Jeremy Reid

I’ve been interviewing TA leaders and CPOs to understand their views on how AI might impact the way they staff their teams. So far my convos have illuminated a nuanced take on AI in TA: 🤔 There’s a mix of intrigue and skepticism. Most skepticism seems directed at the feasibility/viability of the technology in practice (“does it actually work?” vs reluctance about the idea in principle). 👀 There’s a sense of cautious optimism, hinging on whether the tech can handle human-needed edge cases, like an RC handling a last-minute reschedule or a complex interaction with an interviewer or EA. 🤖 While automation promises cost savings and efficiency, change management and cultural resistance are hurdles to prioritizing this “today” (if #2 were solved). 💰 Across the board, leaders are open to automation if it provides a significant cost advantage (e.g., cutting costs by “50-60%” compared to human headcount). Most view this level of savings to outweigh the cognitive and cultural costs of implementation. 🌱 There’s a desire to evolve admin-heavy roles (like RCs and sourcers) into more strategic or specialized positions like recruiting operations or face-to-face recruiting. I’m in research mode for the next few months and want to spend more time sharing my learnings on LI. Like or comment if you find info like helpful - I can use the motivation to make it a habit :)

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TA is often thought of as a cost center, so the burden is on TA Leaders to demonstrate their value, and shift this perception. Some ideas for how: The best TA Leaders think like business owners. They aren't just worried about missing their hiring goals and looking bad, they're worried about the broader biz impact of not filling those roles on time. The best TA leaders realize:  - if they can't hire enough enterprise AEs, the biz isn’t going to hit their revenue targets (lower revenue).  - if they can't hire the warehouse workers they need on time, warehouse production will literally grind to a halt (lost revenue).  - if they can't hire the FT nurses they need, they're going to need to spend 2x salary per year on traveling nurses ($50M+ for some of our customers !!!).  - if they can't hire the top-tier technical talent they need, they'll never be able to succeed @ digital transformation (looming existential risk for every large enterprise out there needing to reinvent itself as a tech company) The key is to leverage data & build a business case to show the rest of the organization your impact. Proactively advocate for the resources you need to be successful. If you’re reactive, the C-Suite will feel the negative impact after you've missed your hiring targets or when it's clear you're about to. At that point, it's too late, and your job may be on the line. If you‘re proactive, you’ll start to be seen as a strategic business partner, and slowly but surely, your organization will start to realize that TA is so much more than just a cost center.

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Hiring the right sales, marketing, and CX leaders is incredibly challenging, especially for early-stage startups. Check out our ElevenX Talent's Janine O'Neill (she/her) and Dan Hurwitz discuss all things GtM hiring in this awesome podcast. Some great wisdom nuggets in this one. Watch the full episode, now live at howtounfuckyourstartup.com

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What's not being good at interviewing costing you? "I just cannot seem to interview well. I have lost out on roles to people who used to report to me." I was speaking to my client—let's call him Steve. He was a smart, accomplished product leader who had led successful launches of products you have probably heard of. He launched multiple hit products, drove millions in revenue, and all that jazz. But Steven had a problem—a big one. Despite being a total PM rockstar, he still interviewed like he had seven years ago. When he was interviewed, the impression he left was "Great product manager, not leadership material yet." Ever felt like you're the most accomplished person in the room, but when it comes to interviews, you can't seem to convey that? That was Steve. Do you know who didn't choke on interviews? The PM's Steve personally trained and mentored. That's right - Steve's own pupils interviewed well rose above their sensei by having better storytelling and positioning, and the executive presence and confidence that got them further in an interview. His pupils had risen to levels above him. Can you imagine how emasculating and demoralizing that must have felt? To have your star pupils, whom you groomed from scratch, outshine and outearn you just because they could describe their achievements better? Steve had already missed out on many years of success, new roles, and millions of dollars because he was worse at interviewing. He felt the sting of watching others, who he knew he was more qualified than, climb the ranks and achieve the success he deserved. This wasn't just a financial loss but a blow to his self-esteem. He wanted his kids to look up to him and be proud of his accomplishments. Enough was enough. He decided he couldn't afford to lose out anymore. He came to us as Intentional Product Manager, determined to turn things around. We worked with him to refine his narrative, boost his interview skills, and truly represent the outstanding professional he is. It took work, but he got there. The result? He's achieved a prime role at a company you would have heard of and now makes over a million dollars annually. Not only did he secure the financial success he always deserved, but he also earned the respect and admiration of his peers and, most importantly, his family. But as importantly, he carries his skills and executive presence every day. --- P.S., If this resonates with you, and you: - Are a product manager - You love to take action - You are committed to career growth But if you need help in landing that ideal next role. DM me "dream role" and I will send you details. We only work with selected folks and have started to limit how many people we accept every month.

