The Experts: Joanie Bily on Advice from the C-suite

Joanie Bily

President, RemX, Professional Division of EmployBridge

Joanie Bily is President for the Professional Division of EmployBridge which includes the RemX, Decca and Resdin brands. Joanie joined the EmployBridge family in 2016 with a 20 plus year proven track record in professional and commercial staffing, including executive roles with two of the largest employment firms in the world.

Welcome to our video series, The Experts. In the series, we interview staffing and recruitment leaders to hear their perspectives on industry trends, lessons they’ve learned in the careers, and their leadership philosophies.

In this clip, Joanie Bily, Chief Marketing Officer and RemX President at EmployBridge, explains how she climbed the ladder from recruiter to CMO, and the importance of the leaders that shaped her along the way of her journey to the C-suite.

Did you always aspire to be in a leadership role?

Joanie Bily: When I think about navigating my career and even looking back to when I was younger, I always aspired to be a leader. I wanted to climb the corporate ladder and even set my sights on someday having my own business or being a CEO or being in the C-suite. It was just something that I did aspire to. But I also had the opportunity to work my way up the ladder. I started in this industry as a recruiter working a desk, then moved into a sales position before I became a direct-hire recruiter, then a branch manager, followed by an area manager and then an AVP. And just over the years, I was able to move up and I ultimately wanted to become a president of a business line, which I am today. 

But I still see it evolving. And having an opportunity even to take on a chief marketing officer role for a $3 billion company has allowed me to spread my wings, learn new things, impact more people at both EmployBridge as well as the industry, and the amazing temporary associates that we work with. So it’s a never-ending journey and you never know where it’s going to take you.

 

What has shaped you most as a leader?

JB: What’s shaped me most as a leader has definitely been leaders that I’ve worked for that I’ve aspired to mimic their behaviors and wanted to be as good, if not better than their styles. And I think I’ve been so fortunate and so lucky to work for some incredible people and you can take all the good qualities of your different bosses and think of the things that you really resonate with and that you admire and want to replicate and see in yourself. 

I’m just so fortunate that I’ve worked for some really incredible people that are still in my network today. They continue to do great things and come back to me and say, “Wow, it’s great to see you climb and advance your career, and look at the difference you’re making.” That’s the most wonderful thing about the staffing industry, it’s an incredible group of people that can really make a difference. And I think we’re just really getting started. There’s so much more that we can do.