Talk Talent To Me: Recent Episodes
Rob Stevenson: Recruiting, Employer Branding, and Career Growth Expert.
Starring recruiting leadership from everywhere under the talent acquisition sun, Talk Talent To Me is a fast-paced rough-and-tumble tour through the strategies, metrics, techniques, and trends shaping the recruitment industry. Brought to you by your pals at Hired.
Helen Burns, the Global Talent Director at Owkin, about her unique journey in talent acquisition. Helen shares her transition from freelance consulting to an in-house role, the importance of long-term talent strategies, and the challenges of building a talent team in a rapidly changing industry. They discuss the significance of employer value propositions, company culture, and navigating imposter syndrome in career growth. Helen emphasizes the need for clarity in attracting talent and the importance of being open to learning and adapting in a new environment.
- The Global Talent Scout role emphasizes proactive recruitment strategies.
- Balancing immediate hiring needs with long-term talent strategies.
- Imposter syndrome can be overcome by reflecting on past achievements.
Helen Burns on LinkedIn
LHH Recruitment Solutions
A Beautiful Working World
A Soundbeam Studios Production
Summary
In this episode, Rob interviews Jonathan Graber, the head of talent at Gynger, discussing his journey from agency recruiting to in-house talent acquisition. They explore the challenges and rewards of transitioning roles, the importance of setting deadlines in hiring, and the diverse responsibilities that come with working in a startup environment. Jonathan shares insights on managing priorities, the significance of people operations, and how to navigate the complexities of talent acquisition in a fast-paced setting.
Takeaways
- The 10 80 10 rule illustrates how people respond to requests.
- Transitioning from agency to in-house recruiting
- Adding People Ops responsibilities
- Prioritizing recruitment based on urgency and revenue impact.
- Managing multiple roles in a startup requires effective triage.
Jonathan Graber on LinkedIn
LHH Recruitment Solutions
A Beautiful Working World
A Soundbeam Studios Production
JP, Chief People Officer at Metropolis, emphasizes the need to reframe the return to office narrative, highlighting the irreplaceable value of human connection and collaboration that cannot be replicated through remote work alone. He shares insights on fostering a culture of access and the responsibilities that come with managing a large workforce post-acquisition. In this conversation, John-Paul Sukkar discusses the challenges and strategies involved in integrating a large organization after a significant acquisition. He emphasizes the importance of cultural shifts, change management, and the reevaluation of core values to foster innovation and ownership among employees. JP shares insights on balancing agility with necessary processes in a larger corporate environment and introduces a personal framework for decision-making that encourages long-term thinking and risk-taking.
Takeaways
In-person interactions foster serendipitous conversations that can unblock issues. AI cannot replicate the nuances of human interactions in the workplace. Return to office should be viewed as an opportunity, not a punishment. Creating a culture of access encourages open communication and collaboration. Day one changes are crucial for signaling new directions. Ownership mentality is essential for employee engagement. Taking risks on oneself is vital for personal and professional growth.
Links
JP Sukkar on LinkedIn
LHH Recruitment Solutions
A Beautiful Working World
A Soundbeam Studios Production
Elizabeth explains how succession planning reveals far-reaching insights about the state of talent in an organization. As Director of Talent Management and Organizational Development at Cerence AI, Elizabeth has prioritized generating individual development plans (IDPs) for all employees. Elizabeth emphasizes that employees should take ownership of their careers and seek out opportunities for growth, while companies must create supportive environments to retain top talent. The conversation highlights the need for open communication, feedback mechanisms, and the role of managers in fostering a culture of development and engagement. Takeaways: * Why implementation of talent management strategies is crucial. * How succession planning is essential for organizational growth. * Every employee should have an Individual Development Plan (IDP). * Companies must support their managers to retain talent. * Employees should take ownership of their career paths.
Cerence AI
Elizabeth on LinkedIn
LHH Recruitment Solutions
A Beautiful Working World
A Soundbeam Studios Production
Mike Mroczka is an interview coach, author, software engineer, and consultant specializing in helping hiring organizations eliminate cheating in their interview processes. Mike shares the challenges posed by AI tools in coding interviews, the distinction between using resources and cheating, and the necessity of evaluating candidates' foundational knowledge. Mike shares insights on how organizations can design interviews to deter cheating and the tools available for monitoring candidates. The discussion concludes with a hopeful outlook on the future of technology in hiring, emphasizing the importance of adapting to new challenges while maintaining a focus on genuine skill assessment. Episode Notes: * AI is significantly influencing the interview process. * Defining & evaluating "vibe coding" * Candidates often use AI tools to prepare for interviews, raising ethical questions. * How Companies are adapting their interview processes to account for AI usage. * Maintaining a balance between technology and traditional interviewing methods. * There must be an unimpeachable understanding at the base of professional skills. * Interviews are becoming more challenging due to AI tools. * Candidates are using AI, which complicates the assessment process. * Cheating in interviews is not solely AI-based; leaks can occur. * In-person interviews do not guarantee the absence of cheating. * There are services that help candidates cheat during interviews. * Interview design must evolve to prevent cheating effectively. * Bad actors are increasingly infiltrating the hiring process. * Monitoring tools can help detect cheating but are not foolproof. * Awareness and training can significantly improve the hiring process.
Links:
Mike Mroczka on LinkedIn
Mike Mroczka on Twitter
Mike Mroczka Website
Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview
LHH Recruitment Solutions
A Beautiful Working World
A Soundbeam Studios Production
Lia Economos discusses the evolution of interview processes, particularly in the context of integrating AI tools and adapting to the changing landscape of technical interviews. She emphasizes the importance of structured interviews as companies grow and the need to design interview questions that challenge candidates beyond the capabilities of AI. The discussion also touches on the ethical implications of over-employment and the necessity for candidates to network effectively during their job search.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A brief overview of her background and what brought her to Replicate.
- Lia tells us about the 18-month hiatus that she took between jobs.
- The importance of practicing interview skills even when you aren’t seeking a job.
- How to help candidates who haven’t interviewed in a while prepare for interviews.
- Lia tells us about her interview process with Replicate and the recent one she conducted.
- When companies need to consider creating a structured interview process.
- How she sees AI tools being used in candidates’ interviews.
- Why AI can make technical screenings less effective.
- How Lia would handle finding out if an employee was lying about having multiple jobs.
- Lia shares advice for people reentering their careers after a hiatus.
Quotes:
“If you’re hiring for a team and you’re hiring more than one person, you have to create structured interviews around [the] principles that you’re looking for.” — @liaeconomix [19:22]
“There are so many tools right now that exist for technical candidates to use AI without the interviewer knowing that you have to redesign your interviews to make sure that you’re allowing for and working around these tools.” — @liaeconomix [22:44]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Lia Economos on LinkedIn
Lia Economos on X
Replicate
LHH Recruitment Solutions
A Beautiful Working World
In today’s fast-paced world where candidates are always looking for the next opportunity, it’s rare to find someone dedicated to growing within one organization. As today’s guest Lani Montoya demonstrates, internal growth may be the best way to develop exceptional people leaders. Lani is the Chief People Officer at Pernod Ricard, the world leader in premium international wines and spirits, and she begins by explaining her path to joining the company and why she chose to grow in it instead of seeking opportunities elsewhere. We discuss how to rise above workplace complacency, the value of persistence and commitment, whether a work-life balance is real or myth, and the role of modern people leaders. Lani also describes how she makes new hires, how she helps others realize their people-leadership potential, what Pernod Ricard has cooking in leadership development, and her advice for choosing between staying at a company and pursuing other avenues.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Lani describes Pernod Ricard and how she became its Chief People Officer.
- Why she chose to grow within the organization instead of looking elsewhere.
- How to stay at a company without becoming complacent (and still adding value).
- What Lani is busy working on today, and what she still hopes to achieve at the company.
- Why she believes in balance as a whole but not in work-life balance.
- Understanding what’s expected of modern people leaders.
- How Pernod Ricard prepares its people to become the type of leaders it needs.
- Lani’s process for helping others embrace and explore their people-leadership potential.
- Whether leadership and career growth go hand-in-hand
- Unpacking Pernod Ricard’s leadership development platform.
- Pernod Ricard’s strategy for becoming known as a skills-based organization.
- Lani’s advice for deciding whether to leave or stay at a company for personal growth.
Quotes:
“I always found the work I did [at Pernod Ricard] very interesting. I love the trust, the independence that I had, and I always felt like I was making a difference.” — Lani Montoya [11:41]
“I’m not so sure that I believe in work-life balance, but I do believe in balance.” — Lani Montoya [14:57]
“Strengthening the role of the people leader is a big opportunity for driving engagement, driving results, and driving our culture.” — Lani Montoya [22:39]
“Being a people leader is as much an art as it is a science.” — Lani Montoya [25:05]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Lani Montoya on LinkedIn
Learning & Development | Pernod Ricard
LHH Recruitment Solutions
A Beautiful Working World
What does it take to build a people-first hiring culture from the ground up, without sacrificing speed or scale? In this episode of Talk Talent to Me, returning guest Anna Chalon, Head of People at Runway, shares how she intentionally navigated her career from startup to acquisition and back again, fueled by a love for building and a clear sense of purpose. She unpacks her criteria for choosing the right company, the power of gut instinct balanced with measurable data, and how candidate experience can be both human and scalable. Anna also offers insights into how she assesses founders during interviews and why speed and thoughtfulness in hiring are good indicators of long-term cultural alignment. Tune in to learn how to build resilient, high-trust recruiting processes and make smarter career decisions rooted in self-awareness and intention!
Key Points From This Episode:
- An overview of Anna’s journey from Frame.io to Adobe to Runway.
- How she used Adobe’s acquisition of Frame.io as a career checkpoint.
- The importance of being clear about the size and pace of the company you want.
- Values over industry: the creative culture and visionary founders that drew Anna to Runway.
- Founder responsiveness as a hiring signal (and what to look for in the first interview).
- Reflecting on hiring wins and misses as opportunities to learn and improve.
- Blending data and intuition to ensure that a role truly excites you.
- Building scalable, human-centered hiring from scratch with speed, structure, and soul.
- The impact of timely check-ins, personal touches, and radical hiring transparency.
- Starting lean but thinking long-term: balancing agility with a premium candidate experience.
- The power of seeking out quick wins to add value in the short term.
- A simple strengths-enjoyment framework for informed career decisions.
Quotes:
“Even though I'm not going to be using the product every day, the company culture is still shaped by the type of tool you create.” — Anna Chalon [08:15]
“[Hiring] is not a perfect science. All these things are still human-based decisions at the end of the day. You do the best with the information you have.” — Anna Chalon [14:44]
“My goal when I'm building these foundations is: how do we have enough structure and repeatability that we could hire 100 people – if we need to but every single candidate [also feels] like they're alone in the process?” — Anna Chalon [19:14]
“Any kind of communication is better than ghosting. – When people are looking for a job, anxiously waiting to get a response, it's just not the right thing to do.” — Anna Chalon [26:24]
“What am I good at? What do I like? What is the overlap? And how does that apply to work?” — Anna Chalon [37:52]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Anna Chalon on LinkedIn
Runway
LHH Recruitment Solutions
A Beautiful Working World
What do the Sunday scaries have to do with how happy you are at work? Today we sit down with Molly Minczeski, the Director of Talent Acquisition & Employer Brand at MANSCAPED, the global men’s lifestyle consumer brand and male grooming category creator trusted by over 12 million men worldwide. Molly unpacks what the Sunday scaries really mean and why work-life balance looks different for everyone. She takes us inside MANSCAPED’s thriving remote culture, shares her journey into talent acquisition, and explains how she positions herself as a strategic business partner. Plus, she offers expert insights on how candidates can respectfully challenge hiring managers and assess how a company truly values them.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The correlation between job satisfaction and the Sunday scaries.
- Why it’s vital to understand that the work-life balance looks different for everyone.
- Exploring MANSCAPED’s office setup and how it keeps its remote employees connected.
- Molly’s professional history and how she ended up in her current role.
- What her day-to-day looks like and what she’s most passionate about at work today.
- How she goes beyond her job title to contribute to the business at a fundamental level.
- Why candidates should challenge hiring managers (and how to go about it).
- What Molly is looking for when she asks candidates specific questions.
Quotes:
“There might be a correlation between job satisfaction and where on the [Sunday scaries scale] you fall.” — Molly Minczeski [03:04]
“Every company is finding a rhythm that works for them. [MANSCAPED has] found that productivity has not slowed with everyone working fully from home.” — Molly Minczeski [09:36]
“I’m a fan of transparency in any opportunity that I can find. [By calling] the elephant out in the room, you can just get so much more done that way.” — Molly Minczeski [26:13]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Molly Minczeski on LinkedIn
MANSCAPED
LHH Recruitment Solutions
A Beautiful Working World
Kenzie discusses her tansition from big tech to an AI startup, and how positive hiring manager relationships are more important than specific AI upskilling.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcoming Kenzie (Keller) Hoelscher to the show.
- Kenzie tells us about herself and how she got into recruitment.
- A little bit about Kenzie’s fascinating career.
- The importance of building relationships with your hiring managers.
- The role AI is going to play in recruiting in the future.
- How she landed up at AssemblyAI and what it’s like working there.
- The kinds of questions she asks hiring managers when sourcing.
- How Kenzie filters resumes to narrow down her search.
- Kenzie shares some advice for anyone who wants to get into AI.
Quotes:
“With any role while you’re recruiting, as long as you’re having those conversations with your hiring manager and understanding what those main skillsets are, I do think it’s easy to go out there and source for them.” — Kenzie (Keller) Hoelscher [22:48]
“There’s definitely risks to being in a startup but I think now we’re seeing that there’s risks at being at bigger companies as well so why not take the risk?” — Kenzie (Keller) Hoelscher [30:40]
“AI is a booming industry [and] there’s a lot of energy around it right now.” — Kenzie (Keller) Hoelscher [31:24]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Kenzie (Keller) Hoelscher on LinkedIn
LHH Recruitment Solutions
A Beautiful Working World
Referrals are an active, internal marketing campaign that recruitment leaders need to leverage alongside their external marketing campaigns. Today, global talent leader Neeti Upreti joins the show to discuss the power and importance of referrals in the recruitment industry. Hear all about Neeti’s incredible career, why recruiting isn’t only a push but also a pull, the importance of senior leadership roles in recruitment, handling referrals, and so much more! Neeti’s experience in various industries has helped her identify the dos and don’ts of recruiting and in this conversation, she delves into some of the best ways to increase referrals before talking about when to encourage employees to make referrals.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcoming today’s guest, Neeti Upreti.
- Neeti shares her career journey and how she ended up where she is today.
- The push and pull of recruiting: why there needs to be a buy-in from both ends.
- Neeti outlines the imperative role of senior leadership in recruitment.
- Balancing hiring referrals with the best-qualified candidate.
- A few of the best ways to increase referrals within your company.
- Why employees should be encouraged to make referrals from onboarding.
- The importance of bringing an element of fun into recruitment.
- Why Neeti is so excited about transformation in the industry.
Quotes:
“Behind everybody’s success, there are leaders who lean in to provide that development opportunity.” — Neeti Upreti [5:48]
“The reason why I think that [senior leadership roles are] important and why I still enjoy it is because I feel like you really need to be close to a problem in order to be able to find the solution.” — Neeti Upreti [8:01]
“We should – be working on an internal campaign to see how [we can] network with our internal employees to find – talent.” — Neeti Upreti [22:42]
“When you drive fun into a process, you get more engagement.” — Neeti Upreti [28:55]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Neeti Upreti on LinkedIn
LHH Recruitment Solutions
A Beautiful Working World
Rich shares invaluable insights from his time at Google and Facebook, explaining why he transitioned into the startup world and how Anyscale is tackling the challenges of machine learning talent acquisition. We also discuss the importance of sourcing differentiation, the role of AI in recruiting, and why every employee should think like a recruiter.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Why Rich left big tech for startups and the lessons he brought with him.
- Selling shovels during a gold rush: how Anyscale enables AI and ML scalability.
- Anyscale’s plans to expand from 135 to 200 employees by the end of 2025.
- The importance of sourcing differentiation in hiring.
- Reflections on the role of AI in recruiting: what works, and what doesn’t.
- Insight into the power of referrals and empowering employees as recruiters.
- What goes into shifting from traditional referrals to proactive sourcing.
- Different ways that hiring managers are embracing LinkedIn Recruiter.
- Measuring hiring success as part of performance management.
- The impact of helping hiring managers understand the realities of recruiting.
- Rich’s mindset-focused advice for mid-career talent professionals.
Quotes:
“As a sourcing and recruiting team, you have to find differentiation – faster than your competitors. Otherwise, you're pulling up LinkedIn Recruiter, putting the same 150 engineers into a project folder that your competitors are, and going after the same talent.” — Rich Adao [12:45]
“I'm still waiting for a magic AI tool to emerge. – You still cannot replace the human connection [with] a recruiter that can get to know somebody and explain the business.” — Rich Adao [15:09]
“Recruiting is everybody's job. It is important. It is paramount for our future success.” — Rich Adao [26:02]
“Don’t put limitations on yourself. If you have the right approach in your current job, you can surprise yourself with what you can do. Always continue to reach above and beyond. At the same time, be realistic about where you are. Seek out feedback.” — Rich Adao [38:33]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Anyscale
Rich Adao on LinkedIn
LHH Recruitment Solutions
In the age of AI and rapid technological evolution, skills planning has become a greater challenge than ever before. But how else can businesses ensure clear succession paths across their organizations? As we dive down this rabbit hole, we are joined today by Lupe Colangelo, the Director of Alumni Engagement and Employer Partnerships at General Assembly – a company focused on closing the global tech skills gap and connecting tech talent with top companies across the globe. We begin with the work being done at General Assembly and what Lupe’s role entails before examining the current state of the hiring market from the candidate’s perspective. Next, we discover how organizations are staying on top of candidate expectations, the guidelines to follow for employer branding in current market conditions, the reasons behind candidate frustrations, and how AI literacy fits into the recruiting conversation. To end, we unpack General Assembly’s State of Tech Talent 2025 to help define a ‘sustainable talent pipeline’, the challenges of developing one, how AI and technology affect skills and succession planning, and why it’s a good idea to brush up on your AI skills even if AI is not at the forefront of your work responsibilities. Lupe Colangelo also shares invaluable advice for leveling up your candidate experience as a recruiter.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Assessing the current state of the hiring market from the candidate’s perspective.
- Why some recruiters won’t discuss salary expectations in the early interview stages.
- Unpacking the general sentiments of frustrated candidates.
- Automation, online talent portals, and other ways to improve the candidate experience.
- How recruiters select candidates, and how you can stand out in any talent pool.
- The role of AI in the hiring market and where AI literacy fits in.
- Defining a ‘sustainable talent pipeline’ and exploring the possible risks of developing one.
- How skills and succession planning become more difficult as technology evolves.
- What it means to have AI skills even in non-AI-specific roles.
- Final takeaways from General Assembly’s State of Tech Talent Report 2025.
- Lupe’s advice to recruiters hoping to improve their candidate experience.
Quotes:
“From an HR perspective, you never want to make a promise that you can’t keep.” — Lupe Colangelo [11:29]
“Anything that you can include from an HR perspective that tells people where they are; when they can expect to hear back; if they’re still a candidate in the running, that makes such a difference to how a candidate perceives you and if they’re willing to reapply in the future.” — Lupe Colangelo [13:57]
“We kind of assume everyone is using [AI], but now it’s [about] how you’re using it. So, you probably shouldn’t pull it up in an interview.” — Lupe Colangelo [21:35]
“If your leaders aren’t scared of [AI], your employees are not going to be scared of it.” — Lupe Colangelo [31:20]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Lupe Colangelo on LinkedIn
General Assembly
General Assembly on Instagram
General Assembly on YouTube
How We Work
The State of Tech Talent 2025
LHH Recruitment Solutions
How is AI shaping the candidate experience, from the application to the interview to signing on the dotted line? Here to brief us on the current state of AI in human resources is People AI Evangelist, Global HR Futurist, and HR Director at Avalanche Gaming Studios, Johannes Sundlo. Johannes is passionate about driving HR strategies such as workforce modeling, strategic staffing, performance calibrations, and compensation structures that impact the organization. He begins today’s conversation with his thoughts on how candidates use AI for their applications. Tuning in, you’ll learn how to distinguish between helpful AI news and background noise, how AI impacts the traditional vendor selection process, why and how Johannes developed his own ATS, and a close examination of how AI disrupts current HR workflows. We also explore the pros and cons of automating the recruiting process, the margins of error AI is expected to operate in, and the risks and rewards of making your own AI tool instead of waiting for one that you can buy.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Johannes’s thoughts on candidates using AI for applications.
- Insight into the subsection about AI in HR on his FullStack HR Podcast.
- How he distinguishes between real AI news and inconsequential background hype.
- Ways in which AI will impact the traditional vendor selection process.
- Reasons that Johannes decided to develop his own applicant tracking system (ATS).
- How AI disrupts and improves current HR work processes.
- The highs and lows of an automated recruiter.
- Understanding the acceptable margins of error for AI compared to humans.
- Risks and rewards of developing your own AI tool versus waiting to buy it off the shelf.
- Why your data is more valuable than you know.
- Practical tips to help you create your own AI tools.
Quotes:
“[In AI], it’s hard to sort between what’s hype, what’s real, what’s tangible, [and] what we can ignore. It’s super hard to [make] that distinction, even for me.” — @jsundlo [05:28]
“If we don’t start thinking about how [AI’s] impact will look and feel in the future, we might just end up in a future which we don’t like.” — @jsundlo [09:10]
“Our data is valuable, our data is important, and we too easily give it away right now.” — @jsundlo [36:15]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Johannes Sundlo
Avalanche Studios Group
Johannes Sundlo on LinkedIn
Johannes Sundlo on X
Johannes Sundlo on YouTube
FullStack HR
FullStack HR Podcast
The Talent Company
LHH Recruitment Solutions
Grace reveals her unique perspective on elite talent shaped by her career as a Juilliard-trained pianist. From mastering the nuances of excellence in music to identifying top-tier talent in the corporate world, Grace shares how her deep understanding of what sets people apart fuels her approach to hiring and leadership. She dives into the strategic side of talent acquisition, explaining why businesses can't always hire "A-players," how to align hiring with company readiness, and the power of talent intelligence in predicting industry shifts. If you're ready to move beyond transactional recruiting and start thinking like a business leader, this episode will inspire you to elevate your approach to talent acquisition.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Insight into Grace’s journey from classical pianist to talent leader.
- Learning from both excellence and mediocrity to recognize top talent.
- The balance of humility and ego in exceptional leaders.
- How ambition and self-awareness drive career growth.
- Reasons that companies need diverse talent, not just A-players.
- Aligning hiring with company readiness and strategic timing.
- Why talent teams must think beyond job descriptions.
- Using talent intelligence to predict industry shifts and hiring opportunities.
- Moving from order-taking to strategic talent acquisition.
- What goes into making the transition from recruiter to business leader.
- The role of workforce planning and finance in hiring strategy.
- Leveraging validated data to influence hiring decisions and market entry.
- Talent intelligence as the "magic sauce" for strategic hiring.
- Grace weighs in on JPMorgan Chase CEO’s viral remote work rant.
- Practical advice for talent pros looking to become true strategic partners!
Quotes:
“Exceptional talent has this great balance – between humbleness and ego. – You're saying, ‘Hey, I'm great,’ because you have to rally others to follow you, and then you have to have the humbleness to listen.” — Grace Niwa [0:07:07]
“In an organization, you're looking for team collaborators. You're looking for team leadership. You're not looking for that one rock star [who everybody just rallies around] because there's a danger in that.” — Grace Niwa [0:10:54]
“I see talent acquisition as a sales and marketing team. Before you start doing the selling, you’ve got to understand the market research.” — Grace Niwa [0:20:13]
“[Talent acquisition] is more than just filling recs.” — Grace Niwa [0:24:39]
“Surround yourself with people who are like-minded. There are a bunch of us out there who believe in this new way of working.” — Grace Niwa [0:39:50]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Grace Niwa on LinkedIn
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
'‘Salty’ Jamie Dimon sparks controversy with bold remarks against WFH in viral debate'
LHH Recruitment Solutions
Ciara shares her journey from dreaming of being a CPO as a kid (briefcase in hand!) to leading global people strategies, the challenges of stepping into an internal leadership role, and the power of data-driven decision-making in HR. She breaks down Skillsoft’s strategy cascade, a system that ensures every employee’s work drives company success, and reveals how generative AI is changing the game for HR analytics.
Key Points From This Episode:
- From County Cork to the C-suite: Ciara’s path to becoming a CPO.
- The power of listening and widening your perspective when stepping into a leadership role.
- Fixing a disconnected remote team and the small changes that made a big impact.
- Why Ciara always wanted to lead HR and how her analytical brain helps her do it.
- Insight into the AI revolution in HR: turning scattered data into real business insights.
- How every role is a tech role and why HR pros must upskill in AI and analytics.
- Benefits of a company AI co-pilot (and why you probably shouldn’t use ChatGPT).
- Skillsoft’s strategy cascade and the secret to aligning people with company goals.
- Streamlining organizational structure for speed, clarity, and real business impact.
- The art of subtraction and why HR needs to stop doing outdated tasks and focus on impact.
- Tips for executives to inspire organizational engagement in strategic goals.
- Lean in, step up, and follow your passion: Ciara’s advice for aspiring HR leaders!
Quotes:
“To have influence in a boardroom or at the C-suite [level], it's important you're able to demonstrate that the activities your functions provide to the organization actually drive tangible business outcomes.” — Ciara Harrington [0:10:33]
“It doesn't matter if you're in IT, HR, finance, [or] product, every role is a technical role [these days]. As a result, every single employee or team member at every company needs to be up-skilling themselves in data, generative AI, and data and analytics.” — Ciara Harrington [0:15:04]
“That's how we want people to think about things: every time you're making a decision on how to spend your time, it should be on one of these five things. Our logic is, if every single person at our company does that, we will meet our business outcomes.” — Ciara Harrington [0:29:25]
“Do not follow the money. Follow the job. The money will follow you.” — Ciara Harrington [0:35:25]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Skillsoft
Ciara Harrington
Ciara Harrington on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
LHH Recruitment Solutions
Today's guest, Dr. Serena Huang, champions the crucial role of data experts in people teams, showing how people analytics can lead to smarter talent decisions. A globally recognized speaker and innovator, Dr. Huang has a unique background as a data executive at Fortune 100 companies and a Chief Data Officer in the startup world. Her work goes beyond numbers, using data to create healthier, more productive workplaces. A Wiley author and sought-after lecturer at top MBA programs, she’s passionate about empowering the next generation of leaders with data-driven insights. In this episode, Dr. Huang discusses her journey into the people side of business, why data experts are vital to talent teams, and how people analytics can transform decision-making. She also dives into the data behind remote work trends, pawternity, and the inspiration for her book; sharing valuable insights on the art of data storytelling in talent leadership.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Winning the fight with talent leadership: the importance of installing data experts on the people team.
- She unpacks the value of people analytics and how it generates valuable information.
- How she works with CHROs to define their actual problem.
- Data storytelling with people data: what makes it different.
- The verdict (and her opinion) on pawternity.
- We look at the current data on remote work and the push for office returns: making decisions based on informed data (from your people!)
- How Dr. Huang decided to write her book and what topic she wanted to focus on.
Quotes:
“What holds people back is the data quality. You can have great dashboards but when the underlying data is not trustworthy, no one is going to do anything with the data.” — @SerenaHuangPhD [0:10:27]
“Having autonomy, having the agency to decide where, how, and what you work on [is what matters] as humans. [And] I think that’s why remote work was so successful during COVID, for a short while, [and] that shocked everyone.” — @SerenaHuangPhD [0:21:38]
“For validation, I also found that people are much happier on Fridays. No matter where you are, no matter where you’re working, [on] Fridays, everyone’s mood is better!” — @SerenaHuangPhD [0:27:58]
“I think we are just starting on this AI journey and what AI can do. So much is yet to be seen!” — @SerenaHuangPhD [0:33:51]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Dr. Serena Huang
Dr. Serena Huang on LinkedIn
Data with Serena
The Inclusion Equation: Leveraging Data & AI For Organizational Diversity and Well-being
LHH Recruitment Solutions
Benjamin explains how he and his team measure candidate ROI, how he’s improved the candidate selection process, what to be wary of when using AI in TA, and the opportunities that await between what a candidate already knows and what they’re expected to learn in their new role. To end, Benjamin walks us through key data points that, when paid attention to, will help a company improve its candidate experience, and he shares vital advice for approaching a new job with the right attitude.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Design and R&D TA Manager for EMEA at Flex, Benjamin Tarmann describes his new role.
- His daily tasks as he grapples with and embraces new responsibilities.
- The ins and outs of Flex and how Benjamin measures ROI.
- Candidate selection, improving foundational processes, and using the right metrics.
- Exploring the dangers of automation in TA and how to use AI responsibly.
- The opportunity gap between a candidate’s expertise and the demands of their new role.
- Data points to note for improving your company’s candidate experience.
- Benjamin’s parting advice on how to best approach a new job.
Quotes:
“It’s good to have somebody who’s familiar with the process to take a look at the process and analyze [it] because otherwise, you will either not even be aware of the issues in the process or you will be very confused by – [what] you see in the data.” — Benjamin Tarmann [05:01]
“I’m really lucky that I have a boss that gives me almost boundless independence and very minimal supervision.” — Benjamin Tarmann [07:31]
“The whole [Flex] organization lives and dies by the fact that we’re constantly working to improve our processes and systems and tools and methods.” — Benjamin Tarmann [08:55]
“We want to focus on internal candidate selection. We want to ensure that people have an avenue for career growth.” — Benjamin Tarmann [12:42]
“Don’t be afraid of diversity. Don’t be afraid of trying something else.” — Benjamin Tarmann [30:05]
“Have the bravery to try something that’s outside of your comfort zone, it will make you a better leader down the road.” — Benjamin Tarmann [31:53]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Benjamin Tarmann on LinkedIn
Flex
Talk Talent to Me
LHH Recruitment Solutions
How do you create a career that reflects your values while staying open to unexpected opportunities? Today, we speak with Sam Simmons, Chief People and Internal Operations Officer at the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), about embracing adaptability and authenticity. Sam shares her incredible career journey, starting in higher education and pivoting into recruiting, tech, professional sports, and now the LPGA. We explore how embracing career pivots and remaining open to fortuitous opportunities can shape personal growth and career success. Find out how to foster trust and transparency in the workplace, understand the importance of employee value propositions beyond surface-level perks, and uncover how recruiters and leaders can navigate changes effectively.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The power of career pivots and how staying open to new opportunities can shape your path.
- Sam's journey from higher education to leadership roles across different industries.
- Transparency and trust in building organizational culture and fostering engagement.
- Sam's perspective on employee value propositions (EVPs) and how to develop them.
- Stay interviews and how they provide insights into retention and employee satisfaction.
- Tips for assessing organizational culture and identifying companies aligned with your values.
- Why Sam accepted the position at the LPGA and her goals for the role.
- Her approach to navigating ambiguous roles and finding clarity in the workplace.
- Steps for creating partnerships with hiring managers and setting realistic expectations.
- How lifestyle and mission play into modern recruitment and what this means for recruiters.
Quotes:
“You choose how you show up [or] rise to the occasion. Try to make the best of or something out of the circumstances that you are in and [don’t] put too much pressure on yourself to do it perfectly.” — Samantha Simmons [0:03:53]
“It is better to know what exactly you are walking into as much as possible because you know there are bunches of surprises that await you once you get into the actual role.” — Samantha Simmons [0:15:34]
“I am very introspective by nature. It helps a lot with my job and being able to maintain a cool head.” — Samantha Simmons [0:31:55]
“Ask questions [and] make sure you are clear. You are trying to make placements that endure, but the only way you get there is through a partnership.” — Samantha Simmons [0:36:17]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Samantha Simmons on LinkedIn
Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA)
LHH Recruitment Solutions
In a world where workplace culture typically lives on posters and slideshows, how do you ensure it’s felt and lived every day? Joining us to explore this vital question is Frank Kellenberg, VP Global Head of Culture & Inclusion at Sandoz. With a career spanning leadership roles at Ingram Micro, Adidas, and Novartis, Frank is a culture champion and inclusion advocate with an inspiring mission: to bring humanity back to the workplace! In this episode of Talk Talent to Me, Frank shares the story of Sandoz’s cultural transformation following its spinoff from Novartis, including how the organization defined its own identity, shaped its unique values, and cultivated psychological safety to empower employees to speak up. From using employee feedback as a foundation to building a culture that drives both belonging and performance, Frank unpacks what it takes to ensure that company values aren’t just words but a way of working.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Transitioning from Novartis to Sandoz: a strategic cultural shift to forge a unique identity.
- Three questions that shaped Sandoz’s cultural evolution: what to discard, keep, and introduce.
- What it looks like to ensure that company values are more than just a poster on the wall.
- How Frank defines company culture using a three-layered housing metaphor.
- Why openness and transparency play an important role in Sandoz’s interview process.
- Difficulty attracting and retaining talent and other risks of neglecting workplace culture.
- Insight into the significance of employee feedback (including former employees).
- Psychological safety as a red flag signal for cultural issues in an organization.
- Measuring cultural success through surveys, unscripted employee feedback, and more.
- Going beyond curated narratives to uncover the true state of organizational culture.
- How leadership engagement and informal conversations foster cultural alignment.
- Frank's predictions about the growing importance of workplace culture.
Quotes:
“We integrated [Sandoz’s values and reflected them] in processes, tools, and performance management – so that, at the end, people could not just read it on a poster on the wall, ‘Here are our four values,’ but really experience it.” — Frank Kellenberg [0:08:32]
“You can have a great facade. You can have great architecture or a great house with great furniture. But if the people are not representing it, not living it, [or don’t] like to live in the house, then you have a problem. – This is how I would describe company culture.” — Frank Kellenberg [0:12:06]
“We came from a culture in which people had the feeling they [couldn’t] speak up. That was a signal for us that there was no psychological safety in the organization that people feel safe to speak up, to ask questions, to challenge the status quo.” — Frank Kellenberg [0:21:50]
“If an organization doesn’t care about [workplace culture], they will struggle.” — Frank Kellenberg [0:32:22]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Frank Kellenberg
Frank Kellenberg on LinkedIn
Sandoz
Sandoz People & Culture
LHH Recruitment Solutions
Until recently, business or occupational psychologists have been rarities who mostly get hired as contracted consultants. But now, companies are beginning to see their undeniable value, and there’s a drive toward having an in-house business psychologist in all workplaces. Today we welcome Dr. Hamira Riaz, Executive Talent & Assessment Director. Dr. Hamira begins with how she switched from clinical psychology to HR before explaining why occupational psychologists should be an in-house norm for all businesses. We unpack the skills needed to be an expert in Dr. Hamira’s field, how the psychological contract between employees and businesses has changed through the years, the constant yo-yo of power between talent and employers, and why potential is an important subject to modern employees. We also learn about our shadow selves and how it affects our work, the role of resilience in breaking through shadows, how Dr. Hamira ensures that she gets the information she needs when speaking to business leaders, and AI’s role in the future of HR.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Dr. Hamira Riaz describes her career pivot from clinical psychology to HR.
- Why in-house occupational psychologists will become a staple in most businesses.
- The skills and knowledge required to be an expert business psychologist.
- How the psychological contract between employees and businesses has evolved.
- Exploring the perpetual seesaw of power between talent and employers.
- Why potential matters, and work motivations in a post-COVID society.
- The environments in which potential is expressed and realized.
- How our shadows affect our work, and how to assess and alleviate shadows in the office.
- The role of resilience in breaking through shadows, and how to recharge your resilience.
- What Dr. Hamira is listening for when speaking to business leaders about their needs.
- Why she's very interested in how someone spent their 20s when making her valuations.
- The future of HR with AI.
Quotes:
“That psychological contract between an employee and a company has fundamentally shifted. We want different things out of work than we ever did before. Our tolerance and threshold for what's okay in terms of the boundary between our personal life and professional life has shifted, and we're never going to go back.” — @HamiraRiaz [08:00]
“The Human Potential Movement has been around for decades, since the 60s. I've never known potential as a subject to be as much in the minds of HR professionals as it is now.” — @HamiraRiaz [10:16]
“We're all deserving of these opportunities at work, and we don't need to wait for a professional in the HR function to tell us that we are talent and tell us that we have potential.” — @HamiraRiaz [14:01]
“I love the gift of time. I don't think anybody loves you more than when you give them back some time.” — @HamiraRiaz [32:11]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Dr. Hamira Riaz
Dr. Hamira Riaz on LinkedIn
Dr. Hamira Riaz on X
Lloyds Banking Group
Volvo
Martyr!
Talk Talent to Me
LHH Recruitment Solutions
Orlando shares insights from his many years of experience and how he is giving back to the career-searching community through his coaching. He outlines his advice on how to navigate the interview process, especially when you’re asked to do free labor as a candidate, and how to view things from both sides of the recruitment process. Orlando also tells us about his role at Mosaic, his approach to long-term talent development, how to implement a holistic talent strategy, and much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Some background on today’s guest, Orlando Haynes, and his impressive CV.
- How Orlando has given back to the career-searching community through his coaching.
- What to expect from a 60-minute clarity call with Orlando.
- The most common questions Orlando gets as a coach on his clarity calls.
- Advice on how to construct your resume based on your audience.
- Unpacking the interview process from the perspective of the interviewer and the candidate.
- Reflections on unusual, unreasonable, and unethical interview processes.
- What to do when you’re asked to do free labor as an interview candidate.
- Orlando’s role at Mosaic Company and his approach to long-term talent development.
- Balancing the need to have a position filled with investing in hires who need time to develop.
- Advocating for a holistic talent strategy and how companies need to showcase themselves.
- Orlando’s recruitment predictions for 2025.
Quotes:
“It's not that we assessed whether you're a good or bad candidate overall in that five or six seconds, but [it’s] that five [to] six seconds of review let us know to pick up the phone call to learn more.” — Orlando Haynes [09:21]
“The big thing for us [at Mosaic] is [the] relationship. It's more about the long-term relationship, but it's also the education piece, whether you're a good fit for the organization or not.” — Orlando Haynes [24:01]
“[It’s important] to showcase a day in the life, [for example] ‘what does the office look like?’ – People may not say it as much, but they consider those things. Job seekers consider the space and location where they want to work.” — Orlando Haynes [36:07]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Orlando Haynes on LinkedIn
Book a 60 Minute Coaching call with Orlando
Talk Talent to Me
LHH Recruitment Solutions
Explaining the resilience of modern talent acquisition pros is Brandon Jeffs, the Director of People and Talent at TLDR – one of the largest newsletters in the world with daily summaries of the most interesting stories in startups, tech, and programming. Brandon’s career is focused on empowering the employee-employer relationship, and he walks us through the best practices for cultivating lasting relationships in the talent ecosystem. We discover why he started The Revol•TA Podcast and what he’s learned from the guests on his show before unpacking the doggedness of modern recruiters, how recruiters can improve their job security, whether it’s better to be a generalist or specialist, and what it takes to be an exceptional talent acquisition specialist. We also learn more about TLDR, Brandon’s protocol for making really fast hires, and the role of AI in the future of talent and recruiting.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Brandon Jeffs explains what inspired him to start his show, The Revol•TA Podcast.
- The best practices for forging meaningful relationships in the talent ecosystem.
- What Brandon has learned from the guests who’ve appeared on his show.
- Why recruiters are willing to do gritty and often thankless work.
- Whether there’s a way for recruiters to be recession-proof in the likelihood of being laid off.
- An age-old debate: Generalists versus specialists.
- The characteristics of a great job offer
- His protocol for understanding a candidate’s motivations, and why this matters.
- Insight into the markings of a great recruiter.
- Where preparation meets opportunity and the importance of timing.
- The ins and outs of TLDR, with details on a particular serendipitous role fill.
- Understanding Brandon’s method for making really fast hires.
- How the future of talent acquisition is linked to the possibilities of large language models.
Quotes:
“The main driver for me is what can I give back to other people?” — Brandon Jeffs [04:50]
“The community is what brings us together. If you show up for other people, they will show up for you.” — Brandon Jeffs [11:52]
“If you have the fundamentals and the curiosity to learn new things, you can apply those to ways and roles that you may not think of.” — Brandon Jeffs [17:57]
“It’s really interesting to see how we position brand and prestige and pedigree in this larger game of capitalism.” — Brandon Jeffs [24:10]
“A great recruiter can fill roles on time but an exceptional one can create moments of serendipity.” — Brandon Jeffs [29:47]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Brandon Jeffs on LinkedIn
The Revol•TA Podcast
TLDR
LHH Recruitment Solutions
How is AI reshaping the recruitment landscape, and what does it take to implement it effectively? Today, we sit down with returning guest Marcus Sawyerr to delve into the potential of AI-powered recruitment. Marcus is the Founder and CEO of EQ app, an AI-driven platform designed to connect people and knowledge to drive business growth. Marcus is a pioneer in leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance sales, marketing, and recruitment processes. Recognized as one of the top influential leaders in the staffing industry, Marcus has also served as an advisor to prominent venture capital firms and startups. In our conversation, we delve into the intricacies of deploying AI into an HR tech stack and how AI-powered recruitment strategies are shaking up the industry landscape. We discuss the reasons behind AI becoming front and center in the recruitment industry, explore the different use cases of AI in recruitment, and unpack the fundamentals of implementing AI in HR workflows. Marcus also explains the essential considerations of implementing AI, the paradigm shifts AI is creating in the industry, and what companies get wrong about it.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Recent trends in AI and why the recruitment industry is beginning to embrace it.
- The different potential use cases of AI within the overall hiring workflow.
- Common misconceptions of AI in recruitment and missed opportunities within the industry.
- How AI is disrupting traditional recruitment workflows and enhancing productivity.
- Why AI is not a "silver bullet" for problems and why a deep understanding of it is vital.
- The hype cycle around AI and its role in connecting people to the technology.
- Ways to distinguish between valuable AI solutions and overhyped tools.
- Insight into the internal and external company aspects of implementing AI.
- Marcus’ approach to identifying workflow gaps and building trust with teams and the C-suite.
- The potential of AI to enhance workflows and help grow small businesses.
- Recommendations for recruitment leaders to begin deploying AI strategies.
- Final takeaways and an update on the EQ AI Community.
Quotes:
“The difference now is that AI allows a new workflow and a new way of doing things, which you may not have considered [before].” — @Marcussawyerr [0:07:55]
“The way that we work and interact with machines — is evolving at a rapid pace that we haven’t seen before.” — @Marcussawyerr [0:15:46]
“It’s really about thinking how you use AI technology to perform better in real life.” — @Marcussawyerr [0:29:00]
“If you are inside of an organization, you’ve got to figure out how can you drive [AI] proactively or do something else on the side to help you do extra and do more.” — @Marcussawyerr [0:32:14]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Marcus Sawyerr on LinkedIn
Marcus Sawyerr on X
EQ app
EQ AI Community
The Adecco Group
'EQ Community Founder Marcus Sawyerr'
LHH Recruitment Solutions
Christine shares how her background has enabled her to treat with the most technical talent in the market, and details her approach of developing young talent as well as luring niche talent away from academia.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A bit about Christine’s career and how she landed at Quantum Motion.
- Christine tells us about the engineering company she was part of.
- Her opinion on being a generalist versus specializing in something.
- A breakdown of Quantum Motion, what they do, and their hardware search.
- Christine tells us about the kinds of people they hire at Quantum Motion.
- The two very different ways of hiring for a startup (academia and industry).
- How they develop the talent that they need on their own as well.
- Christine tells us how she can tell if someone has used ChatGPT.
- Some advice for anyone wanting to apply for a role in quantum.
- What they are looking for when recruiting at Quantum Motion.
Quotes:
“The reality is, if there’s no hardware, there is no quantum computing.” — @xtine08 [0:20:28]
“It’s tricky to hire because we do get a lot of interest.” — @xtine08 [0:31:06]
“Stay tuned! I think in the next two or three years there will be a lot more opportunities in the [quantum] space.” — @xtine08 [0:32:06]
“If you’re applying for a role in quantum, really think about what about quantum that excites you because there’s so much hype around this area as well.” — @xtine08 [0:33:09]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Christine Ng on LinkedIn
Christine Ng on X
Quantum Motion
Local recruiting for a global brand is not always as synchronous as it could or should be. Joining us with the solutions to this problem is the Head of Talent Acquisition for Europe and Latin America at Munich Re, Nuria Munoz. We discuss the importance of large company gatherings and how to maximize that time before unpacking the value of building both internal and external work relationships. Nuria then describes the efforts of her team in merging local hires with the company’s global vision, the many hats she has to wear in her current role, how she plans on improving the traditional way of making hires in insurance, and the undeniable importance of building a talent pipeline for your business. We end with Nuria’s protocol for cultivating interest in the insurance industry, Munich Re’s approach to succession and workforce planning, the ins and outs of what our guest has dubbed “the skills economy”, and her final words of wisdom for those hoping to follow a similar career path.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Nuria Munoz unpacks the global Munich Re team after the company’s recent conference.
- Making the most of large company gatherings and the importance of building relationships.
- How Nuria and her team merge local hires with the company’s global vision.
- The many hats she wears as the Head of Talent Acquisition for Europe and Latin America.
- Why the traditional way of making hires in insurance is unsustainable.
- Exploring Munich Re’s approach to its relationships with talent agencies.
- Industry branding: how Nuria cultivates interest in insurance.
- The ins and outs of succession and workforce planning at Munich Re.
- Unpacking the skills economy: skills matching and transferable skills.
- Nuria’s parting words of wisdom and advice.
Quotes:
“I’m trying [to get] the [talent] agencies [to] change their business models so that they bring me something that is different; that is more sustainable long-term.” — @NuriaLorMun [0:12:05]
“When you start looking at ‘what’s next, what’s next, what’s next,’ sometimes you miss the ‘right now.’” — @NuriaLorMun [0:28:47]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Nuria Munoz on LinkedIn
Nuria Munoz on X
Munich Re
It is a leader’s responsibility to create the best possible environment for their team and there’s no better way to get insight into how to do that than leveraging employee engagement. Tuning in to this episode of Talk Talent to Me, you’ll hear all about our guest, CPO of Gentrack, Fran Caldwell, why she has such a positive attitude towards her work, the responsibilities she has at her company, and the impact she has made at Gentrack. We delve into the critical nature of employee engagement before discussing the importance of building trust among employees in order to gain these insights from employee engagement. Our guest goes on to talk about key motivators for an engaged workforce and how that varies between generations. Fran even shares the metrics she uses at Gentrack to measure the success of employee engagement and how to evaluate them. Finally, hear how you can handle negative engagement survey results and get some incredible advice about creating a career as a CPO.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The importance of being proud of your role in HR
- Fran shares how she sees her responsibility at Gentrack
- How Fran makes sure employees trust the organization
- The key motivators for an engaged workforce
- How messaging needs to be adjusted for different generations
- Fran shares her strategy for measuring employee engagement success
- Fran tells us how she handles negative results from surveys
- Our guest gives advice for listeners wanting to forge a career like her own
Quotes:
“If you work in the people space, every day is an opportunity. And if you focus on it being challenging and in a negative way, well then frankly, how do you get out of bed every day?” — Fran Caldwell [0:02:31]
“When you come into a new business or when you’re in these roles, you absolutely need to be led by insights and the only way you’re going to get these insights is by asking a lot of questions but importantly, listening to the answers.” — Fran Caldwell [0:10:00]
“Engagement and productivity metrics are intrinsically linked.” — Fran Caldwell [0:17:15]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Frances Caldwell
Gentrack
Anastasia Pshegodskaya is the Director of Talent Acquisition at Remote—a global employment platform that eliminates barriers to international hiring so that great companies can work with great people—and she begins our conversation by explaining why she’s always been more susceptible to working from home. We unpack Amazon’s recent back-to-the-office mandate, why many other companies are trying to get their employees back into the office space, how trust is essential to creating successful remote work environments, and remote work limitations to be aware of. We also discover how Anastasia and her team onboard talent remotely, the talent-specific process that keeps changing as a company evolves, the role of AI at Remote, and why “changing lives” is one of the main reasons for Anastasia’s joy at work.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Anastasia Pshegodskaya details her work-from-home lifestyle even before joining Remote.
- Her thoughts on Amazon’s back-to-office mandate, and why many others are doing the same.
- The importance of trust in building a successful remote work environment.
- Exploring the limitations of remote work and when it’s more beneficial to be in the office.
- How Anastasia onboards talent remotely and still makes them feel like part of the team.
- Her journey to joining Remote, what her role entails, and some notable successes so far.
- How talent-specific processes change and evolve in line with a company’s growth.
- A closer look at Anastasia’s candidate application review process.
- The role of AI, and how the Remote team ensures they’re using AI responsibility.
- Why HR and other people-focused teams are happy to adopt evolving AI tools.
- Anastasia explains what she loves most about her job.
Quotes:
“For great talent; for candidates; job seekers, remote work remains a thing. This is something that inspires them and what they want to have in their lives, and I think that it really comes down to flexibility and having the ability to choose where you work and how you work.” — Anastasia Pshegodskaya [0:04:22]
“There is a common misconception, in my opinion, that remote teams lose productivity – the customers that we’ve been serving don’t see any productivity loss. On the opposite, they see that the switch to remote work enables more efficient collaboration and communication.” — Anastasia Pshegodskaya [0:05:29]
“It comes down to the fact that you just need to trust the people that you hire.” — Anastasia Pshegodskaya [0:06:08]
“Every day, my team is changing someone’s life, and I do think that we’re doing this in a good way.” — Anastasia Pshegodskaya [0:31:18]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Anastasia Pshegodskaya on LinkedIn
Remote
Cobie AI
Endorsed
LHH
The mental wellbeing of employees is a crucial part of the overall success of any organization. Today on Talk Talent To Me, we’re joined by the CHRO of Harvard Business Publishing, Angela Cheng-Cimini to discuss self-advocacy, career development, and most importantly, mental health. Angela shares how her father encouraged her to get into HR, why you (and your boss) need to advocate for yourself without being braggadocious, the importance of elevator pitches, ways to enhance your sphere of influence, be more visible at work, and so much more! We delve into the Mental Health First Aid Program and her current focus on mental health at Harvard Business Publishing. We even talk about how to measure success in mental health programs and what to do when a company doesn’t prioritize the mental wellbeing of its employees. Finally, our guest shares some pearls of wisdom about reflecting on your career, finding motivation, and knowing when it’s time to move on.
Key Points From This Episode:
- How Angela’s dad inspired her career path to become CHRO of Harvard Business Publishing.
- The importance of self-advocacy and the line between advocacy and braggadocious-ness.
- Angela encourages everyone to practice their elevator pitches.
- How to enhance your sphere of influence in your organization.
- Why making the case for your value is a shared responsibility between you and your boss.
- What Angela is busy with right now: the mental health of her employees!
- How to handle working in organizations that do not prioritize mental health.
- Angela explains what mental health first aiders are and what they do.
- The three business units in Harvard Business Publishing and her role in each unit.
- Angela tells us about the role they are recruiting for at the moment.
- How to measure the success of employee mental health programs.
- Angela shares how she reflects on her own career motivations.
Quotes:
“Know what’s important to your boss.” — Angela Cheng-Cimini [0:10:17]
“The bigger you enlarge your sphere of influence, the more likely you are to have allies in the organization and people who will think of you when there’s a piece of work that you can easily slot into.” — Angela Cheng-Cimini [0:10:25]
“Showing up for work is not just about your success, but how you make others successful.” — Angela Cheng-Cimini [0:12:11]
“[There’s no] single indicator. It’s a whole host of things that feed into whether or not employees can show up and be their best every day.” — Angela Cheng-Cimini [0:26:29]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Angela Cheng-Cimini on LinkedIn
Harvard Business Publishing
‘How to Become More Visible at Work’
Mental Health First Aid Program
Venture capitalists are far more collaborative among each other than one may think, and today, we learn how this willingness to share ideas enticed today’s guest to join his current company. Joe Burridge is the Head of Talent at Play Ventures – a venture capitalist firm that loves helping ambitious and passionate entrepreneurs to fulfill their dreams – and he begins our conversation by walking us through his latest career developments since his last appearance on Talk Talent To Me in 2019. After musing on the importance of talent professionals upskilling themselves by listening to podcasts like this one, we discuss the merit of going full-freelance in today’s economic climate, when and how Joe knew that he and his employer were on the same page, the importance of having vast talent pools and making the right hires, and the pros and cons of joining a startup as a talent professional. To end, Joe explains what we could be doing more of to embrace and encourage collaborative work environments.
Key Points From This Episode:
- How Joe Burridge's career has developed since his last appearance on this podcast in 2019.
- Whether he regarded his contracted work as a temporary or permanent solution post-layoff.
- His experience of working in-house and leading a team versus doing more consultative work.
- A brief interlude on the value of listening to podcasts like this one as talent professionals.
- When and how Joe knew that his concerns aligned with his employer's needs.
- A case study from his career, highlighting the importance of talent and making the right hires.
- The pros and cons of joining a startup.
- Joe's recruiting approach, and the trends he sees in current candidate pools.
- What we can learn from the (surprisingly) collaborative nature of venture capitalists.
Quotes:
“In North America, for the most part, if you get laid off it's a fairly immediate thing. Thankfully, in the UK, layoffs take weeks, sometimes months. So, you've got quite a bit of breathing room to figure out what you're going to do next.” — @JoeFindsTalent [0:07:04]
“If you spend your free time listening to a recruiting podcast, I think you're probably a pretty good recruiter. It signals to me that you really care about getting better at your job.” — @robstertweets [0:13:55]
“Yes, there's an abundance of talent available, but you need to be more honed into hiring for culture than ever before when you've got such a variety to choose from.” — @JoeFindsTalent [0:24:32]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Joe Burridge
Joe Burridge on LinkedIn
Play Ventures
Episode: Senior Recruiter, EA Joe Burridge
Alison Kaizer on LinkedIn
Kelly Kinnard on LinkedIn
Rob Stevenson on X
Talk Talent to Me
In today’s episode, I sit down with Gordon Patterson to discuss his mission of fostering relationships and championing individual empowerment. Gordon is the Director of Talent Acquisition at LKQ Corporation, a leading provider of alternative and specialty parts to repair and accessorize automobiles and other vehicles. In our conversation, Gordon tells us about LKQ, the changes the company is currently going through, and the different markets it serves. Hear about his role at the company, the ways he pushes the envelope in recruiting, and the value of brand recognition for finding talent. Discover the different organizations LKQ leverages for recruiting, how it retains employees, and details of its “Your Voice Matters” survey. Find out how Gordon overcame the tech hesitation hurdle, his approach to creating referrals, LKQ’s people process technology (PPT) framework, and what “sweat equity” is. Gain insights into the role of leaders in the recruitment process, the secret sauce to retaining talent, what he has planned for the future, and more. Tune in now!
Key Points From This Episode:
- History about the LKQ Corporation and what makes it unique.
