Watch my interview with staffing consultant, Amy Ratnow! [video]
I really enjoyed having Amy come to the VIP Group for Empowered Women of Chicago for an interview on LIVE WITH LIZ about “Empowering Women to Rejoin the Workforce!”
We had a fabulous time chatting about:
💗 working specifically with women after life events like having kids, post divorce, or just transitioning back to the workforce after time off
💗 playing matchmaker between experienced women and the perfect small businesses
💗 highlighting skill sets and offer resume writing courses to build confidence
💗 her mission to advocate for women AND for local small businesses
💗 how her services are FREE for job seekers!
...and lots more!
If you've been out of the workforce and looking for help transitioning back, be sure to watch the full interview about “Empowering Women to Rejoin the Workforce” with the button link below and feel free to reach out to her at ARL Connections!
Interview Auto-Generated Transcript:
me hear me do me a favor and leave a
comment
because sometimes technology doesn't
work and I just always want to know that
it's working so leave me a comment that
you can see me and hear me I'm Liz
Hansen and I'm the owner and
photographer at the Chicago budoir
Photography Studio and if you're new
here I run a budoir studio which is a
Victoria Secret style photo shoot
experience for the everyday woman but I
have this bigger broader mission to
empower women in all areas of their
lives budoir is my business bu but my
mission is to empower women and one of
the things that I do here in this group
is I like to bring on Experts who can
help us learn things about how to feel
more empowered in um our careers our
families our personal lives all kinds of
things so I am super super excited to be
here today with Amy rat now and she's
going to talk to us and I'm just
checking to make sure that we really are
live if you can okay good we are all
right so great so Amy thanks for coming
on and thanks for being here with us
today thank you for having me hello
everyone you bet okay so Amy runs ALR
connections which is a staffing company
but your staffing company is different
than other HR firms or staffing
companies that people might have heard
of tell us a little bit about what you
and your company
does thank you yes so I definitely say
that we are employee matchmakers we are
not recruiters we really work with our
small businesses who have no time and
energy to hire and we work with women
who are looking to get back into the
workforce so we definitely are very
different because we are authentic we
care we're not transactional and we're
all about relationship based I love that
okay so you said two things that I find
really interesting number one you work
with small businesses and small firms to
help them hire um and I'd love to hear
about that and then you also help women
who are looking to get back into the
workforce and I want to hear about that
so first tell me about the small
business small firm aspect of what you
do so what I realized was there's a lot
of small businesses that don't have the
time they don't have the energy they
don't have the resources to know how to
hire and so what they do is they go on
indeed or LinkedIn and it's horrible and
it's a nightmare and they get a big
headache and they're miserable and
they're not spending the time to focus
on what they're supposed to be doing
which is their business and all they
need to do is hire and so we come in and
alleviate that stress we help with the
job description we help vetting we help
with interviewing marketing we do
everything so that they don't have to
worry about the hiring process all we do
is bring them amazing candidates that
are ready to work so we just make it
easy for them yeah if you're if you're
listening to this if you're watching it
live or on replay and you run a small
business or a small firm leave me a
comment I'd love to hear have you tried
to hire have you had a hiring um
nightmare situation has it been easy for
you has been hard for you I'd love to
hear your comments about this because
what Amy just said I think is really
true that a lot of small businesses need
to be focused on their business and they
don't have the time the resources or
frankly the expertise to do a really
good job at hiring right so what kinds
what kinds of firm small businesses and
firms do you work with we love well
first of all we love women owned
companies that's our number one favorite
Jam so if you're a women business owner
call us we love working with you you
understand send us but really law firms
doctor firms um Financial firms
insurance companies design firms
manufacturing anything honestly that has
little or to no HR department and you're
looking to hire an administrative
assistant and office manager a
bookkeeper a marketing assistant a
patient lison those type of roles yeah I
love that you focus on women-owned
businesses and that you're working with
small businesses I have found so many
times as a woman-owned small business
owner which I am too that I'm big enough
to need help but too small to really
access some of the bigger Solutions out
there you know and I I find myself Stuck
In The Middle With needing help but I
like I don't have an HR department right
I'm I'm just me right but I do need to
hire or have bookkeeping or marketing or
these kinds of things but I'm not a big
enough organization to really tap into
some like enter price level solution and
even the job description I know it
sounds so easy but a lot of companies
even struggle with what do they need and
how do they find that person so we
really come in and help them understand
their culture and what's missing in
