June 14, 2023 • 15 mins
In 2006, at the age of 25, Gabrielle launched Hunter International, a recruiting firm with two
employees. The Cleveland-based venture has since rocketed nationwide, finding top-shelf
scientific, engineering and technical staff for Fortune 500 companies who demand STEM
excellence. Under Gabrielle’s leadership Hunter has been recognized as one of the fastest
growing companies in the Midwest and one of Ohio’s Best Workplaces.
Gabrielle, 100% owner of Hunter, is committed to causes focused on achieving gender parity.
Gabrielle co-founded non-profit SPARK in 2017 with the mission to build confidence in young
women (grades 6-12) as they discover their passion in STEM. In 2018, SPARK joined forces with the American Heart Association’s STEM Goes Red For Girls event in Cleveland. Since 2018, Gabrielle has served on the event’s Steering Committee and was the event Chair in 2022. She also serves on the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women committee with other leaders in the Cleveland area.
In addition, Gabrielle currently serves on the WBENC National Forum and as a WBEC-ORV
Executive Steering Committee Member. She was named “WBE Star” in 2020, the nation’s premier
award for excellence among Women’s Business Enterprises. In 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021,
WBEC-ORV recognized Hunter with the coveted B2B Award, which recognizes the organizations
spend with other certified women owned businesses and in 2022, Hunter was awarded the “WBE
Supplier of The Year” award for excellence in delivery to its clients.
In 2020, Hunter was recognized by Smart Business Magazine as “Progressive Organization” for its
promotion and support of women-based initiatives in the workplace. In 2021, Gabrielle was
named a “Top WBE CEO” by WE USA Magazine and in 2022, she was recognized by the
publication as an “Outstanding CEO”. In 2022, she was featured on the cover of Minority Business
Enterprise’s magazine and was named a “Progressive Entrepreneur” by Smart Business and
“Women on The Rise” by Paradigm for Parity.
Within the Northeast Ohio community, Gabrielle is a CYO Volleyball Coach and is a member of the
Board of Directors for her alma mater, Magnificat High School.
employees. The Cleveland-based venture has since rocketed nationwide, finding top-shelf
scientific, engineering and technical staff for Fortune 500 companies who demand STEM
excellence. Under Gabrielle’s leadership Hunter has been recognized as one of the fastest
growing companies in the Midwest and one of Ohio’s Best Workplaces.
Gabrielle, 100% owner of Hunter, is committed to causes focused on achieving gender parity.
Gabrielle co-founded non-profit SPARK in 2017 with the mission to build confidence in young
women (grades 6-12) as they discover their passion in STEM. In 2018, SPARK joined forces with the American Heart Association’s STEM Goes Red For Girls event in Cleveland. Since 2018, Gabrielle has served on the event’s Steering Committee and was the event Chair in 2022. She also serves on the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women committee with other leaders in the Cleveland area.
In addition, Gabrielle currently serves on the WBENC National Forum and as a WBEC-ORV
Executive Steering Committee Member. She was named “WBE Star” in 2020, the nation’s premier
award for excellence among Women’s Business Enterprises. In 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021,
WBEC-ORV recognized Hunter with the coveted B2B Award, which recognizes the organizations
spend with other certified women owned businesses and in 2022, Hunter was awarded the “WBE
Supplier of The Year” award for excellence in delivery to its clients.
In 2020, Hunter was recognized by Smart Business Magazine as “Progressive Organization” for its
promotion and support of women-based initiatives in the workplace. In 2021, Gabrielle was
named a “Top WBE CEO” by WE USA Magazine and in 2022, she was recognized by the
publication as an “Outstanding CEO”. In 2022, she was featured on the cover of Minority Business
Enterprise’s magazine and was named a “Progressive Entrepreneur” by Smart Business and
“Women on The Rise” by Paradigm for Parity.
