Brenda Burch Dumont's Blog

When I began my career, I wanted to work in the hospitality industry.  I took British Columbia’s Institute of Technology 2 year business diploma with a specialty in ‘Hotel Motel, Food Service Management’.

I enjoyed the education because it was fresh, relevant and geared so you could step into a progressive career after graduation.  (Or maybe it was because this was the early ’70′s and the fellow student population averaged one female to every 10 males).

What I failed to research thoroughly is that the hospitality industry is anything but 9 – 5 p.m. and I didn’t want to work steady nights.  With this is mind, I jumped at the chance to work for my employer Holiday Inn Harbourside’s larger catering clients, Drake Personnel, when they asked.

I have been in recruitment in one form or another ever since.  It’s a marvelous pursuit where the bottom line has been assisting in the process of putting good people in good jobs or providing platforms to do same.    Along the way I have met some fascinating people, many of whom are leaders in the Canadian Retail industry today.

I have often heard it said that to be a good recruiter you have to ensure you never assume the God complex where you are deciding who may or may not be the best candidate for the job.  The client and the candidate’s talents and skills decide that – you are the value-added middleman.  I’ve got lots and lots of those type of antedotes that have served me well over the years.

I haven’t actually done any headhunting for over 9 years, but most people still recognize or remember me as a headhunter.  And the headhunting nose for a good candidate never leaves you.  I still get ‘in case you hear of anything…..’ calls.  I think my very good friend Gayle who lives in both Montreal and Toronto – go figure – still thinks I’m headhunting.

In the meantime, I’ve launched Canada’s first retail-only search firm and ran it for 10 years (Dumont & Associates Retail Recruitment Ltd) and launched Canada’s first retail-only niche job board (canadianretail.com).  I have sold to, placed, networked with, presented to, laughed with, volunteered with and met many of the members of the retail industry in Canada, particularly those involved in human resources and recruitment.  I can’t imagine working with another industry – I still believe retail rocks.

So, what is the Final Frontier for Brenda?  I am continually intrigued with new developments and Social Media, particularly as it relates to Social Media Recruiting got my by the throat from the beginning.  I am particularly solid with Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook but can talk a good MySpace or YouTube talk as well.

I am going to spend my final reincarnation over the next 2-3 years helping retailers to gain traction and results in their recruiting by including social media in their toolbox.

After introducing search services and hiring on the internet to the retail industry (most were very sceptical of both initially) I figure they’ll listen while I explain the unbelievable potential available through a well-run smr campaign.

If you’d like one of my special ‘Brenda Dumont’ free consultations on what I can offer or the email edition, please just let me know.  Ah, the final, exciting frontier – beam me in Scotty!

Filed under:
Retail, recruitment by cobblehillgarden