Is your talent acquisition team a strategic function?
This week on the show it delighted us to speak with Heidi Wassini. A positive advocate and sponsor for the value delivered by recruitment and talent acquisition functions.
As an established HR professional, it was interesting to hear how Heidi started her career. As an English-Spanish translator before taking her first role in recruitment in 2007. After deciding to âstop and figure out what I want to do rather than following the career path I was onâ. How she âdidnât feel my career was going fast enoughâ.
We fast-forward to present day and learn how Heidiâs experiences have led her to believe
âThere are very few people that see recruiting as a professional path. Which is a missed opportunity because I consider it to be the centre of HR and it is a business unit that helps you earn or save money.â
She tells us âwhen I work with Talent Acquisition, I utilise everything we have in the company.â From employee engagement, exit interviews, talent assessment and development, leadership programmes. Then you can âtake all that information and put it into your people strategy and then combine that with your overall business strategy.â
Time, Quality and Cost
Challenging businesses and hiring managersâ perception of recruitment and talent acquisition is an ongoing task. Heidi advises to
âStart talking business and they will listen to you.â
Through setting expectations such as, âif I can hire you a top performer at a faster rate… you will make a lot more money.â In a last message to all, she tells us âin-house recruitment can do it way faster, cheaper and with higher qualityâ.
If that wasnât enough, below youâll hear Heidi talk about:
- The value of a pre-boarding process
- Positively challenging hiring managers
- Using the time, quality, and cost matrix
- The benefits of personality testing for recruitment
- Making talent acquisition a profit centre