Talk Talent To Me

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. 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