Jalonni Weaver

Today, I interviewed someone who has been unemployed for a year.

I saw their resume and thought their prior experience aligned with the role, so I reached out to them.

I didn't interrogate them on why they were unemployed or what they have been doing over the last year.

I look at experience and if you are able to do the job. I don't create a story about someone's gaps, or job experience, I let them share that information on their own.

To my jobseekers out there, there are recruiters out there that are interviewing unemployed people for roles and moving them to the next round of interviews because they believe that they are qualified for the role. WE understand that life happens.

Today, I decided to make an executive decision, and changed my LinkedIn photo to a picture of me and my natural hair crown. Since, i've been working from home i've been keeping my hair in protective styles (braids, weave, etc), and today I felt the need to let the curls come out and play. I went to a meeting with my natural hair, and as soon as I got on WebEx I started getting compliments on it.

So this is me, serving up some “black girl magic“ on your timeline on this beautiful monday afternoon, and embracing my natural hair in the corporate setting, because the curls are pawpinn lol 🙌🏾✨☺️

P.S. I've never been ashamed of rocking my natural hair in any environment i've worked in, it's just very time consuming keeping it up and looking “presentable“, which is why protective styles are my go to😊

#naturalhairstyles #corporateamerica #workingfromhome #blackgirlmagic #schwablife #naturalhair #femaleinfluencer

When you get to extend 2 offers to people in your LinkedIn network and both of them accept! 👏🏽

Congrats to both of them! Connections to Coworkers ☺️🍾💃🏽

Y'all better stop underestimating the power of LinkedIn and networking.

#networking #THATLonni💁🏽‍♀️ #recruiterlife #recruiter

If I'm interviewing a candidate, I make sure that I am transparent about pay. If the candidate tells me their salary expectations and it's lower than what we are paying, I tell them the range for the role and ensure them that if they are offered the role it will be somewhere in this range.

I want my candidates to be paid their worth and a lot of time people lowball themselves because they think if they go too high, then they will be rejected for the role.

When I speak to the hiring manager, my role is to get a candidate as much as possible and advocate for them. There have been times when one candidate was offered more than another one and I told the hiring manager that if we are paying this for one we need to make sure that pay is equitable, especially if we are bringing them in for the same role.

I am transparent with candidates as well and let them know if we aren't within their salary range and when there is no room to negotiate. I operate in transparency and I never want to waste someone's time or have my time wasted.

I interviewed a neurodivergent candidate who apologized for their disability mid-interview. As a neurodiverse person, I like to give as much grace as possible and treat people how I would want to be treated. If people don't ask for accommodations, I accommodate them anyway just so they can show up as the best version of themselves.

I moved this candidate to speak with the hiring manager but also briefed the hiring manager to be patient with them and asked them to rephrase certain questions so that they can get the best answers from the candidate.

Interviewing is hard and it's 10x harder when you are trying to be “normal“ or mask a disability because your brain is scrambling everywhere trying to do its best.

Today, I got my 10th hire since I've been a recruiter and I'm not okay. 🥹🍾

6 months ago, I was a recruiting coordinator and didn't think I would get this opportunity so soon to be an actual recruiter.

Fast forward to now, I'm killing it in this recruiting space and it feels amazing to be able to do a job that's impacting people's lives. It's nowhere near easy, especially in this market but it's so worth it.

Before I got this job, I applied to over 50+ recruiter positions and had probably 18 interviews, and made it to 5 final rounds just to be told “unfortunately we have decided to move forward with other candidates due to them having more experience...blah, blah, blah“.

They say rejection is just redirection and I'm so glad that I was redirected to my current company and role. The wait was well worth it. 💙

#recruiter #recruiterlife #THATLonni💁🏽‍♀️

Chapter 30. 🎈

All praises to The Most High for allowing me to see another year on this earth.

Entering a new decade more wise, more obedient, more grounded in who I am and who God has called me to be.

The 20s taught me lessons.
The 30s will bear the fruit.

Here’s to divine alignment, continued healing, and walking boldly in purpose.

Let’s see what God has in store. 💟

Hi y'all,

My name is Jalonni Weaver and I'm a photographer. Like a legit photographer, that graduated with a photography degree, and that has a photography business.

“Your job allows you to have a business on the side?“
They sure do and they support me. I love it here. 🥹

I do a lot of lifestyle photography and lately all of my friends have been getting pregnant, so I've been doing a lot of maternity photos.

