Name: Jamie Dobert
Astrological Sign: Cancer
Year Joined Major, Lindsey & Africa: 2016
What attracted you to Major, Lindsey & Africa?
The people! Both our MLA team and our candidates – they are simply the best!
What is the best part of your job?
Helping others advance, shift or pivot their careers to something they had always hoped it would be. There is nothing better than helping someone achieve their dreams – either by getting their foot in the door with their dream organization; elevating their title, skills, status to the next level; building out their current team and finding the support they need for their team to thrive; finding someone to trust and cover their desk so that they may take a sabbatical/leave and recharge comfortably; establishing pay equity; pivoting their career to in-house/firm or a different area of practice; or a locating a role that allows them the work-life balance/flexibility they need to succeed.
What is the most surprising part of being a recruiter?
How, over time, most of your candidates become your friends. You become so invested in their story and success it is hard not to continue the journey beyond a placement.
How would you describe your career in 5 words or less?
Rewarding, fulfilling, sociable, exacting, matchmaking
Describe one of your successes thus far at Major, Lindsey & Africa.
Helping a junior candidate obtain an offer at an elite investment agency that elevated her skills, her title and increased her compensation 150% (up to market and pay equity standards). This one placement changed how she saw and valued herself as both a person and employee which, in turn, shifted not only her professional trajectory but her personal one as well.
What advice would you give to someone considering becoming a recruiter?
You must love helping others. Recruiting is exacting and not without challenges. There are people who will pleasantly surprise you and those who will let you down. You need to want to keep going and see the big picture—helping others make the right career moves will help change their lives (professional and personal) for the better. It is a long game, and you need to be motivated by the right reasons. If you are, the relationships you make will be real, genuine and will stick with you your entre recruiting career.
If you weren’t a lawyer or a recruiter, what career would you have had?
Great questions and I am not sure. I feel like this is the perfect fit for me. If I had to say, maybe event planning? I love bringing people together and watching them all have a great time. So, planning fun events where everyone can simply just enjoy life and be together in the moment would be something I could see myself enjoying.
A therapist might be another option as I often feel a portion of our roles as recruiters is to listen to what is not going well in someone’s life and helping them figure out how to correct that or steer them in the right direction.
What is on your bucket list?
To travel more – I would love to see more of the world. I truly love history and love to see the places I read about in person, when I can.