their company and how we can find
someone that can be really the perfect
match it's employee matchmaking like I
said so
um yeah that's so great so now okay so
you have the the businesses who need to
hire and they are small enough that they
don't have an HR department but big
enough that they need to hire talk to me
a little bit about the the people that
you are placing because you said it's
matchmaking so you got to have two
people here so tell me about you said
you work specifically to help women go
back to work tell me about that so we
love to talk to women all women so if
you're a woman and you're just kind of
contemplating or you already have a job
or you don't have a job whatever it is
whatever stage that you are ideally if
you're 35 or 40 and older that's really
our sweet spot we like to work with
women who are experienced women who may
not have the confidence that they once
had maybe they raised their children
maybe they got divorced maybe they
helped a young someone who was sick
someone who's in transition who's
getting back into the workforce so we
like to talk to them we set up an
interview we talk to you we find out
what your goals are what your wants what
your needs what you're actually looking
for and then we help you try to find
what your next step is going to be we do
offer classes for those of you who need
a refreshing course so if you want you
know help with your resume writing if
you need help just learning how to do um
like uh basic computer skills doing the
word documents if you need help with
social media at QuickBooks we have
created online and in-person courses to
help give that confidence back to the
women so that when they do start their
new job they can feel a little bit more
confident in the
workplace okay I'm obsessed with your
mission by the way because I this woman
a so just to get a little personal here
I got married had two little kids and
then I took seven years off to be a St
stay- home mom my youngest daughter I
had some medical issues it was difficult
to find child care that could manage it
and I took seven years off from the
workforce I I was happy to do it I was
grateful to be a stay-at home mom but at
the you know at certain point I wanted
to go back to work and it was really
really hard for me to bridge that
seven-year gap of being out of the
workforce I mean I had a master's degree
I had work experience but then the
seven-year Gap felt like the Grand
Canyon like to get back into work and I
think if you're listening to this live
or recorded put in your in the comments
if this is you if you are resonating
with any of this if this is familiar to
you so um I needed you a few years ago
when I was trying to go back to Damie I
would love to hear like what are some of
the obstacles that women have who have
maybe a gap on their resume about coming
back to work can you tell me like I mean
I know what my obstacles were um but
tell me what you see out there when
you're talking to women I mean this this
whole company and concept came out of a
need because I myself was looking for
the same thing so this I am one of these
people and the two girls who work for me
they are also in the same boat so we
know the struggles and it feels like
when you do take some time off and get
back into the workforce and so that's
why our team is so powerful because we
get it we've been there right and I
think the biggest thing is us just
communicating to small businesses to say
we have these women who are brilliant
they're smart they know how to multitask
they know how to be resourceful and
they're missing out on a whole group of
women who are amazing and wonderful
Dependable employees so really we're
just trying to give the companies the
confidence that they can feel good about
bringing somebody into their office and
then also having the woman feel good
about it's just like I said it's
matchmaking between the two and um a lot
of women feel because they took time off
that they don't know where to begin and
that's where we come in and help them
with the resume help them look at all
the things that they've done in that Gap
time to kind of bridge that Gap to show
the skills that they can do to really
shine in their next job because even if
you're not actually working for someone
you're still living and you're still
functioning as a person right sometimes
you might be volunteering or sometimes
you might be helping and there's always
skills that we have that are very
important for you to really pay
attention to and use to your advantage
so we help identify what those skill
sets are so that you can present
yourself to a new employer in that way
yeah I would love if you're willing Amy
to share with us like an example of
someone that um was looking for a job
tell us a little bit maybe about her
back obviously don't share anything
confidential or anything but just a
little bit about her background and what
she was looking for and then what kind
of a job were you able to place her with
even though she maybe initially thought
oh I have this gap on my resume that's
you know insurmountable or something I
wonder if you can share with us a story
from your business so I will say you
know the reason why we're called ALR
connections is because connections is
what it's all about it's who we know
it's who our relationships are so we try
to network with as many people as we can
who understand what our mission is so
for example we had a woman that came to
us her husband just passed away she was
working as a hairdresser out of her home
and she needed a full-time job with
insurance like she couldn't just be a
hairdresser anymore she needed to
support her children and so she was
telling us that she was helping her
