Me! Before hireEZ: Salina Shugarts, Sensational Server to Sales Superstar

July 15, 2022 4 min read

Representation. Empowerment. Belief. 

These three words have been a common thread tying together almost every decision hireEZ’s Staffing Account Executive Salina Shugarts has made in her personal and professional journey.

From working as a restaurant server to supporting struggling women to selling outbound recruiting software, let’s dive into Salina Shugarts’ incredible story.

Influenced by Greatness

It’s no secret that sales is an inherently competitive space. For Salina, the foundation for her competitive spirit was built growing up and playing sports near Seattle, Washington. 

As a three-sport athlete (golf, tennis and basketball), she connected with transcendent athletes, like Tiger Woods and Serena Williams, who shared a culturally-similar upbringing. 

Along with influence from superstar athletes, her family members were equally instrumental in showing her the value of hard work. 

“My mom worked most of her life. She raised our family and sometimes managed three jobs at a time. I owe a lot of who I am and my success to her. My dad was also a total hustler. He taught me that whatever you get out of the world is whatever you put in.”

Finding Her Flow in College

Although Salina had a strong work ethic, it didn’t always translate to her education early on. 

She explains, “I wanted to work as soon as possible and school was never really for me early on. It was always a last-ditch, last-minute effort with how I handled my classes. It wasn’t until college that I even realized I was ‘book smart.’” 

When attending the University of Washington in 2015, she fell in love with her Society, Ethics and Human Behavior major. Beyond her course curriculum, she found value in the people she met along the way. 

She explains, “I met a lot of good professionals and professors. They looked and talked like me. They were trying to figure out their lives just like me… I learned a lot about what professionalism looked like and that we’re all people first.” 

With a desire to empower underrepresented communities, Salina began volunteering for the Center of Human Services while attending college.

In addition to volunteering, Salina worked as a lead server at 520 Bar & Grill. While seemingly an odd job with little relation to her eventual career path, it became an extremely valuable learning experience, especially as it relates to interacting with people.

The Journey to Selling Software

After leaving college, Salina took on several roles that spanned customer success, marketing and technical recruiting

It was during her time as a recruiter that she developed not only her love for startups, but also her affinity for a product like hireEZ. 

“When I was recruiting, I thought what would make my life easier as a recruiter? I started going down the product line and hireEZ was one of the ones I looked at. I thought the product was amazing because it did everything I was trying to do manually with DE&I hiring, market analytics and more.”

But beyond the software, Salina began to recognize the impact recruiting has on representation in the workplace.

With an affinity for hireEZ’s product, she reached out to hireEZ’s Sales Development Manager Devin Gutteridge about wanting to pursue a role similar to hers. 

A few days later, Salina Shugarts was hired as a Sales Development Representative for Staffing. And six months later, she was promoted to Account Executive in the same vertical. 

Life Lessons Along the Way

1. Always Advocate for Yourself

“Don’t assume that managers, leadership or higher-ups are going to know what you need. You have to say what you need. You have to know what you’re worth and understand the landscape that you’re in.”

2. Your Thoughts Become Your Beliefs

“What you spend time thinking about will happen around you. If you’re in a place that feels unwelcoming or exhausting… 

  1. That’s okay
  2. There are things, places and people that can help you get out of that

That philosophy spans relationships, jobs and everything else. You just really need to seek help and get guidance… there are a lot of people that want to help. 

When I needed someone, I connected with them on LinkedIn and asked them why they loved their job and even that opened doors for me.” 

Moving Forward by Looking Back

We’re so grateful that Salina chose hireEZ to be part of her continued professional journey and support our sales efforts in the staffing vertical. With an outdated ATS, you may not be able to find talented people like Salina who have had past careers across industries compared to the current work they do!

If you’d like to find someone like Salina, enrich your existing ATS and rediscover hidden candidate profiles with EZ Rediscovery.  

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