Talk Talent To Me

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 Talk Talent to Me 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.