One of the most satisfying things about Rosalinda Masson’s job is knowing that the work she does makes an impact.

“[One of my favorite parts about working here] is making an impact by being trusted to bring quality and diverse individuals to Mercy Home,” she said.

As Mercy Home’s recruiter in Human Resources, Rosalinda finds the best talent to join our team of coworkers by posting positions in different places, taking referrals from current coworkers, and, in non-pandemic times, attending job fairs.

“In any of the positions we have open, one of the biggest things I really look for is to bring diversity to Mercy Home,” she said.

Rosalinda also added that coworker referrals, which she processes, have brought in great, high-quality job candidates.

In fact, it was something like a coworker referral that originally brought Rosalinda to Mercy Home. But before that, Rosalinda was a vice president of a mortgage lending firm, a job she held for around 20 years.

“I really enjoyed helping people acquire the American dream of owning a home and making sure that they were able to afford the home [they were buying],” she said.

But when the housing bubble popped and she saw more homeowners buying homes they couldn’t truly afford against her advice, she decided it was time to do something different. Because she enjoyed helping people, she decided to take a job at a nonprofit organization, the Institute for Latino Progress, doing recruiting for them. As part of that role, she was able to bring individuals to the institute for job training, so they could increase their job skills and find new or better jobs.

“It was such a great experience helping the community and recruiting for the organization,” she remembered.

But the program was state-funded, and when funding ran out, Rosalinda found herself looking for a new job. A friend of Rosalinda’s knew Mario Tamayo, and suggested she apply for a job in donor relations here. After doing her research on the Home—and finding out we are over 99 percent privately funded—she decided to apply.

Rosalinda spent several years in donor relations, where she spoke to our donors on the phone and—her favorite part—gave tours of the Home. She and other donor relations coworkers would set goals to see how many tours they could give each month. Often, they were successful in getting folks from out of town to stop by the Home on trips to Chicago.

“I invited everyone, even people that didn’t live in Chicago,” she laughed.

Rosalinda would also often coordinate a quick visit from Fr. Scott during tours, which donors loved.

“That would make the donors’ day,” she said. “And mine, of course. It was just a blast.”

Though she loved the work she did with the Advancement department, when the recruiter job opened in our Human Resources department, she knew she had to give it a shot.

“I wanted to learn more about what other things I could do to further [Mercy Home],” she said.

Now that she’s been with the HR team for a few years, she couldn’t be happier about her decision to join the department.

“I’m happy to be part of this team,” she said. “We are really a very close knit team, and I just enjoy collaborating and learning from Peggy [Sullivan Yogya, the Director of HR], Patrick [Stevens, the administrative assistant in HR], and Erin [Bauer, also a recruiter].”

Right now, Rosalinda is eagerly awaiting an end to the pandemic so that she can resume many of her favorite things to do around the Home, including using the gym, working as a member of the Mercy Home gardening team growing flowers and vegetables in our garden, getting meals from our cafeteria, and spending time with her coworkers.

“Just gathering with my coworkers in the lunchroom was just awesome, and I’m looking forward to go back to that normal one day soon,” she said.