Within the Northeast Ohio community, Gabrielle is a CYO Volleyball Coach and is a member of the
Board of Directors for her alma mater, Magnificat High School.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is CEOs you Should Know oniHeartRadio. I'm Keith Toskis, and on
today's show, we talk about entrepreneurship, the new office environment, and how
to make work work for everyone.Our guest is Gabrielle Christman, CEO of
Hunter International Recruiting. We talk aboutbuilding a massive recruitment company started in the
basement of a house in Avon,Ohio, and now how they compete with
(00:23):
the big dogs in the recruitment industry. So there's been a lot of discussion
since we've been returning from the pandemicabout the narrative of work right people don't
want to work as a common narrativethat people are saying right now, or
the employees have really changed their prioritiesabout what they want in a job and
(00:44):
how often they want to drive toan office. Can you talk a little
bit about as we sit here inJune of twenty twenty three, when we're
recording this, what is the stateof I guess work and to that extension,
recruiting now talk a little bit aboutthat. So what does look like
now and what does work look like? In the last twenty four months has
really been very fluid. We wentthrough this phase of a very strong candidate
(01:07):
market where the candidates could call theshots work from home, remote work.
How many days a week that wouldbe in What would that really look like
present day today? Where we setJune twenty twenty three. I think that
we're seeing that a lot of leadershipfrom companies that we work with are saying,
yes, work from home works,but work in person works better.
And what is that going to looklike? Is that going to mean hybrid?
(01:30):
Is that going to mean work fromhome Wednesdays? How are we going
to be able to have our teamstogether and collaborate in person and still be
able to have that balance and flexibilityso that when life happens, you can
have that fluidity to still work whereyou are. I think that is truly
the main point that we need toemphasize here, is that coming to an
(01:53):
office as a routine and it's notsomething everybody wants to do every day.
But I think I'm a fan ofthe hybrid model because I sometimes like the
work from home myself as well.But I think when people get out of
the routine, like you're coming onMonday and then you don't come in Tuesday,
and then you might come in Wednesday, and then you come in on
(02:13):
Thursday. You don't come in front, your desk isn't the same, Like
you don't have your papers, youdon't you're collecting yourself and then you're unpacking
yourself. I feel like that isalmost more of a challenge for people than
just coming in every day right,right, And certainly I think the best
hybrid model is you come in everymorning and you leave when you feel like
you're ready to leave, and yougo to your kids baseball game whenever that
(02:35):
is, and you schedule your doctor'sappointments in the afternoon. Right. Is
that kind of how people are startingto do some of it, so that
a flexible idea of hours. AndI think that that really stems from the
fluidity. What we learned works duringCOVID and what we learned can still work
now. And I think that's areally good point. No one wants to
be lugging their second monitor in theirback seat tu day week and then forgetting
their mouth. So having that trueanchor at a desk that you can collaborate,
(03:00):
but having the fluidity to be ableto move in and out of that
environment as life demands. We're talkingwith Gabrielle Christman, the president CEO of
Hunter International, recruiting a business thatyou started in your basement at twenty five
in two thousand and six, andit's grown to more than three hundred employees
and I believe twenty three states.How did that happen? Did you ever
(03:21):
expect it to happen? I youknow, when I was growing up,
I turned my big wheels upside down. I'm going to date myself, but
you already did. I turned mybig wheels upside down and I would sell
gas to people for their bikes.And I think that's when my parents first
know knew that there's something, youknow, entrepreneurial there. So I attended
(03:42):
Miami of Ohio. I studied premedthere. I loved science and technology and
engineering, and then I finished upa little bit early. I didn't want
to come home. I took athematic sequence and entrepreneurship at Miami, and
that's when I fell in love withthis idea of entrepreneurship. What you put
in you get out that you caninstantly see the results of that work.
And so started Hunter in two thousandand six and really wanted to see what
(04:04):
would be possible if I could showcustomers they could have both. They could
have quality and they could have speed. When filling a job. Usually there's
a disconnect there. If you filla job fast, the person's not great.
