PBN 2021 Business Women Awards
Professional Services Woman to Watch: Melissa Shaw, Shaw Search Partners LLC
Melissa Shaw describes her recruitment consulting business, Shaw Search Partners LLC, as a “one-woman show.”
“I make every single decision, oftentimes within a split second,” she said.
Shaw’s personalized, high-touch service has helped set her East Greenwich-based business apart since she founded it in 2010.
Focusing on positions related to marketing, creative, advertising and media, Shaw has provided recruitment expertise for companies such as CVS Health Corp., Fidelity Investments Inc., Hasbro Inc. and Swarovski Optik North America Ltd.
Corporations with in-house recruiting teams might reach out to Shaw for help with an applicant search for various reasons. They might need help finding someone with a unique skill set for an especially difficult role to fill, for example, or be seeking a candidate with expertise in Shaw’s focus area: marketing and creative media for retail.
After working as a recruiter for Randstad NV’s Providence branch and then in-house at CVS, Shaw launched the business from her home 11 years ago because she wanted the flexibility to spend more time with her son, an infant at the time.
“I started with one client and worked [tirelessly] to organically grow the business to where it is today,” she said.
Since then, Shaw has recruited and placed more than 150 candidates, “with a particular emphasis on hiring female and diverse employees.”
A typical day for Shaw might include helping a candidate polish her resume, formulating a recruitment strategy with a chief marketing officer and negotiating a job offer.
Playing the role of corporate matchmaker, Shaw focuses on learning as much as she can about the organization and applicants.
“You want to make sure there’s a long-term fit, and it’s not just placing someone in a position that’s going to end in a year,” she said.
To do that, Shaw studies not only the responsibilities and skill requirements of the specific job but also the organization’s culture, structure and mission. On the candidate end, she focuses on having in-depth conversations with applicants about what is most important to them.
“People say all the time, ‘Wow, no one has ever really asked me what is truly important to me in my next role,’ ” she said. “Everyone has different priorities and goals, so understanding them helps us make that perfect match.”