I've won awards for my photography in college and also have been published on Forever 21's website.

I know how to shoot with film and digital. I use a Nikon and only a Nikon, lol. Why? Because I just do.😬 My currently camera is a mirrorless camera and I love it so much.

I am looking forward to doing photoshoots when I get to Colorado, so to all my Colorado folks - hit ya girl up. 😁

(For those that don't like to read, I will be moving to Colorado in November. I am not there right now.)

If you would like to see more of my work, please visit my photography website LonniJPhotography.com

#photographer #photography #THATLonni💁🏽‍♀️ #enterpreneur

POV: Me today on LinkedIn Recruiter sourcing for candidates for my open roles. 😅

With that being said, make sure that your LinkedIn profile is updated with your experience and skillset because I might be sliding into an inbox near you. ☺️

#recruiterlife #recruiter #jobseeker #sourcing

When you extend an offer to a candidate, and they tell you that they are about to cry, and this is the news they needed because they are on their last unemployment check. 🥲🎊

If you are wondering if I'm okay, I'm not. I cry at least once a week extending offers to candidates.

So happy I could change someone's situation around.

Congrats to my candidate and welcome to GEICO! ✨🦎

I barely finished college and to be honest, I never really wanted to go.

I was on academic probation twice.
Got suspended once.
Had to pay out of pocket just to get re-admitted.

I graduated with no job lined up.
No direction.
No clue what I wanted to do with my life.

Majored in something that didn’t make me money.
At least not until years down the line.

Went back to school at 25 for my master’s.
Then dropped out.

Fast forward.

I’ve been a recruiter for three large companies.
I’ve become the face of recruiting for one of the largest insurance companies in the world.
I’ve secured nearly $30,000 in brand deals from this platform alone.
I’ve been selected to give a TED Talk.
I’ve spoken at multiple conferences.
...the list goes on.

& I did it without a 4.0.
Without a job waiting for me after graduation.
Without a straight or perfect path.
Without a “fancy“ or multiple degrees.

So if you’re in a season of feeling stuck, uncertain, or behind, let me be your reminder that your story isn’t over.

Success comes in all different shapes, sizes, and paths.
I’m living proof of that.

Keep going. Your story is still unfolding. ✨

Goodbye 28...Hello 29! ✨🎈

If you would've told me that I would've spent 28 rehabilitating my legs and learning how to walk again and then growing a baby, I would've laughed and said “yeah, okay 😅“. But that is exactly how I spent 28.

I'm thankful that I'm able to spend this birthday moving around and enjoying life while creating one.

Here's to 29 and I can't wait to see what it holds for me! All praises to The Most High for allowing me to be present for another year.

I have put the link to my baby registry below if you would like to show some love to me and Baby HR today. 😊 Anything and everything is appreciated. ♥️

https://linktr.ee/LonniJ

I made my final offer today to a candidate that came from a company I worked for and has been out of work with no unemployment pay for the past 4 months.

They went through 2 rounds of interviews both panel interviews all within 2 weeks and went from unemployed to making 6-figures overnight. They will be beginning their new role after Thanksgiving. 🥲

This was a great way for me to close out the week.

To my unemployed friends, there are companies that won't take you through several rounds of interviews for roles that are above entry/mid-level.

Congrats to my candidate and welcome to the team! 🦎✨

P.S. My child is not here yet and I am still working. 🙂

Job searching is a lot like catching a flight to a new destination. ✈️

You buy your ticket by applying for roles because you are excited about new opportunities.

You check your bags, filled with your skills, experiences, and hopes, trusting they will make the journey with you. 🧳

But just like traveling, things do not always go as planned.

You experience layovers — waiting for interviews, waiting for feedback, waiting for something to move.

Your flight gets delayed — ⏰ rejections happen, timelines stretch, momentum slows down.

You miss connections ❌ — roles you were excited about fall through unexpectedly.

Sometimes your baggage even gets lost 🫩— and with it, a little bit of your confidence or motivation.

There are moments when you wonder if you should just turn around and go back to what is familiar.

But you keep going.

You do not stay stuck in the layover. You do not let lost bags stop you from reaching your destination. You stay focused on why you started the journey in the first place.

Eventually, you land.

You might arrive a little more bruised than you expected. You might feel a little lighter because of what you lost along the way. But you made it.

And the view, the fresh start, the new place you are stepping into?
It was worth every delayed flight, every lost bag, and every frustrating layover.

