Congratulations to Landing Point Partner, Erica White, on five years with the firm!  In honor of her special work anniversary, we asked Erica to reflect on her time at Landing Point and to share some life and career advice:

What advice would you give to someone who wants to enter recruiting?

Do it! It’s rare to find a career like agency recruiting where everyone wins (a company gets a great new hire, a job-seeking candidate gets an exciting new job, and you make money) and you get to feel like you personally make an impact. It can be a grind in the beginning, but once you start to build your personal brand and networks and work hard at providing a great experience, it gets really fun as you get referred to new people and businesses. Plus, on the agency side, there is opportunity for a lot of flexibility, there aren’t a lot of internal meetings, so you really get to own your day. Having two kids under 3, I don’t always get time in the morning to do a workout unless I wake up super early (and I need my sleep!), if I don’t get to do it then I can carve out 20 minutes later in the day.

How do you balance your career at Landing Point and family?

I’m always learning how to do this. I love the insight Shonda Rhimes has given – When asked the question – “How do you do it all?” She simply said, “I Don’t.” “If I’m killing it on a ‘Scandal’ script for work, I’m probably missing bath and storytime at home.” “If I am at home sewing my kids’ Halloween costumes, I am probably blowing off a script I was supposed to rewrite.” I feel that!

What type of impact do you strive to have in your work?  How has Landing Point helped you have impact?

I’ve always been one to want to coach and help people get what they want out of life…whether that be job-related or more personal with health and fitness. I get joy in helping people realize their strengths and go for what they want, and I feel like I get to do that in my work at Landing Point. Whether that be working with my team internally coaching them through specific recruiting challenges, working with my candidates to uncover what will make them happy in their career going forward considering all of their career aspirations and personal life goals, or working with my hiring manager clients who are trying to create a stellar team and coaching them through how to get their ideal people to ultimately grow their business.

What drew you to Landing Point originally? And how has Landing Point changed since?

I came to Landing Point through Andrew Miller, Go ‘Cuse! When I joined in 2017, I was the first female recruiter in a sea of 13 male recruiters all sitting in our formal business suits. I was told within my first week “We are going to try and minimize the sports talk.” While I like sports, I’m by no means a diehard fan like some of the Landing Point employees and I could tell they were trying to find topics I could join in on the conversation. While it certainly was a bit intimidating, I joined because everyone I met in the hiring process (Andy, John, Mike, Carlo, and Charlie) seemed like good, genuine people who care, and I have to say I was right. While there was a lot to figure out at such an early stage, I knew that the leaders were people I could trust. The company has changed tremendously! First of all…I’ve since retired my suits (except if I have to go meet a client that is still stuck in the stone ages) for more comfortable attire…we have a hybrid in-office/remote team. I believe Landing Point is now 50/50 male/female too, yay! And while we are now approaching 60 people (or maybe we are already there?) we are continuing to build a true culture that celebrates people as they are while working to help people develop and grow for the long term. There is so much still being built, but it’s thanks to all of the amazing people that have joined that we are continuing to evolve past “sports talk” (although there is still plenty of that) to discussing cool volunteer initiatives with Camille or the hottest restaurant near the office with Dani. I’m excited to see what’s to come!