Meeting with a Recruiting Expert

We recently hosted a Career Connection Club meeting with Elizabeth Therkalsen, a leadership recruiter at Meta Platforms, and it was fascinating to learn about what it’s actually like to work at a big tech company. We talked about her career path, but what really stood out to me was how intense and fast-paced Meta is, how much AI is changing her job, and what recruiters are actually looking for when they look at candidates.

The Quote I Loved

“The only constant at Meta is change.”

Actionable Insights:

• Working at Meta sounds intense but exciting
  Elizabeth described it as very fast-paced, constantly changing, and honestly a bit overwhelming at times. You have to be okay with not having stability and just adapting quickly.

• It’s competitive, but not in an intimidating way
  What surprised me was that she said there’s actually not a lot of ego, even when working with very senior people. It’s more collaborative than you’d expect.

• Recruiting is more than just “hiring people”
  Her day is basically split between:

  • talking to candidates

  • working with hiring managers

  • figuring out what a role actually needs

  • guiding candidates through the process

• AI is already doing a big part of her job
  While the human touch will always be appreciated, AI is already helping Elizabeth to

  • find candidates

  • match resumes to job descriptions

  • reduce the need for manual searching

  She said the early stages of recruiting might become almost fully automated soon, which is both cool and a little scary.

• But the human part still matters
  Even with AI, she thinks the most important part is still:

  • building relationships

  • guiding candidates

  • being that first human connection in the process

• Recruiters look at resumes really fast
  Just a few seconds! (This sounds like college admissions) She said she scans for:

  • required experience (this is the first filter)

  • education (if needed)

  • job titles and companies

  • then quickly checks if the bullets match the role

• If you don’t meet minimum requirements, you’re out
  This was very blunt but helpful. If a job says “2+ years of experience” and you have 1, you won’t get through. No matter how good everything else is.

• Your resume should be simple and easy to scan
  She emphasized:

  • no long paragraphs

  • use bullet points

  • keep it clean

  • make it easy to understand your story quickly

• Experience matters more than “extra” things
  Things like languages or international experience are nice, but only if they actually relate to the job.

• Internships are the best way to figure things out
  She kept coming back to this. You don’t really understand jobs until you’re inside a company. Through your interactions at the job you may realize that you are interested in a different role which will give you a better direction to explore.

Final Thoughts

What I took away from this is that working at a place like Meta is not for everyone, but if you like fast-moving environments and constant change, it could be really exciting. It also made me realize how important it is to actually build real experience early, not just focus on grades.

The biggest shift for me was understanding how hiring actually works. It’s not random. Recruiters are scanning quickly, looking for very specific things, and making decisions fast.