“How I went from recruiter to VP in 5 years” with Flock’s Laura Barnes

Laura Barnes doesn’t believe in average careers.

She joined Flock Safety as a recruiter. Five years later, she’s VP of Talent at one of the fastest-growing companies in America — solving 20% of crime nationwide.

In this episode, we go deep on what it actually takes to scale yourself as fast as your company. From crying in the shower to reinventing herself every year, Laura shares a brutally honest look at elite talent leadership.

This is a masterclass in conviction, quality of hire, and what separates good from great.

You’ll learn:

• The real reason most people don’t scale with hypergrowth companies
• How Flock measures quality of hire (without creating fear)
• What great managers do differently in performance management

Key topics covered:

[00:00] Intro

[02:15] 3 Keys to Rapid Career Growth

[03:36] You Can't Teach Gut

[06:09] Dad's Corporate Success Story

[08:14] Early Leadership Challenges

[09:22] Joining Flock as Solo Recruiter

[13:30] What is Flock Safety

[16:42] Handling Public Controversy

[18:52] Quality of Hire Journey

[22:11] Survey Questions and Feedback

[24:02] Bad Managers and Hiring

[27:14] Engineering Hiring Success

[29:42] Assessing Manager Candidates

[31:00] PIP Success Story

[34:42] Moving Too Slow Problem

[38:15] Scaling Faster Than Business

[39:33] Being Likable Matters

[41:19] Operating Above Your Level

To learn more about Metaview, the AI platform for 10x recruiting teams, head to www.metaview.ai/10x