Get to Know Ilana Green, Director of Finance & Strategy

Thanks for joining us! Tell us about your role with Hired and what it entails.

I’ve been with Hired for almost 2.5 years. As the Director of Finance and Strategy, I oversee our annual and quarterly budgeting process and long-term strategy. I also review and analyze our monthly financial performance, including reporting our financials to The Adecco Group. I work closely with the executive team in developing our financial plan, and ensuring the business leaders understand their budgets and can manage their teams accordingly. In addition, my team is responsible for quarterly target setting and commission calculations for our Sales team. 

Can you share a little bit about your background and what led you to join Hired?

I began my career in public accounting in Los Angeles and later shifted to Financial Planning and Analysis, where I’ve spent the majority of my career. I’ve had the opportunity to work in various industries, including a large entertainment company and a small local food and entertainment business, before finding myself at Hired. In my interviews with Hired, I quickly felt excited about the company’s mission and witnessed the genuine passion of everyone I spoke with about their roles and the company, and I knew it would be the perfect opportunity.

When it comes to working at Hired, what’s your favorite part?

The people! I think we have such a great group of people and I love the relationships I’ve made at Hired. Everyone seems to embody the “One Team, One Dream” mentality, and people will stop what they are doing to help one another out. I love to see how much cross-functional collaboration happens daily.

What do you like most about your job?

I love getting to work with so many different cross-functional partners at Hired. Working so closely with the Sales and Marketing teams over the last 2+ years has helped give me new perspectives when it comes to budgeting or target setting. I’m constantly learning new things and evaluating how Finance can be a better business partner instead of a blocker or gatekeeper of budget.

What has been your favorite project at Hired?

I really enjoyed implementing departmental reporting to our executive team. Over the last year and a half, my team worked closely with our accounting team to enhance our expense tagging within Oracle which enabled us to give our executives more transparency into their team’s monthly expenses. This allowed us to give each leader more insight into their team’s spend and enabled them to make more well-informed decisions about how they want to run their departments.

How have you advanced professionally since joining our team?

Since joining Hired I became a people manager for the first time. Leading a team has provided me with new perspectives, taught me to rely on the expertise of my team, and allowed me to help others develop their careers. I am constantly learning how to be a better manager and try to encourage upward feedback to my team.

What is the best career lesson you’ve learned so far?

Early in my career, I was taught the importance of building relationships outside of the finance organization. I learned that building these relationships and partnerships are essential for the overall success of the company, and making informed decisions, and are invaluable for career advancement. They foster collaboration, align financial strategies with business objectives, and enhance the impact that a finance team can have within the broader context of the company. In short, you can’t be successful without the input of knowledge from your cross-functional team.

What was your experience like as part of the engAGe 2023 Women’s Leadership Development Program? 

I am incredibly grateful that I got to participate in the 2023 engAGe program. I had the privilege to connect with nearly 30 talented women across The Adecco Group. Each workshop was engaging and empowering and I learned the importance of building a strong network, negotiating, and building my brand. The program culminated in a few-day retreat where we all got to meet in person for the first time, strengthening the relationship we built during the virtual portion program. This program was the best leadership development program I’ve ever been a part of and the values I learned and connections that I made throughout the program will stick with me.

What are your passion projects or hobbies outside of work?

I love to cook and hike around the Bay Area. I also enjoy taking ceramics classes when time permits.

What advice would you give to someone interested in Finance? Any book, podcast, or influencer suggestions?

I would encourage anyone looking to have a career in Finance to try and get an internship to gain a better understanding of what it entails and be able to connect with professionals in the field. A book I would highly recommend reading is Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. As an Economics major, I found this book very interesting and it helped shed light on how some people make irrational financial decisions. The book explains the importance of being aware of your biases to make more informed and rational choices in the workplace.

What was one of your takeaways or favorite memories from the One Team, One Dream corporate offsite? 

I really enjoyed our company-wide strategic case study for “GreenCo.” I got to play “CEO” of the company and see everyone come together within cross-functional breakout groups and quickly prepare great presentations for how GreenCo should allocate their Talent Acquisition budget. It was great to see people pushed out of their comfort zones and work on a task they wouldn’t normally do as part of their jobs. Plus, it was fun picking the winning team!

Speaking of a good time, what is your go-to karaoke song?

Isn’t it Ironic by Alanis Morissette 

We’re a remote-first company so we have to know: if you could work from anywhere, where would it be? 

Traveling around Southeast Asia. I’d love to island hop and explore different parts of the area, with my laptop at the beach of course.

Any WFH pets who keep you company throughout the day?

Unfortunately no pets, just a bunch of house plants 🙂

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