SPOTLIGHT ON RECRUITER SUPERSTARS: This week at http://www.sixdegreesfromdave.com I’ll be featuring recruiters who have made an impact in the community, with technical expertise, organizational efficiency and by their reputation, raised the level of ethics and professionalism to our industry.

I could think of few people who characterize this ethos more aptly than Diane Hill-Koening, aka in the Bay Area as “Silicon Valley’s Recruitment Sweetheart”

You Heard it Hear First:

“Diane Hill-Koenig is a Talent Scout, not just any run of the mill recruiter, she has the distinction of being every staffing professional’s best friend. You see, Diane is a bona fide “Recruiter for Recruiters” at YAHOO! Her mission at Yahoo! Is to hire many staffing professionals, i.e. staffing managers, recruiters, sourcers, HR Managers,HR Directors, and HR Reps on behalf of Yahoo!’s human resources department. Yahoo!’s goal is to develop a state of the art staffing process, with an ambitious plan which will ultimately create a staffing environment in which all reqs would be open and closed within ten days. a challenge well suited to Diane, one that highlights her ever growing popularity as Silicon Valley’s recruiting sweetheart.”

I asked Diane, Silicon Valley’s Recruitment Sweetheart, to share her experiences under the Yahoo! Big Top

By Diana Hill-Koenig,
Talent Scout- Recruiter for Recruiters!

What a ride this has been! Why is it I have more friends now that I have joined Yahoo then when I was at Google? Perhaps because the way Yahoo recruits for talent is based on experience and not on GPA’s and which school you graduated from 15 years ago. Now Google is asking for GMAT scores.

I absolutely think we have one of the best staffing teams in the country right now. Yahoo grew by 70% in Staffing since Jan. 07. I am proud to have been able to contribute to help create a new vision and team for Yahoo. Not only does Yahoo look for top talent in recruiters, we look for personality and energy. Does this candidate know how to do their job well, enjoy it at the same time and have fun? That is the combo everyone seeks isn’t it? Well you will find it here at Yahoo. I admit we work pretty hard, Carol Mahoney, Sr. VP of Talent for Yahoo says, ” We are storming.” We are in a total ramp up, everyone is adjusting to new teams and constant development due to growth. As recruiters you can only pray you have reasonable clients. This is the sweet spot for me, my clients are all staffing professionals and they know our business, they know my pain. But what I like most is how down to earth and how REAL the Directors are here. Respect is what comes to mind, there is not one Director or Staffing Manager here that does not have the right experience to do their job. Lindsey Duran handles quite the load and makes it all look so easy, she is so calm and her follow through is incredible- truly inspired and admire to be more like her. When I am frazzled I have short answers, you can hear it in my voice. Ken Perluss he’s a no new name to Yahoo. Ken has been here for 8 yrs and the man always has a smile on his face or something funny to say, the most Senior Director here in TA. Recruiters with big egos- skip Yahoo- and head to Mountain View. Ken does not like arrogant recruiters.

Brian Whitfield wrote about traits of a great recruiter in an ere article. I agree with him a 100% on everything he wrote. Here are the things that that made me successful as a good/ great recruiter.

First I paid my dues twice, I started in house and went to the agency side for 4 yrs and then came back in house. Second, I stay focused. I somehow find the energy to do my job with passion and I have a great work ethic. Last and most important I am honest. If you do the right thing you will always be respected. At the end of the day your name is all you have so make the most of it.

So the Staffing Managers have been promoted to Directors and I still have a few to backfill. If you are interested let me know.
I want to thank everyone for the referrals and contacting me directly. I have never been in the position that I did not source for the openings.
Thank you for making my job easier.

Diane Hill
Talent Scout- Recruiter for Recruiters!
HR and Staffing Managers
YAHOO!
hilld@yahoo-inc.com
408-349-8622

NOTE: You can connect with Diane directly and recommend a colleague or introduce yourself as “Yahoo worthy material” at hilld@yahoo-inc.com – in fact, if you want to network with one of Silicon Valley’s best known recruiters I would strongly recommend you take a moment to send her a LinkedIn connection, by Simply Clicking Here.

LinkedIn | Bio | MSN | Skype

By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, JobMachine & Staffing Consultant

YAHOO! IS HIRING HUGE # of STAFFING PROFESSIONALS – CONTACT DIANE TO APPLY:
hilld@yahoo-inc.com
408-349-8622

Diane Hill-Koenig is a Talent Scout, not just any run of the mill recruiter, she has the distinction of being every staffing professional’s best friend. You see, Diane is a bona fide “Recruiter for Recruiters” at YAHOO! Her mission at Yahoo! Is to hire many staffing professionals, i.e. staffing managers, recruiters, sourcers, HR Managers,HR Directors, and HR Reps on behalf of Yahoo!’s human resources department. Yahoo!’s goal is to develop a state of the art staffing process, with an ambitious plan which will ultimately create a staffing environment in which all reqs would be open and closed within ten days. It’s a challenge well suited to Diane, one that highlights her ever growing popularity as Silicon Valley’s recruiting sweetheart.