husband in his construction business
while he had one and so we're like oh we
started thinking about it so then we
realized wait we we know someone who
owns a construction business why don't
we call the construction business and
say hey would you be willing to hire
this person and then we sold our
candidate so a lot of times we do that
type of matchmaking where it's just
understanding who our clients are and
who our candidates are and just trying
to make the perfect matches so that's
why we love to talk to as many people as
possible so that we can really do it's
almost like a Teter skate you know
figuring out like who goes with who so
we just like to make those matches but
we just you know we try to figure out
what women were good at and then have
them repurpose it into a new opportunity
and the best part about a lot of our
clients are that they're actually
growing too so sometimes they only want
someone to come in as a part-time role
and then it kind of works in that way
where they're starting out getting their
feet wet on both sides and then they can
grow together so as the company's
growing the person grows and they kind
of grow together and what I've learned
in small business is that the hiring is
so important it means so much to the
people to the companies so it just it's
an all good really yummy warm feeling
when both people you know we make that
match because it's making a difference
in the woman's life and also in the
client's life so it's really
lifechanging on both sides and for us at
ALR that's what's all about is really
our mission to support and be an
advocate for women and also for small
businesses that need our local support
so it's just it's one of those things
that really just feel good all around
when you can make a match that's amazing
something that struck me from that story
that you just shared this woman um so
she'd been a hairdresser and then kind
of off the cuff she's like oh yeah I did
some work for my husband's construction
company she maybe didn't value her that
experience as much as she could have so
what did you do to kind of like resume
prep whatever to make that like I kind
of worked in my husband's Construction
Company sometimes into an actual like
how did you help her package that so
that when she went to the interview she
could just I'm imagining you can't walk
into an interview and be like I don't
know sometimes I worked for my husband
right and that's that's part of what we
do is when we talk to you we also have
these courses that help with the resume
writing that you can sign up and and
learn about all of this but we ask all
the questions we find out all of your
skills and then we put those back into
the resume to really do a storytelling I
mean that's what a resume is is it's a
story of your life and what you have to
offer and it's just so important as
women that we do use our resources to
figure out what can we use to shine in
our next position a lot of the things
that we can do can be transferable at a
lot of different opportunities so we
can't ever sell ourselves short because
a lot of the things that we think don't
mean anything are so meaningful to other
people so I think it's just knowing what
your strengths are and who you are is
the most important part of this process
first to identify who you are and what
you can bring to the table because
everyone has gifts everyone has a light
and you have to really figure out what
is that so that you can be the best
employee at the the job that they're
trying to hire yeah for sure yeah so Amy
in every industry I especially in mine
as a photographer I found that there's
like some common myths or misconceptions
out there about how things work or um
are there any um common myths or
misconceptions for you in the either the
hiring side or the job hunting side of
this that you hear like over and over I
do think that right now it's a crazy
time in the industry I don't think
there's any consistency whatsoever I
think that you know depending on where
you want to work and who you want to
work for it there's the the salary the
hours everything is kind of all over the
board so I think it's more important for
you to be an advocate for yourself I
think if I could give anybody any tips
and tools you need to really advocate
for yourself you have to believe in if
you want someone else to believe in you
but as far as my I mean we are The
Gatekeepers but at the end of the day
there's nothing that's going on that
we're we really want to help people you
know and that's I think sometimes they
think that recruiter we don't like to
call ourselves recruiters because we
don't recruit we don't use LinkedIn
recruiter tool we really are about
relationship building and creating a
community of women so that when the time
is right we can make the match so it's
really about timing and putting yourself
out there and being an advocate so that
when you are already that you can be
available for the opportunity but I
don't really I'm not sure if there's any
major miss one thing that I thought
before I talked to you was that this was
an expensive thing that a job Seeker had
to pay for and it's free yeah so this is
this is a surprise to me to find out
that your services are free for job
Seekers would you be willing to is a
free service our client so that's the
biggest part about all this is that our
clients pay us to find them the perfect
candidates so yes we do have to be very
choosy about who we're picking to
present but it's it's a free service so
that's why we love to talk to women at
any stage of their life so that they can
be a part of our community and then when
they see an opportunity that we post on
our website then they can be like Oh I'm
