Cathy Telles - 2nd Place Winner of Career Catalyst Award

Cathy Telles is a Campus Recruiting Manager at Heartland Dental. Her role encompasses leading the hygiene campus recruitment team, focusing on building relationships with not only students, but with Program Directors, faculty, and university administration at hygiene schools across the US. She has been a dedicated employee of Heartland Dental for over 6 years, focusing on Campus Recruiting. Beside her work in Talent Acquisition, Cathy leads the Asian & Pacific Islander Connection employee-led community at Heartland Dental. She also co-developed and co-hosted Heartland Dental’s very own podcast called “The Impactful Wisdom”. As a first generation Filipino-American, Cathy was taught the importance of education by her parents. She holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Management. Her undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and a second major in Foreign Languages (Spanish). Having worked with students in higher education for over 15 years, she is passionate about building a hiring process that is inclusive and supportive for the next generation of dental hygiene professionals.

Career Highlight

"As one of Heartland Dental’s DEI leadership committee members, I am honored to be leading the Hygiene Campus Recruiting team this year. We are focused on targeting double the amount of hygiene schools versus what has been historically done in the past. I have a dedicated team of 5 hygiene campus recruiters that are targeting regions where we’ve never supported before. As I lead the Asian & Pacific Islander Connection committee for Heartland Dental, I am focused on my team targeting a diverse student population. Hiring a previous male hygienist as part of my team also gives a diverse background in the hygiene space in which this career has been predominantly a female-driven industry. We are in partnership with Tennessee State University; one of the top HBCUs that offer dental hygiene. We will be offering externships for their students, only deepening the partnership with TSU. This year, I am encouraging my team to focus on supporting the other HBCUs and HSIs across the country in order to increase representation in hygiene."

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