Talent leaders gathered from around the globe to learn and share recruiting best practices. Here are some of the most inspirational stories and soundbites heard at Talent Connect San Francisco and London.
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2. “What really matters in
the networked age?
Relationships.
Relationships help you
find opportunities,
resources, make
decisions more
effectively, and manage
a long-term investment
and a lifetime career.“
Reid Hoffman
Executive Chairman and Co-
Founder, LinkedIn
3. “Every time you do
something that’s a little
bit different, you are
going to get some
pushback and some
questioning. That’s just
part of the process. At
the end of the day, no
risk, no reward.”
Stacy Donovan Zapar
Candidate Experience and
Engagement Strategist, Zappos
4. “My boss said to me,
‘You have to be the
first in the world.’
Being the first is
about being daring,
taking risks and
being unique.”
Frédérique Scavennec
VP Global Talent Acquisition,
L'Oréal
5. “Curation is a really
important aspect to
employer branding. The
goal of your social
channels is to build
community, and you do
that by providing value.
Think about how you can
provide value to your
audience that’s going to
get them more engaged.“
Lars Schmidt
Founder, AmplifyTalent
6. “Involving and aligning
with the business are two
important elements to
becoming a talent partner.
There’s a third around
creating consistency. And
the most critical part in
creating consistency is
around transparent,
proactive & frequent
communication.”
Melanie Curtis
Vice President of Talent
Management , Express Scripts
7. “Behind every digital
experience is
somebody like you
and me. The
keyboard is the
biggest conversation
killer that exists.”
Dave Hazlehurst
Director & Partner, Ph.Creative
8. “A good recruiting
process focuses and
aligns recruiters to
deliver the best to the
organization. Ultimately,
recruiting really should
be viewed as a business
partner, someone who
is critical to the success
of the business.”
Mathew Caldwell
Head of Talent, Instacart
9. “Social media allows
you to make your jobs
more human. Tell
talent about the
people behind your
products. Trust your
recruiters to be your
digital warriors. Don’t
second guess it.“
Celinda Appleby
Digital Media Program Manager,
Hewlett-Packard
10. “Forget the words
Talent Acquisition,
forget employer
branding and
forget employee
engagement.
We need to talk
about experiences.”
Zvi Goldfarb
Head of the Talent Acquisition
Digital Lab, L'Oréal
11. “Obviously, engaging and
recruiting people are
closer to you achieving
your desired goal, but you
can’t do that until you
have found them in the
first place. Sourcing and
finding people is the most
important. You can’t
recruit, message, or
network with someone
you haven't found.”
Glen Cathey
SVP Talent Strategy and
Innovation, Kforce
12. “All of us are a
whole lot more
than the worst
things we've
done.”
Father Greg Boyle
Founder, Homeboy Industries
13. “We’re looking for people
who are focused on their
community. We focus our
employer brand around
community development
and our corporate social
responsibility programs
because that aligns
people towards a mission,
and that seems to get
higher quality
candidates.”
Kristen Lampert
Assistant Vice President, Ziegler
14. “Engagement has to
be human, because
people trust people
more than brands.
Our employees are
the ones who
personify Shell.”
Ana Alonso
Global Marketing Head
Recruitment , Shell
15. “Set an incredibly high bar
for talent and quality, and
never EVER compromise.
It’s also important to be
objective and make an
unbiased hiring decision. I
urge you, set a high
standard and hold your
clients to it. It’s better to
grow slowly and have
higher quality people. “
Laszlo Bock
Senior Vice President, People
Operations, Google
16. “Empower your team.
If we did not allow our
teams to move fast and
make decisions, I don’t
think we would have had
the success we achieved.
Not only does it feed
their desire to grow, it
allows them learn and
develop with real
projects.”
Suzanne Myers
Senior Director, Talent
Acquisition, RealPage
17. “It’s a shame that
ambition and
ruthlessness is seen
one in the same.
They are not.
Ambition is realizing
to champion your
career.“
Karren Brady
Baroness Brady of
Knightsbridge,
Vice-Chairman of West Ham FC
18. “When I think of
personas in a
recruiting context,
personas are a level up
from about a target
candidate profiles. It
gives me the ability to
go faster and to focus
on the right people.”
John Vlastelica
Founder & Managing Director,
Recruiting Toolbox, Inc.
19. “A tour of duty doesn’t
imply going alone.
It implies a group,
it implies support,
it implies you are
going to accomplish
something that is
audacious and difficult,
but you are not ever
going to be alone.”
