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Cheryl Probert
President - Big Sky Recruitment Consulting, Top Recruiter Nominee 2020
Professional Background
Cheryl Probert is a dynamic and accomplished professional in the field of recruitment and talent acquisition. As the Founder and President of Big Sky Recruitment Consulting, she has established a reputation for her high energy, enthusiasm, and a unique ability to bring levity into the very serious business of recruitment. With a wealth of experience in corporate recruitment across a variety of industries, Cheryl has honed her skills to identify the best possible talent for each role she recruits for. Her commitment to applying best practices ensures that she provides a high-touch, positive experience for both clients and candidates alike. Cheryl's passion lies in connecting people to one another and facilitating opportunities for growth and professional development.
Beginning her career in recruitment at the grassroots level, Cheryl has built an impressive portfolio of roles that showcase her versatility and deep understanding of human resources and talent acquisition. She has worked with numerous organizations where her roles have included recruitment specialist, manager of talent acquisition, and recruitment consultant. Her diverse experience has furnished her with insight into the complexities of recruitment across sectors, making her an invaluable resource for businesses seeking to enhance their hiring strategies.
Education and Achievements
Cheryl's educational background lays a solid foundation for her career in recruitment. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in German Language & Literature from Mount Allison University, where she developed critical thinking and communication skills that have served her well in her professional life. Beyond her undergraduate degree, Cheryl has continued to invest in her education by completing various programs that emphasize the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. She has studied Intercultural Competencies for Leaders through a structured certificate program at Bow Valley College, equipping her with intercultural communication skills that are essential in today’s diverse work environment.
Additionally, Cheryl has taken steps to deepen her knowledge of employer branding in talent acquisition by participating in courses from Udemy Academy, taught by esteemed instructor Phillip Strazzulla. These educational pursuits reflect her dedication to remaining at the forefront of industry trends and practices, ensuring that she applies the best methodologies in her consulting work. Cheryl believes in lifelong learning and consistently seeks new opportunities to expand her knowledge and expertise.
Professional Journey and Notable Roles
Cheryl's professional journey is characterized by a series of impactful positions in which she has transformed the recruitment landscape for the organizations she has worked for. Before founding Big Sky Recruitment Consulting, she served as a Recruitment Consultant at River City Recruiting & HR Inc., where her insights helped clients refine their talent acquisition strategies and hire exceptional candidates.
Prior to her consulting work, Cheryl held several key roles including:
- Founder at Big Sky HR Consulting: Here, she leveraged her skills to assist organizations in enhancing their human resources strategies.
- Advisor, Talent Acquisition at ATCO Group: Cheryl played a critical role in restructuring talent acquisition efforts, aligning recruitment strategies with organizational needs.
- Manager, Human Resources at Canada ICI Capital Corporation: In this capacity, she managed HR functions during a maternity leave coverage, demonstrating her agility and competence in multi-faceted HR roles.
- Manager, Talent Acquisition at Solium: Cheryl’s dedication to finding the right talent was instrumental in helping the organization thrive in a competitive industry.
- Recruitment Partner at Bayer CropScience: In this position, she contributed significantly to the recruitment efforts in the agricultural sector, applying her expertise to find specialized talent.
Cheryl's career also includes impactful roles such as Recruitment Specialist at MPAC, Staffing Manager (Contract) at Kraft Foods in Canada, and a variety of positions at Electronic Data Systems, where she focused on HR communications, policy development, and project management. Each role has contributed to Cheryl’s comprehensive understanding of the recruitment process and the importance of strategic talent acquisition.
Achievements
Cheryl Probert’s achievements in the recruitment industry are numerous and impactful. Her ability to connect people with opportunities has earned her accolades not only from clients but also from candidates who have benefitted from her guidance in their professional journeys. Some notable achievements include:
- Successfully implementing recruitment strategies that have significantly reduced time-to-hire metrics for numerous organizations.
- Developing a robust network of industry professionals and candidates through her commitment to connecting talent with opportunities, leading to lasting relationships and partnerships.
- Pioneering initiatives towards fostering diversity and inclusion in recruitment processes, helping organizations build more diverse teams.
- Receiving praise for her high-touch approach to candidate experience, ensuring that every individual feels valued throughout the recruitment process.
Cheryl's professional journey is a testament to her dedication and commitment to the recruitment industry. She believes that connecting the right talent to the right opportunity can significantly impact not only the organizations but also the lives of the candidates she works with. Her expertise in human resources and recruitment consulting continues to shape the landscape for companies looking to hire exceptional talent, and she remains a highly sought-after consultant in her field.
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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.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
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 available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
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Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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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.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
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.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.
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