Your journey was not perfect, but it still got you exactly where you needed to be.
It built your patience, your resilience, and your strength.
It taught you how to keep going even when it felt like nothing was working in your favor.

You did not miss your opportunity.
You were simply taking the scenic route to get there.

Keep going. Your destination is closer than you think.

When your company approves your first social media post without editing your authentic voice—and tells you it’s going live tomorrow…

And then you get the email saying you’ve been selected as a speaker for a major event in your city that you have been praying about. 🥲

Yeah… God is working overtime in my life right now.
I’m overwhelmed. I’m grateful.

It's looking like the beginning of my 30's is about to be lit. 😂

All praises! 🙌🏽

I've been working in the office my whole pregnancy. I went from not stepping into an office in 4 years to driving an hour to and from work 3 days a week. Now I live 15 minutes away from the office and I still show up, hot, baby on my bladder and ribs, waddling and all.

Closer to my due date I will be working fully remote but until then I'm going to waddle myself into this office and get my steps in while I'm at it.

People ask me how did I secure so many interviews and it's because I opened up my preferences. I knew companies would eventually mandate employees to go to the office so why not just accept that? Yes, sometimes I would love to be in the comfort of my home and be fully remote but I need a job and I need healthcare. If that means that I don't get to be remote 5 days a week, but I have insurance and my rent is paid then I'm okay with that.

90% of the roles that I was interviewing for required their employees to be back in the office whether that was 2-3 times a week or for one week every month.

Now before you all decide to share with me why you can't be in office or why remote work is better, I GET IT and I'm not disagreeing with you. Everyone's situation is different and you have to do what's best for you. There's a difference between a need and a want. Sometimes you have to give a little to get a little, in general. That's just my opinion. 🤷🏽‍♀️

P.S. If you have nothing nice to say, please don't say it at all. Negativity is not welcomed and my block button works great. 🙂

I love y'all real bad. 🥹

I have been getting tagged all day in peoples action figures.

This is what a community looks like.

I love that we could all find some light in what feels like such a negative space sometimes. ✨

I don't know who needs to hear this but companies are hiring, especially outside of the tech industry.

The company I work for is doing a career fair today and we are doing final interviews on the spot with hopes of being able to make an offer and change someone's life.

As a recruiter, I want you to get the job as bad as you want the job.

Y'all better come over to the insurance side. 🦎

Things I learned during my first week as a high-volume operations recruiter for a large insurance company:

* High-volume recruiting is a BEAST. IYKYK

* If you don't know something, put your pride aside and ask questions.

* Workday is an intense ATS system but you can do SOO much on it once you learn how to use it & I can verify that it doesn't eat your resumes. 🙄

* Adaptability is a strength of mine.

* I have a new level of respect for anyone that is in the sales industry because whew😮‍💨, y'all have some skills that can't be taught.

* Indeed Recruiter is a thing!

* WebEx calling doesn't like me. 😂

* If you are a recruiter, it is essential to have at least one pair of call center headphones because AirPods start hurting your ear after your 3rd interview screen.

* I never knew I needed a hybrid role until this week. I'm mentally adjusting to being in an environment with so many moving parts but I'm enjoying it. It's a sensory overload sometimes.

* I've walked more in the last week than I have in the last couple of months. #officelife

* Cook meals the day before to have lunch ready for the next day.

* Coffee is LIFE.

* Write down my corporate ID and password somewhere safe because I forgot it at least 6 times in the past 4 days.

* It's a blessing to not have the Outlook app on your phone because you can truly disconnect from work.

* Supportive teams do exist in large corporations.

* I will never get tired of seeing the little gecko 🦎

If you're looking for a role, come work for the gecko aka GEICO! 💙🥰 (& yes, as a recruiter, I am a brand ambassador)

Happy Friday & Happy International Women's Day! ✨👩🏽‍🦱

#talentacquisition #recruiter #recruiterlife #internationalwomensday #geico

6 weeks ago I got hit by a car while riding my bicycle. I have road rash all over my body and was knocked unconscious. I have a bulging disks in my neck and back. I had to quit my job due to me not being able to do the job duties. A woman saw the whole thing happen and she just so happened to be a nurse aka an angel and called 911 She used facial recognition to call my mom on my phone & I have yet to meet this lady or been able to thank her. The picture on the left is the day after my accident and the picture on the right is of me today. God is most definitely in the healing business and I'm so thankful to be able to share my story. #caraccident #bicycle #thankful #scars #accident #injury #setbacks #positivity #linkedin

I've been on PTO for the last 6 days and y'all know what I did?