- His role at the company and what he is currently working on.
- Gordon shares his approach to finding top talent for LKQ.
- How national and local partnerships help for networking.
- Hear how many hires LKQ has each year and its employee turnover.
- Exciting programs the company offers employees, such as scholarships.
- Taking feedback from employees and turning it into policy.
- The challenge of slow adoption of technology in the sector.
- Learn about the type of technologies LQK has invested in.
- Relying on non-technological tools for talent acquisition.
- Discover the red flags he noticed in the company’s staffing process.
- Why CRM (candidate relationship management) software is essential.
Quotes:
“It has been really fun to see, in my two years [at the company], how talent acquisition has evolved to impact the business.” — Gordon Patterson [0:05:51]
“At LKQ, we have been very fortunate, even with all the acquisitions and movement, that a lot of our front-line associates have been with the company for twenty-plus years.” — Gordon Patterson [0:11:20]
“The technology that [LKQ] has invested in on the [talent acquisition] side has worked really well.” — Gordon Patterson [0:17:28]
“When you see the business going to contractors or temporary talent or however you want to call it; where there is smoke, there is fire.” — Gordon Patterson [0:22:28]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Gordon Patterson on LinkedIn
LKQ Corporation
Talk Talent to Me
Are you curious about the evolving landscape of recruitment and the secrets behind successful talent acquisition strategies? In today’s episode, I sit down with Kelsey Sorensen, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition at Black Crow AI, to discuss the dynamics of recruitment in both traditional and startup environments. With a career spanning over a decade in recruitment, Kelsey has honed her expertise in sourcing, candidate assessment, and strategic human resource planning. Her commitment to fostering authentic connections and her ability to create impactful interactions have earned her recognition as a top performer in the field. Black Crow AI is a company that specializes in providing real-time machine-learning predictions without the need for coding. In our conversation, we discuss the how and why of her recruitment journey, her experience in the agency approach to recruiting, and her memorable career moments. Explore how her current role differs from her previous roles and why she prefers a relationship-centric approach to recruitment. Discover why career stability has become critical to candidates, the pros and cons of working for a startup, and hear Kelsey unpack the concept of career stability. Gain insights into the benefits of being a generalist in the recruitment space, the value of stepping outside of the traditional HR role, why you need to love the product or service to take the job, and much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Background about Kelsey and how she knew recruiting was the career for her.
- We delve into the pros and cons of the agency approach recruitment.
- Details about her current role at Black Crow AI and what she enjoys about it.
- Unpack the concept of job stability and why candidates are seeking it.
- How marketing can be utilized to enhance recruitment strategies.
- Ways that Kelsey incorporates marketing aspects in her approach to recruitment.
- Explore how to sell the vision of the company to future employees.
- The benefits of working in a startup environment.
- Her methods for building the recruitment pipeline at Black Crow AI.
- What she has planned for her future career trajectory.
- She shares advice and recommendations for fellow recruiters.
Quotes:
“Just, ‘Smile and dial’ is what we used to say in the agency days.” — Kelsey Sorensen [0:06:01]
“I hate to break it to you but no job is permanent.” — Kelsey Sorensen [0:08:01]
“I don’t think [career] stability means the same thing for every single person.” — Kelsey Sorensen [0:09:06]
“I have my hands in all different areas of the organization which allows me to paint a clear picture of what we are building and developing [at Black Crow AI] to candidates.” — Kelsey Sorensen [0:17:26]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Kelsey Sorensen on LinkedIn
Black Crow AI
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Modern talent acquisition is more than just making the right hires. Onboarding, mobility, and retention are just a few of the many new responsibilities that TA’s have to consider (and often, they aren’t even in the TA’s title). Today’s guest, Lavonne Monroe, explains how she became the Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition and Onboarding at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and what her role entails. We learn about HPE’s trustworthy DEI policy, how the TA role has evolved over the years, how our guest views employee churn, and the full scope of HPE’s talent team. We also discuss HPE’s recruitment strategy, what Lavonne and her team are currently working on, how she manages her team, and why TA’s are required to have a holistic comprehensive of their organizations.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Lavonne Monroe describes her role as VP of Global TA and Onboarding at HPE.
- Why she trusts HPE to walk the talk as it relates to equality and economic justice.
- Modern additions to the role of talent acquisition.
- How Lavonne views regrettable and non-regrettable churn.
- The scope of HPE’s talent team, and how they use skip-level meetings.
- What Lavonne and her team are currently working on.
- HPE’s recruitment strategy and current workforce.
- More specifics on our guest’s role at her organization.
- How she acquired the speech of a business leader, and how this fueled her success at HPE.
- A closer examination of how she manages her team.
- Why understanding sales (and the whole business in general) matters for a TA team.
Quotes:
“We are winning awards around the work that we’re doing but we’re not doing the work to win the awards, we’re doing the work because it is the right thing to do.” — Lavonne Monroe [0:05:00]
“For me, the acquiring part, that’s almost the easy part. It’s the retention; it’s the mobility; it’s the onboarding – it’s so much bigger than just the acquisition.” — Lavonne Monroe [0:08:29]
“Lead generation all the way to retirement, that’s the focus of our team.” — Lavonne Monroe [0:12:40]
“My team, we’re never satisfied. We’re always looking to, ‘How can we get better? How can we continue to improve?’ – we’ll continue to push the envelope.” — Lavonne Monroe [0:18:47]
“I’m really big on finding out what people are really good at, and then putting them in the [right] position to be great.” — Lavonne Monroe [0:20:42]
“We can’t survive without TA.” — Lavonne Monroe [0:26:30]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Lavonne Monroe on LinkedIn
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
There’s a saying that goes “Nothing grows in the comfort zone” and our guest today is a formidable example of success outside of comfort! We are thrilled to welcome to the Talk Talent to Me podcast, Nicolette Jackson, Head of Talent over at Zephyr. Nicolette shares more about what they do at Zephyr and her journey to becoming the Head of Talent. We dive into her inspiring and forward approach to negotiating her job offer at Zephyr, and she highlights what prompted her confidence to (always) ask for more! We then delve into the different facts of her mentor/mentee relationship with Lorraine Buhannic, and much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The Nicolette of it all. More about Zephyr and Nicolette’s background and journey.
- Viewing another Chief People Officer’s visible role at the table: how it was apparent to Nicolette.
- She elaborates on the different types of things the board asked Lorraine (the CPO).
- The sparks that influenced Nicolette’s Chief People Officer aspirations.
- Nicolette delves into her approach toward negotiating her job offer at Zephyr.
- The inspiration that prompted her confidence to ask for more (from her job offer).
- Nicolette sheds light on various facets of her mentorship dynamic with Lorraine.
- She shares Lorraine’s anti-imposter syndrome pep-talk/ concept.
- Painting her own data journey and the impact it has had on her confidence.
- She explains the different ways she is currently quantifying the role.
- Why owning your expertise is a beautiful thing to do for a business.
Quotes:
“When I realized that recruiting was — one side bringing people in but then also how to grow them and make them happy while they were there was the whole other side of the spectrum. And to truly be happy in recruiting — I feel like I also wanted a say-so on how people were treated once they were in the door.” — Nicolette Jackson [0:08:40]
“Who gets the oil? The squeaky wheel, honestly the people that ask for the things they want.” — Nicolette Jackson [0:14:44]
“Nothing that I’ve done in this life that has made me successful was ever comfortable. It’s always been uncomfortable. It’s always been a challenge.” — Nicolette Jackson [0:25:20]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Nicolette Jackson on LinkedIn
Zephyr
Hippo Insurance
Lorraine Buhannic on LinkedIn
Episode: Juxtapose Head of Talent Lorraine Buhannic
Juxtapose
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Sometimes, life is all about taking leaps of faith. And when it comes to talent and talent management, a leap of faith can open doors that you never even considered walking through. Today we are joined by Kara Hughes, the VP, HR Business Partner of Tech & Digital, as well as the Head of Workforce Planning, People Insights, and Analytics at Northwestern Mutual – a financial firm focused on making their clients feel more confident and secure so that they can sleep better, breathe easier, and feel happier. Kara begins the conversation by answering an important recruiting question from one of Rob’s friends about how to approach problematic intake interviews. Then, we get to know more about Kara: how she ended up at Northwestern Mutual and what her job entails. We also discuss the importance of workforce planning, the departments that are responsible for it, and the role of recruiters in becoming part of business strategy and workforce planning conversations. To close off, we explore how the evolution of HR has added to the pains of the industry. Be sure to listen until the very end for some helpful advice on how to send an email in French.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcoming Kara Hughes as she answers a recruiting question from one of Rob’s friends.
- Advice for candidates on how to approach intake interviews.
- The leaps of faith that led Kara to Northwestern Mutual and what her title and role entails.
- Exploring the role of recruiters in workforce planning.
- The departments that initiate and prioritize workforce planning, according to Kara.
- How recruiters can involve themselves in business strategy and planning conversations.
- Why many people (incorrectly) believe that HR should not have a seat at the strategy table.
- How the evolution of HR helps to explain the modern challenges of the role.
- Some multicultural advice to end today’s episode.
Quotes:
“Recruiters and hiring managers, you hope they have a really good intake meeting and are really, really clear on requirements but signals get crossed. So, advocate for yourself and cover all those important bases at the outset and don’t feel bad about doing it.” — Kara Hughes [0:03:51]
“Show gratitude and know who has gotten you to where you are and who’s helped you along the way because if you really sit back and take stock, [you’ll realize that] it’s many, many people.” — Kara Hughes [0:09:49]
“There’s been such a radical shift in the value that [HR] is expected to provide.” — Kara Hughes [0:28:28]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Kara Hughes on LinkedIn
Northwestern Mutual
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
In this episode, you will hear about Frank’s wealth of experience, recruiting for SeatGeek and the challenges it has brought, and their amazing finance and HR business partner team We then delve into what Frank is currently working on at SeatGeek before discussing the importance of foresight and being proactive when bringing talent into a large company. Finally, our guest shares advice for anyone in the talent recruitment space who is looking to move into bigger roles. You don’t want to miss this so be sure to tune in now!
Key Points From This Episode:
- A brief overview of Frank’s career and a bit about SeatGeek.
- Overseeing the recruitment period at SeatGeek during COVID and the challenges it brought.
- Frank tells us about their new finance team and HR business partner team.
- Why they place focus on planning in their business while remaining agile.
- How Frank’s experience has helped him participate in the moving parts within SeatGeek.
- What Frank is working on right now at SeatGeek.
- The importance of being proactive about bringing talent into a large company.
- Frank shares advice for anyone wanting to climb the talent recruitment ladder.
Quotes:
“As you – become a more mature and bigger organization, you have to have better foresight just because there are a lot more moving parts.” — Frank Cebek [0:10:46]
“Always try to bring value to the company you’re working at.” — Frank Cebek [0:26:04]
“At the end of the day, recruiting is a support function.” — Frank Cebek [0:26:19]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Frank Cebek on LinkedIn
Frank Cebek on Instagram
SeatGeek
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Doubling up throughout most of his career, my guest today has both maintained his rank and activity in the Air Force while being a C-level HR professional at a large, well-established company. I’m joined on the show today by Lieutenant Colonel and Chief Human Resource Officer at Riceland Foods Inc., Lionel Riley. Join the conversation as we learn how he managed his parallel careers, his thoughts on the journey of transition from the armed forces to the corporate world, and how his leadership overlaps from being Lieutenant Colonel to CHRO. He unpacks why he strives to maintain mindfulness while managing his team, his responsibility as CHRO for a multi-billion dollar company, including the journey of how he wound up there. We learn about his big move from a long and stable position at Walmart, and Lionel shares three key pieces of advice for those looking at forging a career in this space.
Key Points From This Episode:
- How Lionel maintains his rank and activity in the army while being a C-level HR professional.
- We delve into the journey of transition from the armed forces to the corporate world.
- His overlap in leadership from Lieutenant Colonel to CHRO Lionel.
- All eyes on him: Lionel recounts first realizing that people were starting to pay attention to what he was doing.
- How he strives to implement mindfulness when managing his team and their lives.
- He expands on the responsibilities of the CHRO of a multi-billion dollar company.
- Lionel shares the journey of how he wound up in his role as CHRO at Riceland Foods Inc.
- Questions he asked in his interview process when deciding to leave a stable position at Walmart.
- He describes the words that settled him into taking a new position.
- Lionel shares three key pieces of advice for those forging their career in this space.
Quotes:
“The struggle [to transition from the armed forces to the corporate world] is relative.” — Lionel Riley [0:04:03]
“It’s not that, from corporation to the military is so one-to-one, but there’s so many transferable skills: discipline, exposure, cultural experiences that military members who have had the privilege of servicing oversees; they’d be able to bring immense value to your corporation.” — Lionel Riley [0:06:01]
“HR, I tell this to everybody, is a thankless job.” — Lionel Riley [0:11:57]
“Never stop learning — relationships are key and always know that you can receive a nugget or two from anyone, on anything. Never stop learning!” — Lionel Riley [0:29:51]
“Complacency kills.” — Lionel Riley [0:30:17]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Lionel Riley on LinkedIn
Riceland Foods Inc.
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Veronica Salcido is the Senior Director of Global Talent at Multiverse, and she joins us to share the defining moment in her life when she chose to decline a string of amazing job offers to sell her possessions and climb Machu Pichu. While acknowledging the privileged position she found herself in, Veronica urges listeners to take the plunge and reset their lives if the opportunity arises. Tune in to hear her story of starting a business and getting 21 clients within 30 days before eventually taking on a full-time opportunity where she was able to make a greater social impact. We also explore the influence of AI on talent acquisition and the capacity it holds to create the freedom to do more meaningful work. Join us today to hear all this and more!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcoming Veronica Salcido, Senior Director of Global Talent at Multiverse.
- Parallels between working in talent and Veronica’s passion for mountaineering.
- How she selects opportunities that are value-aligned.
- The pivotal moment in Veronica’s career and the spreadsheet that changed everything.
- Traveling to Machu Pichu during a promising moment in her career.
- How her experience exceeded all of her expectations.
- Launching her own business and getting 21 clients within 30 days.
- Acknowledging the privilege necessary to reset your life.
- How her internal reality differed from external perceptions of the life Veronica was leading.
- Recapping why choosing herself was the best thing she could have done.
- The two services she offered in her newly started business and how she started to work with founders.
- Making the decision to climb the career ‘jungle gym’ and seek out a full-time role.
- The concept of a double or triple line.
- Weighing in on the reset happening in talent acquisition.
- Upskilling yourself to embrace Artificial Intelligence.
- The power of automation to create the freedom to do more meaningful work.
Quotes:
“I ended up having no inbox, no plan, I hiked Machu Pichu, I went off the grid, I had a total reset, and I launched my own business after that.” — Veronica Salcido [0:14:26]
“I had 26 clients within the first 30 days of launching my business.” — Veronica Salcido [0:14:30]
“I chose to get in the driver’s seat of defining my career and how my life and the opportunities that I was signing up for were going to support that.” — Veronica Salcido [0:14:36]
“That is the juicy part of why we do what we do especially as leaders in talent acquisition - innovation.” — Veronica Salcido [0:36:52]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Veronica Salcido on LinkedIn
Multiverse
The Infinite Game
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today on Talk Talent to Me, we are joined by Doreen Ghafari, VP of People at AllTrails, to find out how she and her team spearheaded a period of significant growth for the company, more than quadrupling the AllTrails staff in just over three years. Tuning in, you’ll learn about the value of making recruiting efforts an extension of the brand experience, why talent acquisition is so much more than putting butts in seats, and the importance of building a solid foundation of systems and processes during periods of hyper-growth. We also touch on the benefit of treating values as a core competency, data-driven frameworks for performance evaluation, and what a holistic approach to recruitment looks like from Doreen’s perspective.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An overview of AllTrails and Doreen’s role there as VP of People.
- How Doreen and her team quadrupled AllTrails’ employees in just a few years.
- The value of making recruiting efforts an extension of the brand experience.
- Navigating noise in the inbound talent funnel.
- The what’s and why’s of recruiting that go beyond the “butts in seats” mentality.
- Growing pains that come with 4X-ing a company and why processes are key.
- Core competencies behind rapid yet sustainable business growth.
- Key values and frameworks that AllTrails uses to evaluate performance.
- Insight into Doreen’s holistic strategy for recruitment and people operations.
- Advice for aspiring talent professionals and why it’s certainly not a linear career path.
Quotes:
“AllTrails is a beloved brand. People tend to have delightful experiences with the app and the site. We wanted our recruiting efforts to be an extension of that. We want people who come to AllTrails to interview, even if they don’t get the job, to reflect fondly on their experience.” — Doreen Ghafari [0:05:11]
“Scaling is hard – How do we set up the scaffolding that’s going to allow us to do that?” — Doreen Ghafari [0:09:41]
“Recruiting and people teams need to be in lockstep with each other. It’s not separate functions. It’s two halves of the same circle.” — Doreen Ghafari [0:21:10]
“Don’t think of your [talent career] as a linear thing. It’s more – of a bouldering experience rather than a linear ladder.” — Doreen Ghafari [0:28:36]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Doreen Ghafari on LinkedIn
AllTrails
‘TopFunnel Head of People Doreen Ghafari’
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Russell is a seasoned professional with years of experience leading recruitment teams across various industries. His professional achievements and personal values make him a dynamic leader in the talent acquisition space. Hear how the shift from linear media to digital media has transformed the industry, his motivation for pursuing a career in talent acquisition, and what recruitment can learn from outsourcing channels. Discover how increased employee engagement results in better outcomes, why more information is better for candidates, and how Paramount plans to leverage AI to create opportunities in recruitment. He explains the power of collaboration, how skills create a shared language between HR and business, and the evolution of roles in recruitment.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Russell provides an overview of the current entertainment landscape.
- His diverse professional background and path into the media industry.
- Gaps in the talent acquisition process and where it needs to be improved.
- The importance of employee engagement and lessons from the referral process.
- Fostering trust in non-referral channels and the secret to retaining talent.
- Paramount’s approach to recruitment and the influence of brands on the process.
- Explore the role of AI in connecting talent to the brand.
- Why collaborating with other departments is an essential consideration.
- He unpacks the concept of building a skills-based organization.
- Foundational skill metrics and why they are vital for job descriptions.
- How to create and maintain the idea of continuous improvement.
- Final takeaways about the recruitment industry Russel has for listeners.
Quotes:
“The only constant [in the industry] for the last several years has been change.” —@weaveru [0:02:06]
“There is something fundamentally fractured still with [talent acquisition] processes and technology. I think we have to get back to basics to make sure we are doing things that allow us to connect to that high-performing talent.” —@weaveru [0:06:35]
“If you are not building or maintaining active relationships with the marketing, corporate communications, legal, and tech departments, you are doing yourselves and your organization a disservice.” —@weaveru [0:20:21]
“Demotivated hiring managers are the biggest challenge facing any organization today. If you do not have your hiring managers engaged and locked in, you are going to fail.” —@weaveru [0:34:27]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Russell Weaver on LinkedIn
Paramount
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining me today is Kelly Culler, Senior HR Business Partner and VP of Talent Acquisition at Northwestern Mutual. In this episode, we discuss her unique role and why people are the heart of any company. Kelly is an accomplished executive with a distinguished career in human resources. She leads a high-performance team dedicated to sourcing, engaging, acquiring, and attracting top-tier, diverse talent that aligns with Northwestern Mutual’s values. In our conversation, we discuss her career journey and path to Northwestern Mutual. We delve into how the HR business partner role differs from traditional HR, ways of differentiating yourself in the HR space, how the recruitment landscape is evolving, and why people are at the core of business outcomes. Discover how to sell your role as a recruiter and unlock the full potential of people and teams. Gain insights into her approach, challenges in the HR space, strategies for building genuine relationships, and much more!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Background about Kelly and her role at Northwestern Mutual.
- A Traditional recruitment role versus an HR business partner role.
- How Kelly developed her skillset and what sets her apart.
- Explore how the traditional HR landscape is changing.
- Her approach to navigating outdated mindsets in the HR space.
- Why just being good at your job is not enough.
- Kelly’s unique approach to her role and building relationships.
- Insights into the multi-disciplinary nature of her role.
- Critical aspects of developing healthy and accountable leadership.
- Metrics and methods for measuring effective leadership.
- The motivation for her leadership development programs.
- Final words of advice for others forging a career in HR.
Quotes:
“[As an HR business partner], I am going to bring the people acumen to the table because my expertise is people.” — Kelly Culler [0:07:39]
“To me, people are the heart of what creates business outcomes.” — Kelly Culler [0:10:27]
“Forge a relationship with your leader so you have the trust because they are going to help you unlock more things than not from a career perspective.” — Kelly Culler [0:33:37]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Kelly Culler on LinkedIn
Northwestern Mutual
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
The performance of any organization is unquestionably linked to its ability to tap into the “human energy” encapsulated in the talents, approach, and potential of every team member. This is the belief of today’s guest, Julie Flowers, mentor, coach, sought-after speaker, and HR Director, HR Talent Development Initiatives at Chevron. In this episode, Julie shares some pearls of wisdom from her 26 years with Chevron and offers insight into how the technology, high standards, and ethics at Chevron appeal to Gen Z candidates, how talent development boosts morale and improves company culture, and why she believes that HR is the human energy in progress that leads to not only business success but individual success too.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An overview of Julie’s career journey and how it led her to Chevron in 1998.
- Branding non-renewable energy for the younger generations.
- Lessons from Julie’s transition from talent acquisition to talent development.
- What it looks like to reinvent HR every few years (and why it’s so important).
- The value of continuous upskilling in consulting, project management, and more.
- Reasons that we should view AI as an enabling tool rather than a skill.
- Innovative ways that Chevron uses AI for external recruiting.
- Personal development for talent professionals: how to grow in every role.
- The importance of fostering a curiosity mindset.
- Insight into Chevron’s strong HR culture and how Julie nurtures it.
- The relationship between long-term development and short-term incentives.
- Tips for leaders, employees, and organizations to encourage continuous growth.
- Why storytelling is such a critical skill for talent professionals.
- Humbling advice for those who want to up-level their recruitment career.
Quotes:
“We’re focused on creating an [HR environment at Chevron] where the business recognizes us as an agile force, capable of adapting – where we need to for this ever-changing business that we’re in – and delivering amazing customer experience.” — Julie Flowers [0:08:51]
“If people are paying attention, you grow in every role you have. Generally, the roles that you’ve had prepare you for the next role, you just don’t know it’s happened.” — Julie Flowers [0:17:01]
“As a leader, I need to [encourage, support, and reward]. As an employee, I’ve got to want to learn and grow. As a company, I’ve got to show that we’re building that type of culture. [Continuous development] takes all three of those things.” — Julie Flowers [0:27:10]
“Sometimes, when you come to the business with something HR, it might not be met with open arms. We have to be able to tell a story so they understand the value and impact it’s going to have.” — Julie Flowers [0:33:56]
“We don’t learn most from our successes. We learn from when we don’t do something right, when we fail.” — Julie Flowers [0:35:28]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Julie Flowers on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Jamie joins us to offer some insight into what it takes to be an early-stage recruiter, how talent professionals can level up the entire function of a business, and when companies should consider bringing on a full-time in-house talent resource.
Key Points From This Episode:
- How Jamie forged a career in the talent space and what led her to Primary.
- Insight into her role as the first-ever recruiter at SeatGeek.
- Recruiting for an early-stage company and what attracted her to the talent function.
- How being an early-stage recruiter differs from a typical talent role.
- What it looks & sounds like when a company invests in talent in a meaningful way.
- The threshold at which a full-time in-house talent resource becomes invaluable.
- Advice for fledgling recruiters who want to make the most of their skill sets.
Quotes:
“When you scope a role appropriately and you bring in the right person for it, you can level up an entire function of a business, especially when it’s early stage.” — Jamie Sterrett [0:07:10]
“Ultimately, as you grow in your career, you will need to be able to tie your work back to the impact that you’re having [on the business].” — Jamie Sterrett [0:12:23]
“Early-stage recruiting is not for everyone. When you are the first recruiter somewhere, you are wearing all of the hats.” — Jamie Sterrett [0:23:37]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jamie Sterrett on LinkedIn
Primary Venture Capital
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Lorraine left a great job at Butler University to join FIB, and she credits the move to a remarkable recruiter and a FIB culture that was too wonderful to resist. In our conversation, Lorraine dives deeper into staying comfortable versus trying something new, the power of listening to your gut, what she loves about HR and the recent developments in the industry, and why being future-ready is among her top priorities. We also discuss resilience and how to cultivate it in the workplace, how to create an office culture that facilitates constructive conversations, and what you can do as an employee when someone ranked above you dismisses your views.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing the Chief People Officer at First Internet Bank (FIB), Lorraine Ortiz.
- Lorraine Describes FIB, her role at the company, and how she ended up there.
- Why she left a secure job (that she was happy in) at Butler University to join FIB.
- Being comfortable versus trying something new, and listening to your gut.
- How a great recruiter can make all the difference.
- Why Lorraine loves the business of HR, and how the role has evolved over the years.
- Her definition of “future-focused” and how she implements the philosophy as CPO.
- Why she believes that she’ll retire at FIB.
- How she’s resilient in her role, and how FIB shares her personal values.
- The way Lorraine fosters a culture of honest and constructive conversation in the workplace.
- How to deal with managers who do not appreciate your moments of professional vulnerability.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Lorraine Ortiz on LinkedIn
First Internet Bank
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
In today’s episode, I sit down with Ryan Loken, Head of HR Policy, Administration, and Governance at Tyson Foods, to discuss his multifaceted role within the company, his broader impact on the community, and the dynamics of HR. Tyson Foods is a multinational corporation and one of the largest food processing companies in the world. Ryan discusses his role in the company, why there is no such thing as a typical day for him, and the community outreach work he is involved with. Discover how he leverages the company for good, his motivation for pursuing community outreach, and how his professional experiences benefit his current role. Explore why HR professionals are no longer compliance police, metrics that provide pragmatic insights into the structure of a business, why he chases the mission and not the title, the interconnectedness between company policy and culture, and much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Ryan explains his role at the company and what his day-to-day looks like.
- His community outreach work and motivation behind it.
- How his job and community outreach work feed into each other.
- Discover how the HR landscape has changed and what caused it.
- Practical strategies and examples to enhance your role in HR.
- Become a business partner as opposed to a traditional HR manager.
- Self-development, constantly learning, and remaining motivated.
- Background about Ryan and his path to his current role.
- Leveraging policy to drive culture and company values.
- Final words of wisdom that Ryan has for listeners.
Quotes:
“I want to be able to give back and hopefully provide a better future for those who may not have the same opportunities that I did.” — Ryan Loken [0:03:45]
“With every job we hold, we learn some [valuable] things.” — Ryan Loken [0:16:55]
“I have never really had aspirations of having this title, that job, or this thing. It has always been a situation of how do I make my job more efficient.” — Ryan Loken [0:21:05]
“I have never chased a title. I have always chased a mission.” — Ryan Loken [0:21:43]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Ryan Loken on LinkedIn
Tyson Foods
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
The last year has been tough on all fronts when it comes to tech recruiting and hiring. Joining me on the show today is a returning champion and CEO of Hired, Josh Brenner. He’s here with me today to talk about what’s predicted for hiring in 2024 and to discuss the report released by Hired called, ‘The Future of Tech Hiring: 8 Bold Predictions for 2024.’ Our conversation starts with a quick general overview of how things are going at Hired and Josh shares his thoughts on tech hiring and AI. We dive into some of the key points highlighted in the report including the predicted hiring resurgence in 2024, going back to a job that laid you off, and delve into a discussion on the raging debate between remote, hybrid, and in-office working.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A general outlook and how things are going at Hired.
- His thoughts on tech hiring and AI.
- Why he thinks there will be a resurgence in hiring in 2024; and clarifies what he means by resurgence.
- He highlights different categories of companies that are seemingly ready to start rehiring.
- Boomerang employees and going back to a job that laid you off.
- We discuss the poor manner of handling layoffs over the past year and a half: you reap what you sow.
- The raging debate of remote working versus hybrid working versus in-office working.
Quotes:
“I think, over the next year or two, [AI] has the real opportunity to not only redefine how people are hired and find their jobs, all the way to how people do their jobs. It’s a pretty exciting time to be in this space!” — [0:04:44]
“I don’t know the reason, or I don’t know the root of why it went down this way, but the layoffs were handled a lot poorer in this past and a half than I have seen in the history of my career.” — [0:14:55]
“I’m a firm believer if you are operating in a remote capacity, the value of getting people together, the team together, whether that is only once a year or multiple times a year, it obviously depends, but there is a lot of value in building that trust in person.” — [0:17:55]
“Companies that have the best teams are the most successful, and you, as the talent professional, are the ones that are helping companies build those best-in-class teams.” — [0:22:21]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
‘The Future of Tech Hiring: 8 Bold Predictions for 2024’
Josh Brenner on LinkedIn
Hired
Talk Talent to Me
Jim breaks down Booz Allen’s approach to recruitment and talent development, why hiring tech talent is so competitive, and what they are doing to set themselves apart. We also discuss how they cultivate a culture of continuous learning, their use of data and predictive analytics for workforce planning, their most effective retention strategies, plus a whole lot more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Get to know today’s guest, Strategic Talent Development Leader, Jim Hemgen.
- An overview of Jim’s career journey and the uniqueness of his current role.
- Jim’s insights on talent development and recruitment at Booz Allen Hamilton.
- The company’s evolution over the past decade and its growing focus on technology.
- What they are doing to attract early-career professionals for tech and management roles.
- A breakdown of their approach to employee development and getting them client-ready.
- Their strategies for cultivating a culture of continuous learning.
- Using data and predictive analytics for workforce planning and future skills needs.
- A rundown of their retention strategies and why they developed a talent marketplace.
- Supporting career mobility and why this is essential.
- Jim’s parting words of advice to those in the talent development space.
Quotes:
“We do the best we can to allow for self-directed learning through our employees. So they have a variety of programs and services available to them that they can tap into. And then we have also targeted upskilling initiatives.” — Jim Hemgen [0:18:13]
“It's a cultural thing where we need to be able to support career mobility.” — Jim Hemgen [0:26:03]
“I highly encourage soliciting a mentor from an outside organization. Find somebody who's in a role you aspire to be in and get engaged in conversations. It goes a long way.” — Jim Hemgen [0:32:24]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jim Hemgen on LinkedIn
Booz Allen
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
In talent acquisition, future-proofing is as important as focusing on the present! Today on Talk Talent To Me, Ali Bebo of Pearson joins us to discuss her many years of recruitment experience. You’ll hear about how she went from retail to being senior CHRO at Pearson, how talent acquisition has changed since she got started, the role of AI in the industry, the importance of upscaling your talent, and why managers should avoid being passive in team building for the future. Ali thinks talent recruitment is much like coaching a sports team and in this episode, she explains how the two jobs are similar. We also discuss her experience in helping her company hire a new CEO before she leaves us with some incredible advice about knowing your superpower.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to today’s guest, Allison (Ali) Bebo.
- Ali shares her version of New Year’s resolutions and why she isn’t a list-maker.
- How Ali wound up in her role as senior CHRO at Pearson after working in retail.
- Ali’s views on how talent acquisition has changed over the years.
- She tells us what Pearson does and how AI is affecting their work.
- How they upscale their talent and educate others outside the company to do the same.
- Why managers should be proactive in building up their teams now and for the future.
- The parallels we can draw between sports and talent acquisition.
- Ali tells us about the process of helping Pearson hire a new CEO.
- Some parting advice for anyone wanting to level up in their careers.
Quotes:
“What can you do better than 10,000 people? – Once you can really answer that question, then you find roles and – opportunities where there’s less friction. – Because when you’re in a role that you’re able to use your best strengths and get to do what you do best every day, then frankly, performance happens.” — Ali Bebo
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Ali Bebo on LinkedIn
Pearson
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Ty shares how a non traditional background can help break barriers to creating change in talent acquisition. RSM US LLP the leading provider of assurance, tax and consulting services to the middle market. Focusing on careers and culture, Ty orchestrates an environment where individuals thrive, fostering their passions and professional growth while advocating for inclusivity at every level. His approach reflects a blend of professional prowess, a commitment to fostering a vibrant workplace culture, and a zest for life. In our conversation, we discuss Ty's career trajectory, from its origins to his present role, showcasing the distinct ways his prior experiences differ from his current position and how his unique perspective has helped transform the talent experience at the company. We explore how Ty's inexperience proved beneficial, his approach to nurturing talent, embracing innovation for success, the value of curiosity, and much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introduction and background about Chief Talent Officer, Ty Beasley.
- Details about his role and how it differs from his professional experience.
- His professional career journey to his current role at RSM US LLP.
- Why he is suitable for the role, despite his non-traditional career path.
- The unique approach and perspective he brings to the role.
- How he has helped enhance the talent experience at the company.
- Discover how his inexperience was beneficial for the role.
- Barriers to creating change and why embracing innovation is vital.
- Ty shares his approach to supporting and developing talent.
- What personal traits Ty looks for in a potential candidate.
Quotes:
“I have always had a passion for the people side of the business.” — Ty Beasley [0:07:06]
“It is my vision to have a talent function that is more consultative in nature.” — Ty Beasley [0:08:40]
“The ultimate value I bring to the talent organization is not operating in the guts of it. It is leadership.” — Ty Beasley [0:15:28]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Ty Beasley on LinkedIn
RSM US LLP
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Collin discusses redefining traditional HR approaches and his focus on practical, hands-on training. Collin boasts a wealth of experience as an HR and organizational development expert, with a track record marked by successful talent management and impactful operational enhancements. Heyday stands at the forefront of skincare, dedicated to revolutionizing the industry by offering a unique blend of personalized facial treatments and invaluable skincare advice curated by a team of seasoned estheticians. In today’s conversation with Collin, you will hear about his unconventional path to his current role, the unique qualities that he brings to HR, his various responsibilities at Heyday, and the value of pre-training. He explains his innovative approach to acquiring top talent, creating effective training content, and how he handles large amounts of applications. Collin also shares his advice for creating effective recruitment funnels and what HR should be doing differently. Tune in to discover new approaches to recruitment with Collin Russell!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Collin’s background and career journey into his current role.
- Ways that he has helped Heyday grow since joining.
- How development goals differ between retail and corporate.
- A look at Colin’s approach to delivering hands-on training content.
- Insights into creating an effective recruitment funnel.
- Steps for identifying weak points in the recruitment and training processes.
- Measuring the success of the systems Collin implemented.
- Addressing recruitment issues through innovative methods.
- The challenges and opportunities of leveraging remote workers.
- Heyday’s approach to processing large amounts of applications.
- Providing guardrails for people to make mistakes and learn from them.
- Exploring Collin’s opinion on the future of the HR landscape.
Quotes:
“Having a good team and the right mission behind you helps fuel that [passion].” — Collin Russell [0:05:47]
“If you hire great people but you don’t give them the right training to be successful in their roles, then they are eventually going to leave or become disengaged.” — Collin Russell [0:11:49]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Collin Russell on LinkedIn
Heyday
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Creating deep, meaningful relationships is often pushed aside in the world of recruiting but the truth is, these relationships lead to better success in talent acquisition. Today on Talk Talent To Me, the wonderful CEO of Rabble Recruiting, Tammy Dain, joins us to discuss her unique recruitment model. Tuning in, you’ll hear all about how she fell into recruiting, the balance between being ready for a new opportunity and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, why Rabble’s approach is so different from other recruitment agencies, and so much more! We even discuss the flexible work trend before delving into Tammy’s other company, Talent Collective. Finally, our guest shares advice for young recruiters.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcoming a phenomenal guest, Tammy Dain.
- Tammy tells us about her background and how she started Rabble Recruiting.
- The importance of giving your team opportunities just before they’re ready for them.
- Tammy tells us all about her Rabble Recruiting model and approach.
- Why Tammy believes that the flexible work trend is going to grow exponentially.
- What makes Tammy’s Rabble offering so different from others of its kind.
- The kinds of people that will thrive in Rabble’s model.
- Tammy tells us a little bit about Talent Collective and what their goals are.
- Our guest shares some advice for young recruiters about breaking out of their comfort zones.
Quotes:
“You’ve got to know enough, but you obviously have to have room to grow too.” — Tammy Dain [0:09:41]
“I think, more often than not, the embedded approach to delivering recruiting services in HR is so much more effective.” — Tammy Dain [0:12:19]
“Continuous connection and learning is what fosters and creates really deep relationships!” — Tammy Dain [0:32:40]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Tammy Dain on LinkedIn
Rabble RecruitingTalent Collective
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Founder of Interviewology, Anna Papalia joins us today to discuss the evolving world of interviewing from the perspective of both sides of the table. In her recently published book, Interviewology: the New Science of Interviewing, Anna provides a guide to four different interview styles and how to get the best out of each one. Tuning in, you’ll hear the story of her leap from a comfortable role at an insurance brokerage to kickstarting a career in empowering candidates and interviewers through the hiring process. We discuss how to know when is the right time to make a change, what keeps people from listening to their intuition, and assess the state of the interviewing process in general. Anna also shares pertinent insights from her book and offers a starting point for anyone looking to improve their process of interviewing. Be sure to listen in to hear all this and more today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Anna’s evolution from a comfortable career to pursuing something bigger.
- An earlier leap in her career that kickstarted her HR profession.
- How to identify when the time has come to make a transition or change.
- Two types of change and where they originate from.
- The fear that accompanies intuition.
- Acknowledging the privilege required to go out on a limb.
- Factors that motivated Anna to leave HR and create her dream job with her special skills.
- What is wrong with the interviewing process.
- Why it’s so important not to blame candidates.
- Factors working against the success of hiring managers.
- A candid reflection on where diversity truly starts.
- What motivated Anna to consider that there are different interviewing styles.
- Why each interviewing style is as valid as the others.
- Why thinking of an interview as a performance is not a good strategy.
- Distinguishing between authenticity in a personal and professional context.
- What it truly means to show up as yourself.
- How Anna’s book, Interviewology, is structured.
- Anna’s perspective on the inflection point we currently find ourselves in.
Quotes:
“I live and die by the saying, ‘If you don’t change direction, you’ll end up where you’re headed.’ You’ll get to where you’re going. I’ve coached so many thousands of people in their careers that I know this to be true.” — Anna Papalia [0:06:54]
“I looked out [at] the world and my dream job didn’t exist, so I created it for myself.” — Anna Papalia [0:15:33]
“When we are in a position of power, as people in the talent space – we have a tendency to blame the powerless.” — Anna Papalia [0:15:51]
“If you’re trying to build an organization that’s diverse – in gender, race, and thought, it starts at the interview table.” — Anna Papalia [0:20:50]
“I believe that interviewing well is all about building up your self-awareness.” — Anna Papalia [0:33:16]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Interviewology
Interviewology: The New Science of Interviewing
Anna Papalia on LinkedIn
Anna Papalia on YouTube
Anna Papalia on Instagram
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Recruitment has not changed over the last few decades, but company needs certainly have. Gary Davis is the Senior Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Business Partner at Adobe. During this episode, he joins us to discuss the evolving importance of DE&I, the metrics used to evaluate candidates, and how to determine how people experience your company culture. Tuning in, you’ll hear Gary’s thoughts on the two-way street of recruitment, valuing transparency, and the importance of solving problems specific to Generation Z. We discuss what it truly means to shrink the gaps in equity and inclusion, Gary’s Christmas wishlist for the future of the industry, and more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Gary Davis, Senior DE&I Business Partner at Adobe.
- His motivation to find creative ways to address inequality in the USA.
- What his role involves and how he serves all of the communities at Adobe.
- The process of productizing equitable interviewing.
- How recruitment has not evolved over the last fifty years.
- Interrogating the metric we use to evaluate candidates for a role.
- How Gary’s roles have evolved in DE&I and tech.
- Measuring how people experience your company culture.
- Whether or not recruiters should be incentivized around retention.
- Why Gary values transparency so highly.
- Considering recruitment a two-way street.
- His favorite thing about diversity and inclusion work.
- What it means to creatively shrink the gaps in equity and inclusion.
- Why it is important to solve problems specific to Gen Z.
- Gary’s Christmas wishlist for the future of the industry.
- Reshaping how we approach DE&I work with the past in mind.
Quotes:
“The throughline for any work that I’ve ever done has been about designing programs and products that create spaces for people from excluded groups; women, people of color, and folks with disabilities.” — Gary Davis [0:03:15]
“One of the interesting things to me about recruiting is that we have not really changed it in the last fifty or so years.” — Gary Davis [0:05:21]
“We don’t have a talent shortage. We have a sourcing issue.” — Gary Davis [0:07:58]
“The coolest thing about diversity and inclusion work is that you are really measured by your ability to influence.” — Gary Davis [0:26:11]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Gary L Davis on LinkedIn
Adobe
The Devil Wears Prada
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Lorraine tells us all about her decision to get into talent acquisition, why she loves working with earlier-stage clients, how we can be more deliberate in our career decisions, and what her career planning coaching process is like. We also discuss what people going through career transitions ask most often before she explains the Juxtapose model. Finally, Lorraine tells us the kinds of challenges she expects talent leaders will face in the near future.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A warm welcome to today’s guest, Lorraine Buhannic.
- Lorraine tells us about her transition into her new role at Juxtapose.
- Her choice to go into recruiting and why she chose this field.
- Why Lorraine wanted to work with earlier-stage companies.
- How you can be more deliberate in your career decisions.
- Lorraine walks us through the process of going through career planning coaching with her.
- The kinds of questions people ask during career transitions.
- The Juxtapose model, how it works, and how they hire leaders.
- Why hiring should always be the first priority for businesses.
- Lorraine tells us some of the questions she asks leaders throughout the coaching process.
- What challenges she anticipates talent leaders are going to face over the next year.
Quotes:
“When you build a really awesome talent foundation, the sky is the limit!” — Lorraine Buhannic [0:03:46]
“I want to feel more empowered when I’m thinking about what to do next.” — Lorraine Buhannic [0:09:32]
“Hiring needs to be priority number one because, at the end of the day, if you don’t have the right people, it’s going to be really hard to scale the organization.” — Lorraine Buhannic [0:20:58]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Lorraine Buhannic on LinkedIn
Juxtapose
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Karen Weeks is the founder of Shine at Work, a coaching company geared toward setting people up for career success. She is also the Chief People Officer at Obviously, the innovation influencer agency. When we spoke to Karen, she had only been at Obviously for a week, and she spilled the tea on how she landed the job and how she’s adjusting to her new role. We also discuss the changes she’d make to Obviously’s onboarding process, why she prioritizes relationships above all else (and how she builds them in a new environment), and how to gently rock the boat at your new job while “proving yourself” as a new employee. Karen believes that you cannot be interviewed without asking questions, and she outlines some of the questions that potential recruits should be asking. Then, we learn about Shine at Work, the importance of “why” in their intake process, common characteristics of successful clients, and the trends that Karen sees being adopted by many in the future of HR.
Key Points From This Episode:
- How Karen landed her new job and how she’s settling into her role at Obviously.
- The changes she’d make to Obviously’s onboarding process after going through it herself.
- How she went about building relationships at her new job and what she prioritizes.
- The balance between gently rocking the boat and trying to prove yourself as a new employee.
- Who Karen listens to and engages with first when trying to understand a new company.
- How she prepared for the interview for her current role.
- Finding the problem: the questions you should be asking in your recruitment interview!
- How Karen feels when recruits don’t ask questions in their interviews.
- The ins and outs of the company she founded, Shine at Work.
- A peek into Shine at Work’s intake process and the importance of “why.”
- Perseverance and other traits of success.
- The trends and technologies Karen sees flourishing in the future of HR.
Quotes:
“Strong managers make you, as a leader, stronger.” — @career_changers [17:56]
“What’s the right time to work with us? – When you’re trying to think about what to do. The reason for that is because you’re honestly in a better place emotionally to go through that decision-making.” — @career_changers [25:57]
“I always want people to be running towards something, whether that’s an internal opportunity, staying where you are and re-engaging, or changing jobs. Doing it before you’re at the breaking point is actually the healthier time to do it.” — @career_changers [26:29]
“If you’re working with a personal trainer and you hit your weight goal or your marathon goal – you don’t usually stop working them – They help you stay in shape. That’s what we also do with folks. Your career is a journey. We can partner with you along the way as well.” — @career_changers [28:03]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Karen Weeks on LinkedIn
Karen Weeks on X
Obviously
Shine at Work
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Every interview should be a ‘culture’ interview and your goal as an interviewer should be to hire people who feed the company’s soul. Today we are joined by not one, but two incredible guests! Talent acquisition gurus from Small Door Veterinary, Nicole McLeod and Serge Clivio are here to discuss all things recruitment. Tuning in, you’ll hear about Small Door and its mission, how Nicole knew she wanted to work in recruitment and why she joined Small Door, Serge’s interview process, and so much more! Our guests then share their interesting interview techniques and beliefs before delving into the ‘secret sauce’ of success. Finally, Serge and Nicole tell us what is next for them in their careers.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcoming today’s wonderful guests from Small Door, Serge Clivio and Nicole McLeod.
- Nicole tells us about Small Door and the company’s mission.
- Nicole’s experience of hiring Serge and how she knew he was the perfect fit for his role.
- The kinds of questions Serge asks when interviewing for a role.
- What made Nicole want to join Small Door and when she moved into her current role.
- Serge shares his beliefs about a company’s ‘secret sauce’ to success.
- How Nicole and Serge assess people in their ability to feed the soul of the company.
- Why Small Door sees every interview as a culture interview.
- How they set potential recruits up for value-based questions in their interviews.
- The importance of asking open-ended questions when interviewing a potential recruit.
- Our guests tell us about what is next for them in their careers.
Quotes:
“Something that’s really important to me is transparency with anyone I work with.” — Nicole McLeod [0:07:20]
“You will not succeed in your role as a recruiter if you do not – see the growth of the actual company principles.” — @SergeClivio [0:08:42]
“Each hire should be better than the last and that’s the only way that you’re going to grow a company.” — @SergeClivio [0:16:25]
“Culture is caught not taught!” — Nicole McLeod [0:17:38]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Serge Clivio on LinkedIn
Nicole McLeod on LinkedIn
Small Door
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
People-centered approaches to business emphasize the importance of prioritizing and supporting the well-being, growth, and satisfaction of employees. By adopting a people-centered approach, businesses can create a positive work environment that not only benefits their employees but also contributes to improved performance, productivity, and long-term success. In today’s episode, I sit down with Jessica Zwaan, Chief Operating Officer and at Whereby, to discuss her innovative, people-centered approach to HR and business development. Jessica is the author of Built for People, a best-selling book that offers advice and tools for transforming HR activities by incorporating elements from product management. In our conversation, Jessica unpacks how the best aspects of product management can be applied to HR to transform the value of your workforce and business. Learn about the type of rigor that HR needs to increase productivity, the ins and outs of streamlining your workforce to increase its value, reducing regrettable churn through effective HR, and analogizing people with products. Gain insights into why justifying an employee based on revenue is outdated, viewing the business as an ecosystem, and much more. Tune in and discover a different way of viewing company culture and employee value with Jessica Zwaan!
Key Points From This Episode:
- A warm welcome back and a catchup with Jessica Zwaan.
- What motivated her to pursue a law degree.
- How her law experience intersects with her role at Whereby.
- Aspects of HR where her law background has been beneficial.
- How the traditional approach to recruitment needs to change.
- Differences in methods between C-suite and HR departments.
- Metrics to measure the performance and employee lifetime value (ELTV).
- Examples of her progressive approach to HR and recruitment.
- The types of conversations HR should be having with the C-suite.
- Limitations of the traditional forms of measuring employee performance.
- Core company values that determine its success.
- Performance analysis and how it differs amongst employees.
- Explore the universal competencies that are true for all employees.
- Hear about her career transition into her current role.
- What Jessica has planned for the future.
Quotes:
“Your company is a system; it’s not just a group of individuals.” — @jessicamayzwaan [0:15:52]
“I think that the experience is the product.” — @jessicamayzwaan [0:21:46]
“One of the most important behaviors that matters to a company’s bottom line is your ability to collaborate with other people.” — @jessicamayzwaan [0:24:15]
“Teams are more valuable together than they are as individuals.” — @jessicamayzwaan [0:24:23]
“We should be building [HR performance] systems which are built for the way human brains work.” — @jessicamayzwaan [0:27:36]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jessica Zwaan
Jessica Zwaan on X
Jessica Zwaan on LinkedIn
Whereby
Built for People
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
When you go to bed on a Sunday night, not bummed that there is work tomorrow, you know you’ve got a job you love! My guest today is the Managing Director of Talent Acquisition at Southwest Airlines, Greg Muccio. He’s been there for over 22 years and is passionate about his job, his team, and the programs and people involved. In our conversation today, Greg talks about his experience as a long-time Southwest Airlines employee, what motivated him over the years to stay, and the aspects of the job he loves even today. He shares an overview of the distinctive talent acquisition challenges faced by Southwest and talks about current hiring trends and the appetite for open roles. He elaborates on their Destination 225° (D-225) program before expressing the significance of uncovering new talent that Southwest does not currently possess. Make sure to tune into this episode to hear more about how Greg conceptualizes the talent department within Southwest and how he implements long-term tactical approaches to talent acquisition.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Greg’s thoughts and experience as a long-time employee at Southwest Airlines.
- Across the years, the reasons that motivated Greg to stay.
- The qualities of his team that make it worthwhile to stay.
- Greg paints a broad stroke of the unique talent-sourcing challenges at Southwest.
- Current hiring trends and the appetite for open roles; from a labor workforce point of view.
- More jobs than people: what’s happening?
- Southwest’s approach to attitudes that are not one-to-one with the open roles.
- Their steadfastness to anchor onto stability at Southwest.
- He expresses his fondness for his team and their work efforts and dedication.
- Greg talks more about his team and the scope of the talent operation.
- He talks more about the D-225 program (Destination 225°) at Southwest.
- The essentiality of discovering new talent that is not yet present at Southwest.
- Mix-and-matching and the total talent approach.
- How Greg conceptualizes the talent department within the organization.
- Why you need to be thinking of long-term tactical approaches.
Quotes:
“To be at a place like Southwest that has a great history of taking care of their people, it’s a fun job!” — Greg Muccio [0:01:46]
“Being in TA right now [is] hard work. You’ve got to show up and you’ve got to be ready to work hard.” — Greg Muccio [0:10:26]
“If we are going to make it. If we are going to have the right kind of talent, we will have to uncover new pools of talent that exist in Southwest today.” — Greg Muccio [0:19:29]
“At Southwest, we want a representative of our brand and that culture and those kinds of things because that’s what makes people come back and fly with us again, and again, and again, it’s our people.” — Greg Muccio [0:26:19]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Greg Muccio on LinkedIn
Southwest Airlines
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining us today is the wonderful founder of People Power AI, Theresa Fesinstine. You’ll hear about Theresa’s career, how she became interested in AI, where we are in AI development in the HR space, Theresa’s tools for AI learning, and a few ways HR employees can make use of AI. This is a ‘breakthrough’ episode that simplifies the nuanced and complex issues within HR so to hear all this and be inspired to advocate for yourself and your talents, press play now!
Key Points From This Episode:
- A warm welcome to today’s guest, Theresa Fesinstine.
- How turning notifications off has improved Theresa’s mental health.
- A brief overview of Theresa’s background and career.
- What fueled Theresa’s passion for AI and where we are in AI in the HR space.
- Why AI hasn’t been a priority in this industry until recently.
- Why HR should have a voice in the board room and feel confident enough to use it.
- The kinds of tools and training Theresa offers to assist in AI learning.
- The importance of advocating for your own ‘seat at the table,’ especially as a woman.
- A quickfire list of ways recruiters/HR employees can leverage AI to do their jobs even better.
Quotes:
“I’ve spent this past year working to educate myself and to educate others on the benefits and power that AI has for the future of business.” — Theresa Fesinstine [0:12:19]
“To me, HR is the only team [and leader] in the organization that really understands what [every] other department functionally is working through, their challenges [and it’s] like the central post of what’s happening within a company.” — Theresa Fesinstine [0:17:01]
“HR leaders – should feel more empowered than ever to talk about what is happening within our organizations.” — Theresa Fesinstine [0:17:30]
“I think HR is the right [department] to lead the charge with AI integration.” — Theresa Fesinstine [0:19:14]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Theresa Fesinstine on LinkedIn
Theresa Fesinstine on Instagram
People Power AI LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining me today is Amy Sheehan, the Director of Talent Acquisition at Hormel Foods, to discuss her career experience, current gaps and opportunities in the talent acquisition space, and how she is shaking up the traditional approach to recruitment. Amy shares her diverse project experiences, how her non-traditional background enriches her work, and how she challenges conventional recruitment practices. Amy discusses the evolving role of recruitment in today's competitive job market and provides insights into the recruitment and onboarding processes at Hormel Foods. She also explains the value of effective communication, how to create purposeful experiences for new hires, and the role of AI in recruitment.
Key Points From This Episode:
- How Amy’s career led to her position at Hormel Foods.
- What drew Amy into working for Hormel Foods.
- Hear about the scope of diverse projects she has worked on.
- Learn how her non-traditional career experience informs her work.
- Redefining the role and purpose of recruitment.
- Insights into the recruitment and onboarding process at Hormel Foods.
- Communicating company processes and values to employees.
- Amy’s approach to creating meaningful experiences for new hires.
- Finding the right person for the right job and how AI can help.
- Lessons from her experience of leveraging different recruitment tools.
- Recommendations for choosing a suitable Applicant Tracking System (ATS).
- Advice for listeners seeking a career in talent acquisition.
Quotes:
“I have also been involved in acquisitions and been on acquisition teams, which is a really interesting way to learn about other companies and blend those cultures together.” — Amy Sheehan [0:04:08]
“It is really important for [employees] to understand all the things a company stands for.” — Amy Sheehan [0:08:25]
“[Hormel Foods] really takes the time to showcase the programs that we have as it relates to holistic care for our employees.” — Amy Sheehan [0:12:08]
“[AI] will allow [recruiters] to spend time creating experiences that matter and get [the company] top talent.” — Amy Sheehan [0:18:58]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Amy Sheehan on LinkedIn
Hormel Foods
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today on Talk Talent to Me, you’ll hear from a workforce futurist, design thinking practitioner, keynote speaker, Chief Learning Officer at Archwell, and founder of the Archwell Academy, Dr. Keith Keating about the value of learning as a transformational tool, regardless of your vocation. While he doesn’t have the traditional recruiting background of many of our guests, Dr. Keating faces many of the same challenges and works closely with talent acquisition professionals to connect learning strategy with business strategy. In this episode, Dr. Keating describes the key skills that learning and development professionals need to drive value for their organizations and unlock human potential. We also discuss what it takes to create a “true talent ecosystem,” the importance of what Dr. Keating calls futures literacy, how talent pros can emerge as strategic business partners rather than order-takers, and more. By understanding the concepts of transferrable skills and the power of embracing a lifelong learning mindset, Dr. Keating believes that we can take control of our future.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An overview of Dr. Keating’s experience and how he landed his role at Archwell Holdings.
