Lamara Gorguchadze has more than 20 years of experience in different fields. She started as a cashier at Geocell, which is part of the Telia Group, and now she has successfully co-founded her own business consulting company.
Currently, she works as the Recruitment Team Lead and a Lecturer at SMART Support, the business consulting and services company she started in 2023. With her solid background in recruitment and HR, she’s become an important figure in Georgia’s business and HR world.
During her 13 years at Geocell, Lamara held a few different positions, including Sales Representative, Operator, and finally Branch Manager. Each of these roles helped her learn a lot and prepared her for the leadership and innovation she would bring to her own projects later on.
As a Branch Manager, Lamara was in charge of daily operations, managing employees, and making sure everything ran smoothly in the department. She met sales targets, prepared reports, and even started new processes to make things run more efficiently. It was here she learned a lot about managing teams, planning operations, and keeping customers happy.
Her leadership skills and knack for improving operations led her to a new challenge at LTB, a furniture and home furnishings company. In 2018, she joined as a Branch Development Manager. At LTB, she optimized work processes, improved inventory management, and assisted in selecting new products. Additionally, Lamara oversaw staff performance and managed the entire branch.
While working at LTB, Lamara discovered a passion for HR and recruitment, prompting her to pursue a career in this field. In 2020, she transitioned to Headcount, a recruitment services company, as a Recruitment Specialist.
In this role, she sourced candidates, conducted interviews, and crafted recruitment strategies tailored to clients’ needs. Lamara quickly gained a reputation for finding and vetting candidates for hard-to-fill positions using a mix of traditional and innovative techniques.
In 2021, she advanced to Senior Headhunter at One Point, an HR outsourcing firm. As a recruiter, Lamara collaborated closely with hiring managers to identify their needs in new hires. She employed advanced techniques like Boolean searches to find suitable candidates.
Additionally, she managed databases of candidate profiles and developed recruitment strategies for her clients. Her hands-on experience with challenging recruitment situations further solidified her expertise in HR, allowing her to apply practical solutions effectively.
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SMART Support: A Business Consulting and Services Company
In 2023, Lamara co-founded SMART Support, a business consulting and services company. As Co-Founder and Recruitment Team Lead, she has been instrumental in scaling the company’s services and expanding into various industries.
SMART Support offers three main services: business consulting, recruitment, and development, with Lamara leading the recruitment division.
She has been a driving force behind the creation and execution of recruitment strategies that help businesses find and hire top talent. Lamara is well-known for her hands-on approach; she spends time with clients to understand their specific needs before identifying the right candidates.
Additionally, she manages the recruitment team and mentors junior recruiters, guiding them through the often-complex recruitment process.
Developing Innovative Recruitment Methods
One of Lamara’s standout contributions to the HR field is the recruitment course she developed at SMART Support. This course is designed for those starting their HR careers, offering a practical, real-world approach compared to traditional recruitment courses.
Participants learn recruitment theory while engaging in actual work processes within the company. Students are paired with professional mentors who guide them through the entire process, from sourcing candidates to interviewing and making final hiring decisions.
By the end of the course, participants are prepared to take on junior recruiting roles at top companies. This program is groundbreaking in Georgia, as nothing like it existed before.
Lamara continuously seeks to improve recruitment methods in her daily work. She combines traditional recruitment techniques with modern, tech-based tools like data-driven recruitment and psychometric profiling.
Through additional courses, such as one focused on the Enneagram, she has gained a deep understanding of human psychotypes. This understanding enables her to match candidates based on both skills and personality, which has been a key factor in helping her clients secure long-term placements.
Educational Background and Professional Development
Lamara’s success is largely built on her strong educational foundation. In 2007, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Georgian Technical University. She later studied Management at Caucasus University and Free University of Tbilisi, refining her leadership and business skills.
Over the years, Lamara has completed several certifications, including Effective Service and Sales, Service Marketing, and Customer Relations Skills. These have all contributed to her expertise in managing business operations and leading teams.
With a background in human behavior and psychology, along with training in human psychotypes, Lamara applies these skills to her recruitment work. Understanding the psychological profiles of candidates has refined her process of matching individuals with the right roles.
Career Highlights and Achievements
Lamara’s career is filled with impressive accomplishments. Some of her significant contributions to the HR field in Georgia include her recruitment course, which has even been adopted by schools, and her co-founding of SMART Support.
Her course has helped many aspiring HR professionals bridge the gap between academic learning and practical skills. At SMART Support, Lamara has developed recruitment processes that have successfully aided her clients in hiring the right talent, even for challenging roles.
Her data-driven approach, combined with an understanding of what motivates people, has led to numerous successful hires.
Current Goals and Future Aspirations
Looking ahead, Lamara aims to elevate her career to an international level, particularly in the United States. She views the U.S. as a land of opportunity, where she can work in larger, more diverse markets and tackle new challenges.
While the prospect of moving to a new country and adapting to a different business environment can be daunting, Lamara is confident in the value she brings.
She is also focused on staying abreast of advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP), which she believes will be crucial for the future of recruitment. Lamara plans to learn and integrate these technologies into her strategies, enhancing efficiency and improving her ability to find the perfect candidate.
Lamara Gorguchadze’s career exemplifies her commitment to building a dynamic, innovative recruitment and business consulting practice. From her early days at Geocell to co-founding SMART Support, she has demonstrated her ability to adapt, lead, and introduce fresh ideas.
As she expands her career internationally and embraces new technologies, Lamara is poised to remain at the forefront of the HR and recruitment industry.
About the Author
Nicole Evans is a writer and career consultant based in Chicago, Illinois. With a passion for human resources and talent development, she focuses on showcasing the inspiring journeys of professionals making an impact in their industries.