At Spotter Staffing, we’re thrilled to celebrate the incredible team of expert recruiters who specialize in connecting therapists and teachers with exciting, rewarding opportunities in schools across Illinois and Texas. To spotlight their knowledge, experience, and vibrant personalities, we’re introducing you to each of our amazing recruiters. Get ready to learn how they can help you and your school thrive!
Say hello to Gabe Palmer!
Gabe is one of our amazing Professional Recruiters based in Chicago, IL. He’s a former teacher with some fantastic insights to share about navigating the job market, plus a few fun tidbits you won’t want to miss (his favorite quote makes a lot of sense for our industry!).
Check out the video below to meet Gabe, learn his top tips, and see why he’s such an invaluable part of our “herd.”
Transcript:
Mackenzie: Thanks for joining us for our newest edition of Meet Your Recruiter with Spotter Staffing. Today we have our newest recruiter, Gabe Palmer. Gabe, thanks for being here.
Gabe: Yeah, thank you for having me.
Mackenzie: Of course, it’s great to have everybody get to learn a little bit more about you and hear about what your role is here at Spotter. So that’s normally the question that I start off with is just what’s your role at Spotter and kind of what a day-to-day looks like for you here.
Gabe: Yeah, absolutely. My role at Spotter is I am a senior recruiter and my primary focus is on Lake and McHenry County. We staff school SLPs, OTs, PTs, um, special education teachers, and like I said, primary Lake and McHenry County. So that is my entire focus is that area.
Mackenzie: Yeah, it’s a good area to be focused in. There’s a lot of fun suburbs and subdivisions in Chicago, and not being in Chicago, I’m always learning about them, but you guys are, you know, helping a lot of people there find great opportunities and really awesome school districts. So you’re doing great work there. We’re glad to have you on our team. If you were helping. a therapist, a special education teacher, a social worker, find a new role. Do you have any bit of advice that you would give somebody who’s searching for a job or maybe not really happy in their current role right now?
Gabe: Absolutely, and as a former teacher I feel like I get a little bit of insight into this. Although I’m not an SLP, I wasn’t a special education teacher, but I have talked to a ton of special education professionals, many people that work in schools in different variety and roles. And I would say the biggest kind of indicator of somebody’s going to like it there, if they’re going to love it, if they’re going to stay, is talk to as many people about the school as you can. Whether it’s personnel that works there right now, somebody that’s worked there in the past, maybe had a son or daughter that went there, but talk to as many people as you can and find out about their school culture and what are they going to do to support you, especially if you’re a newer graduate.
Mackenzie: Yeah, I think that’s a great piece of advice. I know we have a lot of members of the spotter staffing herd who are working in all different schools. So if somebody is in the middle of an interview process or interested in hearing about a school, there’s a good chance there’s a llama in there who can give you a little bit of insider intel. So if you’re ever in the middle of a job search process and you want to talk to somebody about a school role, there’s definitely someone who can help you out. So I think that’s great advice. Um, okay, one last question about kind of your professional life and then we’ll let people get to learn a little bit more about you just as a human. But, um, if you were giving somebody just a piece of advice or really one big takeaway you’ve gotten from your professional career, what would you say that is?
Gabe: Oh, yeah, that’s a good one. I would say that the biggest lesson that I have learned is just never underestimate the power of the relationships that you build with people. Whether it is, you know, somebody that may be working as a paraprofessional in the school all the way up to the superintendent, you never know how far that relationship is going to take you. Um, and to kind of go along with that, you know, treat everybody like they are the most important person at the school and good things will happen to you.
Mackenzie: Yeah, I think that’s great advice. I know, um, we’re lucky that we work in an industry where everybody is sort of a helper and everybody wants to help each other out and help their students and see everybody succeed. So, there’s always somebody helping somebody somewhere and somebody trying to make somebody’s life better. So, I think that’s a great piece of advice for school staff, for the teachers and for students, just everybody. So, that’s a great one. Okay, well thank you for telling us a little about your career. So, um, I’ll let people learn a little bit more about you. Is there any sports team that you root for?
Gabe: Oh yeah, it might be kind of controversial because I’m kind of all over the place. But obviously Chicago Bears, that’s number one. I love the Bears. We’re gonna get better. It’s just a matter of time. Bears are, they have my heart. As far as college teams, I really do, um, like Notre Dame. I’m also a North Carolina fan, so I don’t want to get some hate for being all over, but yeah, Bears, they definitely have my heart.
Mackenzie: That’s good. I mean, I, I get rooting for the home team. I’m in Buffalo and I, I bleed red and blue. I’m Buffalo Bills through and through. So we always say we got to get the Chicago team up to a tailgate sometime and you guys can all see what real football is like. Um, okay. If you had to pick kind of on a completely opposite scale, there, um, a quote that you really like or that you live your life by, what would you say that quote is for you?
Gabe: I’ve had this quote, it always sticks in my head, and I had it as a quote when I was a teacher at the bottom of my, uh, my signature line, and it was by Teddy Roosevelt, and I’ll probably butcher it, but essentially it’s, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” And I think that’s so big. It’s like you can be the most intelligent person, have the most knowledge in the room, but nobody cares about that until they know, Hey, this person cares about me. And that’s who they want to learn from.
Mackenzie: Yeah. I think that’s great. I think that also ties in again to like the caring network of people at spotter, whether it’s your recruiter or the client managers, or even the people that we have, um, the Every discipline and every specialty who are there to help you and answer questions, even if you don’t work for us, we’re happy to help at any point. I really agree. I like that quote a lot. Yeah. All right. One last question, and then I’ll let you get back to your busy day here. But, I know you worked in a school, you were a teacher before, but did you have a favorite teacher when you were in school and kind of tell us about who that person was?
Gabe: I’ve had a ton of great teachers and professors and co-workers who were teachers that I work with, but when I think of my favorite teacher, and I couldn’t tell you a single lesson that she taught me or something I learned from her, but it would be my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Faust. It was just the way that you felt like she was your mom or your grandmother and the way she loved you. And I’m sure she taught me all kinds of things, but the connection that you felt like, wow, this is somebody that genuinely cares about me. Um, she came to my wedding a few months ago, you know, she’s come to I think three of or two of my brother’s weddings. Like she is just like a second, you know, mom or grandmother to us. And it, I wish I could say it was ’cause we were special, but she made every kid feel that way. Remember when I was a teacher, I was like, I hope I can make students feel the same way about me because she is just a wonderful woman.
Mackenzie: Well, now you’re helping connect students with all kinds of teachers and therapists who can make them feel that same way. So you’re spreading her message and her love and warmth all across Chicago. So that’s great.
Gabe: Definitely.
Mackenzie: Well, thanks for letting us learn a little bit more about you. Thanks for answering a weird array of questions. But I appreciate getting to learn a little bit more about you and getting to share you with the people watching at home. Thanks everyone for joining us on this edition of meet your recruiter and Gabe, thanks for letting us learn a little more about you.
Gabe: Thanks so much, Mackenzie, I appreciate it.
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