If you want to find that greatperson, that perfect fit that lasts
forever, then it's going to takea longer time. And I wanted to
show customers that you can have both. You can have speed and you can
(04:25):
have quality. And when we cameout in two thousand and six and I
started delivering on that brand promise tocustomers very early on, the sentiment was,
Gabriel, show us, let's putyou up against who were using now
for staffing and see if you cando that. And we were able to
deliver time and time again. Sowe're really proud that from when we start
in two thousand and six, ourfirst customers are still with us today and
(04:46):
we've been able to help them achieveincredible things for their organizations. As ours
has grown. You started another company, Stem Hunter, talk to us a
little bit about there's been a lotabout, you know, stem Steam girls
coming into these kind of categories.I have two daughters, they're ten and
seven, so I really appreciate thework you're doing in that arena. Talk
to us a little bit about stemhunter and what that's meant to you.
(05:09):
So for seventeen years, we've beenin this world of technical recruitment, primarily
focused on STEM staffing and STEM focusedroles. We know that teams struggle to
find technical talent. We also knowthat job boards are not equipped for STEM
talent how STEM talent searches. StemHunter was built to really honor how STEM
talent searches. It's an online jobboard platform. We started working on this
(05:31):
ground up from twenty nineteen. Welaunched publicly in the spring of twenty twenty
two on the stage of the DiversityAlliance for Science eight that Innovate competition.
We took first place in that innovationcompetition for the innovations on the board,
which are groundbreaking in the job searchindustry. So it's an online platform.
It's a mobile app. You cansearch for jobs easily, you can post
(05:54):
jobs easily to find STEM talent.If you are in science, tech,
engineering, math, it's the rightplace for you to find a role.
Currently, when you're searching for ajob, sometimes you can feel like you're
in the wrong place. If you'rein those industries and STEM Hunter was really
built to honor the way scientific andtechnical candidates search for work. Has there
been an increase in young women joiningthese kind of roles looking at engineering degrees
(06:18):
in college science based degrees? Isthat grown or is it still a long
way to go? Or maybe it'sboth right. It depends on the sector,
It depends on the vertical and sciencewe're doing well. Fifty percent of
all degrees that end up being inscientific degrees are taken by women, but
disproportionately are the roles, and sowe know there's still a gap. When
(06:38):
you get into the workforce for techand engineering, the numbers are lower,
about twenty five percent of females areundergrads in those fields, thirteen percent in
engineering, and so it just depends. There's a lot of work that we
still need to do to ensure thatgirls understand, girls your daughter's age,
understand the opportunities that are available tothem in STEM. When they start to
(07:00):
question whether or not they're good atmath, whether they're good at science,
we want to be able to openour arms to them, the scientific community,
especially women in STEM in these positionsand say no, you're really good
at math. Math becomes abstract,math becomes difficult in sixth grade girls puberty
hits the same time. They don'traise their hands as much, and so
suddenly I'm not good at math andI'm not participating. And so we want
to show girls that there is anopportunity for them to continue studying math,
(07:25):
science, engineering, and growing careersin STEM to help really build a pipeline
that we need today. I meanyou need as a father of a fourth
grade or going into fifth grade rightnow, I mean you just you basically
just describe my daughter right There's sheloves video games. She understands what STEM
is in the need for this,but she's also fearful of math and those
(07:47):
kind of areas. She said shewas playing a game the other day called
Geometry Hunter, and I'm like,that's so exciting. She's like, well,
it's just because it's in boxes,Dan, it's not really about geometry.
And I'm like, okay, well, at least it's something, right,
It's it's an interest in mathematics andscience and technology. What are some
of the ways that your company istalking to those girls. I know you've
(08:07):
got you've been involved in some nonprofitsand some areas that have really been a
big piece of that. Talk tous a little bit about that, right,
So in twenty seventeen, my dearfriend Gina Barreto and I started Spark
in twenty seventeen. It's a nonprofitfocused on just that, encouraging girls to
pursue careers in STEM. We knowthat the gap exists due to a lack
(08:30):
of female mentornships that look like you, talk like you, and are interested
in areas you're interested in. Andso Spark was started to give goals and
only the hands on experiential learning thatwe know as being tackled by schools,
and it continues to be an extensionand other programs that are available, but
to gear them up to meet theirrole models, to meet a role model
that's a little bit ahead of them, not too far ahead of them in
(08:54):
their career, maybe they're in college, maybe they're pursuing an engineering degree,
and team them up so that theycan really have a role model to aspire
to be, to ask questions,to hold them accountable in areas of interest,
and to make introductions for them sothat we can help lift others.
