Actualize Your Career Goals with Theresa Santoro
Actualize Your Career Goals: An interview with Theresa Santoro
Actualize Consulting is a professional services firm specializing in business process engineering and technology implementations for financial institutions. Actualize Consulting is headquartered in McLean, VA, the halfway point between Washington DC and the Dulles Technology Corridor. Actualize is always hiring Capital Markets and Fixed Income consultants for project work as well as recruiting full-time employees. The Metro DC area has the most educated workforce in the country and the DC area has a plethora of educated technology consultants. Actualize also has an office in New York City for which Actualize recruits from the area’s very large sea of banking professionals for project work.
Qualified candidates have strong educational backgrounds in Finance, Technology and Accounting and CFA and CPA certifications are highly valued. However, a successful consultant has a special skill set beyond their education and certifications. How does Actualize find the best?
Actualize Consulting has always done its own recruiting. Theresa Santoro is Actualize Consulting’s Operations Manager and gifted recruiter. Theresa has been recruiting for Actualize for over seven years. Theresa has consistently been able to find the right consultant to meet the client’s needs.
This task isn't always easy, but Theresa has developed a few strategies to help find and screen the right candidates. Here is a little insight into the process of recruiting in the field of financial services consulting.
Q: As a recruiter, what would you consider the traits of an ideal candidate?
After speaking with many, many candidates over the last seven years; I would say an ideal candidate is one who clearly describes previous positions in a concise way. The candidate that carries the conversation themselves and really sets the tone for the initial call stands out the most. Whether or not they are a fit for the specific opportunity is irrelevant if they cannot first originate a conversation. I am looking for consultants who can easily connect with others. Soft skills are of the utmost importance in representing our firm as we have found the quality of face-to-face engagement between Actualize consultants and our clients is a key factor in the success of the project.
Q: What's the best advice you can give to someone who is searching in the fluid and ever-changing technology consulting field?
The best advice I can give is to fully utilize both your personal and professional networks. Actualize often hires candidates that were referred to us. Maintain a detailed LinkedIn profile including all of your software and hardware experience. Make an effort to specialize in your field beyond a degree by working towards The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. In addition, certainly be caught up on the latest trends and products in your specific field by attending industry related conferences such as those hosted by Mortgage Banking Professional (MBA) and the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP).
Q: Actualize hires both full-time employees and contract employees. What are the characteristics of a specific employee that make them “full time employee” material?
Someone who has broad industry and product knowledge in Actualizes’ core service offerings is required. What really sets our full-time employees apart from others is an entrepreneurial spirit-- a willingness and eagerness to grow the firm and to be part of something that is growing with enormous potential going forward. In addition, we are looking for particular personality characteristics that will blend with our positive corporate culture. We are looking for candidates that fit a profile of being generally passionate about their own work and committed to supporting their entire team of colleagues succeed and not just focused on their own success. As consultants, Actualize employees work as a team of equals which encourages collaboration and team contribution. Also, Actualize employees are flexible and adapt to the environment at the client site. A candidate may demonstrate adaptability in describing their previous work experience and explaining instances where their job description may have evolved in line with the needs of their employer.
Q: As is the custom now in the recruiting process, the first verbal communication with candidates is a phone screen. What do you look for in the tone and delivery of the candidate? What type of responses will make you unenthused about a candidate?
One thing I listen for is positive tones and enthusiasm articulated when discussing their previous work experience. A candidate that speaks negatively of a former employer is not someone I would recommend for the next step in our recruiting process. Additionally, a candidate that has done their “homework” and research on our firm clearly shows their interest in working for our firm. I always appreciate questions from the candidate that dive deeper into what we do as experts in the industry that they cannot see from our website alone.
Q: How are the conditions of today’s market different than the job market of three years ago?
Three years ago, the industry was more client driven as there was an excess of qualified/quality applicants out of work. So in this market clients had their ‘pick of the litter’ and were able to secure a hire at a lower salary price point. They also were able to fill positions ‘on demand’. Today with the economic recovery and positive outlook, the candidate pool has shrunk considerably making today’s market more candidate driven. So in this market candidates are typically receiving multiple offers and driving up hiring costs (salaries, benefits packages etc). And due to this candidate shortage it has increased the time it takes to identify, qualify and on-board new hires.
