Carmen Hudson Interview Spotlight

Jonathan Kidder

5 years ago

I had the opportunity to interview Carmen Hudson. She’s currently a Principal Consultant, Recruiting Toolbox, and co-founder of the first-ever conference focused on tech recruiting, Talent42. Carmen draws from over 15 years of recruiting experience, with a strong focus on helping organizations attract, source and recruit top talent. She recently launched Recruiterhunt to help recruiters discover useful recruiting tool resources.

1. Tell us about your work experience in recruiting – how did you get your start, how did you progress, where are you at this point in time?

I started recruiting as a researcher for an executive search firm way back in the 90s. We were just starting to use the internet and I loved the work. I moved to Seattle in the late 90s and continued to build my sourcing skills. After a short stint at Capital One, I joined Amazon, where I got my first management experience. After Amazon, I went to Microsoft, then Starbucks, then Yahoo! In 2009 I left corporate recruiting for good, striking out on my own to launch a (recruiting tech) startup. When that failed, I joined Recruiting Toolbox, where I’ve been for 9 years!

2. What are the unique talents you bring to the field?

I absolutely love sourcing. The thrill of the hunt. But I’m also a big picture thinker. I enjoy digging into companies, industries, markets. I like understanding how and why things work, connecting tactics (like sourcing) to business strategies (like sales growth, for example). I think this is why I ended up leading teams. I tap into both sides as a consultant and trainer, for sure.

3. Share your biggest success story in recruiting so far

Whoa. I’ve been fortunate to work on some fantastic teams, on high-profile projects, and with prestigious clients. I even co-founded a recruiting conference. But I think I am happiest when I am building tools. Over the last three years, I’ve steadily built a comprehensive list of tools, apps, and websites for recruiters on RecruiterHunt. This week we added the ability to rate each tool. Soon, we’ll have data on the tools that recruiters find most useful. That would be huge!

4. What is the best advice you’ve received during your career path, and from whom?

Throughout my career, I have been known for being cool under pressure. But my coolness can come off as nonchalance. Which is just the opposite of how I feel? I really care about the work I do. Once we discussed it my manager told me that I would have to be my own PR machine. That I would have to find a way to gracefully tell others about what I’m doing, the how and the why. I share that bit of advice with the recruiters I train in our Talent Advisor workshops. Never waste an opportunity to share some of the amazing things that are happening in TA. We need better PR!

5. What’s your favorite recruiting tech tool?

I am in love with the RecruiterHunt chrome extension these days.😁 Seriously. Please download it and send me feedback!

6. As a recruiting professional, how do you handle recruiting to achieve the best results?

I don’t do much recruiting these days; I partner with recruiting leaders to help them address TA challenges. Most of my days are spent developing and delivering training for recruiters and hiring managers.

7. What do you hope to achieve in 2020?

A greater understanding of the free and commercial tools recruiters use and love. I can’t wait until we have useful data to share.

8. What’s your favorite Boolean String?

It’s no secret that I love Twitter. Twitter lists can still be fruitful. I recently found a list of over 200 Salesforce MVPs – their best employees – in a public list.

site:twitter.com inurl:lists inurl:companyname intitle:employees | team | coworkers

9. You recently launched an extension! Tell us more about it!

Yes! We just recently launched a chrome extension that serves up new tools, recruiting-related content, and jobs on every new tab. I’m excited to see how the extension grows and if it can help TA practitioners level up their skills. I will share more about the idea and the development at SourceCon in March. I’ve shared quite a few of your posts and videos already! Thank you for providing great content.

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