interested in that and reach out to us
and say hey can you tell me more about
that opportunity I would love to learn
more just about being an advocate and
being in the right place at the right
time and you know looking for the things
that you want in life so great and one
of the cool things that we're offering
you is a discount on some of Amy's
courses so we're going to leave the URL
in the comments here Amy talk to us a
little bit about the courses you're
offering and there's going to be a
discount that's available on these
courses through the end of today so if
you want to grab these yeah tell us tell
us about the courses Amy no all I was
gonna say is what we realized that as we
were you know starting I started this
seven years ago and as I
realized there's a lot of women who when
they took their time off they didn't
feel confident in their computer skills
or just working in a work environment so
for example we're doing a diyi resume
LinkedIn basic class so it's just the
basics of learning how to do a resume
how to search on LinkedIn we're doing a
class on Microsoft Suite in Google doc
so if you don't know how to use the
Google Drive and Microsoft Office again
a refresher on that and then
professional development what does it
mean to be a professional in in the
world today some people feel also that
they don't even know they've been out of
the work for so long that they're scared
and they're nervous so these classes are
just created to give again confidence to
women make them feel like they can start
fresh and feel good about themselves
with a little bit of knowledge before
they enter into the workforce I love
that um I feel like that it's it's so
taking the course of course you're going
to learn some things but then having the
confidence going into an interview
saying yeah I'm up to speed that's
really where this value I think will
come because um being able to speak
authentically about your skills because
you know you've taken the course is
going to like carry you through the
interview I I believe right absolutely
yes so Amy you're a small business owner
yourself um because you run this firm
I'd love to hear like what keeps you
motivated doing this work even when it's
because be let's be honest being a small
business owner is not always easy takes
a lot of grit a lot of time I think a
lot of people if you haven't owned a
small business you may not know that
like running a small business can be
hard it can be challenging so what keeps
you motivated running your own small
business when you run into obstacles or
things get hard I think because this was
me I'm so passionate about it I I feel
that there are so many women who are out
there that are phenomenal and my mission
and my goal is to really before Co
happened I was going into companies
explaining to them that I had all these
women who are so amazing and they needed
flexibility and flexibility was so
important to them because they wanted to
be my or they had other things in their
life like taking care of an elder
something else that was not allowing
them to be a full-time employee and it
just killed me inside that that
companies were not open to these quality
employees right and so it has become my
mission to really educate companies on
who we have and what they're capable of
and then Co happened and then hybrid
happened and flexibility happened and
remote happened so then it became much
easier for me to sell what I was trying
to do right so I'm just super super
passionate I have a whole database full
of all these amazing women who want to
work and I just want to find them a home
it just it means so much to us at ALR
when we make that match it's the best
feeling in the world because we do we
are changing lives and so for me it's
just knowing
that the people you know it's just
really helping the women out there and
as a mother and as a woman I went
through these struggles I know what it
feels like so I'm just campaigning and
advocating for women who were in the
same boat as I was so that's what keeps
me up and that what keeps me going
because it's something that I truly
believe in I'm passionate about and I
really want to make a difference I want
to change the world the way that
companies look at hiring especially
women and moms I think it's so crazy to
me that an OBGYN can be on call and give
a you know and do a job share and give
someone deliver somebody else's baby but
yet we can't do a job share with an
admin job so it is my vision and my
passion to try to find Opportunities
where we can get women back into the
workforce force and working on a
flexible time period and um just feeling
good about themselves so I love
technology yeah and I think with
technology we can do that now and that's
what technology has has been made for is
to allow us to be able to work remotely
and to have the hybrid approach and so
that is just my goal is to bridge that
Gap the pandemic was terrible not gonna
um lie not gonna sugarcoat that but one
thing that was a real upside of the
pandemic is that we all figured out how
to use zoom and that remote work was
possible and that like maybe we could do
things in a little bit of a different
way um I myself have some employees who
are remote I never meet them but we do
everything remote and it's you're
efficient you're efficient you get it
done you know and that's like that is
the power and I think if you're a smart
leader and you know how to lead it can
happen and it just takes people being
open and understanding and then having
trust and I think you know all of the
clients that we've had are people that
trust us and believe that we're going to
bring them an amazing person so if they
trust and believe that they can feel
