Seeing people for who they are: Steph’s EF Journey

Steph has held five different positions and worked in two countries during her first six and a half years at EF Education First. This winding path has led her directly to a vital role in the organization that aligns perfectly with her strengths and interests — Steph is helping EF diversify our talent pool. In other words, our mission is to open the world through education, and Steph is on a mission to bring more of the world to EF. 

Steph started with EF in 2014 in a sales role with EF Go Ahead Tours in the Boston office. While it was clear she belonged at EF, she quickly realized she didn’t belong in sales. “I loved talking to customers, but I didn’t love the role. I wasn’t the best at it,” she admits. 

Her manager noticed Steph had a knack for operations and suggested she try her hand as an Office Coordinator, greeting staff and guests at the front desk. “I instantly realized this was perfect for me,” she says of the position. “I enjoyed that it was operational, and I liked being a resource for everyone.” 

At the front desk, Steph got to see job candidates drawn to EF’s Boston office from all over the East Coast. “It piqued my interest in hiring people to work at EF,” she says.  

Steph wanted to give recruiting a try full-time and help candidates see how exciting it is to work at a company that thinks about employees as unique individuals. In true EF style, she raised her hand. The Recruiting and Development (RED) team invited Steph to help out at a local career fair. “It was awesome!” Steph says. “I got to talk to students for eight hours a day about why they should work at EF.” 

Lucky for Steph, a position on the Boston RED team soon opened up. In July 2016, she began to help with EF staff recruiting and onboarding across the U.S. as a Recruiting and Benefits Coordinator.  

A year later, the recruiting team in the EF Toronto office needed support. Steph began providing administrative help from Boston and traveling to Toronto to help run interviews and networking events. After a few months, she had made her mark. The offer to transition from her role on Boston’s RED team into a Recruitment & Employee Experience Manager in Toronto became available. Steph leapt at the opportunity.  

The chance to move to Toronto came as a bit of a surprise to Steph, who hadn’t considered moving to Canada until she was asked about the role. “A lot of people thought I was crazy,” she laughs. “But I knew I loved EF, and this was the perfect job.” 

Over the next two and half years, Steph established a new structure and strategy for hiring entry-level talent in Toronto, highlighting the inclusivity and opportunities to work toward your own strengths that made EF so right for her. She built partnerships with a wide range of universities and made it her goal to connect with students individually rather than relying on a school’s reputation to dictate a candidate’s perceived potential.  

“I’ve always been the kind of person who wants to see other people be the best versions of themselves. I don’t care what you studied at school. I don’t care where you went to school. Other things will make you successful in a role. And so that’s always how I’ve recruited: I’m going to talk to you about you,” Steph said. 

Steph’s broad view of where and how to find the best talent helped EF hire employees that the company might not otherwise have discovered. 

About a year ago, Boston’s RED team took the next step in its commitment to diversifying our workforce with a specific focus on entry-level talent for sales and service roles. Due to Steph’s success in Canada, there was no better person to spearhead the effort. With a Canadian “eh” now infused into her everyday speak, Steph returned to Boston in February 2020 as a Recruitment Manager. She is focusing on diversity hiring and reengineering how EF approaches entry-level recruitment. 

As exciting as the role is, and as perfectly it fits her passions and experiences, it is not easy to overhaul a recruitment process while navigating significant challenges brought on by the pandemic, including limited roles to fill and everyone working from home. Still, Steph has taken this opportunity to be extra creative and tenacious.  

By hosting online info sessions and sales workshops, Steph developed a wider presence than is possible when everything is in-person, reaching a broader and deeper pool of candidates. Because of Steph’s innovation, there is now a pipeline of excited and diverse top-tier candidates to fill future roles.  

Of course, Steph remains focused on connecting with students on an individual level. “You can’t help where you can afford to go to school, and so what? It doesn’t matter. If you have the things we’re looking for and you’re excited to learn and own your work, then you’re going to be a good fit here.” 

Steph’s focus on assessing each candidate for who they are and what they stand for enriches and diversifies EF. She looks forward to applying her entry-level recruitment strategy framework to build partnerships that connect EF with a more diverse range of talent at the mid and senior levels. 

