We sat down with Emily Hall, the Business Development Manager for the West Michigan region of FastTrack Staffing.  We love a success story, and this one will make you believe in the improbable.

Emily’s beginnings were different than most recruiters.  She didn’t come to us as an experienced staffing professional with years of experience in recruiting or sales. She’d actually never worked in the industry, other than having been a staffing associate herself. When she came in for her initial interview, she was applying for a position at one of our manufacturing clients. But after the interview and inquiring about how one gets into staffing, our talented recruiter Brittnie realized that she had found a diamond in the rough.

Starting as a recruiter, Emily wasn’t initially sure if this job was for her. “Staffing isn’t for the faint of heart, in general.” she laughs. “I think one of the toughest challenges I had to face is rejection. Not just from companies, but from candidates as well… You have to be able to be resilient, keep trying, and not give up.”

She took her own advice to heart and pushed through.  She climbed her way up the ladder, moving from recruiter to branch manager of our Whitehall office and to her current role as Area Business Development Manager. She talks a little bit about the moment she knew that she was on the right career path.

“I was given an opportunity to go to a struggling office to see if I could make it work.  Not only was I able to make it work, I was able to make it flourish, it’s grown, moved into a new highly visible location and is busier than it ever has been before. So I think just being able to have that kind of trust and being put in a position to do that really got the wheels turning that this is something that I could do for the long term.”

After adding the needed fuel to fire up the Whitehall office, Emily was given a second opportunity to learn another piece of the business: sales. Business development is also not for the weak, and she laughs about her first days on the sales grind. “I didn’t say anything.  I just stood behind my manager.” She says with a terrified look on her face before breaking into a grin. “It was so uncomfortable. It’s crazy to think how much it’s changed since then.  Now I just walk right in ‘Hello!’” She goes on to say that without that opportunity to give sales a try, she would not be where she is today.

But no one can do all of this alone and Emily has had a great support system from day one.  She cites previous managers, her managing director Brad Dailey, and her dedicated team of recruiters at the Michigan offices for the success she has found within her career. She says “Being able to always fall back on my team has been such a comfort.” The team helped her learn the ropes and grow in her role.

She says one thing in particular has helped her learn to overcome objections and obstacles in the business development world: Role Playing.

“I was very nervous when I first started and in order to break that and get more confident in what I was saying, role playing was a very important thing. We would do this weekly in our sales meetings. And just doing that repeatedly, saying those things that you aren’t comfortable saying out loud, puts you in a position where you become sure of yourself and what you are selling.”

Having an open and supportive company culture has also impacted Emily on so many levels. “It sounds so cliche, but it’s very family-oriented. We are a family.  I refer to my co-workers as my FastTrack family.” She appreciates being able to speak openly with her superiors, on both business and personal things, and having that has made her better in her position and as a person.

Currently, Emily is growing our new Grand Rapids location. She sees herself continuing to grow in her role and would love to eventually have a sales team working with her that she can teach and nurture as they grow in their own careers.

Because Emily started as a staffing associate, just applying online and coming in for an initial interview to see if FastTrack could help her on her career journey, she’s uniquely qualified to say that our company genuinely cares about finding the best fit for each candidate.  In closing, she had this message to future associates out there:

“If you’ve ever had a hesitation about going through a staffing firm, I urge you to go through FastTrack. Because they will definitely change your mind.”