2017 Management Alumni Excellence Award winner: Shahauna Siddiqui

Alumna wins award for dedication to community, students and employees

September 7, 2017

By Stephane Massinon

Shahauna Siddiqui, MBA’01, remembers the days of red hot competition in the Calgary hiring market. In the world of recruiting and executive searches, it could be a challenging time.

Everyone was hiring and it was hard to stand out. Potential recruits’ phones rang off the hooks with offers. It was at that time, back in 2008, that she co-founded her search company BluEra believing she and co-founder Catherine Bell could do it better than others.

“All of the search firms were sort of the same. They offered the same model. We felt there was a more holistic perspective to look at search,” says Siddiqui.

BluEra would shake things up. One of their first successes was their use of video to build their clients’ brands in an unconventional way to highly sought-after prospects.

“They were making lots of money, so why leave?” says Siddiqui. “We had something unique and could say, ‘I know you’re super busy, but we have a great client. Instead of reading a five-page job description, there’s a two-minute video, why don’t you have a look at that?’

“All of a sudden, people could see themselves wanting to work with these individuals. It wasn’t super professionally done video, but it got people’s attention. And if they didn’t want it, they were more willing to share it with people who were suited for the role.”

Their new video approach was just one thing that made them stand out. The other was their culture, commitment to community service and team structure.

“From a team perspective, we thought that we could structure the company in a different way,” says Siddiqui. “We wanted everybody to be involved in the strategy, the vision. We wanted everyone to truly hold the values of the company. We did strategy sessions together, everybody including the receptionist. There were no job titles. We weren’t hierarchical in our process.”

BluEra took off and the awards started coming in. Soon she’ll get another big one. Siddiqui is the recipient of the 2017 Management Alumni Excellence Award presented by the Haskayne School of Business and will receive the award as part of the University of Calgary Alumni Association Arch Awards.

“I was a little shocked and surprised,” she says of winning the award. “It wasn’t something I expected, in fact I had no idea I was nominated. It’s a little overwhelming. It’s a big award and there are big alumni who have won it in the past, so you never put yourself in the same category.”

Siddiqui did her MBA at the Faculty of Management, as the school was then called, to grow her network in Calgary, despite acceptance offers from business schools in Eastern Canada. When she thinks back on her time at university, she remembers the incredible volume of school work, the projects she did for clients, but also the close relationships she built with many people in her MBA class that she still keeps in touch with today. 

“Ironically, it was an enterprise MBA at the time and I actually had no intentions of being an entrepreneur. I thought I was going to do investment banking. It wasn’t until Dr. Bob conveniently pointed out that I should be in HR instead of finance. He was totally right.”

After graduation, she came back to the business school to work and was tasked with trying to improve the school’s record in finding job placements for MBA students. She started by calling alumni and asking them to hire the great students she knew.

When she would send the employers resumés, she would always include one outside-of-the-box candidate who didn’t have the experience but was a great student who needed a shot.

“They would call me back and say, ‘Why did you put so-and-so in there?’ and I would say, ‘Because you need to talk to them and they would be great from a fit perspective.’ They actually ended up hiring a lot of those out-of-the-box folks and those students ended up working for them for years after their MBA.”

Even after leaving the university to go into recruiting, Siddiqui has remained an active volunteer with Haskayne. She is on the Management Advisory Council and has been heavily involved with the Distinguished Business Leader Award since 2012. She was instrumental in growing the Distinguished Business Leader Award to the gala celebration of ethical leadership that it is now.

Giving back to the school is important to her.

“It’s for the students. They do amazing things and are amazing people who come through the university. They come out into the world and contribute hugely. It’s great to see other people succeed. They’re so bright and capable and energetic and positive.”

In 2016, BluEra was acquired by DHR International, a global executive search firm that she says has been a great fit as a family-run organization that supports entrepreneurs and has the same values that BluEra had.

Personally, she says the acquisition gave her the chance to go back to what she loves. “You start a business to do search, but then you spend time running the business: dealing with IT issues, marketing, events and hiring.”

Now, she’s more focused on her passion.  

“There’s a ton of things that I love about search. One is figuring out our client and their strategy and where their gaps are and what they need. And then finding the right match for them. With the candidate that we find, it’s usually a better fit for them, for their career. Their career excels, they do well. It’s a win-win opportunity all-around.”