Actualize Consulting is a professional services firm specializing in business process engineering and technology implementations for financial institutions. Actualize Consulting is headquartered in McLean, VA, the halfway point between Washington DC and the Dulles Technology Corridor. Actualize is always hiring Capital Markets and Fixed Income consultants for project work as well as recruiting full-time employees. The Metro DC area has the most educated workforce in the country and the DC area has a plethora of educated technology consultants. Actualize also has an office in New York City for which Actualize recruits from the area’s very large sea of banking professionals for project work.
Qualified candidates have strong educational backgrounds in Finance, Technology and Accounting and CFA and CPA certifications are highly valued. However, a successful consultant has a special skill set beyond their education and certifications. How does Actualize find the best?
Actualize Consulting has always done its own recruiting. Theresa Santoro is Actualize Consulting’s Operations Manager and gifted recruiter. Theresa has been recruiting for Actualize for over seven years. Theresa has consistently been able to find the right consultant to meet the client’s needs.
This task isn't always easy, but Theresa has developed a few strategies to help find and screen the right candidates. Here is a little insight into the process of recruiting in the field of financial services consulting.
Q: As a recruiter, what would you consider the traits of an ideal candidate?
After speaking with many, many candidates over the last seven years; I would say an ideal candidate is one who clearly describes previous positions in a concise way. The candidate that carries the conversation themselves and really sets the tone for the initial call stands out the most. Whether or not they are a fit for the specific opportunity is irrelevant if they cannot first originate a conversation. I am looking for consultants who can easily connect with others. Soft skills are of the utmost importance in representing our firm as we have found the quality of face-to-face engagement between Actualize consultants and our clients is a key factor in the success of the project.
Q: What's the best advice you can give to someone who is searching in the fluid and ever-changing technology consulting field?
The best advice I can give is to fully utilize both your personal and professional networks. Actualize often hires candidates that were referred to us. Maintain a detailed LinkedIn profile including all of your software and hardware experience. Make an effort to specialize in your field beyond a degree by working towards The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. In addition, certainly be caught up on the latest trends and products in your specific field by attending industry related conferences such as those hosted by Mortgage Banking Professional (MBA) and the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP).
Q: Actualize hires both full-time employees and contract employees. What are the characteristics of a specific employee that make them “full time employee” material?
Someone who has broad industry and product knowledge in Actualizes’ core service offerings is required. What really sets our full-time employees apart from others is an entrepreneurial spirit-- a willingness and eagerness to grow the firm and to be part of something that is growing with enormous potential going forward. In addition, we are looking for particular personality characteristics that will blend with our positive corporate culture. We are looking for candidates that fit a profile of being generally passionate about their own work and committed to supporting their entire team of colleagues succeed and not just focused on their own success. As consultants, Actualize employees work as a team of equals which encourages collaboration and team contribution. Also, Actualize employees are flexible and adapt to the environment at the client site. A candidate may demonstrate adaptability in describing their previous work experience and explaining instances where their job description may have evolved in line with the needs of their employer.
Q: As is the custom now in the recruiting process, the first verbal communication with candidates is a phone screen. What do you look for in the tone and delivery of the candidate? What type of responses will make you unenthused about a candidate?
One thing I listen for is positive tones and enthusiasm articulated when discussing their previous work experience. A candidate that speaks negatively of a former employer is not someone I would recommend for the next step in our recruiting process. Additionally, a candidate that has done their “homework” and research on our firm clearly shows their interest in working for our firm. I always appreciate questions from the candidate that dive deeper into what we do as experts in the industry that they cannot see from our website alone.
Q: How are the conditions of today’s market different than the job market of three years ago?
Three years ago, the industry was more client driven as there was an excess of qualified/quality applicants out of work. So in this market clients had their ‘pick of the litter’ and were able to secure a hire at a lower salary price point. They also were able to fill positions ‘on demand’. Today with the economic recovery and positive outlook, the candidate pool has shrunk considerably making today’s market more candidate driven. So in this market candidates are typically receiving multiple offers and driving up hiring costs (salaries, benefits packages etc). And due to this candidate shortage it has increased the time it takes to identify, qualify and on-board new hires.