Trish Lukasik
Senior Vice President, PepsiCo
20. “Viral is often a flash in
the pan. Most brands
don’t want to be a flash
in the pan today and
gone tomorrow. We
need to think about how
day in and day out we
can get our talent brand
to be talked about and
shared.“
Jonah Berger
Professor and Author, the
Wharton School at the University
of Pennsylvania
21. “It's not about being
politically correct or
being nice. Diversity is
going to be imperative
because it’s critical for
our economy and
talent pipeline.“
Liz Mackay
Head of Talent Acquisition,
Philips
22. “Recruiters should
be your brand
ambassadors. Trust
your recruiters. We
put them out there
and highlight their
social media
presence. We’re real,
we’re human.“
Mike Bailen
Head of Talent / Senior HR
Manager, Zappos
23. “I don't have the
budget, time or
team, but I've
learned to compete
through our two
main assets: our
talent and our story.”
Robert Versteeg
Head of HR, Witlox Van den
Boomen
24. “You’ve probably heard
a million times that
content is king. I believe
that conversation is
king. You all play an
insanely important role
in making sure your
employees are fostering
and involved in the
conversation.“
Dan Roth
Executive Editor, LinkedIn
25. “I love metrics. That’s the
way that you learn. We
can all make assumptions,
but when you look at the
numbers that’s when you
know if you’re being
effective or not. My rule of
thumb is a company page
post should get a 0.5% or
higher engagement rate.“
Anita McFadden
Recruitment Marketing Manager,
Covidien
26. “Inequality is still such
a huge problem. It’s
more than just
gender. There’s many
different types, and
we need to stand up
and address it.“
Alexa Glick, Global Staffing
Program Manager, Skype,
Microsoft
27. “We can raise the a
talent bar, but you
have to do
something different.
You can't do what
you are currently
doing today.“
Lou Adler
CEO, Adler Group
28. “Traditionally, what
separated an average
company from a great
company has been
technology. We’re in the
middle of a transformation.
Today, what differentiates
an average company from
a great company is talent.
And you, as talent
acquisition leaders, are at
the forefront of this.“
Wade Burgess
VP Talent Solutions, LinkedIn
29. “Pick up the phone
and talk to that
candidate. Give them
the verbal handshake
and build that
relationship so they
will trust you. That
what it is all about.”
Derek Bambrick F.I.R.P
International Talent Acquisition
Partner, Hertz International
30. "Let the data tell the
story. If you aren’t
looking at the data,
you are going by gut
instinct, which we all
cannot afford to do.
Use that data to
transform your
company.”
Jenny DeVaughn
Senior Director, Employment
Branding and Sourcing, ADP
31. “It’s important to start
the career conversation
as early as you can. You
can wait reactively, but I
like to set set up a
monthly casual 1-on-1
with each team member
to discuss career goals.
If it’s a priority for me, it
has to be a priority for
them.“
Lila Ibrahim
Chief Business Officer, Coursera
32. “I tell clients: brand or be
branded. And if they
aren’t branding, tell your
C-suite that they are
saying one of three
things: 1) we have
nothing interesting to say
2) we’ve got something
to hide or 3) we’re not
technologically savvy.“
J.T. O’Donnell
CEO/Founder, CAREEREALISM
33. “It goes beyond a
candidate’s qualification.
How strong of fit is this
going to be for what they
aspire to do? How well
will they fit with your
company’s culture? As
this candidate grows and
as the company grows,
make sure that you’ll
grow in alignment and
grow closer.“
Jeff Weiner
CEO, LinkedIn
34. “I love the activity
around inclusion.
Transparency has raised
awareness and it
becomes less scary. The
power of women around
the world has changed.
The digital landscape
has opened doors.“
Pat Wadors
VP Global Talent, LinkedIn
35. “What was most
important were the
relationships. If we didn’t
have recruiters who
could establish
relationships with their
candidates and with their
hiring managers, then we
found that nothing else
really mattered. That was
the differentiator.“
Jennifer Shappley
Senior Director of Talent
Acquisition, Express Scripts
36. “When we become hyper
connected with technology
and disconnected from
ourselves, we lose track of
our wisdom, sense of well
being and wonder.
We need to change that.
Recruiters are in an
incredible position to
create the cultures that
accelerate that type of
change.“
Arianna Huffington
Chair, President, and Editor-in-
Chief, Huffington Post
“We’re facilitating different conversations with business leaders about how we can treat, acquire, and build talent and also reduce the risk to the organization by thinking differently. It’s taken a while, but we finally now have a seat at the table to be those trusted advisors.“