Julia M. Levy

College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 1993

The Alumni Association is excited to launch a monthly career column, written by Julia Levy '93. Julia is a strategic communications and staffing leader with experience in corporate communications, brand management and recruiting.

With more than 15 years working in career consulting, recruitment, and human resources, Julia has a wealth of knowledge regarding not only what hiring managers look for in potential job candidates, but also how to maximize your brand and take that next step forward. She understands what employers are looking for, as well as what you need to do, in order to reach your professional goals.

Professional development is an ongoing process; whether or not you’re looking for a new job, there are always opportunities for growth and improvement. Julia’s column will touch upon broad topics which range from résumé writing, to networking dos and don'ts, to how blogging can be used to enhance your personal brand.

"In today's highly competitive market, it can seem overwhelming and sometimes impossible to stand out from the crowd. As part of Alumni Career Services, the Alumni Association looks forward to bringing alumni Julia's helpful tips and information to you each month, and we thank Julia for sharing her expertise with the Drexel alumni community," said Cristina Geso, Associate Vice President of Alumni Relations.

Get to Know Julia

Julia Levy '93 realized early on that she wanted to go to college somewhere other than where she'd grown up in Florida, and that wherever she went, she wanted structure to help her stay focused on her education.

Julia knew she had found her fit when she learned about Drexel and its curriculum, which features the unique co-op experience. In fact, Julia liked what she found out about Drexel so much, she made the decision to enroll without even visiting the campus.

While studying psychology, Julia found that she had a real interest in the career counseling classes that she took at Drexel.

"My co-op classes about career development really appealed to me and with my interest in psychology, I began thinking about going to graduate school and becoming a career counselor to help others find career direction," Julia said.

It was during her graduate studies at Georgia State University that she found she had a particular liking for business courses. Once again, she began thinking about how she could combine all of her interests into the perfect career choice for her.

Shortly after graduating from Georgia State, Julia started the company Employability, a consulting firm that specialized in recruiting and HR projects.

With Employability, Julia advised organizations on recruiting best practices and sourcing methods. Her company helped mid level organizations develop recruiting strategies and train their recruiting staffs. One of Julia’s clients was so impressed with her strategic ideas that they asked her to join their team to help them take their human resource initiatives to the next level. This was the beginning of Julia’s corporate career.

After a string of other positions specializing in staffing, consulting and human resources, Julia took a position with MetLife as a Senior Strategic Staffing Manager.

"In my position, I partnered with senior executives to develop sourcing strategies to find top talent for key corporate positions. I also revamped and managed our recruitment vender relationships which helped save the company millions of dollars," Julia said.

During her time in the position, Julia started working with the corporate employment brand. First, she updated the corporate career section on the external Web site. Julia began to realize that she had a true passion for branding and communications. She embraced this realization.

"I began looking for projects that enabled me to focus on communications and branding because I was really interested in it," she said. "In a sense, I began to recreate my job."

Julia did this by identifying needs, and suggesting solutions. By focusing on recruitment branding, employee communications and marketing needs, Julia stayed within the realm of her human resources position, while at the same time incorporating her passion for communications.

For example, Julia took charge of how the company communicated to external candidates. She rebranded and revamped the corporate recruiting materials and created a CD that can be handed out to candidates instead of utilizing printed materials. She also developed an enterprise-wide employee referral program (ERP) which enabled employees to refer trusted friends for difficult-to-fill positions. Julia created a contest to help launch and brand the program, further developing her communication skills.

Eventually Julia changed positions at MetLife and is now a Senior Communications Manager. In her job, she works within the MetLife enterprise to provide strategic communication counsel, project management, writing and marketing expertise.

One project she is extremely proud of is the launch of MetLife’s Green Resource Center, an internal Web site she created to educate employees on corporate green initiatives and to give employees ideas on how they can live and work 'green'.

"I also helped launch a streaming video platform and I’m in the process of developing an employee-generated video contest," Julia said. "The contest will be a fun way to engage employees and get them involved in our topic of choice."

In addition to her monthly column for the Alumni Association, Julia also has a blog in which she shares information and gives advice on job search strategies and how to create a personal brand for career success.

Her blog can be found at A Brand New You.