Welcome back to #WeAreGreenKey, where we shine a spotlight on our powerhouse agency team.
We recently chatted with Becca Smith, Marketing Director on the Green Key Marketing team. Becca assumed her Marketing position nearly two years ago to grow this relatively new department. She elaborates on her time at Green Key thus far and how she believes her previous experiences in different industries have helped her thrive here.
What inspired you to pursue a career in marketing?
I love exercising both the analytical and creative sides of my brain. Studying English and Journalism in college helped me learn about databased strategy, and how I was able to turn that into something creative. I think that marketing is a good middle point for people, like myself, who are both left brained and right brained. Starting off in PR, doing a lot of e-commerce and social media marketing, I realized it can take a lot of forms, especially as a career path. This is one of those industries that can always challenge you since it is always changing. I’m always developing new skills and learning something new.
What motivates you as a Marketing Director?
I am motivated by the challenge of creating something new. The marketing team at Green Key has been relatively new since I started almost two years ago. It was originally just me, so being able to grow the team has introduced me to such a great collaborative environment. I’m constantly moving the finish line for myself, which keeps me engaged and excited to go to work. By communicating with so many different people, I’ve learned elements of the business that I wasn’t previously familiar with. Overall, building and expanding the team keeps me going.
What is the most important thing you’ve learned about marketing thus far?
From a personal standpoint, you’re never going to know everything and that’s okay. Part of being successful in marketing is understanding you should never be the smartest person in the room. I’ve noticed you can learn a lot from people who don’t even work in marketing. Receiving and listening to feedback from others who are not in this realm is also beneficial because they’re your audience. Being receptive and open-minded to expand your knowledge is vital to your success.
What are your goals moving forward?
Growing the team and expanding the number of projects we have our hands on is something I want to move toward. I think our team has a really great rapport with each other and I see so many opportunities for people to grow as well. Being a manager was always something I wanted to do, and it is so cool to see people take ownership. I love watching the excitement of individuals on the team when they feel like they have agency.
What sets Green Key apart from other staffing agencies?
Previously, my experience with a staffing agency was only from a candidate’s side. My first interaction with Green Key was having one of our own recruiters reach out to me about a job that they were hiring for. It was distinctively one of the best and most different experiences I’ve ever had with a recruiter. I think that stems from the values of this company. Recruiters at Green Key prioritize relationships, empathy, and the idea of connection, which I felt immediately. They have autonomy and flexibility, and they pursue quality interactions over a set number of interactions.
How do you feel like your career in marketing helps you in your role now?
I’ve learned so much by doing. The career progression that I’ve had has introduced me to a lot of different industries. The way I see it is that if you have the principles of marketing down, you can transfer them from audience to audience. The thing that drew me to this role was wanting to have ownership and being able to build something from the ground up. Because marketing wasn’t a team here, I really had the opportunity to do that. Sometimes people think that a career path has to be super linear, but you can learn a lot from exposing yourself to different things.
Why do you think marketing in recruiting is so necessary?
Marketing is especially important because recruiters have an unfair reputation. After seeing how hard these people work and the care that goes into their job, I want to help improve the public image of recruiting. There are many benefits to working with a recruiter whether it’s to open doors or expand your mind to new opportunities. I don’t think I would have considered the roles that I have been presented with had they not come from the recruiter, and we talked through them together.
Since implementing a defined marketing strategy to Green Key, how has our brand improved?
One of the things we’ve done as a marketing team is not only improve the way we talk about ourselves, but also the way we inform our audience on the relationship between recruiter and candidate. We want to demystify that experience and help people understand the basics of recruiting and what it’s like to work with the awesome team of recruiters we have at Green Key Resources.