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"Strange how the media completely ignored the story that all California job gains in 2023 were fake. Contrary to prior reports of over substantial job gains in the deep blue state in 2023, the reality was far uglier. Based on the most recent release of the early benchmarks, payroll jobs declined by 32,000 from September 2023 through December 2023. On the contrary, the preliminary monthly reports showed a solid increase in job growth (+117,000 jobs) at the time. With the fourth quarter revision, calendar year 2023 saw essentially no net job growth (+9,000 jobs overall). But one can be absolutely certain that once the next set of revisions come in, California will not have generated any actual job growth for the second year in a row. In fact, make that all of America." - Zero Hedge https://lnkd.in/er4hC9Ga

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Miro scaled from 300 to 1500+ employees in 18 months. Here are five TA tips from their Head of Tech Recruiting. 👉 TA teams should assess tools for return on investment, making sure they meet the evolving needs of the company. Tools that no longer serve their purpose should be reconsidered to allocate resources more efficiently. 👉 It's important to have adaptable processes and tools as the company scales. What works at one stage may not fit another which is why you have to iterate constantly. 👉 Miro leveraged external resources like freelance recruiters, RPO and placement agencies to hit their hiring goals. 👉 People are likely to want to hire people similar to them but hiring someone opposite brings new ideas and energy to the team which can lead to great results. 👉 Burnout is a real issue across all companies and it should never be ignored. Be transparent about how you're addressing burnout within your company. Do you have any burning questions about Miro's road to 1500+ employees? ⬇️

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Sam Cooke was right...change sure did come. TA/REC friends...our world is morphing fast. New tools are entering the market. In demand spaces (hello tech) are no longer in high demand. Applicant volume is causing so many problems for everyone. Circumstances are calling for us to pivot. Change can be hard. Scary even. But it's time to shape-shift, transform and adapt. Please believe, I am a 25 year veteran recruiter/talent leader. 10 years agency, 15 years corp. I've never done anything else, but I know in my soul I need to flow like water and forge a new path. Staying stuck in what I know, what I've done and how it's been until now...will only render me obsolete and powerless. If you know it's time to reinvent yourself, but you're not sure how...let's chat. I am curating opportunities for the brilliant, creative, recruiters out there to pivot into. Opportunities that are tangentially related to the core skills and experiences we have as recruiters. Simply becoming a solopreneur headhunter...isn't the only option anymore. Schedule time with me. Link in my profile. #recruiters #jobseekers #pivot #change #GoldensNuggets

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The world is shifting...you can too ⚡️ After this last layoff, It was abundantly clear that my 25 years of recruiting, TA and leadership in the startup world wasn't going to easily yield another "Director of Talent" "Head of Talent" or "VP of Talent" role that had been so in demand for the majority of my career. It was more than obvious it was time to shape-shift, transform, reinvent myself to remain valuable and relevant in this fast changing reality. Watching others lose their confidence and edge while slogging away at a long soul sucking job search in a challenging market, didn't scare me, it inspired me to do something different. I've always loved innovation and new technology, probably why I've been knee deep in early stage startups for 20 some odd years. Surely I could leverage my entrepreneurial spirit, community participation, vast recruiting expertise and desire to always be at the crest of the wave and relevant in "the conversation" to create value in this chapter. So I started reaching out to new talent tech founders and offering free advisory. OMG 😱 Free Work 😱 Horrors upon horrors Well...I believe in proving ROI before asking for the I....that may be super shocking in this day and age...but it's an edge for me. 🤷🏻‍♀️ So a few months in and I've talked to MANY founders. I am very passionate about talent tools being built with talent expertise in the discussion. I've helped pivot product design, external messaging and better connect the solution being built with the right problem and understanding it the way WE do. Now I have testimonials from founders who have validated my position as an Ambassador / Consultant / Advisor. Check them out and my booking link so you can get me in the mix. I go beyond just advisory and I support your launch to the market. Thank you Mason Fuerst founder of Motiv and Molly Wheaton founder of EarnBetter for allowing me to be in the conversation. TA and REC veterans and leaders, if you know it's time to pivot but you're not sure how...check out my coaching links. I can help. #talenttech #recruiters #techadvisory #startups

