Jill Maganza-Ruiz is a senior Talent executive with more than 20 years’ experience supporting professional services organizations.
A change agent, she brings innovation, enthusiasm and a collaborative approach to achieving business and talent management strategic goals.
Presently the HR Director for Dentons US LLP, overseeing a team of more than 20 HR professionals across the United States, Jill is responsible for developing and executing human resources strategy in support of the Firm’s key strategic priorities.
Jill has oversight of all elements of human resources including overall talent management and acquisition, total rewards, risk/compliance, development and advancement, integration and engagement, mobility and immigration, policy development & implementation, and workforce analysis.
More from Jill…
Jill isn’t just about doing her job. She wants to understand it.
She realizes that being an HR professional requires knowing more than just HR. She says they have to understand the industry in which they work; without that knowledge, their effectiveness goes way down. Jill explains in more detail:
“I think one of the most important traits of an HR practitioner is understanding the business. As with many functions, you could sort of copy and paste, you could pick up HR from one organization, and put us into another organization.
And we have to adapt. And we have to learn, but much of what we do as HR practitioners, many of the rules that we follow and the practices that we apply, we will apply in any environment. But to really be successful and to have a seat at the table, you have to understand the business within the organization that you’re working in, within the organization that you support. You just can’t do it without it.
Without understanding how a law firm works, without understanding how some of our legal practice groups operate, without understanding some of the challenges they might face or some of the things that they’d like to do for which they’re seeking HR support. We’re just not as effective as we should be.
So, for me building relationships with our managing partners and with our practice group leaders and other professionals who helped run the business, including individuals within areas like our marketing team and our IT team, finance, and so on and so forth. Those have to be partnerships, you’ve got to be sort of joined at the hip with those people, in my view, in order to be successful.
And I’m a very strong proponent, and convey to my team, the importance of partnering with others and building teams, anytime we have a large project to work on. The approach that we try to take is to build a team. So let’s not take it all on by ourselves. Let’s assess where else we’re going to need support, whether it’s technology support, or it’s accounting support, and let’s build a team of people who can help us achieve what we need to. And by doing that, you’re building relationships that’s inherent in the way that we operate.”