I enjoyed my time alone.
I traveled alone.
I ate alone.
I vibed alone.
I healed alone.
I'm so confident in my ability to be alone that I'm able to flourish without opinions and approvals from others.

When I start doubting myself, I always remember who I was and how far i've come.

Thankful for this time to be able to recharge. It was much needed. Back to the #recruiterlife tomorrow. 🫶🏽🥰

Recruiter friend took on New York. 💅🏽

I was in NY for 3 days and visited:

Brooklyn
Bronx
Manhattan
Harlem
New York City
Time Square
New Jersey
China Town
Wall Street Bull
Brooklyn Bridge
Queens
Candle Light Experience : Tribute to Beyoncé
Statue of Liberty
Empire State Building (I am so tired of hearing Alicia Keys voice)
Grand Central Station
Penn Station
One World Trade Center
The largest Macy's in the world
probably rode every line the the subway had 😅& ate at a ton of food places. (Don't ask me where 🙂)

Thankful for all these experiences.

My feet got some miles on them.

I'm a city girl now. 😂

New York owes me nothings. 😉 Until next time NY! ✌🏾

Hey, Goodmorning y'all.

I think my mic is on....

Can y'all hear me?

Alright cool.

I've been seeing a lot of people in my network that have been recently laid-off and my heart goes out to them. I also see a lot of people offering a lending hand to help people that have been laid-off & I love to see that.

In the midst of helping the people that recently lost their jobs, let's not forget about the people that have been unemployed for the last 6-12 months or maybe even longer than that & have been actively looking for a job.

Try to keep that same energy going for everyone regardless of how/when someone became unemployed.

That's it.
That's the post.

#THATLonni💁🏽‍♀️

Happy Friday LinkedIn Family,

I come to you all to let y'all know that next week will be my last full week at Charles Schwab.

From Schwintern to Schwabbie, Schwab has supported me. They took a chance on a college student that didn't have any Human Resources experience. When I was struggling my fellow Schwabbies gave me the support I needed. I've had the opportunity to work on so many meaningful projects and be apart of so many candidates journeys. You all gave me a job when I wasn't sure if I would have one. I had the opportunity to start my journey in Talent Acquisition during probably one of the craziest job markets in history. The amount of mentorship that I have received from Schwab has been phenomenal and I can't thank the leadership team enough. Stay in touch, and continue to be one of the largest broker dealers in the world.

Now it's on to a new opportunity, and wherever that may take me. I can't wait to share it with y'all soon!

Thank you everyone for supporting me on this journey and much love ! 💙

POV: It's 2024 and your recruiter is a Black woman embracing her natural hair. 💅🏽

Representation matters. When you are interviewing with a company you want to see people that look like you it gives you a sense of belonging. During my job search, I didn't see many women that looked like me in this industry and I decided to become the person that the 18-year-old me wanted to see during an interview.

I'm proud of the rooms that I've been able to make it into and I'm thankful of the impact that I have been able to make not only in my role but outside of it. ✨

I've been working 4 days a week, 10 hours a day, and I don't think I will EVER go back to a 5-day work week because having Fridays off is a top tier benefit! ✨

Hey family,

Let's chat real quick.

I've been getting messages from a lot of people lately and the first thing they say in their message is that they were laid off from a FAANG+ company.

I hate that people are losing their jobs but please don't be that person that throws the company you used to work for name around because you think it's going to get you a skip-the-line pass.

There are 5.7 million people that are unemployed and actively searching for a job. Some of those people have probably been overlooked because the people that worked at big-name companies have gotten put ahead of them.

I believe in inclusion, diversity, and equity. I will not move someone through the process THAT IS NOT QUALIFIED just because they have a top company or an Ivy League school on their resume. Y'all know what that's called...being biased. 🙂 I'm looking at your experience and if you can do the job that I am recruiting for.

There's no need to let me know what company you used to work at. It's already on your LinkedIn profile for everyone to see and I'm pretty sure you have it in your header as well. (I never understood the reason behind why people put “ex-company name“ in their header but to each its own 😅)

That company doesn't define you. You all have to stop letting these big companies brand themselves in you. YOU ARE YOUR OWN BRAND outside of that Fortune 500 company. You have so much more to offer and you can do so much better marketing yourself, friend.

That's it.
That's the post.

MySpace & Tumblr had us coding FOR FUN in middle school and we didn't even know it. 🤣

Millennials are definitely the generation of coders.

