Meet LLNL: Senior Technical Recruiter Connie Castaneda Aniceto

For the past three years, Connie Castaneda Aniceto has helped people take an important step: joining Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

Aniceto is a senior technical recruiter on LLNL’s Talent Acquisition team, where she has worked since March 2023 supporting organizations including the National Ignition Facility, Computing, Engineering and Global Security directorates. Most of her workload centers on technical hiring and she also supports non-technical roles as needed.

In her role, Aniceto helps teams move from job need to start date. She partners with hiring managers to shape postings and interview plans, supports candidate evaluation, extends and secures offer acceptances and coordinates pre-employment contingencies such as background checks and drug screening. She also sources candidates for hard-to-fill roles and serves as a point of contact for interview accommodations and certain employee work-restriction placement efforts.

Before LLNL, Aniceto worked at Meta as a technical sourcer, hiring production engineers. She applied to the Lab in 2022 on a referral from a friend and joined following an interview process she described as communicative and smooth.

She said the most rewarding parts of the job are speaking with applicants eager to join the Lab and extending offers, moments she views as key to a strong candidate experience.

“Most of the time, if I phone-screen someone, they’re very excited to talk to me because they want to be at the Lab,” she said, adding that extending offers is especially energizing because candidates are often “very, very excited on the other end.”

Outside of work, Aniceto’s hobbies balance each other. She enjoys baking, with a focus on sourdough, and sets goals to improve her bread and experiment with mix-ins. Recent loaves have included jalapeno cheddar, chocolate strawberry and chili oil green onion. She also prioritizes working out, and after moving to Brentwood, she built a home gym in her garage.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Aniceto is the oldest of four children. She is the first generation in her family to be raised in the U.S., with parents who immigrated from Mexico. She said she learned about the college application process late in high school, leaning on teachers and peers for guidance. She attended the University of California, Merced, earning a bachelor’s degree in business management and economics, then entered recruiting, landing an agency role before graduation and moving to the Bay Area.

Her background shaped how she works, especially the communication and collaboration skills she developed as an older sibling. In recruiting, she said, listening matters as much as credentials, from understanding a candidate’s experience to gauging how authentically they communicate. She added that empathy is essential when supporting hiring managers working under mission-driven deadlines, while ensuring processes remain fair and compliant.

At the Lab, she connects with community by participating in blood drives and through employee groups, including the LLESA Organic Gardening networking group, where she serves as co-secretary. The gardening group assigns plots to employees who pay fees and grow vegetables or flowers.

For those considering a career at LLNL, Aniceto’s advice is to be patient with the learning curve.

“Don’t be afraid if you feel that you’re taking too long to understand the processes,” she said, recommending new employees give themselves a full year to learn their role and the Lab’s systems.

For applicants, she emphasizes tailoring resumes to each position.

“A lot of our positions are very specific and niche,” she said, encouraging candidates to align resumes with the job qualifications and desired skills listed in the posting.

Aniceto encourages individuals to apply to more than one role, noting that different positions may have different hiring managers and expectations. For interviewing, she recommends mock interviews with friends or family to build comfort before the real conversation.

Her final message is simple: take the shot.

“Don’t be afraid to just go for it,” Aniceto said. “Always apply. You never know.”