# From Laid-Off Recruiter to Staffing Firm CEO | Catiana Ibarra

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-elite-recruiter-podcast-3517796/from-laid-off-recruiter-to-staffing-firm-ceo-catiana-ibarra
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-elite-recruiter-podcast-3517796/from-laid-off-recruiter-to-staffing-firm-ceo-catiana-ibarra.md
Podcast: [The Elite Recruiter Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-elite-recruiter-podcast-3517796)
Published: 2026-05-11T10:03:17+00:00
Episode link: https://pod.co/the-elite-recruiter-podcast/from-laid-off-recruiter-to-staffing-firm-ceo-catiana-ibarra
Audio file: https://downloads.pod.co/5825fd83-9e96-44b3-9cb7-112a46ad1e1b/a280a772-67bf-4442-9d61-4f5c4d7ff625.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-elite-recruiter-podcast-3517796/episodes/from-laid-off-recruiter-to-staffing-firm-ceo-catiana-ibarra
Duration seconds: 3760

## Resource

Resumes never tell the full story. The candidate who casually mentioned she's open to relocating, the manager who said he wants a four-day week, the senior dev who's quietly looking — that detail gets buried in notes and forgotten. Atlas changes that. It's the AI-first recruitment platform built to eliminate admin, capturing every conversation automatically and turning it into something you can actually search. With MagicSearch you can ask Atlas "who talked about relocating?" or "who mentioned a four-day week?" and it pulls the answers instantly across your entire database. Atlas also makes BD easier with opportunity tracking and client relationship tools powered by generative AI, plus smart dashboards that give you full pipeline visibility across the business. Atlas customers report 40%+ EBITDA growth and 80%+ increases in monthly billings after adoption. It's built for agencies that want to grow without adding more manual work. https://recruitwithatlas.com April 24, 2020. Catiana Ibarra Aponte was handing layoff letters to her own team when her own letter came. Her director's parting line: "If we had more recruiting, you'd still be here." She heard what she'd been hearing her whole life. Not good enough. This wasn't her first no. Her father, a second-generation pharmacy owner, told her she couldn't take over the family business — she was a girl, she'd have other roles. Her master's professor told the class on day one they weren't degree material. Now her employer was saying the same thing during a global pandemic. She cried for four hours. Then she built a plan. In this episode of The Elite Recruiter Podcast, Catiana — now CEO and Brand Manager of PeopleLift, an HR staffing and AI consulting firm serving clients across Puerto Rico, Latin America, and the United State…

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## Transcript

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