The Talent Tango

In this episode, Laura Buckle, the Director of Global Recruitment and Talent at Skims, joins the podcast to discuss the challenges of finding the right people and scaling in a fast-growing company. Skims, founded by Kim Kardashian and Jens Grede, started as a shapewear company and has now expanded into a clothing brand focusing on body positivity and inclusivity. Laura shares insights on how Skims...

On this episode of the podcast, the Amir Bormand  interviews Madeline Minshew, the Vice President of Culture at True Ventures. They discuss the importance of hiring your first head of people and what to look for when taking a job as the first people leader hire. True Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in extraordinary founders and their innovative ideas. They are sector-a...

In this episode, host Amir interviews Brittany Mitlo, Duolingo's Director of University Recruiting. They discuss the unique aspects of university recruiting, including the in-person campus experience and the impact of the pandemic on recruitment strategies. They also delve into Duolingo's popular language learning app and its branding and marketing efforts. Tune in to learn more about Duolingo's a...

In this episode, Amir Bormand interviews Alicia Kortmeyer, the head of people at Denim, a freight payment platform. Alicia shares her journey of transitioning into the head of people role and her unique challenges in managing a fully remote team across the country. The discussion also discusses the definition and responsibilities of a head of people role in different companies. Tune in to gain ins...

In this episode, host and guest Keshar Sheridan, Head of People at Grow Therapy, discusses the challenges of dealing with stakeholders in the workplace. They explore the different types of stakeholders and the implications of being a matrix component of the company. They also delve into biases and how to handle challenging stakeholders who go against HR policies. Kesha shares her stories and insig...

In this episode, Amir Bormand interviews Kelly Kinnard, the Operating Partner and Head of Talent at Khosla Ventures. They discuss the importance of improving the candidate experience and avoiding pitfalls in the hiring process. Kelly shares insights and strategies for creating a positive candidate experience and highlights the mission of Khosla Ventures to invest in companies that positively impac...

In this episode, I am joined by Jose Benitez Cong, the VP of Talent and Culture at Humane. We discuss the importance of managing the candidate experience and shifting away from a yes or no mentality in the hiring process. Jose shares insights on how to approach talent acquisition strategically and the value it brings to organizations. We also learn more about the company, Humane, which is set to r...

In this episode, Adriana Roche, Head of Talent at Uncork Capital, joins Amir Bormand to discuss the importance of getting back to basics as people leaders. She shares insights on the fundamentals companies should focus on during lean times and highlights healthy people practices for early-stage startups. Uncork Capital, a seed investor, has been supporting startups for almost 20 years and invests...

n this episode, Amir Bormadn interviews Suzanne Crettol, Head of Talent Acquisition @ CommerceIQ, about streamlining processes. Suzanne shares her consultative approach to talent acquisition, emphasizing the importance of listening, assessing, and leading appropriately. She discusses her background in retail operations and sales and how it has shaped her perspective on building teams and processes...

In this episode, host Amir Bormand interviews Rich Adao, the Head of Talent at Anyscale. They discuss various aspects of recruiting, including the market, hiring managers' perception of the market, and the state of recruitment and recruiters. Rich shares his responsibilities as the head of talent and how his team recruits top talent for engineers, product managers, marketers, and salespeople. Tune...

In this episode, Joe Doyle, the Director of Talent Acquisition at Harness, joins the show to discuss the topic of leverage within talent acquisition. Joe shares insights on the ebb and flow of supply and demand in the hiring market, especially during times of booms and busts. He emphasizes the importance of being proactive and prepared for these cycles, even though it may be challenging to anticip...

In this episode, Beth Scheer, Talent Partner at Homebrew, talks about the drivers for hiring a coach and what to look out for while going through the process. Key Takeaways: Why would a founder should look for a coach? Big commitment to hiring a coach Make sure you do a reference check with people the coach has worked with the right questions are a must. A good coach for someone else might not be...

In this episode of the podcast, the host interviews Anna Chalon, Head of People at Runway, a content creation platform powered by machine learning. The discussion focuses on building a feedback culture, with Anna defining it as ingrained in the day-to-day without additional efforts. Topics covered include the benefits of a feedback culture, the steps to building one, and lessons learned from imple...

