Paula Moreno is the Sourcing Lead at Recruiting from Scratch. Since joining our team a little over a year ago, Paula has been instrumental in leading our candidate sourcing efforts across all roles, industries, and clients. We sat down with Paula to ask her a few questions about her sourcing career, what it’s like to work at RFS, and what she enjoys about her role. Let’s get to it!
I’ve been in recruiting since graduating from college. I earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology in Colombia, where I’m currently based. Prior to RFS, I worked at Twilio for two and a half years as a recruiter and manager. I also have two degrees in Culinary Arts and worked on cruise ships and worked as a Chef before getting into recruiting.
I enjoy the flexibility. I can plug into my laptop and work as many hours I want in a day and at whatever time I need to. I like the faster pace of sourcing, and the fact I get to use a lot of filters within our tools, like LinkedIn, to find the right candidates. I also like reviewing our inbound applications and sourcing candidates from there. We have som excellent candidates who apply!
You really need to like sourcing if you’re going to do it, because it takes a lot of time and attention to detail. But I enjoy it! It’s fun for me to use my hot keys, review pages and resumes - I’m constantly having fun with it.
More than the role itself is finding individuals with the right combination of technical skills and cultural fit. Technical skills can be quite specific and rapidly evolving, so identifying candidates who possess the exact skill set required for a particular role can be challenging.
Additionally, cultural fit is crucial for ensuring that candidates align with the company's values, work ethic, and team dynamics.
Startups have more options for candidates and can be a bit more selective with profiles.
Candidates are also open to more opportunities and more flexible than they were in the past. They’re more willing to work for small startups. A lot of people who have been laid off are open to new opportunities and trying something completely new.
I would say have clarity on what you’re looking for before you start your search. This includes what what specific tech stacks you want, years of experience, and being realistic as to where you stand in the market.
I see hiring managers who want top candidates but cant pay candidates of that caliber. Top candidates will always have a lot of options. But there are ways around this - for example, you can offer candidates fast growth within the company, or being the first engineer on the team, the ability to hire their own team down the road - that sort of thing.
Be open minded. Answer messages from recruiters, even if you’re not actively looking, because you could be missing out. The worst case scenario is you wont like the team or the compensation, and you can decline the offer. It’s also a great way to build relationships so when it comes time to find your next role, you already know some great people in recruiting.
I’d also say to make sure you have a good profile, including your title, short description of your roles, and a bio to let recruiters know what you specialize in.
For example, instead of saying you’re an Engineer, include if you’re a Backend or Frontend Engineer. Also add all the skills, languages, and programs you know for recruiters searching for those.
Let our team help you get where you need to be.
