Norma Crippen

VP, Executive Recruiting & Client Servcies, Mary-Margaret.com

Professional Profile Vice President executive recruiting and client services at Mary-Margaret Network. My 20-year career in recruiting spans games and high tech. My frist job in the industry was sixe years at legendary game developer Origin Systems. I have effectively recruited all levels (entry level to executive) in various positions including information technology, accounting, finance, operations, sales, marketing and entertainment software. You can reach me at norma@mary-margaret.com 10/04 – present Mary-Margaret.com Austin, TX VP, Executive Recruiting & Client Services • Independent third party recruiter responsible for maintaining client relationships in the entertainment software industry. • Contract recruiter for premier clients. • Lead a team of recruiters responsible for sourcing and pre-qualifying candidates for software engineering, artist, designer and executive level positions. • Experienced at negotiating salaries and closing the candidate. • Proficient at utilizing sourcing techniques and search engines such as Alltheweb, Altavista, and ZoomInfo, • Member of the Independent Gaming Developers Association. 3/04 – 10/04 360Commerce, Inc Austin, TX Technical Recruiter (contract through The Adkins Group) • On site contract recruiter responsible for technical staffing assignments including J2EE Developers, Technical Architects, Technical Support, Director level and other various positions. 9/00 – 11/03 Dell Financial Services Austin, TX Staffing Advisor • Responsible for all levels of recruiting for the entire organization. • Maintained staffing programs to meet the needs of DFS i.e. diversity recruiting program, competency based interviewing, and college recruiting programs. • Managed the relationships with staffing vendors and developed performance metrics for each vendor. • Determined all staffing policies and processes – including the requisition, offer, relocation, background check and immigration processes. • Technical advisor to the group recruiters. • Managed the DFS Staffing tool (Recruitmax) • Managed the internal job posting process for DFS and established and communicated guidelines for posting. • Maintained current recruiting information/reports for distribution on a weekly and monthly basis • Lead the staffing efforts in recruiting high quality employees per the DFS staffing plan while utilizing cost effective and efficient recruiting and relocation techniques. • Processed immigration case files in pursuit of work VISAs for employees. • Implemented the DFS Employee Referral Program- setting the guidelines, enforcing the policy and ensuring that employees received their referral payments. • Formalized the DFS Internal Employee Summary Process to assist DFS and Dell employees that are interested in applying for internal positions within the two organizations. 4/00-9/00 SCB Computer Technology, Inc Austin, TX Sr. Recruiter • Responsible for coordinating recruiting efforts with Account Managers at SCB for new start-up office in Austin and San Antonio • Responsibilities include all aspects of recruiting: sourcing, qualifying and salary negotiations for this high tech consulting and professional services firm • Manage recruiting process to include searches, building relationships with candidates, networking to identify qualified candidates, and build rapport with qualified candidates to retain them until a decision is made by a client company to interview or hire • Experience interviewing prospective technical candidates with senior level experience across all platforms, applications and new technologies • Experienced at sourcing difficult to find IT professionals through direct recruiting, referrals, references and various Internet sourcing techniques 7/98 – 4/00 Dell Financial Services Austin, TX Sr. Staffing Analyst (7/99 – 4/00) Contract Recruiter (Interim Personnel 7/98 07/99) • Responsible for recruiting all levels and positions including Sr. Management, Finance, Accounting, Legal, Sales, Customer Service, Administration and Technical • Strategically targeted the recruitment of highly specialized and difficult-to-attract positions by utilizing several methods including: company resume database (Resumix), the Internet, cold-calling, job fairs, ads, referrals and industry contacts • Established relationship with hiring managers to ensure proper communication of job requirements and responsibilities • Conducted initial searches and phone screens using Competency Based Interviewing to ensure qualifications of candidates to match the needs of the hiring managers and the DFS Culture • Liaison between hiring managers and candidates during salary negotiations and the extending of an offer letter • Successfully maintained an average of 27 open positions per week supporting 10 to 15 managers • Recruited and placed approximately 127 positions from 2/99 – 2/00 11/97 – 4/98 S3G, Inc Austin, TX Contract/Assistant to Controller • Responsible for researching all company information for acquisition audit • Coordinated with acquiring company to ensure all information was handled with utmost confidentiality not to jeopardize acquisition • Assisted in exporting accounting/paryroll/401K information into database linked to new parent company 3/97 – 9/97 GSD&M Austin, TX Recruiter/Training Coordinator • Coordinated the implementation of GSD&M’s first Human Resources Information System to maintain employee records for 350+ employees • Recruited senior level executives for Account Services, MarketPlace Planning and Media departments • Responsible for implementing recruiting process which included ad placements, qualifying candidates, tracking resumes, coordination of interview process, offer letters and relocation • Implemented of new hire orientation • Implemented Internship Program. Responsible for placing over 60 interns per semester and documenting and reporting their progress through performance evaluations. • Implemented Training Program. Responsibilities included researching training needs and coordinating classes to meet those needs. Such courses included specific advertising classes from presentation skills, marketplace planning, media buying/planning to computer classes which included Word, EXCEL, PowerPoint, Quark, PhotoShop and Illustrator 8/91 – 1/97 Origin Systems, Inc Austin, TX Recruiter/Human Resources Generalist (12/93 – 1/97) • Developed and organized Origin University, an in-house training program to enable employees stay up-to-date on new technology to improve and support their career path • Maintained confidential information while providing HR administrative support to creative teams of artist, writers, musicians and game designers • Coordinated with management to recruit Software Engineers, Artist, Game Designers, Marketing Personnel and Product Support Technicians • Recruited difficult to find software entertainment candidates through Internet postings, major magazine advertisements such as Computer Gaming World, PC Gaming, etc., and referral program. • Recruiting responsibilities included qualifying candidates through phone screens and face-to-face interviews, coordinating interviews with hiring managers and their teams, prepared offer letters, relocation packages and tracked acceptance of new hires • Coordinated with graphics department to design and place recruitment advertisements in major magazines and newspapers nationwide • Established relationships between Origin and major universities, art institutes and local schools to promote local talent; conducted on-campus presentations to students and faculty at University of Texas • Responsible for employee relations issues, conducted exit interviews with professionalism and confidentiality Assistant to President and Executive Producer (8/91 – 11/93) • Coordinated executive travel arrangements and intermarries • Organized and maintained project tracking • Coordinated new hire orientation and group integration • Provided protocol and procedures to new hires • Benefits administration • Responsible for Payroll I've been married for almost eight years to a wonderful man, actually, he's a Superhero, you might know him.....The Defuser, winner of Season 2, Stan Lee's Who Wants to be a Superhero reality show! I have two grown children, Zach and Briana and a 16 year old step-son, Nate. I love my family. I have an incredible circle of girlfriends. Friendships are important to me. I'm pretty creative, I like making art. Suprisingly it's pretty good art!! I've done a few triathlons and plan on training for a marathon. I'll be competing in March for my first 1/2 Ironman as part of a relay team (I'm doing the 1/2 marathon part....I dont know why I think I can run 13 miles!). But, I love training for triathlons. The feeling of reaching the finish line is incredible. Professionally, I'm an independent recruiter in the video game industry. Lots of fun. I love my job. I love meeting new people and networking. I love finding the right person for the right job.