Welcome back to “6 Questions For A…”! Each week, we’ll ask someone 6 career-centric questions about themselves.
This week we’re chatting with Crystal Wong. Crystal previously worked at Intern Queen as a College Recruiter, and has most recently taken her skills to Kriser’s Natural Pet and is working as a Talent Acquisition Specialist. When Crystal isn’t working, she is likely spending time with her adorable dog, Rocky.
Tell us about the kind of tasks in a typical day in your role.
As a Talent Acquisition, my main focus is full-cycle recruiting, onboarding, guiding and leading Store Managers and District Managers by supporting their recruiting needs. My regular day to day consists of a lot of sourcing for candidates, phone interviews, meetings and some traveling. I also attend career fairs and conduct some in person interviews if I fly out to another city.
What is your favorite part of your job?
I work for a dog company called Independent Pet Partners and one of our brands in Los Angeles County is Kriser’s Natural Pet, so I get to hang out with cute dogs all day long! My pug, Rocky gets to join me at work every day and he travels on business trips with me as well. My ultimate favorite part of my job is being able to fully staff 28 new stores this year from other cities and obviously being able to work side by side with my partner, Rocky!
What are some challenges you face?
I solely focus on recruiting “Services” positions such as Groomers, Dog Trainers, and Doggy Daycare Attendants. It is a very niche category so it’s a lot of thinking outside the box, being creative and savvy, and this means, it’s not traditional recruiting. Most of the time when I post a requisition on Indeed or LinkedIn, I usually do not get any hits. When this happens, I have to come up with different solutions to source or find my candidates. I am also the only Talent Acquisition for my company and we have over 350+ stores all over Southern California, Mid-West and East Coast so I have to accommodate with everyone’s schedule on the other side.
Who inspires you and why?
10000% my parents! They are the most hard working people I have ever met in my life. Day and night, weekends, they are constantly working. My dad always picks up a hobby and turns it into a side job and my mom stays late at night working OT. They are absolutely passionate about what they do and never complains!
Share some advice to someone aspiring to be a Talent Acquisition!
My best advice for someone who is interested in Human Resources and wants to focus on Recruiting is to get a lot of internship experience while being in college. I had 5 internships and my first job out of college was working at a Fashion Recruiting Agency. I hated it but I actually learned the most and I’m so happy that I started at an agency because now I’m capable of recruiting for niche positions and be the only TA to recruit for over 350+ stores with 900+ positions!
What did you want to be when you grew up? How did that change over the years?
I always wanted to become a Teacher and write children’s book. I was a Secondary Ed major my first year in college and then I switched to Business in HR. I knew I wanted to be a Talent Acquisition and I hope in the future to become a Director of TA or even CPO and maybe someday to actually write children’s book!
Born and raised in Seattle, WA, Alexis now lives in sunny Los Angeles where she works as the Social Media Manager for Intern Queen. Aside from work, you can find her doing hot yoga, visiting friends in Seattle, or re-decorating her apartment. Say hi on Instagram!
