Executive recruitment at Thorek Scott and Partners, a boutique search firm that specializes in financial services.

Yonge and King.

1. What does a typical Thursday look like for you, starting from when you wake up – to heading to bed?

8 am- Out the door en route to work, trying not to get killed while biking across town.

8:25 am- Starbucks. Yonge and King

8:30 am- Check emails and voice mail. Usually have quite a few resumes in my inbox as candidates usually put them together in the evening after work and then send them to us. Print out and review resumes for each applicant.

9:00 am – More or less ready to “play ball”. No two days are the same. I may be meeting with prospective candidates, interviewing them in one of our fantastic and comfortable rooms. I may meet with the senior recruiters to strategize on a search or visit a client to discuss their strategic needs. I write job descriptions, post them, vet applicants, interview them, present them to the client, facilitate the interviews, do reference checks, negotiate the compensation . . . and hopefully make a match.

10:00 am -12:00 pm- Run around a lot from computer (checking email, entering candidates into our database, reading resumes), to colleagues’ desks (What do you think about this person? Can he/she do the job? Do you know them already? What are we doing for lunch?), to interview room (Who are you? What have you done? What do you want to do?), to front door to let interviewees in, to another office to strategize on marketing initiatives, to Starbucks (if I’m lucky).

12:00 pm- Lunch! Head down to the underground (Commerce Court or BCE) for a pita or sandwich or soup.

12:25 pm- Eat lunch in the board room with colleagues.

12:45 pm – Back at desk (see 10am-12pm). Hotmail and Facebook at least once an afternoon for a little break.

6pm – Either head to the gym or head home.

8 pm- Home. Drink a glass of red wine and read some news or meet friends for dinner and drinks. Usually by Thursday night, I’m completely spent.

2. What was your first job out of school?

Sales. Ladies fashion accessories.

3. What are the 3 skills you require most to do your job well?

i. Ask good questions.

A recruiter is only as good as the questions they ask. You need to be able to tell who this person is, what they’ve done and what type of environment they would like to work in. You need to understand what they feel is lacking in their current position and what would inspire them to make a move.

ii. Patience, persistence and flexibility.

You may hear 20 “nos” before you get a “yes”— you may have to call 50 people to get one bite. And at the end of the day, some searches may take months to fill, while other may take a few days. You have to be ready to deal with every unique situation as it comes to you.

iii. Listening and keen judgment.

Our firm is built upon the principle of working for our candidates and our clients. In order to work for our candidates, we have to listen both to what they are saying and what they are not saying. In interviews, people portray only a small part of themselves. You have to listen carefully to figure out who they really are.

A good recruiter has a keen sense of judgment and uses it to determine whether a person’s personality would be a fit in the corporate culture you are recruiting for. They say it’s 10% skill and 90% fit.

4. What do you love most about your career?

Meeting so many interesting people and learning at least 10 new things a day.

5. If a woman wanted to get into this business, what are your recommendations of how they should start?

First, figure out what industry you would be most interested in recruiting for. Generally recruiters come from a particular industry (law, architects, marketing, HR, temporary workers all have specialized recruiters).

Then, call some recruiting firms and interview the recruiters about their work. Figure out if it’s something you’d like to do and if it is, recruit yourself a job.

6. Do you have any warnings?

Yes, it’s not easy. You really have to work hard to find the right person to do the job. And you have to get used to cold calling.

7. If you could try a different career on for a year, what would it be?

Highly successful restaurateur.