Heather Tenuto took over as CEO of the job search/employer brand site The Muse last year after leaving a previous position as CRO of a Saas platform. We caught up with her over email to find out how it's going and what she's been up to.
The company also owns the career community for women, FairyGodBoss.
1. What has been your primary focus after taking over the CEO duties at The Muse?
It’s been a great six months since I was fortunate enough to join The Muse and Fairygodboss as CEO. Both platforms have amazing brand recognition and have helped connect millions of job seekers to careers they love. My focus has been on communicating our value to the employer community, who can leverage our solutions to find women and next-generation talent that aligns not just in skills and experience but also in culture and values.
We’ve hired industry-veteran talent into our go-to-market organization, connected with the talent acquisition ecosystem of partners and agencies, and launched a campaign to reintroduce The Muse and Fairygodboss to the community.
2. Describe a typical day for you.
Well, I am still a salesperson at heart. I started in tech sales right after college, and other than a stint as a high-school teacher (which really is a sales job, as it turns out), I’ve been selling ever since. I spend a good part of the day working with the sales and marketing team, refining our message and helping to get the word out about what we can do for employers. I think The Muse has become the best-kept secret for making employer branding and talent acquisition easy, and I’d like to change that.
3. Why is employer branding important to you, and how does The Muse help?
We’ve all seen the statistics showing that women and GenZ job seekers consider a company’s culture and values as much as they consider compensation when deciding to take a role. Employers working with The Muse and Fairygodboss can showcase their EVP and jobs to a highly-curated audience all in one place. This helps employers seamlessly connect with right-fit candidates who get hired and stay longer.
4. What have you learned about the HR industry so far since you started as CEO that you didn't know before?
As you know, I am new to the HR Tech industry. First, I am taken aback by how helpful and welcoming the community has been. It’s been great. I’ve also realized there is much more complexity in the talent acquisition ecosystem than I expected. That realization gave me insight into how that complexity might also impact buyers.
As HR tech companies all struggle with a challenging market right now, it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the customers' point of view and their need for simplicity and return on investment. Last, I am thrilled that the industry has a strong partner network. I led partner channel organizations for a good part of my career. I believe that partnerships are key to our future growth, and The Muse is organizing internally to offer more value to our agency and referral partners.
5. What can we expect from the Muse in 2024?
Big things! The teams at The Muse and Fairygodboss are passionate about the change we can create for job seekers and employers, and we have a renewed focus on being very loud about what we can do and who we can help.
We will launch our employer website, highlighting our many success stories. We’ve also revamped our offers so companies can zero in on the outcome they are looking for and be ensured they will get great value from their investment with us.