Host Amir Bormand meets with Trish Pandya, the Senior TA Manager at Alluxio. She and Amir discuss the significance of mentors - and how forming a meaningful connection with the right mentor can help you grow professionally and personally. Highlights 3:12 - Trish shares why she began to search for a mentor. 8:29 - What qualifies someone as a mentor? 14:13 - How to know if mentorship is or isn't wor...

On this episode of The Talent Tango, host Amir Bormand talks with TA Leader Elena Stefanopol about recruiting strategies. The two explore subjects like velocity and data-driven hiring as well as working on a remote/international team. Highlights: 05:09 - Elena shares how she's used metrics to remain efficient during a mass hiring phase. 07:52 - Know when it's time to hire externally. 12:07 - Here'...

In this episode of The Talent Tango , our host Amir Bormand meets with Andrew Zuckerman, talent leader. Talent Acquisition strategy is the main topic; Amir and Andrew discuss the importance of properly timing talent acquisition initiatives and supporting them with a strong product roadmap. Highlights: 00:03:00 - Andrew Zuckerman discusses the steps his talent acquisition team takes when staffing f...

In this episode, Krystal Cooper Head of People Operations at Vizion, talks about building out the people ops function from scratch. Key takeaways: Look at a fractional CHRO if you aren't growing past a certain size Compliance and legal aspects of people ops When should you start a people ops function   Where do you start How much is too much to implement? Making sure benefits are equitable   Movin...

In this episode, Brian Bailey, Sr Manager of Technical Recruiting at Achieve, discusses how to manage a fully remote technical recruiting team successfully. Key takeaways: Re-evaluating mentoring and onboarding process. Delivering training when bandwidth is limited Break up training into smaller increments Be approachable to create safe spaces to discuss things Balancing autonomy and accountabilit...

Key takeaways: Monthly calendar of planned Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion events Getting employee engagement Finding events that work within a remote setting Lessons learned and what has/hasn't worked Meet: Katie Conti is a senior talent acquisition professional with 20 years of experience in resource management and recruiting.  Working with a belief that understanding the business is the key to...

Key takeaways: -Too much process can get in the way of positive candidate and recruiter experiences - Understanding the "why" helps in adopting new processes   - Making sure what is put in place meets company goals and is done with purpose Meet: Nadine Silverman has over 14 years of talent acquisition experience, including leadership experience ranging from hyper-growth startups to global Fortune...

Key takeaways: Focusing on community and not culture  Eliminating the usage of the term "culture" People that are outside the box It's not about fitting, but rather a community add Meet: Erin McCann is the Vice President, People Operations for SevenFifty, a fully distributed organization that is modernizing the beverage alcohol industry.  Erin is a SHRM-CP, and in her current role, she leads the P...

Key takeaways: Don't undervalue your "other"  experiences Talent professionals need to battle bias Leveraging a cover letter to convey more context  Reentering the workforce and compensation Meet: Candi Kenney leads the awesome Talent Acquisition Team at Clari. With over 15 years of recruiting experience and a Human Resources background, she knows first hand how to be an effective, strategic talen...

Meet: Jeff Hopkins has 7 years within the talent acquisition space across agency and internal. Currently leading the build-out of talent acquisition within a growing health tech start-up called Nomad Health. A firm believer that kindness is the most important characteristic for success within a people function. You can connect with Jeff via LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jchopkins/ I hope...

Meet: Fiorella Bariani, Head of Recruiting, at Flatiron and has been with the company for 6 years. Fiorella has been helping to build teams since Flatiron was just under 100 employees (currently ~1k employees). Prior to joining Flatiron, Fiorella worked at another mission-driven company focused on education technology. Prior to working in Recruiting, Fiorella was a mental health counselor, focusin...

Meet: Marissa Parillo is passionate about building scalable recruiting programs, hiring high-performing teams, and navigating through the challenges of hyper-growth phase organizations. She is the Senior Director of Business Recruiting at Datadog, a SaaS monitoring, and security company, overseeing global recruiting for sales, pre-sales, marketing, and G&A.  As the first recruiter on the ground at...