Acquiring Talent

Diamond McClintock

Diamond McClintock ’14

Former Dickinson tour guide and multicultural recruitment intern Diamond McClintock ’14 blends her art & art history major with her flair for interviewing at Warner Music Group (WMG) as a talent acquisition specialist. She interviews and hires top talent for their corporate entities and record labels within a variety of departments across the U.S. She is also the employer-branding strategist, brainstorming initiatives and creating processes to better convey WMG as a leading employer within the music industry. 

Can you speak to how Dickinson’s useful liberal-arts education helped you along your career path?

At Dickinson, we were encouraged to take courses outside of our major. I believe that the exposure I got taking different classes helped me to approach problems and tasks in the workplace differently. The liberal-arts education also made me a multifaceted employee. I am able to juggle many different tasks at once and adapt to a variety of situations.

What was your favorite activity/organization at Dickinson?

I started as a volunteer at the Carlisle Arts Learning Center along with some other members of Pi Beta Phi sorority. Twice a week, we would do art projects with the middle school aged students from the Carlisle community. The staff really enjoyed us, and it soon became a Dickinson-run volunteer program. I always enjoyed the fact that Dickinson and Carlisle come together for many initiatives.

What jumps out as a great memory from your time at Dickinson?

Studying abroad in Norwich and London the fall semester of my junior year was very memorable. It was my first experience out of the U.S. I met many Dickinson students who are now my closest friends and took an awesome four-day field trip to Antwerp, Belgium, with one of my classes at the University of East Anglia.

How do you stay involved with Dickinson? Why do you think it’s important?

On a regular basis, I conduct off-campus interviews for the Dickinson Admissions office as a DAVS member. I also act as a Dickinson representative at many college fairs in New Jersey. I think it is so important to share my love for the college and help other students identify the right school for them. 

How did you get interested in your work, and what about it excites you most?

I work in the human resources department, and I actually gained interest in the field working in the Dickinson admissions office. I started as a tour guide. I soon began speaking on open-house panels since I was involved in a lot on campus. My senior year I was a student interviewer for prospective students as well as the multicultural recruitment intern working with Alan Paynter. In each of these positions, I was able to share my love for the institution and help others to realize what they wanted out of a college, in hopes that they would have the same feeling as I had for Dickinson. I enjoyed interviewing the students and realized I was good at it. I decided to try my hand on the corporate side of recruitment. Now, I have worked within two international entertainment companies. I love it!

What is the most challenging part of your work?

I am the first person that WMG has had in this role, and my responsibilities often expand whenever I see additional needs. So the challenging part is that tasks are always brand new, and, therefore, there is no model or process for me to follow. I have to create policies and procedures as I go, which is challenging because it is time consuming. However, it is also fun. I like being able to be on the operations side and seeing that I created a process for others from chaos.

What comes to mind as something unforgettable that you’ve done since you graduated?

Since graduating, I visited mainland China and Hong Kong. My older brother lives in Hong Kong for work, and that was an experience I will never forget.

If you could have dinner with anyone famous, living or dead, who would it be?

Beyoncé. She is extremely talented and strategic with all of her business and philanthropic endeavors. She, as a person, is a business, so I would like to know about the journey that she took to brand herself.

You just built a time machine: where and when do you go?

I would travel back to Virginia in 1992 when I was born and my immediate and extended family all lived in the same neighborhood. My family is very tight knit even though we are states apart now. It would be great to have everyone in close proximity.

If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

That I could be born in another country so that I could experience another culture more intensely. 

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Published August 2, 2017