“Since finishing my graduate program in Sociology, I have been in San Francisco working at tech startups.
“Currently, I work as Reflektive’s Head of Talent. Reflektive is an HR Software coined as a “Talent Development Platform for the World’s Best Places to Work”.
“The San Francisco tech scene attracts people from every walk of life and at every corner of the world.
“My job is to listen to people and hear their stories, which is what I have always loved to do.
“Making a career change is a pretty scary thing, so I do get to act as counsel and form strong bonds with people I am bringing onto my team.
“I also get a lot of control over who is joining and I always make sure a “good human” quality is checked for every new hire joining. You can be the most renowned, in-demand Software Engineer in the world, but if you haven’t demonstrated integrity and being a great team-player, you can work at a million other places. It just will not be here. I am 100% confident this has resulted in having unusually high employee retention rates and phenomenal “employee satisfaction” scores.
Michael Deayala graduated from Ohio University in in 2013 with a master’s degree in Sociology from the College of Arts and Sciences after completing his bachelor’s degree in Specialized Studies, minor in Sociology and a certificate in Women & Gender Studies in 2011.
“I joined Reflektive at 25 employees. Our company got a major Series-A round of investment for $13M and, with that, we are scaling our company to 60 employees this year across every department.
“I find talent in the most competitive market there is.
“I am essentially a Reflektive brand ambassador and my product is the team, culture, and career opportunity that Reflektive can offer.
“Prior to Reflektive, I scaled a company, MemSQL, from 30 to 75 employees. Prior to that, MuleSoft, from 120 to over 600 employees… that company is about to go public.
Is it what I wanted to do as a student?
“No!
“I don’t think I had ever heard of recruitment.
“I wanted to be a Professor of Sociology… and still may go down that path one day.
“After graduate school, I wanted to gain experience in the private sector.
“Being a forward thinking idealist, the logical place was the innovative world of technology. I moved to San Francisco without a job and slept on a friend’s couch for a month, while I searched for work.
“I fell into recruiting.
“I believe this happened because of my interest in societal behavior, people and culture.
“In my work today, I have a direct impact building teams and constructing enticing, fun, collaborative and cohesive environments.
“Three out of three of my companies have been awarded “Top Workplace” and/or “Best Places to Work” awards. I can honestly say I love what I do and that I attribute my success to my graduate school learnings and work ethic.
“In addition, I think any Bobcat has a cool and fun demeanor that attracts good people.
“It still surprises me to this day how I got to where I am.
“I think it’s a mix of risk and putting yourself in uncomfortable situations, hard work, and luck to get what you want.
“Hard work is the most important. I worked longer and harder than anyone else on my team and I always stayed positive, hopeful and stuck to my values.
“I really learned who I am at Ohio University.”
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