I’ve Helped Others ‘Land Their Dream Career’ for 15 Years: Here’s My Best Advice for You!

Marina Hartung has almost 15 years of recruiting and sourcing experience in a variety of industries. “I started my career as an agency contingency recruiter (think headhunter) for a small family-owned staffing agency in Chicago,” notes Hartung. Since then, she’s also worked in an RPO-esque (recruitment process outsourcing) organization and directly for corporations in sourcing and recruiting.

When she got the offer to become a sourcing manager at Meta, Hartung jumped at the opportunity. “Pivoting to a company such as Meta has been an amazing learning experience for me from the very start,” Hartung explains. “Working with such an amazingly talented group of people, both with my particular team, as well as with my cross-functional partners, has been a dream. I’ve been able to utilize my team-building skills (by building out my internal team), work with other groups as a project manager, help build out important initiatives, and work on a large-scale body of work that is challenging and fulfilling.” 

As part of this role, Hartung also pivoted to working on a hybrid schedule after ten years of being a fully remote employee.

To learn more about Hartung’s career pivot story, her advice for people looking to change their careers and how to better adjust to a hybrid work environment, read on.

What made you decide to make a career change and pivot to your current role?

During the height of the pandemic, I was working to support the corporate side of retail recruiting through managing a team of corporate sourcers at a retail company (100% remotely). I had noticed on LinkedIn that there was a remote lead role open on the Meta recruiting team, which had not been offered on Meta pre-pandemic. I reached out to an internal contact to express my interest, and after a great candidate experience interviewing, was offered my current role!

I have always wanted to work at Meta for multiple reasons, including how we have always been on the forefront of technological advances, the social impact that we have through our products and contributions to society and the fact that I have many friends who work here and love it. I had kept in contact with an agency co-worker of mine, who was a manager on the recruiting for recruiting (R4R) team. He set me up with one of the leadership sourcers, and, ironically, the role that I was chosen for is his direct partner. 

I had interviewed over 550 sourcers for our new sourcing team at my former company in 2019 and am incredibly passionate about helping others land their dream career, so R4R was a perfect transition.  

I’ve been at Meta for nine months as an R4R sourcing manager for our higher volume technical sourcer/recruiter pipelines. Sourcing is focused on the top of the recruiting funnel–the front end of the process, finding talent and engaging them on all the amazing reasons why a career at Meta is the best next step in their journey.

What are your best pieces of advice for other women who are thinking about making a career pivot?

1. You are not your career—it is only a piece of who you are. While it helps with both the mundane (paying bills) and grows you as a person (personally and professionally), you have the power to shape your own career.  If you are unhappy or feeling like you could be doing so much more, take steps to change that! At the end of the day, talk to many people and identify what makes you want to get out of bed in the morning.  

2. Passionate about helping others and changing lives? Recruiting may be exactly what you are looking for in a career! I am incredibly passionate about the fact that it doesn’t take previous experience to be a strong sourcer/recruiter. Among other qualities, it takes drive, determination, the passion to learn, the desire to impact others, the ability to be organized and detail oriented and someone who enjoys talking to and meeting many different personalities. I got involved in a year-long sourcing program within my third week at Meta that takes those without recruiting experience and teaches them how to be successful in this career. It literally changes lives, and I couldn't be more proud to work for an organization who offers such an impactful, life-changing opportunity. 

3. At the end of the day, your career should supplement your life, not be it. Take risks, find mentors who can help you grow and guide you as you identify your passions. Give back by mentoring and helping others. I promise you’ll get back so much more than you expect!

As someone who works in a hybrid job, what are your top 3 tips for excelling in a hybrid/remote position?

1. Set aside a dedicated space without distractions, especially when you are just starting out. Think of it as your dedicated work area where you accomplish what you need to do. It may not be possible to completely eliminate distractions due to space or family constraints, but try to minimize distractions as much as possible.

2. Get the best internet connection you can. If you have the means, it’ll help eliminate connection headaches (especially if there are a lot of video meetings).

3. Make sure to schedule time to eat and just get out of your chair. Treat it like an important meeting with yourself, because it is. Set expectations with peers and partners to not schedule over this time unless incredibly urgent.

What are your favorite things about working at Meta?

Meta is such a fabulous place to work! I love the perks of a big tech company. Our benefits are superb, and there is a big emphasis placed on a holistic approach to work-life balance. Meta provides an incredibly robust PTO policy, even giving us five extra holidays this year. As a leader, I encourage my team to take their time off as wanted and needed. 

As for my favorite part of working at Meta, it’s the culture. Everyone is so welcoming and helpful, they truly want you to succeed. Additionally, while imposter syndrome is real, the level of talent that we hire at Meta is truly amazing. I love working with driven, intentional and problem-solving teams. Joining the team at Meta was a great career move.

Want to join Hartung as part of the Meta team? They’re actively looking for talented and innovative people like you! Find out more about Meta and browse job postings via the link below.

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