So, if folks that are listeningto this podcast right now, have girls
that meet those sort of qualifications.How do they get involved in SPARK?
(09:15):
How do they go online and learnmore? Great questions. So SPARK rolled
up into the American Heart Association programming, which is their banner program, Girls
Go Red for STEM, And soif girls in our area would like to
get involved, we've been able tohelp over a thousand girls in Northeast Ohio
learn more about STEM careers. Iwould say, reach out to us through
the AHA Girls Go Red for STEM. If you're an educator in STEM,
(09:37):
please let us have your information.Will be sure that your schools on the
top of list to be invited toour annual programming which usually happens in the
fall every year for girls from NortheastOhio to get involved. That's such rewarding
work, I would imagine, right, and thank you for doing this quite
honestly. Talk to us a littlebit about how you running a business Hunter
(09:58):
International and three hundred some odd employeestwenty three states, how plus this foundational
approach you've got to Spark. Tellus a little bit about how you center
yourself, how do you unwind?You know, one of the things we
talk about on this podcast is,you know, the mental and physical health
(10:18):
of the people that have this weighton their shoulders. So talk to us
a little bit about how you've kindof either decompressed or decentralize yourself. Well,
I love what I do. Itis what I do. I was
a little girl in STEM that hada big dream and was able to see
that kind of come to life.So it is my honor to be able
(10:39):
to do what we're able to doevery day. I have an incredible team.
We're in the people business. Atthe end of the day, we
can find incredible people, and sowe have the most incredible team in the
industry. Every day, the employeesat Hunter and STEM Hunter are challenged to
go up against the best in theindustry publicly traded staffing firms, and we
win day in and day out,year after year. And so to have
those incredible people at the HELM reallyallows us to do the work that we're
(11:03):
doing in the community, allows usto be able to impact others in the
areas that we operate. It's allowedus to build this new headquarters in Evan,
Ohio that we're so thrilled to beopening up this month, so we're
able to do all the incredible thingsthat I'm able to do those things because
of the team we have in place. That's great. What do you think
is we mentioned how work has evolvedsince the pandemic, what's the future of
(11:28):
some of this work? You knowyou're hearing today as we record this that
Google is basically forcing people back tothe office soon. It's you know,
there's this been this poll and toget people back, but there's been a
pretty forcible resistance from certain employees.Right What does the future look like for
that work and office interactions. Ithink it's okay for CEOs to say we
(11:52):
want to work in person, andit's okay for employees to say I don't
want to right they can there isstill remote work available for them to look
at. It's okay to have thatkind of dichotomy in the market that we
have right now. I think thatwe're moving through that kind of push and
pool right now. When that settlesout, I think the people who want
to be in person and work aregoing to be in person working together,
(12:13):
and the people who want to beremote one hundred percent of the time are
going to be challenged more challenged tofind fully remote roles than they were maybe
eighteen months ago. I think thatwhen we look at technically, what does
the workforce look like right now?We know that fewer candidates are going and
getting a bachelor's degree. We knowthat there's this shift towards skilled traits.
(12:33):
We know that women in the workforceare now being pulled into directions. They
have elderly parents at home that they'recaring for, they have children they're caring
for. To part time work,Flexible part time work for that demographic in
the workforce is what they're looking for. So you have to be able to
create different pockets of opportunities for differentmarkets that are looking for different things.
