aerotek gave me my first shot in the recruitment field in Denver. I spent 2 years in agency recruitment learning about cold calling candidates, networking through professional networking groups, writing effective recruiting emails and some sourcing techniques.
In 2010, I decided to leave agency recruiting and got a job as a contract recruiter for an engineering/environmental firm as an in-house recruiter and have never looked back. I have worked for some of the largest engineering firms as a sourcer, recruiter, and now manager.
I have dedicated myself to being the best at my craft by learning as much as I can about our industry, whether it be by taking classes, attending events and conferences, or reading articles, blogs and books. All have contributed to where I am today.
Currently, I am the Global Talent Acquisition Manager of Infrastructure with 9 direct reports in in the US and Canada focusing on attracting top engineering talent to Stantec.
2. What are the unique talents you bring to the field?
I think I have a unique talent to think outside the box to find hidden talent. I am a consistent learner in the in the field of sourcing in order to teach my team ways to better find and attract top talent to Stantec. Another unique talent I think I bring to the field is my marketing talents. I am regularly trying to come up with new and fresh ideas for our team to highlight Stantec and our career opportunities.
3. Share your biggest success story in recruiting so far.
That’s a good question. I’d say one of my more memorable recruiting placements, when I was in recruiting, was filling a bilingual (French and English) customer service representative at Celestial Seasonings when I was at Aerotek. Obviously, this isn’t an everyday type of hire, so I really had to think outside the box. How did I find the candidate, you ask? I went to Craigslist, found a French Tutor/Teacher, and had him ask his students if any of them were interested.
As far as my role in recruiting management goes, my best success story is having a great team of hard-working individuals that I am able to teach and help motivate and improve their sourcing, recruiting, and talent consulting skills to take the next steps in their careers. My hope is that I can be like a “Hayden Fry” and my direct reports will one day be managing a team of their own.
4. What is the best advice you’ve received during your career path, and from whom?
Love this question, actually. My brother-in-law gave a speech once at Aerotek where he is currently the Vice President and talked about hard work. He said it’s not the smartest person who is the most successful, nor the strongest, best looking, best educated, funniest, or coolest. It’s the hardest working person who succeeds in life. That was said nearly 11 years ago and still sticks with me. I will always work harder than my competitor.
5. What’s your favorite recruiting tech tool?
I’d say my favorite tech tool right now is Zapinfo. A lot of my team members have this tool and really enjoy all of its capabilities. There’s so much you can do with this tool from scraping, automation, data enrichment, to messaging leads. Overall, it’s a fantastic all-in-one sourcing tool!
6. As a recruiting professional, how do you handle recruiting to achieve the best results?
One of the best ways I handle recruiting in order to achieve my best results is by being well organized. By organizing my work along with having great time management skills, I am able to stay on task and accomplish more during the workday. I often have my days planned out the nights before, so little can come up as a surprise and I’m not rushed during my mornings.
7. What do you hope to achieve in 2020?
In 2020 I hope to continue to grow in my management role, further my knowledge in sourcing and recruiting, and help make our TA team the best in the business attracting top talent to Stantec. I also want to keep learning the newest technologies to help my team work smarter rather then harder. Finally, I hope to help my newer recruiters and sourcers any way I can to help make them enjoy our fantastic industry even more!
8. What’s your favorite Boolean String?
Call me old fashion but I’m a (intitle:cv OR intitle:resume OR intitle:vitae) (keyword) (location) type of guy.
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