- How growing up a military brat impacted his education and made him more agile.
- The pivotal moment when he found his passion in what was previously “just a job.”
- Why Dr. Keating believes that learning is a powerful tool for transformation.
- The need for a strong connection between L&D, talent development, and recruitment.
- Reasons that a lot of talent professionals don’t think long-term.
- Why “futures literacy” is a core skill that everyone should be developing.
- Dr. Keating’s research-focused approach to meeting future business needs.
- His best strategic advice for talent professionals: build your own table.
- How talent professionals can become trusted learning advisors.
Quotes:
“Talent is talent is talent, whether we’re recruiting it, onboarding it, or managing [it].” — Dr. Keith Keating [0:01:57]
“Once you learn how to learn, your future is unstoppable.” — Dr. Keith Keating [0:11:51]
“There should always be a strong connection between learning development, talent development, and [recruitment] because we can help define the skills that are needed in the roles.” — Dr. Keith Keating [0:14:34]
“Futures literacy is not about predicting the future, which people often try to do – Futures literacy is about planning for possible futures.” — Dr. Keith Keating [0:21:45]
“For far too long, we’ve let people who are not talent practitioners [or] learning experts dictate how they find our talent, what type of talent to bring on, how we educate, train, and upskill our talent, but that’s our area of expertise. ” — Dr. Keith Keating [0:32:57]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Dr. Keith Keating
The Trusted Learning Advisor
Dr. Keith Keating on LinkedIn
Archwell
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
John shares his inspiring journey into talent acquisition, his passion for aligning recruitment with a company's mission, and his innovative, candidate-centric approach. He discusses the challenges and opportunities in talent acquisition, debunks misconceptions, and emphasizes the importance of hiring for potential, not just negotiation skills.
Key Points From This Episode:
- John's fascinating journey to becoming a part of the One Medical team.
- His motivation for pursuing a career in talent acquisition.
- Aligning recruitment methods with the overall mission of a company.
- Overcoming the various stigmas associated with talent acquisition.
- Learn about his candidate-focused approach and why it is essential.
- Adopting the candidate-centric approach at One Medical.
- Hear about the unique approach to interviews at One Medical.
- Leveraging data and different metrics for recruitment.
- Unpacking current industry trends in the recruitment sector.
- Challenges and opportunities in the talent acquisition space.
- Insights into meeting the needs and wants of a candidate.
- Hiring smart and finding the right people for the job.
- A significant factor determining a candidate’s potential: negotiation.
- Final words of advice from John.
Quotes:
“I think people are naturally better marketing something that they can truly stand behind [or] something they believe in.” — John Beard [0:05:10]
“Once people are comfortable in a process, they can be very resistant to change.” — John Beard [0:13:39]
“[One Medical] is looking for people who really want to tackle the hard stuff.” — John Beard [0:22:46]
“Here is a hard truth. [Every candidate] is mission-driven until you get to the offer.” — John Beard [0:27:04]
“For [One Medical], we want to reward the best candidates, not the best negotiators.” — John Beard [0:28:10]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
John Beard on LinkedIn
One Medical
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
INCREASE DIVERSITY SUMMIT REGISTRATION LINK
Use offer code TALENT40 for 40% Off Registration Fees!
Jenn Tardy returns to the podcast to update us on her diversity training experiences, and give a sneak preview (and an awesome discount!) to her upcoming Increase Diversity Summit Event.
To stand out as a recruiter, you need to shift your focus from being transaction-based to being relationship-based. Today on Talk Talent To Me, we are joined by the founder and CEO of the Estes Group, Kaylee Estes to discuss something we rarely delve into, the agency side of recruiting. Tuning in, you’ll hear all about Kaylee’s career, why she decided to start her own company, how she made use of the skills she’s best at, what makes the Estes Group different from other staffing firms, and much more! Kaylee talks us through the pressure associated with being a working mom before we explore unconscious bias, the freedom you have from being your own boss, and how functional recruiters fit into the recruiting world. Kaylee strongly disagrees with financial incentives and instead, her goal is to ensure that candidates are the right fit for a job. She even tells us how she makes sure she is representing companies well and finally, shares some words of wisdom for anyone brave enough to start their own business.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Why we’ve decided to bring more guests on the show from the agency side of recruiting.
- A warm welcome to Kaylee Estes and how she ‘fell’ into recruiting.
- How Kaylee made the choice to start her own company.
- How she leveraged all of the skills she is good at within her business.
- How she decided she didn’t want to work for someone else anymore.
- Kaylee shares some of the struggles and pressures that working moms experience.
- How unconscious bias affects recruitment and the freedom being your own boss brings.
- What makes Kaylee’s company different from others of its kind.
- Kaylee explains what a fractional recruiter is and where they fit in.
- Why Kaylee is against financial incentives for recruiters to make hires.
- The importance of being relationship-focused as a recruiter.
- How Kaylee makes sure she is representing companies well.
- Kaylee shares some words of wisdom for anyone wanting to start their own company.
Quotes:
“My goal is to help [clients] – make better hires.” — Kaylee Estes [0:07:46]
“Yes, people need to know how to make hires but at the end of the day, they just need to make good hires and they need help with that.” — Kaylee Estes [0:07:58]
“Being a mom factored a lot into my decision to start a business and it was definitely not going to be a barrier to starting a business – it was my motivating factor.” — Kaylee Estes [0:15:35]
“I promise every company that I work with [that] they’re not going to get candidates from me because I convinced that candidate to take the job.” — Kaylee Estes [0:20:27]
“In agency recruiting, your compensation is directly tied towards a candidate accepting a position and staying there for a certain amount of time.” — Kaylee Estes [0:27:11]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Kaylee Estes on LinkedIn
Estes Group
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Experiencing a career transition is overwhelming, to say the least. But that doesn’t mean it has to be lonely or even shameful. In this episode of Talk Talent To Me, we are joined by the incredible founder of Kindred, Maggie Mannion. Kindred is a community of professionals who are navigating career transitions together. Today, we talk about what led Maggie to start her company, the kinds of professionals Kindred targets, how she curates content relevant to people of many different professions, and much more! We then discuss how she ensures there is value for people beyond seeking jobs before delving into some common questions people ask recruiters in the community. Finally, Maggie shares her plans for the future of Kindred.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcoming today’s guest, the founder of Kindred, Maggie Mannion.
- Maggie tells us about her journey in community work and what led her to found Kindred.
- The kinds of people Maggie targeted for Kindred initially and the current representation.
- How Maggie comes up with resources for people regardless of their career backgrounds.
- What the people Kindred serves are looking for from the community they’re joining.
- Some common questions people ask recruiters in Maggie’s community.
- How Maggie is ensuring that there is value in Kindred beyond job seeking.
- Maggie shares her plans for Kindred going forward: cohorts.
Quotes:
“Kindred is all about career transitions and really is built on this thesis that career transitions and navigating career transitions don’t have to be a solo pursuit.” — Maggie Mannion [0:03:56]
“Lay-offs don’t need to be lonely!” — Maggie Mannion [0:04:54]
“The shared experience among people [part of Kindred] is that they’re navigating change.” — Maggie Mannion [0:10:56]
“So many of our experiences that feel really hard for ourselves are really common actually; we just don’t talk about them.” — Maggie Mannion [0:23:15]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Maggie Mannion on LinkedIn
Kindred
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Kyle explains his entrepreneurial journey starting Creative Talent Endeavors, and shares the benefits of working for an agency over an in-house recruiting gig.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Kyle shares his personal and career journey leading up to founding Creative Talent Endeavors.
- The decision Kyle made to leave a big brand and start his own agency.
- Early days at Creative Talent Endeavors and the process of finding clients.
- Kyle talks about how he managed to take on Taco Bell as his first client.
- Unpacking the process that Creative Talent Endeavors goes through with new clients and their goals.
- Reasons to go the contingent route; experience, cost, and more.
- When to think about working for an agency versus the in-house option.
- The most important questions to ask when considering an agency.
Tweetables:
“I just wanted to have more autonomy in my career.” — Kyle Samuels [0:07:33]
“We go slow to go fast.” — Kyle Samuels [0:16:13]
“The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.” — Kyle Samuels [0:29:25]
“I do like the variety of having different clients and different things to work on every day.” — Kyle Samuels [0:31:42]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Kyle Samuels on LinkedIn
Creative Talent Endeavors
Rob Stevenson on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
In this episode, we do our deepest dive yet into the fascinating field of segmented recruiting marketing.To explore this topic in detail, we are joined by Victoria Myers, the Global Lead for Talent Attraction at Amdocs. Victoria chose a career in the talent space because of her passion for helping people, and that passion hasn’t waned one bit. During our conversation, Victoria explains Amdocs’ forward-thinking, long-term approach to talent attraction and acquisition and how they are bringing it to life through their newly-developed AI-driven talent marketplace. After listening, you’ll understand the difference between talent attraction and talent acquisition, what a successful proactive sourcing model looks like, and why you should always try to do work that you love!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Victoria’s approach to time management.
- Where her career began and the journey she took to get to where she is today.
- What inspired her to get into full-time recruiting.
- Why she chose corporate recruiting over agency recruiting.
- What her day-to-day work consists of as the leader of Amdocs’ Talent Attraction team.
- Features of Amdocs’ new AI-driven talent marketplace.
- The difference between talent attraction and talent acquisition.
- How Victoria and her team create warm leads for the Amdocs recruiting team.
- Characteristics of the Amdocs company culture.
- Metrics Victoria and her team use to measure the success of their talent attraction system.
- The journey of Amdocs’ first hire through their new system.
- How Amdocs categorizes potential hires.
- The importance of providing comprehensive feedback to employees.
- Automated systems that Amdocs is planning to roll out in the coming months.
- The two different branches of Amdocs’ long-term proactive sourcing model.
- The role of the talent strategy leaders in Victoria’s team.
- Victoria’s top piece of career advice.
Tweetables:
“While I was good at sales, I loved recruiting. I loved helping people find a job [and] feeling like I was doing something positive in someone's life.” — @Victoria_rcrtr [0:05:37]
“At the end of the day, the best experience in the world is giving someone an offer and them saying, ‘Yes, I accept.’ That is rewarding work right there!” — @Victoria_rcrtr [0:08:10]
“It takes typically seven to nine instances of engagement with your brand before it becomes more recognized or before someone will take an action.” — @Victoria_rcrtr [0:14:47]
“Work is work. But when it can be something that you enjoy and that you love, it becomes less work.” — @Victoria_rcrtr [0:30:33]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Victoria Myers on LinkedIn
Victoria Myers on Twitter
Amdocs
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today, we are joined by tech entrepreneur, author, speaker, advisor, and founder of The Source, Jane Frankland. Jane has identified several discrepancies in the hiring process and, in this episode, she shares her advice for ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace from the get-go.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Why cybersecurity is so important for individuals and companies.
- How attackers use automation to target vulnerabilities and extract information.
- Why social media platforms should provide better support for those facing security breaches.
- How women’s risk perception typically differs from that of men.
- Jane’s background in art and design and her transition into technology and cybersecurity.
- A look at The Source platform and the opportunities it affords underrepresented women.
- How Jane helps companies attract and retain diverse talent (and why it’s crucial to do so.)
- The importance of identifying gender differences and removing biases in the hiring process.
- Factors affecting diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace.
- Jane’s advice for creating an inclusive workspace, starting with the hiring process!
- The mental health issues challenges faced by the cybersecurity industry.
Tweetables:
“37% of women in the world still don't have access to the internet, which is really quite horrifying.” — @JaneFrankland [0:06:07]
“Women [see] risk in a different way to men, and if you [don’t] have women in companies helping to assess risk and protect companies, then you [are] going to be less safe.” — @JaneFrankland [0:12:24]
“We have a real problem with wellbeing [in the cybersecurity industry]; with mental health, with brain health, with stress and burnout. It's absolutely horrific. It’s at a higher level than healthcare workers at the moment.” — @JaneFrankland [0:29:37]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jane Frankland
The Source
Jane Frankland on LinkedIn
Jane Frankland on Twitter
Jane Frankland on Instagram
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Are the days of the traditional interview process over? We’re experiencing a paradigm shift in the recruitment world where simulation replaces speculation and soft skills take center stage. Joining us to discuss how AI is transforming the hiring process is the CEO and Co-Founder of HiringBranch, Stephane Rivard. In this episode, we explore how HiringBranch is revolutionizing hiring by creating a platform where candidates can showcase their abilities in real-time simulated scenarios. Stephane highlights the importance of soft skills and explains how HiringBranch’s assessment works, breaking down the types of skills they assess in candidates. Tune in for insights into the AI recruitment revolution, which may just be paving the way for a more accurate and effective way of finding the right talent.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Stephane Rivard, the CEO and Fo-Founder of HiringBranch.
- How Stephane “unplugs” and what’s on his reading list.
- Stephane’s background: how he always strove to be an entrepreneur.
- Insight into his company, HiringBranch, which uses AI for high-volume hiring.
- How the HiringBranch platform works, the skills it assesses, and how the assessment varies based on the role being applied for.
- What companies are getting wrong in the traditional interview process.
- The goal of the platform to identify candidates who excel in soft skills.
- How HiringBranch bypasses the interview process by simulating job scenarios without the presence of an engineer or mentor.
- A surprising realization Stephane had about the recruitment industry.
Tweetables:
“My idea of unplugging is reading business books.” — Stephane Rivard [0:01:51]
“There are typically two roles that we use [for] our platform. One of them is for a sales-oriented or loyalty-oriented role, and the other one is customer service.” — Stephane Rivard [0:07:12]
“What [the HiringBranch platform] does, especially for high volume jobs, [is give] you a standardized way to evaluate everyone.” — Stephane Rivard [0:15:58]
“Everything we do — even our lives, our apps — are metric driven. Why is there not more of this metric-driven approach to hiring?” — Stephane Rivard [0:24:28]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Stephane Rivard on LinkedIn
HiringBranch
A Brief History of the Interview and Its Future
THE AI RECRUITER: Revolutionizing Hiring with Advanced GPT-Powered Prompts
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Our guest on the show today holds to the saying that the secret sauce to any company’s success is the people! Here with us on Talk Talent to Me today is Christina Pinheiro, Vice President of People and Talent at Sibros. In our conversation with Christina, we hear about her background and what sparked her passion for helping people and creating a positive employee experience, which ultimately led to a career in HR. She shares her thoughts and views on the impact of learning and development, and what that looks like at Sibros through their Lunch and Learn sessions. She tells listeners about her favorite session on Interview Bias, and what she thinks about anonymizing parts of the interviewing process. Finally, we discover why she wound up as a guest on the show and hear about how Christina and her team approach the use of AI tools in their recruiting stack.
Key Points From This Episode:
- We chat about her love for ChatGPT and AI in general.
- She shares her background and how she wound up in her current role.
- Her goals and objectives as VP of People and Talent at Sibros.
- Her thoughts and views on learning and development (L&D) and what it looks like at Sibros.
- What she does with the feedback from their employees regarding L&D.
- Lunch and Learn: some examples and details from the sessions they do at Sibros.
- Her favorite Lunch and Learn session: Interview Bias.
- Her drive-home points from her Interview Bias learning session.
- Christina’s thoughts on anonymizing resumes and other parts of the interview process.
- AI and recruiting; Christina’s approach to using these tools in Sibro’s recruiting stack.
- Christina leaves listeners with the best career advice she’s received so far.
Tweetables:
“I believe that we all get into this build because of a strong passion for really helping people or creating a positive employee experience.” — Christina Pinheiro [0:02:58]
“I had noticed pretty early on — that there is a large, significant gap, in many companies where employees lacked a voice or guidance for their own personal growth.” — Christina Pinheiro [0:03:31]
“I always have this motto, saying, ‘The secret sauce to every company is the people.’” — Christina Pinheiro [0:04:21]
“I really emphasize on the benefits of continuous learning and [how] attending these sessions contributes to personal and professional growth.” — Christina Pinheiro [0:10:22]
“How does bias occur? It occurs when you unintentionally introduce certain errors or [you] project these during the interview process, leading to an unfair bias for candidates. These biases can stem from various factors, such as personal beliefs, stereotypes, implicate biases and subjective judgments.” — Christina Pinheiro [0:19:34] {Longer Quote}
“I am a big fan of the AI tools, however, I do strongly share as well, do not allow that AI tool to take away from the own original content of what you may have written. Use it as an additional resource, use it as another opportunity to enhance some of your skills, but do not be reliant on it. We don’t want to take away from the natural human being.” — Christina Pinheiro [0:24:33] {Longer Quote}
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Christina Pinheiro on LinkedIn
Sibros
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
“You are never too busy to be innovative!” These are the wise words of today’s guest, Daniel Benavides, Director of Recruitment at Recursion. Daniel joins us for this episode of Talk Talent to Me to tell us about his background, what made him become a recruiter, what he loves most about it, and why he believes there should be some sort of school for potential recruiters. We delve into Recursion's incredible inclusion model and strategy and where it came from before Daniel tells us about their employee resource groups, why they are a real community, and so much more! Our guest also shares the best career advice he has ever been given and reminds us to stay innovative throughout our careers.
Key Points From This Episode:
- How Recursion integrates inclusive policies based on its company culture into the business.
- Where its inclusion strategy came from and how an employee resource group (ERG) assists.
- Daniel shares his approach to making an ERG an actual community of diversity.
- How to include everyone in Pride Month and turn employees into allies.
- Daniel tells us about his background, why he went into recruiting, and what he loves about it.
- The importance of trying different things to see what works.
- Why there should be a recruiting school of sorts to help potential recruiters in their careers.
- The best career advice Daniel has ever received from someone.
Tweetables:
“I can only speak to my lived experience – I can’t speak to the experience that our [Latinx or Black employees] have – so being able to have an ERG that is focused on that pillar or that marginalized group is key so we can ensure our policies are more inclusive.” — @benavidesdaniel [0:05:47]
“There is an incredibly important piece of having an executive sponsor that believes in the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion and that it makes us stronger.” — @benavidesdaniel [0:09:02]
“You change the world [and] make an impact [by bringing] everybody along the journey. It’s not just on the backs of one underprivileged or marginalized group; we are all working towards the same goal and making the world a better place.” — @benavidesdaniel [0:15:02]
“The only way we’re going to find out if something works is if we try it.” — @benavidesdaniel [0:18:32]
“Be innovative [and] question the status quo!” — @benavidesdaniel [0:30:16]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Daniel Benavides on LinkedIn
Daniel Benavides on Twitter
Recursion
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
The recent radical improvement of AI has shaken up the world, and as more AI tools become available and easily accessible, the concerns surrounding the implications of AI on our future grow stronger by the day. But AI should be embraced and not feared, and to help us explain why, we are joined by two talent specialists who are using AI to improve their daily operations. We kick off the show with the Director of Talent Sourcing at Activision Blizzard, Justin Ghio. Justin shares how he ended up in his current role before explaining how he and his team use AI with a practical demonstration for the live audience. After Justin shows us how to use AI to its full potential in recruiting, we welcome José Cong to the show. José is the VP of Talent and Culture at Humane, and his impressive resume includes being part of the team who brought the iPhone 1 to market (working under Steve Jobs!). José came out of retirement to join Humane and after explaining why he made this decision, he reiterates why AI is the future, why it should be embraced and not feared, how AI has improved his recruitment process, and how he and his team are using AI responsibly. At the end of the day, AI is there to support people rather than replace them, and to find out how AI can be used to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at the office, press play now!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Justin Ghio as he explains his chance encounter with Dennis Rodman.
- Justin’s background and his role as the Director of Talent Sourcing at Activision Blizzard.
- How the Activision Blizzard recruiting team is using AI.
- Why AI cannot and will not take over jobs in recruitment.
- Demonstrating how Justin uses freely available AI technology for interviews and onboarding.
- He explains how to use AI to its full potential.
- Welcoming today’s second guest, the VP of Talent and Culture at Humane, José Cong.
- José’s background and the work he did for Apple for the iPhone 1.
- Why he chose to come out of retirement to work at Humane; realizing that AI is the future.
- How José and his talent team are implementing AI tools.
- His reasons for why AI should not be feared.
- A look at how AI is improving Humane’s interview and assessment process.
- What José looks for in new team members.
- How he still creates great candidate experiences in today’s remote work landscape.
- The way he ensures that he and his team are using AI in a responsible way.
- How AI can help to eliminate unconscious biases to systematically improve DEI in the office.
Tweetables:
“We are constantly leveraging a lot of the new, latest, and greatest technologies to ensure [that] we’re not getting left behind” — @Just_in_Games [07:20]
“[AI] is not going to take your job; it’s just going to let you do things quicker.” — @Just_in_Games [09:53]
“That’s the power of ChatGPT and some of this AI technology: It’s not output-based, it’s input-based. We are always going to be the input — don’t be scared that it’s going to take your job; you are the key that unlocks its potential.” — @Just_in_Games [15:57]
“[Steve Jobs] was my direct boss, but the people underneath him were equally as impatient. There was a tremendous amount of pressure [at Apple] in terms of yielding results; we were literally racing the clock to get [the iPhone 1] out.” — @Jose_Cong [31:39]
“Unretiring was not an easy decision — life was pretty good, it was really good actually. But, the feeling that there was a paradigm shift potentially happening is what perked my interest — and I started to look into what AI was.” — @Jose_Cong [34:29]
“I hate the terminology ‘artificial intelligence’; it’s augmented intelligence. If we think about it from that perspective, we’re going to be less intimidated by it and we’re going to be more open-minded.” — @Jose_Cong [41:01]
“It’s not about hiring someone that can do the job; it’s about finding someone who is going to buy into what we’re doing, and who’s going to be passionate about participating and building what we have.” — @Jose_Cong [45:45]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Justin Ghio on LinkedIn
Justin Ghio on Twitter
Activision Blizzard
ChatGPT
José Cong on LinkedIn
José Cong on Twitter
Humane
Talent Acquisition Week
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today’s episode is coming to you from our NYC Live Event, and will not be our usual type of episode! It’ll be more like a “town hall meeting” so grab onto your seats as we talk about generative AI and its role in the world of talent and acquisition. Our first amazing guest is Jenny Cotie Kangas, a friend of the show and force to be reckoned with. Our second guest is the innovative Chief Technology Officer at Hired, Dave Walters. In our discussion we cover how Jenny is conceptualizing AI and leveraging it best, why you don’t have to be afraid of generative AI, and she talks us through some examples of how to use ChatGPT. Dave recaps his opinion on the first half of the session with Jenny, and shares his thoughts on setting generative AI policies at work and why it’ll be important. We also dive into Local Law 144, as well as some other questions asked by our audience members. This is a great episode on all things generative AI, so don’t miss out!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Rob introduced today’s live event and the mission behind it.
- He introduces our first guest; Jenny Cotie Kangas.
- Jenny shares her background and how she wound up where she is today.
- How she’s conceptualizing AI in her role and making sure to leverage it best.
- Don’t be afraid of generative AI: calling up the ‘hat’ you want the AI tool to wear.
- An introduction to ChatGPT and what generative AI is.
- Jenny takes us through live examples of using ChatGPT; including prompts and more.
- Things to remember when using ChatGPT or generative AI.
- How Jenny uses generative AI in her day-to-day.
- Checking for bias and why that’s necessary.
- Bringing in a situation and asking for options.
- We answer “What are sharp questions?” (a live example).
- Jenny talks about prompts and how to create them.
- Can you give too many inputs to ChatGPT as a prompt?
- Rob introduces our next guest: Chief Technology Officer, Dave Walters.
- His reactions and thoughts on Jenny’s segment of the session.
- The difference between ChatGPT and Google.
- Dave’s thoughts on his team using ChatGPT for 80% of their work: setting policies.
- Moving past the hype of AI into the real world of AI: democratizing AI.
- Other AI tools that use generative AI (other than ChatGPT).
- We discuss Local Law 144: what it is and when to be concerned about it.
- Who is verifying or validating data presented to us through generative AI?
- Legal pushback they’ve received since using these AI tools.
- The best career advice our guests have ever received.
Tweetables:
“I leverage AI to enable me, the human, to be able to go further and faster at work.” — @CotieJenny [0:06:33]
“One of the things to remember is, [with] any sort of generative AI, you have to ask the right sharp question to get the answer.” — @CotieJenny [0:15:13]
“Don’t upload all your business secrets into ChatGPT, that’s probably not a smart thing to do, and I would avoid doing that!” — Dave Walters [0:25:48]
“I would recommend to everybody — make sure you are getting policies in place — so that your teams know what to do and what not to do [with generative AI]. Don’t let that policy we don’t use it, that is a bad approach and you will fall behind.” — Dave Walters [0:26:13]
“These laws, at a very very high level, are meant to ensure that we’re using technology for good.” — @CotieJenny [0:37:22]
“[Generative AI] is not smart enough to figure out what is factual and what is not factual, today. It’s a big problem — one of the biggest challenges with generative AI, it’s going to have to be solved, [and] it’s not easy to solve.” — Dave Walters [0:39:37]
“Any time something is new it’s a lot easier to attack it than to try and understand how we can put effective guardrails in place so that we can use this for good.” — @CotieJenny [0:42:47]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jenny Kangas on LinkedIn
Dave Walter on LinkedIn
Hired
ChatGPT
Open AI
Local Law 144 (Holistic AI)
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
One of the biggest mistakes made by employers when hiring early-career talent is assuming that the recruiting part is over when someone signs an offer. Today’s guest is Ben Siegel, the founder and CEO of the HR technology company, Abode, who knows what it feels like to be left in the lurch after a job offer and is doing his best to ensure it doesn’t happen to others. Abode began as a corporation that hired out students to mow lawns for $25 an hour and has since evolved into a thriving company that helps other companies attract and retain early-career talent across the job spectrum. Early-career talent these days is largely comprised of Gen-Z’ers and in this episode, Ben, who is a Gen-Z’er himself, explains what this generation of job seekers is looking for and debunks some of the common misconceptions that older generations have about them.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Ben shares the origin story of Abode.
- Issues in the talent acquisition space that the pandemic brought to light.
- Factors that are much more important than the school you attend.
- Roles that Abode’s customers are hiring for.
- Lessons learned through the research Abode conducted with 5000 Gen-Z job seekers.
- Misconceptions that older generations have about Gen-Z.
- How employers can build trust amongst their Gen-Z employees.
- One of the biggest mistakes employers make when hiring early-career talent.
- The process that should follow a job-offer-signing.
- Things that employers need to communicate to early-career talent.
- The service that Abode offers to employees and employers.
- Parting words of wisdom about how to retain early-stage talent.
Tweetables:
“It doesn’t matter where you go to school. If you have the skills and work hard, you can go work at Morgan Stanley. You don’t have to be at Harvard to do that anymore.” — Ben Siegel [0:06:28]
“You can boil everything [Gen-Z job seekers] want down into four main things; transparency, connections, respect, and expectations.” — Ben Siegel [0:08:04]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Ben Siegel on LinkedIn
Abode
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Tranforming Lives Through Tech: Click Here to Donate
With a background in software engineering, Tony brings his technical expertise to the process of TA. Tune in to hear what motivated this pivot, why he is uniquely positioned to work in this role, and what he loves most about recruitment. Tony shares his perspective on when it is necessary to insist on working on-site, drawing on what the data says about remote work and productivity. He shares an inside perspective on Hearst’s strategy to keep employees and consumers happy, and what he considers the best use of ChatGPT. Hear about Tony’s introduction to the industry, building a team for a fintech firm and realizing he had a knack for it, and what made him want to stick with it. He also tells listeners about an opportunity he found to give back, and how you can get involved.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to today’s guest, Tony Kochhar.
- Hearst’s strategy to keep its employees happy, and its response to the COVID19 pandemic
- How Hearst diversifies investments in different industries.
- Tony’s view on roles where it is necessary to work on site.
- His perspective on why executives might want to push to have people in the office.
- What the data says about remote work and productivity.
- Tony’s background in software engineering and entrance into acquisition.
- What he realized when AI appeared on the scene.
- How he realized AI could be used in recruitment.
- Navigating legal concerns.
- The best use of ChatGPT.
- Moving from tech to recruitment.
- The first team he built for a fintech firm.
- What made him want to stick with recruitment.
- Why recruitment is life-changing.
- Finding a way to give back.
- How you can get involved with the donation program.
Tweetables:
“When AI suddenly emerged almost like a bomb several months ago, I subscribed to all these various blogs and magazines, and immediately I knew, I said, ‘this is a very big deal’.” — Tony Kocchar [0:11:02]
“Treat [ChatGPT] like a really smart assistant that you’ve always wanted and now you have access to.” — Tony Kocchar [0:16:44]
“There’s a very human aspect to talent acquisition and I think that’s what kept me here.” — Tony Kocchar [0:21:15]
“You have to believe in the companies and you have to believe in the people you are representing and recruiting, your candidates.” — Tony Kocchar [00:21:56]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Tony Kochhar on LinkedIn
Hearst
ChatGPT
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Donation Program
For Erica, finding the right kind of employees, ones that are prone to growth and seeking out challenges, is fundamental to success, and she talks about why this individual attitude is the number one thing she looks for in prospective hires. She also lists a few of the other factors that make up good employees and why there are no perfect candidates out there.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Lessons and reflections from this year's ATD Conference.
- Erica shares her background and path to her current role at Wellthy.
- Strategies for assessing and dealing with employee disengagement.
- Why treading water should always be addressed.
- Why engaged employees are the best kinds of company ambassadors.
- Different ways that individuals can distinguish themselves.
- Erica talks about confronting the challenges of the remote workplace.
- The role of recruitment in the talent life cycle.
- Erica shares where she wants to be in five years!
Tweetables:
“In HR in general, - the path is never straight, for most people.” — Erica Maureen [0:04:22]
“I really loved putting the processes in place but I wanted to make sure there was a quality effect in order to make sure that the patients were having this great experience.” — Erica Maureen [0:05:25]
“After a while I got sick of working for a large corporation and working for a hospital center and I really wanted to get into tech.” — Erica Maureen [0:06:13]
“If you have employees that are stagnant, guess what, they are not going to be engaged.” — Erica Maureen [0:09:21]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Erica Maureen
Wellthy
ATD
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
In this episode, Shally tells us about his new position at LTK, how it’s changed the way he looks at money, why we need to try to find talent-sourcing tools other than LinkedIn, the importance of balancing application friction, and how to optimize the applications coming in (especially when it’s free to apply). He explains why he sees the set-up of an interview to be the first marker of recruitment success, even if the interview never even takes place before he delves into the vast multitude of components that go into hiring. Finally, he tells us how he measures the success of recruitment and why it’s not only based on the number of hires.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A warm welcome to today’s guest, Shally Steckerl.
- Shally’s role at LTK, how he would up there, and how it differs from his previous roles.
- The lessons he’s learned in his new role at LTK and why he sees money in differently now.
- Shally explains the challenges with LinkedIn when it comes to recruitment at the moment.
- The balance we have to achieve in friction for job applications and when to reduce it.
- How to talk someone out of applying to a job they’re not fit for when the application is free.
- Why he thinks the applicant tracking system is inadequate.
- Shally tells us what a positive indicator of recruitment quality is: an interview being set up.
- How recruiters can contribute to the interview process, even in the smallest way.
- The components responsible for hire and how much responsibility the recruiter takes.
- Why measuring the success of recruitment only on the number of hires is futile.
Tweetables:
“As a recruiter, day-to-day, you want all the money to spend on all the tools because you don’t know what’s going to work.” — @shally [0:15:43]
“You want to reduce friction so that you’re not making it inordinately awkward and difficult to apply but you also don’t want to reduce friction to a point where people can indiscriminately apply. There’s that fine balance.” — @shally [0:16:46]
“You can’t affect the interview-to-offer ratio when people are for three times what you’re willing to pay.” — @shally [0:30:23]
“I think measuring a recruiting team based on number of hires is absolutely ridiculous.” — @shally [0:31:40]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Shally Steckerl on LinkedIn
Shally Steckerl on Twitter
LTK
Chat GPT
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
TT2M Live in NYC. Elsie Rooftop, Midtown. 6PM. REGISTER HERE
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How can we leverage technology to allow us to do more of what we are best at? Welcome to another episode from the floor of Talent Acquisition Week in San Diego, California. Today, we are speaking to Justin Ghio about AI in the world of talent acquisition. Drawing on his experience in at Activision Blizzard, Justin explains everything he knows about AI in the talent sphere, the reason it is misunderstood, how it can best be used, and why it is time to escape the fear. You will also find out how to understand AI, its limitations, the correct way to view it, and how to make it work for you. If you’re still hesitant, Justin gives examples of how AI will make your day easier, open up your schedule, and give you more time to do the parts of your job you like. Tune in to hear why AI will not steal your job but make you better at it!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Justin reflects on his speech at TA Week in San Diego.
- The current perception of AI in the talent world.
- How we need to view AI.
- Examples of how AI is used in talent activities.
- Justin’s opinions on boolean searching and its current relevance.
- How Activision Blizzard uses AI and skill adjacency in their talent acquisition.
- How AI can help with decision-making.
- The technology Activision Blizzard uses and how it works.
- Realities of AI in the HR industry.
- The conversations Justin has around AI and its growing popularity.
- Three questions Justin asks to make sure he is using the correct AI tools.
- How to get buy-in to use AI within your company.
- Why AI can only get you 70-80% of the way.
- The best career advice Justin has received.
Tweetables:
“AI can’t do everything from start to finish for me. What it can do is give me 10 options to look at faster than I can think through one option.” — @Just_in_Games [0:02:44]
“AI lets you be lazy. Instead of sending a follow-up message, you click a button to automate follow-ups.” — @Just_in_Games [0:06:50]
“How can we leverage technology to allow us to do more of what we are best at?” — @Just_in_Games [0:13:33]
“Just because you’re great [at something], doesn’t mean you have to do that forever.” — @Just_in_Games [0:21:02]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Justin Ghio on Twiter
Justin Ghio on LinkedIn
Activision Blizzard
Talent Acquisition Week
ChatGPT
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Maryjo Charbonnier isn’t afraid of a challenge. In fact, throughout her career, she has sought out difficult problems so that she can be part of the solution. Her passion for change-making has led her to her current position as the Chief HR Officer at Kyndryl, an IBM spin-off which is now the world’s largest startup with over 90,000 employees and $19 billion in revenue. In this episode, Maryjo and I do a deep dive into what it takes to cultivate and maintain a thriving company culture. Maryjo is a real expert on cultural processes, and leaders and HR professionals in any field will benefit from the wisdom she shares today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Maryjo shares the origin story of Kyndryl.
- The work that Maryjo and her team did to ensure that Kyndrl was a successful spin-off.
- Three core elements of any company culture.
- Defining the culture at Kyndryl (“The Kyndryl Way”) and the process they have gone through to develop it.
- Why Maryjo advises HR professionals to seek out difficult problems.
- What Maryjo loves about being part of business and cultural transformations.
- Maryjo’s thoughts on how culture is created.
- The role of HR professionals in the development of company culture.
- Values that Kyndryl aspires to embody.
- The importance of getting continuous feedback when building a company culture.
- An overview of Maryjo’s career journey to date.
- Advice for getting the most value out of your career as an HR professional.
Tweetables:
“When spins happen, they are a chance to both do a big transformation on the business side and also in HR.” — Maryjo Charbonnier [0:02:45]
“Culture manifests in three different ways; behaviors, systems…and symbols.” — Maryjo Charbonnier [0:05:05]
“In an HR career, it’s important, if you really want to accelerate your career, to seek the heat. Go where the big problems are because those are where everyone has eyes, and if you can make the difference it can really help accelerate your career path.” — Maryjo Charbonnier [0:12:26]
“I think about [culture] as a garden. It’s a garden that needs to be tended and cultivated. Yes, if left to its own devices, it will just grow organically, but that may or may not be what you want.” — Maryjo Charbonnier [0:15:19]
“One of the most important things HR people do is listen to what isn’t said.” — Maryjo Charbonnier [0:16:36]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Maryjo Charbonnier on LinkedIn
Kyndryl
Kyndryl on LinkedIn
Walking the Talk
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Sometimes the best approach to a challenge is to start from scratch! When Jenny Cotie Kangas lost most of her memories as a result of a head injury, she had to undergo a process of extreme relearning. Though the experience came with hardships and frustrations, it turned out to be hugely beneficial to her professional life. During this episode, Jenny shares how learning to explain things in their simplest form, eliminating biases and blindspots, and employing reverse engineering strategies can lead to true organizational change.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The life-changing event that Jenny experienced in 2020.
- Systems that Jenny has created to enhance her productivity and well-being.
- Jenny’s approach to recovering after her head injury.
- The difference between an issue and a symptom.
- Why being able to simplify information is such a valuable skill.
- How to build optimal processes within an organization.
- An example of how incorrect assumptions can affect a business.
- The benefits of reverse engineering.
- Why Jenny delved into UX research after her head injury.
- One of the biggest changes that took place in Jenny as a result of her head injury.
- How to become aware of your blindspots and biases.
Tweetables:
“When resources are thin and budgets are thin, it’s absolutely critical that you build your strategies that are going to mitigate issues, not mitigate symptoms.” — @CotieJenny [0:24:27]
“In the HR and talent acquisition space, the terms that we use, even within our organizations, they’re in our vernacular and we understand them, but we don’t always level set the definitions of those.” — @CotieJenny [0:25:56]
“When you storytell something in a way that makes sense to a 10-year-old – all of a sudden everybody can understand it. Not just the top 10% or the most experienced in your organization, but everybody can. And when you’re trying to actually make change happen, your goal is to hit everybody, not just the top 10%.” — @CotieJenny [0:28:00]
“If you don’t know what good looks like, you can’t actually reverse engineer good.” — @CotieJenny [0:29:39]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jenny Cotie Kangas on LinkedIn
PandoLogic
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today, we are joined by the Founder and Managing Director of Quintrix, Krishna Kumar. Investing in early talent is beginning to become more popular in the industry and we discuss whether it’s better to groom in-house talent or source externally, why businesses need to think more about early talent in the long term, why many candidates are falling short of the mark, and how companies can better support their new recruits. We also examine Krishna’s game-changing post-deployment framework, before he tells us why he’ll always live life by one particular quote from Bill Gates.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing the Founder and Managing Director of Quintrix Solutions, Krishna Kumar.
- The content that Krishna is enjoying at Talent Acquisition Week.
- How investing in early talent is gaining more traction in the industry.
- What Quintrix Solutions does as a company.
- Whether it makes more sense to groom in-house talent or source externally.
- How a business’s short-term goals may negatively impact its early talent strategy.
- Krishna’s background and why he chose his current line of work.
- The gaps and discrepancies he sees in the experience and skills of candidates.
- Looking at the support (or lack thereof) that new employees have in the workplace.
- Krishna’s post-deployment framework, and why it’s bound to be a game changer.
- Assessing who’s to blame for a lack of proactivity in the workplace.
- How to integrate the skill of successfully navigating the workplace into candidate training.
- The best advice Krishna has ever received: a quote from Bill Gates.
Tweetables:
“It’s really exciting. I’m seeing a lot more attention [being paid] to diversity and early talent. We’ve never seen this level of interest in these topics in the past, so I’m super pumped about that.” — @candid_krishna [0:01:23]
“This conference is so exciting because people are now truly starting to think about talent from a long-term, pipeline-building perspective versus a just-in-time, instant-gratification mindset.” — @candid_krishna [0:06:34]
“Career development, or lack thereof, is the number one reason for people to leave their jobs and explore other opportunities. So, you want to make sure that the candidates are constantly receiving the support, feedback, and career development to be successful.” — @candid_krishna [0:11:20]
“This post-deployment framework, which I think is very unique to this industry, is going to be a game changer.” — @candid_krishna [0:12:29]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Krishna Kumar on LinkedIn
Krishna Kumar on Twitter
Quintrix Solutions
Talent Acquisition Week
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Companies that place people at the center of their business are more likely to make quality hires and maintain a cohesive work environment. Joining me today to explain how her company puts people first, is the Head of Recruiting at Calendly, Kelly Minella. After explaining Calendly’s ease of use and how it has helped simplify the lives of everyone who uses it, Kelly tells me about her professional background and how she ended up in her current role. We discuss how she knew that her CEO cared about prioritizing people, the in-house systems and processes that Calendly is focused on improving, the undeniable wonders of stop, start, continue, and how Kelly and her team have implemented this habit. Kelly expressed the importance of a talent team having a shared understanding, how the introduction of interview training has made Calendly better, why you should always be asking for and reviewing candidate feedback, and the plans that she has for the future of her career.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A warm welcome to the Head of Recruiting at Calendly, Kelly Minella.
- What Calendly is all about, and how it’s helped Kelly in her daily work activities.
- Why Calendly’s ease of use has been the key to its success.
- Kelly’s professional background and how she ended up at Calendly.
- When she first realized that Calendly’s CEO really cared about prioritizing people.
- What’s keeping her busy at work these days.
- The optimization of Calendly’s tech stack and improving its hiring partner experience.
- The insight that Calendly’s engineering team gained after its systems were codified.
- The funnel-vision interviews that are needed for turning candidates into potential hires.
- Exploring the wonders of stop, start, continue, and how Kelly and her team have implemented this habit.
- How Kelly and her team go about sourcing content and their plans for a company intranet.
- Why a recruiting team needs to have a shared understanding.
- How Kelly introduced interview training to maintain a high level of candidate experience.
- The importance of reviewing candidate feedback.
- Kelly’s vision for the future of her career.
Tweetables:
“[Calendly] is such a time saver. I can’t even remember what it was like trying to schedule time with candidates without it. It is a wonderful product.” — Kelly Minella [02:41]
“I applied [to Calendly], and my first conversation was with our CEO, Tope Awotona, and it was fabulous. I remember calling my mom afterwards and being like, ‘Mom, that was special’. And the reason why, and why it has remained special, is how much priority he puts on people.” — Kelly Minella [06:53]
“The other thing we are focusing on is the hiring partner experience. We want to make sure that we are setting our hiring partners up for success.” — Kelly Minella [15:10]
“Interview training has made a huge impact on our quality of hire and the satisfaction of our hiring partners at Calendly.” — Kelly Minella [32:06]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Kelly Minella on LinkedIn
Calendly
Tope Awotona on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
We’re live once again from Talent Acquisition Week, and in this episode, we are joined by Chloé Rada, a Global Talent Acquisition Operations and Talent Attraction Leader. Chloé is here to share some nuggets of wisdom about the talent world with us. Tuning in, you’ll hear all about the future plans that she has for her career, the responsibility she places on herself in her role and why listening to people is imperative in the talent acquisition space. Our guest is passionate about data, and today, she shares what kind of data you need for hiring, who can help you access that data, and what her process of creating goals around that data entails.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing our guest, Chloé Rada.
- What’s on Chloé’s mind currently, and what is next for her in her career.
- What Chloé believes her role is as a talent acquisition leader.
- How she goes about coaching people to interview effectively.
- How Chloé builds rapport with people by showing them all of her professional layers.
- The importance of listening and gaining an understanding of a business and its people.
- Why not fitting into a company is a learning opportunity.
- The questions she likes to ask during interviews to determine whether candidates are a good fit.
- Why not having access to labor and market data is disadvantageous.
- The importance of reeducation and training as a talent acquisition leader.
- Why you have to rely on your partners to help you make use of the right data.
- How to improve your hiring abilities through benchmarking.
- Why Chloé always starts with data before creating goals and trying to improve.
- Chloé leaves us with the best career advice she has ever received.
Tweetables:
“I think people need to be heard!” — @crada [0:06:17]
“I always try to strive and improve and be my best self and bring my best self wherever I go.” — @crada [0:08:12]
“Some organizations are not necessarily resistant to change but they don’t know how to see change through.” — @crada [0:08:19]
“Always be curious and surround yourself with smart people.” — @crada [0:17:23]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Chloé Rada on LinkedIn
Chloé Rada on Twitter
Chloé Rada on Instagram
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Speaking live with us on the floor of TA Week Conference is Dana Atherton, the Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Jamf; a company that has set the standard for managing and securing Apple at businesses, schools, and government organizations through its unique software. Dana has a range of experience in human resources, having worked across various sectors such as tech, marketing, retail, and healthcare industries. She combines her knowledge of global recruitment with a deep understanding to cultivate trusted relationships with strategic partners. In our conversation, we unpack what it means to be a true leader, what employees expect in the current climate, and how to remain positive during difficult times. Hear about her overall conference experience, the ultimate question to ask in an interview, breaking down biases in recruitment, the true definition of a hands-on leader, and much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- We start by finding out what Dana enjoyed most about the conference.
- The best ice-breaker question she has ever heard.
- Her approach to cultivating personal affirmation.
- Dana recommends a book to help you stay positive.
- How to get to know somebody without knowing anything about them.
- Why honesty and integrity are essential during an interview.
- She shares her experience working at Jamf.
- The core values at Jamf that attracted Dana to work for the company
- Learn about her approach to leading a team and communication.
- Common challenges that she has seen across sectors and businesses.
- Hear the best career advice that Dana has received.
Tweetables:
“One of the most important things [we have learned] since the pandemic is leading with vulnerability.” — Dana Atherton [0:07:50]
“I am the type of leader that is ever going to ask somebody to do something that I am not afraid to do myself too.” — Dana Atherton [0:09:44]
“Always keep in mind why you do what you do, and that will propel you and drive you towards your passions.” — Dana Atherton [0:17:31]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Dana Atherton on LinkedIn
Jamf
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today, we speak to Nancy Connery, the very first VP of HR at Salesforce, where she spearheaded strategic investments in human capital and fueled the company’s remarkable growth by building its industry-leading HR infrastructure. After seven years, she left Salesforce to build her boutique human capital consultancy Connery Consulting. From this sprung her latest venture, compensational intelligence company OpenComp, where, in addition to being co-founder, Nancy is the co-host of the OpenComp podcast, High Growth Matters. In this episode of Talk Talent to Me, Nancy sheds some light on the early days of Salesforce and her critical role in recruiting (and retaining) the best talent as the company grew. We also look at her decision to leave her comfortable position as VP to pursue her own path in the industry and gain some insight into her belief that talent retention and upskilling are just as important as hiring, plus so much more. Tune in for a fascinating conversation and some thought-provoking advice from someone with a litany of experience in the human capital space!
Key Points From This Episode:
- How Connery Consulting helped Nancy realize the opportunity for OpenComp.
- A look at the core offering of OpenComp: charting your organization’s compensation path.
- Insight into Nancy’s career journey, starting with her role as VP of HR at Salesforce.
- The benefits of investing in human capital early on.
- Why recruiting and retaining the best talent is important as you build a company.
- The constant evolution of an organization’s talent needs.
- Why retention is equally as important as recruitment and onboarding.
- The value of offering development opportunities and helping your people upskill.
- Nancy’s decision to leave Salesforce after seven years to start her own consultancy.
- Advice for making the leap from something comfortable into the unknown.
- Themes that Nancy has recognized when it comes to client challenges.
- Why a high headcount isn’t always a positive thing for team leads.
- How the attitude to talent has changed over the past five years.
- Tips for weathering the storm of tech sector layoffs as a leader in the field.
- What to expect if you tune into the High Growth Matters Podcast.
Tweetables:
“As people think about the evolution of their careers, [it’s important] to think about [the fact that] you don’t need to run everything. What are the core areas where you really shine and can help get the company to the next level?” — Nancy Connery [0:09:22]
“You need to think about employees [in the same manner as customers] as you grow the company, not only recruiting them but also how do you develop them? How do you retain them? Can they grow with the lifecycles and stages of the company?” — Nancy Connery [0:13:34]
“To me, [retention] is equally as important as the recruitment and onboarding piece for companies.” — Nancy Connery [0:13:50]
“There’s a lot of self-satisfaction and pride in the fact that I made that leap from something that was extremely comfortable to the unknown.” — Nancy Connery [0:25:09]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Nancy Connery on LinkedIn
Connery Consulting
OpenComp
High Growth Matters Podcast
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
We are live at Talent Acquisition Week with another incredible guest, Jacob Rivas. Jacob is a Senior D&I Talent Sourcer and is here to share his knowledge about recruitment with us today. In this episode, you will hear all about his talks at Talent Acquisition Week, the response he is getting, how he got into D&I, what makes him different from other talent recruiters, how he communicates with candidates, and how to approach subject lines. Jacob also explains how things have changed for him since leaving Box. Finally, he shares the most amazing career advice he has ever received with us. So to hear all about D&I recruitment and why you should not be afraid to fail, tune in now!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcoming today’s guest, Jacob Rivas.
- Jacob tells us about his talks at Talent Acquisition Week and how he felt during them.
- What people are asking for from Jacob in terms of training.
- How Jacob learned about and became interested in D&I.
- Why you have to stand out from the crowd when it comes to engaging with candidates.
- How Jacob approaches candidates and why that sets him apart from other talent recruiters.
- The importance of asking what a candidate needs before giving them too much information.
- How Jacob’s approach changed when he left Vox.
- How to handle subject lines when communicating with talent.
- Jacob shares the best career advice he’s ever received with us.
Tweetables:
“Diversity is really the new area to go and if you’re intentional, you can make a big impact.” — Jacob Rivas [0:04:27]
“Candidates are people not products.” — Jacob Rivas [0:05:57]
“Fail fast, fail hard, learn from those mistakes, and don’t be afraid to make a mistake.” — Jacob Rivas [0:15:31]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jacob Rivas on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
We are on the floor of TA week in San Diego, California, and chatting with Mike ‘Batman’ Cohen about why he loves TA week and how it provides authenticity, vulnerability, and acceptance in the talent world. Mike goes on to explain what DEI hiring is, why it is so important, and how people in talent acquisition need to take the safety of their employees seriously. Looking deeper at safety, Mike explains that it is more complex than fire drills; it is about using vulnerability to go beyond the surface level. You will hear about why there is no right way to do recruiting, what it means to be human, the dissemination of information, and Mike shares the best career advice he has received.
Key Points From This Episode:
- How Mike is finding TA week and why he is loving it.
- The power of authenticity and ‘owning your stuff’.
- Human nature and how it relates to talent acquisition.
- The importance of DEI hiring and what it looks like in businesses.
- What it looks like for a recruiter to be vulnerable.
- What it means to ‘be human’.
- Mike shares some personal stories of being vulnerable in his job.
- Why we need to remember that we are all just doing our best.
- The dissemination of information and the platforms that show real people.
- The relationship you build with the people you work with.
- The best career advice Mike has received.
Tweetables:
“Humans are uncomfortable being uncomfortable.” — @BatmanRecruiter [0:03:44]
“There is no right way to do recruiting. There are a ton of wrong ways, but you’re never going to ‘get it’.” — @BatmanRecruiter [0:06:48]
“We tend to judge ourselves by our intent and other by their actions.” — @BatmanRecruiter [0:11:00]
“We are all doing the best we can with the tools at our disposal. ” — @BatmanRecruiter [0:11:19]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Mike Cohen
Mike Cohen on Twitter
Mike Cohen on LinkedIn
Mike Cohen on Instagram
Wayne Technologies
The Culture Code
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
We are live on day two of Talent Acquisition Week! And today, for the third time on this podcast, we welcome the VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Talent Management at Leaf Group, Tara Turk-Haynes. Tara has made it her mission to embed DEI into Leaf Group’s talent management strategy, with the hopes that this trend spreads across the entire industry. She explains why this mission is important to her and how she’s gone about it in her current role, as well as why she’s more likely to recruit ‘career changers,’ why the industry should pay more attention to how they market to emerging talent, and why all companies should do their best to accommodate for the post-pandemic concerns of candidates. We then discuss Leaf Group’s new Director of Recruiting Operations, Rhona Barnett-Pierce, paying specific attention to how Tara recruited her on Twitter, why Rhona’s career trajectory ultimately landed her the job, and how her resume stood out from the rest because she highlighted the strengths that she would be using in the role she applied for. We end with a chat about the current state of DEI and how companies need to do more to tailor their DEI targets according to their own needs, instead of setting them based on law and societal pressures. In 20 minutes, we gained a wealth of knowledge from the remarkable Tara Turk-Haynes, including the best career advice that she’s ever received!
Key Points From This Episode:
- For the third time on this podcast, we welcome the VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Talent Management at Leaf Group, Tara Turk-Haynes.
- How Tara is enjoying her second Talent Acquisition Week, and her favorite content so far.
- What it means to embed DEI into TA practices.
- Why Tara is focused on recruiting ‘career changers,’ and how she goes about it.
- What her TA Week panel discussed, and the outcomes thereof.
- The importance of paying attention to the emerging talent market.
- Why companies need to speak to the post-pandemic concerns of candidates.
- How Tara recruited her new Director of Recruiting Operations, Rhona Barnett-Pierce.
- Why your resume should always highlight your strengths in the position you’re applying for.
- How Rhona’s career trajectory made her the perfect candidate for Tara.
- What Tara prioritized when starting her current role of VP of DEI and TM.
- How she went about embedding DEI in Leaf Group’s talent management strategy.
- Why companies need to be more deliberate and aware when forming their DEI targets.
- The best career advice that Tara has ever received.
Tweetables:
“My mission, and my own personal goal, is to talk about how we [can] embed diversity, equity, and inclusion into our practices, and not making them this separate thing that we talk about alongside talent.” — @ttarahaynes [0:03:36]
“You should be grateful to have a job. Even though labor statistics go up and down and sideways and we’re telling all these different data stories, at the end of the day, something has shifted with the pandemic.” — @ttarahaynes [0:07:21]
“That’s what people want: What can you pull out of your toolbox to show people that you will be successful at the thing they want to hire you for?” — @ttarahaynes [0:13:50]
“If you focus on salary first, you’ll always get a little disappointed. But if you’re happy where you are, if you like the people that you work with, if you feel like you’re learning, then you’re going to grow in so many other areas.” — @ttarahaynes [0:19:35]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Tara Turk-Haynes on LinkedIn
Tara Turk-Haynes on Twitter
Tara Turk-Haynes on Instagram
Tara Turk-Haynes on TikTok
Leaf Group
Center Theatre Group
Talent Acquisition Week
Rhona Barnett-Pierce on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Live with us today at Talent Acquisition Week is Brian Fink, Talent Acquisition Partner at McAfee, to discuss how to recruit in online chat forums. We discuss why this event is not one to be missed, why Brian loves Hired and events in general, and what his presentation is about. Brian even shares with us how he "hacks Slack," how he recruits on Discord, and why you should use your personal email address when joining these communities, as well as how you can find them and what mistakes to avoid. We delve into why Brian offers practice interviews and resume reviews before discussing why conversations have to be taken offline. He also tells us what he looks for when recruiting for certain roles and shares the best career advice he has ever gotten. To hear all this and more, tune in now!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Why you don’t want to miss this event next year and what Brian likes about events.
- What Brian’s presentation is about: how to hack Slack!
- Why he loves that Hired gives him the opportunity to make credible relationships.
- Tips for recruiting on Discord.
- Why you can hire immediately and give feedback on a resume.
- How to join these online communities and why you should use your personal email address.
- Why Brian offers mock interviews to people who are sharing their resumes.
- What he looks for when he’s looking to hire for specific roles.
