Employee Spotlight – Allison Manning

Tell us a little about yourself
I was raised in the Boston area, and relocated to North Carolina 8 years ago. I worked in higher education for over 13 years, overseeing Career Services departments for graduate programs, before I made a career change into Recruiting 2 years ago. I just celebrated my 8 year wedding anniversary with my husband, and we have two beautiful daughters and one amazing dog. I love Starbucks, relaxing at the beach, discussing anything to do with pop culture, and entertaining family and friends in my home.

How has your career grown since starting at Marcum Search?
Though Marcum wasn’t my first recruiting role, it’s certainly has given me more exposure to the many aspects of recruiting – both in front and behind the scenes. It has helped me provide better service to clients and candidates. I appreciate the many resources we have at our disposal in order to do our job, and love working with this team.

My favorite quote is
“Baby we’ll be fine, all we have to do is be brave and be kind.”

Three words to describe myself
Compassionate, Hardworking, and Open-minded.

My perfect day is
Not having a schedule or anywhere to be. It likely would involve going to the beach, enjoying sunshine, a good book and spending quality time with the people I love the most in the world.

Advice for my 16 year old self
Don’t put pressure on yourself to figure everything out now. Enjoy the journey and different phases of life, don’t rush it.

Number 1 on my bucket list
Explore the continent of Africa, so many beautiful countries to see.

The person who had the biggest impact on my life is
My husband. He is incredibly supportive, encouraging and helps me view things from a different perspective. Good people bring out the good in people, and he has done that for me.

In my career I am most proud of
I have had the opportunity to teach a few leadership courses in Spain on behalf of MIT a few years ago. I worked very hard to get the opportunity to do it, and was a big step outside my comfort zone. It stretched me professionally and personally, and in the end allowed me to grow tremendously and meet many wonderful people.

A funny or memorable experience from your career or personal life?
About 11 years ago, I danced on stage at the Jimmy Fallon late night show (before his current show) while the singer Nelly Furtado performed. I was in NYC for a work trip, and had some free time so went to a taping of the show. I was plucked from the audience, and happened to be sitting next to a famous Finnish actor named Riku Nieminen (I had no idea who he was!) who joined me and a few others on stage. It was fun, a little embarrassing, but a very random but cool experience.