good that the work is going to get done
then they can feel better about doing
their work so it's just about being open
to trusting people and understanding
that we got your back and we have good
people and it's going to work you know I
love your mission from both ends because
I I can see it from both because I am a
small business owner as well I love your
mission of helping small business owners
find employees which is a hard thing to
do and I'm also a mom that took a long
break and wanted to go back in the work
Workforce so I see that side of it as
well so I'm just like all in on your
mission Amy I've already sent you
several people to talk to and I'm just
so excited hope that it makes a match um
and hope that that works out so um
thanks for coming on today our final
question that we we ask everyone um one
of these two questions at the end of the
interview and so I'd like to ask you
what does it mean to you in this day and
age today to be an empowered woman what
does that what does that mean to you
well I have to say you know I was raised
to stay home and raise my children I was
not raised to work and there was always
something inside of me that wanted more
I wanted more I didn't want to just be a
stay-at home mom I love my children I
love but I felt like while they were at
school I had so much to give and so for
me I felt like I had to empower myself
to to strive above what everybody else
that I couldn't do and really change the
course of what I was supposed to be you
know and so I just feel very empowered
to be able to have this company and
Empower other women and that is my goal
is that we can work and raise our kids
we can have our identity outside of just
being a mother you know and that's
something that I feel is that it drives
me every day is that I'm able to empower
other women to get back into the
workforce and feel that they're just not
identified by being a mother but they're
also identified by who they are and what
they're doing and their everything else
you know I think so much of us as women
is identified about you know in such a
way that I just feel feels good to be a
leader in this industry and have other
women want to work and be their best
selves and look within themselves to see
what are their capabilities what can
they do outside of what they were maybe
told they were supposed to do I mean
like I you talk it just it like
resonates with me so deeply because I
also was raised in a family and a
community that really um emphasized that
my not only with motherhood and and
raising children important which I
believe it's important I'm enjoying it
but that that was my only um path only
way to go it's my only purpose and while
I do love my children I love the time I
spend away from them I I too just like
you described felt the need to do
something a little bit more a little bit
bigger and
um so I love that you are you have
channeled that feeling into a small
business and so I love that so thank you
thank you so much for coming on today
and sharing uh with you again if you are
a small business owner and looking to
hire I'm going to leave Amy's contact
information below so that you can get in
touch with her because she makes the
process the matchmaking process happen
for you and if you are a woman and
you're a job Seeker she'd also love to
hear from you and um we have that
discount on the courses as well which I
will leave in the comments um which the
discount will be available only until
the end of today today is October 1st
can you believe it we're already in
October um so grab those discounts today
before those expire if you're listening
to this on record a couple couple days
later the the discount will expire but
still get in touch with Amy if you're a
job Seeker so um I'm just Liz I just Liz
I just want to say you are amazing and
what you do and the fact that you have
this great website where you're
empowering women and really engaging
with them and we all need I feel we're
stronger when we're together and when we
Empower each other and help each other
and lift each other up and I have
learned in this world that there are
women who are there to support each
other and their ones who aren the ones
who are are just Champions and so I just
really want to say kudos to you to what
you're doing and you're really making a
difference in a lot of people's lives so
thank you for having this platform and
doing what you're doing even the the
photos you know just empowering women to
feel good in their bodies is so amazing
so I just want to say thank you for your
work as well because it is really
inspiring and wonderful oh that's so
nice Amy I appreciate it you know it's
so interesting when I talk to women like
you Amy I feel like we're we're trying
to do the same work we just do come
about it different ways you're trying to
help women find jobs and companies hire
hire great women and I'm trying to help
women feel conf empowered through
beautiful photographs but we really have
the same Mission uh just a totally
different obviously business models but
um I love connecting with women like you
as well so all of you that are listening
here if you're watching live on replay
like thanks for being here and part of
this group this Facebook group is my
favorite place to hang out um invite
your friends to join us too um the more
the marrier is what we're doing this
whole week is the more the marrier so
invite your friends we're going to be
giving away a bunch of prizes and stuff
so more information below of course so
if we we could stay all day and talking
me but thanks for coming on and thanks
everyone for listening and we'll see you
guys next time thank you
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