Vered Levant owns a human resources company called VimyHR. Her company helps businesses that need support with human resources, but not a full-time HR employee. With her team of consultants, she offers a variety of services from recruitment to succession planning. The solutions that VimyHR offers are customized depending on what the organization is like and what services they need.
Vered’s been working in human resources for about 15 years. After studying economics in school, she was hired as a Labour Market Information Manager for a not-for-profit organization. In her role, she learned about the challenges that small businesses were facing. After about two years, she changed roles to a position with the Government of Saskatchewan; this was her first human resources position. “I was asked to move into the HR department as they were blending the two areas. I had no HR exposure whatsoever, but they trained me and told me I was a natural.”
She later on moved to Calgary and began working in a corporate environment. When there was a downturn in the economy in 2016, she wasn’t happy in her role anymore. “I didn't see a light at the end of the tunnel doing layoffs. I hadn't been exposed to that side of HR before. So, I needed a break. I was pretty burnt out.”
After pausing her career, she started getting phone calls from old colleagues and small business owners for HR support and guidance. “About six months later, I thought, ‘wait a minute, there's something here. There's something that I can create to support small businesses that don't need full-time HR help but need some expertise to know how to pay people, how to recruit, how to manage difficult situations and coach their employees.’ Then VimyHR was born.”
““I have never loved what I do more than I do today.””
Vered discovered AWE’s Bold Leadership Program on social media. “After I got accepted into the program, I was really excited just to learn more and have more support. It can be very lonely being an entrepreneur.” In the program, Vered could connect with like-minded female entrepreneurs. She knew she was wearing too many hats in her organization and needed to take the advice she was giving her clients about streamlining their business.
The program’s coaches have helped Vered automate her processes so she can spend more time serving her clients and reducing non-billable hours. The coaches have also given Vered line of sight to what’s in the pipeline of her business, and where her consultants are spending their time. “We've surpassed our targets already for new client relationships in the first quarter. I need to get my back office cleaned up to be able to manage that capacity.”
When the pandemic hit, interest in Vered’s company climbed. People started to see human resources in a new light. It also led her company to need to digitally transform faster than she had anticipated. Vered is implementing Monday.com, one of the tools she learned through the program, to assist her organization in streamlining activities and staying organized.
With the help of a Bold Leadership Expert Advisor, Vered is currently in the initial stages of offering HR-related courses. “We're finding that we’re getting a lot of requests for interviewing support, the do's and don'ts of screening, reference checks, all those pieces. So, we’re going to put them into courses and work on that over the next several months.”
Vered’s favourite aspect of the Bold Leadership program:
“I loved hearing the stories of other organizations and how they're leveraging these tools and their success stories. The speakers that were brought in were really fascinating and inspiring. For them to share their digital transformation journey, how much it's helped their business and their vulnerability around that, that it's not going to be perfect. It's continually a journey and you're going to make mistakes and it's okay. I think that was the big thing for me. It was such a fear to go in the wrong direction, and now I'm realizing I know that I can do this.”
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Vered completed the Bold Leadership Program with AWE. The program is designed to support women entrepreneurs who are creating new strategies and implementing technology and processes that will improve their business performance. Applications are now open for Bold Leadership, learn more and apply today. Deadline to apply is August 15!