“For us to be the company we want to be, we need to have diversity at all levels,” Steph says. “I’m queer and mixed, so it’s important for me to see someone who is queer and/or mixed at a senior level and to see decision-makers with diverse backgrounds and thoughts.”  

When Steph started as an entry-level sales associate with EF Go Ahead Tours, she never imagined she would be such an important and appreciated voice for diversity and inclusion at all levels of the company just a few years later. But if there’s one thing Steph has learned at EF, it’s to always say “yes” to a new opportunity. “Even if it doesn’t make sense at that point,” she says, “Someone is putting your name out there and thinks you’d be a great fit for a position or sees something in you that you might not.” 

These days, as she recruits talent from an ever-expanding range of backgrounds and experiences, Steph is thrilled to help others realize their potential. It feels like a role she was destined for from the start. 

Steph’s original story from 2018: 

Steph’s career at EF Education First actually began with an interview at a large financial firm. A friend from university suggested Steph apply, so she gave it a shot. But when Steph sat down for her interview and began talking about studying abroad, travel, and education, it was clear she was in the wrong office.

“The person I interviewed with just kind of said, ‘Hmm, well, that’s interesting, but this doesn’t sound like the right job for you,’” Steph says, smiling. “Then she asked, ‘have you heard of EF?’”

From the moment she learned about EF, Steph felt it was an ideal fit and made it her (successful) mission to get a job there. She started in a sales role with EF Go Ahead Tours in the Boston office, and while it was clear she belonged at EF, she quickly realized she didn’t belong in sales. “I loved talking to customers, but I didn’t love the role; I wasn’t the best at it,” she admits.

Her manager noticed Steph had a knack for operations, so she suggested Steph try her hand as an Office Coordinator, greeting staff and guests at the front desk. “I instantly realized this was perfect for me,” she says of the position. “I enjoyed that it was operational, and I liked being a resource for everyone.”

At the front desk, Steph got to see job candidates come and go, drawn to EF’s Boston office from all over the East Coast. “It piqued my interest in hiring people to work at EF,” she says. “Working at the front desk exposed me to that world of recruiting.”

Steph wanted to give it a try, so in true EF style, she raised her hand. The Recruiting and Development (RED) team invited Steph to help out at a local career fair—Steph was immediately hooked. “It was awesome!” Steph says. “I got to talk to students for eight hours a day about why they should work at EF.”

Lucky for Steph, a position on the RED team soon opened up, and she began to help with EF staff recruiting and onboarding across the U.S. “I would make sure the paperwork for new hires got taken care of, and I’d lead new-hire orientation on Mondays. I did a lot of the processing to get new staff set up.”

Along the way, Steph saw an opportunity. “It started with a RED team meeting, talking about how new staff would come in and we’re a huge resource at the beginning, but we don’t hear from them again until they’ve decided to leave,” she explains. Steph pitched the idea to create a check-in to get staff feedback on how their jobs were going.

The RED team launched a group breakfast to do just that, celebrating new hires’ 90-day marks while also providing a forum to ask questions. “It’s a good time to check in because you’re finally feeling like you know how to do your job, you’re getting settled,” Steph explains. “It’s a great way for people to feel like they’re being heard while meeting people from other products.”

Now, Steph has moved both roles and countries within the RED team—she recently moved to EF’s Toronto office to be a Recruiting Manager for EF Educational Tours, which brings high school students and their teachers on trips abroad.

The chance to move to Toronto came as a bit of surprise to Steph, who hadn’t considered moving to Canada until she was asked about the role. “A lot of people thought I was crazy,” she laughs. “But I knew I loved EF and this was the perfect job.”

And if there’s one thing Steph has learned at EF, it’s to always say “yes” to a new opportunity. “Even if it doesn’t make sense at that point, someone is putting your name out there and thinks you’d be a great fit for a position, or sees something in you that you might not.”

So far, Steph’s new role confirms what she knew from the start: EF is a great fit for her. “I love seeing the people I hire come in and be successful,” she explains. “I can really feel my impact here—the small wins in the office add up to truly make me proud that I made this move.”