- The importance of taking conversations offline.
- How to find these online communities.
- How these communities protect themselves from people who handle things incorrectly.
- Brian shares the best career advice he’s ever received with us!
Tweetables:
“Your community is going to tell you what they’re interested in and how you can bring value to them.” — @thebrianfink [0:19:46]
“[Always] do one more [thing than the other guy is doing]. It will set you apart from a work ethic standpoint, but also from a candidate experience standpoint.” — @thebrianfink [0:21:32]
Longer Quotes:
“I like to think of recruitment as tuning into the channel, WIIFM: what’s in it for me? When you tune into WIIFM, we’re able to have a genuine conversation not built around what we’re trying to serve and the interests that we’re trying to perpetuate but instead the mission that that candidate or that individual is trying to serve.” — @thebrianfink [0:06:13]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Brian Fink on LinkedIn
Brian Fink on Twitter
Brian Fink on Instagram
Kubernetes Slack
Slack
Medium
Discord
Slofile
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today, we kick off our coverage from the the floor of Talent Acquisition (TA) Week in sunny San Diego, California. We chat with Matt Rimer, Director of TA at Trinity Health, about some of the biggest hiring challenges currently facing healthcare and why it’s an exciting time to be involved with talent acquisition in healthcare. Matt tells us about the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the healthcare industry and the strategies Trinity Health is implementing to attract more healthcare talent, especially nurses. We also discuss the involvement of C-suite executives in these initiatives and the launch of Trinity’s employee referral program, along with Matt’s key insights on the percentage of total hires that should come from referrals. To learn more about healthcare TA, liaising with C-suite executives, and implementing high-level strategies, be sure to tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Get to know today’s guest Matt Rimer, Director of Talent Acquisition (TA) at Trinity Health.
- The topics Matt will cover during his talk at the Talent Acquisition conference in San Diego.
- Learn about the launch of Trinity’s new employee referral program.
- An overview of the talent acquisition challenges in healthcare.
- Trinity’s current focus on growing its nursing talent and attracting new employees.
- Why referrals play a key role in attracting talent in healthcare.
- Missing talent in healthcare and the financial pressure it creates.
- The growing vacancy rates at many healthcare organizations.
- Why it’s an exciting time to be involved in healthcare TA.
- How C-Suite executives are addressing TA challenges.
- The high-level metrics that C-suite executives are typically interested in.
- The percentage of total hires that should come from referrals.
Tweetables:
“We're acutely focused right now on trying to figure out how to grow our nursing talent, but then more specifically, how to take that Trinity health employment brand into the market, make it a great place to work, and attract folks from our competitors.” — @mattrimer [0:02:17]
“Referrals play a key part for us — engaging our existing talent to help us find the talent that is available out on the market.” — @mattrimer [0:04:52]
“I think it's a good opportunity for talent acquisition professionals. To not only put up the strategy, but then show that they've got the delivery muscle to actually meet the objectives that they're setting out to do.” — @mattrimer [0:08:04]
“If we need to hire nurses right out of school, inexperienced nurses, what are the things that we need to do to actually increase that pipeline?” — @mattrimer [0:08:36]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Matt Rimer on LinkedIn
Matt Rimer on Twitter
Trinity Health
Talent Acquisition In The Trenches Podcast
Talent Acquisition Week Website
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Historically, talent acquisition and recruiting have relied heavily on networking, but how has the influence of technology, AI tools, and systems changed the role? Today I sit down and talk to the Vice President of Talent Acquisition at Moderna, April Venables. Her career has focused exclusively on talent acquisition and recruiting, which includes building and leading global recruiting teams, employer brand work, executive search and process, and program excellence. We talk about the recruiter of today and how both the role and required skillset have changed over the course of her career. April also tells us about different AI tools they implement to help the recruiting process and we chat about hiring; values-based versus skillset-based, and what makes for a bad (or good) hire.
Key Points From This Episode:
- How she gets away with not being reachable by email.
- An introduction to our guest April and how she ended up at Moderna.
- What piqued her interest and belief that Moderna was a huge opportunity.
- The Recruiter of Today and how the role and skillset have changed throughout her career.
- April tells listeners about her journey at Moderna during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic; developing the vaccine.
- We talk more about the process of developing the vaccine.
- How the vision to produce the vaccine translated into a massive hiring/ recruiting process.
- April shares the AI tools they implemented to help with the recruiting process.
- What makes for a bad hire; values-based versus skillset-based.
- Common reasons for what makes someone a good hire.
- Where they “lose” people at Moderna.
- More on how the AI tool was able to make an assessment around dynamic range.
- She defines (the misnomer) multi-tasking as it relates to the assessment.
- What an I-O psychologist is and does.
- Being able to chase what the day is giving you; a strength for a Moderna employee.
- What April is working on right now and what’s top of mind at Moderna.
- The actress that she would choose to play her part in the inevitable Hollywood movie about the COVID-19 Vaccine.
Tweetables:
“For me, the value proposition of coming into an organization at the time that didn’t have a formal TA organization, and actually starting from scratch, to build something that didn’t exist, was so cool to me!” — April Venables [0:06:52]
“I can’t remember the last time I was in my comfort zone.” — April Venables [0:07:34]
“Working through COVID was a bit of a blur at Moderna because we were all so laser-focused on delivering a vaccine, it was a really interesting challenge.” — April Venables [0:13:27]
“It is psychologically safe to fail at Moderna, we fail all the time.” — April Venables [0:25:38]
“If someone is looking for a really predictable, linear way to do their work, Moderna would probably drive them crazy.” — April Venables [0:32:48]
“The traditional TA model, or strategy, that has worked historically, and what has worked for us here at Moderna to grow so quickly in a short period of time, is not the same strategy that is going to make us successful, long-term.” — April Venables [0:33:54]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
April Venables on LinkedIn
Moderna
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Because there usually isn’t a specific revenue amount associated with talent acquisition, it is often viewed as a cost center. However, as today’s guest explains, there is a direct positive revenue impact to each hire that is made in a business, and it is so important that TA leaders make others aware of this fact. Rahul Yodh is the VP of talent acquisition at New Western, a company that operates a marketplace for investors to (quickly) find homes to rehabilitate. After completing his third year of law school, Rahul realized he was on the wrong path and made a decision to pivot to talent acquisition. Tune in today to hear what Rahul’s current role consists of, some of the goals he hopes to accomplish, and advice on how to change the way talent acquisition is viewed within organizations.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The project that Rahul is in the process of closing out.
- Rahul’s philosophy on interviews.
- How the New Western business model works.
- Rahul’s original career goal.
- An overview of Rahul’s career trajectory to date.
- What Rahul’s role as VP of talent acquisition at New Western consists of.
- What Rahul’s early days in the talent acquisition industry were like.
- Rahul’s greatest strength (according to the Gallup CliftonStrengths Assessment).
- What drew Rahul from staffing to the executive search space.
- The impact that TA has on company revenue.
- Rahul’s advice for scaling down.
- How to ensure that the impact of TA is better understood.
- The importance of building cross-departmental relationships.
Tweetables:
“I want to have a candidate who is well prepared and can be at their best during an interview as opposed to worrying about gotcha questions and nervously trying to navigate through a minefield.” — @rahulyodh [0:04:12]
“We’re trying to fuel the economy through lower price inventory for home buyers and small business owners.” — @rahulyodh [0:07:13]
“As a TA leader, you’ve got to think like a revenue org leader, like a COO, like a chief marketing officer, chief sales officer, and you’ve gotta really sharpen your business IQ, and be able to demonstrate quantifiable terms that your team is providing.” — @rahulyodh [0:16:58]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Rahul Yodh on LinkedIn
New Western
CliftonStrengths Assessment
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today on the show we are joined by Dr. Scott Whiteford, Director of Leadership Analytics at Talent Plus, a strength-based management company that is rooted in positive psychology. Their mission is centered on understanding an individual’s greatest strengths and how best to utilize those strengths, both for selection and development. In our conversation, we delve into what it means to focus on strengths rather than weaknesses, the importance of self-reflection, and how to become increasingly specialized as you progress in your career. Scott also shares his advice for young people on how to discover their strengths, the importance of looking at the whole person when you want to hire successfully, and how to form a constructive partnership with your hiring manager.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Get to know our guest, Scott Whiteford, and his career at Talent Plus.
- Scott’s role as Director of Leadership Analytics at Talent Plus.
- The size of the organizations that Talent Plus usually works with.
- How Talent Plus gathers the information they need to help their clients.
- What Talent Plus clients are typically looking for.
- Why Talent Plus is rooted in positive psychology and how they implement it.
- What it means to focus on strengths rather than weaknesses in business.
- What can be learned from the way sport approaches strengths and weaknesses.
- How to tell whether a Performance Improvement Plan is being made in good faith.
- The importance of specialization in your career.
- Scott’s advice to young people on negotiating with their superiors.
- How to use self-reflection to understand your strengths and weaknesses.
- What happens when hiring managers and leaders don’t understand the whole person.
- How Scott uses assessments as part of his role.
- The importance of building a diverse leadership team.
- Scott’s parting advice for hiring managers.
Tweetables:
“The companies that we work with are really interested in how they can help their employees, leaders, managers, [and] frontline folks to be more successful.” — Scott Whiteford [0:04:29]
“As I progress in my career, I actually become more specialized, even within the role that I have here at Talent Plus. By becoming more specialized, I tend to do more and more things that I really enjoy.” — Scott Whiteford [0:17:57]
“I really like it when my students and my young leaders take control of their careers, because they'll find it more rewarding.” — Scott Whiteford [0:21:46]
“Understand what parts of your job you like, what parts you don't like, where you're good, where you're not so good. The better prepared you are to have that conversation with your leader, the more likely you're going to see a strong outcome.” — Scott Whiteford [0:23:00]
“We really want a diverse leadership team with lots of independent thought.” — Scott Whiteford [0:32:49]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Scott Whiteford on LinkedIn
Talent Plus
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Given the current economic climate, employers and employees around the world are becoming better acquainted with the reality of layoffs each day. Joining us to discuss the ins and outs of layoffs are co-founders of Thrive HR Consulting, Rey Ramirez and Jason Walker. Rey and Jason have both held multiple roles in HR for many years, having worked for the likes of Cisco Systems and BMC Software. In this episode, they provide insight into the current hiring (and firing) landscape and the push and pull of navigating the continuation of remote work post-pandemic. We discuss the factors affecting layoffs, the typical layoff process, who’s most at risk, and how to mitigate that risk.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing HR titans and cofounders of Thrive HR Consulting, Rey Ramirez and Jason Walker.
- Rey and Jason’s respective backgrounds, and how they came to found their company.
- Insight into the current hiring market: deglobalization and AI advancement.
- How small to mid-size companies are benefitting from large corporation layoffs.
- The continuation of remote hiring and hybrid work setups.
- Why employers generally prefer employees to work in the office.
- The challenges of phasing out remote work.
- The typical layoff process and which positions are most at risk.
- How to make yourself indispensable and mitigate the risk of being laid off.
- The importance of networking and how to do so effectively.
- How to anticipate layoffs.
- Under what circumstances a company will offer severance.
Tweetables:
“There’s still competition in the hiring market. We’re talking a lot about what we call deglobalization. ” — Jason Walker [0:04:29]
“Remote hiring is continuing. The last 24 months have shown us that work can be done, whether it’s recruiting work [or] development work, remotely.” — Rey Ramirez [0:07:40]
“The key in the future is [going to be] having space that encourages people to connect.” — Rey Ramirez [0:14:44]
“You’ve got to treat employees respectfully because the same people you’re laying off today are the ones you’re going to be trying to re-recruit in nine months.” — Jason Walker [0:21:26]
“Quiet always means there’s something looming on the horizon.” — Jason Walker [0:39:44]
“You’ve always got to be networking. You should always be looking into the jobs that are out there to understand what’s available at any given moment.” — Rey Ramirez [0:44:34]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Rey Ramirez on LinkedIn
Jason Walker on LinkedIn
Jason Walker Email
Thrive HR Consulting
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining us in conversation are two guests from Hire Hopkins, the recruiting arm of Johns Hopkins University. They are Executive Director Alia Poonawala, and Associate Director Emma O'Rourke Powell. We kick off our conversation with a detailed look at the career journey that brought each of our guests to their current roles, and what motivates them most. Alia and Emma have a white glove approach and share how building an infrastructure streamlines and supports the recruitment process.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Today’s topic: university recruitment.
- Welcome to our guests: Executive Director Alia Poonawala and Associate Director Emma O’Rourke Powell with Hire Hopkins.
- Alia’s background in education and focus to bring outcomes-focused, data-driven, ROI approach to higher education.
- Emma’s story of recruitment to Hire Hopkins after working in higher education for 10 years.
- Her focus on women’s equity and advocacy.
- The far-reaching influence of Farouk Dey, VP at Johns Hopkins University.
- Challenges posed by bureaucracy in higher education.
- How the ‘Red Ocean’ principle results in a bidding war between top paying companies.
- One-on-one work and data-driven work within Alia and Emma’s white glove approach.
- How creating an infrastructure and formula has streamlined their recruitment process.
- Starting with historical data and observing what has worked for employers in the past.
- Reframing job descriptions to generate interest from your target market of employees.
- Why flexibility is vital in the resume process.
- Where Alia and Emma’s insights on the upcoming generation comes from.
- Translating between employers and higher education professionals.
- Why Alia and Emma encourage companies to consider international talent.
- Why it is so beneficial for international students to be driven and committed to their US role.
Tweetables:
“Here at John Hopkins University, my work is in helping ensure that our underrepresented students have equal opportunities in internships and in jobs when they graduate.” — Emma O’Rourke Powell [0:06:55]
“What I learned from the boot camp world is that most people learn by doing.” — Alia Poonawala [0:15:11]
“The companies that do well are the ones that are teachable and willing to experiment” — Alia Poonawala [0:22:25]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Alia Poonawala on LinkedIn
Emma O’Rourke Powell on LinkedIn
Farouk Dey on Twitter
Johns Hopkins University
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Not everyone follows a linear career path, and pursuing a non-traditional route can often equip you with useful skills you wouldn’t otherwise have acquired. Our guest today, Wesley Gilbert, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at On, has had a varied and eventful career journey. After becoming disillusioned with the acting industry while running an events company, Wesley Gilbert discovered his enthusiasm for recruitment through pure chance. In our conversation, Wesley shares how a fortuitous encounter facilitated his first recruitment job at Google, what he learned during his time there, and how he realized the inflexibility of a larger organization wasn’t for him. We spend some time discussing his time at Uber, how he landed a job there, and why he finds the early-stage startup environment so stimulating. He goes on to expand on his passion for problem-solving and how working in an entrepreneurial environment has helped him become a well-informed leader. We also discuss the pressure many of us experience to become more specialized (and the benefits of being a generalist) before Wesley shares his advice on how to become a well-informed leader. There’s no correct way to approach your career, and Wesley is living proof of that. Tune in for a refreshing perspective that will inspire you to follow your curiosity and find environments that allow you to thrive!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today’s guest, Wesley Gilbert, Head of Talent Acquisition at On.
- Learn why Wesley describes himself as being on a never-ending search for talented people.
- Why agreeing on the perfect candidate is easier than agreeing on the perfect pizza.
- Wesley’s early career as an actor and his experience running an events company.
- The surprising story of how Wesley entered the industry as a recruitment coordinator at Google.
- What Wesley learned from working at Google and why it wasn’t a perfect fit for him.
- Wesley’s time at Uber and how being at a rising startup allowed him to grow.
- What Wesley has learned about the work environments that motivate him.
- Wesley’s appreciation for the high rate of problem-solving that you need to do at an earlier stage startup.
- How Wesley became Head of Talent Acquisition at On.
- The mix of leaders Wesley has worked with and what he has learned from them.
- The pressure generalists often experience from managers to become more specialized.
- The strengths and benefits of being a generalist leader.
- Wesley shares his enthusiasm for sourcing.
- Why sourcing is often oversimplified and how to attract high caliber talent to the role.
- Wesley’s advice on how to build a career that allows you to become a well-informed leader.
Tweetables:
“I realized really quickly that this was a great place to learn about recruitment. They have a lot of best-in-class processes. And they have a really great team.” — Wesley Gilbert [0:07:20]
“I started to realize that, ‘Hey, this is actually a really interesting career where you get to have a ton of impact on people and really help to make their dreams come true.’” — Wesley Gilbert [0:07:36]
“I realized that very quickly, I didn't fit in an environment that was quite as big as Google and gave me so much inflexibility.” — Wesley Gilbert [0:08:10]
“I think the sign of a good leader is that they surround themselves with people that are better than them, that are smarter than them.” — Wesley Gilbert [0:20:18]
“It doesn't matter how senior you are when you come into a company. We're going to give you some autonomy, we're going to give you some scope. And we're going to give you the trust to go and do that. And that means that you just attract a completely different caliber of people.” — Wesley Gilbert [0:27:47]
“Don't be afraid to take a sideways move. Don't always feel like you're chasing that next promotion, or you're chasing that next stage in your career. There's absolutely no race to the end.” — Wesley Gilbert [0:30:15]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Wesley Gilbert on LinkedIn
On
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
For departments that are supposed to be working in tandem, HR personnel and recruiters are often putting each other down and devaluing the other’s role. Today’s guests have rectified the situation and are showing us exactly how it should be done, with HR and TA working side-by-side to deliver a hit podcast, The Career Saloon. Carla Patton is VP of HR at RAPP, and her twin sister, Camille Tate, is Head of Talent at Strava. The pair give us a breakdown of their podcast and explain why they started it, before detailing exactly how they ended up in their current careers. We discuss how to turn a bad interview into a valuable one, why it’s vital to be self-aware and own your mistakes, and why personal branding is inherent in every one of us. As Carla and Camille explain why they’ve never switched from HR to TA and vice versa, they give us their take on their least favorite aspects of the opposite department. Carla’s passion for TA is mirrored by Camille’s love for HR and after telling us which type of person is suited for each of their career paths, they explain why recruiters need to up their game and be more deliberate in their approach, and how technological advancements are making people forget about human-centric work departments.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today’s guests, twins Carla Patton and Camille Tate.
- Our guests break down their podcast, The Career Salon, and explain why they started it.
- Why Carla wanted Camille’s blog (which turned into their podcast) to have more HR content.
- HR versus recruitment: each twin’s journey to their current roles.
- How to turn around a bad interview.
- The importance of taking ownership of your mistakes and being self-aware.
- Stripping personal branding down to its foundation.
- Why they’ve never switched from HR to talent and vice versa.
- The aspect of recruitment that Carla likes the least.
- What Camille dislikes most about HR and why she only does the work of her job title.
- How candidates can read the mood of the recruiter.
- Why recruiters need to put out the right energy and be deliberate in everything they do.
- How technology is making the world forget that HR and recruiting are human-focused.
- The circumstances under which Carla believes a person is more suited for HR than recruiting.
- When Camille thinks that someone should pursue recruiting instead of HR.
Tweetables:
“Like most people in HR, HR chose me; I didn’t choose it.” — @peepcenteredhr [0:07:01]
“People are always watching you. It doesn’t matter if you think they aren’t; they are always watching you. If you don’t think you have a personal brand, you do.” — @camilleRecruits [0:09:53]
“If you make a mistake, own it. Own it, and then rectify it.” — @camilleRecruits [0:14:14]
“I do what works for me. I know myself. I am self-aware.” — @peepcenteredhr [0:25:18]
“The recruiting function is super important because we are like the cheerleaders, the welcome mats for the company. And if your welcome mat is tired, worn out, raggedy, then that’s a disservice, and you shouldn’t be doing that job.” — @camilleRecruits [0:33:40]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Camille Tate on LinkedIn
Camille Tate on Twitter
Carla Patton on LinkedIn
Carla Patton on Twitter
The Career Salon
The Career Salon on Instagram
The Career Salon on Facebook
The Career Salon on Twitter
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Here to talk tales of acquisition with me is Jodi Cohen, Director of Talent Acquisition at Tombras. We dive into her journey as a recruiter and how she ended up in-house at Tombras. She shares significant insights about the difference between working for an agency versus working in-house, how she brought urgency and speed to Tombras, and how she keeps moving quickly while putting processes in place. Jodi shares her thoughts on the roles and responsibilities of a director of talent acquisition, and why being hands-on is essential! We also discuss sending the no-update-update email and her thoughts on sending a rejection email.
Key Points From This Episode:
- What it looks like before everyone disappears for the holidays at Tombras.
- Where Jodi is with the planning of 2023.
- Jodi shares her journey as a recruiter.
- More about her role as Director of Talent at Tombras.
- How she transitioned from agency to in-house for Tombras.
- Why she decided that going in-house was appealing and something she wanted to do.
- Her experience in being in-house and how it differs from agency work.
- How she brought urgency and speed to Tombras.
- Jodi talks about the different processes she implemented at Tombras.
- How she keeps moving quickly while putting processes in place.
- Her take on the role and responsibilities of the Director of Talent Acquisition.
- How she is trying to learn about what it means to be looking for a job in the current state of things.
- Sending the no-update-update email and why it’s important.
- We discuss a ChatGPT generated email.
- We talk about rejection emails and how Jodi approaches them.
- Her thoughts on when someone doesn’t send a rejection email.
- Why you should put some responsibility on the candidate.
- Advice to people in the talent space as they figure out what is their next move.
Tweetables:
“Coming from the recruiting agency side has really helped me see the full picture.” — Jodi Cohen [0:08:23]
“I am still very reluctant to pass on any responsibilities through the hiring process. Anything that’s communication with the candidate, I’m still going to take on, because that ensures that the relationship with the candidate is going to be maintained throughout the process.” — Jodi Cohen [11:04]
“How are you ever going to stay hands on with the trends if you're not in the trenches?” — Jodi Cohen [0:13:30]
“I think a common frustration across the board with recruiting, no matter what the market, is the whole kind of ghosting, non-responsiveness piece.” — Jodi Cohen [0:15:57]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jodi Cohen on LinkedIn
ChatGPT
Tombras
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
As educational standards constantly change, is it still necessary to hire talent based solely on their educational background, or is there something else recruiters should be looking out for? Joining us today to help answer that question is the Head of all Talent Acquisition for India at Informatica, Aditya Singh. India has become a major source of talent for many companies based outside of the country, and our guest explains why India is unique in the talent that it produces. We learn about the country’s current surge in technical skills development, why startups remain the focus of many Indian investors, how Informatica has increased its uptake of offshore development centers, and what the company is planning for its long-term internal skills development. Aditya then explains the importance of an individual having soft skills and keen critical thinking ability, and why recruiters need to take these skills more seriously when hiring their talent. We end with our guest giving noteworthy advice to new and mid-career TAs who are looking to grow in the industry.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A warm welcome to the Head of all Talent Acquisition for India at Informatica, Aditya Singh.
- Aditya’s professional background and a breakdown of his current role.
- His educational history and a closer look at his HR coursework.
- Whether new innovations first happen in HR or TA.
- New and future TA innovations that excite Aditya the most.
- Why Informatica and other companies are betting big on India as a source of talent.
- The wave of growth in technical skills that India is currently experiencing.
- Why Indians are choosing to invest heavily in startups.
- How Aditya has witnessed Informatica’s steady increase in hiring from India.
- Understanding the value of offshore development centers, and how he formed that strategy.
- Informatica’s long-term internal skill development plan.
- The importance of having a strong, detailed workforce plan.
- How to work out an accurate 10-year skills development plan as technology rapidly changes.
- Why critical thinking is vital for the individual in the workforce.
- T-shaped learning and why it’s a smart educational principle to adopt.
- How Aditya screens his candidates for soft skills.
- Why he believes that soft skills can be learned over a long period.
- The problems hiring managers have with choosing talent based on their soft skills.
- How our guest would go about changing the mentality of recruiters.
- His advice to new and mid-career TAs who are looking to grow in the space.
Tweetables:
“India is one of the biggest deals for Informatica and the most critical one. From a technology standpoint, we are in the right space, because a lot of the development, product development, hiring, everything happens in India.” — @addypal [0:07:09]
“India is very focused on STEM sciences from an education standpoint. We've been brought up in a way of saying that 15 years of education is a must. Don't even think about dropping out. It's a mindset which we carry” — @addypal [0:08:04]
“I think we need to get away from role-based positions. The guardrails of education are slowly moving out. I think that we find the person who's able to deliver, focus on the result and what the individual brings to the table, and then the background of the individual.” — @addypal [0:14:02]
“Your ability to solve complex problems [is very important], because no problem will be similar in nature. If it is similar in nature, you get automated, as simple as that.” — @addypal [0:17:01]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Aditya Singh on LinkedIn
Aditya Singh on Twitter
Informatica
What are T-shaped skills?
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
The workplace is rapidly changing and there is an increasing focus on the mental health, wellness, goals, and happiness of employees. Joining us today is the incredible Amy Cappellanti-Wolf to discuss her interesting HR philosophies and help us find the right way to help onboarding employees integrate successfully. Amy is the global chief people officer and transformation leader at Cohesity and has had an extensive career at a multitude of companies, namely Frito-Lay and Disney. In this episode, you’ll hear all about how Amy landed at Cohesity, how her education has served her in her career, what the company is currently focusing on, and the changes Amy has made since starting there. We also discuss how Amy suggests we lead onboarding in order to secure an employee’s retention and help them engage in the work they’re doing, the importance of having diversity on a leadership level, the manager’s role, career path building, gradation, how to measure perspective, and much more! Amy even gives us an example of how to plan an employee’s onboarding process before she tells us how she approaches problem-solving with her teams. Lastly, Amy tells us why she loves her job, what her hopes are for the future, and shares some advice for anyone wanting to work in an HR role.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A (detailed) introduction to today’s guest, Amy Cappellanti-Wolf’s professional background.
- How Amy landed her current role at Cohesity.
- How having an educational background has contributed to Amy’s career.
- How Amy thinks the role of HR has changed over the last two years.
- Amy tells us what is going on at Cohesity at the moment.
- The importance of diversity and inclusion in leadership levels.
- Why Amy wanted to change the mindset of the employees at Cohesity.
- How Cohesity measures people’s perspectives.
- How to lead an employee during onboarding to secure retention and engagement.
- Amy gives us an example of a plan for an employee’s successful onboarding experience.
- Why Cohesity has started to create career path building.
- Amy explains what gradation is.
- Why Amy believes that each employee owns their career and the manager's job is facilitation.
- How Amy approaches team problem-solving and delegating tasks.
- How Amy has built her career on learning from failures and why she loves her job.
- Amy shares some advice for listeners aiming to land up in a VP, CHRO, or HR kind of role.
- Why Amy prefers big dogs: more to hug and more to love.
Tweetables:
“Really great HR is all about consulting to the business, providing solutions that support the business growth and the employee growth. Its risk mitigation, it's also helping leaders be their best because the best leaders also create better teams.” — @AmyCappellanti [0:05:19]
“If you start early on with lower numbers, the law of numbers works for you. If you try to introduce DNI when you're a larger enterprise company, a lot of numbers work against you.” — @AmyCappellanti [0:08:58]
“You get much better business outcomes when you've got a diverse set of people versus a homogeneous set of people.” — @AmyCappellanti [0:09:28]
“There's a ton of studies that if you don't get onboarding, right within the first month to 60 days, retention drops drastically after the first year of employment. It's not only the right thing to do for your employees, but there's real business value and doing that.” — @AmyCappellanti [0:17:11]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Amy Cappellanti-Wolf on LinkedInAmy Cappellanti-Wolf on Twitter
Cohesity
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Respecting History, Protecting the Future, and Maintaining Healthy Office Culture with Hadley Haut
Episode 288: Show Notes
Candidates should approach the company they want to work for with deliberate ambition, armed with adequate research and the will to uphold that company’s values. Today’s guest, Hadley Haut, did exactly that on her way to becoming Executive Director of Talent and Culture at The Atlantic. One thing that her company has managed to do successfully is maintain its office culture after the difficulties of the pandemic, and our guest explains just how they did it and why working in-office is still extremely valuable for all employees.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Hadley Haut, Executive Director of Talent and Culture at The Atlantic.
- The Atlantic’s history and how the idea of abolishing slavery led Hadley to her current role.
- How she deals with the pressures of upholding the company’s legacy.
- Whether it’s important for candidates to be connected to the history of the company.
- The pros of being deliberate in choosing the company you want to work for.
- Hadley’s process of joining The Atlantic and how she carved out a role for herself.
- What she did in the early days after being hired to address culture at The Atlantic.
- Her assessment of agencies and what they can do to improve.
- Why agencies are becoming more formulaic and doing less to build real relationships.
- How she’d assess whether an agency was doing or saying the right things.
- The campaigns she’s busy working on now.
- How to adjust and maintain harmony in a hybrid office environment post-pandemic.
- Why working in-office is still valuable.
- Hadley’s advice to people who are looking to forge a career in her line of work.
Tweetables:
“[At The Atlantic] you’re a part of history, on the right side of it. So, speaking truth and approaching ideas in new and not always comfortable ways.” — @HadleyHaut [0:05:10]
“It’s really hard looking for a job, and no one should be treated with anything other than respect.” — @HadleyHaut [0:23:00]
“When you’re ready for a new job, the best thing you can do is reach out to a company where you really want to work, because that’s the first thing anyone who is hiring you will notice.” — @HadleyHaut [0:38:09]
“When there’s a personal connection to something, life is more fulfilling, you do better work, you change, you make a difference in the world.” — @HadleyHaut [0:38:36]
“We could use a little more kindness in this world.” — @HadleyHaut [0:39:31]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Hadley Haut on Twitter
Hadley Haut on LinkedIn
The Atlantic
The Case for Reparations
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Hired
Joining us in conversation today is a talent leader with 24 years of experience across the financial sector. Tune in to hear Simon Evans share an insider’s perspective on the role of a TA, along with his valuable insights on the importance of getting the onboarding process right. You’ll learn why he believes it is so important for HR managers to work closely with recruitment for a successful employee experience. Simon is at a crossroads in his career and shares his experience of interview processes along with the role of a strong and diverse network in navigating transitional times. Tune in for some fascinating insights from both sides of the recruitment experience today.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Simon’s experience of moving from relationship management in the financial services sector to an in-house TA function.
- The three aspects that the role of a TA covers.
- Why it is so important to get the onboarding process right.
- Why recruitment and HR managers should work collectively.
- The importance of engagement in creating candidate experience during the interview process.
- How to keep the candidate engaged during their notice period with sensitivities in mind.
- An experience Simon had where a candidate was hired and didn’t arrive to his role.
- Why having a strong and diverse network is so important.
- What his experience of interview processes has looked like.
- The importance of having transparent conversations.
- What has surprised Simon about his experience on the other side of HR.
- The story of an influential relationship Simon built with the HR manager who hired him.
Tweetables:
“If you get the onboarding process right, the attrition lowers. Where if you get it wrong, someone would leave within probably six to 12 months of joining that organization. It’s an integral part to get right.” — Simon Evans [0:07:38]
“The importance of a network is huge and networking is so important during positive times but also in rough waters. Make sure that you have a good, diverse network of industry professionals.” — Simon Evans [0:15:31]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Simon Evans on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Vadim Liberman, editor at ERE, shares some of the most insightful highlights from ERE's recent publications as well as featured speakers from ERE & SourceCon conferences. Vadim explains what the most exciting pitches he hears have in common, and what he wants to see the recruiting space cover in more detail.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Vadim gives some broad information about ERE and the brands that fall under the umbrella.
- Reflections on ERE's most recent conference in Atlanta.
- The rising trend towards finding roles that better fit each individual.
- Standout elements of the recruiting landscape right now; Vadim's perspective.
- Investigating the grey and examples of why nuance is important in the talent field.
- Weighing the usefulness of using quality-of-hire as a metric.
- Vadim's thoughts on the hiring ideas that have been overused at this point
- Why the data and methodology are important to back up findings and big claims.
- Elevating the dialogue around candidate experience beyond the basics.
- Bridging the gap between conference content and the reality for recruiting professionals.
- Vadim's opinion about the topics in the recruiting space that deserve more attention.
Tweetables:
“I think that any time something still feels new, there’s going to be resistance to it. So when talent leaders are committed to doing it the old or traditional ways, that’s just general resistance to change.” — @VadimsViews [0:08:45]
“The other elephant in the room is that when you have a good employee on your team, as a manager, you don’t necessarily want to lose them.” — @VadimsViews [0:10:03]
“I like anything that feels different, that feels contrarian, that piggybacks off of current news.” — @VadimsViews [0:11:08]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Vadim Liberman
ERE
Vadim Liberman on Twitter
Vadim Liberman on LinkedIn
SourceCon
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Manager of Candidate Experience is a title we have never heard before on this show! Today’s guest, Rebecca Gonzalez from FullStop, is here to tell us how she came to hold such a unique, modern, and candidate-friendly crown. FullStop’s focus is digital-experience intelligence but before Rebecca came into her current role, work needed to be done to enhance FullStop’s candidate experience. Our guest tells us how adding her own personality helped to improve her company’s candidate communications, before explaining what “bionics” means in relation to her company’s values. We learn of the unexpected twists and turns during her professional journey, what she considers to be a successful candidate experience, why rejection communications should also be high-priority, and why, when prompted, she will always give rejected candidates succinct feedback.
Key Points From This Episode:
- As we welcome FullStory’s Rebecca Gonzalez to the show, we learn all about her pink mic.
- What FullStory as a company is all about.
- Rebecca’s professional journey.
- How she ended up with the unique job title of Manager of Candidate Experience.
- The things that were missing from her company’s job postings and outreach emails.
- How she added her own personality to improve candidate communications.
- What “bionics” means in relation to her company values.
- When she realized that her current role was possible while she was a recruiting coordinator.
- Unexpected turns in her journey of becoming MCE.
- How Rebecca measures the success of her goals around candidate experience.
- What she would say to people who consider rejection emails as low-priority.
- How she went about dressing up FullStory’s rejection email.
- The way she gives candidates feedback after they’ve been rejected.
- Whether it’s possible for rejected candidates to get the job during their feedback session.
- What Rebecca would say and do if a candidate requested a second shot at their interview.
- How she would launch her own candidate experience campaign: a candidate portal.
Tweetables:
“We all don’t like doing things that are manual. So when you encounter a process that is not bionic, we work harder to make that easier.” — Rebecca Gonzalez [0:10:11]
“Job hunting is so stressful and the kindest thing that you can do is be clear.” — Rebecca Gonzalez [0:16:51]
“[Recruiting] is a lot like dating, right? You’re on these dating apps and people ghost you and it’s rude, but you never know when you bump into somebody or who they might know or if they have a friend. So just keep the door open, always end things on a good note.” — Rebecca Gonzalez [0:17:53]
“It is not always just about getting a job, sometimes you learn something about yourself.” — Rebecca Gonzalez [0:24:58]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Rebecca Gonzalez on LinkedIn
FullStory
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Jen Tracy is the VP of Talent Attraction and Acquisition at Spectrum and she is here to tell us how she ended up becoming the leader of almost 100,000 dedicated workers. Our guest breaks down the importance of an employer value proposition, why it makes sense to invest in an employment brand, why changing her company’s applicant tracking system was worth the headache, and how she manages to accurately place candidates when there are over 5,000 different job descriptions within her company. After telling us the similarities between her internal and external recruitment processes, Jen gives us some valuable advice on what you can do to be the success story you’re destined to be!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Jen Tracy, VP of Talent Attraction and Acquisition at Spectrum.
- What Spectrum as a company is all about.
- Jen explains her role at Spectrum.
- How she ended up at Spectrum, leading 93 000 employees.
- The reason she chose to gain experience by working in different industries.
- Why she decided to stay in talent and forge a career in it.
- The challenges she faces having to deal 93 000 employees.
- How she gathers information from employees on such a large scale.
- The importance of an employer value proposition.
- Why it always makes sense to invest in an employment brand.
- The large campaigns that Jen is busy working on.
- Whether changing their applicant tracking system was worth the headache.
- Jen’s definition of boundary systems.
- How she assesses HR technology and ensures that she’s found the right vendors.
- Why getting a new ATS is all-or-nothing and why she felt that it was necessary.
- How she manages to find the right roles for people with over 5000 different job descriptions.
- Spectrum’s military association and why it matters.
- How her internal recruitment process mirrors the external one.
- What Jen has done for her career’s success and what you can do for yours.
Tweetables:
“I find those grassroots ‘pull-up-your-bootstraps’ stories really compelling because I really do believe that if you want to do anything at all, you can just invest and make that come to life for yourself.” — [0:06:07]
“Whether it’s marketing or whether it’s the technology, you're never done. You still have to constantly be out in the marketplace listening to what is new and next to see where you might be able to fill in gaps or improve processes for your organization.” — [0:15:35]
“Everything we do in today’s world is done on an app, right? So it’s really not that foreign to me to think that when we get 10 years, 20 years down the road, that the consumer and the recruiting brands will eventually have to come together under one app.” — [0:21:56]
“Out of our employee base, one in ten of our workforce has a military affiliation. We have one of the highest workforce representations of veterans in our company and we’re quite proud of that.” — [0:26:18]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jennifer Tracy on LinkedIn
Spectrum
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Chéla Gage is the Senior Vice President of Reformation, a climate-positive and sustainability-focused fashion company. Chéla explains how her personal history shapes her role in recruitment and how she connects it to her passion for diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and belonging. I ask questions about her different career paths, how to scale up and scale down, and why she views managing talent acquisition as an agnostic career experience. Chéla explains her idea of how to create a company with attributes and values that a diverse workforce can be a part of and why this relates to differentiated EVPs.
Key Points From This Episode:
- What is Reformation?
- How Reformation is sustainability-focused.
- Chéla’s role in the company.
- Why DEI and sustainability are long-term games.
- How Chéla ended up in talent acquisition.
- Chéla’s experience of owning her own firm.
- Why TA is industry agnostic.
- The different career paths Chéla has followed.
- Chéla's experience of scaling down from a large enterprise to Reformation.
- How to recognize when it is time for larger-scale processes (three major indicators).
- How Chéla got the sign-off for RPO changes.
- The impacts of COVID-19.
- How to use EVP in a meaningful way.
Tweetables:
“Employment changes lives.” — @tweetatche [0:06:58]
“Talent acquisition is truly the bridge that takes an organization from where they are to where they really want to be.” — @tweetatche [0:10:00]
“In talent acquisition, you have to have a backbone.” — @tweetatche [0:22:31]
“I think it takes a talent expert to listen to the organization and find out what’s necessary and then adjust and adapt.” — @tweetatche [0:25:02]
“An employee value proposition consists of proper change management. It tells an employee why they should work here, and why they should continue to work here.” — @tweetatche [0:36:04]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Chéla Gage on Twitter
Chéla Gage on LinkedIn
Reformation
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
How do you earn, manage, and keep your employee trust? Soni Basi is here to explain why we need to start valuing authenticity, vulnerability, and throw away our cookie-cutter approaches. Soni is the Chief People Officer for Edelman, a communications company with an extraordinary reputation for being a global PR agency of choice, and explains how she uses a powerful combination of people skills and analytics to achieve success. Soni tells us about what she values in job positions, the importance of having a creative license, and how even performance management can be shifted to meet your personal values and goals. We hear about the outcomes of a low level of perceived trust, what employees are beginning to value, new expectations being placed on employers, and the potential results if these standards aren’t met.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A look at Edelman: number one PR agency globally.
- Soni’s role in Edelman.
- How Soni ended up working for Edelman.
- The different roles and job titles Soni has had in large companies.
- Common themes in how Soni chooses a particular job.
- Four important factors Soni desires in her role in a company.
- Why Soni values having a creative license.
- The findings of the Edelman Trust Barometer Report.
- The growing sense of community within a workplace.
- Current employee worries and new expectations.
- How companies can increase levels of trust between their employees and the organization.
- Soni shares a personal, vulnerable leadership story.
Tweetables:
“When you show that you can do great work, you show how passionate you are, and you build a network, I think your career can take you to many places.” — Soni Basi [0:07:46]
“Action earns trust.” — Soni Basi [0:09:06]
“The more you can do to showcase what you stand for as an organization and what actions and behaviors you’re taking, the more likely you are to earn trust.” — Soni Basi [0:18:15]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Soni Basi on LinkedIn
Edelman
2022 Edelman Trust Barometer Report
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
How do you create attainable, measurable, and sustainable diversity goals? Eric Thomas is the Global Chief Diversity Officer of Genesys, a global market leader offering customer experience solutions, and manages its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We hear why, and how, Eric uses data to provide useful and meaningful insights that help him not only drive his way forward but pivot when needed. Eric explains how to create a space for employees to have open conversations, and the measures to put in place to make sure their voices are heard. We begin to understand the importance of strategic conversations, how to promote systemic changes, and create plans for inclusive sustainability. Join us to start to understand how to ensure that you are focused on the right initiatives, recognize companies’ window-dressing attempts, and be an inclusive leader.
Key Points From This Episode:
- What is Genesys?
- How Eric ended up in Genesys.
- How Genesys responded and evolved after the George Floyd incident.
- Why Eric felt aligned with his role as Global Chief Diversity Officer.
- How to define a good DEI office.
- How to assess an organization for meaningful, genuine DEI commitments.
- How to see window dressing versus a real commitment.
- The impacts of the great reshuffle/great resignation.
- Why Eric is well suited for his role at Genesys.
- How Eric is different from traditional DEI/HR leaders.
- Why we need collective standards for DEI.
- How to see (and deal) with people who are unwilling to promote and create DEI.
- How Genesys is measuring its success rate for its implemented DEI goals.
- How Genesys handled responses received in its employee surveys.
- Genesys’ long-term goals.
- Three things to help you achieve your long-term diversity goals.
Tweetables:
“Window dressing is when you have a lot of good marketing on your website, but you can’t point to any real material gains that you're making either in representation or in employee sentiment.” — Eric Thomas [0:11:29]
“DEI is a true key business imperative; it’s not a nice-to-have. Companies that are treating it like a nice to have or take the window dressing approach, they are short-changing themselves.” — Eric Thomas [0:13:08]
“What I don’t think we have yet is a collective effort or body that comes together across the industries to set standards and define what good DEI looks like so that you don’t just have your own self to benchmark against.” — Eric Thomas [0:17:25]
“It isn’t just about hitting that [diversity] goal; it is the work that has to happen, the attainment of that goal, and the work that goes into play that allows you to put in place a sustainable set of operating procedures.” — Eric Thomas [0:31:44]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Eric Thomas on LinkedIn
Genesys
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
CBRE is the largest commercial real estate advisory firm in the world, and today’s Guest, Chris Volney, is the Senior Director of their Americas Consulting group focused on labor analytics. Almost everything has changed since the pandemic, including CBRE’s consultation process, the analytics they’ve been asked to provide their clients, and indeed their hiring procedures. After sharing his background and how he ended up in his current role, Chris details the service that CBRE offers and how they’ve been able to adjust, post the global pandemic, to directly attend to their client’s changing needs. Our guest speaks to some of the commonalities that exist between his clients and how he advises them on choosing their desired work system. The after-effects of the pandemic have led to more and more business hiring outside of their local markets and Chris describes some of the administrative challenges that occur, before explaining why he thinks that a targeted hiring approach is still better in the long run. If your company is fully remote then you may struggle to retain your employees, Chris explains why that is and why you need to always understand each particular market’s rules and regulations, and why your internal processes need to be set in stone first.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A warm welcome to Chris Volney and defining what CBRE does as a company.
- How consultations have changed since the pandemic.
- Why Chris and his company have done more, in recent times, to service clients on their level.
- Chris’ background and how he ended up at CBRE.
- A closer look at the service him and his company provides.
- The inputs that govern how he interacts with his clients to get them what they want.
- Commonalities among his clients that are more apparent since COVID.
- How his clients decide whether to be in office, remote, or hybrid.
- The administrative challenges of the remote hiring process.
- Why a targeted remote hiring approach is still better than a broad one.
- How it could be difficult to retain employees in a fully remote system.
- Understanding the various rules and regulations when hiring outside of your local area.
- Different markets that surprised Chris with their great opportunities for hires.
- The internal processes that need to be figured out before hiring away from your local market.
- Chris’ advice to all companies that are looking to streamline their approach to hiring.
Tweetables:
“Our tagline is, ‘We’re helping clients to solve for place before space.’ So, before they get to any type of real estate decision, we’re making sure that they’re placed in the right markets from a talent and operations perspective” — @cvolneycbre [0:01:42]
“Before [the pandemic], every project was almost the same in that it ended in a real estate transaction. We were picking one market to hire and scale in. Now, a lot of companies said, ‘Wow, we’re free from geography now. Let’s go hire anywhere, everywhere, geography doesn’t matter.’” — @cvolneycbre [0:10:10]
“Geography still matters. Even if you’re not going and leasing an office space, where you hire really does matter. It can create different risks or opportunities for your business.” — @cvolneycbre [0:22:43]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Chris Volney on Twitter
Chris Volney on LinkedIn
CBRE
CBRE Market Reports
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Dominic Heeraman is the Talent Acquisition Manager at Funding Circle, the number one provider of small business loans in the UK (to date, they have lent 13.7 billion pounds!) In this episode, he joins us to talk about how he has transformed their recruiting process by improving a number of valuable metrics (such as their time to hire and offer acceptance rates) and ensuring that each and every candidate leaves the interview process with a positive mindset towards the company, no matter the outcome of the interview. We also get into Dominic’s journey from talent partner to talent manager, remote versus hybrid work, and what employers can do to support the mental health of their staff.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The motivation behind the founding of Funding Circle in 2010.
- The impact that Funding Circle has made since its founding.
- Dominic shares the journey that led him to become the Talent Acquisition Manager at Funding Circle.
- How Dominic transformed the interview process at Funding Circle.
- Changes in the job market that necessitate changes in recruitment processes.
- Goals that Funding Circle aims to achieve during the recruitment process.
- What recruiters at Funding Circle look for in potential hires.
- The work environment at Funding Circle.
- Why Dominic has chosen a hybrid work style rather than being fully remote.
- Funding Circle’s approach to enhancing the mental health of its employees.
- Positive progress that Dominic and his team have made since the beginning of 2022.
- How Funding Circle moves candidates through the hiring process as quickly as possible.
- An overview of what Dominic’s role consists of.
Tweetables:
“There are candidate shortages everywhere, in tech especially. We need to move with the times and make sure we're selling to the candidate every step of the process.” — Dominic Heeraman [0:09:32]
“No matter what level the candidate is, whether they're successful, if they're unsuccessful, we want them to go away with a really positive mindset about Funding Circle.” — Dominic Heeraman [0:11:45]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent to Me
Funding Circle
Dominic Heeraman on LinkedIn
Hired
Jennifer Tardy is back to discuss how her company, Jennifer Tardy Consulting, is training recruiters to eradicate historical under-representation. You’ll hear all about our guest: why she started her company, why the company stands out from the rest, and who can make use of their services. We also discuss what companies who seek out Jennifer’s help want to achieve, what Jennifer needs to know about them to assist, how she uses shock value to challenge deep bias, and her philosophy of ‘calling people in.’ Jennifer explains how our bias leads to problematic perceptions of who is qualified and who isn’t qualified and tells us why we need to have a more accurate understanding of what a qualification actually is before explaining under-representation and why it is a huge problem when it comes to diversity. She also explains her company’s term Lived Experience Intelligence and tells us why increasing diversity is a long journey that requires commitment from a company as a whole. So, to hear all about how you can become committed to playing an active role in increasing diversity, join us now!
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to today’s guest, Jennifer Tardy.
- A bit about Jennifer’s background and what led her to start her company.
- What makes Jennifer Tardy Consulting unique.
- What Jennifer wants to learn about the companies she assists with diversity.
- What the employers that go to Jennifer for help are actually looking for.
- The problems surrounding our biased perception of qualifications.
- How Jennifer unpacks peoples’ deep unconscious bias: shock-value.
- The importance of ‘cleaning up’ the idea of who is qualified and who isn’t qualified.
- The challenges of under-representation and what it is.
- Jennifer’s company’s philosophy of ‘calling people in.’
- The importance of positioning recruiters as a partner.
- Why increasing diversity is an ongoing process that is going to take time and teamwork.
- The difference between noticing the problem and being committed to making change.
- How she would advise people on any resistance they may face from people in senior positions.
- Jen explains the concept of Lived Experience Intelligence.
- Which organizations could make use of Jennifer Tardy Consulting.
Tweetables:
“[Employers are] looking to shift the mindset of the people who are on the front lines of doing this work - so that they're able to identify when bias is presenting itself so that they can mitigate it, dismantle it, remove it so that the most competitive person can get hired.” — @JennTardy [0:06:12]
“The biggest hurdle that we face on the front lines of increasing diversity is our ineffective perception of who is qualified to do the job.” — @JennTardy [0:06:59]
“Diversity includes everyone.” — @JennTardy [0:13:50]
“In order to find the most competitive candidate, we have to remove biases, because that's filtering who can get through, who's seen as competitive to begin with.” — @JennTardy [0:23:17]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jennifer Tardy Consulting
Jennifer Tardy on LinkedIn
Jennifer Tardy on Twitter
Jennifer Tardy on Instagram
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
In this episode, we are having a very exciting in-person conversation with the Chief People Officer of Velocity Global, Sarah Fern. You’ll hear all about Sarah’s career, her first time as a Chief People Officer, what it’s like when HR and talent teams work together, and how you can wind up on the wrong side of the business. Under no circumstances can you be passive in your pursuits, and today, Sarah shares how you can shape your life and be the CEO of your own career! We also discuss how to challenge excessive meetings and protect your time (even in a less senior position), and empowering yourself to take care of your mental health. Sarah tells us about the incredible scaling of her company before breaking down her team and what their roles are. Finally, she leaves us with some incredible pearls of wisdom on how to advance your career.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today’s guest, in the flesh, Sarah Fern.
- Sarah tells us what she is doing in Denver.
- What Sarah plans to do when she meets team members who joined Velocity during COVID.
- The challenges that come with remote work.
- An overview of Sarah’s background and how she landed her current role.
- Sarah’s experience with talent teams and HR teams working together.
- How you wind up on the wrong side of business.
- Why she believes that you can shape your life and your future and why you can’t be passive.
- Sarah’s experience of being a first-time Chief People Officer for Velocity Global.
- The unforeseen challenges of working with Velocity Global.
- Why Sarah challenges the need for constant video call meetings.
- How you can protect your time at work if you’re in a less senior position.
- Why having more meetings makes you less productive.
- The company’s role in mental health and why you ultimately need to empower yourself.
- The scale of Velocity Global and how that’s impacting Sarah and her team.
- Sarah explains the different roles in the talent team.
- Why a startup mentality can be scrappy when you’re expanding.
- How Velocity approaches outgrowing systems.
- Sarah shares some advice for people looking to advance their careers.
Tweetables:
“You should take the best of the best and you should put it together.” — Sarah Fern [0:07:37]
What I have learned over the years is that you can shape your life. You can shape the future.” — Sarah Fern [0:09:13]
“There isn't a playbook for this remote ‘work anywhere’ world. You've got to continuously challenge yourself and go, is this sustainable? Mental health, work-life balance, boundaries, being at your best game.” — Sarah Fern [0:17:30]
“The days are gone when there's a linear career ladder. Those days are truly behind us.” — Sarah Fern [0:33:16]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Sarah Fern on LinkedIn
Velocity Global
Hired
Alison Kaizer returns! She shares her journey transitioning from moonlighting for Golden Ventures to taking on a full-time role. She shares some of the details of her consulting conversations and how it differs for different clients. We talk about some of the resources she provides to eliminate possible friction later on in the hiring process, and why she believes that hiring a good candidate is just the tip of the iceberg. Hear about the difference an ATS can make, why Alison believes that sourcing is such a powerful tool, and what she has done to prioritize leveling up her skillset today.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcome to our first three-time guest on the podcast, Alison Kaizer.
- What prompted her current job change to Golden Ventures.
- How easing into a full-time role at Golden Ventures has already paid dividends.
- The difference between the work she was doing as a contractor and the depth of her engagement as a full-time employee.
- Why Alison doesn’t think it’s always appropriate to allow employees to take on consulting work.
- What her consulting conversation consists of and how it differs for different clients.
- Providing resources to eliminate friction later on in the hiring process.
- Why Alison believes that finding a great candidate is the tip of the iceberg.
- How communicating a streamlined process can remove up to 80% of anticipated friction.
- Using an ATS like Teamtailor and Greenhouse to craft your careers page that attracts talent.
- Why she believes that sourcing is such a great way to find the right talent.
- Why inbound sourcing is scalable.
- The value of planning out your day to be more efficient and take more on in accordance with your priorities.
- Alison’s strategy for learning and upskilling herself: approaching everything through a problem-solving lens.
- How she has leveled up by working with people who weren’t going to be easy on her.
Tweetables:
“If you are in-house somewhere and you're feeling stale, you're probably not doing the role to the fullest extent. I think particularly with talent, there are always areas to improve.” — @alisonmichellek [0:12:55]
“You can probably remove 80% plus friction, just being able to go back to a candidate and say, “This is exactly what we're looking for and this is the process that you can expect.” — @alisonmichellek [0:25:33]
“Taking the time upfront lends itself to a really frictionless process, where you're not wasting your time talking to people that are wrong because you have a clear mental picture of what greatness looks like. You can start with the ideal and then flex as needed.” — @alisonmichellek [0:26:50]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Alison Kaizer on LinkedIn
Alison Kaizer on Twitter
Golden Ventures
Teamtailor
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Jessica is the SVP at Refine Labs, but before she landed this position and recent promotion, Jessica spent her lockdown working for two different companies full-time! Tuning in, you’ll hear all about her experience of working two jobs for 12 to 15 hours a day ranging from how she managed her time all the way to what eventually made her decide to work only one job. Jessica tells us what should make you consider taking on two jobs, how she would handle one of her employees wanting to do so, how her old employees reacted when they eventually found out (two years later,) and why slacking off is not an option! We also discuss the ownership that companies think they have over their employees and why it’s a thing of the past before delving into when overemployment becomes an issue. Finally, she tells us what her ultimate career-based goal is and how she plans on achieving it.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today’s guest, Jessica Williams.
- Jessica tells us what her ultimate goal is.
- What her new promotion means for her.
- Why Jessica doesn’t see much of a difference between SVP and Chief People Officer.
- A brief overview of her professional background and how she wound up at Refine Labs.
- How Jessica juggled two jobs for an entire year and why she is not a slacker.
- How her employers reacted when they found out she was working two jobs at once.
- The concept of ownership that companies have over employees.
- What made Jessica decide to stop working two full-time jobs.
- Under what circumstances people should consider having two jobs.
- The ethical issue with having two jobs and some potential issues with overemployment.
- What Jessica would do if one of her employees was working a second job.
- Why you need to lie to your employers when you are taking on two jobs.
- How to manage time while working two full-time jobs.
