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April Shepard
Head of Talent Acquisition at Central Garden & Pet
Professional Background
April Shepard is a highly experienced leader in Talent Acquisition and Human Resources, boasting over 15 years of dynamic expertise across various sectors, including technology and retail. In her current role as the Head of Talent Acquisition at Central Garden & Pet, April has been instrumental in executing innovative HR strategies and processes that effectively attract, recruit, and onboard top talent across all business functions. Her commitments extend beyond mere recruitment; she partners with organizational leaders in succession planning, organizational development, and candidate experience enhancement.
Previously, April held impressive positions at Dollar General, where she served as Sr. Director of Executive Recruiting & Employment Branding. During her tenure, she played a pivotal role in shaping the company's talent acquisition strategies, which resulted in significant improvements in hiring processes and employer branding. Her influence was not only felt internally but also resonated in external market positioning, ensuring Dollar General remained competitive in attracting the best candidates in the industry.
Before joining Dollar General, April's career at Culver Careers showcased her abilities in various significant roles, including Regional Vice President and Sr. Managing Director. With a focus on talent acquisition and executive recruiting, she effectively led teams and managed high-stakes recruitment processes, contributing to the growth and success of the organization. April consistently demonstrated her ability to align HR strategies with business objectives, ensuring robust support for all recruitment initiatives.
Education and Achievements
April holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources Management and Services from Capella University, a program renowned for its focus on flexibility and depth in business disciplines. She also studied Business Administration at California State University-Sacramento, further enriching her knowledge base and practical understanding of business operations.
Over the years, April's contribution to the HR field has also been notable in her strategic approach to communication, brand development, and social media engagement, making her an invaluable asset to any organization aiming for excellence in talent management. Her proficiency in enhancing candidate experiences has led to increased interest in organizational roles, demonstrating her innovative perspective on recruiting and employee relations.
Achievements
- Leadership in Talent Acquisition: April's primary achievement lies in her nuanced understanding of aligning talent acquisition efforts with broader business strategies. By leveraging her extensive background, she ensures that the organizations she works with are not only filling positions but are also shaping the narrative of their employer brand.
- Driving Organizational Change: In her roles, April has consistently driven significant organizational change, developing and implementing HR processes that enhance both employee engagement and onboarding experiences, thus fostering an environment of growth and collaboration.
- Commitment to Diversity: April has a proven track record of implementing diversity initiatives in hiring processes, understanding that a diverse workforce is a cornerstone of a vibrant organization. Her strategic foresight in this area reiterates her commitment to progressive HR practices.
- Building Candidate Experience: April’s keen focus on candidate experience contributes to her organizations receiving accolades as desirable places to work. By honing the hiring processes and enhancing candidate interactions, she has significantly improved acceptance rates and overall satisfaction with the recruitment process.
- Influencing Company Branding: Through her work in employment branding—at both Dollar General and Central Garden & Pet—April has successfully positioned her organizations favorably within the market, showcasing their commitment to employees and rich culture, which is critical in today’s competitive job landscape.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
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Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
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