The Odyssey of Success

Jamila Harley, M.Ed., CCC-SLP, Director, ASHA Career Management Services

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 228,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel; and students. (www.asha.org)

Therefore, one may find it interesting that a staff person from ASHA was selected as one of the top 100 “most influential talent acquisition thought leaders” by TA Tech. However, as with most sectors of industry, recruiting and retaining talent in the professions is a goal of our association.

As the Director of ASHA Career Management Services, my role is to not only generate non-dues revenue through recruitment advertising but to also demonstrate value and engagement with our members, specifically related to career development. During my tenure my goals have been to increase content marketing, connect members with career development resources and subject matter experts, and improve the visibility, engagement, and user experience with the ASHA Career Portal.

As a trained, speech-language pathologist (SLP), I had a steep learning curve and had to increase my knowledge of technology platforms and CRM software that helped contribute to the success of marketing and advertising campaigns. While I had some experience in other areas of industry, I had to quickly learn how to navigate these tools in order to help analyze trends, data, and set strategies to meet our revenue objectives and to enhance our content to meet our members’ needs.

As a member of the association and the professions (a speech-language pathologist), it is important that I help elevate the “value” of our disciplines to our membership and to those that will hire them. To do this, it is important that we understand not only how employers/hiring managers can achieve their recruitment objectives but to also understand how potential employees search for career opportunities and how they consume content that is targeted for marketing.

Prior to my joining ASHA, my predecessors worked to identify a job board vendor who could provide a more agile system, better reports and analyses, improved CRM integration, and enhanced user experience. In addition, due to the COVID pandemic, the team quickly shifted to a virtual model for our annual hiring event. To build on this, one accomplishment that I am proud of is adding a networking/member engagement activity to the virtual hiring event, which helped to increase attendance, member satisfaction, and meeting recruitment goals by employers. In addition, I provide strategies and opportunities for employers to get in front of our members in different formats (i.e., social media, workshops, content marketing) to share more about their company culture which helps to attract and retain potential employees.

This has been a part of the foundation of our success because ASHA’s job board is a niche board, therefore our approach to talent acquisition has to be not only strategic but personal and meaningful to our members. While being a niche board may be considered a challenge, I look at it as a strength. Given the right tools and strategic plan, we are poised to meet the needs of a highly competitive field. Our membership boasts a 1.2% unemployment rate, therefore many of our jobseekers are passive.

My role is to help our employers understand this and educate them on ways to attract our members. As agents of talent acquisition, it is important to understand the market has shifted. People are no longer desperate for jobs, nor are they completely motivated by capitalism. The COVID pandemic resulted in many of our members desiring to work remotely, have a better work/life balance, and prioritize the culture of the company and not just the pay. My role is to also prepare our members to navigate their career journey by giving them the tools and resources they need to market themselves, identify fulfilling opportunities, and receive fair pay. I wholeheartedly believe that enhancing the value of our career-related resources will increase the engagement of top talent, which will ultimately lead to more quality applications for job postings and successful hiring and job satisfaction.

I am fortunate to not have to figure all of this out alone. I am surrounded by a fabulous group of professionals, including my Associate Director, Eli McLean, who analyzes the market to make sure that our advertising opportunities are priced competitively and manages the relationships with our employers and most of our vendors to ensure that we have the best technology to meet our TA goals.

His keen approach to identifying recruitment opportunities and commitment to customer service has contributed to meeting and exceeding our annual operational goals. I also have colleagues whom I collaborate with for B2B marketing, creative asset creation, social media engagement, and so much more. I am also grateful to have a supportive mentor and coach in our Chief Marketing and Sales Officer, Leslie Katz. She supports and encourages my new ideas and gives me the latitude to take risks but provides guidance and resources to increase my chances of success.

One of my most memorable moments from the TA Tech conference was a presentation that went through the evolution of talent acquisition. I recall a small ad that was placed on a bulletin board and then a small ad placed in a newspaper. Now, it takes technological ecosystem to attract and hire one candidate.

The TA Tech conference this summer also helped me to begin to learn the implications that AI may have on talent acquisition. Oftentimes, candidates “talk” to the technology before they even talk to a human being. This certainly helps make the hiring process more efficient, but we must not forget the human element.

Educating job seekers on how to write resumes and cover letters that will help them navigate and stand out in applicant tracking systems, how to prepare and succeed in interviews, and how to evaluate job offers will help to ensure that top talent is not overlooked. It will also be important that those who create the technology consult and collaborate with HR professionals, hiring agents, and other industry experts to ensure that the machines are working effectively to attract, hire, and retain top and diverse talent.

TA Tech also exposed me to the need for increased diversity in the field of TA technology specifically. While attending, I was one of very few women, and the only African American woman in the room. This was interesting because I am also one of the 8% of the ASHA members that identify as a marginalized group and one of 3% that identify as Black or African American.

While our professions and membership have some opportunities to increase diversity, I am grateful to work for an association that is committed to achieving equality and respect for cultural and demographic differences. I also appreciate the association’s commitment to non-dues revenue generation, which helps keep the cost of membership down for our members and to provide a platform for employers to recruit the top talent in the association through our job board. TA Tech impressed me with their candor on the need to recruit and retain diverse talent as well in the industry of talent acquisition technology.

My journey to the field of talent acquisition has been fueled by my own personal experiences during my career journey. While only 1.2% of our membership identifies as unemployed, there may still be untapped talent in the professions. I believe one should be passionate about the work they do, and that satisfied employees and diversity of thought and talent contribute to a healthy, happy, and productive work environment. As TA professionals, our roles should contribute to creating this “perfect match” by creating and utilizing the best technology and empowering the workforce to navigate it successfully.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamila-harley-ccc-slp/