(12:54):
Right now. We know that thetechnical skilled gap exists today, it will
exist tomorrow, it will exist intwenty thirty. And there's things that companies
in our area and more broadly shouldbe doing now to start to set themselves
up for long term success, sustainabilityand the outlook of sustainability. What does
that look like for who we havein our workplace and who will be welcoming
(13:15):
in in the next two, five, ten years. Gabriel, it's been
fascinating and congratulations, quite honestly,on all the growth of this incredible company
that you've built right here in Cleveland, Ohio, but is a nationwide,
in fact, an international company.If someone's listening who might have a need
for employees and staffing, or ifsomeone who might be in the need to
(13:37):
look for another gig or a freshgig, how can they get a hold
of you. Sure so, ifyou are looking for help in filling roles
that have been really challenging, thenI would reach out to us. You
can find us online at Hirecruiting dotcom. We fill roles coast to coast
and internationally every day. We canfind a candidate within twenty four hours,
(13:58):
and I think you'll be thrilled withthe type of talent that searches with Hunter.
If you're a job seeker and you'relooking for a job currently, or
if you're happily employed at a competitorat your desk right now, but you
just want to see what's out there, it's a great way to check what
other opportunities exist. Reach out talkto one of our technical recruitment team members.
We are right here, We're alwayswilling to help. We love what
(14:20):
we do and we'd love to takea look at your resume and see if
we have something that might be interestingfor you to pursue. So you know
you've grown this company from your basementto now a thirty two thousand square foot
headquarters in Avon, Ohio. Canyou talk a little bit about the opening
there and what that means for yourcompany. We're excited to be opening up
our new corporate campus that's located inEvan, Ohio. So we have a
(14:41):
thirty two thousand square foot state ofthe art facility in reimagining how recruiters work.
We really built this from the groundup to honor the collaboration that teams
have when they're going out to marketand filling roles for others every day.
So we'll be opening up later thismonth, and we're excited to welcome the
community, to welcome different nonprofit organizationsthat we work with into the building and
(15:05):
be on a broader scale, tohave a larger facility, to be able
to increase our capacity with current customersand welcome new customers into the Hunter family.
Well. As someone who is rootingfor people in Cleveland, Ohio,
I wish you even more success andcontinued growth of your company. Thank you
for all you're doing for Girls andSTEM and all that you're doing for our
(15:28):
community. We appreciate it. Thankyou. Gabrielle Christman, the President CEO
of Hunter International Recruiting on iHeartRadio CEOsyou should know
This is CEOs you Should Know oniHeartRadio. I'm Keith Toskis, and on
today's show, we talk about entrepreneurship, the new office environment, and how
to make work work for everyone.Our guest is Gabrielle Christman, CEO of
Hunter International Recruiting. We talk aboutbuilding a massive recruitment company started in the
basement of a house in Avon,Ohio, and now how they compete with
(00:23):
the big dogs in the recruitment industry. So there's been a lot of discussion
since we've been returning from the pandemicabout the narrative of work right people don't
want to work as a common narrativethat people are saying right now, or
the employees have really changed their prioritiesabout what they want in a job and
(00:44):
how often they want to drive toan office. Can you talk a little
bit about as we sit here inJune of twenty twenty three, when we're
recording this, what is the stateof I guess work and to that extension,
recruiting now talk a little bit aboutthat. So what does look like
now and what does work look like? In the last twenty four months has
really been very fluid. We wentthrough this phase of a very strong candidate
(01:07):
market where the candidates could call theshots work from home, remote work.
How many days a week that wouldbe in What would that really look like
present day today? Where we setJune twenty twenty three. I think that
we're seeing that a lot of leadershipfrom companies that we work with are saying,
yes, work from home works,but work in person works better.
And what is that going to looklike? Is that going to mean hybrid?
(01:30):
Is that going to mean work fromhome Wednesdays? How are we going
to be able to have our teamstogether and collaborate in person and still be
able to have that balance and flexibilityso that when life happens, you can
have that fluidity to still work whereyou are. I think that is truly
the main point that we need toemphasize here, is that coming to an
(01:53):
office as a routine and it's notsomething everybody wants to do every day.
