Meet Luigi Lupo, 15+ Year Staffing Industry Veteran, DoubleStar's Talent Measurement & Acquisition Services

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Luigi has over 15 years of Recruitment and Operational Staffing experience, with expertise in designing and implementing complex, high-volume strategic staffing programs and initiatives domestically and internationally. Strong background in all aspects of executing strategic recruitment initiatives to fill various staff, managerial, executive and specialized IT positions within Fortune 500 organizations and start-up ventures in the Financial, Pharmaceutical, Biotech, Healthcare, Medical Device, Insurance/Reinsurance and E-Commerce industries. Organizational development experience includes developing Affirmative Action Plans, applicant tracking compliance, designing and implementing internal referral programs, internship program, process re-engineering, internal departmental/divisional communications, recruitment branding, new employee onboarding programs and policy and procedure development.

Through out his career, Luigi has lead national RPO projects for firms such as GlaxoSmithKline, Munich Reinsurance America, Noven Pharmaceuticals, NASDAQ, Citizen’s Bank, Mercy Health System, Aramark, Travelers Insurance, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly, among others. Luigi currently leads both DoubleStar’s Talent Market Research and Sourcing Services Teams, two groups that are critical contributors to our operational excellence on direct-recruiting projects.

Luigi earned his Bachelor’s in Human Resources and Marketing from Temple University and is an active member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Human Capital Institute (HCI). He is also an active member of the Electronic Recruiting Exchange and various other recruitment networks.

Q& A with Luigi Lupo
Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world.

Luigi: I feel like I am very fortunate to have the home and family I do. They provide a great balance to my work life. I’m married to a wonderful wife, Christina, and have been blessed with 2 incredible children, Mia and Joseph. My oldest, Mia is 4 and a half and my youngest, Joseph, is 2. They absolutely keep us on our toes and on the move.

I consider myself a media snacking news junkie and will use all means available to get my fix. Really doesn’t matter whether it’s a newspaper, magazine, newsletter, computer, TV or my phone. I still enjoy reading the newspaper but am addicted to all the snip-its of news and information on the internet.

I’m an avid reader but tend to focus on business and industry related topics. My night table holds my latest group of great reads including “Talent on Demand” by Peter Cappelli, “Extreme Future” by James Canton, “The Leadership Challenge” by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, “Big Think Strategy” by Bernd Schmitt and one of my favorites “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell. I’m a magnet for online newsletters, reports, statistics, surveys, webinars and slide presentations.

I earned a bachelor’s in Human Resources and Marketing from Temple University and am an active member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Human Capital Institute (HCI, ERE, Recruitmentblogs.com and various other recruitment networks.

I enjoy pretty much any kind of outdoor activities including mountain biking, hiking and camping . I’m an avid freshwater fisherman and try to get water side as often as possible through out the year and have both a NJ and PA fishing license. I enjoy spending quality time with my family and have recently introduced my daughter to fishing.

Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry?

Luigi: I have been in the recruiting industry for 15 years now and have enjoyed every second of the ride. This industry has come a long way from when I started. I can remember my first experience with candidate generation was approving a newspaper ad by 4:00 on Thursday to run over the weekend (when the employment section was about 25 to 30 pages long) and making sure the fax had plenty of toner and paper to run over the weekend. Believe it or not, this was my biggest challenge when I started in the industry.

Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter?

Luigi: I’ve been developing talent acquisition strategies for the last 15 years. I feel like I had found my niche from the very beginning. My first job out of college was as a personnel assistant in the HR department at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. Within six months I was asked to work as a non-exempt recruiter and the rest is history. Although, I do remember hesitating at first and did not want to get into it – WHAT was I thinking?!?

I enjoy all aspects about recruitment and labor markets and spend a lot of time on the DOL & BLS website. I have been consulting with clients for the last 10 years. Recruitment consulting has provided me the opportunity to work and understand the recruitment functions of many small, mid and large companies globally. I’ve consulted in multiple industries and at multiple levels. I’m proud of my career and feel that my experience has given me the opportunity to view recruitment from a unique perspective.

Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career?

Luigi: I think that would have to be my first employer and boss the VP of HR at the Philadelphia Stock exchange. I was given the opportunity to get into recruitment. My boss at the time was an inspiration and mentor to me and when I hesitated to get into recruitment said “Luigi, I know you will enjoy recruiting and you will run with this and never look back” -- She was right.

