How to build (and empower) a talent acquisition team from scratch

Tech start-up ➡️ Unicorn business: how to maintain your people culture during rapid business growth

I've often wondered how small tech start-ups manage to maintain their strong ethos and culture when they grow to large unicorn levels. It's easy enough to manage when there are only a few employees, but when you get to 700+, surely something changes? Well, I had my chance to find out when I spoke to Lorraine Metcalf, Chief People Officer at Quantexa, in March 2024.

Lorraine has extensive HR and Talent experience leading teams at businesses such as Zoopla and Notonthehighstreet. She has been awarded several prestigious HR awards throughout her career and has some fascinating ideas on employer brand and culture.

During this episode of the Cup of tea series, Sarah quizzes Lorraine on how she's fostered company values and culture in a business that's faced rapid growth and expansion over the last few years. They discuss employer brand and how this has been instrumental to their success, as well as how she and her team onboard new hires into Quantexa.

If you'd like to find out more about employer branding, or discuss any of the topics you've heard in the Cup of tea series, please do get in touch.

www.cathree.com

Trends for talent acquisition in 2024 - with Emma Mirrington, The Firm

During Episode 18 of the CA3 Cup of tea series, Sarah Wardle is joined by Emma Mirrington, founder of The Firm - a leading global memberships organisation for TA professionals.

At the end of last year, The Firm published their annual report, which provides insight and findings from their annual survey. During the podcast, Emma talks us through the results of the report, what talent acquisition leaders and teams are focusing on in 2024, and what their key priorities and trends will be.

Approaching menopause in the workplace

I think this is our most enlightening Cup of Tea series podcast to date, and our first one for 2024! I was very excited to be chatting with an old friend Sally Higham. Sally and I go way back, almost 20 years, back to when it was all about rec ad and I went by the name of Cheeks! We have enjoyed the highs and lows of several different workplaces together. Since we did, Sally has lived and worked in Singapore and Switzerland for several large global organisations and is now the Director and Head of Talent Attraction at Lonza and an Executive Menopause Coach. And it was actually the latter I wanted to talk about with her today.

When I heard Sally’s episode on Starting a conversation around menopause in the workplace on the EMEA Recruitment Podcast, I wanted to find out more. This is something that’s just around the corner for me and something I haven’t really given much thought to. I am worryingly ill-informed, so I figured Sally was the right person to help me find out more – about how to plan for it, and what I needed to look out for and navigate in my life and at work.

Sally answers the following questions during our conversation:

1. Why did you decide to become a menopause coach?

2. Menopause facts:

a. Will menopause affect everyone in the same way?

b. What symptoms do I need to look out for, and could I already be going through it?

c. What’s the difference between perimenopause and the full-blown menopause?

d. How long will the menopause last? Will I feel great when it’s over?

e. Do I need to warn my family and employer that this is coming?

f. What adjustments will my work have to make for me? If any?

g. As you have experience of working and living in a few different countries, are there differences globally in both how the menopause is perceived, and how healthcare systems treat people?

3. What other advice would you give to people who are approaching this time in their lives?

4. What advice would you give to employers who want to do the right thing and support their employees in the right way?

Sally finished by saying that menopause is not just a women’s issue, it is a human rights issue. Whilst the majority of those directly affected are women, it can also directly affect transgender and non-binary people too. It can also indirectly affect anybody who knows or loves the person going through it – partners, families, friends and colleagues.

To find out more and get in touch with Sally, you can contact her on LinkedIn.

And here are the range of resources recommended by Sally, which you may find useful:

Books:

· Davina McCall – Menopausing

· The Power Decade – How to thrive after Menopause – Susan Saunders

· Just Getting Started – Lessons in Life, Love and Menopause – Lisa Snowdon

· Everything you need to know about the Menopause (but were too afraid to ask) – Kate Muir

· The Perimenopause Solution – Dr Shahzadi Harper & Emma Bardwell

Links:

Henpicked

The Kathryn Colas Academy

Emma Bardwell

Newson Health

The Aging Project

Humanising your employer brand

With the many automation, AI and technological advances in the talent acquisition and recruitment industry, there are obvious benefits to all of us who are looking at better and more efficient ways of engaging with new talent. But the downside to this can mean the lack of the human element. Especially when talking about your employer brand.

So, for episode 16, I wanted to ask an expert about how we can ensure we are humanising our employer brand at every touchpoint - and be authentic with everything we do. So I spoke to Diogo Videira!

Diogo is an employer brand expert who focuses on talent acquisition and employer branding strategies. He’s the Head of Recruitment for ExxonMobil in the Czech Republic, and has led several successful programmes and campaigns to build their employer brand. I really enjoyed chatting with him during this episode about his practical tips on how to improve employer branding in particular.

We hope you enjoy listening to the podcast!

How to build (and empower) a talent acquisition team from scratch

In this episode we cover a completely different topic, which I think will be of particular interest to those of you who have perhaps moved from TA roles in larger organisations, to smaller, more agile companies and start-ups.

During this podcast, I have a conversation with Aaron Beider. Aaron has TA and recruitment experience working and building teams for some of the world’s biggest brands including ASOS, Meta, TikTok and Dyson. He’s now focused on building a TA function to be reckoned with at a new start-up in the electric aviation industry, Vertical Aerospace.

During our chat I asked Aaron about how he’s pivoted his career at a start-up, what he’s learnt there, and what principles he’s used from previous roles to build his new team.We discuss this and so much more – from AI and technology, to internal mobility and creating an internal marketplace for talent.

If you'd like to connect with Aaron to discuss any of these topics further, or are looking for a potential mentor in this area, you can contact him on LinkedIn.