Meet Rayanne Trumbo - RBC’s Groove Is In Her Heart, Part 1

Posted on June 10, 2008
Filed Under Interviews |

Rayanne ThorneTrumbo, Recruiter
O:949.251.0460 Ext. 101
Rayanne@bsmassociates.com
http://www.recruitingblogs.com/profile/Rayanne
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rayannetrumbo

I first met virtual Rayanne where I meet so many of my latest friends and colleagues … on RecruitingBlogs. It was at Kennedy Expo conference in Las Vegas last month where I finally met Rayanne in person, and the word ‘groovy’ came to mind within minutes of meeting. I arrived from a delayed flight and Rayanne was leading the flow of conversation at a table with Jason Davis, Joel Cheesman, and Gerry Crispin. Between rounds, at the conference taking notes, or sitting in the “Recruiting Lounge” Rayanne became a fixture among the RBC faithful present.

She describes her craft of Recruiting “as a mid-life career change” and now in her seventh year in the industry and just months after becoming a member of Recruitingblogs.com she barely breaks a sweat with all the lime light aura she pervades. Having just reviewed the RBC video montage at Fordyce, Rayanne can be observed as one of the growing fem fetales of smart, industrious female staffing professionals, such as Maren Hogan, and others, who are now key daily contributors to what makes RecruitingBlogs …. Tick. The RBC girls – social butterflies with their fluttering quips of bright insight have broadened the circling wagons to become ‘community’ in the most real sense of the word. I don’t know if Rayanne has a fan club outside of the stage lights, but I am signing up, spoon in hand, for some desert and laughs with my feet up on a sofa ready to watch the line curve around the RBC website …. because Rayanne consistently shows us - “Groove is In The Heart”!

Q&A with Rayanne Trumbo

Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world., Rayanne

Rayanne: My life away from work is huge, no really…, it’s big. I am a single mom with four children: Nicole – 21, junior in college, Renee – 19, freshman in college, Audrey – 12, 6th grade and Gregory – 11, 5th grade. They have filled my life with an incredible amount of joy. Nicole is living on her own now and I miss her, as a mother should, right? She and Renee both attend college in Fullerton, CA. I call Audrey and Gregory my “little ones” because they were the little ones for so long. I am going to have to come up with something else though because Audrey is almost as tall as I am. We are crazy about our dogs, Baxter Wallace (a schnoodle) and Spike Lee (a cocker bichon) – they only add to the craziness at my house. Oh, we also have a black fish named Bart – doh!

Outside my front door, I have a little sign that reads “Welcome to the Nuthouse” – that pretty much says it all.

Six Degrees: What is Rayanne doing after hours, when the sun sets, or when the sun rises on a day you call all your own?

Rayanne: When I am not on the phone, I am usually on a California freeway or in a theater. I am very involved with a couple of local, independent theaters where I act and direct, as well as market both theaters, as much as possible. I am currently involved with a production of Metamorphoses as the Assistant Director and Chief Costumer and I will be working in the tech booth running the lights for a few shows. I am also involved with a non-profit group, Fullerton Theater League that works as a co-op to benefit the eight operating theaters in the area. I participate in four to six productions a year and I always say I need to slow down.

I spend a lot of time writing. I have a play in the works, as well as a novel but my current passion is poetry and I can’t seem to stop. Must be too much drama in my life, huh?

Here’s just a tidbit:

Let the light of wisdom
join the belly of joy
to brighten the way
where forgetfulness and grief
reside…

I recently attended a presentation supporting the Women’s Transitional Living Center, I was so moved by what was shared that I went immediately to my desk and wrote a poem – I was asked a few weeks ago if that poem could be published in WTLC’s Annual Report. This recent writing activity has driven home my desire to publish some of my poetry; that is in the works now.

I also take 12 – 15 units per semester in a relentless pursuit toward an MBA. Talk to me in a couple years…

Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry as a recruiter?

Rayanne: I am in my seventh year as a Recruiter. Prior to recruitment, I worked in the dental field for 20 years. My dental experience lent itself easily to my move into health care recruitment; I had all the lingo and basic medical knowledge down.

