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In the Limelight: Nicole Culp

In this edition of our “In the Limelight” series, meet Nicole Culp—a Recruiter Team Lead at Broadleaf. Nicole is responsible for attracting, onboarding, and training newly hired employees for one of Broadleaf’s largest RPO clients with 400+ retail locations across 20 states. Her ability to prioritize and remain calm in a fast-paced and constantly changing work environment have proven to be beneficial in her role.

A Missouri native

I was born and raised in St. Louis, MO and now reside five miles from my childhood home. At Saint Louis University I majored in occupational therapy but soon realized that anatomy class was not for me and switched majors. I obtained my undergraduate degree in human resources management.

A start in staffing

Right out of college I started working at a staffing agency and remained with them for almost nine years. I left to join an MSP solutions provider and spent more than a year and a half with them before the company lost the account I was working on and I was laid off while out on maternity leave.

The road to Broadleaf

In 2018, I posted my resume on job boards because I knew there was a possibility I was going to be laid off while on maternity leave. I was contacted by a TalentRise recruiter about an open position. However, they needed a candidate that could start immediately and I was only a few weeks into maternity leave at the time and not ready to return to work. A few months later, the recruiter called back and had another position available and the timing was perfect! The ability to work remotely was a huge selling point as I had a four-month-old with whom I wanted to spend as much time as possible. A 30-second commute to my home office allowed me to achieve this.

Life at Broadleaf

I was a sourcer on a large eCommerce RPO account for my first nine months at Broadleaf and spent a great deal of my day contacting potential candidates on LinkedIn. In my current role, I am a lead recruiter on a large RPO account and am actively involved in day-to-day operations. I am responsible for assisting our recruiting teams across several of the client’s local markets, training newly hired employees, and partnering with our client to ensure Broadleaf meets all of their workforce demands to grow their business.

The fast-paced world of talent acquisition—with constantly shifting priorities—prepared me for my role at Broadleaf. I thrive in a work environment that’s changing and evolving and am always learning something new which keeps me engaged. I’m good a multi-tasking and prioritizing and can appear level-headed and calm even when I’m frazzled on the inside. To witness my account’s progress as our team attracts and hires top candidates is exciting and rewarding to me.

Even though we work remotely, I feel we have a great team atmosphere, and if I had to describe Broadleaf in one word it would be inclusive. Each day I enjoy working collaboratively with an amazing group of people—my client, candidates, team, and colleagues. Broadleaf’s management is invested in each employee’s growth and success and is supportive and caring. I have worked in corporate environments where I was just a number and that’s the opposite of how I feel at Broadleaf. Although it appears to be improving, the post-COVID candidate market has been extremely challenging. Trying to get ahead of turnover has been a huge hurdle.

A look at the future

The pandemic shifted recruiting and hiring to a virtual environment. Broadleaf has adapted by embracing new technology platforms and online hiring events to keep pace. As we look to the future, I believe it will become even more virtually focused. Interviews will no longer be part of the hiring process and we will see a shift to the increased utilization of assessments and other applied skills technology to determine the most qualified candidate for the position.

Out-of-office passions

I’m an early riser and am usually up by 5:30 a.m. My time before work is spent with my almost-four-year-old son, eating breakfast, and getting things done around the house. Working remotely makes a large difference in how much time I get to spend with my family since I don’t have to commute and can enjoy my lunch break with them. I like to think I’ve mastered work-life balance. When I am at work, I am completely focused on work. When I am off work, I’m 100% focused on my family.

Outside the office and taking care of my son, you can find me watching a cooking show, in the kitchen trying a new recipe, and bike riding or exploring in the woods with my family. If money and time off were no object, I would love to stay in one of those gorgeous cabins in the woods without cell service. Being able to truly disconnect from technology periodically is important to me.