Juli Guzman joined ShipMonk in July 2023 as a Recruiter. She didn’t expect to be where she is today, and she says so plainly. What she did was simple: she kept raising her hand.
Today, Juli is Manager, Operations Recruiting. Getting there took more than a good hiring record. It took curiosity, a willingness to take on work nobody had assigned, and a habit of looking for ways to make things work better.
Raising Her Hand
Juli is someone who likes to figure things out. In her first months, that meant owning her own hiring goals and candidates. Over time, it meant getting involved in projects, working with teams across the company, and noticing where things could run more smoothly.
Each new responsibility opened the next one. A project led to a conversation. A conversation led to a bigger problem to solve. Eventually, the sum of those choices became a role.
That pattern matters. It shows what growth looks like when it isn’t handed to you on a schedule. It comes from taking on the next thing, even when you’re not fully sure you’re ready.
From My Hiring to Our Hiring
The most important shift in Juli’s approach is where she points her attention. Early on, her focus was her own goals, her own candidates, her own to-do list. Now she looks at the whole team. What is working? What could be easier for everyone? Where is the friction?
That change turns a good recruiter into an operations leader. It also means that when something goes sideways, she’s thinking about the system, not just the single fire.
She’s also honest about how this work actually feels day to day. “You can start your morning with a perfectly planned-out day, and by 10 a.m., that entire plan is out the window,” she says. Adaptability is part of the job. So is the realization that unpredictability is what makes it interesting.
More Than Posting Jobs
People outside recruiting often think the work is posting a role and waiting for the right person to apply. Juli sees it differently.
Recruiting is planning, coordinating, and problem-solving across departments. It means building hiring plans that match what operations teams need. During peak season, it means hiring hundreds of people across multiple buildings at once.
“I always say recruiting is a little bit of everything,” Juli explains. “You have to be organized, creative, flexible, and sometimes a miracle worker!”
That combination is what makes the work rewarding to her. The goal is not just to fill positions. It’s to connect people with real opportunities while making sure the operations teams they join have what they need to succeed.
Leading a Team
Now in a leadership role, Juli spends much of her energy supporting her own team and watching them grow. That is one of the parts of her job she values most.
She is also grateful for the opportunities she’s been given to step outside her comfort zone. Her advice to anyone facing a similar moment is direct: growth doesn’t wait until you feel ready. Sometimes you say yes, figure it out as you go, and trust yourself a little.
What Her Story Says About Us
Juli’s path shows how ShipMonk builds careers. We give people room to take on more, learn across teams, and step into roles that didn’t exist when they started. We rely on people who are willing to say yes, and we back them when the plan changes at 10 a.m.
That’s the work Juli does every day, and it’s why the people she hires and supports are set up to do their best.
