Name: Jalen Graham / Follow Jalen on LinkedIn
Title / Branch: Corporate Recruiter / Corporate South
Favorite Song: Pocket Full of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield
Favorite TV Show: Sex in the City, all six seasons and both movies
Favorite Movie: The Emperor's New Groove or Easy A
Favorite Book: Black Friend by Ziwe
Favorite Sport: The Super Bowl Halftime Show
Favorite Cuisine: Pad Thai from Green Pagoda in St. Petersburg, FL
Favorite Vacation Spot: 30A, Rosemary Beach, FL
If you were to vacation to one AP location, it would be: Lacey, WA
What does Everybody Loves Raymond, the Tampa Bay music scene, and a lunchtime trip to Publix have to do with staffing? They all serve as inspiration for Jalen Graham as this young staffing professional is determined to continue climbing the corporate ladder and progressing in his journey as a Corporate Recruiter at Accurate Personnel.
“For every Debra you encounter, you need to find your inner Marie,” says a confident Graham, working hard to keep direct eye contact and his signature debonair expression.
“You know growing up when I was watching it with my parents, I connected with her perseverance,” adds a now smirking Graham, waving the white flag in this battle to maintain his stoic and sophisticated demeanor.
He’s referring to Marie Barone of course. She was the pesty mother-across-the-street character played by Doris Roberts on the previously mentioned Y2K era sitcom.
“She always, by the end of the episode, found a way to maneuver to get her way. And I just identify with that,” Graham explained. “People could tell you no. You could get a ‘no’ so many times, but if you keep trying and you're still persistent, you'll get that yes. So, I just love that she never really gave up, honestly.”
Speaking with self-assurance, Graham is entering his fifth year in the recruiting industry. He briefly puts that persistence aside to sit down with the AP marketing team in a quiet corner of a hotel lobby for a casual Friday afternoon Day in the Life interview during this year's AP Palooza.
The conversation ran the gamut from Direct Hire to Doechii.
“[Doechii] identified that she was making music that was for TikTok and decided she didn't want to move into that direction,” said Graham, connecting the unique career path of a fellow Tampa Bay area native to the way he strives to provide applicants with unique paths on their own journeys in his recruiting role.
“She said, ‘I'm stopping everything. I'm dropping everything. I'm giving myself 30 days to make an album and what it becomes is what it is,’ and she did not waver from that vision,” adds Graham.
Graham relates with her willingness to gamble on herself to further her career, just as he helps jobseekers see value in themselves while searching for their next position.
“In my role, you can get really bogged down with the ‘I need to find somebody that has this, this, this, and this’ because this is what my client wants,” Graham continues, visibly frustrated with the mere idea of settling for anything less than the absolute best fit for each role he fills.
“Sometimes you kind of have to step outside of that and be like, ‘maybe if I find somebody that has enough of it but doesn't necessarily have all of it…maybe they'll surprise me and they'll be the person that gets the job’.”
That's Graham's superpower as a recruiter. His ability to build an authentic connection and relate with the individual on the other side of the conversation.
“For me, finding that human touch and being able to put it back into my pitch is what I'm always trying to do,” he elaborates. “I typically don't always reach out to each person the same way. I try to cater it to a way that I feel will make the most sense for the person to maximize my chance of getting their attention.”
This is a contrast to his earlier days of recruiting. Roles with previous employers placed an emphasis on following a script with every interaction. Graham says he enjoys the freedom and creativity that Accurate affords him within his process.
“A lot of people, even though it's just a phone screen, they get so nervous when they talk to me,” says Graham sheepishly. “[And] I totally get it.”
“Yes, this is the phone screening,” he continues. “Yes, I'm deciding on if you might potentially be a good fit. But I'm also just trying to capture who you might be. So let this be your opportunity to let me get to know you.”
Since joining Accurate Personnel in the fall of last year, Graham has applied these lessons while spending each day identifying top talent from across the staffing industry to help the company remain competitive.
Throughout a productive morning of populating his pipeline, he occasionally glances over at the Chicago skyline.
Not the real one of course, but rather the Lego replica that he built as a nod to Accurate’s origins and as the showcase piece for a carefully curated cubicle display.