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You owe your candidates transparency. 👋 Here's a quick tip you can use in < 3 min Before every AE interview at Motion (Creative Analytics), I send candidates a personalized Loom video. Why? Because I believe in arming potential team members with as much info as possible upfront. Here's what I cover in that video: → What Motion does and the problem we solve → Our goals and recent funding → Our approach to hiring (hint: we value culture add over culture fit) → Sales team specifics (who our buyers are, ACV, sales cycle, close rate) The result? 1. Candidates come to the intro call armed with knowledge, allowing us to dive deeper into their experience and aspirations. 2. It shows we value their time. No bait and switch here - we lay our cards on the table. 3. It builds trust from the get-go. We're not just assessing them; we're inviting them to assess us too. 4. It dramatically improves the quality of our conversations. Instead of surface-level chit-chat, we're having substantive discussions about fit and potential from minute one. Remember: The interview process isn't just about finding the right candidate. It's about finding the right match. And that starts with open, honest communication. 👋 P.S. We're hiring AEs at Motion! Details on our careers page. Get your FREE ticket to Motion's Creative Strategy Summit 👉 https://bit.ly/3ywOYN9

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👉 Attention Pacific-Northwest founders ✅ Are you building in B2B SaaS/AI? ✅ Have you raised less than $250K? ✅ Had one-too-many VCs tell you you’re too early? I’d love to chat. The Pacific Northwest is home to two of the magnificent seven, the birthplace of some awesome companies (Slack, Outreach, Remitly, Redfin, Auth0 to name a few) and a magnet for great AI/technical talent. Forum Ventures, will be doubling down in this awesome ecosystem and writing more checks into B2B SaaS/AI founders for $100K+ admission to our pre-seed accelerator. Our pre-seed program is highly personalized - not your generic startup school. Here’s what you can expect: 🤝 Hands on GTM and Sales support to get you to $200k+ ARR 🌎 A community of B2B founders who have raised $1B+ in follow-on funding 🚀 An awesome Managing Director who will work alongside your team as a fractional senior operator / co-founder. They’re all former founders and have lived 0-1. 💸 No-bs investors who will help quarter back your seed round and show up through the good and the bad. 👋🏻 PNW founder? Pitch us here: https://hubs.ly/Q02tdP_r0 🙏 Not a founder? Please share with your network or tag a founder below ⬇️ cc Simon Chou Dominic Lau Richard Kerby Casey Van Maanen Ryan Holmes Adarsh Pallian Paul Irving Scott Barker Sara Lindquist John Eng Sarah Studer Jacob Laes Marius Ciocirlan Chris DeVore Brendan Wales Sheila Gulati Jen Haller Kirby Winfield Andy Liu Matt Wang Sanford W Spivey Amy Sallin Erik Benson Annie Luchsinger Lauren Glatter Bryan Hale Brian Glaister Kristopher Alford Jeffrey Manner Julian (Jay) Rhind Connor Edwards Daniel Baraghoush Kaylee Lieffers (Astle)

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This was me getting schooled by one of the most respected TA leaders on the planet - from a $50B+ company - a few weeks back. 📚 But in the best possible way. 😁 I'd finished walking through BrightHire at a high level and they offered some friendly feedback: "I'm sure you've given this a lot of thought, but..." Uh oh, where was this going? "... when you hear Interview Intelligence platform, I don't know, it doesn't do justice to the whole thing... this is equity, consistency, structure, quality, speed." She nailed it. We're known for "interview intelligence" and AI interview notes, but the most common reaction I get from demos is: "Wow, this is SO much broader." Last Friday it happened again. I was again speaking with one of the sharpest TA leaders around from a >$20B company - he hadn't seen the platform in 6 months. His reaction was similar: "Wow, I’m not usually at a loss for words - this is really impressive. I can’t believe how much you’ve built - this isn’t a product, it’s a platform. This solves a range of problems and use cases." My takeaways: 1) Hugely proud of the amazing BrightHire team and what we've built! 2) We need to 2x down on how we convey our value to the market Being a buyer is hard - you have limited time to understand solutions - and often everything in a category can seem the same from the outside. That means it's on us to step up our game. 👊 Also, we are not the same as everyone else. 🚀