Tweetables:
“I did exactly what they wanted me to do and exceeded their expectations. I just was doing it twice.” — Jessica Williams [0:13:20]
“Being in a digital space now, [employers] don't own my time. I am doing a task for them. I did the task. The thought of ownership, I think those days are over. If that's the way you think about your employees that I own 40 hours a week from you, you're so out of the loop”. — Jessica Williams [0:15:10]
“People have the problem [with overemployment] when I say how much money I made. That's when people have the biggest problem. I say how much money I made because I want people to know that there is freedom out there. You can go get it, and you could be successful.” — Jessica Williams [0:22:54]
“I am in control of what happens to me. I will decide what will happen to me. When I decided I'm going to work two jobs, it was because I'm going to get to a point where I am financially free enough that I can do what's best for me. Taking that ownership pisses people off because they're like, ‘You can't do that.’ ‘Yes, I can. Yes, I did.’” — Jessica Williams [0:27:02]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jessica Williams on LinkedIn
Jessica's Overemployed LinkedIn Post
Refine Labs
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
With experience working for the likes of CareerBuilder and The Adecco Group, Marcus Sawyerr is now the founder and CEO of EQ Community, a private member's network that connects professionals to opportunity. Today he joins us to discuss all things talent and the types of challenges currently coming up when he talks to clients. Marcus sheds light on why he founded EQ Community and some of his goals for the company before discussing the importance of DEI and the gap between the well-meaning folks talking about it and the reality of the market. You’ll also hear about how EQ Community is adding value in the counseling it offers to talent to companies who are trying to build a more representative workforce. To hear more about the importance of retention in a climate where companies are scaling back on hiring, what Marcus learned about HR tech when he worked for The Adecco Group, some profound insight into developing inclusive culture in terms of DEI, and so much more, tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- The types of challenges are coming up currently when Marcus Sawyerr talks to clients.
- Why Marcus is not phased by the fact that companies are trying to be more lean and scale back on hiring.
- Why he thinks that retention is more important now than it has been previously.
- Some of the considerations that come into play when employees choose employers.
- What led Marcus to found EQ Community and some of his company goals.
- The four C’s that EQ Community focuses on: Community support, Connections, and access to Careers, which leads to Capital.
- The gap between the well-meaning folks talking about DEI and the reality of the market.
- Where EQ Community is adding value: offering counseling to talent and the two areas they focus their efforts on when helping individuals.
- How they help organizations develop an inclusive culture in terms of DEI.
- Why it is so critical to focus on the onboarding part of the DEI process.
- The circumstances that would make EQ Community a poor fit for an organization.
- Signals that people can look for to understand if a prospective company is a place where they can thrive and what Marcus’s “red carpet experience” would entail.
- Thoughts on whether or not all candidates should be treated fairly or if preference should be given to referrals.
- How you can enhance the candidate experience from a communication standpoint with technology.
- What stood out about the HR tech companies Marcus evaluated when working for Adecco.
Tweetables:
“I think as companies get their employees in the right positions and get their ducks in a row, so to speak, retaining that top talent is going to become more and more important. We'll probably see a little shift in the type of business that we do with organizations moving forward.” — Marcus Sawyerr [0:03:28]
“I noticed there were less and less people that looked like me when I got to the “top” and thought, ‘If I don't set something up to empower people to get access to these opportunities, these experiences I've had, I'd be missing an opportunity myself.’” — Marcus Sawyerr [0:08:49]
“Part of what we've spent time on is really changing that narrative and not having DEI as something that's a nice-to-have, something to help people, but really it’s a superpower to drive performance inside organizations.” — Marcus Sawyerr [0:11:46]
“I think that you can absolutely, with technology today, enhance the candidate experience from a standpoint of communication.” — Marcus Sawyerr [0:22:14]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Marcus Sawyerr
EQ Community
CareerBuilder
The Adecco Group
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Our guest today is Shaina Semiatin, the head of talent acquisition at Grindr, the world’s largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people. She’s data-driven and strategic, with extensive experience in growing and scaling venture-backed and private equity-backed startup. Shaina unpacks some do’s and don’t’s for the talent acquisition process and shares her thoughts on the current archaic process and how it needs to shift to keep pace with the speed of light with which candidates are moving. Tune in now, to hear more from Shaina, enjoy!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Pink flags: Shaina shares her thoughts from a recruiter’s point of view.
- Missteps people make on LinkedIn.
- More about Shaina and her role at Grindr.
- What’s on the horizon for Shaina and Grindr next year.
- We discuss how candidate expectations deviate from the current archaic recruiting process.
- What differentiates the Grindr process in the market.
- The balance of being fast where it matters in the recruiting process.
- Her views on staying competitive in the recruiting process.
- We discuss scenarios when it would be okay to condense your recruiting process.
- Why having great hiring partners is something not to take for granted.
- Resistance TA folks may receive during interviews and how to navigate it.
- Examples of 'why' versus 'what' questions in conversations with hiring partners.
- An example of a bad 'why' question and the challenges they bring.
Tweetables:
“The biggest misstep people can make in this day and age if they want to work, especially in tech is just not having a presence at all.” — Shaina Semiatin [0:02:55]
“A recruiter will find you if you’re out there and it’s up to you to control that narrative.” — Shaina Semiatin [0:04:37]
“What we try to do at Grindr, which is atypical, is build an extremely high touch candidate process, an extremely communicative candidate process — one that creates a lot of opportunity to proactively share resources with candidates… so they don’t have to go digging themselves to learn about who we are and what we believe” — Shaina Semiatin [0:12:52]
“I think the best recruiting can do right now to catch up to candidates is to just stay human centered in the design..” — Shaina Semiatin [0:17:30]
“The one area in terms of speeding up interviews, the one area we would not sacrifice on is quality of signal or fairness in the process. We keep that as a parameter, we keep it as a north star.” — Shaina Semiatin [0:21:46]
“Starting [with] broad [questions] is the best possible way to get true answers..” — Shaina Semiatin [0:30:26]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Shaina Semiatin on LinkedIn
Grindr
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Corrine Ishio discusses what responsibility talent teams should plan in playing a consultative approach with candidates, as well as how to be honest with yourself about your career motivations and make sure you are playing the long game in recruitment.
Corrine Ishio on LinkedIn
As the Director of Talent Acquisition at HealthTrackRx, Clarisce takes joy in connecting the brand and its core values to the organization and its people, while also attracting fresh talent to come in and be in alignment with those values. In today’s episode, you’ll learn more about how she does this by providing her organization with the best possible resources in order to help fuel development and personal growth, rather than simply checking the boxes. We have a truly eye-opening conversation about detoxing from destructive corporate cultures and distinguishing between good people leaders and people who are good at their jobs. Clarisce also shares some actionable advice for challenging misplaced expectations when it comes to bringing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to the C-suite, and how to do so in a meaningful way.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A look at Clarisce’s rapid career trajectory and how she ended up in her current role.
- What Clarisce means when she says that recruiting is the fun side of HR.
- How she believes recruiting has ‘rebranded’ and evolved.
- The tangible impact that recruiters have on an organization and its people.
- What Clarisce misses about “being in the trenches.”
- Pros of stepping into a leadership position, namely becoming a mentor.
- Making the most of the opportunity to shape an organization from the inside out.
- The process of detoxing from destructive corporate cultures.
- A reminder that people don’t ‘quiet quit’ good jobs at good companies!
- How talent acquisition bridges the C-suite and marketing departments.
- Issues that are top of mind for Clarisce as Director of Talent Acquisition.
- Distinguishing between good people leaders and people who are good at their jobs.
- Why issues that affect recruitment are also leading indicators for the health of the business.
- Challenging misplaced expectations when it comes to bringing DEI to the C-suite.
- Tips and advice for building your organization’s DEI plan.
- Why the C-suite is terrified of saying the wrong thing!
- What meaningful DEI actually looks like in an organization.
Tweetables:
“I like to say [recruiting] is the fun side of HR. We're not dealing with investigations into people's drama. We're out there connecting the brand and the core values to the organization, to people, and attracting them to come in and be in alignment with that.” — Clarisce Tolston [0:09:20]
“It sits between HR and the C-suite. I feel like that's the sweet spot for talent acquisition. That's where we do our best work.” — Clarisce Tolston [0:11:11]
“If you create the environment where people are ‘quiet quitting’, you need to check your culture, not the people that you want to secretly fire because they're not working on the weekend.” — Clarisce Tolston [0:26:54]
“The people at the top must reflect the health and the body of the organization. That's what DEI [means].” — Clarisce Tolston [0:39:36]
“That's what DEI is. It’s saying, ‘I'm coming to you with a certain need, based on culture, based on religion, based on my background. If you have the ability to accommodate me, you do.’ That’s it.” — Clarisce Tolston [0:48:53]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Clarisce Tolston on LinkedIn
HealthTrackRx
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Jessica is the Head of Talent Acquisition at Atlantic Street Capital Advisors, as well as the host of the Jess Get Hired Podcast. In this episode, she introduces us to her podcast, explaining the topics she covers, and some of the recurring themes and pieces of advice that come up. You’ll hear how Jessica got her current position at Atlantic Street Capital Advisors, the value of networking (and how to do it), and her recommendations on how other recruiters can find their next positions. She also sheds some light on her role at Atlantic Street Capital Advisors, what she is working on, and some of the recruiting processes her team implement in the companies they acquire. For valuable tips on how to build a network, what the must-have tools for any HR tech stack are, and why cover letters are actually a waste of time, make sure not to miss today’s conversation!
Key Points From This Episode:
- The Jess Get Hired Podcast and how it started during the pandemic.
- Jessica’s ultimate goal to leave corporate America and start her own consulting company.
- Some of the recurring themes and pieces of advice that come up on Jessica’s show.
- Jessica’s recommendations for how recruiters can find their next role.
- Thoughts on the LinkedIn trend of Social Saturday.
- How Jessica got her current position and the value of networking.
- Jessica’s role at Atlantic Street Capital Advisors and what she is working on.
- Some of the recruiting processes that Atlantic Street Capital Advisors put in place in the companies they acquire.
- Major challenges faced by Jessica and her team, like introducing technology investments.
- The types of tech that they introduce and must-have tools for any HR tech stack.
- Jessica’s views on the cover letter and whether or not it has any value.
- How to avoid posting a cover letter and still get the job!
Tweetables:
“One day, [when I get out of corporate America], then this will be my brand. Hopefully, I can take what I’ve learned through podcasting and all the people that I’ve met along the way and turn it into some type of consulting business.” — Jessica George [0:05:25]
“Not all HR people are good recruiters and not all recruiters can do HR. That’s just fact!” — Jessica George [0:16:41]
“I hate cover letters. I think it’s a waste of time. As someone who looks at hundreds of resumes a week, the last thing I want to do is read through the fluff of a cover letter. I’d rather get to the nuts and bolts of your resume and see the key things that I need to see” — Jessica George [0:26:46]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jessica Fiesta George
Jess Get Hired Podcast
Atlantic Street Capital Advisors
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Kate Duchene, the CEO of RGP, is here to discuss the new, modern way of matching and connecting professional work to talent. By describing her consultative approach, Kate helps us understand how to break talent into operational and transformational needs in order to ensure efficiency and better outcomes. With her passion for problem-solving and innate curiosity, Kate has built an employee-focused business that is based on project-based hiring and insourcing skillsets to meet shared needs and values. Plus, Kate discusses the work-from-home life model, the importance of letting go, how to move past failure, human competencies, and more!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Some background of RGP.
- How RGP has early conversations with potential partnering companies.
- RGPs talent placing process.
- Common challenges companies are facing: talent gaps.
- How the pandemic created changes in approaches to working life.
- What Kate thinks is sacrificed from working from home.
- How Kate became the EVP of HR in RGP.
- The importance of creating specialized roles as your business grows.
- Kate's characteristics which make her a good CEO.
- Why you don’t need to be an expert in all aspects of your job.
- Why challenges can build better trust and relationships.
- The need for finite employees to fill specific needs.
- Characteristics that make up the power of human competencies.
- The talent pool that inspired the beginnings of RGP.
- How flexibility and accountability have adapted since the pandemic.
- Kate’s capital and talent management advice.
Tweetables:
“Both leaders of organizations and talent management will have to balance the needs and wants going forward [after COVID-19].” — Kate Duchene [0:08:27]
“The challenge is that as an organization grows, when do you start creating more defined roles so that you can achieve the focus and the impact you need?” — Kate Duchene [0:15:39]
“Very rarely do you get to perfect and, most times, very good is exactly what you need.” — Kate Duchene [0:20:21]
“People remember you when you work through challenges.” — Kate Duchene [0:23:23]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Kate Duchene on LinkedIn
RGP
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
While the impact of successful mentorship has been proven in a multitude of ways, there is still the fear that participants could be mismatched or that a mentor’s time might be wasted. Concerns that the relationship will be short-lived or even fail can also get in the way of tremendous results. Today’s guest asks us to consider using intention and purpose to guide these relationships. Please join us in welcoming Tschudy Smith, Chief People Officer at ForgeRock, to share her perspective on purpose-driven mentorship. Tuning in, you’ll learn some of the characteristics of great leaders, why Tschudy believes we have to be more intentional than ever about who we bring into our network, and how to set outcomes and objectives before entering into a mentorship relationship. We also touch on the importance of empathy, the fundamental differences between a sponsor and a mentor, and the role that places and culture play for CPOs in a post-pandemic world, plus so much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Insight into Tschudy’s background and how she ended up in her current role at ForgeRock.
- How she came to understand the role that empathy plays in a leadership role.
- The value of mentorship and why Tschudy believes we have to be more intentional than ever about who we have in our network.
- A purposeful, outcomes-driven approach to inviting a mentor or a sponsor to work with you.
- Measuring the success of a mentor/mentee relationship against those initial objectives.
- An understanding of the differences between a mentor and a sponsor.
- Characteristics of a great leader, from transparent dialogue to advocating on behalf of others.
- Why the role of a sponsor is such a complicated one in today’s highly matrixed organizations.
- How Tschudy conceived of the role of Chief People Officer (CPO) and her approach to it.
- Why today’s leadership is about more than to-do lists and agendas; it’s about people.
- The role that places and culture play for CPOs in a post-pandemic world.
- Tschudy elaborates on some of the ‘non-negotiables’ for CPOs today.
- How Tschudy decided that CPO was the right role for her and how it aligned with her goals.
Tweetables:
“Some of those formal or informal engagements we might have expected to have are fewer and [farther] between, [so] we have to be even more intentional about who we have in our network that is there to support us, to guide us, and to give us some coaching and insight.” — Tschudy Smith [0:06:22]
“I feel like it’s important to pay it forward and, I’ll tell you, when you can play the role of mentor, you also learn.” — Tschudy Smith [0:07:32]
“The idea of a sponsor is to have somebody who advocates on your behalf, who is in those rooms, who is in those conversations, and who actually [thinks] about you when you’re not there.” — Tschudy Smith [0:15:07]
“This is 22nd-century leadership. It isn’t just about managing a to-do list. It isn’t just about showing up to run an agenda for a team meeting. It’s getting proximate, caring for your people, seeing them at their best, and figuring out how you can help them do more of that.” — Tschudy Smith [0:22:22]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Tschudy Smith on LinkedIn
ForgeRock
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
When you are walking around an airport, you see employees doing many different things ranging from working at ticketing counters, client services, pushing people in wheelchairs, or driving them around on carts, to someone loading and off-loading baggage from an airplane. Recruiting applicants for these jobs, especially on such a large scale, requires a system that is both effective and user friendly, on either side. On the show today is Akshay Loomba, the VP and head of talent acquisition over at Unifi. Join us for an insightful conversation about their new ATS, or as Akshay calls it, the iPhone of ATS’. We also hear about Unifi the company, their services, and recruiting and onboarding processes across 200 airports in the US.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Unifi clients serviced.
- More about what Unifi is and does: the largest ground services aviation company in the US.
- Hear about the recruiting process at Unifi.
- The onboarding process of airports and how that differs across the airports.
- Akshay shares more about his role at Unifi.
- What Akshay has been working on lately: the iPhone of ATS’.
- How he knew the time was right to implement changing tools.
- More about the rollout process of their new system across the 200 airports.
- Akshay shares about the ATS training experience he went through.
- How the software swap campaign was met internally: navigating resistance.
- How Akshay vets vendors and whether they can deliver custom requirements.
- How they get around positivity bias.
- Areas Akshay would like to see innovation and growth in the market.
Tweetables:
“The way you look at the recruiting world today, post-pandemic — everybody’s trying to recruit or has the option to recruit from home. They have a lot of remote options.” — Akshay Loomba [0:04:04]
“Anything and everything from the geopolitical environment, the stimulus checks, whatever happens in the economy kind of affects this industry [aviation] and the way we recruit today.” — Akshay Loomba [0:06:17]
“The kind of integrated systems, which we are building at Unifi, I could safely say — that it’s one of the best in the industry at the moment.” — Akshay Loomba [0:19:17]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Akshay Loomba on LinkedIn
Unifi
Talk Talent to Me
Empathy, Honesty, and Transparency with Cade Garret
Episode 270: Show Notes
Today on Talk Talent to Me, we are joined by the Head of Talent at super{set}, Cade Garrett. Cade talks about what his company does, how he ensures his clients make a big impact, where he believes early-stage companies should source their candidates, what he looks for in early-stage employees, and the pushback he gets from early-stage founders who refuse to prioritize hiring. You’ll learn how Cade assesses his recruiters, the potentially traumatic experience of moving between jobs, and forms of communication that alienate candidates from recruiters. To find out why transparency is so important and to learn how to build trust with a candidate, tune in now!
Key Points From This Episode:
- A warm welcome to today’s guest, Cade Garret.
- What Cade and super{set} are busy working on.
- Cade explains what super{set} does as a company.
- Hiring he is currently doing for both super{set} and external companies.
- Advice he gives to his clients to help them make a big impact.
- His thoughts on where companies should source their talent in the early stages.
- What he looks for in early-stage employees.
- The pushback Cade gets from early-stage founders who do not prioritize hiring.
- The interview process and how managers engage their candidates.
- How he assesses recruiters on their interview style.
- Transitioning between jobs as a potentially traumatic experience.
- Whether Cade considers a therapeutic approach to some interviews.
- Forms of communication that alienate the recruiter from the candidate.
- The importance of always being transparent.
- How to build trust so that candidates are honest with you.
Tweetables:
“You can’t wait for the perfect scenario and the perfect storm. You just have to start talking to people, you have to start pitching, you have to start figuring out how to bring people on, and then you can start to incorporate everything that you learned as you go along.” —@cadegarret13 [0:04:33]
“Tom Chavez turned to us and said, ‘People are the secret, people are what make this all work,’ and I agree with that wholeheartedly.” —@cadegarret13 [0:07:43]
“When you’re getting to know people, you can’t just ask the same generic questions. You have to really get empathetic with them and understand a little bit more about what makes them tick.” —@cadegarret13 [0:07:52]
“It needs to be a really good split between interviewing and selling candidates because if you spend all of your time interviewing, you’re going to get to the end of the interview, and there’s going to be no connection.” —@cadegarret13 [0:12:58]
“People just really want to work with good people. They really want to love their job and believe in what they’re doing, and you just have to find that throughout the [interview] process, you have to discover it with them.” —@cadegarret13 [0:20:39]
“No one should want to get into a company that isn’t going to be a fit for them, and no recruiter should want to put someone who is not a fit into a company.” —@cadegarret13 [0:23:02]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Cade Garret on Twitter
Cade Garret on LinkedIn
super{set}
SuperSummit
Tom Chavez on LinkedIn
Vivek Lodhia on LinkedIn
SalesForce
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Billd's Head of People Ops, Francisco Michel, discusses the importance of goal setting and KPIs being tailored specifically to each individual employee while keeping the company’s overall goals in mind. Francisco shares his plans to revamp the EMPS survey in the future. Next, Francisco shares his favorite ‘hat’ to wear, how he defines and manages his abundance of responsibilities, and his hopes for the future of Billd. He even delves into how his interview process at the company inspired him to make changes to it when he started, how he selects employees and the importance of having grit. Francisco also shares his belief that a start-up creates opportunities and implores listeners to work for one at least once in their career. So, tune in now to hear more and to find out why “Happy people produce and happy people stay!”
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today’s guest, Francisco Michel.
- An overview of Billd and Francisco’s role in the company is.
- How much Francisco’s job is changing with his new promotion.
- The issues he plans to tackle in the company right now.
- How Billd has created KPIs for the company by focusing on the company’s goals.
- Francisco shares his KPIs with us based on the different hats he has to wear at work.
- The one question Billd asks people when it comes to EMPS.
- How Francisco manages being the bearer of good or bad news in Billd.
- Francisco’s long-term plan to revamp the EMPS survey and make it more robust.
- Why every individual person needs different KPIs and how Francisco goes about doing this.
- Why Francisco pushes employees quite a bit.
- Francisco’s favorite part of his job and what he hopes to focus on in the future.
- How Francisco defines and manages all of his responsibilities at work.
- Why working at a start-up presents many opportunities.
- How Francisco figures out if someone actually wants to join his company.
- The importance of finding the right personality to fit within your company.
- Why you need grit in Francisco’s industry.
- What Francisco’s interview process was like at Billd and how he subsequently changed it.
Tweetables:
“I do think it’s important to make [KPIs] simple but [focus on] what is really going to matter at the end of the day for this individual and what is going to show that they are a good performer.” — Francisco Michel [0:12:48]
“When it comes time to review this person on their performance, how are you going to define what good performance looks like if you don’t have something to measure it off of?” — Francisco Michel [0:14:00]
“At a startup, you really get to learn a lot not only about yourself but a lot about what other departments do, how everything works, how it needs to be built, and how to accept your failures because you don’t know everything and you are trying to build the plane and fly it at the same time.” — Francisco Michel [0:16:22]
“Take a chance on a startup at least once in your career, you’ll learn a lot. Either you’ll learn that startups are not for you or you’ll learn that you can really do more things at a startup and discover new job opportunities.” — Francisco Michel [0:17:32]
“If you can’t take your façade down, you won’t be successful at Billd”. — Francisco Michel [0:21:48]
“Happy people produce and happy people stay.” — Francisco Michel [0:23:30]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Francisco Michel on LinkedIn
Billd
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Does hyper-growth seem scary, unattainable, and destined for disaster? Well, today we are joined by Head of TA Lisa Hyder to tell us how she manages to successfully achieve hyper-growth within Hopscotch Health. While drawing on her 15 years of experience, Lisa tells us about her personally developed recruitment tactics, her holistic and strategic approach to talent, and why she believes in the power of having a whole company lending a hand in the hiring process. From interviews, reviewing resumes, and jotting notes, to personally messaging candidates, Lisa tells us how (and why) we need to create and use a thorough interview, recruitment, and vetting process to ensure our companies are destined for success. Plus, we hear all about Lisa’s love for Excel spreadsheets and how she optimizes them to use for just about everything!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Lisa’s ‘fun but frantic’ approach to hyper-growth.
- A look at the creation of De Novo clinics.
- The recruitment culture at Hopscotch Health
- Lisa’s positive experience with the Hopscotch hiring process.
- How Lisa structures a strict vetting interview process (and the answers she wants to hear).
- The power of social recruiting.
- Lisa’s approach to talent and recruitment.
- How recruiters can uplevel and develop themselves.
- What hyper-growth means for a company.
- The hyper-growth that has been taking place in Hopscotch Health.
- The different trackers (spreadsheets) Hopscotch Health uses.
- Hopscotch Health’s new innovation, integration, and technology investments.
- Why you should personal message candidates, rather than simply email.
Tweetables:
“Talent is marketing, it’s business development, it’s HR, it’s sales.”— Lisa Hyder [0:09:29]
“As [companies] grow, [they] need corporate positions to support that growth.” — Lisa Hyder [0:13:10]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Lisa Hyder on LinkedIn
Hopscotch Health
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Hello London! We are live! And we are thrilled to welcome you to this Talk Talent To Me special edition: the Nightclub Rave Recruiting podcast. Joining us today at the magnificent Steel Yard nightclub is the Director of Talent at MasterCard, Sam Sparks. We take a look at Sam’s professional background and how she ended up at MasterCard, before diving into the complexities of acquiring a business, from a TA perspective. Our panelist gives us the makeup of her recruitment team while letting us know how she is able to ensure that they are getting involved with their clients and candidates. Sam prefers to silently observe interviews and meetings, and she lets us know what she wants to hear from her team in those situations. You’ll learn about cross-department partnerships, what it’s like to hire as a globally recognized organization, understanding what a candidate wants, the pros and cons of building a recruitment management team, and the importance of social media for big corporations. After getting an idea of Sam’s future career prospects, Rob steps into the audience to give them the chance to ask our guest a few questions. The impromptu interviews help us understand Sam’s views on how TA will evolve in the near future, the best ways to assess the technical skills of candidates, and how you can build a company culture in a remote-work world.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcoming our guest, Sam Sparks, and some thoughts on today’s nightclub venue.
- A look at Sam’s professional background and how she ended up at MasterCard.
- Understanding the complexities of acquiring a business, from a TA perspective.
- What her team looks like: hiring managers and heads of departments.
- How the other recruiters on her team go about their business.
- What Sam is on the lookout for when observing meetings and interviews.
- The other departments that she partners with to make sure that hers is not the last to know.
- Whether it’s a good thing that most prospective candidates already know MasterCard.
- Understanding what candidates want and how to offer it to them.
- Localized marketing and building a recruitment marketing team.
- If it is important to have a specialized local marketer on the recruitment team: Sam thinks not.
- Why it’s important for big corporations to make good use of social media.
- Sam’s future career prospects.
- Rob goes into the audience to take some of their questions.
- How Sam sees TA evolving over the next two years.
- The best way to assess the technical skills of candidates.
- How to build a company culture in a remote-work world.
- Whether it’s possible to make TAs a business critical at the decision-making table, and how.
Tweetables:
“Agencies are very salesy and I love the interaction with people, but I hated the KPIs.” —Sam Sparks [0:04:46]
“In order to truly sell what the team does, what the growth potential is, what the experience they can get being a part of that team, you really need to live and breathe it. I really encourage my teams to do that.” —Sam Sparks [0:08:13]
“It's empowering my team to be able to have the confidence to push back, ask those questions, and manage those conversations. You have to do that in partnership with HR, rightly or wrongly, because these conversations are important.” —Sam Sparks [0:11:08]
“What we're seeing in the economy now, MasterCard as a brand is not enough. It's all well and good working for a great brand, but you need more than that now.” —Sam Sparks [0:13:53]
“I'm a firm believer in thinking outside of the box. I think sometimes recruitment can be so boring, and we don't make the most of what we can do.” —Sam Sparks [0:18:28]
“That's the problem we had with our global approach to content. It was very professional. It was quite stilted. There was not a lot of personality coming through. It seemed too fake. It didn't really resonate. It didn't represent what we are in Europe.” —Sam Sparks [0:019:49]
“We're trying to do a bit more and push the boundaries a bit. I'm a bit of a maverick. I like to do stuff and just annoy my manager and say that we should do it” —Sam Sparks [0:20:33]
“I mean, she loves me now. She probably secretly hates me, but she knows I'm like a dog with a bone. I just won't give up. I think you have to be a bit like that.” —Sam Sparks [0:32:49]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Sam Sparks on LinkedIn
MasterCard
The Steel Yard
Mothercare
Essential
Codility
Vocalink
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today we are joined by the Co-founder of Puck, Tali Rapaport. Tali is passionate about helping employees find the right work environment based on their specific stories. Tuning in, you’ll hear all about Tali and what drove her to start Puck. She elaborates on the importance of transparency in the job application process, why you need to connect with each individual person’s story, as well as the challenges she has encountered in her line of work. We also discuss the disconnect Tali sees in what employees hear and what they see about their roles as well as what she thinks people want to see when applying for a job. Next, we look into why day-to-day tasks are not selling points when searching for employees before diving into Puck’s use of podcasts and audio to tell personal stories. Tali also talks us through the way today’s work environment affects Puck, how candidates are matched with employees and vice-versa, along with why recruitment marketing is imperative. Finally, Tali explains what she sees as ‘storytelling’ in her line of work.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to today’s guest, Tali Rapaport.
- A bit about Tali’s background and what drove her to start her company, Puck.
- The importance of being transparent about what a particular job requires of employees.
- The challenges Tali saw while she was working with Lyft.
- The importance of connecting with employees and their specific ‘stories.’
- How Tali figured out that there’s a disconnect between what employees read about their roles and what they see.
- What Tali thinks people want to see when applying for a job.
- Why day-to-day tasks are a terrible thing to sell on in the job application process.
- When Tali realized that these application problems were significant enough to start a company that would address them.
- The solution she envisions for these problems: audio rather than video.
- How Puck makes use of podcasts.
- Puck’s goals for the audio they create: the use of personal story.
- Where Puck’s innovative content is used.
- The current state of how people expect to do work and how it influences the way that Tali presents her company.
- How Tali finds candidates that fit into a company’s work-life approach and vice versa.
- Why the fit on title and salary isn’t enough.
- Tali explains the Puck interview process.
- Why Tali thinks large companies should have a person dedicated to recruitment marketing.
- What Tali means when she talks about ‘storytelling.’
- Where the name “Puck” comes from.
Tweetables:
“You don't need to be communicating to a lot of people to communicate clearly and with specifics. I think that that's part of the storytelling that people are missing.” — @TaliR [0:08:43]
“There's a difference between what people put in a job description and the questions candidates want answered when applying to the job.” — @TaliR [0:10:14]
“It's so much easier to connect with a story about a person than it is to connect with a bullet point. That's a bullet that someone will read and forget. It helps you as a storyteller, as a company, as an individual make a lasting impression on the people that are considering joining you.” — @TaliR [0:18:12]
“The right team for you is not the right team for me or the next person who comes in. So if you can sell on your team, that's, I think, the best.” — @TaliR [0:24:45]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Tali Rapaport on LinkedIn
Tali Rapaport on Twitter
Puck
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today, we welcome Dom Farnan back to the podcast! She is the Founder and Chief Conscious Connector at DotConnect. Dom begins by giving us a rundown of who DotConnect is as a company and a breakdown of some of their recent projects. Then, she opens up about the introspection that led to her discovering that she’d been a toxic boss. That leads to Dom describing how she knew that she needed to shift her focus, how her personal development coach made her focus on the right things, and how her personal growth led to positive organizational changes at work, creating a healthier work culture. We find out why performance-based values alone are not enough for DotConnect, what the company’s core values are, how our guest ensures that the company values and the work being done are interconnected, and the type of responsibilities that she places on her team leaders’ shoulders. The change in values altered the way that Dom and DotConnect do business and she stresses the importance of only saying yes to healthy business propositions. In this information-packed episode, you’ll learn how DotConnect differs from other RPOs, what scrum methodology is and how it applies to the talent space, and how Dom and her company made some changes after retrospective sessions with clients.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A warm welcome to our returning guest and friend of the podcast, Dom Farnan.
- Who DotConnect is as a business and what they’ve been working on recently.
- When Dom shifted her focus and how she knew that it was the right time.
- What her personal coach directed her to focus on: herself.
- Creating awareness around a toxic work culture and developing a healthier one.
- How she was able to introspect and find clarity on her toxic behaviors as a boss.
- The organizational changes at work as a result of her personal triumphs.
- Why performance-based values were not enough for Dom and her company.
- How Dom ensures that the company’s core values and the actual work being done are interconnected.
- How the change in values has altered the way she chooses business partners.
- The specifics of how DotConnect is different from other RPOs.
- What ‘scrum’ looks like when applied to the talent space.
- An example of something Dom stopped doing after a retrospective session with a client.
- Why some recruiters lose their love for caring for and wanting to help people.
- How to regain a lost passion: go back to what brings you joy!
- Identifying the negative aspects of your job and calling them out.
Tweetables:
“We look at ourselves as conscious connectors who are excited to help build companies, through building meaningful relationships and actually making hiring enjoyable..” — Dom Farnan [0:02:54]
“It's been a couple of years of personal self-development work, but that inner work and healing has really transformed my business.” — Dom Farnan [0:04:12]
“It's really hard to just have a set of values that's all about numbers, metrics, and performance when we have emotions, and we are highly irrational human beings in our human experience, and everybody has different things going on in their lives that impacts their ability to perform.” — Dom Farnan [0:10:24]
A lot of our work still comes from my personal network of when I was recruiting. I actually love that, because we walk in and we have this solid level of trust and understanding with each other. We almost skipped to the really good part of a relationship.” — Dom Farnan [0:15:08]
“Care and consideration. Literally, care and consideration. That's it. When they would ask me, ‘How do you have all these clients?’ or ‘Where are you getting all this work?’ I'm like, ‘I don't know. It's magic. I guess I just care.’” — Dom Farnan [0:23:25]
“Whatever the situation is, it's always someone else's stuff. It's never your own stuff. All you can control is your response and your energy, not everybody else’s. I think once you have that shift, recruiting is not that bad.” — Dom Farnan [0:27:02]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Dom Farnan on LinkedIn
Dom Farnan on Instagram
Dom Farnan Website
DotConnect
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining us today is the SVP of HR and Talent Acquisition at MGAC, Stephanie Cramer. MGAC has recently branched out to the UK and our guest speaks about taking stock of talent within a global organization, how to formulate a practical action plan after a major acquisition, and the details of her particular approach to the tech stack. It is important to advertise the company culture from the perspectives of current employees and Stephanie gives examples of how she accomplishes this through in-house recruitment videos. You’ll learn of the difficult questions she receives from candidates, before giving her opinions on a real experience that rob had on LinkedIn. After debating whether salary information should be available to candidates upfront, we take a closer look at a member of Stephanie’s team who made an extremely successful transition from admin to talent! Stephanie has an abundance of advice to give and if you’ve been looking for answers regarding all things HR and TA, tune in now!
Key Points From This Episode:
- How our guest, Stephanie Cramer, took an accidental midday sabbatical, which ultimately helped her mental health.
- A brief discussion on the movie The Gray Man.
- Stephanie breaks down what MGAC do as a company,
- What her role entails, and how she ended up working there.
- How she takes stock of the talent situation in a global organization.
- Formulating a practical action plan after a big acquisition.
- The specifications of her approach to the tech stack.
- Why it’s necessary to advertise company culture from the perspective of the current employees.
- How Stephanie ended up choosing Comparably for her company.
- What she would ask and say to employees, as a director, when filming promo videos.
- The tough questions that candidates ask in an interview that may be difficult to answer.
- Rob shares a real experience he had on LinkedIn and Stephanie gives her thoughts on it.
- Taking a closer look at whether salary information should be available to candidates upfront.
- The hires our guest is currently making and the growth of her team.
- An MGAC staff member, based in LA, who successfully transitioned from admin to talent.
- Recruiting from the perspective of what makes the candidate happy.
- Stephanie’s advice to those who are looking to follow a similar career path to hers.
Tweetables:
“I firmly believe that when you lead a people function, it’s all about connecting with the people.” — Stephanie Cramer [0:05:01]
“I can speak ‘till I’m blue in the face about what it means to be an MGAC employee, but nothing is going to be better than actually listening to a firsthand account.” — Stephanie Cramer [0:08:17]
“When my team starts talking to people, right off the bat, we try and answer those questions. But being able to provide any sort of transparency around [salary] is going to help us too.” — Stephanie Cramer [0:13:33]
“Being able to have an HR presence, even if it is in recruiting and talent acquisition, was very beneficial.” — Stephanie Cramer [0:20:45]
“One is slow down and the other is stop listening to the imposter syndrome. Believe in yourself.” — Stephanie Cramer [0:26:27]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Stephanie Cramer on LinkedIn
MGAC
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining us today is the Head of Talent Acquisition at Buf, Ben Caggia. Ben started by studying medicine, even going as far as taking the MCAT, before realizing that he is actually more passionate about talent acquisition. We get an understanding of Ben’s love for the trenches, why you should find a job aligned with your passions and interests, how to make the shift from individual contributors to management, and what he believes are the attributes of a great manager. As a bonus, Ben tells us why it’s important to ask the right questions at interviews and how you should trust your gut to guide you towards the right company. This conversation goes against the grain compared to previous episodes, in the best way possible!
Key Points From This Episode:
- How he is spending his office time: hands-on with roles.
- What recruiters struggle with when not completely backed by the company.
- A combination of building the pipeline and understanding exactly who you are looking for.
- How he is grateful for all the support he received at Buf.
- What Buf as a company does, and Ben’s role in it.
- Buf as a utopia for engineers.
- Ben’s professional background and how he ended up in talent.
- His love for being in the trenches.
- How he made the decision that medicine wasn’t for him.
- Finding a job that aligns with your passions and interests.
- Making the shift from individual contributor to management.
- Wanting to help people as the cornerstone to the decisions he’s made.
- The attributes of a good manager, according to Ben.
- Whether there’s a cap on being the IC if you don’t want to pursue management.
- How to know if you are speaking to the right companies: trust your gut.
- Why it’s important to do the research and ask the right questions at interviews.
Tweetables:
“I'm a little bit spoiled at Buf. The team is incredibly involved in recruiting. They recognize how valuable it is as a function.” —@BeNYCtech [0:01:50]
“There's elements of it that just aren't fun. That's why you get paid to do the job. But it's about finding the job that you're most excited in that aligns with your passions and interests, where it doesn't actually feel like work. Even the bad parts are bearable.” —@BeNYCtech [0:16:54]
“I knew pretty early on that I had my sights set on management. I think it's the hardest leap to take in your career.” —@BeNYCtech [0:18:11]
“I think a good manager is ultimately one that's a servant to their reports, and somebody that's a shield, and is constantly looking at ways to improve their workflows and make their lives a little bit easier.” —@BeNYCtech [0:19:32]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Ben Caggia on Twitter
Ben Caggia on Instagram
Ben Caggia on LinkedIn
Buf
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today’s guest is Jennifer Sutton, the Global Head of Diversity, Equity & Belonging at Instacart, a grocery delivery and pick-up service in the United States. Jennifer originally worked in finance but made the transition to HR and diversity over 14 years ago. Jennifer’s approach is to couple diversity hire strategies with genuine mental frameworks to reach an organization’s diversity goals. In today’s show we find out about Jennifer’s background in finance, her transition to HR, the benefits of diversity to an organization, common mistakes organizations make regarding inclusion strategies, the importance of identifying root causes, and much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- We find out about Jennifer’s professional background and her current role.
- Her professional journey from finance to HR and diversity.
- The benefits of non-recruiting qualifications to HR.
- Why mixing competencies is a key part of diversity hiring.
- How to change career paths if your current role is not fulfilling.
- The type of team you should surround yourself with.
- Jennifer’s approach to her role at Instacart and her system design.
- Making the systems already in place for diversity hiring sustainable.
- The organizational mindset needed to make a genuine impact on diversity.
- The importance of identifying the root cause of the lack of diversity.
Tweetables:
“It’s not necessarily about how the role is designed but what is needed to succeed in that role.” — Jennifer Sutton [0:06:37]
“It should be people that potentially, not only can mentor you but also sponsor you. And I use those words very intentionally because they’re different when done right.” — Jennifer Sutton [0:11:07]
“It’s a level of trust and vulnerability that I’ve been able to leverage and I celebrate being able to have those conversations.” — Jennifer Sutton [0:15:59]
“If that belief system is flawed and if that belief system might be giving advantages unintentionally, but still giving advantages to some and not others, you will never have a healthy process.” — Jennifer Sutton [0:18:31]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jennifer Sutton on LinkedIn
Hired
Talk Talent to Me
Dubi tells us of his three most recent hires and how he goes about ensuring that diverse candidates are being brought into the company. He explains the pressures that hiring managers place on him and how he is able to navigate through scheduling conflicts between candidates and his team. There is a growing trend for on-demand interviews and our guest breaks down some of the issues that arise therein, as well as a close examination of the mistakes being made by companies when they hire technical engineers. In our conversation, you’ll learn how tech companies are contradicting their ingenuity, what the ideal number of interviews should be, what Socotra’s interview process is like, and how and why the cultural interview is a good way of assessing how a candidate will fit into the company. Dubi explains how other companies are lazy not to send rejection letters, before leaving us with an inspirational story of how he gave a second chance which led to incredible success.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing our guest, Dubi Ben-Shoham, and
- A quick look at his current work week: he made three key hires.
- How Dubi makes sure that diverse candidates are being hired.
- The pressure placed on him by hiring managers.
- What he does to set realistic expectations for his managers.
- How he balances the calendars of his execs.
- Scheduling conflicts that arise between candidates and hiring managers.
- The growing precedent of on-demand interviews.
- Breaking down the problems surrounding the hiring of engineers.
- Whether the technical interview activities are relative to the job itself.
- How, for all their ingenuity, tech companies are still hiring in a dated way.
- What the ideal number is from Dubi’s perspective.
- A sneak peek at Socotra’s interview process.
- The culture interview as a good assessment of how the candidate will fit in at the company.
- How candidates ‘fake it’ more at skills interviews rather than cultural ones.
- What Socotra does differently to be more respectful to candidates.
- Why other companies do not send rejection letters: Dubi thinks it’s laziness.
- An inspirational story of success gained through a second chance.
Tweetables:
“One of my strong suits is, I know that I’m the expert in the relationship and the hiring managers are not. So I just set realistic expectations from the onset.” — Dubi Ben-Shoham [0:04:23]
“If you ever want to have another podcast about how I want to revolutionize the technical recruiting process, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure that out.” — Dubi Ben-Shoham [0:11:30]
“Tech companies are supposed to be the most forward-thinking companies but they’re still interviewing engineers like it’s 1999, and it doesn’t make any sense.” — Dubi Ben-Shoham [0:15:33]
“The time it takes usually to interview candidates, the process, it all should be reviewed on a regular basis, just to make sure we are doing the right thing and candidates are feeling good about it.” — Dubi Ben-Shoham [0:17:50]
“I applied to 300 jobs, seriously. I got to be a candidate for so long and it just showed me everything bad about recruiting.” — Dubi Ben-Shoham [0:21:53]
“Managing expectations was the first thing I learned as a recruiter. If you’re good at that, then you’ll be good at what you do.” — Dubi Ben-Shoham [0:23:52]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Dubi Ben-Shoham on LinkedIn
Socotra
Karat
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Director of Talent Acquisition at Oshkosh Corporation, DJ Braemer gives us a rundown of the good work that Oshkosh does and how he ended up in his current role. Working in the agency setup gave our guest invaluable experience, but he also reveals why he would never go back. You’ll learn about why he chose to go into management, how he discovered his leadership skills through sport, whether he misses the hustle and bustle of recruiting, and why his time in the dark side of HR was a major moment in his career. DJ believes that Oshkosh is an industry leader in diversity hiring and he tells us all about his company’s willingness to provide flexible job opportunities. Do you think that the hybrid module of talent acquisition is one we should aspire to? Find out what DJ Braener thinks by tuning into this episode!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today’s guest, DJ Braemer, and ascertaining his current headspace.
- DJ’s professional background, how he ended up at Oshkosh, and what his role entails.
- Why he would never go back to an agency setup.
- What made our guest want to pursue a role in management.
- Learning about leadership through sports.
- Whether DJ misses the hustle of actual recruiting.
- The medium long-term projects and big campaigns that he is currently working on.
- Why Oshkosh are champions of diversity hiring: walking the walk.
- An explanation of his time in the dark side of HR.
- How to bridge the gap between being the leader and requiring more industry knowledge.
- Deciding if HR is a necessary stop on the way to higher leadership levels in the talent space.
- Oshkosh’s ability to provide flexible opportunities.
- TA as a necessary leadership role in today’s market.
- How DJ’s company is able to contribute talent in meaningful ways to each different team/brand.
- Choosing the hybrid model of TA and the circumstances under which it should be used.
- Our guest’s advice to prospective employees: work hard, put in the time, and find a company that promotes from within.
Tweetables:
“I would never go back and start my career in a different place. I just got so much good experience from that.” — DJ Braemer [0:04:31]
“The first one is around diversity hiring. This continues to be a major topic, for good reason. I’m proud of Oshkosh because we’re really walking the walk.” — DJ Braemer [0:10:05]
“I had never led any type of core HR team or work before. I grew as a leader because it was the first time I had to lead work that I had never done myself. That was a really big moment in my career.” — DJ Braemer [0:14:34]
“It is surrounding yourself with the people that do know. It is asking a lot of questions. It is admitting to not knowing the answer all the time, and just being humble.” — DJ Braemer [0:16:15]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
DJ Braemer on LinkedIn
Oshkosh Corporation
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Our guest today is VP of Talent Network at Redpoint Ventures, Atli Thorkelsson. In our conversation, he gives us a bit of background on Redpoint as a company, how he ended up there in his current role, and what his day-to-day job entails. Atli tells us how he adds value to the founders he speaks to and shows us some of the blind spots that many of them encounter. We get an understanding of his hiring process and why he and Redpoint place relationships at the pinnacle of importance. You’ll learn about making your hiring process deliberate, how to quantify your talent acquisition, what the common trends in current talent acquisition are, and how a company benefits differently from hiring executives as opposed to other staff.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today’s guest, Atli Thorkelsson, and what his venture capital firm does.
- What Atli’s role entails as VP of Talent Network.
- How he manages to be valuable when offering advice to founders.
- Why many founders encounter blind spots.
- Atli’s process when someone comes to him looking to step up their talent function.
- The importance of starting with your own network.
- Why it’s necessary to keep track of relationships.
- How Atli ended up at his current company, Redpoint Ventures.
- How a steppingstone turned into a path.
- What the interview process was like when he was being hired.
- How Redpoint evolved to prioritize the Talent Network.
- Operationalizing the hiring process so that it’s deliberate.
- How Atli and his team can measure their hiring processes.
- Leaning further into the relationship aspect of talent acquisition.
- The different possible company outcomes when hiring executives versus other staff.
- Common themes he has seen in the talent acquisition environment.
- Atli’s reasons for the current trend of prospective employees preferring to enter a company at ground-level as opposed to chasing a ‘sure thing’.
- How candidates, on the talent side, should approach the equity conversation.
- The questions to ask when assessing whether your stake in the company is meaningful.
- Knowing the difference between the strike price and the current valuation.
- Atli’s parting words of advice for those looking to forge a career in talent.
Tweetables:
“We think of talent as a network function. I think that's the reason that we’re distinguished.” —@AThorkelsson [0:01:37]
“We're really just looking for, ‘How do we help you see around corners? How do we prescribe or help you think about things that maybe you wouldn't ordinarily be thinking about?’” —@AThorkelsson [0:03:31]
“Track those relationships and keep those people in mind as your company builds, because maybe somebody that's not right, right now, is going to be right down the future.” —@AThorkelsson [0:06:29]
“I wanted to work a little bit more closely with the founders, be a little bit more both emotionally, and literally, invested in the success of the people that I was placing.” —@AThorkelsson [0:09:09]
“Now's a really good time to push for more equity and take a little bit more risk on the cash side, because a lot of really great companies get built-in recessions.” —@AThorkelsson [0:24:22]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Atli Thorkelsson on Twitter
Atli Thorkelsson on LinkedIn
Redpoint Ventures
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
VP of TA and Development at Hillsdale, Elizabeth Goncalves explains how to execute and build trust and the importance of defining priorities, leadership development, and structuring and delivering individualized leadership programs within your business. She also shares her advice for how to structure your career, skillset, and drive in order to find and secure your dream job.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Elizabeth’s background and how she ended up in her current role.
- How she decided on Hillsdale and grew in her role there.
- Executing and building trust
- How her work priorities shifted as she built up trust for the function of her role.
- Her approach to taking the temperature of what the organization needed.
- Leadership development: how she plans to approach the project and deliver it to their team.
- How Elizabeth is going about figuring out what a leader needs to grow and how to deliver it.
- Her advice for how to structure your career, upskill yourself, and then go out and find your dream job: always raise your hand!
Tweetables:
“One thing that I've learned in my career thus far: If something scares you, you walk through it. You don't back away from it.” — Elizabeth Goncalves [0:06:48]
“It took someone like me, who understands what it takes to have a successful firm and to have successful relationships, to come in and asked questions, and then to determine where that would fit in under our priorities.” — Elizabeth Goncalves [0:13:52]
“It doesn't matter how many years of leadership you have under your belt. There are always things that we can be doing better.” — Elizabeth Goncalves [0:21:07]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Elizabeth Goncalves on LinkedIn
Hillsdale
Talk Talent to Me
Tresha Moreland has over 30 years of experience in HR leadership, serving as CHRO for a slew of big-name organizations. Tresha defines ‘meaningful workplaces’ for us before giving us an in-depth analysis of what it means to be a workforce planning specialist. It is better to have a holistic approach to workforce planning and Tresha tells us how it could be beneficial to delegate important conversations, how to go about doing it, and laying out the importance of having a mentorship program. We finish off with an educational conversation about creating a culture of great communication and good practices in the workplace, highlighting the importance of knowing your employee’s hearts and minds before they hand in their resignation.
Key Points From This Episode:
- What Tresha’s current role is and what her job entails.
- Why she switched from an internal role to a consulting position.
- How her motivation shifted to wanting to impact as many lives as possible.
- What a ‘meaningful workplace’ is: a space with a meaningful purpose.
- Characterizing the scope of Tresha’s offerings.
- What workforce planning is and what it means to be a workforce planning specialist.
- Taking a look at a holistic approach to workforce planning.
- How to start the retirement conversation with lower-level employees and candidates.
- The benefits of having a mentorship program.
- Why it’s a good idea to delegate important conversations and how to do it.
- How to create understanding and a sense of community in a remote-work world.
- Creating a culture of great communication and good daily practices.
- Why you should fully understand the hearts and minds of your employees before their resignation.
- Tresha’s example of ‘stay interview’ questions.
- Her words of advice for those looking to follow her trajectory and forge a career in HR.
Tweetables:
“I'm among millions of other workforce members who are now reassessing their priorities. We've seen through the pandemic that life is short. We knew that intuitively, but now we're seeing it firsthand.” —@HRCSuite [0:02:52]
“I've reassessed my priorities, and I see now that I want to make a bigger difference in the world. I want to be a part of something where I'm making an impact and having some meaning or purpose that goes beyond just the daily grind.” —@HRCSuite [0:03:14]
“People are looking for purpose over popcorn. They want to be a part of something where they're making a difference, something bigger than themselves.” —@HRCSuite [0:04:43]
“I don't know about you, Rob. But I'm not liking surprises much anymore. I'm pretty sure leaders and HR professionals throughout the nation are feeling the same way.” —@HRCSuite [0:06:02]
“I'm a workforce planning specialist, and I'm a data nerd.” —@HRCSuite [0:06:41]
“What you want to do, getting into the career, take a look at your values and what makes you tick, and then look for organizations that might align and support you in that way.” —@HRCSuite [0:26:28]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Tresha Moreland on Twitter
Tresha Moreland on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Head of Talent at Axle, Alicia Kortmeyer breaks down the changes she made to the redundant processes when she first arrived at Axle, the importance of operationalizing the hiring process, and the reasons why a company must allow room for mistakes. We end the conversation by trying to figure out if it is indeed possible to avoid involuntary churn.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing our guest, Alicia Kortmeyer, and a brief family history.
- What she misses most about being home in Kansas.
- Axle as a company: who they are and what they do.
- Logistics as a recession-proof industry.
- Alicia’s professional background and how she ended up working at Axle.
- How she knew that Axle was the real deal.
- Thriving in chaos.
- What her company said about hiring and growth that convinced her to want to succeed.
- Finding motivation from a relationship between two best friends.
- The things Alicia put in place to make an impact at Axle when she first arrived.
- Redundant steps in Axle’s interview process that she made changes to.
- The importance of operationalizing the hiring process and how she was able to do it.
- Why it’s necessary to allow room for mistakes.
- Paying more attention to the candidates than the job position.
- Seeing candidates not just as a transaction but as human beings.
- Whether there’s a formula to avoiding involuntary churn and if it’s at all possible.
Tweetables:
“Logistics isn't going anywhere. We're all Amazon Prime people. We all order things online, especially when the world shut down.” — Alicia Kortmeyer [0:05:22]
“I literally love who I work for and what I do. I love my team. I love the people. I'm so lucky to do what I do every single day. It's chaotic. It's crazy. It's never the same.” — Alicia Kortmeyer [0:08:06]
“I knew it wouldn't be easy. But who wants easy, right? That's so boring. I thrive in chaos. Even though I pound a bottle of wine often, I wouldn't have it any other way. Water is so boring.” —Alicia Kortmeyer [0:11:07]
“I love coming into that chaos, where it's like, ‘You are the smartest person in the room, go take this, and don't mess this up for us’. I love having that pressure under me. I love coming in and making things better and fixing things, and building people around me.” — Alicia Kortmeyer [0:12:33]
“I think it's so important to keep getting that feedback from candidates or in the industry, and seeing how we can evolve and how we can change and how we can improve because once you stand still, you're already behind the game.” — Alicia Kortmeyer [0:21:51]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Alicia Kortmeyer on LinkedIn
Axle
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Head of Talent Acquisition at EyCrowd, Matt Bonitt, shares how he ended up at EyCrowd and how their unique work culture cemented his decision to stay. We find out what recruitment policies Matt found in place when he arrived at the company, and what he chose to focus on as his first orders of business. EyCrowd prioritizes aptitude and attitude over skill and Matt gives us examples of the character traits he is looking for in prospective employees. You’ll get a close look at his interview process as he tells us of the most difficult aspects of hiring executives. For Matt, it’s all relationship-based and his interview format is loose and almost informal, to put the interviewee at ease so that they can feel comfortable enough to portray their true selves.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing our guest, Matt Bonitt and his guitar-themed room.
- Matt’s professional background and how he ended up at EyCrowd.
- What EyCrowd, as a business, does.
- The state of EyCrowd’s recruitment policy when Matt joined the company.
- What he prioritized as the first points of business in his new position as Head TA.
- EyCrowd as a remote-work organization.
- An exercise in company culture when determining prospective employee characteristics.
- Examples of character traits that Matt is looking for when hiring: humility is number one.
- Exploring the finer details of his interview process.
- Having a loose interview structure to put the interviewee at ease.
- Whether the current means of assessment in the interview process is fundamentally flawed.
- The possibility of replicating paired coding for other functions.
- Matt’s background in interviewing and hiring executives.
- Searching for and placing executives: a relationship-based game.
- What the most difficult part about looking for executives to hire is.
- How executives are able to skip the interview process entirely.
- Matt’s future career prospects.
Tweetables:
“I love the people aspect but I was a little bit getting sick of the corporate structure.” — Matt Bonitt [0:02:24]
“You don’t have to speak formally to be professional, you can just be real with people.” — Matt Bonitt [0:02:33]
“We place aptitude and attitude over skill. We have an excellent training and development program so we just want smart people with good hearts.” — Matt Bonitt [0:04:54]
“It’s a very nerve-wracking situation when you're going in an interview with somebody. So, one way that I augmented that was telling them all the questions I’m going to ask them upfront, and not having them answer them right away.” — Matt Bonitt [0:08:50]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Matt Bonitt on LinkedIn
EyCrowd
EyCrowd App
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Hired
Doreen Goldman, VP TA at TCW guides us on how to draw parallels from our own experiences and empower candidates to explore their different directions and potential trajectories. We go on to look at how to foster positive relationships to allow a candidate to connect with their potential employers, all while remembering the power of authenticity, growing your strengths, and acknowledging your areas of growth potential.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Doreen’s background and how she came to work in TCW.
