Meet Stéphanie, a senior sales recruiter on HubSpot’s EMEA recruitment team. Joining HubSpot in 2017, Stéphanie worked in HubSpot’s Dublin office before moving back home to France in 2020. Prior to HubSpot, Stéphanie worked in tech recruitment, with a focus on hiring sales and customer success professionals for growing tech companies. In this Q&A, Stéphanie dives into life as a recruiter at HubSpot, sharing her tips and best practices for success. Here’s what she had to say...

Can you tell us a little about your background and journey to HubSpot?

I’m originally from France, have dual-citizenship (French and Portuguese), and I’ve lived in five different countries. Outside of work, I spend hours listening to podcasts about personal development from Ayurveda to meditation. I am also very much obsessed with food, discovering new places, and cinema.

I started with HubSpot almost five years ago in Dublin, Ireland, where I had some prior experience in a recruitment agency and recruiting at Yelp. At HubSpot, I joined a small but mighty team, where I wore multiple hats. I was a global recruiter, a strategy planner, a marketer, and dabbled in PR. Back then, I worked mostly with non-technical organizations and I covered many regions from Italy to LatAm. I also worked on two new office openings and those are so far my best memories with HubSpot.

Now based in France, I focus my time fully on sales recruiting, covering the French market.

What does a typical week in your role look like?

My days are always different, but I spend a lot of time on the phone with candidates, or on feedback calls. When I’m not speaking with candidates, I meet with stakeholders like sales hiring managers, directors, or with my direct teammates. I also work on side projects, such as creating recruitment content, getting involved with HubSpot's diversity, inclusion, and belonging efforts, or diving into all things data. I’m a 360-degree recruiter, and I also mentor my new teammates and connect with HubSpotters from other departments from Marketing to Localization. I have a deep interest in people, and these meetings also give me new perspectives on my work and new ways to approach things. 

What skills are necessary to succeed in your role?

Without a doubt, HubSpot’s HEART values (Humble, Empathetic, Adaptable, Remarkable, and Transparent) which are from our Culture Code. In particular, empathy, adaptability, transparency are really applicable to a role in recruitment.

You need to be empathetic with your candidates and hiring managers. Adaptability is also key, as priorities change all the time and we need to be ready for constant change and uncertainty that may come our way. Lastly, being transparent, be it being open with hiring managers or candidates is really important as a recruiter. 

What’s the most rewarding part of your role?

I truly believe that we can have a big impact as a recruiter, be it having a positive impact on candidates or for existing employees. It may sound cliché I know, but having an impact is something that I personally strive for, and I think it really pays off in the medium and long term.

Recruiting is very human work, and building relationships is key in our job. Being a recruiter is like being a coach in some ways. We help our candidates get prepared for their interviews, and we’re here to boost them and give them advice when they need it most. We’re also here to share feedback in an approachable way. It’s not easy to receive rejection but we’re here to help them grow, and that's something that's very important to me. Unfortunately, not everyone I speak to will be hired, but I think as long as we try to provide them with feedback and transparent information that they can learn from, it’s already a good step.

I can’t count the number of candidates that came back to me and got hired for a role the second time around. It’s always rewarding to see that people can get the role that they want after working on some feedback. Building relationships with candidates is something that energizes me a lot, and spending time with them to try to provide them with a positive candidate experience is really important too. 

In your opinion, why is now a good time to join HubSpot?

HubSpot is growing a lot globally and there is still a lot of room to grow and learn. HubSpotters are able to present new projects and work on things that have a direct impact on the company in recruitment, sales, and every other department! We have so many things happening at the moment that everyone can find their joy in improving processes or getting involved with our diversity, inclusion, and belonging efforts.

I also like to add that in my five years of experience at HubSpot, I probably gained around 8 years of experience (really!) as I have learned so many things on so many various topics. This is something that’s quite special and you can only experience in a fast-growing company such as HubSpot!

What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue a career in recruitment at HubSpot?

Be persistent (recruitment is not easy every day), be a team player, be honest, be curious about what others are doing, continue to learn, and don’t be afraid to ask questions! Think long-term, and focus on the bigger picture.

Try to do your best with good intentions, especially with candidates. You can make mistakes (I made a lot of mistakes!) but try to recognize them and to learn from them. We are humans after all.

If you weren’t a recruiter, what would you be doing?

Good question, I think I could see myself in many areas. Now, I could particularly see myself as a naturopath or a coach as I am really into holistic practices.

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