We sat down recently with Ari DiDonna to discuss her journey from entry-level consulting to now leading as Director of Real Staffing's Contract team in New York.
Describe your career journey.
The raw answer is that I more or less “stumbled” into the staffing industry. In my senior year of college, I took a full-time position as a Customer Service Manager with a startup online optical company. I ran the customer service team and drove sales through upgrades.
One day, I was speaking with a family friend who was in HR and he said “you’d be great at recruitment, you should look into it,” and so I did. Recruitment had never crossed my mind but I figured there was nothing to lose. After a few weeks of job hunting, I took an offer with a small agency doing contract MSP recruitment where I was filling anything possible. I had a low base pay and a low commission scheme but I was determined on getting my foot in the door of this massive industry that I just learned about. I resigned after a year to come to Real Staffing where I was a referral from a Managing Director on Huxley. It has been seven years since, and I am a Director leading our National MSP Delivery Team.
I was extremely excited when I got selected for the Real Staffing brand. I’m not a scientific person, but the idea of helping someone get a job in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry that significantly impacts the world is pretty amazing.
My sister is a nurse practitioner--she has all the scientific wealth of knowledge for the family, whereas I like numbers, business, and sales. So, after I started with Real Staffing, it was awesome to be able to have intellectual conversations with my sister and our medical professional friends because I was now in the industry. It’s ironic because there’s been an evolution. Now they frequently ask me about potential jobs or for advice on different career paths utilizing their skillsets. I might not be on the frontlines with them, but I am behind the scenes working on placing individuals who positively impact the medical field.
I feel like our clients and my work is always around me. Whether I am at the doctor’s office, shopping at a pharmacy, or visiting a family member in the hospital, our clients brands are in sight. I often say to myself, “oh, that’s one of our medical device clients,” or I can be at a pharmacy looking at products and it’s a client in our pharma portfolio. It is wild to see everything come full circle.
In the moment when you are performing your job, you have this KPI to hit to complete a deal and fulfill a client's need. But in the grand scheme of the recruitment cycle, we are impacting so much more and truly contributing to the greater good.
What has your career journey been like with Real Staffing?
I started here as a resourcer for Craig Heywood, currently our Senior Vice President. A resourcer is equivalent to today’s associate consultant. I worked my way through to principal recruitment consultant, and it was atypical that I decided to transition into management. I started my management journey in 2017 and became an Associate Team Manager. I have since progressed three career milestones and recently achieved my Director promotion.
Name an instance where your leadership was tested.
At one point, within a couple of weeks, I had lost five people on the team. Just when I thought I was growing the team and had everybody on the right page, I got hit with a wave of resignations. My initial reaction was feeling deflated. I knew then mostly all of those resignations were necessary, some were due to performance and others were to try something else but it still was a hit to me as a leader. You start to think what did I do wrong? What should I have done better? How do I avoid this in the future? Fortunately, I had a great boss as a leader who helped coach me through it.
We instantly game planned the bounce back and the changes needed to build a more robust culture. So, instead of crumbling, I found ways to rebuild and put the pieces back together with a stronger foundation.
What has been your favorite moment working for Real Staffing?
We won team of the year a couple of years ago for Real Contracts, New York. When I started, we were a pretty small team but we set some intense milestones. I remember being a rookie and we would print on a piece of paper in large font the size of the book we wanted to grow to. Quarter by quarter, we chipped away at it. We smashed the goal, set a new one and smashed it again time after time. We wanted to be the best in the office, in the brand, in the US, and everyone on that journey with me had a work ethic next to none.
That year we won, our prize was that we did an entire day from NYC to the vineyards in the Hamptons. It was an enjoyable experience and one to not forget with such great colleagues.
What is your favorite part of your job?
If I were still an independent biller, it would be the adrenaline rush of closing a deal. My favorite part of my job as a leader is seeing the next generation find success and being present for that moment when you feel like your team is succeeding and has momentum.
How is Real Staffing different from other agencies?
Real’s internal value proposition of bringing skilled people together to build the future is what drives us every day. We care about our people internally and about our clients and contractors. We have a strong leadership team of men and women who are constantly working to ensure that our feedback is heard and that actions are taken to make any necessary changes to make this a great place to have a career.
What tips would you give somebody interested in joining Real Staffing?
Be open to learning. Be open to being a market expert in various verticals, and know that we are always here to help you succeed to be the best consultant you can be.
Interested in joining our team? Real is hiring and growing. With opportunities across the United States and a global footprint, we have career-making roles. To find out more visit our parent company, Specialist Staffing Group’s careers website.
To connect with Arian, please reach out to her via LinkedIn.