- The talent acquisition department in TWC.
- The nature of competition in the industry.
- Understanding Doreen’s industry experience with developing technical and functional roles.
- Chatting about Doreen’s passion for her job: helping candidates build relationships.
- Doreen’s lack of regrets for her beginning hustles in her career.
- TWCs screening for the interviewing process.
- The balance between balancing growth potential and proving your capabilities.
- The campaigns that Doreen is running in TWC.
- The most impactful approach that a recruiter can take to learn and develop.
- Doreen charts her personal growth trajectory as a VP.
- The importance of budgeting your time and prioritization.
- The balance between criticism and appreciation.
Tweetables:
“The hard skills, the technical skills, are what we look for and are the hardest to satisfy.” — @reenyg926 [0:04:11]
“That's the key. It's being able to differentiate the candidates that are saying they're willing to learn and whether they are capable and willing to put the time in.” — @reenyg926 [0:04:36]
“Speed is everything. If you're not getting to the candidate first, somebody else is.” — @reenyg926 [0:07:33]
“You're only as good as the last role you filled.” — @reenyg926 [0:08:37]
“With Talent Acquisition, it's all about the reputation that you have, and the way you treat people.” — @reenyg926 [0:10:25]
“People stay when they feel appreciated, people stay when they feel valued, and when they're acknowledged for their hard work.” — @reenyg926 [0:23:39]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Doreen Goldman on Twitter
Doreen Goldman on LinkedIn
TCW
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Talk Talent To Me travels to the Shelton Theatre in San Francisco, CA for a LIVE recording with Gusto's VP of TA, Emil Yeargin, and Dropbox's Head of Global Commercial Recruiting, Justin McKenna. The panel discusses how to resource large talent teams, maintain the human touch while automating processes, and how to make sure the Talent team has a seat at the table when big decisions are being made.
Today on Talk Talent To Me, we are joined by the founder of Metaview, Siadhal Magos. Metaview trains their clients to become better interviewers through providing transcripts of the interviews and giving feedback on their skills. Tuning in, you’ll hear some examples of the feedback they will give, their ‘gold standard’ of interviewing, why the average employee is not very good at conducting interviews, and how Metaview helps their clients identify their best interviewers and use them as an example for other employees. We also discuss some unique ways clients have used Metaview’s tools and why the highest performing employees aren’t always the best interviewers. Next, look into why employees should run the same interview and how to prevent burnout. Lastly, Siadhal gives us some tips on what leaders can do to improve their interviewing process. Join us to find out more!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today’s guest, Siadhal Magos.
- Siadhal explains what Metaview does.
- Some examples of the feedback the company will give clients.
- Metaview’s ‘gold standard’ of interviewing.
- Why the average employee is most likely not good at conducting interviews.
- How Metaview’s clients identify their good interviewers and how the company assists them.
- Who Metaview aims their training at; the interviewer.
- How customers have used Metaview’s tool in a way Siadhal didn’t expect them to.
- How people are finding that their highest performing employees aren’t necessarily their best interviewers.
- Why employees shouldn’t run too many interviews as it risks burnout.
- Why interviewing for one specific role increases efficiency over interviewing for many different roles.
- What leaders can do to ensure that their companies are conducting good quality interviews.
Tweetables:
“What we don’t want is for everyone who adopts Metaview to end up interviewing exactly the same. What you want people to do is use this ability - to coach more of their interviewers to be - what they consider their best interviewers.” — @smagos [0:08:59]
“We’re staunch believers in the power of the data within interviews.” — @smagos [0:15:31]
“We are just trying to augment people’s ability to run great interviews and make great decisions.” — @smagos [0:16:23]
“The most important thing as an interviewer - is to understand the competencies you want to know about by the time you leave that interview.” — @smagos [0:25:23]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Siadhal Magos on Linkedln
Siadhal Magos on Twitter
Metaview
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today, we chat with VP of Talent Acquisition for Global Business Solutions at Fiserv, Bryan Schreiber. Bryan walks us through how recruitment has changed over the years, whilst still remaining true to a single core philosophy: Building relationships. We get to understand that the more honest a company is and the more they work on building that initial relationship with a potential employee, the more likely they are to find the right candidates and indeed keep them.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Engagement and company culture is what will keep retention numbers up.
- Many companies are attractive so job seekers are looking at many places at the same time; a big problem for recruiters.
- It’s important to make prospective employees aware of your company’s ethos.
- Successful recruitment can happen in any industry, as long as you know how to engage.
- In executive recruiting, people generally know exactly what they want.
- As a recruiter, you should know what you’re selling, and keep selling it.
- It’s all about relationship
- Recruiters and hiring managers should have a great relationship with one another.
- Behavioral stacks are great indicators for recruiters.
- It’s not a bad idea to stay at one company for a while and build those relationships.
Tweetables:
“To be able to explain that in a way that a candidate can understand and connect the dots back to their own life, that’s engagement.” — Bryan Schreiber [0:17:33]
“Gain a real understanding of the environment and the people—those relationships will support you for life, even if you leave.” — Bryan Schreiber [0:36:51]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
NBCUniversal's VP of Global TA Suzan Vulaj & Shutterstock's VP of TA Valerie Vadala join Rob LIVE from the Canary Club in New York City to kick off Talk Talent To Me's 2022 Roadshow.
Today we are joined by VP of People and Talent at Robust Intelligence, Riffat Jaffer. Listening to Riffat tell the story of her career journey and her 15 years of experience in the industry, we begin to understand what has cultivated her immense passion for talent acquisition and employee experience. Along the way, we hear all about her challenges, triumphs, and experiences in companies that shaped the path she is on today. This episode is full of advice, stories, and takeaways that will change your perspective on hypergrowth within a business, the normalization of internal hiring processes, and the importance of growth potential.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A look into the HR role Riffat plays in Robust Intelligence.
- Looking at Riffat’s career background in the talent acquisition industry.
- The journey Riffat has followed to end up at Robust Intelligence.
- Understanding why Riffat prefers working within smaller, rather than larger, companies.
- The ways Riffat solves problems at smaller companies with fewer resources.
- The functioning, working, and scaling of recruiting in different sized businesses.
- Understanding when and how to normalize processes within your business.
- The technical debt of not having a uniform and normalized interview process.
- Looking at a company’s potential for successful hypergrowth.
- How to assess a company’s potential for hypergrowth.
- The elements of Riffat’s job that she is passionate about.
- Looking at characterizing people, their motivations, and their love for their jobs.
- An important reminder to remember growth potential when hiring.
Tweetables:
“We hire people that want to do more than their core job. So, at startups, the mindset is always, we can do anything, and we can do it better.” — @staffingqueen [0:08:13]
“Think about diversity and make sure that your positions are being looked at and applied to by a diverse group of candidates.” — @staffingqueen [0:12:19]
“Integrating both employee experience as well as the recruiting cycle is really critical and essential.” — @staffingqueen [0:20:03]
“Figuring out where each candidate is in [their] journey really helps make them successful once they’re in the job.” — @staffingqueen [0:22:44]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Riffat Jaffer Email
Riffat Jaffer on LinkedIn
Riffat Jaffer on Twitter
Robust Intelligence
Robust Intelligence on LinkedIn
Sequoia Capital
Wealthfront
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
TA Manager Erica Schroen joins to discuss her role at Sysco Labs, how the larger Sysco ecosystem supports her talent team, and how she's charting her recruiting career growth.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A welcome to today’s guest, Erica Schroen
- COVID-created work dynamics and tips on making friends in your 30s.
- The background story behind how Erica ended up in recruitment at Sysco Labs.
- How Erica’s instinctual competitive nature saw her forge a successful career.
- The satisfaction and fulfillment of giving a job offer letter.
- The connection between Sysco Labs and the greater Sysco Technologies.
- Understanding Erica’s team’s focus within Sysco’s customer experience division.
- The agility of a small team with the resources, tools, and support of a big company.
- Examples of campaigns, partnerships, and changes Erica has cultivated.
- The need for honest, transparent communication when advising on hiring processes.
- The next steps in Erica’s career journey.
Tweetables:
“It was selling them why they needed to work with me, why was I the industry leader, and why were they going to pay me a percentage of someone’s salary to find them.” — Erica Schroen [0:07:37]
“For me, it was about placing the person where they wanted to grow and learn and see their next step.” — Erica Schroen [0:11:23]
“What I’ve learned the most is that it’s those constant check-ins. Whether you like it or not, you got to do it and you got to let them know the progress and the pulse of what’s going on.” — Erica Schroen [0:27:07]
“I have realized it is better to speak up sooner rather than later.” — Erica Schroen [0:27:26]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Erica Schroen on LinkedIn
Erica Schroen on Instagram
Sysco Labs
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Come See TT2M LIVE! Register below:
New York City - The Canary Club - June 1st
San Francisco - Shelton Theatre - June 8th
London - The Steel Yard - June 16th
Kin Insurance Recruiter (and formerly Rob's boss) Tessa Groll sits down with returning champion & Career Coach, Sarah Baker Andrus for a full career coaching session. Sarah asks Tessa leading questions about what fulfills her in her work, how she approaches her role, and gives advice on how she can stay in the driver's seat of her newfound career in the talent space.
Register for TT2M Roadshow Here:
New York City - The Canary Club - June 1st
San Francisco - Shelton Theatre - June 8th
London - The Steel Yard - June 16th
Today we are joined by the VP of Talent at Gusto, Emil Yeargin. Emil has a tech background and an extensive career in talent and recruitment. We discuss Emil’s recruitment goals for Gusto and tap into how leaders respond to the feedback he gives. Emil also explains what makes recruitment successful before diving into his background and an overview of his career up to this point. Emil then dismisses stereotypes surrounding his role and explains why the new generation will be passionate about recruitment. We discuss the new generation’s relationship with technology and how it has evolved over the last few years. Finally, Emil gives advice to those who want to pursue recruitment as their career.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today’s guest, Emil Yeargin.
- How things are going at Gusto.
- How Emil prepares for the meetings at the end of the year so the team gets what it needs.
- Emil’s goal for reinventing recruitment in Gusto.
- How leaders take Emil’s feedback about their recruitment skills.
- Emil explains good recruitment on a very basic level – knowing your organization.
- An arc of Emil’s extensive career and how he ended up in his current role at Gusto.
- How he realized that recruitment is about more than just placing someone in a job position.
- Why the new generation will be very passionate about recruitment as a career.
- The new generation’s interaction with technology.
- How Emil thinks HR tech has evolved over the last few years.
- Advice Emil would give for people who want to have a similar career to his.
Tweetables:
“How are you going to be impactful in really driving this company to its optimal greatness?” — Emil Yeargin [0:04:43]
“I think the next generation unlike us are going to grow up wanting to be recruiters.” — Emil Yeargin [0:17:47]
“Drive impact, drive high-level philosophy and drive a culture where you can tie business objectives to your work, so that you feel attached to it.” — Emil Yeargin [0:26:26]
“Recruiting is all about narrative. It’s all about being able to tell a holistic cohesive story.” — Emil Yeargin [0:27:33]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Emil Yeargin on Linkedln
Gusto
New York City - The Canary Club - June 1st
San Francisco - Shelton Theatre - June 8th
London - The Steel Yard - June 16th
We are so excited to welcome the Director of TA at Comcast, Keith Friant. Our chat starts by exploring the humble beginnings of Keith's career, and the importance of embracing all potential job opportunities. Keith goes on to crack open his business model to help us understand the ins and outs of a successful recruitment company. While doing this, he highlights methods Comcast uses, such as the forecasting processes and bottom-up approach, to emphasize the importance of customer experience. We are lucky enough to end off the podcast with a personal nugget of career-driven wisdom from Keith.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Looking at how Keith’s career background led him to recruitment.
- How Keith organically moved up within Comcast.
- The growing popularity and success of recruiting as a profession.
- The evolution of necessary skills, tools, and technology needed to be a recruiter.
- The importance of focusing on the operational and production side of businesses.
- The forecasting of growth, hiring, and potential job opportunities.
- A bottom-up approach to running your company: focusing on customer experiences.
- Understanding NPS and how Comcast utilizes its survey information and feedback.
- How Comcast helps its employees grow and move within the business.
- The importance of skill and competency-based interviewing in the hiring process.
- Keith’s guide to forging a successful career.
Tweetables:
“Strategy and being strategic are such overused terminology — the business thinks we’re strategic if we help save them time, help deliver great talent, and help drive diversity.” — @keithfriant [0:06:32]
“I don’t think much has changed about what we should be doing but more about how we go about doing it, how are you saving time, how are you adopting best practices, how are you really understanding and listening and consulting with the business.” — @keithfriant [0:07:28]
“Having an engaging, succinct, and meaningful candidate experience is so critical.” — @keithfriant [0:14:19]
“It is good as a leader to know if you have people on your team looking, so you can either plan for the growth on their team or prepare for the “What’s next?”” — @keithfriant [0:25:06]
“Being able to foster an environment of trust, understanding, and empathy in tandem with driving excellent results, understanding your business, and really being able to collaborate with all of your talent partners, I personally think has been the key to my success so far.” — @keithfriant [0:28:11]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Keith Friant on Twitter
Keith Friant on LinkedIn
Keith Friant on Instagram
Comcast
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Talk Talent To Me LIVE RSVP:
New York City - The Canary Club - June 1st
San Francisco - Shelton Theatre - June 8th
London - The Steel Yard - June 16th
Today on Talk Talent To Me, we are joined by Nailah Banks-Embden, SVP of People and Culture at Insider. Nailah explains how she was able to introduce a culture of inclusivity and diversity at Insider and how she was able to make culture a priority for the company. Nailah also delves into how Insider is going to focus on career development this year before giving us an overview of how they will help employees use their abundance of resources effectively. She tells us how she knew that Insider was ready for a change and what that entails as well as who will be responsible for their future plans. Finally, Nailah tells us what her hopes are for the future of the company and gives a word of advice to people who aspire to forge their career in the same direction she has.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing the guest Nailah Banks-Embden.
- An overview of Nailah’s background and how she ended up in her current role at Insider.
- Why experience in recruiting and connecting with experts in the field is imperative.
- Nailah explains the process of interviewing for her current job.
- What Nailah was looking for at the time of interviewing for her current job with Insider.
- How she reflected and figured out what she wants in her career.
- The importance of allowing employees to be themselves in company culture.
- How she was able to ensure that Insider was ready for a culture of inclusivity.
- How she went about turning that culture into policy for the company.
- How Insider is going to invest in career development this year.
- The strategy at Insider is to help employees use their resources most effectively.
- How Nailah knew that the company had outgrown its previous systems.
- Nailah explains who will be responsible for all the content Insider plans to create.
- What her ideal outcome of all these changes is.
- Nailah’s opinion of Slack as a source of communication.
- Discussing the abundance of software used today.
- Advice Nailah would give to people aspiring to have roles such as hers.
Tweetables:
“One of my number one values is authenticity and bringing my whole self to work and not having to compartmentalize who I am when I'm at work.” —Nailah Banks-Embden [0:09:23]
“Don't be afraid to take a risk. Take that leap and if it doesn't work out, you gain experience, you learn from it, and you're better the next time you embark on a new role.” —Nailah Banks-Embden [0:22:36]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent To Me
Nailah Banks-Embden on Linkedln
Insider
Hired
Josh Millet, CEO & Co-Founder of Criteria, breaks down our old, outdated ideas of standard hiring processes and explains the importance of using newer and improved science-based assessment tools. Josh founded his company, Criteria, 15 years ago and uses his experience in software development and organizational psychology to delve into the flaws of our hiring systems. Josh highlights the gap between the scientific evidence and the indexing measures that organizations are using to hire their employees and gives some insight into how to minimize this gap. We gain an understanding that, although experience and academic achievement seem related to success, they should not be the only factors influencing your ability to get hired. In order to implement this process, organizations need to rethink the boundaries of their talent pool and use new methods to filter potential employees. This episode is helpful for both the employee and employer, delving into how to be better prepared for the hiring process and how to implement this process for better business outcomes!
Key Points From This Episode:
- A welcome to today’s guest, Josh Millet.
- A look at Josh’s career background and the origin of his company, Criteria.
- Exploring different jobs Josh had before he discovered his ideal place in the working world.
- The influence of organizational psychology on his business plan.
- Exploring the business's goals while understanding the needs of its target market.
- Understanding the gap between scientific research and organizations' hiring practices.
- How hiring based on resumes and interviews recognizes the wrong talent signals.
- How Criteria creates objective and standardized assessments for measuring talent signals.
- A brief history of why companies are indexing incorrectly, leading to inaccurate evaluation.
- Shifting the interview process from hypothetical problem-solving to work-based situations.
- The ineffective, non-diversifying, and problematic outcomes of focusing on resumes.
- The importance of hiring adaptable, problem-solving, and versatile employees for the evolving business world.
- How Josh created effective, bias-reduced, and objective assessments as a tool to funnel a talent pool of candidates.
- The importance of intentionality in all aspects of the talent-acquisition process.
Tweetables:
“Demanding experience, especially for entry and mid-level type roles, is really systematically excluding early career folks.” — @joshmillet [0:06:47]
“A better way to predict performance and measure potential is to look for stronger talent signals rather than indexing heavily off the weaker ones like years of experience and educational pedigree.” — @joshmillet [0:10:40]
“The more complex the role is, the more important learning ability is.” — @joshmillet [0:16:32]
“Assessments and structured interviews essentially establish rules and objectivity that allow you to make more informed talent decisions that aren’t swayed by things that really aren’t predictive of success.” — @joshmillet [0:23:31]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Josh Millet on Twitter
Josh Millet on LinkedIn
Criteria
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining us on Talk Talent To Me today is Sarah Wasif, Chief People Officer at LandTech. Today Sarah outlines what scaling looks like for the company and how she plans on executing growth. Next, she outlines the important things to be considered when a company grows and how you can be adaptable to things that may not work on a larger scale. Sarah then tells us how and what elements of a business should be localized when moving into different areas and what should remain as is. Sarah discusses some of the tricks she has found helpful when trying to keep original employees happy and maintain the company’s original value system before telling us how she ensures that new employees align with those values and are a good fit. Lastly, Sarah discusses how the world has changed to incorporate an emphasis on personal behavior in the workplace. Tune in to find out how to expand a company globally and stay true to its values.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today’s guest, Sarah Wasif.
- Sarah explains her background and how she landed up working at LandTech.
- What scaling looks like for Sarah over the next few years.
- How Sarah plans on executing her growth plans for the company.
- How she will see what will work and what won’t in a company of a larger scale than before.
- Sarah outlines the pillars used in her strategies.
- Pillar one: the way you attract people.
- Pillar two: how you retain them.
- Pillar three: sustainability.
- How elements will have to be localized as the company expands globally.
- Why Sarah thinks Americans index more on equity in a company.
- Examples of areas LandTech are going to focus on before they expand.
- How the company keeps the original team members happy as the team expands.
- How maintaining the values of the company will keep employees happy for years.
- How to ensure new employees align with company values.
- Sarah explains the safe conversations she wants to have with potential employees.
- The importance of teaching people about how the world works.
- Sarah outlines how business has changed to emphasize employee behavior.
Tweetables:
“I haven't joined and worked in a business where some of those early individuals are still A, here, and B, as passionate as the first day I landed eyes on them nearly four years ago.” — @Sarah_Wasif [0:15:12]
“I think I would have paid really good money, not even in my early career, even in school, [for someone to teach me] how the world operates.” — @Sarah_Wasif [0:22:27]
“The concept of emotional intelligence is no longer a soft, fluffy, nice to have. I think companies and successful companies are really honing in into it.” — @Sarah_Wasif [0:23:40]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent to Me
Sarah Wasif on LinkedIn
Sarah Wasif on Twitter
LandTech
Tag
Omnicom
BBC
SwiftKey
Hired
Bigger and better are aspirations that most companies hold, but scaling a business is complicated and requires a range of expertise to ensure that the culture and values are sustained as the company grows. In today’s episode, we speak to Anabel Morales, who is in charge of VP talent acquisitions at Worksome. Worksome is a Danish-based company that offers an end-to-end solution for companies to manage their external workforce. Anabel's approach to her role is centered on forming interpersonal relationships, and upholding company culture and values. In this episode, we learn more about Anabel’s role at Worksome, the services that Worksome provides, recruiting in different marketplaces, challenges in the current marketplace, the importance of company values, and much more!
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to today’s show and some background information on Anabel’s career.
- The journey to Anabel’s current role as VP of talent acquisition at Worksome.
- How income tax works for Americans working and living in Denmark.
- We find out about the work that Worksome does and Anabel’s approach to her role.
- Current challenges that Anabel sees as a priority within the recruitment sector.
- Problems that Anabel experienced during the Series A funding round.
- Hiring capacity of Worksome during the early stages of growth.
- The importance of hiring local expertise when working in unique markets.
- The steps that Anabel took to increase capacity at Worksome.
- How Anabel ensured recruitment was quick and effective.
- Motivation behind Anabel’s idea to change to another ATS for data.
- The values that Worksome cultivates and how these benefit them as a hiring brand.
- Why Anabel thinks it is essential for companies to establish a value system.
- The link between company culture and values, and what the culture at Worksome is like.
- How Anabel conveys Worksome’s values and culture to candidates.
- Anabel’s approach to sustaining company values and culture while scaling.
- Why Anabel thinks cultivating psychological safety during the interview process is important.
- Anabel shares some practical examples of how to cultivate psychological safety.
Tweetables:
“My approach was about finding great recruiters in both of those markets that could promote our brand, build relationships and also be cultural ambassadors in those offices.” — Anabel Morales [0:07:08]
“Being a startup, you want to make sure that early on you are able to build a great experience and a good brand in the market, especially for entering new markets.” — Anabel Morales [0:08:22]
“We recognize that the key to scaling successfully, or at least scaling our culture successfully, is going to be to equip our leaders with some tools to really scale this trust, transparency, and inclusion.” — Anabel Morales [0:17:46]
“It’s really not possible to expect people to feel comfortable talking about their mistakes if you don’t have the leadership to support it.” — Anabel Morales [0:21:29]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Anabel Morales on LinkedIn
Anabel Morales on Instagram
Worksome
Greenhouse
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Talk Talent To Me LIVE RSVP:
New York City - The Canary Club - June 1st
San Francisco - Shelton Theatre - June 8th
London - The Steel Yard - June 16th
We are so excited to welcome the Senior Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition at PepsiCo, Blair Bennett. Blair shares her background in politics & executive recruiting, and how her career prepared her to lead the talent function at PepsiCo. You’ll also hear about diversity goals within leadership at PepsiCo, and the strategies the team has implemented in order to achieve them. We talk priorities, and chat about Blair’s day-to-day life at PepsiCo, with a focus on her amazing team, partnerships, and leadership. Blair believes that there is no better career than talent acquisition. Tune in today to hear why.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcome to today’s guest, Blair Bennett.
- Her career background, getting her start in politics, with a common theme of networking.
- The story of how she came to work for Korn Ferry and met her husband there.
- Her move to Arkansas following her husband’s transfer to Walmart.
- Why having curiosity is such a powerful motivation to learn new things.
- How everything they do is driving a bigger function than just filling roles.
- The responsibility she feels to bring what is happening in the company to her team.
- Diversity goals in recruitment leadership and inclusive culture.
- Strategies they have adopted to reach those goals including partnering internally with our employee resource groups.
- Priority and focus within Talent Acquisition at PepsiCo including, and prioritizing diversity.
- The broader responsibility that guides how she goes about each day.
- How her team is structured and how she has made diversity a priority within that structure.
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Partnerships and collaboration at PepsiCo.
-
Why Blair believes that there is no better career than talent acquisition.
Tweetables:
“I fell in love with the executive recruiting and at Korn Ferry, and I met my future husband, so I found two loves out of the deal.” — @searchblair [0:06:12]
“I'm constantly learning. I learn something new every day, whether it's something about the business, or something about talent, or something about another company, or something about an industry. Keeping that sense of curiosity is something that has been very important to me.” — @searchblair [0:10:30]
“Because I'm somebody who likes to learn and, because I'm somebody who continues to have a curiosity about what's happening in our industry, I try to find ways to bring that to the teams as well. I hope that people get some takeaways from it that they may not otherwise get in their day-to-day experiences.” — @searchblair [0:14:22]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Blair Bennett on LinkedIn
Blair Bennett on Twitter
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today’s guest is Natalie Cleaver, the Head of People at Rune Labs, a software and data platform company focusing on neuromodulation. In today’s episode we learn about some of the challenges startups face during recruitment drives, the development of interpersonal relationships between team members, diversity and inclusion for startups, the importance of empathy from management, Natalie’s revolutionary compensation strategy, and much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Challenges for startups during the onboarding of new employees.
- The recruitment team’s role in sustaining the onboarding process.
- What Natalie is prioritizing regarding the onboarding process.
- Approaches Natalie has to soft skills and culture-norming.
- Risks an organization faces if it does not prioritize soft skills.
- Examples of resources that conflict within an organization uses.
- How much should you expect from your co-workers.
- Significance of forming interpersonal relationships with co-workers.
- Details about Natalie’s revolutionary transparent compensation strategy.
- Discussion about negotiating power with regards to salary.
- Reasons for why transparent compensation is not standard.
- Challenges faced during the roll-out of the transparent compensation strategy.
Tweetables:
“It doesn’t matter what kind of rock star you are, it doesn’t matter how great you are or what experience you came from, if you cannot work with other people there is no space for you in our organization.” — Natalie Cleaver [0:07:04]
“It doesn’t have to be this deep profound engagements but it does have to be respectful and collegial.” — Natalie Cleaver [0:12:49]
“Instead, you really want to think about how it is affecting people that you might have just been outside of your sphere of consideration before.” — Natalie Cleaver [0:20:02]
“Compensation is an indispensable building block in my mind. I think there is absolutely no way that you can be fair and equitable to the people who work for you in any way, shape or form if you cannot promise them that their compensation is equitable.” — Natalie Cleaver [0:21:56]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Natalie Cleaver on LinkedIn
Rune Labs
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today's guest is Danielle Clark, VP Talent at Fastly. Danielle has experience as both a consultant and working in-house within the tech industry, and has a pragmatic and people-focused approach to solving problems within a business. In today’s show we find out what work Danielle is currently involved with, how businesses are beginning to recognize the value of people-based solutions, the differences between working as a consultant and in-house, how to best advocate for yourself as an employee, advice for getting that promotion, and much more!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Danielle explains what overhauling performance management entails.
- Motivation behind the decision to overhaul management.
- What the ultimate goal of overhauling management is.
- We find out what Fastly is and what Danielle’s current role there entails.
- Frequency of scaling and hyper-growth after the initial public offering.
- Responsibilities Danielle had when she was a consultant.
- Common threads that companies have regarding talent and leaders.
- Danielle’s decision to leave consulting and begin working in-house.
- How to become a real consultant and partner and not just take orders.
- Advice for juggling different jobs and responsibilities as a consultant.
- The importance of leaders acknowledging the role and potential of recruitment.
- A discussion about the contribution of individuals to an organization.
- Why clear expectations are so important during recruitment drives.
- Advocating for yourself to help you grow in the organization.
Tweetables:
“You also have to be prepared to embrace a lot of different backgrounds and different kinds of business principles and operational rigor that maybe you hadn’t had to do when you’re a private company.” — Danielle Clark [0:07:42]
“Consulting gives you so much exposure to so many things so quickly. There’s no way I would have got the experience I had if I’d worked those eight years in-house, it’s just impossible.” — Danielle Clark [0:13:51]
“Take stock of what the purpose is, really think about how that fits into the bigger business and the value that you are adding to that.” — Danielle Clark [0:19:23]
“Everyone listening to this should have a perspective on the role of talent in their organization, which is not just putting bodies into seats or in front of screens but really bringing in new ideas.” — Danielle Clark [0:21:35]
“It doesn’t mean you need to be extroverted, it doesn’t mean that you need to take up all the air in the room but it does mean that you need to advocate for yourself and know that that’s part of it.” — Danielle Clark [0:30:18]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Danielle Clark on LinkedIn
Fastly
Hired
Talk Talent to Me
Today’s guest is Sam Baber, the VP Talent at Storable. Sam explains how to foster personal relationships within the workplace, warning signs to look out for when recruiting, lessons Sam has learned over his professional career, what makes a successful recruitment strategy, and much more. Tune in today to hear why empathy, compassion, and leadership are the keys to becoming successful in the executive recruitment space with today's expert, Sam Baber!
Key Points From This Episode:
- We find out what Sam is currently working on.
- What Sam’s team does in between recruiting people for new hires.
- Background about Storable and the services they offer.
- Current recruitment strategies and goals of Storable.
- Discussion about when people accept a job offer and don’t show up for work.
- If someone delaying their starting date is a warning sign.
- Sam’s approach to building a rapport with candidates.
- Reasons why Sam's recent recruitment campaign was so successful.
- Details about the ‘hidden cheques’ that Storable gives to their teams.
- How helping your employees to grow is beneficial for a company.
- Examples of books that have helped Sam in his professional career.
- The approach Sam takes to recruiting.
- The top tip that Sam has for new employees at a company.
- Advice for people seeking to enter leadership roles in the recruiting sector.
Tweetables:
“I think one of the key things for us is we put our large priority and investment of time in the relationship that the recruiters build with the candidates.” — Sam Baber [0:11:12]
“I just think it does fall on leaders to make sure you are providing an environment for folks to be creative, make mistakes but also get out of their way because they’ll surprise you almost every time.” — Sam Baber [0:19:52]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Sam Baber on LinkedIn
Storable
Storable on LinkedIn
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management
Remembrance of Things Past: Volume I - Swann's Way & Within a Budding Grove (Vintage)
The Scarlet Letter
The Great Gatsby
East of Eden
Project Hail Mary
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynast
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining us in conversation today is Rick Jordan, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition over at DICK’S Sporting Goods. You’ll hear the story of how DICK’S was started and how Rick landed his current role with them with a background in hospitality and talent. DICK’S is a pandemic success story, and Rick tells us about the unexpected turn of events that resulted in the business thriving despite the restrictions. You’ll also hear about the exciting projects that DICK’S is working on at the moment, and why, in the current market, we need to think more like marketers and less like human resource people.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Meet today’s guest, Rick Jordan, with DICK’S Sporting Goods.
- The story of how DICK’S started in New York before opening corporate campus in Pittsburgh.
- Why Pittsburgh is called the Steel City and how it has evolved over the last 15 years.
- Rick’s background in hospitality and talent and how he ended up in his current role.
- Why nothing beats Resorts World Las Vegas.
- How DICK’S navigated the pandemic and what they are doing today to reach their goal of $15 million by 2025 (plus the role that talent plays).
- The natural upswing in interest in golf thanks to its natural social distancing.
- The new store where you can buy big brands: Going, Going, Gone!
- DICK’S House of Sport stores that have opened in Rochester and Knoxville.
- Why brick and mortar stores are far from dead.
- The leaders that Rick works with across his company and their team dynamic.
- The role of the TA Focus Project Manager
- Why we need to think more like marketers in the current market and less like HR people.
- The difference that having been funded to tell the story has made.
- Why Rick believes that the war on talent is over, and that talent won!
- Why people no longer settle for a job, but seek opportunities they are excited about.
- The mini war that is going on within HR talent and the power of investing in a strong team.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Rick Jordan on LinkedIn
DICK’S Sporting Goods
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining me today is the VP of talent acquisition at AvantStay, Uyen Hua. In today’s conversation, you will hear about Uyen's unconventional professional journey which led to her current role at AvantStay, and the important lessons she learned along the way. We also discuss the limitations and benefits of working remotely, and why companies should be careful to force their employees back to the traditional office workspace. We learn about Uyen’s pragmatic approach to developing her team to ensure the long-term needs of the organization. You will also learn about the difference between a specialist and generalist recruiter, the importance of personal relationships, how to have a constructive conversation with management, insider tips, and much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- What Uyen thinks going back to the office will involve for AvantStay.
- We discuss how remote working has altered employees perception of the office.
- The possible reasons why some companies are aggressively motivating people to go back to the office.
- How forcing employees’ back to the office can backfire on a company.
- Issues for companies ensuring that in-person and remote workers are equitable.
- Other factors that may cause people to go back to the office full-time.
- Uyen's current role and details about her professional journey.
- The steps Uyen takes to reconcile the numbers needed to what is predicted.
- Approach that Uyen takes when having difficult conversations regarding recruiting needs.
- How to deal with individual roles once the long-term goals have been decided.
- Where Uyen starts when building her team.
- Whether Uyen prefers a specialized recruiter or a generalist.
- Limitations that are associated with a generalist recruiter.
- Problems that people face when seeking a career in talent acquisition and management.
- How Uyen thinks about development for herself and her team.
- Significance of personal connections in the recruitment industry.
- Finding a role that suits you and your future aspirations.
Tweetables:
“We don’t need to be beholden to something that is essentially just moot or no longer relevant for our needs but let’s make sure we’re doing that sense check on a regular basis if nothing else.” — Uyen Hua [0:17:04]
“It is amazing in series A to have people who are pinch hitters and kind of can lead in anywhere and have the attitude and the ability to do that but you’re really not doing yourself the company or them any favors by continuing to push for that mindset.” — Uyen Hua [0:23:39]
“As I’m scaling a team as I’ve done so many different times before, starting with a team of a couple of people who have kind of just put their blood, sweat and tears, it is really important to me as I build further on that organization, that one thing I am keeping in mind apart from the needs of the business itself is the passions of those respective recruiters.” — Uyen Hua [0:27:09]
“It’s a relationship driven industry and role and so go where you feel that synergy and that connection and you won’t be steered wrong.” — Uyen Hua [0:29:15]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Uyen Hua on LinkedIn
AvantStay
Hired
Talk Talent to Me
Joe Mullings is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the world’s leading search firm in the medical advice industry, the Mullings Group. Joe explains how long term investments in building a talent brand through rich content & storytelling is a crucial part of an effective hiring strategy,.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Joe tells us what he is currently working on and what it's like to run several companies.
- Context about what the Mullings Group is and what their key offerings are.
- The shift Joe made to producing content as an additional service.
- The trends that Joe has noticed in the industry.
- The advantages of using media for recruitment of talent.
- Limitations of traditional recruitment strategies.
- How alternative recruitment methods allows access to the ‘passive’ market.
- What Joe regards as deficiency in job postings.
- Identifying who your employees will become in the long-term.
- The gaps between traditional recruitment strategies and effective content strategy.
- Example of an impactful recruitment campaign strategy.
- The difference between a hiring brand and hiring video.
- The importance of considering long-term recruitment strategies.
- Who should be responsible for the long-term recruitment strategies.
- Why prioritizing recruitments is important.
- Measuring the success of a recruitment program.
Tweetables:
“It’s a series of demands and it has nothing to do with explaining to people who they might become when they went to work at your company.” — @joemullings [0:05:21]
“It's a chorus of efforts in order to access and constantly have on a slow drip, the best talent in your domain.” — @joemullings [0:07:53]
“Inability and incompetency is not a fair excuse and I do believe in the next 24 months, we’ll have an enormous reckoning in those organizations that do not create an ongoing committed multimillion dollar per year hiring brand because conventional job postings and conventional recruiting do not work as effectively any longer.” — @joemullings [0:23:13]
“Your goal should be to that talent access producer who is going to be getting the best people showing up for you to interview.” — @joemullings [0:27:44]
“People will not shut you off because they won’t feel like they’re the product. They will feel like that they are learning or experiencing something from watching your content.” — @joemullings [0:31:36]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Joe Mullings on LinkedIn
Joe Mullings on Twitter
Joe Mullings on Facebook
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
The Mullings Group
The Mullings Group on LinkedIn
Hello and welcome to a brand new episode of Talk Talent to Me, featuring Christine Redd, vice president of talent acquisition at AlertMedia. During today’s conversation, she shares the story of how she learned the art of recruitment after getting her start in traditional HR. You’ll learn how her HR background has enriched her knowledge of talent acquisition, and why she finds her work at Alert Media to be particularly meaningful. We explore what it means to work in high-growth spaces and why Christine prefers this kind of environment, before discussing the movement towards choosing a career path in recruitment rather than stumbling into it after working elsewhere. Her goal is to offer every candidate the ultimate experience, and she reveals why asking open-ended questions is such a beneficial tool. We talk about counter-offers and employee happiness, before Christine offers some practical advice to listeners who are interested in roles in high-growth companies. Thanks for listening!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Meet today’s guest, vice president of talent acquisition at Alert Media, Christine Redd.
- Why working remotely was not an adjustment for Christine: she had already been doing it!
- Finding peers online through networking and why it is necessary to be deliberate.
- Why you have to be willing to give back in order to get back.
- Christine’s career background in hight-growth Saas, leading up to VP of talent acquisition.
- What makes Alert Media different: the work makes a difference!
- Why she believes that today’s market enables you to choose work you believe in.
- What she loves about working in hight-growth spaces.
- How she has drawn on her HR background to understand elements of talent acquisition.
- The movement towards recognizing the art of recruitment as a career path.
- What sparked her movement from general HR to specializing in recruitment.
- Her focus on offering candidates the ultimate experience.
- Finding the balance between assessing a candidate and showing what you offer.
- Why asking open-ended questions is a powerful tool.
- Establishing the profile of what is needed to complete a team with career pathing in mind.
- What is meant by the counter-offer notion.
- How communication can resolve the issues that arise when employees become unhappy.
- Why it is so important to have regular touchpoints instead of having to do a counter-offer.
- What advice she would give to someone who is looking for a role in a hight-growth company.
Tweetables:
“I think it’s a balance, if you give back, you get back.” — Christine Redd [0:05:20]
“Alert Media is doing important work. It’s not just some random product, it’s to save lives and minimize loss by facilitating that two-way communication when emergency situations threaten employee safety.” — Christine Redd [0:07:10]
“I want to do something that is impactful and I have always said I think that’s why I enjoy working for hight-growth companies because your work is so impactful. When you’re not there, people know this, right? The work that you do can be seen for years down the road.” — Christine Redd [0:08:50]
“Making people feel needed and wanted is super important and being genuine about that. People need to hear it, I just don’t think they are hearing it enough. Even though their manager might feel that way, it is not being verbalized.” — Christine Redd [0:34:00]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Alert Media
Christine Redd on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining me today is Stephanie Maillet, who is not your typically trained human resources pro. Stephanie originally found her passion for working with people managing bands and musicians in the Boston area. Stephanie is currently based at Handsome as Head of People where she helps foster an inclusive, nurturing, and communicative environment for employees through career coaching. In today's episode we find out about Stephanie’s diverse career background, what career coaching is, the difference career coaching can make to a company, challenges surrounding distributed workforces, and so much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Details about Stephanie’s career journey.
- What made Stephanie pursue a career in career coaching.
- Differences between traditional coaching and career coaching.
- How the changing work environment is leading to a need for career coaches.
- Stephanie and Rob discuss issues surrounding traditional management of the workforce.
- The first steps Stephanie takes when coaching someone.
- Homework for employees and what it entails.
- Experiences Stephanie has had working as a life coach.
- Homework assignments and how they are beneficial.
- The value that a life coach can make to your workforce.
- Company culture and why it is important.
- What Stephanie regards as the biggest challenge for remote-working.
- Examples of Stephanie’s methods to ensure the mental well-being of employees.
- Stephanie tells us how to keep your workforce connected.
Tweetables:
“Retention is really important but I never want to feel like people are leaving because they didn’t get the most out of the organization and that people feel supported and cared for in everything that we do.” — @stephaniemz1 [0:21:29]
“In a remote culture like the one that we have at Handsome, there isn’t that, so you have to create your own rituals and we’re working on ways in which to connect people to each other beyond the projects that they’re on.” — @stephaniemz1 [0:24:20]
“Everything has to be so scheduled and if you are not careful, it can only be transactional. That is not as rewarding of an experience as people tend to want, whether they know they want it or not.” — @stephaniemz1 [0:25:50]
“We are also trying to find ways to get people together in person because I still don’t know a better way to really get to know each other than actually meeting each other in person.” — @stephaniemz1 [0:29:50]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Stephanie Maillet on LinkedIn
Stephanie Maillet on Twitter
Talk Talent to Me
Vice President of Talent Acquisition at Talend, Lance Sapera, shares the work of transforming the data space for talent acquisition to streamline processes and make it easier for businesses to find the people they need.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Lance outlines the work Talend is involved in.
- We learn about Lance’s professional journey.
- Details about the talent department at Talend.
- The approach Talend takes to talent acquisition.
- Lance clarifies what the “hiring manager plus one interview” is.
- Importance of company culture for retaining employees.
- Steps to start standardizing the talent acquisition process.
- One tool that Lance thinks would be a game-changer.
- The importance and frequency of updates on capacity.
- Lance’s experience working with contract recruiters.
- Whether contract recruiters are suitable for established teams.
- How Lance ensures the talent department is respected.
- Some advice for people thinking about working in talent acquisition.
Tweetables:
“ The competitiveness of the market I think is probably what’s keeping everyone on at night now.” — @LSapP3C [0:02:44]
“I haven’t verified it but the rumor is that there are more recruiter jobs on LinkedIn now than there are developer roles. That’s how important hiring is across the globe.” — @LSapP3C [0:15:27]
“I think there is a real mix there and again, just like any team, the things you learn sometimes even unexpectedly from the mix of your team helps you move forward in a more effective way.” — @LSapP3C [0:20:51]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent to Me
Lance Sapera on LinkedIn
Lance Sapera on Twitter
Talend
Joining me today is the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield, Stephanie Browne. Stephanie is responsible for recruiting, retaining, and developing high-performing staff, as well as guiding diversity and inclusion strategies. Unique to Stephanie is her background in technology which has allowed her to streamline and automate processes regarding talent management and acquisition. In today’s episode, we hear about Stephanie’s background and discuss topics such as using technology in talent management processes, and diversity and inclusion goals. We also discuss her two roles in the company, how diversity is a strength, how technology can remove bias, what the pillar strategy is, and so much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- A background into Stephanie and her work at Blue Cross Blue Shield.
- How Stephanie’s experience in technology has been benefitted her talent acquisition work.
- Examples of using technology for automation of talent acquisition processes.
- The removal of bias when sourcing processes are automated.
- The importance of sourcing from a wide candidate pool.
- Stephanie tells us more about her two roles in the company.
- The Pillar strategy regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion is explained.
- How building technology and services feed into overall diversity goals.
- Influence versus accountability regarding diversity and inclusion.
- Rob and Stephanie discuss the influence of a talent professional within an organization.
- What Stephanie enjoys most about her job.
- Highlights of Stephanie’s experiences within talent acquisition.
Tweetables:
“Between the sourcing team and the interviewing strategy and the goal for my team to actually bring a diverse candidate pool to the table day one, we were able to begin to move the needle around increasing the diversity of our organization.” — Stephanie Browne [0:08:04]
“You just need to have that candidate pool be very wide and varied so that they can find that fit.” — Stephanie Browne [0:10:46]
“It's good to have different experiences at the table so that we can then, in turn, have a better innovative outcome on how we build those engagements and strategies.” — Stephanie Browne [0:18:33]
“I work with my peers across the organization to help them understand what their organizations look like, what do they need and how experiences can shape the outcomes of the work that they do.” — Stephanie Browne [0:19:46]
“You are very valuable but you’re only as valuable as the relationships and the influence you have in those relationships.” — Stephanie Browne [0:24:40]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Stephanie Browne on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Apple Musni, Chipotle's VP People partner, shares her experience with tech-enabled nurturing, purpose-driven employment, employee retention strategies and much more for Chipotle's vast retail workforce.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Apple tells us about her background and how she ended up in her current role.
- The current focus of Apple’s recruitment work.
- Differences in recruiting for the corporate and retail side of businesses.
- Why it is critical for tech-enabled nurturing of candidates for high-volume operations.
- Some of the tools that Apple uses for her tech-enabled nurturing, such as an AI powered hiring platform.
- The importance of understanding the next generation of work-force, for example millennials and Gen Z’s.
- What effect the drop in labor participation rates has had on Chipotle.
- Definition of what purpose-driven work ethic is and how this translates to modern recruitment strategies.
- The resources that Apple thinks is important to make available to employees to ensure a nurturing environment and retention.
- What is a four-by-four question with some examples.
- The parallels that exist between corporate and retail recruiting.
- Apple explains how she deals with retention of employees for the retail side of the business.
- What the economic reality is of a long-term employee.
- Apple shares how one can get involved in her line of work and what to expect.
Tweetables:
“Experience has to be relevant, fast and simple but especially for the high-volume side of the house and so, making that experience automated and tech-enabled is really critical.” — @AppleMusni [0:07:08]
“I think it’s, how do you ensure that although technology enables, when they engage with that technology and/or a human being that their experience is connecting to our purpose of cultivating a better world.” — @AppleMusni [0:09:26]
“It’s understanding what that workforce needs today, whether it’s from how we recruit them such as social media, how we retain them through our employee value proposition and then how we continue to grow them through our leadership programs.” — @AppleMusni [0:11:15]
“There is always a synergy between the workforces in the restaurant as well as the support center because of our values.” — @AppleMusni [0:23:02]
“I think it starts with hiring employees who believe in what we do and then our purpose and then engaging them along the way.” — @AppleMusni [0:23:53]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Apple Musni on LinkedIn
Apple Musni on Twitter
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining us today is Adam Redlich, Vice President and Talent Acquisition at Octane. Adam shares the difference between time to fill and time to hire, why if a candidate is a maybe, they’re a no, and why if a company pushes you to sign quickly, there’s usually something they don’t want you to find out.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to today’s guest, Adam Redlich, at Octane.
- The state of things at Octane, having moved from hybrid to remote working.
- Expectations and predictions on how the remote and hybrid systems will evolve.
- Adam’s role at Octane and what the business focuses on within the Fintech space.
- How the growth they have experienced was not part of any particular plan.
- Why they have chosen to be conservative with growth.
- Distinguishing between when it is time to fill and when it is time to hire.
- Why he works according to the mantra that if somebody is a maybe, they are a no.
- What you should do as a candidate if an employer tries to keep you on the line.
- Why he believes that transparency is key to the hiring process.
- How working in a bigger more established company might not be the best place to start.
- Diversity inclusion at Octane and how Adam was involved in the process.
- How, if a company is pushing you to sign quickly, there is usually something they don’t want you to find out.
- How upfront you should be with your current employer when you are looking for a new role.
Tweetable:
“One of the engineering leaders made the comment, if somebody is a maybe, they are no and for me, that's been a mantra that I've had since, because, especially at a growth stage company, we need to hire people that we're excited about.” — Adam Redlich [0:13:28]
“I believe that transparency is key throughout the process. I let candidates know, early on, during my very first conversation with them.” — Adam Redlich [0:15:50]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Adam Redlich on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Dax Sardinha is a human resources expert and talent acquisition specialist who has been helping businesses recruit the most suitable talent for over 19 years. Dax is also director of talent at of Canada Life, which is Canada’s largest insurance provider for groups and individuals across the country. In today’s episode we hear about Dax’s personal journey from talent expert to leader, and some of the most valuable lessons he learnt along the way. Our conversation also covers workplace culture, how to best manage your employees, and the importance of succession planning.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Brief highlights about what Dax is currently working on.
- Dax tells us about his company, Canada Life, and his role in the company.
- The various types of roles within a company are discussed.
- Dax and Rob discuss the culture of constant promotion seeking.
- Why businesses should not promote certain personality types into leadership roles.
- Dax’s personal journey from talent acquisition expert to a leadership role.
- What one should expect when working in a leadership role.
- The importance of empowering employees and allowing them not to ‘burn-out’.
- Burn-out and other challenges that employees commonly face.
- How ensuring that your employees are tasked with balanced workloads leads to improved overall activity.
- Changes in work-life balance as a result of the COVID pandemic.
- The advantages of using technology for planning in the workplace.
- Dax tells us about succession planning, and why it is important for the productivity of a company.
- What the next generation of VP and C-level talent will look like.
- We find out if there are any additional skill sets Dan would like to learn in the future.
Tweetables:
“It's encouraging them to speak up, empowering them to really understand that you don't have to do that. You can work your regular shift, there will always be work, work will still come, there always be more.” — Dax Sardinha [0:12:48]
“I've never been a title chaser. For me, it's about the work itself. I love the ability to come in and I said this before is to be able to impact and influence an organization in a positive way.” — Dax Sardinha [0:28:31]
“As long as you're focusing on those values, on that development, you're going to find the job title and the role in the organization that fits you, ultimately at the end of the day.” — Dax Sardinha [0:31:56]
“If you're not passionate about the work that you're doing, you're never going to exceed, you're never going to excel, you'll just get bored and burn out and go somewhere else.” — Dax Sardinha [0:32:23]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Dax Sardinha
Dax Sardinha on LinkedIn
Hired
Talk Talent to Me
Life-life Balance Over Work-life Balance with Hannah Kreiswirth
Episode 222: Show Notes
In most companies, the role of the chief operating officer is not directly concerned with employee wellbeing, satisfaction, or recruitment. This is not the case with AREA 17, where COO Hannah Kreiswirth makes it her priority to ensure that the employees are happy. Join us to find out why Hannah does this (people make the company), and how she ensures employee contentment. Hannah explains the difference between jobs that are just jobs and those that are someone’s life, as well as why life-life balance is a better concept than work-life balance. We touch on the debate around remote work and returning to the office, and what companies can do to create a space that empowers employees to be the person they want to share. For all this and so much more, tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcome to Hannah Kreiswirth, COO and partner at AREA 17.
- How Hannah moved from the film industry to publishing and finally to AREA 17.
- Finding the company for you: identifying those that care about the same things you do.
- Using storytelling in the interview process, from both a recruiter and a candidate’s point of view.
- The pros and cons of “Some jobs are jobs” and “Some jobs are life”.
- Why the distinction between “Life-life balance” and “work-life balance” is an important one to make.
- Why flexibility is key in creating a work environment that benefits all parties.
- What companies can do to empower people to design a work-life that is best for them.
- AREA 17's values, and what Hannah understands by them.
- Why Hannah, as a COO, has focused on people.
- The debate around remote work vs office work, and balancing the two.
- How Hannah feels about the virtual work experience.
Tweetables:
“I found myself engaged in the Internet and realizing that that is a space where storytelling and sort of social history is happening as we speak.” — @hannahteak [0:02:18]
“There’s that trope of ‘work to live’ versus 'live to work’. My view is that both of those are a bit wrong because work is inherently a big part of all of our lives unless you’re so privileged to not need to do that at all.” — @hannahteak [0:08:09]
“It never occurred to me that having a focus on people wouldn’t fundamentally be what a COO’s job is. Because at the end of the day, to me, our business doesn’t exist without our people and that’s something that has been central to who we are from day one and 19 years later.” — @hannahteak [0:21:33]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Hannah Kreiswirth on LinkedIn
AREA 17
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining us in conversation today is Bryan Menduke, head of recruiting at Kensho. Tune in to hear all about his journey into the world of recruitment and the ins and outs of his work at Kensho. We talk about the difference between working for large and small companies, and Bryan assesses the state of operations at Kensho, from communication to a profile of the type of person they are looking to hire. We talk about all things interview-related, from determining if a client’s values are in alignment with the company, to training staff to conduct these kinds of conversations. Learn what shadowing can show you that an interview can’t, hear Bryan’s advice to folks who are just getting started, and so much more. Thanks for joining us!
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to today’s guest, Bryan Menduke, head of recruiting at Kensho.
- Some insight into Bryan’s education and career thus far.
- Why he wanted to make the move to work for a smaller team.
- The tradeoff between the resources of a big company versus the agility of a small company.
- His assessment of the state of operations at Kensho.
- Defining what you are looking for when it comes to acquiring new talent.
- Standardizing feedback through forums, unit tests, checklists, and more.
- Communication and hierarchy at Kensho.
- Why they are looking to hire people who aren’t afraid to fail.
- Determining a candidate’s alignment with company values.
- The process of interview training at Kensho.
- Why arming an interviewer with specific questions for behavioral and technical interviews is essential.
- The role of shadowing, why it is important, and what it can determine outside of an interview.
- What the process of revamping the interview rubric looks like.
- Bryan’s advice to people who are just beginning the process: start by finding the biggest gap.
Tweetables:
“How do you get into recruiting? The answer is, I have absolutely no idea, I just do it now. Anyone that tells you differently is probably lying.” — Bryan Menduke [0:02:55]
“I joined a small team because I think there’s a lot of ability to innovate and take on a lot of things outside of just a really small scope that you get in some larger companies.” — Bryan Menduke [0:04:33]
“There’s way more than just what a job description says and what you're looking for in a role. How do we actually define for someone that’s never interviewed before?” — Bryan Menduke [0:09:07]
“We’re looking for people that aren’t afraid to ask questions or aren’t afraid to fail but you're going to run experiments and some of them are going to fail and some of them are going to be great, you’re going to try.” — Bryan Menduke [0:13:30]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Bryan Menduke on LinkedIn
Kensho
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Preparing Underrepresented Talent For Success with Andrea Guendelman
Andrea Guendelman is the CEO of Speak_, the interview preparation service helping underrepresented software engineers clinch roles at the best tech companies in the world. In our conversation with Andrea, we hear about the structure and methodology of Speak_’s program, the level of their engagement with the companies in which they are placing talent, and what’s involved in the resume creation process. We discuss the multitude of factors limiting the hiring funnel, and what companies can do to make a difference from a diversity hiring perspective! Tune in for this informative episode on what’s being done and what still needs to be done to ensure fairness and equality in the hiring process.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The important service Andrea Guendelman’s startup, Speak_, offers underrepresented software engineers.
- How Speak_ was born of Andrea’s attempt to make the Latino community visible in the US.
- The lack of opportunities for underrepresented talent to interview for positions.
- How the current US economy is providing a great opportunity to level the playing field.
- The methodology used at Speak_ to prepare underrepresented talent for big tech roles.
- The benefits of the community aspect of Speak_’s course structure.
- The access and information that candidates receive in the program.
- Where the deficiency lies in terms of not having representative workforces.
- Why Speak_ focuses on teaching candidates to speak the language of the targeted company.
- The preferred source of hire of the companies in which Speak_ is placing talent.
- The prevalence of imposter syndrome amongst underrepresented candidates.
- What leads candidates to believe they’re not qualified according to the job description.
- Why years of experience isn’t a fair requirement in the software engineering space.
- Other factors which limit the hiring funnel.
- How the Speak_ program helps candidates create suitable resumes.
- The consulting incorporated into Speak_’s engagement with clients.
- Why Speak_ does 12 cohorts a year.
- What Speak_ is looking for in its clients!
- The discrepancy Andrea has observed between recruiters and hiring managers.
- What companies can do to make a difference from a diversity hiring perspective.