While the first thing you will notice upon gazing at his desk is the stunning dual monitor setup that sits flush and almost looks like one giant screen, the windy city Lego creation is this author's favorite touch.
“My big obsession is building Lego architectures,” says Graham with a chuckle.
He has built cities that span the globe, starting out east in Shanghai and Sydney, and reaching from Europe (Berlin, London, Paris) to the Americas (New York, Chicago, Montreal, San Francisco) and everywhere in between.
“I'm working on Dubai right now,” adds Graham with a grin. “My favorite one so far is Tokyo, it's so colorful, it's so fun.”
While he has gone to great lengths to make his office space feel like home, he has also been hard at work to make the recruiting industry his home as well.
In a previous role as a Training Specialist in the real estate industry, Graham recalls that his openness, along with his intuition of people and his talent recognition skills, were identified early on by a direct supervisor. Company leadership felt that these unique traits would serve him well in a recruiting-based role.
Five years later, it turns out his supervisor was correct.
“I just kind of fell into it and it kind of just became something that I really enjoy doing,” says Graham, about his entryway into recruiting. “I didn't realize how much I would enjoy being able to have the opportunity to help people find their niche or find something that maybe they didn't necessarily see for themselves’.”
At the start of each work day, Graham strolls into Accurate’s brand new Lakewood Ranch, FL office, homemade latte in hand, ready to greet the applications in his inbox with gusto and begin sourcing to fill Accurate’s current vacancies.
He tends to use the AM hours to tackle resume sourcing related tasks, as his experience tells him that this time of day is when candidates are least responsive to phone calls. So he plans accordingly and builds his schedule around his candidates.
“I get really extreme with it,” Graham explains. “I try to see if I can Google the person to find out more information about them.”
“I will look at their LinkedIn, look at their work experience, see if I can connect any dots, see if they're following anything, if they have any interests that they're following, and then if I can incorporate that in my pitch to them, just so it comes off a little bit more personable and human,” adds Graham.
The day reaches its midpoint and Graham is ready for a bite to eat.
While his meal is catered today at AP Palooza, a typical workday would mean he is headed to the grocery store to grab lunch after completing his digital deep dives.
“I'm obsessed with Publix, specifically their wraps,” Graham explains. “A lot of times, I'll come back with an Italian wrap or I'll come back with their chicken tender wrap, or I'll stop at their hot bar, which is usually Asian inspired.”
While he approximates that he visits Publix for about 85 percent of his workday lunches due to it's proximity, it is not his favorite overall grocery store.
“Based on all criteria, I would have to say Fresh Market is number one,” says Graham. “Whole Foods is number two, Publix is number three, Sprouts is number four.”
As the interview begins to wind down, Graham is asked a common Day in the Life question: What is his favorite workplace memory?
“Anthony recently pulled me to the side and told me that he had heard really great things and that I was doing a really good job,” says Graham, recalling an interaction with Anthony Migliore, a third generation owner of the family business at Accurate.
“It's gonna sound so silly and stupid, but like, that made me so happy,” adds Graham with a smile. “I was so appreciative and so happy to hear it from him. Just to hear from, you know, someone in the [Migliore] family…that validation is nice.”
“And it did make me kind of think, ‘wow, I really am contributing and doing my part…which is all I ever really want to do’,” Graham concludes.
After working for a variety of companies, including cutthroat hedge funds, he truly enjoys working for a company that he feels emphasizes connection.
“It's been a really pleasant experience so far,” says Graham. “To come here and work for a family that is so involved, pleasant, inviting, and genuine? It has been really nice and it's been nice to also be able to kind of breathe because, you know, that's not an environment that I came from.”
To end his feature interview, Graham was asked a new question: If you could switch jobs with anyone in the company for a day, who would it be?
“I've always kind of wanted to see what it's like to be an Associate Director,” answers Graham. “Just cause it's like, oh, what are you guys actually like, what's going on? But it also seems really chaotic and I feel like my calendar would forever be booked.”
As his calendar fills up throughout his career, one thing is certain: he is sure to continue connecting with people along the way.
