Skip to content

Ellison Bloomfield, Hawkgirl: The Hunt for Her Dream Job

Ellison_Bloomfield_Hawkgirl-_The_Hunt_for_Her_Dream_Job.png


Meet Ellison Bloomfield. Writer. Consultant. Predator. Aside from her uncanny resemblance to the red-haired character Hawkgirl, one of the few seriously hard-hitting female comic book superheros, Ellison is a unique story in the history of job search in Australia. ellison.png

hawk.jpg

As a young professional, she successfully used social media to hunt down and capture her dream job in leadership development at Deloitte, a gutsy feat which landed her a meeting with the company's CEO.

You're probably thinking, "Great garrisons of the Roman Legion, how did she do that?!"

To explain, we must begin with the hunt. To begin the hunt, we must wind our clocks all the way back to a primitive, pre-iPad 2 era: two-thousand-and-ten.

At the time, Ellison was a Melbourne-based 24-year-old who was doing what was all the rage for young 20-somethings working in the corporate jungle: suffering.

Unhappily employed in administrative HR, she began to wonder what kind of life she might lead, the type of work she would really like to be doing . . . and spent some time perched on a rock gazing out at the horizon. Just, you know, thinking.

In her delirium, Ellison decided to start a blog called Humane Resource in early 2010 to share thoughts about HR, business, and life in general. She wrote about the things she wanted most in an employer — the values, the mission, the culture, her ideal role — the whole shemozzle.

A shortlist of companies was drawn up that best matched her core values. Deloitte topped the list. The company had a reputation as one of the world's leading professional services organisations. It was an ambitious target.

Now this part is the hunt, the interesting part, so pay attention. Ellison used Twitter and Google Adwords to do something that was practically unheard-of for a young university student. She publicly advertised herself to Deloitte, followed-up by a running commentary on her blog.

del.png

Going to such lengths to work for a company caught the attention of the recruitment industry, including a blogger called Justin Hillier. He wrote a post called "Deloitte, I think someone really wants to work for you!" … which was, incidentally, read by Pete Williams … the head of Deloitte Digital … who then arranged to contact Ellison.

She would have to see through many long months, interviews, emails — a job offer that wasn't right — more emails, a return to her perch on the rock, and a commitment to her dream that would be seriously tested, but eventually Ellison was offered a position as Leadership Development Consultant with Deloitte Digital (her dream job).

Horay!

Not long after, she would catch the eye of the CEO of Deloitte Australia, Giam Swiegers, whom she would be invited to meet with. But that story, and more, is better described on Ellison's blog.

Here is a presentation that Ellison used to promote herself via an interactive presentation software called Prezi (like PowerPoint, but way more trippy).

Theo Winter

Theo Winter

Client Services Manager, Writer & Researcher. Theo is one of the youngest professionals in the world to earn an accreditation in TTI Success Insight's suite of psychometric assessments. For more than a decade, he worked with hundreds of HR, L&D and OD professionals and consultants to improve engagement, performance and emotional intelligence of leaders and their teams. He authored the book "40 Must-Know Business Models for People Leaders."

We Would Like to Hear From You (0 Comments)

Newsletter Sign-Up

Designed For You

Going out every 3 weeks, the Science of Self™ newsletter brings interesting, fresh and topical content to professionals in Talent Management, Human Resources, Learning & Development, People & Culture, Organisational Development, General Management and Consulting.

Welcome to Science of Self™

Our knowledge centre holds over 400 articles shared through the Science of Self™ newsletter. The topics are relevant to the fields of talent management, human resources, organisational development and business growth.

As the title suggests, we take an evidence-based approach to sharing content about people in the context of work. If you like what you see, consider signing up below!

Knowledge Centre Home

    The Future of Work

    Looking for a practical guide to help you rewire your business for the future of work?

    Read More