But I think I'm a fan ofthe hybrid model because I sometimes like the
work from home myself as well.But I think when people get out of
the routine, like you're coming onMonday and then you don't come in Tuesday,
and then you might come in Wednesday, and then you come in on
(02:13):
Thursday. You don't come in front, your desk isn't the same, Like
you don't have your papers, youdon't you're collecting yourself and then you're unpacking
yourself. I feel like that isalmost more of a challenge for people than
just coming in every day right,right, And certainly I think the best
hybrid model is you come in everymorning and you leave when you feel like
you're ready to leave, and yougo to your kids baseball game whenever that
(02:35):
is, and you schedule your doctor'sappointments in the afternoon. Right. Is
that kind of how people are startingto do some of it, so that
a flexible idea of hours. AndI think that that really stems from the
fluidity. What we learned works duringCOVID and what we learned can still work
now. And I think that's areally good point. No one wants to
be lugging their second monitor in theirback seat tu day week and then forgetting
their mouth. So having that trueanchor at a desk that you can collaborate,
(03:00):
but having the fluidity to be ableto move in and out of that
environment as life demands. We're talkingwith Gabrielle Christman, the president CEO of
Hunter International, recruiting a business thatyou started in your basement at twenty five
in two thousand and six, andit's grown to more than three hundred employees
and I believe twenty three states.How did that happen? Did you ever
(03:21):
expect it to happen? I youknow, when I was growing up,
I turned my big wheels upside down. I'm going to date myself, but
you already did. I turned mybig wheels upside down and I would sell
gas to people for their bikes.And I think that's when my parents first
know knew that there's something, youknow, entrepreneurial there. So I attended
(03:42):
Miami of Ohio. I studied premedthere. I loved science and technology and
engineering, and then I finished upa little bit early. I didn't want
to come home. I took athematic sequence and entrepreneurship at Miami, and
that's when I fell in love withthis idea of entrepreneurship. What you put
in you get out that you caninstantly see the results of that work.
And so started Hunter in two thousandand six and really wanted to see what
(04:04):
would be possible if I could showcustomers they could have both. They could
have quality and they could have speed. When filling a job. Usually there's
a disconnect there. If you filla job fast, the person's not great.
If you want to find that greatperson, that perfect fit that lasts
forever, then it's going to takea longer time. And I wanted to
show customers that you can have both. You can have speed and you can
(04:25):
have quality. And when we cameout in two thousand and six and I
started delivering on that brand promise tocustomers very early on, the sentiment was,
Gabriel, show us, let's putyou up against who were using now
for staffing and see if you cando that. And we were able to
deliver time and time again. Sowe're really proud that from when we start
in two thousand and six, ourfirst customers are still with us today and
(04:46):
we've been able to help them achieveincredible things for their organizations. As ours
has grown. You started another company, Stem Hunter, talk to us a
little bit about there's been a lotabout, you know, stem Steam girls
coming into these kind of categories.I have two daughters, they're ten and
seven, so I really appreciate thework you're doing in that arena. Talk
to us a little bit about stemhunter and what that's meant to you.
(05:09):
So for seventeen years, we've beenin this world of technical recruitment, primarily
focused on STEM staffing and STEM focusedroles. We know that teams struggle to
find technical talent. We also knowthat job boards are not equipped for STEM
talent how STEM talent searches. StemHunter was built to really honor how STEM
talent searches. It's an online jobboard platform. We started working on this
(05:31):
ground up from twenty nineteen. Welaunched publicly in the spring of twenty twenty
two on the stage of the DiversityAlliance for Science eight that Innovate competition.
We took first place in that innovationcompetition for the innovations on the board,
which are groundbreaking in the job searchindustry. So it's an online platform.
It's a mobile app. You cansearch for jobs easily, you can post
(05:54):
jobs easily to find STEM talent.If you are in science, tech,
engineering, math, it's the rightplace for you to find a role.
