At CareerBuilder, we are focused on people – including how we can connect job seekers and employers, and how the CareerBuilder teams collaborate, despite being located in different cities and time zones. We’ve been growing our network and our teams quickly, and that is all because of the strength of our people, and the leaders within the company.
Michelle Armer, who has been with CareerBuilder for 15 years, has been promoted to the role of Chief People Officer, so we sat down to ask her what she loves about CareerBuilder.
Can you share more about your background? How did you get started at CareerBuilder?
I started with the company around 15 years ago as an HR coordinator when there were around 400 employees. I was primarily working on onboarding tasks and drafting offer letters when I quickly realized that there is so much opportunity to learn and grow within CareerBuilder.
After a promotion at about 6 months, while conducting new hire orientations and exit interviews, I was given more insight into what was and wasn’t working well within our organization. I used that knowledge to analyze the kinks so we could fix them not only for us, but for our wider client network.
I was then given the opportunity to lead employee relations and learned to help both employers and employees during a period of high growth as we expanded to 900 employees. I focused on creating a connection between employees and the company’s purpose to help make everyone’s daily work meaningful to them and to CareerBuilder’s overall mission.
Additionally, this transition gave me a deeper understanding of how I could support clients. I started managing our HR Business Partners to take what we learned at CareerBuilder and put it into action. I made sure that our HR team piloted all of our technologies so we could be early adopters of our own software before sharing it with our client network, which I think has helped put us at the forefront of HR solutions and technology.
Now, I am excited to step into the role of Chief People Officer to continue supporting CareerBuilder’s innovation and focus on not only our people, but our technology.
What are your primary goals as Chief People Officer?
Employee relations was my first passion, and HR technology came soon after that. With these passions in mind, as I settle into this new role, I have three initial goals:
- Focus on cohesion and innovation within our organization, especially following our recent acquisition
- Stay at the forefront of industry-leading changes to continue to understand the evolving needs of HR teams so we can help them best utilize our software and solutions
- Build on our strong culture and collaboration by prioritizing the acquisition and development of top talent within CareerBuilder
What are you most excited about at CareerBuilder?
CareerBuilder essentially created this industry, and I am excited about the new features on the app and the integration of AI and other emerging technologies; it’s putting us on the brink of changing the HR tech industry again. From my perspective, the industry has become so disparate, but through our Hello to Hire™ solutions, we’ve created the tools HR and business professionals need to do their jobs better, backed by the technology to streamline everything along the way.
Beyond our tech innovation, I love CareerBuilder’s focus on diversity and inclusion. We have a more diverse executive team than many other companies of our size. I think our actions will help inspire our clients and others to do the same.
What do you love most about working here?
CareerBuilder has given me unparalleled opportunities for growth. I started with an entry-level position 15 years ago, and since then have assumed many different roles within the company. CareerBuilder leaders also encouraged me to get my MBA, which helped me to translate my knowledge of HR with business strategy and advance my own career development.
What is your life like outside of the office?
I have a five-year-old daughter, and I love to read, run, boat and swim. I started a book club in my community, which I am very involved in. Another fun fact is that my husband is a DJ, so our family enjoys all types of music.
