Freedom to Change Your Mind

Mary Younggren, owner Advent Talent/Creative, Edina, MN

Our intended path doesn’t always end up being our forever career. No one knows this better than Mary Younggren, owner of Advent Talent Group. Younggren decided early in high school she wanted to be a social worker, but after majoring in social work and psychology, she came to realize social work didn’t challenge her like she’d hoped.

Sometimes finding joyful work takes a circuitous route. While regrouping and attempting to figure out her next step, Younggren fell into a placement job in the Florida employment field. “There was a day I was on the phone with one of our candidates,” Younggren says, “talking with her about life and what she wanted to do, and I remember hanging up the phone and thinking to myself…‘I’m getting paid to do this. I really like this.’”

A Focus on the Needs of Others

Younggren has to serve both employers and potential employees. To best serve clients and candidates in job placement, like a detective trying to solve a complicated mystery, Younggren must be a great listener to find out what her client’s really need. She can’t focus on her own outcome, but on what the other person is looking for. “If I seek to understand them first,” she says, “that’s been successful for me.”

Low unemployment makes the availability of talent more scarce, but that doesn’t stop employers from looking for very specific qualifications. Lately, Younggren sees a lot of hybrid requests, such as a customer service person who also has good data and analytic skills. Five or ten years ago, that might have been two different jobs for two different people. Today, those hybrid requests are coming in more and more as companies shave down their budgets. On the hunt for employees who can juggle multiple responsibilities at once. By identifying clients’ specific needs, even if they differ from traditional employment roles, Younggren is better able to serve them.

Going Above and Beyond

Job-seekers have six seconds to get the attention of employers. To make the most of those few precious seconds on a resume, Younggren advises candidates draft their resume so the top one-third displays personal highlights.

Younggren helps people not only with their resumes, but with their entire digital profile and the image they present to employers. Candidates often have experiences which translate into skills they aren’t aware they possess. By identifying these skills and incorporating them into a candidate’s digital profile, Younggren can make better matches between talent and employers.

Those six seconds matter in person, too. It’s all about the appearance, eye contact, being on time or early to meetings. Your first actions leave impressions: having a good handshake, a good demeanor and the ability to quickly make conversation. It’s about the whole person. Younggren advises candidates to display who they are, what their passions and causes are, and the things with which they align themselves.  

Make Connections

Mary Younggren interviewed on episode 4 of the Edina-SW Minneapolis Advice Givers (R) Podcast

Advent Talent Group focuses on making connections with the talent, which has resulted in a vast network of people. It’s not just a technology-based network or a collection of LinkedIn profiles, but a network of people they know and have spent time with. So client companies aren’t getting their six seconds with just anybody, they are getting time with people Advent Talent Group has vetted to the specific qualifications they seek.

Since their network is so vast, they’ve built up their resources, Advent Talent Group can often present candidates to an employer within one or two hours of their request. Yep, you heard it right… One or two hours!

The Value of Giving Back

The family at Advent Talent Group loves to take care of their community. They have a company philanthropic mission to help women and children in the nine-county minneapolis metro area. They select an organization based on that mission and support it. Their current project is a donation drive for Cornerstone Women’s Shelter in Bloomington.

Younggren also supports Girl Scouts in Camp CEO, which is about sharing with middle school girls they, too, could own a business someday. “No one told me that when I was in sixth grade,” Younggren says.

She’s also involved in Operation Christmas Child, where people pack a shoebox for kids in third world countries. Younggren went to Haiti with them on a distribution trip.

As well, she’s been in the Edina Rotary, which is very focused on community, since 1999. Younger, people tend to think Rotary is old school. “It’s so not,” Younggren says. “We really see a lot of infusion of the quote-unquote millennial generation being so concerned about giving back. It’s such a priority for them.” While the Rotary is not a networking organization, she has made lots of connections through it. “You make business connections, and everybody’s like-minded because we’re concerned about our community.”

By following her passion for helping people and not ignoring her need for a challenge. Younggren came to realize Advent Talent is the perfect match for candidates, clients and herself. You can find Advent Talent Group online at AdventTalentGroup.com