by John Arnold, Connor Duffy, and Katie Larson | at MinneBar 14 | 10:20 – 11:05 in California | View Schedule
In this session, members of the Celarity team will share their expertise on how to find, recruit, and retain top talent. This local agency has been in the industry for 25+ years and has placed over 4,500 marketing, creative, and digital professionals at more than 500 local companies. They've received 4.8/5 stars on GlassDoor with over 100+ reviews, been recognized multiple times as a best place to work, and received many top-partner awards from their Fortune 500 clients.
So, get ready to take notes! They’ll cover their recruiting secrets, best practices, tips, and tricks of the trade so that you can find, recruit, and retain top talent for your teams too!
They’ll answer questions and cover topics like:
Minnesotans like him because he was born and raised here. Academicians befriend him because he earned his BS degree from the prestigious U of M Carlson School (though he facetiously claims he only got accepted because he submitted cash with his application).
John plays soccer, hockey, and golf, so athletes give him a high-five, while adventurers approve of his ambition to travel to a different country every year. Even geologists love him for his daredevil hike around an active volcano while visiting Costa Rica. And early risers clamor for his company at The Local, where he watches English Premier League games at 6 am on Saturdays.
This former championship-soccer-goal-scoring guitar aficionado eats ice cream cakes (even on non-birthday occasions) while enjoying cinematic action thrillers and comedies, which makes him appealing to 99% of the population.
And while intellectuals appreciate his taste in books (a page-turner is either economics- or marketing-related), they also salute his previous employment in web analytics, strategic marketing and IT recruiting.
But mostly, John is valued by the staff at Celarity, where he focuses on the general operations of Celarity with a focus on the marketing and client services teams so the recruiters, clients and talent are taken care of.
Four years ago, Connor Duffy, Celarity’s Client Experience Manager, packed up his U of M degree and moved from his Minnesota home to a land that he’d heard of once in a lullaby—NYC. (There were rumors of blue birds and lemon drops there too, so you can understand the appeal!) Like a cyclone, Connor blew into town, and with virtually no contacts, managed to forge his own market share within the tech recruitment industry.
Life seemed magical for a time, then a dear family member’s accident changed everything. With brains, heart, and courage, Connor lent all his support. A house didn’t have to fall on him for him to see that life is short, and the little moments matter most.
For Connor, the most important life lessons emerged from paradoxes. Leave home to find there’s no place like it; make new friends only to realize how much you miss the old; pursue your heart’s desire, then see you didn’t really need to look any further than your own back yard to find it. Also, if your mother calls you “Con-Con” long enough, it’ll grow on you. The choice to return home to Minnesota was easy.
Now at Celarity, Connor applies that wisdom and experience to prospecting for new clients and ensuring client partnerships are enduring and satisfying. In fact, he’s earned quite a reputation. As one client said recently, “Just like the great Wizard of Oz, we hear he’s a whiz of a whiz if ever a whiz there was.”
Though she doesn’t actually wear her ballet shoes to the office, Celarity Lead Marketing Recruiter, Katie Larson, probably would if she could. After all, the Minnesota native virtually leapt into life, and eventually dance, with unbridled enthusiasm and pointed toes. Never content to remain in the chorus, Katie always took the lead, whether it came to dance, water sports or playing her violin. (Legend has it she’s so skilled at gracefully multi-tasking she once pirouetted on a running jet ski while playing “Turkey in the Straw” on her fiddle—she’s that talented.) The truth is, Katie has choreographed her whole life for success.
From her first job as an accomplished sandwich artist at 16 to her work as a camp counselor while in college, Katie waltzed through challenges with determination and motivation.
With a BS degree from the University of Minnesota, Katie managed to tap dance her way to the top as a sales representative and recruiter at some of the metro area’s most respected organizations.
In her down time, Katie entertains the idea of cloning herself (or at least creating her own dance troupe), and is well on her way to achieving those goals with husband Andrew. Hence, their two daughters, Clara and Audrey. But whether she’s building relationships with local businesses or helping creatives achieve their career goals, the team at Celarity can’t help but applaud and proclaim, “Bravo!”