Currently, when you're searching for ajob, sometimes you can feel like you're
in the wrong place. If you'rein those industries and STEM Hunter was really
built to honor the way scientific andtechnical candidates search for work. Has there
been an increase in young women joiningthese kind of roles looking at engineering degrees
(06:18):
in college science based degrees? Isthat grown or is it still a long
way to go? Or maybe it'sboth right. It depends on the sector,
It depends on the vertical and sciencewe're doing well. Fifty percent of
all degrees that end up being inscientific degrees are taken by women, but
disproportionately are the roles, and sowe know there's still a gap. When
(06:38):
you get into the workforce for techand engineering, the numbers are lower,
about twenty five percent of females areundergrads in those fields, thirteen percent in
engineering, and so it just depends. There's a lot of work that we
still need to do to ensure thatgirls understand, girls your daughter's age,
understand the opportunities that are available tothem in STEM. When they start to
(07:00):
question whether or not they're good atmath, whether they're good at science,
we want to be able to openour arms to them, the scientific community,
especially women in STEM in these positionsand say no, you're really good
at math. Math becomes abstract,math becomes difficult in sixth grade girls puberty
hits the same time. They don'traise their hands as much, and so
suddenly I'm not good at math andI'm not participating. And so we want
to show girls that there is anopportunity for them to continue studying math,
(07:25):
science, engineering, and growing careersin STEM to help really build a pipeline
that we need today. I meanyou need as a father of a fourth
grade or going into fifth grade rightnow, I mean you just you basically
just describe my daughter right There's sheloves video games. She understands what STEM
is in the need for this,but she's also fearful of math and those
(07:47):
kind of areas. She said shewas playing a game the other day called
Geometry Hunter, and I'm like,that's so exciting. She's like, well,
it's just because it's in boxes,Dan, it's not really about geometry.
And I'm like, okay, well, at least it's something, right,
It's it's an interest in mathematics andscience and technology. What are some
of the ways that your company istalking to those girls. I know you've
(08:07):
got you've been involved in some nonprofitsand some areas that have really been a
big piece of that. Talk tous a little bit about that, right,
So in twenty seventeen, my dearfriend Gina Barreto and I started Spark
in twenty seventeen. It's a nonprofitfocused on just that, encouraging girls to
pursue careers in STEM. We knowthat the gap exists due to a lack
(08:30):
of female mentornships that look like you, talk like you, and are interested
in areas you're interested in. Andso Spark was started to give goals and
only the hands on experiential learning thatwe know as being tackled by schools,
and it continues to be an extensionand other programs that are available, but
to gear them up to meet theirrole models, to meet a role model
that's a little bit ahead of them, not too far ahead of them in
(08:54):
their career, maybe they're in college, maybe they're pursuing an engineering degree,
and team them up so that theycan really have a role model to aspire
to be, to ask questions,to hold them accountable in areas of interest,
and to make introductions for them sothat we can help lift others.
So, if folks that are listeningto this podcast right now, have girls
that meet those sort of qualifications.How do they get involved in SPARK?
(09:15):
How do they go online and learnmore? Great questions. So SPARK rolled
up into the American Heart Association programming, which is their banner program, Girls
Go Red for STEM, And soif girls in our area would like to
get involved, we've been able tohelp over a thousand girls in Northeast Ohio
learn more about STEM careers. Iwould say, reach out to us through
the AHA Girls Go Red for STEM. If you're an educator in STEM,
(09:37):
please let us have your information.Will be sure that your schools on the
top of list to be invited toour annual programming which usually happens in the
fall every year for girls from NortheastOhio to get involved. That's such rewarding
work, I would imagine, right, and thank you for doing this quite
honestly. Talk to us a littlebit about how you running a business Hunter
(09:58):
International and three hundred some odd employeestwenty three states, how plus this foundational
approach you've got to Spark. Tellus a little bit about how you center
yourself, how do you unwind?You know, one of the things we
talk about on this podcast is,you know, the mental and physical health
(10:18):
of the people that have this weighton their shoulders. So talk to us
a little bit about how you've kindof either decompressed or decentralize yourself. Well,
I love what I do. Itis what I do. I was
a little girl in STEM that hada big dream and was able to see
that kind of come to life.So it is my honor to be able
(10:39):
to do what we're able to doevery day. I have an incredible team.
