Renata Dionello, originally from Brazil, moved to England along with her parents where she attended Oxford for her undergraduate studies. Following graduation, Dionello began her professional journey as a strategic consultant with Boston Consulting Group in London. After getting a taste of the corporate world, Dionello decided it was time to hone her skills, so she applied to Harvard’s MBA program, made the trek across the pond, and hasn’t looked back since. 

Now the Chief People Officer for ZipRecruiter, a leading online employment marketplace that connects millions of job seekers with companies of all sizes, Dionello is laser focused on helping her team achieve their dreams while fostering a meaningful and rewarding workplace environment. 

Following her studies in Cambridge, Dionello joined The Walt Disney Company’s corporate strategic planning team. As the tech scene in LA continued to blossom, Dionello wanted in on the fast-paced, entrepreneurial world of tech where she could put her business skills to test. She worked at a variety of startups in LA before heading north to Silicon Valley where she worked for almost 15 years leading strategic initiatives and corporate development teams at eBay, PayPal, and PlayStation. Through her time scaling these large organizations, it was the people that inspired her, that motivated her, and that rewarded her most. Just as she began pondering her next professional endeavor, she got a call from the CEO of ZipRecruiter. 

“It was very fortuitous timing. So far, this chapter of my career has been amazing. I love the role I play in executing and scaling our HR organization. It has always been about the people for me,” said Dionello. 

The Field of HR is a Blend of Business Strategies 

Design thinking paves way for career planning. Business strategies are all about building teams, coaching, counseling, developing ideas, and advising senior people. And this is what you do when in Human Resources, as most business activities are interlinked. HR people are more like business people in the sense that they are extracting resources to further their business. The impact of business activities is closely related to how you strategize your business and operations. It not only enhances the business’s credibility, but also helps in making better decisions.

The Shift in HR Trends – Talent Acquisition and Business Progression 

The field of HR has seen tremendous progress in the last 20 years. While retaining talent, companies are now focusing more on talent acquisition and how the talent is going to bring value into the business and broader organization. 

As Dionello said, “Invest in your business through people. It is in the people that an organization typically puts its largest portion of resources and capital — it is a huge investment. This is a kind of evolution experience which is part of every business journey.”

People now look for expert opinions and decisions to devise an impactful strategy. This is one of the biggest changes in the field that people are now shifting their thought processes and looking towards their executives as strategic partners and thinking about business holistically. This helps the executives to be more like functional leaders, truly understanding their business activities. 

Evolution Between Critical Culture and Central Culture 

As we have seen in recent years, the talent market is extremely competitive. People in their recruiting process ask about the company’s culture. The process of HR is not only about retaining, attracting, or optimizing performance. It is more about what people are willing to bring to the organization.

When Dionello joined ZipRecruiter, she completed a listening tour. Everyone loved the company, but when it came to describing the culture, most explained it differently. To attain a consistent message, Dionello and her team conducted an exercise where they asked employees to identify the values that are a core part of the organization’s culture. 

“We got a list of people that mentioned the behavior and cultural definition of the people. And that definition helped us to bring three values under the umbrella of our company culture. The first was excellence without ego. People are always working hard and striving for excellence. And while striving, they don’t bring ego but collaboration to the table.”

Other values that employees emphasized should be part of the culture was being fearless and innovative builders and having a sense of ownership. Dionello feels: 

“People must not be afraid of being innovative. They should strive to solve problems and work on new solutions while being innovative.” The third value is a sense of ownership. “Not everyone wants to take credit for the things they are doing to grow their business. But ownership is one of the key things that we consider the DNA of our company.”

There are so many things that are special about the culture of an organization and you do not feel it until you are part of it. Consistency is the key to adding an impact and constantly amplifying and building connections with a company’s values. 

Although Dionello joined ZipRecruiter during a pandemic, most of the recruiting process was done by Zoom. Still, she found the staff highly collaborative, friendly, and helpful. Helpfulness and friendliness are two things that truly resonate when it comes to the culture of a company. 

Migration Towards Mission-Driven Career Options 

Evident lately, the younger generation seems to be more inclined towards meaningful careers. They have mission-driven goals that are only realized if they are satisfied with their job. One of the best ways to retain employees is to occasionally ask them why they love the company, and why they are interested in the company. When it comes to mission-driven options Dionello feels that:

“Your mission is something that people are passionate about and most of the time it is about helping people. We try to help people realize their dream jobs by providing them with a great user experience, acting as their very own personal recruiter, and ultimately connecting them to their next great opportunity.”

How Transformation Steers the Organization in the Right Direction 

“Training and onboarding are two things that transform an organization’s culture and help employees better understand how things are done. Besides onboarding, continuous feedback is another pillar of our culture that keeps the company heading in the right direction,” added Dionello

Organizations are always prone to change, and this perspective adds value to the company’s culture. The obvious fast growth activities in an organization are unique stressors that calls for bringing more people to the organization to meet the business needs. This not only helps organizations fulfill their commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity but also aligns with their culture. Transformation helps companies meet the rapid growth demand of business as well as protect the core base of employee experience.

Conclusion 

If any lessons can be learned by Dionello and her team, it would be to always encourage managers to talk to their employees, listen to them, and tell them how their work adds value to the organization. Create a culture of communication and make employees feel comfortable that their opinion is shared with trust. 

Moreover, take feedback from employees at every opportunity and make it a habit. Always make sure that new entrants and existing employees make feedback a part of the culture to easily get through situations. Dionello has helped shape and mold an inclusive and attractive workplace culture at ZipRecruiter that is sure to continue to attract top talent for years to come.