Diane is a veteran recruiting superstar with over 11 years of Technical IT & Operations, Marketing , Finance/ Accounting and PSGA recruiting in Silicon Valley. She’s a Full cycle recruiter, be it sourcing, selling, interviewing, and closing candidates from entry level to VP’s – she’s done it all. Her Technical recruiting portfolio is diverse, with extensive experience in the Semiconductor, EDA , Internet, Software, Hardware industries. She was a full-timer at AMD, Sybase and Matrix until she ventured on her own as a contract recruiter over the past 7 years for Cadence Design Systems and Internet companies, most recently completing her assignment at GOOGLE overseeing sourcing efforts in the UK- London, Dublin Ireland, China, Brazil, Japan, Boston, Chicago, New York, California, Germany, Zurich and Israel. Today she is Yahoo’s newest golden girl. No stranger to nontraditional hours, she enjoys the option of a virtual office and serving her client’s need on-site, allowing her to enjoy her down time with her three children and husband Vincent, a Technical Sales Engineers for Sun MicroSystems.

Today is Diane’s birthday and we salute a colleague to be admired. Shally and I know Diane personally and I can say with conviction that few people are as enthusiastic, enjoyable to relate with, and as knowledgeable in her industry. Diane stands out because she care about her product and she cares about the people she recruits. Strong endorsement? You betcha.

Given it is her birthday, and recognizing it is a day often known for personal reflection, I asked her about her past year to which she smiled,

“It’s been a great ride to work for two of the world’s leading cutting edge technology companies, Google and Yahoo. Who ever thought you could make a living by knowing your peers? I have had the opportunity to run circles with some of the best Recruiters and Sourcers on a world wide level. Thanks to the recruiting yahoo groups and all those forums, my position rode on success from the help of all the terrific referrals. Yahoo has a great story to tell right now and I continue to help fill the staffing needs for Staffing Managers, Recruiters and HR across the board.”

What matters most is that you are respected by your peers, and if you read her endorsement testimonials, Diane is held on the shoulders and applauded by those who worked with her and know her. Here’s snapshot directly from her peers:

“Diane is a recruiters recruiter. She is professional, thorough, respectful, candid and pleasant to work with. I would say if you want the straight scoop and work with someone you know you can trust, Diane is one of the best in her field.” February 5, 2007
Maryellen O’Connell, Professional Placement Consultant, Volt

“I took over an International role supporting London, Dublin in addition to my domestic accountabilities and Diane was critical in my ability to successfully support my clients. Diane partners well with not only myself, but all of our team’s recruiters and quickly started turning up passive candidates that would have taken me much longer to find with all of the work on my desk. I would highly recommend Diane for any souring/recruitment role. She’s a pleasure to work with is a person you can depend on.” February 1, 2007
Rik Avalos, International PSG&A Recruiter, Google

“I have worked with Diane as a service provider for over a year and found that she is someone who gets things done! In all communication with Diane, she is prompt, thorough, energetic and enormously fun. She emanates energy and intelligence. Her approach is collaborative. She is intellectually curious, open to ideas, willing to share information while always moving toward her goal. She accomplishes more than most, taking on more and more and making it look easy. She is the call you will return first when facing a stack of messages.” December 5, 2006
Lorraine Ross, Partner, Sales, Microquest Corporation

“Diane is one of the more proficient sourcing and recruiting professionals I have met. She has the ability to switch gears in a seconds notice as well as source globally for a variety of skill sets. When you think of recruiter, Diane is the name that comes to mind as someone that “get’s it”.” September 5, 2006
Lance Mooney, Staffing Consultant, Honeywell

“I have worked with Diane on a couple of different occasions and she has been a real force in HR & Staffing. She is driven and is a very low maintenance employee. I would recommend Diane to anyone. She is one of the best in the Business.” January 11, 2006
Floyd Clark, Contract Recruiter, HP

You can connect with Diane directly and recommend a colleague or introduce yourself as “Yahoo worthy material” at hilld@yahoo-inc.com – in fact, if you want to network with one of Silicon Valley’s best known recruiters I would strongly recommend you take a moment to send her a LinkedIn connection, by Simply Clicking Here.

Still hesitating? Aside from the fact that Yahoo! has the hippest Staffing Director, Talent Acquisition I have ever met in Carol Mahoney, and an equally impressive staff which I had the good fortune of meeting at their campus a few months ago, Diane offers this sincere salutation to her fellow peers: “I am always happy to help guide you to your dream job if you would like to connect.”

Dream Job?

Again, do you want to be one of those huge number of people Yahoo! is seeking for top notch HR Talent? Then send her a linkedin invite, give her a call, and above all, send your resume to:

Diane Hill
Talent Scout- Recruiter for Recruiters!
HR and Staffing Managers
YAHOO!
hilld@yahoo-inc.com
408-349-8622

How can you resist? I couldn’t, and I value her friendship; their huge campus in Sunnyvale is something to be experienced as well. I hope you have the opportunity to be introduced to Diane and the Yahoo! campus first hand. Perhaps it’s time you send her a resume and give Yahoo! a closer look? … unless you have a problem with fun?

LinkedIn | Bio | MSN | Skype