I often think about where I would be if I would've stuck with it, lol. Does anyone else think about that? Just me? Okay. 😅

#blackintech

I just went through 400 resumes for one of my roles and I saw so many that weren't clear and concise.

If I need a table of contents to figure out where stuff is on your resume, it is not well organized.

If the first section is titled “Summary of competencies and qualifications“ and has 32 bullet points up under it, please delete that section.

If you don't have a location on your resume, please add a city on there so I know where you are located. It makes it easier for the recruiter. If you are open to location, please put that.

These are just a few common things that I have seen.

I have a newsletter that gives tips and has a basic template that you can download to make your resume more “digestible“.

P.S. I read resumes, AI and the ATS don't. I have an article about how the ATS actually works. Highly recommend reading it. ☺️

*Someone leaves a rude comment on one of my posts.*

Me: I don’t argue. I don’t explain. I don’t engage.

I just quietly escort them to join the other 1,051 folks who didn’t know how to play nice. ☺️

There’s too much peace over here to go back and forth with strangers on the internet that don't pay my bills.

“Hi Jalonni, my name is “XYZ.“ I am currently searching for a new role, preferably in the “XYZ“ space and I would love to connect and talk about any open roles or opportunities that may be available at “XYZ“ company in the “XYZ“ location. Please let me know when you have time to chat about opportunities.“

Y'all have to stop listening to everybody on Tik Tok or the internet that's giving y'all career advice. I'm sent messages/connections requests that look like this all the time and I don't accept them.

Why?

I'm glad you asked. 😬 This message shows me that you only want to connect with me so I can do the leg work for you. You want me to find you a job. As a recruiter, my job is not to do the work for you. If you're currently active in your job search and trying to “network“ with people to get a job and you are sending this message no one is going to want to connect with you because it looks like a one-sided relationship.

A better message to send to someone (specifically a recruiter) on LinkedIn is:

“Hi XYZ, I just wanted to let you know that I applied for the XYZ position that you posted or that I saw your company is hiring for. I just wanted to inform you in case you are the recruiter or know the recruiter and can pass my information along. I would greatly appreciate it.“
That's it.

This is just an example of the messages that I do accept because they did the leg work.

There's no need to go into paragraphs and paragraphs of your experience because honestly, I'm not going to read that message.

“I sent this message and still didn't get a response back.“

Sometimes recruiters just don't check their LinkedIn because we spend a majority of our time on LinkedIn Recruiter or we have so many messages in our inbox that we just can't get to everybody that reaches out to us. We aren't ignoring you we just don't have the bandwidth to get back to you and the other 100 people in our inbox.

#jobsearch #jobseekers #recruiter #recruiterlife

I saw this on Twitter this morning, and I would love to start a conversation.

Personally, I can't stand cover letters. This isn't coming from recruiter Jalonni, this is coming from candidate Jalonni. I am not about to write your company a love letter.

It’s like the document version of putting on a fake happy voice. I just feel like they’re more fluff than anything. If you need to explain some gaps in employment sure that’s a good place to put it. But is having one really necessary? Let's talk about it.

If I'm being honest, I think I've probably wrote one cover letter in my whole life. And who isn't applying for multiple jobs nowadays. If it was up to me, I would do away with cover letters as a whole and honestly as a recruiter, I don't even want candidates submitting a cover letter to prove loyalty. I much prefer you apply for a job you want and have the skills for it.

I know some roles/industry require a cover letter and that's understandable. A friend of mine says that every job she has applied for REQUIRES a cover letter and the funny part is the jobs aren't like VP or Director level positions.

This is just me and how I feel about them, but y'all know I love hearing everyone's input. 🙂


#recruiter #job #coverletter #jobhunting #jobseekers

For the last week, I've been in Maryland spending time with my 83 year old grandma. 🥰🥹

I'm so thankful to be able to take my laptop with me and work from her basement.

This is what remote work looks like. ✨

#remotework

Baby H.R. is starting to come into her own person and have a personality and it's the cutest thing.

She loves to laugh, smile, and is trying to talk but the words can't formulate just yet.

She loves this little tent and swatting at things.

She has figured out her lungs so her cries are lethal.

She has really long fingers and likes to grab things including my hair and her on hair, hints to why she has on baby mittens, lol. It's to protect both of us.

Watching her grow has been so amazing to see. I'm still lowkey in shock that I brought a whole human into this world. 😅

Happy 3 months, mama! 🥰