Nichole Manning
When COVID emptied the recruiting industry overnight, Nichole Manning had a problem that did not appear in any spreadsheet a recruiter would normally see. She was the connector. She was the one who matched people to opportunities. She was the one who clicked on a portfolio and saw the working career that lived inside it. And recruiting had stopped paying.
Her friend Mario Duff at Games For Love made the introduction. GFL needed a recruiter. The League of Pros program needed a leader for the volunteer pipeline. Nichole did not just join. She built. She led the recruiting team. She hired and trained the next generation of GFL recruiters. The volunteers she opened the door for went on to become instrumental to the organization itself.
She is a Biomarker Oncology Specialist at Amgen by day, in San Diego, with a husband named Jason, a daughter named Maliyah, and a Maltese mix named Harley. The recruiting work is what she does because she cannot help doing it.
“It’s like opening up a treasure chest every time I click on a portfolio link.”
The treasure chest is the volunteer’s portfolio. The volunteer goes on to join GFL. The volunteer goes on to become a part of the work that keeps the organization moving. The connector keeps connecting, on her own time, after the day job, because the role she built at GFL became one of the most leverage-dense systems the League of Pros has.
The League of Pros needs more pros like Nichole. $25 funds an hour of pro-bono industry consult. $100 funds a League of Pros office hours session. $500 funds a full pro-led game-jam mentorship day. $1,000 sponsors a League of Pros initiative from start to finish.
