Confidence in Negotiation: Rona Shoaienia

With a laugh that resonates through the office, Rona Shoaienia is an integral part of the Achievers team - which as one of Achievers in-house recruiters, she has helped build.  Fascinated by the science of those wild things called people, Rona pursued her Bachelor of Psychology at the University of Waterloo and subsequently earned a Post-Grad in Human Resources Management at George Brown.  Rona has since applied her people savvy to the recruitment field and helped build teams at Sanofi Pasteur and LoyaltyOne before bringing her magic to Achievers. When she’s not placing awesome people at awesome companies, Rona can be found enjoying wine with her friends or area code hopping around different cities.  The AWN team caught up with Rona to get the inside scoop on how she became the wonder women she is today. 

How did you hear about Young Women in Business & Achievers Women’s Network? What inspired you to participate in our Negotiation panel discussion?

As a member of both the Achievers and AWN team, I was first exposed to the inspirational movement that is YWIB as part of a quarterly team event.  As someone who is both personally and professionally passionate about the importance of Confidence in Negotiation, when the opportunity to be on the panel of a joint AWN+YWIB event came up, I took it. 

When you look back at your career to date, what is one important challenge, event or achievement that stands out as a milestone?

When I was freshly out of school, I landed an amazing contract gig as a Staffing Coordinator at Sanofi Pasteur, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. I would be responsible for the administrative tasks, (scheduling interviews, background checks, drafting offers, onboarding), required to hire 45 individuals over the next 4 months to create a new vaccine.  Everything was going per plan – until the main recruiter left.  My responsibilities quickly expanded to encompass the entire project, and there was a *mere* 1 billion dollars at risk if the vaccine wasn’t completed on time.   Despite finding myself with no supervisor and working with ambiguous, complex science requirements, I managed to pull it off on time and under budget.  The lesson?  No matter what level you’re on, you can accomplish anything.

What is the one trait that helped you get to where you are today?   

In my opinion, it all comes down to will power.  Setting clear goals and committing yourself to accomplishing them, no matter what, is how you get yourself to where you want to be in life. When the doors shut on something, don’t walk away - find another way to open them. 

Written by: Sarah Clayton