Strivin & Thrivin

Organisations are finalising realising graduate recruitment and training programmes are more than simply a way to get top talent through the door.

Who better, then, to talk us through this HR hot spot than Brightworks founder, Lou Zoanetti? Despite calling herself a ‘geriatric millennial’, Lou’s insights are as fresh, interesting and unique as the grads she supports every day.

Lou started her career in PR and marketing at NAB, but was quickly pulled into the bank’s newly-formed grad program. Before long, she was heading up that program and, with some serious experience under her belt, then moved to Monash University. She spent several years setting up and running the university’s internship function before establishing Brightworks in 2021.

And Lou’s passion and knowledge was exactly what we needed for our latest podcast series, Emerging Trends in the World of Emerging Talent.

Rebecca Powell was made redundant from her TA role early on in the pandemic. But, before you could say ‘toilet paper shortage’, she’d donned a mask and jumped into the people & culture world.

After getting a taste for P&C at Payright, she then moved to IntelligenceBank, where she now heads up People & Culture.

Rebecca agreed to chat with us for our Moving from Talent Acquisition to People & Culture podcast (she’s generous; we’re persistent) and we’re so glad she did.

She gave us all the juice: what it’s like moving from TA to P&C, why you can never ask too many questions and how making a career change in your 40s can be just what you need.

Check out her episode now! 

What happens when you graduate with a comms degree, have visions of being an investigative journalist  - but aren’t sure what’s next?

You go backpacking across Europe…and start working in recruitment.

That was Natalie Firth’s experience, anyway. Since finding herself in a northern English recruitment agency more than 15 years ago, she’s held various talent acquisition roles, batted her way into Cricket Australia and run her own recruitment agency. These days, she’s Global Head of Talent at Aussie tech company, Envato.

As part of our Moving from Talent Acquisition to People & Culture podcast series, we sat down with Natalie to get the juice on her journey from TA to P&C, what her career advice is and how you can prime yourself for a P&C role, too.

Check her episode out now. 

How do you transition into P&C? Can anyone do it? Is liking people enough?

We wondered, too. Then we stopped wondering and rounded up 6 gurus who’ve actually made the move from TA into P&C and are positively crammed with career advice (which they’re happy to share).

First in the podcast chair was Emer McCann. She boldly bounced from TA into P&C a few years back and, after honing her craft at software startup, Deputy, now manages the people and talent function at Simply Wall St.

She talked us through her transition, what she’s learnt along the way and how you can pivot into P&C, too.

How do you transition into P&C? Can anyone do it? Is liking people enough?

We wondered, too. Then we stopped wondering and rounded up 6 gurus who’ve actually made the move from TA into P&C and are positively crammed with career advice (which they’re happy to share).

First in the podcast chair was Emer McCann. She boldly bounced from TA into P&C a few years back and, after honing her craft at software startup, Deputy, now manages the people and talent function at Simply Wall St.

She talked us through her transition, what she’s learnt along the way and how you can pivot into P&C, too.

Talent, is the first step in creating a high performing team. As leadership coach, Jon Osborne reminds us, people aren’t building blocks to be stacked up neatly into a well-adjusted, working wall.

“Many people assume that if they bring high performing individuals together…then they will naturally have a high performing team,” Jon says. “But that’s quite a mechanistic model…and of course, it doesn’t work like that with people.”

So, how does it work? Can you actually hone a high performing team? And, as a new leader, what’s your role in all of this?

In our 5th and final  New Leader podcast, we delve into all the detail you need to take your talented team from working to wow.

Most of us are pretty decent conversationalists. We’ve had plenty of great (and not so great 🥱) chats in our time, so we generally know how it all works.

As a new leader, though, conversations take on more meaning. They have more riding on them, a wider circle hears you and your speaking skills (or lack thereof) really start to matter.

It’s the currency you’re dealing with - and it’s worth a lot.

Thankfully, leadership whizz, Jon Osborne, knows what a good yarn sounds like and why leadership is actually a conversational activity.

In our 4th podcast chat with Jon, he gave us the lowdown on conversation as a currency, how to trade in it and why practicing (and mastering) it will make you a better leader.

Listen up, new leadership league: it’s time to talk…talk tactics.

It’s harsh. It’s humbling. Oh, and btw - it’s true.

Becoming a leader really isn’t about you.

The truth is, leadership is about your team and taking them somewhere they want to go. If you’re a leader who’s all about numero uno, you could be in for a lonely old time.

Jon Osborne, our go-to people and leadership expert, gave us his take on storytelling (without the ego) in this episode. His interesting insights will give you everything you need to create your own engaging story that’s uniquely yours - but still keeps your team centrestage.

You’ve worked your tail off to earn a leadership role and now your expertise is irrelevant?

Look. Knowing your stuff matters. Of course it does. But, as a new leader, you DO need to shift your thinking somewhat. Look at things from a lens and be, well, a leader.

It’s not always an easy or natural step for us to take, which is why – as part of our 5-part podcast series – we devoted an entire chat to it.

Continuing our New Leaders series, we picked the brains of leadership expert, Jon Osborne. And, as ever, he’s given us some meaty bites of helpful info to guide you through this part of leading.

You can listen to the entire podcast episode now. It’ll get you on the right road for leadership, so you can be the driving force your team needs.

For any new leader navigating the choppy waters of people and project management, times can get a little turbulent.

That’s why we’re kicking on with our new New leaders series - 5 things you should know as a new leader - with this episode taking a deep dive into leadership & management - how it works, and why your ability to listen, learn and love yourself matters!