Giving Thanks to My Network (and a nudge to reach out to yours)

An interview I did with VentureFizz about How to Land a Job at Lakeside Software was posted recently and the coolest, most unexpected responses came from a ton of my former coworkers who turned into friends. I have FaceTime dates scheduled to catch up with friends like Sejin Mong from my Panorama Education days, group chats buzzing with Steven Rotman and Jack Kyte from the NaviNet era, and lots of others.

I tend to reflect on all the things I’m grateful for in November but hearing from all of these people brought me the salient realization that my network connections have paved the way for my career from the very start. Here’s my trip down memory lane, which also serves as a huge THANK YOU to all of those who are mentioned and many others who played a role in shaping my career as well…

When I was a senior in college about to graduate from Temple University , I was panicked. I didn’t want to be a journalist, though that’s what I’d studied, and I had no idea how to leverage my skill set in a professional setting. Fortunately, right around that time, my coach Matthew Echevarria, CWEP-CMP-CHMP-TbHS introduced our team to the newly founded Temple Cheerleading Alumni Association. Susie Friedman was one of the alumni who encouraged us to use her as a resource; I reached out to her right away. Susie was a skilled recruiter by that time and asked me a series of open-ended questions about my strengths and interests. She recommended that I consider staffing, as she had, and pointed me in the direction of Randstad . After a series of interviews and tests, I landed my first job as a Staffing Consultant one week after graduation and spent nearly two years learning some really hard lessons about how to hack it in that competitive space.

Through training and development at Randstad, I met Nathan Macchia, PMP , who was a Staffing Consultant in the Boston office. Nate invited me to visit Boston and I immediately fell in love with the city (despite it being the middle of a typical New England winter!). I decided right then and there that I was ready for a change, and I set my mind on moving from Philadelphia to Boston.

I was rapidly applying for Recruiter jobs in Beantown when Carrie Lafferty , a hiring manager for one of those jobs, called me for a phone interview. She knew full-well that I was way too junior for the role, but she was excited to connect with another PA native who wanted to move to Boston. She gave me some pointers and graciously introduced me to Kate Harris at Beacon Hill , trusting that Kate could help me land a job in my new city. I met Kate expecting to be placed with one of her clients, but she worked her Kate-magic and recruited me onto her own team. I learned SO much from Kate. To this day, I still try to emulate Kate’s thoughtful, consultant tone and style in my work as a recruiter.

As part of my work at Beacon Hill, I cold called companies around Boston to try to drum up business. One day, I called Jack Kyte at NaviNet (now NantHealth ) to see if I could fill that Talent Acquisition Specialist role he had posted; to make sure I got his attention, I mentioned that I knew Tamar Axelrad , his former coworker. Jack, ever the opportunist, asked if I wanted the job for myself. I was flattered and the timing was just right, so I gave that interview process my all and landed my first corporate recruiting job. 

As I was transitioning out of Beacon Hill to start my journey at NaviNet, a candidate I had earlier met and referred to Beacon Hill, started her new job there. That candidate was Alexandra Linares . I’ll come back to her in a bit :D

At NaviNet, I started to figure out who I was professionally, mostly thanks to Steven Rotman for helping me find my wings. There, I worked in close partnership with Sean Bridgeo , CFO (more on him soon, too!) and Jit Patel who moonlights as a realtor and helped my husband and I find our first home. Also at NaviNet, I recruited Ali Levy into her first engineering role, as well as Danielle Riccardi (insert pin here).

When NaviNet was acquired, I was motivated to make another move. I found Panorama Education was looking for a Recruiter so I sent an InMail to Genna Weinstein and asked her to interview me. After many rounds, I landed the job that really molded me into the professional I am today. I worked with some of the most thoughtful, determined, top quality humans (shout out to Genevieve Moss-Hawkins for coining that term!) I had ever met in my career. I also got to recruit Ali Levy and Danielle Riccardi again to build Panorama’s first Application Support team, as well as countless other Panoramians.

The pandemic hit and changed the course of all of our lives. I was laid off from Panorama and felt like I’d lost a part of my identity, so today, hearing of friends and colleagues being impacted by all the recent lay-offs sends shock waves through me. I viscerally remember that feeling of loss.

I spent a year and a half as a stay-at-home mom of my two little boys through the worst parts of the pandemic. I’m grateful for that time with them – it made me realize that while I love being a mom, I get a lot of fulfillment from being part of a growing business and leveraging the recruiting expertise I built up before starting my family. 

As I was considering going back to work, Sean Bridgeo sent me a silly LinkedIn message, poking fun at some weird Pennsylvania term I used to describe how snow falls (why will he never let that go?!) and he asked me if I’d consider working with his new team at Lakeside Software . After a series of conversations, the deal was so sweet that I jumped right in. Now I’m coming up on my second anniversary at Lakeside; I’m working with Carrie Moser again (she was NaviNet’s first GC and now she’s spearheading the legal function here at Lakeside). I’m also working with Paige Charbonneau, PHR, SHRM-CP , who is a famous Beacon Hill alum (don’t we all know and love Paige?!). When Suzie Anthony was ready to grow our People team, she was looking for a warm, empathetic, dynamic HR Generalist and Paige had just posted on LinkedIn that she was looking for her next opportunity. Paige and I reconnected after ten years, and it was like no time had passed at all. I introduced Paige and Suzie. As we worked through our interview process it was clear that Paige was the best person for the job. Lastly and, most importantly to me, we also hired my old pal, Alexandra Linares , the candidate I had referred to Beacon Hill so many years ago. Alexandra had grown her career as an incredible global TA leader and now I get to partner with and learn from her every day!

Before I wrap this up, I would be remiss not to call out that a “network connection” also introduced me to my husband, Timothy Farina, CFA . My close friend and former Temple U mascot, Marc Miller , grew up with Tim and introduced us around the time I moved to Boston. Then Marc officiated our wedding. Thanks, again Marc!

Nearly 14 years of networking and staying in touch, even if loosely, has been the key ingredient in my career trajectory and to building high performing teams for the companies I’ve worked for. So again, my recommendation for those of you who are job hunting: reach out to your network. Your character, work ethic, and connections will lead you to your next step. If you’re not sure how to engage, reach out to me and I’d be more than happy to offer some suggestions. 

We’re all in this together; you’ve got this!

#LakeLife #LifeattheLake #LakesideSoftware #jobsearch