Orlando Woman Gives Birth to Two Feathered Babies!

Just when I thought Kforce couldn’t give me anything more, I was completely surprised. About a month ago, Kforce made me a mom…in a very unusual sense of the word.

That’s right, a mom…to Carl Dunn and Jordana Valle, my little baby technical recruiting birds.

Tweet. Tweet.

To most of you, it is no secret I am in the process of moving to California to embark on a crazy (and exciting!) journey with our San Francisco office. (To the rest of you, get with it.) Because of this, our Orlando team was in desperate needs of some new, insanely good recruiters. There was a lot of fretting, lost sleep and appetites because my greatness is very hard to replicate. There were even rumors that Big Brother was toying with the idea of closing Kforce all together; after all, what is Kforce Orlando Tech without Megan “Hoppy” Hopkins? Fortunately, they recognized that it was very shortsighted to throw the baby out with the bath water and instead, focused their efforts on finding someone almost as impressive as me. After scouring the world (or just Orlando) and interviewing countless people…they succeeded in finding some awesome talent…and that awesomeness came in the form of 5’7” (3/4) Carl Dunn (who, you don’t know, but…) and Kforce’s own OnStaff rock star, Jordana Valle.

At first, I was overwhelmed at the idea “training” anyone. (Ok, who am I kidding? I loved it. Not only am I a great recruiter, I’m an even better bosser-arounder.) The idea of molding them into the technical recruiters they needed to be was intimidating; everything I did they would mimic and I was going to greatly affect their moral compass and help them become responsible recruiting adults. If I said a foul word, I was afraid they’d pick it up, too. If I lashed out and hit a candidate, would they do the same? Was spanking appropriate? Lord help them. (No, seriously…Lord, help them.)

Fortunately, after about a week I realized these two fledglings had a pretty good understanding of recruiting and they were going to mature just fine. There were a few times where I had to help young Carl fly straight, but for the most part, he was dying to jump face first out of the nest and get recruiting. I even had the pleasure of being around for his first word, (“mythology” and his first sentence, “My name is Carl Dunn. You don’t know me but…”). Being a mother was definitely proving to be a very rewarding experience.

As time progressed, things got better and better. My two birdies grew stronger and wiser…until finally….

…the time came. I had to stop feeding them worms in the form of great candidates, contacts, and unknown technical knowledge and let them leave the nest.

That time was today, folks, at 2:34pm, when I left the Orlando Kforce office (after 3 years!) and hit the road for the airport…and San Francisco. Though I will miss my two feathered young, I know they will do great and will make their mama proud.

…Ok, enough weirdness.

In all seriousness, today was my last day in the Kforce Orlando office and I have turned over the recruiting reigns to Carl Dunn and Jordana Valle. Though both are new to the Kforce Technology team, they have been recruiting for years and anyone that works with them is in GREAT hands.

Carl Dunn joined Kforce about a month or so ago and can be reached at cdunn@kforce.com. He is a wealth of technical knowledge (just ask him...) and is equally as street savvy. He enjoys horseback riding, fly fishing, Indian food, Greek mythology, and classical music. Rumor has it that he is plays the harp in his spare time but that has yet to be verified.

Jordana Valle has been with Kforce for over three years and has experience recruiting everything under the sun. She can be reached at jvalle@kforce.com and is anxiously awaiting your correspondence. She has a great nose (for food…and BS) and is a great recruiter to have in your corner. In Jordana’s spare time, she enjoys classic literature (she is an old soul), day trips to Disney, hiking, children, and has a particular interest in telecom.