We're in the people business. Atthe end of the day, we
can find incredible people, and sowe have the most incredible team in the
industry. Every day, the employeesat Hunter and STEM Hunter are challenged to
go up against the best in theindustry publicly traded staffing firms, and we
win day in and day out,year after year. And so to have
those incredible people at the HELM reallyallows us to do the work that we're
(11:03):
doing in the community, allows usto be able to impact others in the
areas that we operate. It's allowedus to build this new headquarters in Evan,
Ohio that we're so thrilled to beopening up this month, so we're
able to do all the incredible thingsthat I'm able to do those things because
of the team we have in place. That's great. What do you think
is we mentioned how work has evolvedsince the pandemic, what's the future of
(11:28):
some of this work? You knowyou're hearing today as we record this that
Google is basically forcing people back tothe office soon. It's you know,
there's this been this poll and toget people back, but there's been a
pretty forcible resistance from certain employees.Right What does the future look like for
that work and office interactions. Ithink it's okay for CEOs to say we
(11:52):
want to work in person, andit's okay for employees to say I don't
want to right they can there isstill remote work available for them to look
at. It's okay to have thatkind of dichotomy in the market that we
have right now. I think thatwe're moving through that kind of push and
pool right now. When that settlesout, I think the people who want
to be in person and work aregoing to be in person working together,
(12:13):
and the people who want to beremote one hundred percent of the time are
going to be challenged more challenged tofind fully remote roles than they were maybe
eighteen months ago. I think thatwhen we look at technically, what does
the workforce look like right now?We know that fewer candidates are going and
getting a bachelor's degree. We knowthat there's this shift towards skilled traits.
(12:33):
We know that women in the workforceare now being pulled into directions. They
have elderly parents at home that they'recaring for, they have children they're caring
for. To part time work,Flexible part time work for that demographic in
the workforce is what they're looking for. So you have to be able to
create different pockets of opportunities for differentmarkets that are looking for different things.
(12:54):
Right now. We know that thetechnical skilled gap exists today, it will
exist tomorrow, it will exist intwenty thirty. And there's things that companies
in our area and more broadly shouldbe doing now to start to set themselves
up for long term success, sustainabilityand the outlook of sustainability. What does
that look like for who we havein our workplace and who will be welcoming
(13:15):
in in the next two, five, ten years. Gabriel, it's been
fascinating and congratulations, quite honestly,on all the growth of this incredible company
that you've built right here in Cleveland, Ohio, but is a nationwide,
in fact, an international company.If someone's listening who might have a need
for employees and staffing, or ifsomeone who might be in the need to
(13:37):
look for another gig or a freshgig, how can they get a hold
of you. Sure so, ifyou are looking for help in filling roles
that have been really challenging, thenI would reach out to us. You
can find us online at Hirecruiting dotcom. We fill roles coast to coast
and internationally every day. We canfind a candidate within twenty four hours,
(13:58):
and I think you'll be thrilled withthe type of talent that searches with Hunter.
If you're a job seeker and you'relooking for a job currently, or
if you're happily employed at a competitorat your desk right now, but you
just want to see what's out there, it's a great way to check what
other opportunities exist. Reach out talkto one of our technical recruitment team members.
We are right here, We're alwayswilling to help. We love what
(14:20):
we do and we'd love to takea look at your resume and see if
we have something that might be interestingfor you to pursue. So you know
you've grown this company from your basementto now a thirty two thousand square foot
headquarters in Avon, Ohio. Canyou talk a little bit about the opening
there and what that means for yourcompany. We're excited to be opening up
our new corporate campus that's located inEvan, Ohio. So we have a
(14:41):
thirty two thousand square foot state ofthe art facility in reimagining how recruiters work.
We really built this from the groundup to honor the collaboration that teams
have when they're going out to marketand filling roles for others every day.
So we'll be opening up later thismonth, and we're excited to welcome the
community, to welcome different nonprofit organizationsthat we work with into the building and
(15:05):
be on a broader scale, tohave a larger facility, to be able
to increase our capacity with current customersand welcome new customers into the Hunter family.
Well. As someone who is rootingfor people in Cleveland, Ohio,
I wish you even more success andcontinued growth of your company. Thank you
for all you're doing for Girls andSTEM and all that you're doing for our
(15:28):
community. We appreciate it. Thankyou. Gabrielle Christman, the President CEO
of Hunter International Recruiting on iHeartRadio CEOsyou should know
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