Tweetables:
“Speak_ is interview preparation as a service using cohort-based company-branded programs to prepare underrepresented software engineers and place them at the best tech companies in the world.” — @FutureofWomen [0:01:38]
“A lot of underrepresented talent is not given the opportunity to fail often enough. In other words, they’re not even selected to take an interview many times, so they’re not given the opportunity to fail.” — @FutureofWomen [0:04:20]
“The name of our company is called Speak_because we’re teaching candidates to speak the language of the company.” — @FutureofWomen [0:10:52]
“If we compare years of experience so verbatim, we’re going to leave a lot of people behind that you actually need in your organization.” — @FutureofWomen [0:16:25]
“We have found out that companies will reject someone sometimes just because of their resume, even though we know that they’re qualified for the job.” — @FutureofWomen [0:18:21]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Webinar: Diversity Hiring That Works with Greenhouse CEO Daniel Chait
Andrea Guendelman on LinkedIn
Andrea Guendelman on Twitter
Speak_
Speak_ on Twitter
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Our behavior dictates how people treat us in all aspects of our lives. Talking to us today about adjusting behavior to define and maintain company culture is Joe Bast, organizational psychologist and Head of People at Laika. We start the discussion by diving into Joe’s past and what got him interested in psychology in the first place. From his extensive work experience, we segue into his roles at different companies, and how he realized that recruitment was what he was passionate about. We hear some amusing anecdotes about his time at the Cheesecake Factory, all the while learning about the structure and the ethos underlying it. Part of the Cheesecake Factory’s success is the clear definition and focus on company culture, something that Joe looked for in his next job. Tune in to learn why defining culture early on in a company’s life cycle is key to success, and how Joe identifies companies that have done so. We also hear some great tips on how to identify behaviors that are indicative of a company’s values and how to tell if these behaviors are ingrained in the employees. Joe reminds us that behaviors need to be maintained by rewarding and removing those that are desired and unwanted (respectively), and why this role falls to those in recruitment and HR. For all this and so much more, tune in today.
Key Points From This Episode:
-
An introduction to organizational psychologist turned head of people at Laika, Joe Bast.
-
What Laika is and their recent exponential growth.
-
Joe's journey: from exposure to entrepreneurs as a kid to the Cheesecake Factory (and everything in between!)
-
When Joe realized his role at the Cheesecake Factory wasn’t a good fit.
-
What’s going on at the Cheesecake Factory from an insider’s perspective.
-
How Joe used recruitment data and employee satisfaction to predict profit and growth.
-
Why Laika has continued to grow during The Great Resignation: Engagement.
-
Why defining the culture you're looking for upfront is key to success.
-
How Joe identifies companies with defined cultures and his experience at Laika.
-
The behaviors that are indicative of a company’s values.
-
Understanding the culture shift when a company grows, and scaling it accordingly.
-
Why rewarding desired behavior and removing unwanted behavior is part of creating company culture.
-
Applying organizational psychology to everyday life.
-
How Joe is like the Jane Goodall for ties.
Tweetables:
“I could see how the money we’ve put into recruiting people and training people and onboarding people could be impacted by how much we train managers and did organizational culture at the restaurant level because turnover went down.” — @Joeb2727 [0:06:19]
“When we talk about creating the culture, yes you can hire for it and you can reward the culture congruent behaviors but you also have to remove the people who are behaving in ways that are contraindicated in the culture and that are toxic to the culture.” — @Joeb2727 [0:19:08]
“I think a lot of my job, being the top people leader is holding the leaders in general, the founders, the executives in particular accountable to the things they say they want to do.” — @Joeb2727 [0:31:36]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Joe Bast
Laika
Talk Talent to Me
From his decade at Merrill Lynch, followed by a decade at OppenheimerFunds, to his current position as Chief Human Resources Officer over at Vitech Systems, Andy Doyle knows what questions he needs to be prepared to field and how best to represent his talent in the boardroom. In this episode, he fills us in on how he strikes the balance between profitability and compensation and how bonuses and salary increases are typically calculated. He shares what he learned from his move from large organizations to an ‘adolescent’ company, what he found needed the most attention upon commencement, and we discuss the immense power of company culture and what needs to be put in place in order to nurture it, as well as what it means to cultivate culture in a remote world. Andy also explains what Vitech has done to actively engage with employees and shares some tips on how to propagate culture from afar.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Andy Boyle, Chief Human Resources Officer at Vitech Systems.
- Who Vitech’s board is comprised of.
- Find out how Andy prepares for board meetings with investors.
- How Andy strikes the balance between profitability and compensation.
- Insight into how bonuses and salary increases are calculated.
- The vital partnership between the CHRO and CFO of a company.
- Andy’s experience of moving from large companies like OppenheimerFunds and Merrill Lynch to a smaller company like Vitech.
- In what area Andy felt he could be most impactful when he started working at Vitech.
- The factors that go into making a company a great place to work.
- Why it’s important to build a social contract between employees and the organization.
- The power of a great company culture!
- How Andy’s approach to engaging with employees has had to change due to the pandemic.
- The adverse effects of remote work, and how to propagate culture in a remote world.
- The benefits of a change of scenery amidst the remote work lifestyle.
Tweetables:
“If you don't have a great CFO, your job as CHRO is very, very difficult.” — Andy Doyle [0:07:00]
“I think that [the] social contract becomes the foundation of a strong company culture.” — Andy Doyle [0:15:19]
“I've seen the power of what great company culture can do in my career and, when you don't have that, it doesn't matter what your strategy is.” — Andy Doyle [0:15:33]
“People will care about their company when they feel their company cares about them. The leaders of the organization have to do that, not just with what they say, but with their actions.” — Andy Doyle [0:16:23]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Andy Doyle on LinkedIn
Vitech Systems
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
For today’s episode, we are thrilled to welcome Cyril George, who currently serves as the Global Talent Acquisition Lead at General Motors, and started his career doing talent acquisition at Ford Motor Company. We kick off our conversation by discussing how to choose your meetings, why too many people are often included, and how to ensure you only attend what you need to. Next Cyril expands on the effort he’s made to hire from diverse backgrounds by focusing on a combination of outside perspectives and domain experience in his effort to build a balanced team. Tuning in you’ll also hear a deep dive on tech stacks, the webinar that inspired Cyril’s vision, and a breakdown of how they have built and integrated theirs. Cyril also shares how he approaches vendors, including which questions to ask to ascertain whether their product is a good fit for your company. Today’s episode is jam-packed with excellent tips and useful insights, so make sure you tune in to hear it all!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today’s guest, Cyril George, Global Talent Acquisition lead at General Motors (GM).
- Why Cyril is extremely selective about the number of meetings he has to attend in a day.
- What Cyril’s typical day looks like and how he supports his teams.
- A breakdown of Cyril’s teams and their functions.
- Cyril’s background in talent acquisition and his previous position at Ford.
- The big campaigns and goals that Cyril is currently focusing on.
- Insights into GM’s investment in electric and autonomous driving vehicles.
- The huge increase in hiring at GM and the forces behind it.
- How Cyril has scaled up recruitment to meet the demand of the business.
- Cyril’s refreshing perspective on outside pitches on technological innovations.
- Cyril’s teams’ tech stack and how they determine theirs.
- The role of integration between different platforms when you are building your tech stack.
- Why the integration needs to be seamless to best accommodate candidates and hiring managers.
- Which questions to ask vendors to ensure they can supply what your organization needs.
- The one message Cyril wants to share about recruiting: stop sharing unsolicited advice and let recruiters do their job.
Tweetables:
“One of the things I do is I really focus on clearing my calendar as much as possible. One of the things that I practice is to rigorously reject the amount of meetings that I have to attend in a day.” — Cyril George [0:01:27]
“50% of my leadership team was hired in the last two years. We made it a point to ensure that we hire people from very diverse backgrounds.” — Cyril George [0:10:17]
“I personally think that those are some of the most important meetings where you need to be involved. You need to understand what the technology can do, and you need to show your full commitment in terms of how important that piece of technology is going to be towards your future goals.” — Cyril George [0:24:52]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Cyril George on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
The shift from an individual contributor into leadership is something that most people will face in their career at some point, and it's not always an easy decision. Director of People Ops and Total Rewards over at OwnBackup, as well as an accomplished opera singer, Shane Long is here to talk about his jump into leadership and take us through how he arms recruiters to be more effective during the offer stage and throughout. In this conversation, we dive into the best ways for startups to navigate total rewards, previously known as benefits and recognition, and the importance of identifying what motivates people, be it a candidate or team member. Shane weighs in on how to compete when there's a FANG company's comp offer that outpaces yours, before discussing that intricate matter of equity, transparency, and answering questions that are and aren't being asked. You'll hear about some frank feedback that was hard to hear but formed a crucial part of Shane's growth, plus the oddest and coolest advice he received early in his career that swung his decision to pursue leadership from a 'no' to a 'yes' and deeply influenced his leadership style. We also get a sneak peek behind the curtain of his enablement sessions with recruiters and learn the importance of empowering recruiters to be the most knowledgeable person in the room, and what that empowerment looks like in practice. He's a true powerhouse of leadership from a hugely successful startup that's experiencing endless and exponential growth, year after year, and we hope you can join us for another fantastic conversation!
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to Shane and a brief sprint through his illustrious opera career.
- How studying business and organizational psychology prepared him to be a recruiter.
- A great leader that impacted his early career and his decision to jump into leadership.
- The oddest and coolest advice he's ever received.
- Hear about the type of leadership that most people react negatively to.
- The frank feedback that was hard to hear but ended up pivoting his communication style.
- We discuss total rewards in the SaaS industry and why it's better to start at an early stage.
- Always revisiting candidate motivations, plus how to compete with FANG comp offers.
- A peek into the enablement sessions and calls that Shane does with recruiters.
- Diving into misunderstandings about equity and how to best navigate those conversations.
- Working with managers to coach them through figuring out what motivates their teams.
- Talking about what motivates different people and how to find the right questions to ask!
Tweetables:
“At the end of the day, for me, I want to have a positive impact on my team and on their development, and empower them to have the same impact on the organization.” — Shane Long [0:09:36]
“First and foremost, it's not just about comp you want to sell, you've got to sell the company as well. You've got to package the company in a way that's going to be appealing to [the candidate].” — Shane Long [0:15:40]
“A lot of companies keep equity structure, and logistics and calculations really close to the chest or really close to the top of the organization. I say that recruiters are the frontline, they're the ones talking to these candidates. They need to be the most knowledgeable about it.” — Shane Long [0:19:33]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Shane Long on LinkedIn
OwnBackup
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today we are thrilled to sit down with Loralyn Mears, Ph.D., who is the founder of STEERus, a soft skills development company that works specifically with the Gen Z community to train up their soft skills as a pathway to success and productivity. We kickstart the conversation with a discussion on redundancy hires and strategy, before diving into how our mainstream education systems are creating soft-skill deficiencies by stunting vocabulary and growth around emotional articulation. Loralyn shares her thoughts on what shaped Gen Z and how this created a generation that uses their voices for what matters and aren’t afraid to walk away, before elaborating on the ways that employer mindsets are shifting. We also have a rich conversation all about the current anti-work movement and the many realizations that people have had since they no longer have to commute, plus you'll hear some valuable parting advice for anyone looking to create their own security and benefits outside of the corporate golden cage. To hear Loralyn’s perspectives on everything from tattleware and the Pomodoro method to how she recommends managing your notifications and why everyone is so burned out, tune in now!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Hear how Loralyn was fully remote long before we all put on our COVID slippers.
- The impact of members of a bootstrapped startup team getting sick.
- The concept of strategically building redundancy into their codebase.
- A bit about her rich background and how she ended up going into soft skills development.
- Diving into broken relationships and the results of being deficient in soft skills.
- How our education funnels us and doesn't teach us to articulate our emotions or full self.
- Diving into the relationship between mass education and the current anti-work movement.
- What shaped Gen Z and how they learned to raise their voices for what matters.
- Discussing the Tang Ping phenomenon and concern over the climate crisis
- Finding employers who put people before process.
- The realizations people have had since commute and office pressure has reduced.
- How the concept of a workweek still works but there needs to be latitude on either side.
- Talking about tattleware, the relevance of middle management, and the Pomodoro method.
- Death of a thousand cuts and how Loralyn manages her notifications.
- Hear Loralyn's insights into why everyone is so burned out and what the answer is.
- The need for a shift in the employer mentality of ownership over their employee's time.
- Discussing people working multiple jobs, and how remote doesn't mean disengaged.
- Hear some excellent advice on what to do to break out of the 'golden cage' of benefits.
Tweetables:
“The final outcome [of deficient soft skills] is broken relationships. People have much higher anxiety because they’re uncertain on how to proceed. They don’t know if it’s a safe space, they don’t know how to regard it.” — @steerus_io [0:08:51]
“[Gen Z] were shaped by the climate crisis, 9/11, all of these horrific things. They said, ‘You know what? I’m going to do what matters. I want to do what matters to me.’ They learned how to raise their voices.” — @steerus_io [0:13:38]
“Process has been put ahead of people for so long, that people are starting to rebel from it.” — @steerus_io [0:16:55]
“Gen Z knows their worth more than any other generation, and they’re not afraid to walk away.” — @steerus_io [0:18:22]
“Through this pandemic epiphany, [we need to] take the time to reflect and to say, ‘What matters to me? What am I willing to tolerate? What am I not willing to tolerate?’ Again, back to that self-awareness and starting there.” — @steerus_io [0:38:27]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Dr. Loralyn Mears on LinkedIn
STEERus
STEERus on Twitter
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
At the forefront of the HR field's expansion into the new territory of Web3 is Nicholas Strange, CEO and Founder of Crypto Talent. We start the discussion today with why Nicholas felt it was the right time to found Crypto Talent and how he ended up in the position to do so. We break down what Web1, Web2, and Web3 are, how they differ, and what the big tech companies have been saying about Web3, plus some amazing statistics about the rate of growth of HR in the space. Nicholas explains why there is such a boom in HR-related jobs and how job-seekers can stand out through their passion projects. Tune in to learn how Web3 is breaking down the barrier of pay-gates in education and the power of allowing the individual autonomy over their own data.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to Nicolas Strange, CEO and Founder of Crypto Talent.
- How Nicolas ended up in a space where he felt the time was right to found Crypto Talent.
- What the big tech companies are saying about where Web3 is going.
- A crash course on what Web1, Web2, and Web3 are.
- What the skill differences are between Web2 and Web3 and how this relates to hiring.
- How the Web3 space is overcoming education and skills training pay gates.
- The HR job opportunities expansion in the Web3 space and why it’s happening.
- How passion projects might make people more appealing to employers.
- Why culture fit is so much more important than skills fit, and how Nicolas uses this when suggesting candidates.
- Where he sees for the future of HR with the advent of Web3 and the role of the Metaverse.
- Empowering the individual: how Web3 enables job seekers to profit off their own data.
- How the blockchain could stand in place of CVs and references.
-
Using virtual reality in job fairs: how COVID-19 started this trend, and where Web3 will take it.
-
What Nicolas and his partners are working on now: a training and education platform.
Tweetables:
“The time is now for a lot of people to transition their career [to the Metaverse] as well as to start a company to help support that transition.” — @strangeviews15 [0:06:49]
“All of these underlying technologies that are being built are going to allow for individuals to own their interaction more on the internet, which is going to provide security and privacy for all as well as peer-to-peer transactions and less third-party authentication.”— @strangeviews15 [0:11:29]
“One thing that often gets misconstrued about the talent that is being hired into Web 3 is that people [think], ‘I have to be a solid developer, I have to be a smart contract developer. I have to have some very specific technical knowledge on to transition to my career.’” — @strangeviews15 [0:12:02]
“One of my biggest passions is this opportunity to reshape those traditional learning routes and training routes, which were sectored off to certain communities that were able to afford the resources to go get that training and education.” — @strangeviews15 [0:17:11]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Nicholas Strange on LinkedIn
Nicholas Strange on Twitter
Crypto Talent
Talk Talent to Me
Today on Talk Talent To Me, we are joined by career and leadership coach Amy Scialdone. After 25 years in corporate, her passion for developing people moved her to start her own executive coaching and leadership development company called The Empowerment Key. In this conversation, you'll hear how she wound up in HR, occupied her seat at the VP table, and has been guiding others ever since. This episode is packed with advice on the power of the pause, the top areas for improvement that most leaders struggle with, and insights into different types of promotion and selection processes, plus we learn a bit about Amy's work with the vital all-female C-suite network called Chief before diving into her 6-month The Empowered You program. Amy outlines how this training guides the process of self-inquiry necessary to lay the internal foundations of energy leadership, through showing up with self-regulation, awareness, and connection.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to Amy Scialdone and her 25 years in corporate before starting The Empowerment Key.
- What moved her to pivot out of her VP title to delivering her training independently.
- How she found clarity on her boundaries and what her coaching role would entail.
- The power of the pause and finding the thread throughout your career.
- How she learned HR and always had a seat at the table.
- What it means to put the business lens on HR.
- The “I-to-we” skills that she thinks many leaders lack, and why.
- The key principle for career success: doing your own internal work.
- Talking about the role of proper communication in long-term leadership and team output.
- Amy shares some insights into different selection and promotion processes.
- Hear about the work she's doing with the incredible female C-suite network, Chief.
- Some of the common challenges women face in male-dominated industries.
-
An outline of the work she does in 6-month The Empowered You program.
-
Some final wit and wisdom on self-reflection, how to take a pause, and the three O's.
Tweetables:
“We learned to incorporate the business into the decisions we made. I always had a seat at the table and didn’t know how not to.” — Amy Scialdone [0:09:09]
“[The secret to career success is] understanding yourself, regulating yourself and then understanding how that really works with others. And then understanding how others are different and how to make those connections.” — Amy Scialdone [0:14:25]
“All you can control is you. My three big things are; gaining clarity on who you really are and how you’re showing up. Then, that builds your confidence and it helps build that connection.” — Amy Scialdone [0:14:37]
“Hopefully from an HR lens and from an executive leadership team role, you are putting people in place that can help make a difference, that can help make an impact but you are also providing them the support they need to grow into those role.” — Amy Scialdone [0:21:24]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent to Me
Amy Scialdone on LinkedIn
The Empowerment Key
Chief
Rob Stevenson on LinkedIn
Hired
The veteran community holds an incredible pool of highly educated and experienced talent, and yet they remain marginalized and underutilized when it comes to corporate employment. Joining us today on Talk Talent to Me is Chip Mardis, partner at Greenlight Connections, a veteran-owned, full-service talent acquisition and staff augmentation company that specializes in sourcing top talent from the military community. Chip guides us through the particular difficulties that a veteran may experience when transitioning into corporate America, and goes on to highlight how America is not well-prepared with regard to how to interact with the massive bank of talent coming out of the military. We discuss the biases and preconceived notions that this demographic faces, as well as the numerous positive qualities and skills which should stand out as an asset to any company, before diving into the various things that businesses can consider and do to make meaningful change and start placing hires. Tune in to hear this important and moving conversation today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Chip, and his diverse military and retail background.
- A bit about what led him to found this company.
- Why it's difficult for veterans to transition into the corporate world and be received there.
- Some of the challenges Chip faced when searching and applying for jobs after the military.
- The tenuous transferring of leadership and skills during this kind of transition.
- What recruiting organizations should know when they're interacting with veterans.
- The nature of the military family unit and why military spouses are often overlooked.
- The many valuable qualities that make veterans and military spouses an asset.
- Chip shares the wariness of military spouses and veterans due to being marginalized.
- The importance of credibility with this demographic and how Chip has achieved that.
- Some markers of these career journeys, including location and success in medicine.
- Some other factors to consider such as childcare and adequate compensation.
- Hear about the fantastic work of the Veterans Administration and Hiring Our Heroes.
- Where to reach out to in order to hire more talented individuals like this.
Tweetables:
“The military demographic as a talent source is a mystery on both sides of the isle. The candidates, either the veterans as well as the military spouses that are leading are somewhat unsure or unclear how to go ahead and pursue a career strategy and job search strategy.” — Chip Mardis [0:04:44]
“[There are] two sides. I don’t think the hiring forum understands the incredible value that a military veteran or a spouse can bring to the program. And there’s this huge gap where our veterans really don’t know how to conduct job searches and how to adequately prepare.” — Chip Mardis [0:05:54]
You need to calibrate that these are incredibly successful people that have stood by our country. Not to wave the flag but candidly, they have, and have just worked their tail off to be in this position. I think it’s an honor to talk to a veteran.” — Chip Mardis [0:11:03]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Chip Mardis on LinkedIn
Greenlight Connections
The Veterans Administration
Hiring Our Heroes
The Limited
Designer Shoe Warehouse
nCino Corporation
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
We have a special guest on the show today: Lou Adler, Founder and CEO of the Adler Group. A fountain of knowledge, he is also the author of the Amazon bestsellers, Hire With Your Head as well as The Essential Guide for Hiring and Getting Hired. In this episode, Lou reflects on his 25-year advocacy of fixing a broken hiring system. He shares some perspectives on the art of generating referrals, thoughts on the sourcing process that have gotten him kicked out of sourcing conferences, and what he thinks is truly required in this day and age to find and make the best hires. Lou also draws some stories from his decades of experience about his use of boundaries and communication around the expectations placed on recruiters, important ways to guide a hiring manager to be prescriptive about the work needs, and some insight into the responsibility of a CEO in talent acquisition and prioritization.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Lou and his 25-year mission to overhaul the hiring process.
- How great new tools don't change the fact that the best people are still hired by referrals.
- How sourcers need basic sourcing skills but also excellent phone, recruiting, and referral generation skills.
- How the best recruiters are network managers.
- The concept that Lou would build a search firm or a sourcing career on.
- Some examples of conversations where Lou extracts the real needs of the role to be filled.
- Compromising on the skills required but never on the real-life work to be done.
- That many hiring managers need help with clarifying expectations.
- He shares the key reason why companies don't hire the best people.
- Hear what some studies had to say about what really drives peak job performances.
- Reflecting on how to set boundaries in being a strategic partner versus taking orders.
- A couple of great offerings you can expect in his book Hire With Your Head.
- Lou discusses dealing with unreasonable expectations and communication around that.
- The fascinating story of how he got into recruitment.
- Where Lou would start if he was beginning his career in 2022!
Tweetables:
“Every year, new great tools come out but, if everyone has these great tools, nothing gets better. Everyone has average performance. What hasn’t changed is the best people still get hired via referrals.” — @LouA [0:04:30]
“It is about building a network. You’ve got to get on the phone and talk to people, meet people, go to conferences, speak at conferences, get in front of business groups, and become a subject matter expert in your field.” — @LouA [0:36:22]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Lou Adler on LinkedIn
Lou Adler on Twitter
Adler Group
Hire With Your Head
The Essential Guide for Hiring and Getting Hired
Boolean
Q12
The American Workforce Index
Project Oxygen
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining us on today’s installment of Talk Talent to Me is Jack Kelly, senior contributor at Forbes Magazine, to share some accurate and well-formed insights into where we've come from as recruiters, where we're going, and the larger impact of some of the changes we're seeing in the industry right now. Jack kicks us off with a brief story of how his cat helps him write every day and the journey that landed him at Forbes, before diving into his role there, and the ways he intentionally chooses positive stories on innovation and wellbeing over the doom-and-gloom headlines that ensure clicks from readers. Hear his thoughts on automation and how it's taking away some very necessary human elements in the recruitment and interview space, as well as creating negative knock-on effects that can be overwhelming and demotivating. He then addresses the inadequate responses on the biggest issues that leadership is seeing right now, and reflects on some examples of current efforts to recruit people in this hot market. We also discuss the future of work as it pertains to employer-employee relationships, including hybrid work versus remote work, flexibility, and a phenomenon called over-employment. Finally, Jack reflects on what each generation group has dealt with over the last few years and what this could mean for the future.
Key Points From This Episode:
- How Jack ended up at Forbes and how his cat helps him write.
- Living longer and a possible new podcast called Talk Mortality to Me.
- The growth of Jack's role at Forbes due to his wealth of real-world perspectives.
- What draws him to the stories he covers, and why he's in it for more than the clicks.
- Thoughts on modern interview processes, ghosting, and the HR tech industry as a whole.
- The overwhelming knock-on effects of noise from the easy-apply process.
- The big issues he sees when talking to C-level people.
- Problems with acceptable practices in today's climate.
- Discussing the pros and cons of giving feedback during the application process.
- The pressures on the hiring manager and the pitfalls of hiring via consensus.
- Hear Jack's thoughts on the “future of work” and employer-employee relationships.
- Jack shares a fascinating blog that is revolutionizing remote working and job-juggling.
- Reflections on what the different generations have dealt with in the last few years.
Tweetables:
“An object in motion stays in motion. I'm a big believer in, you have to do things and get out there and try things, even if you fail, because each time you're going to learn and then you're going to be introduced to something else.” — @jackjaykelly [0:01:50]
“Even though it's against my own interest, I rather still try to bring some positivity into [the media], some happiness into it, to make people feel empowered.” — @jackjaykelly [0:10:02]
“In a way, if you're adding technology, you're taking away that human element that's so important, because it makes such a difference.” — @jackjaykelly [0:14:26]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jack Kelly on Twitter
Jack Kelly on LinkedIn
Compliance Search Group
Overemployed
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today we're diving into the prioritization of chasing happiness with the Global Head of Talent Acquisition over at Shutterstock, Valerie Vadala. Hear about Valerie's career journey from law school to her current position, why introverts make the best recruiters, and the importance of finding a job that fits your personality! You'll learn how Shutterstock is transforming how people make creative content, as well as the ways she is ensuring that their new brand message becomes internally impactful.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Meet Valerie and learn a little about her life working from home in New York.
- About Shutterstock's hybrid model and how people feel about returning to the office.
- On being a closet introvert and how sometimes you have to fake it 'til you make it.
- Hear Valerie's journey from law school to how she wound up at Shutterstock.
- A great book recommendation on finding a job that fits your personality.
- Valerie's natural affinity for recruiting, and that temp staffing is a great stepping stone.
- How Shutterstock is transforming into a one-stop content marketplace.
- How Valerie's approach has shifted as she's moved up the ladder into management.
- Why she's a Don Draper and happiness is her true north.
- Discussing work-life balance, changing roles, and how settling for less isn't an option for her.
- Some reasons why being a recruiter is the best job in the world.
- Valerie tells us about her big project at Shutterstock right now.
- Talking about the contentious handwritten thank you note, plus a tactic she wants to try!
- Getting hired in the pandemic, and reflections on why Valerie chose to work there.
- Ensuring that their new brand message is internally impactful and not just optics.
- How to maintain a competitive edge, and knowing when to let go.
Tweetables:
“If anybody is looking to break into recruiting, [temp staffing] is a great way to do it because the learning curve is very steep and very brave. You start to assess personality a lot, it’s a very important piece of it if somebody’s going to fit.” — Valerie Vadala [0:07:15]
“Just to really enjoy the work you do, to feel appreciated and to feel like you want to please these people is huge.” — Valerie Vadala [0:14:05]
“[An employee has] to like coming in here every day, you have to like the people you work with. You have to have a laugh now and then. Whatever it is that feeds your soul instead of sucks your soul, it has to be part of your brand.” — Valerie Vadala [0:24:31]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Valerie Vadala on LinkedIn
Shutterstock
Wells Fargo
Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type
Myers Briggs
Experian
OppenheimerFunds on LinkedIn
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Power, Self-Reflection, Growth, and Drive with Sacha Luthi
Power comes with responsibility, and leading others requires a great amount of self-reflection. In this episode, we stray from our typical format and tackle the intangible, yet vitally important topics of personal growth and drive. Joining us over the airwaves all the way from Geneva is Sacha Luthi, Global Head of Talent and Learning at Cartier and former Global Head of Talent at Gucci! In our conversation with Sacha, he candidly shares his views on power, learning, unique talent propositions, and so much more. We discuss the importance of leveraging on strength and measuring the impact of your deficiencies, as well as how we can motivate ourselves to learn and grow. Sasha fills us in on how he personally measures his success through self-reflection and evaluating his relevance in the respective field, and how he finds that placing himself in challenging situations allows for personal growth. Tune in today for some profound insights and advice from one of the world’s finest Talent Leaders, and discover why learning should be convenient, but never easy.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Sacha Luthi’s nationality and polylingualism (and which languages he uses in different contexts.)
- He shares his background and his current role and interests.
- How to measure success both practically and self-critically.
- The importance of self-reflection and considering what you bring to the table.
- Sacha’s view on power and his relationship with it.
- His approach to directing people and why he feels it’s important to leverage on strength.
- How to measure the impact of your deficiencies.
- How to identify your unique talent proposition and why you should be assertive about your strengths.
- Sasha shares his belief in putting oneself in difficult situations in order to grow.
- Why learning should be convenient, not easy.
- The value of public commitments when learning a new skill.
- The importance of recognizing and valuing the elements that made you who you are.
Tweetables:
“In terms of career, I have a sweet spot for organizational change leadership and learning but I have a broad interest in everything that is happening in HR and beyond.” — Sacha Luthi [0:05:23]
“I like power and I have no shame in saying that. The question is, “How do I use power?” because power comes in many shapes and forms and you have a responsibility.” — Sacha Luthi [0:09:14]
“My practice is more having good conversations, good dialogue, asking good questions to people in my team so that they come to a conclusion about what they need or what they think they need most.” — Sacha Luthi [0:11:56]
“You’re looking at the wrong end of the growth tree if you are focusing on the things that you are deficient in. You are better off trying to get 1% better at the thing you’re already an expert at.” — Rob Stevenson [0:13:27]
“Learning can be convenient but it shouldn’t be easy because if it is easy, you’re not learning.” — Rob Stevenson [0:21:48]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Sacha Luthi on LinkedIn
Cartier
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Imposter Syndrome, Remote Hiring, and Cultivating Connections with Tatiyana Cure
Today on Talk Talent to Me, we chat to the formidable Tatiyana Cure who has fearlessly earned her way into the position of Head of Talent Acquisition and Learning at Bank Leumi. In our conversation, we hear about Tatiyana’s inspiring approach to learning and managing imposter syndrome, the benefits of cultivating relationships with mentors, and why you shouldn’t brush over your superfans. Tatiyana shares her secrets to creating time for content creation and book writing above and beyond her demanding day-to-day work life, and talks to us about her most recent publication, Hire to Win. She shares some insights she stumbled upon in the writing process regarding making meaningful connections without the pressure of networking. Finally, Tatiyana shares her opinion on what managers can do to uplevel in the wake of the pandemic and ruminates on the challenges of remote hiring and team building.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Tatiyana Cure’s unexpected route to recruitment and how she became Head of Talent Acquisition and Learning at Bank Leumi.
- How Tatiyana thrives outside of her comfort zone and how she manages imposter syndrome.
- Tatiyana’s approach to learning; how she views everything as an opportunity to learn.
- How she initiated the relationship with her principal mentor and what she’s learned from her.
- The benefits of having mentors and cultivating relationships that are designed to help you excel.
- The importance of developing and engaging your superfans.
- How Tatiyana makes time for her extracurricular activities such as writing books and blogging.
- How she gleans her content from conversations she has in her day-to-day work life.
- How her mission of discovering new topics without the pressure of networking provides the opportunity for deeper, more meaningful connections.
- The outcomes she’s observed of publishing her books and being active on LinkedIn, etc.
- What inspired her to write her book, Hire to Win.
- How the pandemic affected the hiring industry and how managers can up-level in its wake.
- The importance of taking the human component of hiring into consideration.
- The difficulty of remote-hiring and remote team bonding activities.
- Tatiyana shares an example from Think Again by Adam Grant to demonstrate an alternative way of teaching.
- Tatiyana urges listeners to go out and do something completely different.
Tweetables:
“I think that anything that you go through is meant to teach you something. There’s a lesson in everything.” — @TatiyanaCure [0:09:52]
“Anything that is put in my way, I look at as an opportunity to learn.” — @TatiyanaCure [0:10:50]
“Mentors are going to give you tough feedback because they want to see you grow.” — @TatiyanaCure [0:15:18]
“You would be surprised how many people are willing to have conversations and brainstorm and share ideas when that pressure of networking is removed.” — @TatiyanaCure [0:21:26]
“I think there’s an opportunity within talent strategies, onboarding, team building, training, and so forth where we say, ‘I know this is what we used to do in the past but does this still work? Can we test it in a different way?’” — @TatiyanaCure [0:32:22]
“I urge [people] to go out and do something completely different. Go out and push yourself in a different way so it just shakes up your world a little bit.” — @TatiyanaCure [0:33:56]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Tatiyana Cure
Tatiyana Cure on LinkedIn
Tatiyana Cure on Twitter
Hire to Win: Manager's Practical Guide for Attracting and Interviewing Top Talent
Bank Leumi
Talk Talent to Me
Think Again
Hired
Are the Heads of People Today the CEOs of Tomorrow? with Anthony Vaughan
The Head of People role is often confused with that of an HR position, and today on Talk Talent to Me, we find out why the roles shouldn’t simply be lumped together out of convenience. In this episode, we are joined by entrepreneur turned Head of People, writer, speaker, and podcaster Anthony (AJ) Vaughan. In our conversation with AJ, we learn about his employee-first approach and everything there is to know about the widely misunderstood Head of People role in a company. We discover the events that turned him onto his ideologies and what he considers the true role of a Head of People to be-- AJ openly shares his successes and pitfalls and explains the ways in which Heads of People are often exploited and expected to stray from their skill set. We discuss how the role can be likened to that of a CEO and AJ explains why he believes that the Heads of People today are the perfect candidates for the CEOs of tomorrow. Join us for this eye-opening conversation on what to expect from a Head of People, what to demand as a Head of People, and the undeniable significance of the role!
Key Points From This Episode:
- AJ shares his mission to change the world of work by putting employees first.
- The greatest mistake he made working with Under Armour, what he learned from it, and the new trajectory it set him on.
- The attitude that got him into hot water at the beginning of his trajectory change.
- Why AJ took on a Head of People role under a boss after working as an entrepreneur.
- AJ defines the Head of People’s role and explains why he doesn’t consider himself an HR person.
- What AJ considers to be the best use for the Head of People in a company.
- What to consider when looking to take on a Head of People role.
- The training and resources AJ believes Heads of People should be provided with.
- AJ likens the role of the Head of People to that of the CEO and explains why he thinks HoP veterans would make great CEOs.
- AJ uses Angela R. Howard as an example of what Heads of People should assert when joining a company.
- What is expected of Heads of People that shouldn’t be and why it’s important not to send them “down a rabbit hole.”
- AJ shares three tips for Heads of People to avoid being bogged down with procedural tasks that are beneath their skillset.
- The work he’s doing with Beyond Brand and who he’s looking to partner with.
Tweetables:
“Everything that I do and everything that I am is I put employees at the center of everything that I’m trying to create.” — @E1B210 [0:01:42]
“The Head of People role should really be used strategically. The Head of People role should be a partnership juggernaut.” — @E1B210 [0:18:22]
“The Head of People should be the CEO of the people.” — @E1B210 [0:19:59]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent to Me
Anthony Vaughan on LinkedIn
Anthony Vaughan on Twitter
Email Anthony Vaughan
The E1B2 Collective
The E1B2 Collective on Instagram
Angela R. Howard
Greenhouse
Hired
Today on Talk Talent To Me, we are joined by the Chief People Officer over at BlockFi, Laura Cooper. From big corporations to small startups, Laura has seen it all and has insights into the world of talent acquisition from every angle. Laura fills us in on the different approaches she’s been able to take in smaller organizations and the effectiveness and agility of a small, carefully composed team. We learn about social contracts and how to set the stage for high intellectual friction and ensure low social friction, before going on to consider the need for a balance of potential and experience within a team. Laura generously shares BlockFi’s recruitment process and cultural ethos, as well as her personal emphasis on the importance of being surrounded by people who are willing to challenge her.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Laura Cooper, Chief People Officer at BlockFi.
- Laura explains what BlockFi does and what’s unique about it.
- BlockFi’s mission to make cryptocurrency accessible to everyone.
- The benefits of crypto being in the blockchain and outside of governmental control.
- Why BlockFi is poised to work with regulatory bodies.
- What appealed to Laura about working with BlockFi.
- Laura’s professional background from practicing law to her current position at BlockFi.
- Why she moved to a small startup from a large corporation and how her role differed.
- How a small team can be far more agile and effective than a big team with a big budget.
- Laura’s most difficult transition moving from a big corporate into a small organization.
- Laura breaks down the concept of social contracts in small organizations.
- The role of the recruiters at BlockFi and how they carefully discern new hires.
- BlockFi’s ethos and how the company abides by and emphasizes its social contract.
- What Bonusly is and how it inspires the right behaviors in employees.
- How to ensure that a hire for potential is supported to succeed in a new position.
- Why there needs to be a balance of potential and experience within a team.
- The importance of being surrounded by people who are willing to challenge you.
- The two primary things psychological safety is comprised of.
- How to set the stage for high intellectual friction.
- What low social friction means.
- How to manage your teammates’ failures.
- How setting boundaries creates a positive culture.
- Laura’s final advice: Don’t be afraid to learn and don’t be afraid to unlearn!
Tweetables:
“One of the things that’s most exciting about BlockFi is it’s also for the individual, like you, me, grandma, grandpa, and everyone has the opportunity to buy and sell and trade in crypto through BlockFi.” — Laura Cooper [0:02:04]
“I like the idea that money is in the hands of people versus under control of government.” — Laura Cooper [0:05:06]
“There is and there should be an expectation between the organization and the people who work for it about how we treat one another.” — Laura Cooper [0:20:45]
“Unfortunately, recruiters get a bad rap in a lot of ways but they really are the guardians of the culture.” — Laura Cooper [0:23:15]
“You can’t have everybody be a commander and you can’t have everybody be a scout. You need a combination of the two.” — Laura Cooper [0:30:04]
“The greatest thing is constantly learning. Don’t be afraid to learn, don’t be afraid to throw yourself out there if you don’t know how to do something.” — Laura Cooper [0:37:26]
“Don’t be afraid to unlearn, take the best of what you know how to do and tailor it for the climate in which you’re in.” — Laura Cooper [0:37:54]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent to Me
Laura Cooper on LinkedIn
BlockFi
Bluecore
The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety
Rob Stevenson on LinkedIn
Hired
In this episode of Talk Talent To Me, we are joined by Paul Humphreys, J.P. Morgan’s Technology Recruitment Manager for all of EMEA. Paul has truly done it all, from studying politics to starting his own recruitment agency, to heading up jobs at Sky and Amazon, and finally settling on a prestigious position at J.P. Morgan. In our conversation, we discuss the pros and cons of working for a global company with larger resources, what cohort hiring is, and why it’s such a big focus for Paul, as well as what he believes the standard industry practice should be when dishing out application rejections.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Paul Humphrey details his career trajectory from studying politics to working for J.P.Morgan.
- What appealed to Paul about working for J.P. Morgan despite having no experience in finance.
- What he is responsible for within the company.
- The pros and cons of working for a global company with resources versus a startup.
- What cohort hiring is and why it’s currently number one on Paul’s agenda.
- Paul’s intentions for the future of recruitment within J.P.Morgan.
- Why hiring managers should be educated to screen candidacy in, rather than screening out.
- The opportunity for internal mobility at J.P. Morgan and how they look at both the internal and external market.
- The process by which existing J.P. Morgan employees are considered for other roles.
- Where Paul feels the firm could improve in terms of recruitment.
- Which kinds of mobility are the most and least common within J.P. Morgan.
- Why Paul believes that giving detailed and honest feedback when a candidate’s application is rejected should be standard industry practice.
Tweetables:
“As a recruiter, what’s always been the most interesting part of the career is trying to wrap my head around, firstly, technology, and then secondly, the business, and to understand how technology is valuable to that business and the role that it plays.” — Paul Humphreys [0:07:27]
“Speed is important in talent acquisition. The speed with which you can bring a candidate through a process [and] the speed with which you can respond to your client’s needs.” — Paul Humphreys [0:11:29]
“There is no such thing as a bad candidate. It’s about matching candidates with your requirements and also the reverse, whether your opportunity matches what a candidate is looking for.” — Paul Humphreys [0:16:16]
“Our role as recruiters is to try and ask challenging questions to the clients and make sure that they’re really assessing internal and external candidates in a similar way.” — Paul Humphreys [0:21:48]
“To shift that focus away from one-off interactions with candidates to a more open and constructive dialogue, that would be a great achievement.” — Paul Humphreys [0:29:23]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent to Me
Paul Humphreys on LinkedIn
J.P. Morgan
Hired
On today’s episode of Talk Talent To Me, we are joined by Taryn Sheldrake, SVP of Talent Acquisition over at PTC, to discuss the shifts over the past few years, as well as how to choose a company to work for as a talent leader, and the ins and outs of leading a TA team. In our conversation with Taryn, she shares how the industry has changed to finally have TA and HR at the leadership table, and the importance of ensuring each team member understands their role in the company-wide strategy. She fills us in on how to evaluate the maturity and needs of a prospective company, and what questions strategic talent leaders should be asking in the interview process to ensure they land in a company that will enable them to affect change in the ways they see fit. We learn about Taryn’s approach to upskilling and developing her team and why she genuinely wants her team members to succeed, no matter where they end up. Tune in for an episode jam packed with great advice and find out the best ways to challenge yourself and succeed in the long run!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Taryn Sheldrake, SVP of Talent Acquisition at PTC.
- How Taryn’s both in retrospective mode and planning mode for 2022 and ‘23.
- The flexibility required in a frequently changing talent landscape.
- Taryn’s approach to end-of-year retrospectives.
- The importance of ensuring each team member understands their role in the company-wide strategy.
- Taryn’s background and her role at PTC.
- Taryn’s current methodology and how TA and HR now have a seat at the leadership table.
- What strategic talent leaders should ask prospective employers in an interview.
- How it feels to shift a company’s talent strategy from a reactive to a proactive one.
- Taryn shares her view that it takes a village to make hires.
- How to evaluate the needs of an organization when assessing them as your next company.
- The shift in the industry over the last few years in terms of job fluidity.
- Choosing a role by gauging your ability to affect change.
- Taryn’s approach to upskilling and developing team members.
- How the expectations she has for her team have changed over the past five or 10 years.
- The importance of meeting people where they are and involving them in decisions when it comes to enhancing their skill set.
- Taryn’s instinct to challenge herself, and the benefit of stepping out of one’s comfort zone.
- Taryn’s advice for those looking to land up in a strategic talent leadership position.
Tweetables:
“To make something meaningful, I think you’ve got to personalize it. You’ve got to hit at the heartstrings, really understand your people, what they need, where they want to develop, and what they want to do, and try to help them get there regardless of what that outcome may be.” — Taryn Sheldrake [0:05:40]
“It's an amazing feeling to be able to come into a company and steer the ship in that different direction and go from that completely reactive talent strategy to a proactive one if you have the right mindset and chops to do it.” — Taryn Sheldrake [0:13:52]
“I challenge myself. I'm the person in the room that's always going to take the thing that nobody wants. I've always been that person.” — Taryn Sheldrake [0:29:10]
“Take some risks, and also take some time to own your own path.” — Taryn Sheldrake [0:31:36]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent to Me
Taryn Sheldrake on LinkedIn
Hired
In this episode, Hannah offers key insights into the refreshing way Coda does their recruiting, from the initial call which is more like a pitch that overviews all the different product features, to laying out to the candidate how Coda is differentiated from other players in the productivity space. We dive into why it’s so incredibly beneficial to have a front-loaded approach like this, and the way that Coda gives the candidate a choice. In Hannah’s words “We want you to be thinking as an employee, like an investor.” Hear about her career progression and what the questions and factors were that made her realize she wanted to be a part of the Coda team. Sneak a peek into the company value of right versus familiar, and listen to why we should all become far more literate with equity structure. From the flexibility of bouncing through different departments to some really solid parting advice for anyone looking to move, join me in this lively discussion about changing the way we acquire talent.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Hannah Spiegel; and her multiple roles at Coda.
- How she likes the flexibility of bouncing around different departments.
- Being a product of your environment, and the dynamic nature of recruiting.
- Hannah shares a little of her career progression and how she ended up at Coda.
- The three questions she asked herself that proved Coda was the right fit for her.
- Trusting her gut instinct, and the drawcard of being part of a strong team.
- Hear about the first recruiting call at Coda: refreshing, transparent, and product-focused.
- The importance of a detailed order of operations for the recruitment process, including who does what.
- The cutthroat nature of the productivity software, and what differentiates Coda.
- Hear about the company value of right versus familiar, and giving the candidates a choice.
- Why their detailed focus on equity is a hugely important part of a compensation package.
- How everyone should be up-leveling understanding of equity structure.
- Hannah’s excellent parting advice for anyone looking to move or take on a new role.
Tweetables:
“I think that when you get really deep in recruiting and have a lot of experience, it’s not too hard to actually pivot and move into departments and work on roles that you haven’t worked on before.”— Hannah Spiegel [0:03:02]
“Being able to get deep on a product that you’re recruiting talent for, you need to have a different level of understanding that comes with that firsthand user experience.”— Hannah Spiegel [0:10:43]
“Anything we can do to present Coda differently and to show what we’re doing is important and why we all kind of stand behind our product in this way, is something I think that will be a key differentiator for us too.”— Hannah Spiegel [0:15:45]
“We want you to be thinking as an employee like an investor.”— Hannah Spiegel [0:19:36]
“It’s always been about chasing the maximum opportunity. If you can get a really killer role that’s going to have the highest title at a company that goes nowhere, it doesn’t do anything for you either.”— Hannah Spiegel [0:29:28]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Hannah Spiegel on LinkedIn
Kenny Mendez at Coda
Coda
Talk Talent to Me
While many people view imposter syndrome as a negative experience, today’s guest Sanja Mitar will not accept a job unless she experiences it. After studying child and youth care, she found herself in a job at Shopify where her ability to network and her willingness to be coached led her into HR. She is now the director of talent acquisition at smile.io. We discuss what doing a retrospective on 2021 looks like for her, what metrics she uses to measure her success, the interviews she conducts in the process, and the types of questions she asks. To find out more about the benefits of imposter syndrome, the need for transparency, and Sanja’s advice to anyone wanting to improve in their role, tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- How Sanja Mitar is currently catching up on work after unplugging for a vacation.
- Sanja and Rob’s tips for unplugging.
- Sanja’s background in child and youth care and how she got into recruitment.
- The ability to network, being coachable, and other qualities that helped Sanja get on the talent team despite her lack of experience.
- How she overcame impostor syndrome when she first joined the recruitment team.
- Why Sanja doesn’t take a job unless she feels imposter syndrome.
- Insight into Sanja’s role at Smile.io.
- What doing a retrospective on 2021 looks like for Sanja and what metrics she uses to measure her success.
- The interviews she’s conducting as part of her retro on 2021 and the types of questions she asks.
- Why Sanja believes the responsibility is split 50/50 between the talent representative and the hiring manager in the hiring process.
- Sanja’s advice on how to improve in your role.
Tweetables:
“I don’t take a role unless I feel that impostor syndrome. Because it if I don’t get that, that just means that I’m too comfortable and I’m probably not going to be challenged enough.” — Sanja Mitar [0:13:46]
“I think for anybody listening that might be feeling impostor syndrome, resourcefulness and resiliency, I think are the two main drivers of success. None of those two things require heavy skill-based learning or understanding.” — Sanja Mitar [0:16:06]
“Get really, really great mentors. Those are so valuable, it’ll pay off in spades if you’ve got great people around you.” — Sanja Mitar [0:26:21]
“You don’t know what you don’t know. The only way to find out is to learn. So put in the work, be resourceful. Just seek out that information, and ask questions, build connections, and it will happen.” — Sanja Mitar [0:26:32]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Sanja Mitar
smile.io
Man On Cusp Of Having Fun Suddenly Remembers Every Single One Of His Responsibilities
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining us today is Nick Cromydas, CEO of HR tech company, Hunt Club. Nick offers insight on the HR Tech industry as a whole, where talent lies in the priority list of most companies, and how he would think about offering a recruiting skillset to the market in an ever changing world.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Nick Cromydas shares his background and oddly non-linear path to HR tech.
- The insights that led to the creation of Hunt Club.
- How Hunt Club differs from the standard agency or RPO model.
- The power of a trusted introduction.
- What’s causing CEOs and investors to realize the value in investing in HR tech and talent leaders.
- Nick predicts that the great people officers of today will be the CEOs of tomorrow.
- Why there has been a change in behavior and the importance of talent is being recognized.
- What has caused the talent pool to thin out.
- The growing trend of remote work and contract work and how it’s predicted to alter behaviors.
- Examples of successful serial entrepreneurs joining companies not out of necessity, but because they believe in the mission of the business.
- How the shifting need for talent and approach to finding talent will affect recruiters.
- The benefits of working with one team rather than working alone on multiple contract gigs.
- What makes a great recruiter and how recruiters should adapt in the new remote work era.
- The long-term vision for Hunt Club.
- The impossibility of automating human interaction and trusted relationships.
- The value of network and relationships as part of the recruiting skillset.
- How to identify your personal commodities.
- Using the centralized recruitment model in an increasingly decentralized world.
Tweetables:
“By decentralizing the network and decoupling it from just one recruiter when you’re working with a traditional firm to a network of leaders across the country, you get amazing talent with a trusted introduction.” — @NickCromydas [0:07:24]
“In a universe where you can hire anyone anywhere and not just the person in your backyard, the only way that you’re actually going to get them to acknowledge something in your inbox or in your LinkedIn, is through a trusted introduction.” — @NickCromydas [0:07:37]
“Every company will be a tech company down the road in some form or fashion and it’s what’s making the market really challenging right now, given the limited amount of opportunities and the large amount of companies hiring and limited amount of candidates.” — @NickCromydas [0:13:53]
“I think there is always going to be a time and place for where being a part of one team is more exciting than working on your own in multiple gigs.” — @NickCromydas [0:22:04]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Nick Cromydas on LinkedIn
Nick Cromydas on Twitter
Hunt Club
Hunt Club on Twitter
Matt Hughes on LinkedIn
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining us today on Talk Talent To Me is lead recruiter at Auth0, Lisa Semerdijan. Lisa, herself, was a career changer; moving from the advertising world to that of recruitment and career coaching. We discuss what it is that causes people to change careers and what to consider should you be looking to make a change. Lisa shares what she finds compelling about career changers and why she considers them to be wise hiring choices. Lisa touches on the importance of noting your priorities when looking to change jobs and how to conduct your own research to investigate the company in question.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Lisa Semerdijan’s background and how she wound up in the role of lead recruiter at Auth0.
- What Auth0 does and Lisa’s role within the company.
- What she finds compelling about career changers; the benefits of hiring them.
- How to decide whether to change careers.
- How mastery breeds complacency, thus changing careers or companies isn’t negative.
- The importance of being critical about the areas in which you are deficient.
- How Lisa got into career coaching on the side and what aspects she finds rewarding.
- How her recruiting insights help her to help her clients better formulate their resumes.
- The various forms of guidance clients come to her for.
- How COVID has caused people to be more deliberate and selective.
- How COVID has resulted in the notion of bringing one’s whole self to work.
- The importance of noting your priorities and doing research when looking to change jobs.
- How to investigate your current or prospective company.
- The efficacy of referrals and the benefits of back-channeling and utilizing contacts.
- What job candidates can consider asking for before making their decision.
- Why it’s important for recruiters to remain candid throughout the recruitment process.
Tweetables:
“I really like career changers because . . . it’s really easy to just collect a pay-check, cruise through your job, and just have a job that you're not necessarily thrilled about or you don't enjoy anymore. These people have to be resilient.” — @LisaSemerdijan [0:05:51]
“Mastery makes you feel skilled and valuable, but it also breeds complacency.” — @robstersays [0:11:00]
“It's so important to be critical about the areas in which you are deficient, as you get better in your career.” — @robstersays [0:13:02]
“We are in probably the most interesting market that I think anyone's ever seen, regardless of how long someone's been in talent acquisition . . . People are very selective, and they should be.” — @LisaSemerdijan [0:20:42]
“Remember that these people are probably happy where they are. You're asking them to quit their job and come work for you. So what's in it for them? That hat has to stay on the entire time.” — @LisaSemerdijan [0:27:28]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent to Me
Lisa Semerdjian on LinkedIn
Lisa Semerdjian on Twitter
Rob Stevenson on Twitter
Hired
Today, we have another fantastic guest on the show: VP of Talent and Culture at CallRail, Whitney Bennett! In this episode, Whitney shares her wisdom and expertise regarding the current power shift in favor of the candidate and how companies can and should be responding to new expectations of safety, communication, and psychological support. We cover some interesting tools and strategies that can accumulate data in this area, and Whitney outlines the ways in which we can empower managers to have these conversations. Listeners hear about the changing landscape of HR, the new scope of mental health issues and societal injustices that fall under the responsibilities of HR, and just how they can do this: with grace and a human-based approach. We also touch on transparency, willingness, ensuing action, and a whole lot more!
Key Points From This Episode:
- We learn a little bit about Whitney and how she transitioned early on from sales to HR.
- Whitney talks about the importance of a first hire being a recruiter.
- Discussing scaling when hiring many new employees, especially those working remotely.
- How candidates' expectations have changed and how employee resource groups can support these needs.
- Why the great resignation isn't about money; it's more about company culture.
- Being honest with yourself about what you really need from a role, especially in tech spaces.
- Communicating with your manager if you want something more or different.
- Ways in which companies have to be more open and flexible.
- How creating a company culture of transparency and action also creates safety to speak up.
- Whitney asserts that empowering managers to have these conversations is crucial.
- Using other tools such as surveys to gather data on employees satisfaction.
- How Whitney sees the landscape of HR has changed; and where it still needs to.
- Using and giving grace to acknowledge the recent social injustices that are impacting an employee's mental health.
-
How HR is transitioning and needs to provide more emotional support than ever before.
-
How certifications and training in those softer skills are catching up too.
Tweetables:
“Especially in tech, you don’t have to just take any job. There [are] a ton of jobs out there. That’s why the great resignation is a thing. Don’t compromise on what you want.” — Whitney Bennet [0:12:28]
“Employees and candidates have much more power now than they ever did before. Not necessarily power to get all the money in the land, even though that is currently a thing, [but] power to hold their employers accountable to do the things they say they’re going to do.” — Whitney Bennet [0:05:36]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Whitney Bennett on LinkedIn
CallRail
Talk Talent to Me
Simone is the insightful and knowledgeable Global Head of TA for Whip Media and, in this extra-special edition alongside guest host, Talk Talent to Me founding member, and Executive Director at Hunt Club, Matt Hughes, she dives into what the current candidate's market means for recruitment, flexible and holistic incentivization techniques that can align you with the right intake, as well as dealing with candidates that have multiple job offers. This episode also breaks down the double-edged sword of working remotely, where Simone and Matt skillfully navigate all the aspects of the all-too-familiar phenomenon of burnout, how to take it into account, where it comes from, as well as whether full-time job offerings in the booming freelance economy are losing viability. We expound on ways in which leadership and hiring managers can (and need to) incorporate consideration of mental health into the workplace package. From recruiter follow-through and labor shortages to the 30-hour workweek and the effects of day-care costs, we cover everything you need to know about the post-pandemic recruitment arena
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to Simone Press, the wise and tenacious Global Head of TA for Whip Media.