Six Degrees: Worst mistake, biggest goof, lousiest practice you thought would fly but didn’t…and how that was a learning experience?

Luigi: One of the mistakes I made earlier in my career was that I did not understand the value of internal consulting. I learned my lesson and better underestimated the change management aspect of the implementations and process changes and have never made that mistake again.

Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after?

Luigi: I have been fortunate to have worked with some amazing people throughout my career. I have had mentors and brilliant individuals coach me through out my career as well as had the opportunity to observe entrepreneurs and leading influencers in the industry. I believe that you can always learn from the individuals and the environment surrounding you at any given time.

Six Degrees: Tell us about your work at Doublestar

Luigi: I’ve been consulting with DoubleStar Inc. for the majority of the last 10 years and have learned so much from the experience. DoubleStar focuses on Talent measurement and Acquisition services including but not limited to RPO, Assessment & Planning Services, Analytics Consulting, Recruitment Training, On-Demand Project Recruiting, and Talent Market Intelligence

I posses a successful track record of recruitment support and alignment to business needs and strategies at all levels. I’ve lead national recruitment initiatives and RPO projects for firms such as GlaxoSmithKline, Munich Reinsurance America, Noven Pharmaceuticals, Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Citizen’s Bank, Mercy Health System, Aramark, Travelers Insurance, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Noven Pharmaceuticals, Vanguard, Merrill Lynch, Aventis, and Eli Lilly, among others.

I currently lead and develop both DoubleStar’s Talent Market Research and Candidate Generation Services and Teams, two groups that are critical contributors to DoubleStar’s operational excellence on direct-recruiting and Talent Intelligence projects.

I’ve always enjoyed training and designed and delivered customized training programs for HR managers and staff recruiters on various topics within recruitment. I enjoy understanding how the latest tools, resources and technologies can help organizations’ improve their recruitment initiatives.

Six Degrees: (A) What other companies' recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples?

Luigi: I’ve had the privilege to have worked as a consultant for the last 10 years and have experienced with quite a few organizational recruitment functions and simply said, admire any organization that realizes recruitment is a team sport.

(B) In what aspects are they superior?

Luigi: I admire the recruitment functions that embrace change and not afraid to both research and take a new approach to talent acquisition. I admire the recruitment functions and recruitment leaders that seek to understand the emerging resources and technologies and can continue to evolve their recruitment functions and harmonize the process with the organization’s culture.

Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why?

Luigi: I have to say that most recent controversy in Iranian elections and how we received our news information impacted by my world and my work. Basically, the country tried to cut itself off from the media and the rest of the world but streams of information and news poured out of the country on Twitter and Facebook. This event combined with every news personality now marketing both their Twitter and Facebook profiles have really had an impact on me. Times are changing - these and other emerging technologies will not only change the way we communicate but the way we recruit globally in the future.

Six Degrees: Tell us about your broader involvement within the staffing industry:

Luigi: I try to stay as active as possible within the recruitment community. I’m a regular blogger on various topics on recruitmentblogs.com, ERE and on Lou Adler’s wall. And I’ve been hooked on Twitter since the moment I clicked on the site.

I’ve always enjoyed mentoring others through out my career as I was mentored and am an active mentor in the SHRM mentoring program as well as my employer. Most recently I have been providing free resume critique and interviewing tips in my local neighborhood and community out of a local coffee shop.

Six Degrees: Can you detail how the recession has affected your particular industry niche?

Luigi: I think we have all felt the impacts of the current recession and it has affected everyone regardless of the industry. I have heard of many colleagues and friends lose their job in this recession and try to help in any way I can.

Six Degrees: Aside from simply the generic term “Networking” what specific efforts have you made on your own behalf, or on behalf of colleagues to broaden your opportunities.

Luigi: I have always enjoyed networking. Most recently I have been connecting with recently laid-off professionals within my neighborhood and local community at a local coffee house to provide free resume critique and interviewing tips. It is a great opportunity to meet people and share experiences and expertise amongst professionals.

Six Degrees: Given your own Trial and Error experiences as a Networker, what advice do you have for your peers on what NOT to do? Be specific

Luigi: I think that we should all be open to networking in this market and it’s a real opportunity to build strong relationships. if I had to think of something not to do it would have to be to Not forget that networking is a two way street and professionally you can develop long lasting relationships.

Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there?

Luigi: My overall career goal is to continue learn and evolve and educate myself through emerging technologies within the industry and to be an asset to my clients globally.