Six Degrees: Tell us about your work life.

Rayanne: Working at BSM Associates has brought me incredible opportunities. There are just three of us currently and the work load can be heavy but very satisfactory. My responsibilities include everything from cleaning the coffee pot to consulting with a new client about a search that has become protracted and how we can solve that issue. My official title is Executive Recruiter but I consider myself an extension of the hiring authority that I represent. It is my goal to be as honest as possible about each recruitment that I conduct. Sourcing, business development, direct recruitment and continual networking are all part of my daily routine.

BSM Associates specialty searches include Sales and Professionals and Sales Engineers, as well as Executive Management and Senior-Level positions. Our firm has done work with VMWare, NetPro, Strategic Thought, Stratavia, DataSynapse, InMage, BMC Software (just purchased BladeLogic), BEA Systems, Oracle, Veritas, Iona, Tivoli (now owned by IBM), Quest, Informix, Infinium, WebMethods, NetIQ, Vitria and many more

Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter?

Rayanne: I was attending a college course and saw a notice up on one of the bulletin boards in the drama department that said, “Flexible Hours, Phone work – Call 555-…..” Being a single mom, I was always looking for additional sources of income, so I thought, I’ll call and just see how flexible this job is – I was already working at the dental office and coaching at the local junior high. I was hired on the spot and started out doing name gen or phone sourcing at a health care specific search firm. I was pretty good at getting names and extensions and within a month or so, moved into direct recruitment; it seemed like a natural transition for me. I was promoted to Senior Associate by month five and sold my first search soon thereafter. The firm I started with was a small boutique firm that specialized in Manager and Director-level nursing positions with the occasional senior-level search.

After five years, I was ready to try something new and joined an organization that managed technology start-ups. I loved being the in-house recruiter for these new companies. It was thriving, busy and exciting. We were hiring so rapidly that within three months we had to move to larger headquarters. As with most start-ups, money became very tight and I think I saw certain issues before most which led to my departure.
In January, I joined a boutique search firm that works exclusively in the software industry recruiting Sales and Marketing Guys – I usually say Professionals… but I like the way “Sales Guy” sounds. We also recruit Sales Engineers, Internet Gurus and Executives.

Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career?

Rayanne: The event that had the most impact on my recruiting career occurred while leaving a hospital in Bakersfield, CA. We had just finished a sit down with the VP of Human Resources and had conducted what we called a “start up” or rather a face-to-face to learn as much as possible about a new search. It was my first time meeting, ever, with a client, I had a new suit on and I was a little nervous. While walking back to the car, my boss stopped and turned to me and said, with a surprised look on his face, “You did really well.” That was it, I was hooked. I can even remember how the sun looked that afternoon. Weird.

Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after?

Rayanne: I have several mentors…, my first boss in recruitment, Bill Moore at Moore & Associates taught me everything he knew about recruiting… He is with me always, still; it reminds me of that old guy that keeps appearing in the movie, Jerry Maguire, to give advice and business strategy tips. I learned professionalism and recruiting basics from Bill.

Another mentor, Dr. Hal Simeroth, I met about 18 months ago. Hal is a double-master’s prepared Engineer with a PhD in Ethics. I learned so much from him about team work, business basics, how to treat people and to stand up for what you believe. He introduced me to system’s thinking. I have taken two epistemology classes from him and look forward to learning from him for the rest of my life.

Hal, in a roundabout way, actually introduced me to another mentor: Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline. I have never met Mr. Senge, but the lessons I have learned from him have directly impacted my professional, as well as, personal life. Lessons like this one: “When all is said and done, the only change that will make a difference is the transformation of the human heart.” Peter Senge

Six Degrees: Outside of recruitingBlogs, how have you made networking leverage your professional goals in your own community?

Rayanne: I visit surrounding Chamber of Commerce luncheons often and have the opportunity to represent my firm, face-to-face, with many local businesses. These businesses may not be able to use our firm but they have heard of me and know who I am. The power of a handshake should never be underestimated. I have attended local entrepreneurial events, as well as workshops and the technology council awards; that face time is imperative in this day and age of cyberspace.

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