- Easily transferring her rapport skills as a celebrity reporter into the field of talent acquisition.
- How to work with, not against, the current great resignation trend.
- How she talks to hiring managers about flexibility and current candidate motivations.
- Giving perspective on interviewing processes and requirements, particularly at mid/low level.
- Simone shares some fascinating insights regarding how assessments can be more efficient.
- We discuss her number one pet peeve when it comes to recruiters: follow-through.
- Evaluating and responding to a candidate with multiple job offers on the table.
- The importance of personalization and hiring managers reaching out first.
- We talk about the freelance economy and increased compensation bands.
- Projecting the future of hiring and the persistence of the labor shortage.
- The concept of the huge expense of day-care contributing to people quitting their jobs.
- Factoring industry-specific privilege into the conversation, unemployment benefits, and more!
- Simone chats about incentivization, remote working, and creating a baseline of mental health.
- Discussing burnout causes, its cascading problems, and possible cost-effective solutions.
- Simone advises leadership to take the initiative to mitigate burnout before it starts.
- We break down the double-edged sword of remote working, and finding work-life balance.
- How Simone educates her stakeholders internally before a high-volume intake of employees.
- Talking location, mandates of coming into work, and working remotely as a strategic lever for diversity.
Tweetables:
“A big cornerstone of our job as recruiters is to build a rapport, build a connection [with] a candidate.”— @simonepress [0:08:49]
“A tenet of any good recruiter is to listen, listen, listen.”— @simonepress [0:12:32]
“You want [your] hiring team to be inclusive, to be diverse, and also to be very prescriptive in terms of what the opportunity is, and ask those tough questions.”— @simonepress [0:15:43]
“You really need to think about how can you incentivize people to be interested in opportunities right now, because it is incredibly difficult to hire.”— @simonepress [0:42:57]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Simone Press on LinkedIn
Simone Press on Twitter
Whip Media
Hunt Club
Today’s guest is the inimitable Kara Riley, Global VP of People, Culture and Belonging at Elite Model World, here to talk to us about her work and achieving workplace equity. In this episode, we dive deeply into what makes Kara Riley tick, how she has risen through the ranks to where she is today, and some extremely valuable and hard-won advice for those wishing to follow a similar path. We dive right in with tackling topics of high-level representation, how organizations can show up better globally, and what specific questions companies need to be asking themselves to keep honest and ensure change happens at the right levels. Kara also gives us her personal tips for other under-estimated individuals walking their projected career path with pragmatism, an eye for growth, and an awareness of which organizations will help you thrive. Lastly, we dive into the creation of psychological safety, and how it's paramount that leadership have the awareness and education to foster safe spaces.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Getting to know Kara Riley and her rise through the ranks from humble beginnings.
- Questions of what your time is worth, and always having a number in your head.
- High-level representation, visibility, and aspirational feedback Kara got in her Netflix role.
- Flipping the verbiage 'under-represented groups' to a more accurate 'underestimated groups'.
- Kara shares her hard-won advice for dealing with career obstacles of prejudice.
- Tackling gender double standards around existing as a woman in the workspace.
- Kara describes her pragmatic approach to new job opportunities, and keeping aligned with your projected career vision.
- Creating a five-year plan, asking for what you want, and owning your progress at work.
- Doing things, asking questions later, and leaving if you're made to feel unsafe to be proactive.
- Leadership's responsibility of psychological safety, starting with communication.
- Kara explains the most important questions an organization needs to ask itself.
- Describing a multi-prong approach to create safety and leadership responsibility for employees from underestimated groups.
- How to conduct a listening tour without putting the burden on the individuals being assessed.
- Navigating being a trailblazer, and what companies need to be doing to define the process.
Tweetables:
“Be aspirational, look at those job descriptions, your roles that you want to be in, or those individuals on LinkedIn and see what types of other organizations that they’ve gone through, their path to get to where they want to be.” — Kara Riley [0:12:53]
“You have to ask. Closed mouths don’t get fed.” — Kara Riley [0:14:35]
“I like to get in good trouble, doing things and asking questions later, or asking forgiveness later. You can’t be afraid. If your organization does not give you that psychological security to not be afraid, then I would reassess, “Is this the right organization for me?” — Kara Riley [0:15:23]
“How do we want to show up in this global community? That’s the big question. Then, how are we going to hold ourselves accountable to it?” — Kara Riley [0:17:39]
“Do not expect the underestimated groups to tell you what the company needs to do better and what the company is doing wrong. It is not their job to fix it.” — Kara Riley [0:18:47]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Kara Riley on LinkedIn
Elite Model World
My Unorthodox Life
Talk Talent to Me
Today I’m joined by Renee Davis, Duolingo’s Director of Recruiting. In this episode, we address the issues with the old method of targeting a specific subset of students, and how to stay up to date with each new generation. We dive into how to improve the graduation numbers of underrepresented student populations, and debate the merits of recruiting through TikTok! Renee’s belief that a recruitment program is about what the students can gain from it has already proven its worth, with seven out of eight interns accepting their offers to come back to work, and she takes me through how she managed this impressive feat. From virtual yoga to why three-year recruitment plans are ideal, join me in a lively discussion about changing the way we find talent.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to Renee Davis, the driving force behind Duolingo’s modern recruiting operation.
- Why recruiting is about more than just meeting hiring goals.
- Tackling problems in university recruiting to impact students' lives.
- The challenges and rewards of going virtual.
- Using virtual events to improve outreach.
- What platforms you can use to improve your recruitment programs.
- How to ensure there is value for the students and not just the recruiters.
- The Duolingo Thrive Program: building a sense of belonging in underrepresented students.
Tweetables:
“Whoever you’re talking to, it's all about making sure there’s value for them.” — Renee Davis [0:14:32]
“We are only as good as the students who are in the programs and are graduating with the degrees.” — Renee Davis [0:17:30]
“The long view is getting the problem at root and trying to solve it over time versus constantly trying to build a solution at top of funnel for just in time hiring.” — Renee Davis [0:24:02]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Renee Davis on LinkedIn
Gather Town
Talk Talent to Me
Today I’m joined by Dessalen Wood, Chief People Officer at Thoughtexchange. Dessalen has used the Thoughtexchange product to gather deep insights about employee motivations, and has used the data to determine the gap between what employees report is most important in a role, as opposed to which factors actually lead to increased retention and job satisfaction.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Dessalen explains what the purpose of ThoughtExchange is.
- The transformational first experience that Dessalen had using ThoughtExchange.
- How Dessalen came to work at ThoughtExchange.
- What Dessalen learned from doing a ThoughtExchange asking people what would prevent them from quitting their job.
- Reasons that people want more out of their job now than they did in the past.
- Four themes that Dessalen ended up with when she ran an internal ThoughtExchange on what employees want more of.
- The value of being transparent as a company.
- How the most attractive elements of a job have changed over time.
- Why being a leader now is more challenging than ever.
- An explanation of what Dessalen calls the “from-for” balance.
- Dessalen shares an example of what it means to be transparent as a leader.
- Self-awareness isn’t enough, you have to be able to self-manage too.
- What Dessalen learns about a person from asking them about decisions they made that they regret.
Tweetables:
“If you’re using ThoughtExchange early in the decision-making process, you’re actually getting ideas and you’re actually improving the decision that you’re going to make by iterating with a large population.” — @dessalen [0:03:47]
“We are a purpose-driven company. What we’re doing is really important in the world by bringing a way to have an unbiased and diverse conversation inside large organizations..” — @dessalen [0:10:59]
“Actual happiness often is linked to autonomy and unhappiness is linked to feeling controlled.” — @dessalen [0:21:58]
“Self-awareness without any self-management is irresponsible. Self-awareness with the ability to manage what you’re aware of, that’s actually a tremendous strength.” — @dessalen [0:31:25]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Dessalen Wood on LinkedIn
ThoughtExchange
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Today I'm lucky to have on the show the Chief People Officer at Wayfair, Kate Gulliver. Informed by her career across many different parts of the company, Kate shares her vision and strategies on consistency and support for the hugely varying needs within the company. From the evergreen people principles at Wayfair, to the importance of collaborative cohesion and always assuming the best of your co-workers integrity, we learn what it means to be part of the network of employees that are touched and supported by the talent division. She also shares with us her strategies for creating umbrella support across the business while providing equity of opportunity for every team member at Wayfair. We then dissect the interviewing process, the intricacies of internal mobility, and developing a system of internal mobility hires within senior and junior levels.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Some background on Kate's journey to becoming the Chief People Officer at Wayfair.
- How Kate's moves through the company have each allowed her access and insight into all the facets of the business.
- Running the IPO process and what that taught her regarding competitive advantages.
- Talent allowing deeper understanding and high expectations of consistent support, all the way from the warehouse to the VP head of Storefront Engineering.
- “People principles” and how individuals show up to that work.
- These people principles being the guiding principles for cohesive planning that serves every member of the Wayfair team.
- Evergreen nature of the people principles, communicated across the board to allow for effective collaboration.
- Kate's favourite people principles including effective collaboration, respect others, assume integrity of your co-workers, build the best team (and the importance of equitable opportunities).
- OKRs include equitable opportunities and representation for underrepresented groups, encompassing internal and external recruitment at all levels.
- The wayfair jungle gym - talent opportunities interweaving career development (internal mobility) and talent acquisition recruiting.
- Different ways this is done according to seniority level.
- Complicated factors to consider regarding communication around changing roles internally.
- The importance of consistency with the people principles across all these processes, right from hiring to performance review to coaching.
- The different components in the Wayfair interviewing process.
- What to do if you aspire to wind up in people leadership at Wayfair.
Tweetables:
“It starts with how we define what it means to be a team member at Wayfair and that’s through our people principles, which is how we characterized how we want people to show that work and how we hope and expect the people operate with each other.” — [0:05:24]
“Collaboration is core to our success, to work effectively you have to know how to work across multiple teams, get the alignment that you need and be transparent.” — [0:07:30]
“We have different hot jobs that we highlight each week so that people know what is out there and then provide examples of people that have been successful in internal mobility.” — [0:15:27]
“Helping to build other teams throughout Wayfair benefits Wayfair, and that means that you as a manager are great at developing talent.” — [0:18:08]
“You know, all employees, team members really want to know, “How do I perform at my best? What is expected of me?” — [0:22:04]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Talk Talent to Me
Kate Gulliver on LinkedIn
Wayfair
In today’s episode of Talk Talent to Me, we are joined by Maria Molin, Head of People at Mavenoid. Maria breaks down her history in recruitment and how her interest in AI learning led her to join Mavenoid. We delve into Mavenoid’s ambitious growth targets, how that has affected employer branding, and unpack some of the methods that Mavenoid has been using to drive hiring outcomes. Maria discusses some of the exciting things that Mavenoid has been doing to foster connection between colleagues during remote work and how they are supporting their hybrid working needs. Hear about Mavenoid’s Unlimited Books policy as well as other ways that they are facilitating skills growth for their employees. Later we take a look at Mavenoid’s approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and some of the steps they’re taking to increase representation, including partnering with Pink Programming to recruit women in STEM.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today's guest Maria Molin, Head of People at Mavenoid.
- Maria’s history in recruitment and how she joined Mavenoid.
- Maria’s many duties as Head of People at Mavenoid.
- The high rate of growth at Mavenoid and some of the campaigns that are driving hiring outcomes.
- Some of the online remote activities that Mavenoid has been doing for their employees.
- How Mavenoid is helping their employees find the balance between remote and in-person work.
- Surveys and other methods Mavenoid has been using to gauge the needs of their employees with regards to remote work.
- How Maria makes decisions on what to prioritize as Head of People.
- The various ways that Mavenoid allows their employees to learn and grow in their skills.
- The Unlimited Books policy at Mavenoid and why Maria loves it.
- Mavenoid’s generous stipend for employees to pursue learning opportunities.
- How Maria is approaching growing her skills and interests.
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Mavenoid and the steps they are taking to increase representation.
- How Mavenoid is measuring and holding itself accountable to its DE&I goals.
Tweetables:
“Even though we hire a lot of new people, I get so happy every time I read what made someone join Mavenoid.” — Maria Molin [0:08:08]
“We also have an unlimited books policy, which a lot of us love. So, essentially, if you buy a pile of books, and you want to take three days off to just like be in your hammock and read your book, you can do that.” — Maria Molin [0:16:17]
“We're also connecting with more female coding schools to reach out to women. There are a lot of women studying STEM right now and I think it's an amazing opportunity to connect with women and get them into the industry.” — Maria Molin [0:22:25]
“The percentage of women in the company has grown a lot, and I would say also working remotely, it's a great opportunity to bring in people from different backgrounds, and that is something that we're really aiming for in all the roles that we're recruiting for.” — Maria Molin [0:23:52]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Maria Molin on LinkedIn
Mavenoid
Talk Talent to Me
Hired
Joining us on this installment of Talk Talent To Me is the Head of Talent at Amplify, Natasha Katoni. Prior to Amplify, Natasha was one of the very first technical recruiters at Segment, where she went on to become Technical Recruiting Manager. In today’s episode, she shares her somewhat unexpected career journey and what she has learned about talent, scalable processes, and interesting problems along the way. We discuss the importance of really listening to candidates without bringing your own biases into the mix, why building strong relationships with external agencies and platforms is an essential part of the recruitment process, and why there is no one pathway in talent. Natasha speaks candidly about some of her personal motivations, successes, and shortcomings as she has progressed through her career. She even turns her own processes back on herself as a candidate and shares her advice for those currently on the job hunt: be thoughtful and process oriented, but don’t forget to trust your gut!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Natasha shares her journey at Segment, where she was one of their early recruiters.
- Some of the scalable process that were implemented as Segment’s talent operations grew.
- Learn more about Segment’s focus on pre-selling, candidate motivations, timing, and tools.
- How Natasha decided whether or not a candidate was worth the time spent on them.
- Questions to ask technical talent that is in high demand, like what is motivating their search.
- What Natasha has noticed about how candidates express their motivations or priorities.
- The importance of listening to candidates without bringing your own biases to the table.
- The value of taking a step back and reassessing your systems and potential problems.
- Three golden metrics: onsite to offer, offer to close, and top of funnel interested rates.
- Where these processes can break down and the value of building strong relationships with external agencies and platforms.
- Natasha shares what she loves about working at Amplify; how her personal interests align.
- Hear about her transition from an internal operator role at Segment to VC with Amplify.
- Why there is no one pathway in talent; more on Natasha’s less than traditional journey.
- Natasha weighs in on how talent partners can be most useful to early-stage companies.
- Her personal motivation for accepting her current position at Amplify: interesting problems.
- Natasha emphasizes the importance of trusting your gut while also being thoughtful and process oriented when looking for a job.
Tweetables:
“One of the mistakes that companies constantly make is they talk about moving as quickly as possible. That’s not always helpful. You don’t always want to move as fast as possible. What you want to do is capitalize on the recency bias.” — Natasha Katoni [0:07:18]
“When you want to experiment, when you want to build, when you want to fix a system that isn’t working how you want it to, I would try to speak the language of the person that you’re trying to convince.” — Natasha Katoni [0:16:14]
“Spending time building those relationships with external people to be able to support and add to your internal recruiting team when you need it – but also not bloat your recruiting team so that it’s so big that you have to lay people off – that’s the key.” — Natasha Katoni [0:22:07]
“You should be very thoughtful and process oriented when looking for a job and use the checklist process on yourself as a candidate as well.” — Natasha Katoni [0:36:25]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Natasha Katoni on LinkedIn
Amplify
Hired
Triplebyte
Connery Consulting
Talk Talent to Me
Click here for your free copy of People Operations: Automate HR, Design a Great Employee Experience, and Unleash Your Workforce.
The pandemic has thrown a barrage of challenges at those of us in talent teams and as it nears its end, there are still so many variables at play. Today we are joined by Kevin Marasco, the chief marketing officer of Zenefits, a company known for streamlining onboarding, benefits, payroll, and PTO. Kevin is also the author of People Operations: Automate HR, Design a Great Employee Experience, and Unleash Your Workforce. Today Kevin sheds light on some of the many challenges that talent teams have faced as a result of the pandemic. While people are now trying to get “back to work” or find some sort of a normal or familiar operating rhythm, we have to accept that things will never go back to how they were and find ways to integrate new workflows, new operating rhythms, and new policies. We also discuss how these challenges are further impacted by the talent crisis and the Great Resignation, as well as the potential impacts of the gig economy. Kevin explains how at this present time, companies are re-evaluating their strategy when it comes to work in general with regard to who does the work, who can do the work, where they work, and when they work. Tune in to find out what the 80-20 rule is and how HR people can utilize technology to automate the essentials and optimize their roles to be the most impactful toward their companies.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Some background into what Zenefits does.
- Kevin sheds some light on some of the challenges that people teams and people leaders have faced during the pandemic.
- The challenges of going “back to work” in light of all of the temporary and permanent changes of the pandemic.
- How these challenges are further impacted by the talent crisis and the Great Resignation.
- The potential impacts of the gig economy on HR and talent positions.
- How every company has to re-evaluate its strategy when it comes to work in general.
- The technology Kevin uses to do his research to understand the pain points of those in HR.
- How through his research Kevin has come to see a whole new side of this career.
- How HR people can optimize their roles and be the most impactful toward their companies?
- The 80-20 rule and the importance of automating less important tasks with technology.
- How this information is broken down in Kevin’s new book People Operations.
Tweetables:
“I think every company has to re-evaluate their strategy when it comes to work in general, right? That’s who does the work, who can do the work — because I think that’s shifted and is continuing to evolve — where they work, and when they work?” — Kevin Marasco [0:07:42]
“For people leaders [the gig economy] offers them new opportunities. They can engage in work for companies in ways that they haven’t before, but moreover, I think you can re-evaluate how we’re building companies.” — Kevin Marasco [0:09:33]
“I think about the 80-20 rule and it is about focusing on the 20 percent that’s going to drive 80 percent of value. That is where you get this forced multiplier effect and that starts with ‘Okay, take this stuff that has to be done and automate it.’” — Kevin Marasco [0:16:17]
“It’s kind of like automating the essentials then frees us up to focus more time on systemic programs that will have a bigger impact for the organization.” — Kevin Marasco [0:17:22]
“Let the robots have part of your job, embrace them. Picture them as like a personalized assistant that’s going to help you and free you up to do work that you are going to be more passionate about, that’s going to add more value to the business.” — Kevin Marasco [0:18:20]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Kevin Marasco
Zenefits
People Operations
Hired
Talk Talent to Me
Here today to share insights from his 20 years of experience in San Francisco’s tech and real estate industries is Colin Yasukochi, Executive Director of Tech Research at CBRE. In this episode, we discuss how the shift to remote work has given companies the opportunity to expand their borders beyond a physical location, why many companies have chosen to adopt a remote first or hybrid work strategy, and the surprising growth in tech talent hiring over the past year despite the pandemic. Colin introduces us to the Brain Gain and Brain Drain principles, which describe hiring culture based on proximity to universities. We explore the lack of diversity in tech and the slow growth that requires the younger generation to develop an interest in tech careers and explore the relevance of geographic data in a remote era to guide you in prioritizing diversity and seeing how you fare compared to other companies. We hope you join us today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to Colin Yasukochi and his 20 years in tech and real estate in San Francisco.
- How the shift to remote work has opened up a lot of companies to take on new hires.
- The benefits of remote work, which include flexibility and access to a larger pool of talent.
- What the 2021 Scoring Tech Talent Report aims to do: to help inform workforce decisions.
- How it does this by looking at labor market trends in workforce growth, tech degree graduates in each market, and supply and demand.
- What is meant by ‘tech talents’: what you do for your job, not where you work.
- The staff contingent of tech companies: half tech jobs, half sales, finance, HR and more.
- The growth in tech talent hiring over the past year despite the pandemic.
- How there has been a 5 percent growth in demand for software engineers over the last year.
- What companies realized about expanding beyond a physical location during COVID.
- Why many companies have chosen to adopt a remote first or hybrid work strategy.
- How remote hiring is still a relatively small contingent of the growing work force.
- The benefit of having in-person interactions for innovation and how we cannot determine whether the hybrid working situation will work well or not.
- Tech graduates as the primary source of hires and the brain gain and brain drain principle.
- The movement towards hiring graduates who don’t have a background in tech.
- How diversity is becoming an increasing focus in terms of staff contingent.
- How the data showed the overrepresentation of white and Asian males.
- Why we need to encourage people in high school and before that to pursue tech degrees.
- The relevance of geographic data in a remote era: most companies aren’t totally remote, and this data helps to guide the location of new offices with diversity in mind.
- Why geographic data enables you to develop a strategy to increase the numbers.
Tweetables:
“Remote work has always been there, but we’ve got this new opportunity to expand that beyond where we ever thought it would go.” — @colinyasukochi [0:03:14]“Having in-person interactions with people and collaborating is a big part of the innovation process. It’s not the only necessary method, but it’s certainly something that has been traditional over time. We’re going to have to see how well the remote or hybrid situation works.” — @colinyasukochi [0:11:20]
“Change is going to come slowly. That’s where it’s really important to reach back a little bit further and try to encourage people in high school or even before that to get interested in tech degrees.” — @colinyasukochi [0:17:04]
“If you understand where the diverse or underrepresented groups are physically located and then what markets or what universities they may be attending, that is going to give you a leg up to develop a strategy that enables you to increase the numbers.” — @colinyasukochi [0:23:20]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Colin Yasukochi on Linkedin
Colin Yasukochi on Twitter
CBRE
Scoring Tech Talent Report
Talk Talent to Me
It takes conviction to build a team that aligns with both your values and your requirements. Diversity is important to Diane Yu, Chief Technology Officer of Better, a digital first home ownership company that offers mortgage, real estate, title, and homeowner insurance. Tune in to hear about Diane’s career trajectory, why she believes that the best approach to building a team is to ensure that it’s diverse, and how choosing talent is not just about the present but the future too. We touch on designing your target of talent according to your company culture and Diane tells us why she chooses to hire entrepreneurial people who never take no for an answer. Find out why she prioritizes personal characteristics over past experience and nurtures high performing recruiters within her company, judging this according to both accepted offers and recruited candidates. Diane believes that it is possible to build a team that fulfills both diversity and candidate criteria through building the right pipeline.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Diane Yu, Chief Technology Officer of Better.
- The start of her career as an entry level software engineer at DoubleClick.
- How she realized the impact of making good choices in hiring as a manager.
- FreeWheel’s global client base and potential to change the entire financial industry.
- Why Diane believes that the best approach to building a team is to include diversity.
- How choosing talent is not just about the present, but the future too.
- Designing your target of talent according to your company culture.
- Why she chooses to hire entrepreneurial people who never take no for an answer.
- Why, in a fast-moving company, it is impossible to create a five-year plan.
- Characteristics she looks for in new candidates: natural curiosity and eagerness to learn.
- The talent team’s responsibility to interview for roles and gauge the right type of candidate.
- How Diane nurtures high performing recruiters.
- Why she pays attention to more than just accepted offers.
- Why you have to have strong convictions to build a strong, diverse team.
- Revamping the target pipeline in order to prioritize both diversity and her criteria.
- An example of an unexpected drop: Diane’s daughter playing soccer in a princess dress.
- Why Diane works very hard to make sure there is no one outlier on a team.
- Unconscious bias and avoiding this as a reason for candidate drop-off.
Tweetables:
“When the leadership actually puts an extreme focus on talent, you can build the best execution focused team that can win out against large competitors.” — Diane Yu [0:06:38]
“We could actually change the entire financial industry – how people own a home, how people get a mortgage, and how people use [that] home to actually grow their financial wealth.” — Diane Yu [0:07:17]“It's not about how well-spoken you are. It's about whether you have that mindset to be able to find a solution. If you believe something, you'll actually do whatever it takes to get there, not letting anybody stop you on the way.” — Diane Yu [0:13:58]“We need people that are naturally curious and are getting excited about learning new stuff. You can see that from the interview. You can see that via the conversation.” — Diane Yu [0:18:27]
“It actually takes conviction. You cannot just stop at, ‘This is what I want and then let's see how it goes.’ You actually need to look through every step along the way.” — Diane Yu [0:29:25]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Diane Yu on LinkedIn
Better
FreeWheel
Hired Talk Talent to Me
Episode 188: Show Notes.
The talent organization is often seen as a business within a business, but sometimes it is seen more as an expense than a massive contributor to the bottom line. Today we are joined by Liberty Mutual’s Shawn Tubman, who is the head of talent acquisition, and Loralie Thostenson the SVP, technology talent officer. Our guests provide insight into how the operation of the huge talent organization at Liberty Mutual is structured before we discuss how the talent team is seen as an expense center, and how to put into dollars and cents how it is profitable. Tuning in you’ll hear about the transactional lens and the global lens through which Shawn sees ROI for talent processes, as well as the pros and cons of the qualitative approach versus the quantitative approach to proselytizing the value of HR to an organization. Later we talk the very important role of strategy in HR, how our guests determine what specific things a talent organization needs to do to meet the needs of a business, how understanding these needs informs the process of decision making, and why you should ask “A year from now, what are we going to regret not doing?” Listen in today to find out how to balance trying to reach a high headcount goal while also being strategic, the importance of scheduling time for strategizing, and Shawn and Loralie’s advice on how to build your career and be deliberate about your own growth.
Key Points From This Episode:
- How Shawn Tubman has managed to stay at Liberty Mutual for so many years.
- Loralie Thostenson’s thoughts on how the job may stay the same, but unique challenges provide diversity.
- Insight into how the operation of the talent organization at Liberty Mutual is structured.
- Thoughts on how the talent organization is often seen as a business within a business and how this compares to other departments.
- How Shawn and Loralie put into dollars and cents how HR contributes to the bottom line.
- The transactional lens and the global lens through which Shawn sees ROI for talent processes and how they differ.
- Thoughts on the qualitative approach versus the quantitative approach to proselytizing the value of HR to an organization.
- How our guests determine what specific things a talent organization needs to do to meet the needs of a business on a macro-level.
- How taking the time to understand what the organization really needs informs the process of decision making.
- Why you should ask “A year from now, what are we going to regret not doing?”
- How to balance trying to reach a high headcount goal while also being strategic.
- The importance of scheduling time for strategizing.
- Loralie’s advice to make sure that you always understand how you’re adding value.
- Shawn’s advice to not be afraid to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and the importance of self-awareness.
Tweetables:
“You can’t put a price on making the best hire because one hire could really change and shape an organization.” — Shawn Tubman [0:13:46]
“‘Nothing really happens in an organization until you make a sale,’ right? You’ve got to make the sale and then everything comes after it. — The thing that came to my mind was, ‘Nothing happens until you hire the person that makes the sale.’” — Shawn Tubman [0:14:17]
“I think one way of thinking about it is data often times is your ‘what’ and the anecdote is the ‘why’. Having the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ paired together on any topic really makes the connection and gives the whole picture.” — Loralie Thostenson [0:17:50]
“There is a balance between the transactional piece of recruitment, which is working with a hiring manager to fill a singular job and then having that overarching strategic approach. I don’t think one could live without the other.” — Shawn Tubman [0:22:56]
“A well-thought-out strategy, it has to be part of all recruitment organizations, whether that exists on the individual recruiter desk or whether it exists on the leader level for a large organization. Time and intentionality has to be spent in defining that strategy.” — Shawn Tubman [0:23:51]
“Make sure that you always understand how you’re adding value to the business regardless of what level talent role that you’re at.” — Loralie Thostenson [0:30:46]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Shawn Tubman
Loralie Thostenson
Liberty Mutual
Hired
Talk Talent to Me
Whether you work remote, in person, or partially remote, the new world of work contains multiple employee experiences. Today we are joined by Annie Lin, the VP of People at Lever, a company known for helping businesses grow their workforces and improve their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Annie joins us to discuss the new world of work and how to negotiate it from a talent perspective. While some people return to the workplace, others don’t and because everyone’s day-to-day experiences are different, creating an equitable environment for workers is a new challenge that we face. Annie explains how we can think about these new hybrid forms of work in a similar way to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Tuning in you’ll hear how Lever is aiming for equity in everyone’s ability to have an equal impact, irrespective of their day-to-day work experience, and how the company is now less focused on effort and more focused on results. You’ll also discover insight into developments in the job market and talent war, the importance of finding ways to attract diverse candidates, how Lever sets its goals for DEI, and why they break these down to the team level.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to Annie Lin, her role at Lever, and her background.
- The realization Annie had that drew her out of business management and into people ops.
- How she pushes her team to think about their roles from the mindset of being partners to the rest of the business.
- The realities of Annie’s role right now in the context of the new world of work.
- How she level sets for all of these different experiences to create an equitable environment for the individuals in them.
- Lever’s goal for equity in everyone’s ability to have an equal impact.
- How Lever is less focused on effort and more focused on results.
- How Annie thinks about this in a similar way to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
- Annie’s contact with the customer base and the product team.
- Insight into developments in the job market and how to stand out in the talent war.
- The importance of finding ways to attract and bring in diverse candidates.
- Insight into Lever’s OKRs with regards to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and how they set these goals.
- What success looks like in terms of DEI for Lever.
- Why they break down DEI to a team level.
- Annie’s analogy for looking at the positives of hybrid work and its challenges.
Tweetables:
“There’s a lot that makes a business work or not work and I truly believe that almost everything boils down to people; who you have, who you don’t have, how those people work together, how they don’t work together, how they evolve and grow as the organization evolves and grows.” — Annie Lin [0:03:52]
“I really push my team to think about their roles from the mindset of a partner to the business.” — Annie Lin [0:05:00]
“We’re actually not aiming for complete egalitarianism in terms of everyone’s day-to-day experiences, but rather what we are optimizing for and aiming for is equity in everyone’s ability to have an equal impact.” — Annie Lin [0:11:51]
“We have people who quite frankly are just effective in different types of environments and we want to be inclusive of all of that. We want all of those different types of people to still be able to be successful.” — Annie Lin [0:14:41]
"I would encourage other people leaders to think about as well, is not just think about the world of hybrid work as a problem that has to be dealt with, — but also as this incredible opportunity to really tap into the strengths and the upsides that come with it as well.” — Annie Lin [0:27:38]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Annie Lin
Lever
Hired Talk Talent to Me
In a rapidly growing company, it’s often a natural instinct to solve your problems by throwing more bodies at them through recruitment. Today’s guest believes that there is a much better way to build and maintain your talent. Tyler Parson is the head of talent at Chili Piper, a series-B startup that does meeting lifecycle automation for sales and revenue teams. Tyler was hired as the company’s first people operations hire and has been instrumental in building the company’s talent. Initially, she was hired to spearhead recruiting, but after expressing her desire to be responsible for the entire employee life cycle, her role evolved. Tuning in today, you’ll hear why Tyler believes strongly that companies should hire a head of people before a head of talent and why it makes sense to combine the role of recruitment with that of employee ops. We discuss the importance of building the headcount plan strategically, instead of just hiring bodies, and why recruitment should not be an order-taking function, but a strategic partnership between talent and leadership. Tyler also explains why companies should do a better job of looking at their existing talent as plastic with the skills and the desires to move into other roles, and how companies can get a better understanding of their employees career ambitions to provide them with a path to grow towards what they love.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to Tyler Parson and how she became known as the class clown.
- Insight into Chili Piper and Tyler’s role in the company.
- Why it makes sense to combine the role of recruitment with that of employee ops.
- Why Tyler believes that new companies should hire a head of people before a head of talent.
- The first things Tyler implemented on the people ops side of Chili Piper.
- The importance of building the headcount plan strategically, instead of just hiring bodies.
- Why recruitment should not be an order-taking function, but a strategic partnership between talent and leadership.
- The importance of differentiating between the critical needs and the wants of a role.
- Why companies should do a better job of looking at their existing talent as plastic, both willing and able to fulfill other roles.
- How the Piper Plan Initiative is used to understand their employees’ career ambitions.
- The intentional conversations had between management and employees around individual development.
- How the Piper Plan Initiative feeds back into the recruiting process.
- How employees are responding to this initiative.
- Thoughts on what makes a good employee.
- The importance of providing employees with a path to grow towards what they love.
- Tyler’s advice to anyone who wants to grow into a more fulfilling role.
Tweetables:
“Companies choose between hiring a head of people first or a head of talent first. I really fall into the camp where I think that the head of people should come in first. Get your culture locked down, get your impression plans locked down and then hire talent into the function.” — Tyler Parson [0:07:16]
“I really believe that if you – you can put all this time and energy into hiring the talent, but if you don’t develop it and enable it and retain it, then you’re spinning your wheels on recruiting.” — Tyler Parson [0:07:42]
“What we’re trying to build at Chili Piper, — is creating a culture where if you want something new, you always ask for it internally first and if it’s in the realm of possibilities, if it’s in our growth plan which it probably is, then we try it.” — Tyler Parson [0:16:36]
“When you work in a company where people love what they do in a genuine way and you allow other people the path to grow towards what they love, that makes a good employee. I don’t care how many meetings you booked.” — Tyler Parson [0:25:09]
“Be brave enough to be honest with yourself about what really does bring you joy and more importantly, be brave enough to identify when it’s not aligned with what you’re doing right then.” — Tyler Parson [0:28:23]
“It is just a matter of identifying what brings you joy and start to just insert it into your existing job as much as you can. If you can’t, then maybe it is time to find a new one.” — Tyler Parson [0:28:47]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Tyler Parson
Chili Piper
Hired
Talk Talent to Me
As the pandemic recedes, millions of workers have decided to rethink their jobs and how they are living their lives. On today’s episode of Talk Talent to Me, we get together with recruitment expert Sarah Baker Andrus to discuss this dramatic trend, why now is an excellent time to be looking for a new job, and how to do the internal work necessary to find and identify a job that you’ll love. In our conversation with Sarah, we hear about her history in recruitment and how she came into the career almost by accident when she discovered that it was a great fit for her personality and interests. You’ll hear Sarah break down some of the biggest mistakes people make when they first start looking for a job and explain why job boards are never the best place to start your search. Instead, you should be researching the type of companies you want to work for and intentionally reach out to them. Sarah offers some useful strategies for determining the type of position you’ll thrive in, like reflecting on high points in your career to identify your most valuable skills and asking yourself “Do I want to work here?” instead of “Will they hire me?” We spend some time reflecting on how worker demands and expectations are shifting in America and examine the many legitimate reasons workers have for leaving their jobs. We had a fantastic time talking with Sarah, and we’re sure you’ll find the conversation as informative and useful as we did. For all this and much more, tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing today’s guest, Sarah Baker Andrus.
- How Sarah discovered a fascinating career in recruitment almost by accident.
- How reflecting on high points in your career can help you identify your most valuable skills.
- Why it’s equally important to identify the traits that your co-workers rely on you for.
- How to turn those traits you’ve identified into a job search.
- Why you should change the question from “Will they hire me?” to "Do I want to work here?”
- Why you should identify employers and companies that you want to work with.
- How men and women approach job searches differently on average.
- Why Sarah does not promote starting your job search by looking at job boards.
- How to use intentional networking in your job search.
- Sarah shares her feelings on accepting a job from an organization that has reached out to you on LinkedIn.
- Why you should be intentional about the process of leaving your job and finding a new position.
- The type of questions you need to ask yourself to accurately evaluate your current job versus a job prospect.
- Why Google is a useful tool for finding organizations that hire people with your particular skill sets.
- The great resignation that has been happening in America and the many legitimate reasons people gave for leaving their jobs.
- Why now is a great time to be looking for a new job.
- The risks of leaving a job versus the risks of staying at a job that isn’t working for you for too long.
Tweetables:
“I’ve spent the bulk of my career, so more than 20 years, as a recruiter myself, leading recruitment teams, thinking about recruitment marketing and recruitment strategy, and I have really spent my whole career immersed in everybody else’s career.” — @avarahcareers [0:01:38]
“I was very geeky and intentional about documenting what was working for me at that stage. I thought it was interesting to sort of be the guinea pig in my own adventure.” — @avarahcareers [0:04:17]
“One thing that I think I knew instinctively, and I’m sure you’d agree, is that when we think about the high point moments in our careers, there were certain skills, abilities, talents, that we brought to those achievements. We all want more of that.” — @avarahcareers [0:04:32]
“The vast majority of jobs never even get on to the boards and it’s far more effective to target your list of employers and then go on their careers page and monitor that and create your own job board, whether you use an Excel spreadsheet or some notes.” — @avarahcareers [0:10:57]
“So many great places that are starting from a different premise that has a new way of doing things and that’s what I find really exciting. If you’re at a place that isn’t keeping up, then you become identified with that place.” — @avarahcareers [0:33:12]
“We need to give equal consideration to the risk of staying and what that can do to your career over the long haul.” — @avarahcareers [0:33:43]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Sarah Andrus on LinkedIn
Sarah Andrus on Twitter
Sarah Andrus on Facebook
Avrah Careers
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Talk Talent to Me
Throughout her career of more than a decade, one thing has always remained the same for today’s guest: the importance of leading with empathy and humanity. As a young, queer, tattooed woman, Ashlyn stands out in the traditional world of finance, but it was in this world, where someone took a chance on her as a high school dropout, that she rapidly climbed the ranks. In her early twenties, she ran operations for several advisory firms before identifying her true calling: recruiting. Through her work as Senior Talent Partner at Altruist, she’s able to help people find their place and activate their talents and passions. Her passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion really shines through in this interview, as does her mission to empower and educate candidates to make the best decisions for themselves and their long term. We touch on the process of poaching, negotiation and salary expectations, and Ashlyn’s ‘everybody wins’ approach, as well as how Altruist’s onboarding and training philosophy provides a safe space for new hires to say “I don’t know.”
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to Ashlyn McIntosh, her career trajectory, and her current role at Altruist
- The importance of being intentional when hiring and retaining talent.
- How Ashlyn’s role as senior talent partner differs from that of the director of talent.
- How the rest of the team is structured and how they have grown it through new hires.
- Why Altruist believes in starting off with their best offer, not forcing candidates to negotiate.
- Ashlyn explains how forcing negotiation inherently reinforces biased pay inequities.
- Hear her opinion on salary expectations and listing salary bands in job descriptions.
- Why she advocates for candidates who undersell themselves; the ‘everybody wins’ approach.
- How smart companies retain talent by paying them what they are worth.
- The value of breaking the taboo around discussing your salary with your coworkers.
- The utility of soliciting salary expectations in a world where no one is forced to negotiate.
- Ashlyn’s approach to onboarding, which involves borrowing from previous companies.
- Find out more about Altruist’s skills-based and systems training philosophy.
Tweetables:
“We need to be giving the best employee experience possible because all it takes is one bad day and, suddenly, somebody is responding to a recruiter InMail. You have to be careful about the kind of employee experience that you're providing people, or else they do have options.” — Ashlyn McIntosh [0:08:43]
“When it comes down to being competitive, I still always want the candidate to make the right decision for themselves and their long term. I don't get very pushy. I try [to] be a sounding board for my candidates.” — Ashlyn McIntosh [0:14:20]
“Forcing people to negotiate is inherently sexist and racist. There are going to be far less women who are comfortable negotiating. There are far less people of color who are comfortable negotiating.” — Ashlyn McIntosh [0:15:52]
“Letting people know ‘you can do better’ is really important. We have had such a mentality within our society because of capitalism that, if one person wins, it means you can't win when, in reality, there's room for all have us to win. Why would I hold somebody back from that?” — Ashlyn McIntosh [0:19:43]
“There are companies that reward their recruiters for costing the company less money. I don't necessarily think those are smart companies. Smart companies hire the ideal talent for whatever their company is for what they're worth.” — Ashlyn McIntosh [0:21:22]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Ashlyn McIntosh on LinkedIn
Altruist
Talk Talent to Me
Evan shares why we are in the golden age of recruiting, and how recruiter.com's platform represents a huge opportunity for recruiting pros to be creative about how they offer their skillset.
Bailey returns to discuss her new Talent Enablement hire, as well as the most impactful tactics she employed to grow from her role in recruitment to her current gig as VP People.
Join Bailey's team
Community Building to Optimize Recruiting with Gina Yocom
Episode 181: Show Notes.
As recruiters and talent managers, we have to think long-term. We will not have a role immediately for everyone we look to place, but this does not mean we should not build relationships with them. Gina Yocom is the Director of Talent at Primary Venture Partners, a seed-stage firm that specifically invests in New York City companies. In this episode, Gina shares some valuable insights around how she uses community building as a recruitment strategy. Rather than only looking at the short-term, Gina looks at the bigger picture, and this technique has already proven immensely effective. We hear about some of the events which Primary has hosted, how they approach different talent levels, and what Gina's unique role entails. Gina is not your average Director of Talent; she is a creative, out-of-the-box thinker who can meet ever-evolving recruitment demands.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Primary's unique community-building approach and why it works so well.
- How to cultivate a vibrant community and form relationships with many people over a sustained timeframe.
- Some of the ways that Gina maintains connections over time.
- How Gina creates a community with mid to high-level managers and executives.
- Insights into how Gina divides her time as a director of talent.
- What hiring managers can do to smoothen the recruitment process.
- Primary's new approach of offering dedicated recruiting support to portfolio companies
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Gina Yocom
Primary Venture Partners
Andreessen Horowitz
OnDeck
The Value of Education as a Recruiter with Adrian Russo
Episode 180: Show Notes.
Adrian Russo is the Director of Talent Acquisition at MotoRefi. Adrian also has a Master’s degree in Information Systems, and this in-depth understanding has helped him stand out as a tech recruiter. In today’s episode, we hear about Adrian’s journey and how joining the army ignited a passion for talent acquisition in him. While it may not be apparent at first glance, there are many parallels between military and private sector recruitment. We hear about the platform, RecruitLocator, which Adrian founded, and some of the valuable recruitment-related lessons he learned from a foray into entrepreneurship. Our conversation also touches on the importance of following your intuition, even in the face of naysayers, how to ensure there is true diversity and inclusion at your company, and advice for those looking to take the next step in their careers.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Get to know today’s guest, Adrian Russo.
- Adrian’s decision to enlist in the military and how this exposed him to recruitment.
- The parallels between recruiting in the military and recruiting in the private sector.
- Why Adrian decided to pursue tech recruiting when he left the military.
- The benefits of having a tech-related academic qualification for Adrian.
- Some online resources that you can use to upskill.
- How having advanced degrees helps Adrian and his team connect with executives.
- When you go against the grain, you will always get pushback, but if it benefits you, keep going.
- Why Adrian founded RecruitLocater and the services the platform provides.
- The importance of having a variety of recruitment tools, not just job boards.
- Some of the challenges that come with creating a tool that sits on top of search engines.
- Adrian’s love for MotoRefi and his appreciation of his team.
- Valuable lessons Adrian learned from his time as an entrepreneur that he applies to recruiting.
- Entrepreneurship is not the pinnacle of business success.
- How technology and automation can help with, but not replace, recruitment.
- Learn more about MotoRefi and what Adrian’s role is.
- How MotoRefi has built DE&I into the culture to ensure there is diverse talent at the company.
- What it takes to establish a partnership with organizations that serve under-represented groups.
- The value of tracking stats over a 90-day period and ascertaining results over a longer timeframe.
- Adrian's approach for those who are looking to make their next move.
Tweetables:
“A lot of people, for whatever reason, think that there's not a lot of parallels between recruiting in the military and recruiting in the private sector. And in some cases, there really is.” — Adrian Russo
“Every recruiting tool has a use. Every recruiting tool has a purpose. I just thought if you want to use a job board, there's a lot of great tools for that. I wanted to have something that was different.” — Adrian Russo
“Talent acquisition, for me, is where my heart will always be at. That's what I love doing. I’ll always be a talent acquisition professional.” — Adrian Russo
“I would encourage people to just look at what's being done, and dare to be different. Think differently. Think outside the box.” — Adrian Russo
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Adrian Russo
MotoRefi
A Cloud Guru
Founding pod member Matt Hughes returns to discuss his dynamic role at Hunt Club--a new breed of recruiting agency. We cover how to alter your approach to meet the expectations of an increasingly savvy, in-demand, and remote-centric workforce.
Alison Kaizer returns! She explains how to maximize your bandwidth as a talent leader, how to source for nuanced one-off hires, and much more.
Viet Nguyen, who holds an advisory role to the talent teams using Gem's CRM product, shares the common challenges among the teams he works with, what it looks like when a talent team is crushing it, and when it's time to add Rec Ops to your roster.
Sara explains her journey from recruitment to HR, as well as the intended outcomes for Jobber's investment in career coaching for their employees.
Nabeel explains what he's learned about the impact of a truly bar-raising Head of Talent, in this case, a previous TT2M guest, Alison Kaizer. Nabeel shares what a bar-raiser looks like and what the employer value proposition is comprised of once one de-emphasizes equity.
Listen to our episode with Alison Kaizer here
Ashleigh explains some exciting non-standard roles she's hiring for her team, as well as some crucial aspects of onboarding that organizations tend not to take into account when calendarizing new hires.
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Amy explains how Walmart is deploying technology to help identify and develop their 2M employees for additional roles within the company.
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Director of Talent & DEI (and freshly minted Yank!) Anna Chalon shares how Frame.io gathers employee sentiment to ensure an inclusive culture, as well as how their recruiters and interview panelists screen for inclusivity as a core competency.
Elyakeem explains how a culture that promotes transparency and safety is a precursor to true inclusivity, as well as how to create DEI accountability amongst company leadership.
Share your thoughts with the podcast here.
On the heels of Hired's 2021 Impact Report - Wage Inequality in the Workplace, CRO Amy Pisano joins to discuss her journey traversing the wage gap, coaching her team to know their worth, and advocating for transparency and the design of deliberate compensation bands throughout her career.
Download Your Copy of the 2021 Impact Report - Wage Inequality in the Workplace
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Trinidad discusses the hires Niantic made through a bespoke bootcamp, as well as how they helped talent from non-traditional backgrounds make the adjustment into the tech world.
Head here to learn about how Hired can help you find your next great hire: hired.com/tt2m
Lawrence explains the guiding principles behind his non-for-profit, Tech Can [Do] Better, which aims to help tech companies develop more equitable approaches to hiring and engaging in the world around them.
To learn more about how Hired can help you hit your hiring goals, head to hired.com/tt2m
Craig explains how Match Group assesses for inclusivity as a core competency, and how the challenge of hiring from a finite amount of underrepresented talent is no different than any other kind of hiring.
To learn more about how Hired can help you find your next great hire, head to hired.com/tt2m
Tara explains the importance of defining nebulous terms and instead mapping them to core competencies and realities within the business, as well as why Leaf Group banned use of the term "Culture Fit"
To learn more about how Hired can help you find your next great hire, head to hired.com/tt2m
Capital One's Senior Director Diversity Talent Acquisition, Kanika Raney, explains how to remove the burden of cultivating inclusivity from those you seek to include, as well as how to effectively map the talent market from a diversity perspective.
To learn more about how Hired can help you find your next great hire, head to hired.com/tt2m
Introducing The Ally Series. We're featuring senior DE&I executives from companies like Match Group, Capital One, Leaf Group, and more who are focused on driving representation, inclusion, and belonging at enterprise level companies. If you’re ready to do something about the way your company looks, see what a mature, comprehensive DE&I strategy looks like, and be a more effective ally, then this series is for you.
DE&I WEBINAR: Awareness, Action, & Accountability; Embedding Technology into DEI Hiring Strategies
Ches explains how he intends to use his capacity model, as well as how to structure conversations with hiring managers in order to help them make the hires they'll need to accomplish their OKRs.
Erin explains why over-indexing on 4-year degrees is problematic, as well as the ideal circumstances for hiring General Assembly or other bootcamp students.
Brett explains how he improved company-wide offer acceptance rate from 70% to 87%, as well as the shifting balance between recruitment marketing and traditional sourcing approaches.
Conley explains the importance of Speed-to-Hire, how she's improved it, and the ins and outs of her remote onboarding strategy.
Jonathan shares how Software Engineers' expectations have shifted over the past years, his favorite sourcing tools, and the most important categories of technology for every talent team.
Top Talent Sourcing Tools for Recruiters: A Beginner's Guide to Over 50+ Talent Sourcing Tools
Charlotte explains how she's prioritized inclusivity and engagement at WorldRemit, as well as some WFH inspired updates to their PTO policy.
Rachel explains how she managed to achieve over 50% female representation on Frame's sales team, as well as the approach they are taking to PTO and mental health support.
Josh shares his reaction to our 2021 State of Software Engineers Report, including what talent’s expectations about remote work means for hiring, how to address the ongoing limited supply of technical roles, and how to tweak interview processes to more accurately assess candidates. Access the 2021 State of Software Engineers Report
James explains how he's structuring the expansion of his talent team in order to meet Lyft's aggressive growth goals.
Hannah & Serge, Talent Ops Manager & Recruiter at Ribbon, join to discuss how the Ops role has made Recruiters' lives easier at Ribbon, as well as how they are both ideating on their own career growth.
Serge on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4Nfhy1mJDEkuDQox4TdlqM
Brett explains how the levers that affect Cost-Per-Hire are powerful pieces of information when it comes to making a more perfect intervire process. Rob learns geography.
David explains the new outreach techniques he's been experimenting with, as well as how to engage with folks who tend not to change companies about, well, changing companies.
Mike explains how he plans to adjust to his new role as Thomson Reuters, and the importance of staying humble and curious.
Matt explains how he scaled up his recruiting team from 60 to 150, what roles they comprise, and the first ones he prioritized upon starting at DoorDash.
Chandra explains the hires she made on her talent team to meet Oatly's exceptional 2020 growth, as well as why her new "Employee Experience Manager" role is a secret weapon she expects to remain in her teams even once remote onboarding is no longer the norm.
Dejon explains how he keeps his teams accountable to their diversity hiring goals, helps them dig in to roadblocks when they miss targets, and stay in touch with their hires even after their first day.
Alison shares the inputs she used to calculate Quality of Hire, and dives in to all the insights it yielded for the business. Rob is chuffed about his new studio and, as always, his plants.
Dave explains how 2020 allowed GitLab to eliminate their "Apply Now" button, and how focusing on a fully outbound strategy allowed the talent team to be more intentional about the type of talent they brought into the company.
Mariama explains how Dropbox's employer brand approach has shifted to display a digital by default workplace, including the types of content, stories, and documentation her team features to prospective hires.
Jamie explains how SeatGeek hiring bounced back in Q3, how to manage candidate expectation about return to work, and what parts of an in-office presence matter to culture.
Kelly explains the state of hiring across Battery's portfolio, as well as the value of bringing in contract recruiters and agencies to hire for one-off senior roles.
Becky joins The Great Rehiring to explain the lifetime of HubSpot's hiring plans through Covid-19 and civil unrest. Utilizing a close partnership with the Finance team in order to be the first to know about needs of the business, Becky details how she was able to re-scale hiring in short order. Then, Becky explains her recent listening tour in coordination with HubSpot's under-represented talent to understand how the company can improve it's inclusivity practices.
As companies settle in to remote work policies and set their sights back on growth, any organization that can scale up their hiring teams quickly will forge a lasting competitive advantage.
On The Great Rehiring, we're meeting the talent leaders tasked with rebuilding their hiring teams, meeting new needs of their business, and formulating a scalable hiring plan in a fully remote environment.
Join us to learn from top talent executives from HubSpot, Dropbox, GitHub, Slack, Battery Ventures, SeatGeek, and many more.
COVID-19 and The Great Rehiring
Damien explains how much (and how little) to "pitch" candidates, as well as how to hire for difficult hiring managers.
Hannah Olson joins to discuss how companies can hire a chronically ill & disabled workforce (and why they should), as well as the training her company offers to help hiring organizations grow into more inclusive workplaces.
To learn more about how Chronically Capable can help your company hire from chronically ill & disabled populations, click here.
Claire explains what companies can do to help their hiring organizations mature, and the changes they can expect in the types of talent they'll add as the company grows.
Nick deWilde, Editor of the Jungle Gym Newsletter, shares what he's learned from extensive research on career motivation, development, and decision making.
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Melanie explains how to develop and socialize meaningful company values, how to scope and design interview processes for new roles, as well as how you can position yourself for a Director/VP role in your next interview.
Procore's Maisha Cannon returns to discuss how important L&D and having a thoughtful manager are in the context of career progression and employee retention.
Anna Chalon explains why DEI strategy is such a crucial part of a Director of Talent's role, ways you can demonstrate transparency and accountability in terms of your company's representation & inclusion, and what to do if you're in an organization that waited too long to focus on DE&I initiatives.
Jessica shares the most important elements of an early talent machine, as well when to push back on hiring plans in service of future scale.
Jessie explains the new organizational design in Pleo, as well as how her unorthodox background lead to her current role
Cloudflare's Todd Ciampa reflects on how he decided to find a job that would let him scratch his itch for recruiting, and how others can figure out whether management is best path for them.
Laura shares her plans for turning hiring back on, as well as how to structure and benefit from a positive relationship with the finance team.
Jessica explains what her first orders of business are as Whereby's new VP of People, as well as how to assess whether a company is presenting it's authentic self to you in your own interview process.
People Ops as a Product
Laurie explains why it's so important to develop multiple facets of your personality and life, and how to reflect on your values and goals to determine whether a company is right for you.
Nicole explains how to identify and remove technical recruiting debt, how to uplevel the quality of hiring decisions, and the importance of behavioral competency.
Bridget discusses how to measure remote recruiting performance, as well as how to know when it's time to ask for more headcount.
Anthony explains how to suss out candidate motivations, as well as how recruiting work changes depending on company size.
Want to work with Anthony? Assurance is hiring!
Jennifer Tardy explains the gaps she saw in diversity training programs during her time as a Head of Recruitment, as well as how she prepares candidates to deal with the inevitable unconscious bias they'll face in interviews.
Sally explains the misguided nature of the "ideal worker", some key takeaways from her research on the future of work, as well as what a comprehensive and effective DE&I strategy looks like.
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Cia explains how people leaders can position themselves as strategic leaders to the business.
An all-Stevenson edition of TT2M covers long term hiring approaches, what to do with your Recruiting Coordinators, and how to get the most out of 1:1s with your teams.
Dipti explains manager training, return to work considerations, the long term implications of remote work, and the squirrel obstacle course taking shape in her garden.
WEBINAR: Creating Your Return to Work Philosophy
Liz explains how to position the difficult parts of a role, as well as how Flatiron structures the reverse interview.
Neil explains some of the nuanced questions you must ask about your hiring process once it reaches a certain scale, as well as how ThoughtWorks revisited their process in light of being known as a hard place to get hired.
Buffy's Katherine Merrill explains what talent management means to her, and how she makes the most of the opportunity to chart an employee's path through the company.
VP of TA Janeen Speer explains how Shopify decided on a long-term remote work strategy, as well as the ins and outs of their Life Story interview process.
Christy explains her approach to recruitment career development, CRM planning, and her company's back-to-work considerations.
Tracy explains how her current pipeline job posting campaign will help Zenefits ramp hiring back up when the world turns back on. Later, the practice of "Just-In-Time Hiring" is summarily dismantled.