Executive Recruiting Around The Globe for Google
by Elliott May '06
If you were to Google the word “success”, you might come across the story of
Caroline Horn ’92. With nearly 10 years of experience working in the field of
executive recruiting, Caroline has spent the last two years rising among the
ranks at Google as a staff recruiter. But ‘recruiting’ isn’t exactly something
Dartmouth has a major for and as Caroline relates, there have been more than a
few twists in the 14 years since she left Hanover.
“There’s no direct path,” she laughs. “I was an anthropology major and
minored in religion at Dartmouth… a good liberal arts major, and I actually
wanted to be a photographer. My dream was to work for National Geographic when
I graduated.” In pursuit of this goal, Caroline spent two of her off-terms
interning with two professional photographers, and she also worked for the
Dartmouth Alumni Magazine her junior and senior years. These experiences were
valuable, she says, because they showed her what it meant to be a professional
photographer. “I got a sense of what it would be like to work at a magazine and
work as a photographer. It really helped me to figure out early enough so that
I didn’t spend five years of my career as a photographer only to realize it
wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to keep it as a hobby and find another
path.”
That new path led Caroline to New York City after graduation where she took
a job in marketing and sales with Clearpool, Inc. “It was a great experience.
No matter what you do, you’re constantly selling your ideas or selling
colleagues to get involved in projects with you. Sales isn’t something you
really learn in school but it’s a really good skill.”
The position was also a good find because it led Caroline to the vocation
that’s since become her real passion: executive search. In her five years with
Clearpool, the most important assignment Caroline received turned out to be
providing marketing research for the firm hired to search out an executive for
her own company. In closely working with the search firm, she became more and
more interested in what they were doing. And when the time came to switch
careers, Caroline’s destination was clear.
“I do really love executive search,” Caroline says. “You get to talk to
really interesting people every day, you get to learn about different
businesses, and you get to understand different markets.”
Working in executive search has also meant a great deal of international
work, something that has happily remained true since Caroline began working
with Google two years ago. “Google’s growing by leaps and bounds, and there are
so many different opportunities. I enjoy what I’m doing a lot right now because
I’m helping the company expand into different countries. I’ve had opportunities
to go over to other countries to work for six months or a year if want to.
Right now I’m leading a team that’s spread out over eight countries so I do get
a chance to travel a lot, and for now that’s keeping me pretty busy. But if I
really wanted to move to a different country and start a new office, I’d have
that chance, too.”
Caroline’s passion for working across borders dates back to another
off-term, her Semester at Sea. “We stopped in ten different countries and
learned a lot about different cultures, and that’s really where I developed my
passion for anthropology. I do believe studying anthropology has helped me
because I am aware of how cultural differences impact somebody’s communication
style, the way they look for jobs, and the ways they interact with their own
colleagues. So even though it wasn’t a direct path, it was definitely a good
background.”
Caroline credits that background in anthropology and her decision to stick
with her interest in international business with getting her to where she is
today. When asked what she thinks current undergrads might take away from her
own experience, Caroline suggests simply “following what you’re passionate
about. Don’t worry so much about whether this is going to get me a job at
Goldman Sachs or BCG or wherever. Do what you’re really interested in and
you’ll wind up learning a lot more than you would doing something you don’t
really like.”
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