A Letter to Recruiters

It’s natural to pop a bottle of champagne, to broadcast and celebrate the success and high points of one’s career: The exciting interviews, that “cool new innovative” thing that you said to your boss that blew him/her away that resulted in a pat on the back; that big promotion. You get the idea. LinkedIn and various other platforms tend to serve as a career highlight reel, littered with unrealistic terms describing people’s roles and perceived importance. Tech Ninja. Human Resources Warrior. Marketing Guru. Chief Visionary Officer. I mean, my god, how can anyone (i.e., me) live up to visionaries and warriors and gurus just having an English degree? 

I’m here to dive into the real-life career shit, at which I am a guru. I’m currently on the B side of my career — it’s not sparkly and filled with iced coffees and meetings and occasional parties like it used to be — and I know that in interviews I’m currently taking, I’m flailing because I’m not glimmering with current accomplishment and success. I’m living my current, unglamorous reality: dirty-diapers and breastmilk, spit up on my shirt, several unidentified substances on my clothing, breakdowns, blowouts, and uncovered blemishes. It will take a very special recruiter to see beyond what’s currently on the surface. And in this lies frustration. 

What life is this? I took a full-time nanny job in Jan. 2020. It was my “time out” to decide where I wanted to go next in my career after resigning from my managing editor job at a local magazine. I have an extensive resume filled with editorial and journalism internships, and naturally delved into the world of publishing post-graduation, working two jobs for approximately 5 years. I have 8 years’ experience in the communications, editing, and publishing field, but somehow, recruiters/interviewers are caught up in the fact that I took a nanny job just 9 months ago during a time of need.

I’m not complaining, but rather asking for understanding. Life happens. Career needs change. COVID took the world by storm, and I needed stable, safe employment. This was not anything detrimental to a career in my eyes … more a change of pace to gather my thoughts on what I needed, wanted from a work environment. People are not tick boxes; read the whole story and evaluate. I’m driven and ready to tackle the next page of my career. Yes, I’m currently a nanny, as you have read above. No, it has nothing to do with my professional accolades. If anything it has made me a more tolerant, understanding, and even-tempered individual. I’ve learned that even in tasks that aren’t in my career “wheelhouse,” there are lessons to be learned, and those are for sure the ones that I have noticed to be true in myself. 

I hope that this resonates with someone else going through a challenging career search. And to recruiters/human-resources departments: Please lighten up and read beyond the current position someone is in. There most always is more value than is currently presented. 

Yours truly, 

Helen Harris: 29-year-old English major, MBA student, nanny, former business owner, cat-and-dog mom, home owner, editor, writer, creative.