Royal Caribbean Group

Lead Talent Partner, Early Career Recruiting

Business Groups: Leadership roles for HR, Finance, Legal, Supply Chain, IT, Medical, and Newbuild

Lead Talent Partner, Leadership Recruiting

Technical Sourcer

Wix.com

Recruiter and Talent Operations for the Sales and Account Management/ Customer Success organization. Led weekly meetings with stakeholders to strategically plan around funnel conversion rate, process length, and source of hire data. Experience in mass hiring (200+ AM growth in <6 months) as well as strategic and executive level searches. Managed hiring events for over 30 sales professionals to decrease our process length by 6 days. Worked with international TA team to research and execute on candidate experience projects. Led referral hiring strategy to increase referrals received by 15% over the past year. Created guidance on internal mobility programs. Advisor to WixRainbow ERG.

Recruiter

Surpassed yearly hiring targets for the world’s most profitable cruise by 150% by placing entry level to senior-level hires across 5 unique departments (Marketing, Revenue, Beverage, Housekeeping, and Shore Excursion Sales). Experienced in sourcing and generating a healthy pipeline through career fairs, LI recruiter, agency partnerships. referrals, and specialty job boards. Used talent market insights and industry benchmarking data to influence decisions within the leadership groups and cross-functional team. Managed data integrity process improvement for Talent Acquisition as the project lead. Partnered with the data analytics team to create recruitment metrics, implement a forecasting system, and gain access to 7 new reports to increase female and diversity hires. 
•	President of Young Professionals Employee Resource Group.
•       Onboarded candidates through monthly new hire ship tours.

Global Recruiter

Aflac

Implemented a strategy of consistent campus presence which led to a doubling of the number of candidates applying for the Sales Intern Program. Recruited over 500 agents throughout the southeast region.
Streamlined evaluation of recruiting metrics such as daily call volume, new applicants, new enrollments, and retention by switching from outdated data collection systems to Excel spreadsheets

Recruiting Manager

Lead Talent Acquisition Partner @ Royal Caribbean Group | Empowering candidates to Job Hunt Like A Recruiter

As a Lead Talent Acquisition Partner at Royal Caribbean Group, I am passionate about helping people find the next piece of the puzzle in their career journey. I lead the recruitment for leadership roles in various business groups, such as HR, Finance, Legal, Supply Chain, IT, Medical, and Newbuild. I leverage data analytics, employer branding, and diversity and inclusion strategies to attract and retain top talent in the cruise industry. 

I hold a Master of Science in Management from the University of Florida, where I also completed a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. I have also obtained a Certificate of HR Data Analytics from Cornell University and participated in business and Spanish exchange programs at Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and Universidad de Salamanca. I am fluent in English and Spanish and have a Bloomberg Certification and a Certified Gator Professional credential. 

Outside of work, I create content on here to help empower candidates to "Job Hunt Like A Recruiter". I host live webinars, coaching sessions, and provide templates for folks to recharge their search. Check out the link in my bio to learn more!

I’m happy to announce….you made it to the end of another week!

Give yourself a pat on the back and enjoy a few days of rest- you deserved it.

Nicole Fernandez-Valle

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Top performers get laid off all the time.

In most instances, companies will let go teams based on skill sets needed in that moment, not because employees weren’t demonstrating the skills they were initially hired for.

It’s a harmful narrative in general to blame employees for a layoff, when more conversations aren’t around the leadership decisions or economic scenarios that brought a company to that point.

With millions of people laid off the past few years in a scenario that was completely out of their control, there needs to stop the automatic jump that people let go had performance issues.

If you’re in doubt about someone qualifications, schedule them for an interview and assess their skills yourself.

I previously had a candidate miss an interview, and the first reaction from the hiring manager was to disqualify them. 

As someone who had been communicating with the candidate throughout the process (and they were always quick to respond) I urged them to give me until end of day to uncover the reason for the cancellation.

45 minutes after the scheduled interview time, I get a phone call with sirens in the background, and the candidate apologized and told me they had gotten into a car accident.

In that case, we gave them the time and space to recover and they came back and crushed the interview.

You can’t always assume why someone misses a call, or takes a few days to respond back to an email. 

I’ve found that 9/10 times it’s not someone being negligent or forgetful, but rather had some other life event unexpectedly come up that took priority in the moment. 

A reminder to always practice empathy, and don’t jump to conclusions not knowing the other side of the story.

I saw a post about someone starting a new role as a barista and I think posts like this should be celebrated!

This is one of the worst job markets we’ve seen, where it’s becoming more and more common to have long term job searches for 6+ months.

ANY income should be praised.

We should celebrate a person doing what they can to support themselves and their families. 

If a hiring team sees a "gap” on a resume where a candidate did something non traditional to their role it should be viewed as a sign of adaptability and perseverance.

Congratulations to all of you starting ANY role this week- it’s a HUGE accomplishment and should be celebrated.

Everyone has that one coworker who they get excited to work with.

Think about yours - what is it that makes you look forward to working with this person?

Do they lead empathy?

Are they always reliable?

Do they celebrate the wins of you and others?

Now, think about what qualities you have that would make others want to work with you.

A lot of people think about professional growth solely in the lens of getting better at certain tasks, but what about how you show up to work to inspire and enable others?

Becoming the colleague, mentor, or leader you’d want to work with isn’t always the easiest path, but it tends to be the one with the most personal and professional growth and fulfillment.

Jobs don’t just affect one person, they often affect an entire ecosystem of people.

I’ve seen candidates land a role and were able to:

- Send their kids to their dream school

- Pay off debts for themselves and their parents 

- Take friends and family on much needed vacations

Personally my sister and I were able to take my mom on a cruise after an incredibly difficult time in our lives.

