The career miracle worker

 

 

 Eileen Habelow
Title: Regional VP & Director
Company: Randstad USA  
Education: B.S. & M.S. – Syracuse University, Ph.D. – Temple University in Educational Psychology
A native of Pennsylvania and Delaware, Eileen lived in 7 states after college, but calls Boston her “new-found ‘home’ and favorite so far!”  She began her career at AT&T, started her own HR consulting company as she started her family, and transitioned back to the corporate world full-time in the staffing business in 2000.  As a mother of three, Eileen calls family her “cornerstone,” and is thankful to be in a career that combines her passions for organizational management, education and helping people.

 

Four years ago, amid reports of a “Brain Drain” that was sapping the business community’s most talented workers, the Greater Boston Chamber created the Boston’s Future Leaders (BFL) program to identify the leaders of tomorrow and engage them in the business and civic life of our community. Every Monday, Chamber president & CEO Paul Guzzi has a conversation with one of the more than 200 alumni of the BFL program to introduce the region’s next generation of business leaders to Metro readers.

What is the coolest part of your job? 
I love that we put people to work! I am excited that my company helps people find a new career or even simply find a job to achieve financial goals.  We work with some of the best employers in New England, which makes it even more exciting to find people work in great companies.

If you were recruiting someone to work for you, what would be your number one selling point about Randstad?
To work for Randstad, you have to like talking with people and asking tons of questions to understand their operating reality. If you’re interviewing a candidate, you have to understand what they want to achieve and in what types of environments they thrive; and, if you’re talking with a potential client, you have to ask lots of questions to understand exactly where the need is. It’s a fascinating industry because you get to talk with so many different company leaders in so many different types of companies.

If you could have any job in Boston, other than your own, what would it be and why?
I would be excited to lead any team that drives our region’s success in producing talent for the marketplace. We have such a wealth of fabulous school systems, university systems and companies — we have a unique opportunity to be a leader in figuring out how education, industry and government work together to drive accomplishment. OK, if I’m really honest, I’d like to work for the Red Sox in whatever capacity they’d have me!

What’s the best piece of career advice you have ever received?
If you keep following one person from company to company or job to job, you will never get to where YOU are supposed to be ... you will always be one step behind someone else. At some point, make your own path.

How can young professionals expand their networks and increase their impact in Boston?
Networking without trying to “achieve” something on every encounter is a great way to meet people who may or may not be influential for you at the first meeting. At some point in life, many of these encounters will become very valuable, either professionally or personally. However, if you go to every event looking for only the next best business contact, it begins to become too much a part of “working” and not enough a part of just getting to meet new people.