Taking a chance on someone not only changes their life, but the lives of those around them too.

Everyone needs a champion to give them a chance in their career.

When I graduated college I very quickly felt lost going into my career.

I left the initial role I accepted after 3 months and I found myself feeling lost going back to my colleges career fair as an alumnae.

I did the thing I tell all candidates to avoid which is going up to recruiters and saying “I’m open to anything”.

But in this instance, one campus recruiter took the time to learn about me and give me advice that would’ve changed my life.

He recommended I try recruiting, and 7 years later I’m still here and - as fate would have it - reporting into him today.

Everyone needs someone to give them a chance (especially early in your career).

Shoutout to Chip Turrisi for giving me mine and the happiest of boss appreciation days 🤩

Sr. Manager, Early Career Recruiting @ Royal Caribbean Group

I saw a post about a father who missed the birth of their child because they were caught up at work.

A few months later, they were laid off during a re-org.

You are replaceable at your job but not at your home.

There have been hundreds of thousands of employees laid off in the past few years and most of the time, top performers or those putting in 110% are in that same group.

You can miss a meeting and still get a recap but there are life events that you miss and can’t get back.

Face of a gal excited to wrap up campus travel season!

It’s a whirlwind meeting THOUSANDS of incredibly talented candidates in the span of a few months.

It can be exhausting to be on the road (and the laundry definitely does pile up 😅) but I’m so grateful to be in a role that allows me to travel for new opportunities.

The best part is yet to come as our team is furiously interviewing + extending offers for our Summer 2026 Internship which is going to be one for the books.

P.S. if you haven’t secured your spot yet - we are still accepting applications for December ‘26 or May ‘27 grads so drop a comment below and our team will review your profile 👇🏼

If multiple candidates match qualifications for the same role, it often comes down to wants it more.

The last time I interviewed candidates for a recruiter role, I spoke to a wide range of candidates who all met (or exceeded) the qualifications for the role.

We were determining how to narrow down the interview pool and the theme of excitement for the role came up a lot in conversations.

There was one candidate in the running who was arguably the most qualified on paper, but didn’t seem engaged in the process, clearly hadn’t done any company research and didn’t ask any questions at the end.

The team instead went with another candidate who shared stories about why they felt connected to the brand, asked really insightful questions that showed they had done their research, and sent follow up notes reitering their excitement for the opportunity.

Now, they’ve had huge success since joining the team because their passion and drive have made an impression on everyone they work with.

You can have all the skills in the world, but if there’s no passion, interviewers will oftentimes struggle to move you to the next round.

This time last year, I found myself crying multiple times a week after work.

I had just lost my dad, grandma, and father in law in rapid succession 

Was trying to understand my new normal after an accident that left me with significant hearing loss and getting a skin cancer diagnosis mid work trip 

And on top of that, was furiously trying to plan our impending wedding with 2 months to go and most vendors not booked

Call it eldest daughter syndrome but I felt immense pressure to hold all these pieces together and “power through” despite having the worst year of my life.

The only problem is that I was only “holding it together” from 9-5 (and still had a few office cries).

Outside of work hours, I was falling apart - grieving, exhausted, and unsure who I was after all these life changes.

It took me months to realize that “holding it together” isn’t the same as healing.

Somewhere between the tears and to-do lists, I learned that strength doesn’t always look like showing up, sometimes it looks like slowing down, saying no, or finally asking for help.

If you’re in a hard season right now: you don’t need to be okay to be doing your best. 

You just need to keep going.

Here’s to softer years, slower healing, and giving ourselves the same grace we give everyone else.

Here’s the number one thing I would do if I was looking for a new job in this market 👇🏼

𝙄𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙮𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨.

As a recruiter, I’ll sometimes talk to hundreds of hiring managers a year and I’ve recently seen a huge shift.

Now more than ever, managers are prioritizing candidates that have experience in their chosen field (marketing, hospitality, sales ect.) AND data and analytics to back up their other skills.

A lot of times candidates ask why they aren’t moving forward if they meet 100% of minimum qualifications and in recent cases, it’s these extra skills that may be putting some candidates ahead.

Job descriptions can be a huge key to what type of preferred skills are most important to the role, but many top candidates across the board are coming with:

⇨ Data Manupulation / Visualization: Excel, Tableu, PowerBI 

⇨ Data Base & Programming: basic SQL, Python, R

⇨ Analytic & Critical thinking 

⇨ AI Prompting Expertise

Sought after skills are unique to each role, but recruitment trends continue to indicate that the need for at least a basic understanding of data is becoming the baseline for a majority of company roles.

Furloughed? We’ve Got You.

I got this email the other day and it stopped me in my tracks.

Because it took me back to 2020, when I was furloughed (and shortly after laid off).

I remember checking my inbox every morning, waiting for (hopefully) good news that never came.

The endless math of how long I could be without a job before dipping into my savings was so all consuming I felt guilty buying an extra coffee that wasn’t budgeted for.

The guilt of wanting to treat myself to a small joy.

The guilt of doing anything that didn’t look “productive.”

Like rest or self-care had to be earned once I was back on payroll.

That’s why this simple email hit so hard.

A company offering discounted facials to furloughed federal employees - not as a sales tactic, but as an act of care.

Because when you’re laid off or furloughed, you don’t just lose a paycheck.

You lose structure, community, and a sense of control.

And sometimes, one small gesture and a reminder that you still matter can make all the difference.

I wish more businesses thought this way.

Offering comfort, connection, or even just a small resource to people in transition isn’t charity.

It’s compassion.

And in times like these, compassion is what helps people find their footing again.

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