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It's July. Hopefully, that was not a surprise to you by now. July 1st also marks the start of LinkedIn's new fiscal year, which, for many leaders in HR, TA, and CFOs, means a surprise upset in their budget allocations. Oh No! Like a Swiss timepiece, you can be confident that LinkedIn will increase its prices as it continues to roll out updates to its platform and its still growing member base. +1 billion members is impressive. That is 1.000.000.000; yup, that is a lot of people and zeros. As the saying goes, if a platform is free, you are the product. That is not the case for businesses hoping to leverage LinkedIn for hiring. Often, I hear that a larger and larger part of the budget pie goes to direct sourcing, job advertisements, and employer branding on LinkedIn. And for good reason. It works. As an ex-LinkedIn employee for 7 years, I have helped more than +1000 businesses succeed on the platform and hired thousands of people through LinkedIn. Many lives changed. That I am proud of 💙 If your business is renewing or establishing a new commercial partnership with LinkedIn in 2024 or later, get in touch. THERE are things you can do to get more value from your investment. AND money to be saved on your partnership. I am SO confident that I offer most businesses the model of only taking a cut of what I can save you on your contract. That way, when you win, I win. LinkedIn also wins because I will give you free tools to improve your partnership rhythm. You can thank me later. TickTock, what are you waiting for, them dollars are waiting. DM me for more info, and we can get going. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If this post inspired you, make sure to like, comment, and share 🙏 Hit the 🔔 to get notified when I share thoughts and tips for a better partnership with LinkedIn. Stay epic, Simon M. Scavenius

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Don't think recruiters are f'ing superheroes? 💡 Consider this: What percentage of your employee base is dedicated to sales and marketing? How many leads and prospects do they process over the course of a month? A quarter? A year? I can pretty much guarantee your recruiting team is responsible for candidate numbers that equal or (more likely) surpass (massively) those of your sales and marketing teams. Now, ask yourself what fraction of the company do you dedicate to the recruiting team? 💡 Think about the obstacles we face: 1. TA and People functions are chronically under-funded and under-resourced. 2. Our tooling isn't as advanced as those in the GTM space. 3. There's less venture investment in improving our technology (because there's less revenue opportunity, due to point 1). This isn't even considering the likely impact AI will have on our space (a topic for another day). Yet, we're the team driven and motivated to attract, engage, and hire the best (out of millions of potential people), convince them (amongst a sea of somewhat homogenous choice) that company XYZ and the role are the right step for them, providing a memorable candidate experience that demonstrates the value and opportunity available, all while treating each individual as the unique human they are. 🌹 I am constantly in awe of what we're able to accomplish with the little we're given (with a smile on our face!). So, forgive us for celebrating ourselves. Excuse us for supporting one another unconditionally. Be unsurprised when we seem exasperated and exhausted at times. And maybe, just maybe, give us our roses. I think we've earned them. #recruiting #talentacquisition #superheroes

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Diverse interview committees lead to better decisions. I've hired for probably 50+ GTM positions in teams I've run and have been on the interview committee for probably 200+. A wider representation of voices, experiences and perspectives has always led to better candidate choices. Even if those choices were different from my initial first pick. Here's a story. One time I was hiring for a Sales Manager. After the initial recruiter screen I had a hiring manager screen. This candidate did an incredible job. Great energy, strong, specific examples. Handled questions well. He had two more interviews after that. I had rated this person a 4 (strong yes). Then when I reviewed all the other feedback I saw the following: 2 (No) Weak 3 Weak 3 I delved deeper into the comments and followed up with each interviewer independently. I found there was a common thread each person brought up. There was "something off." Felt like a poor culture fit. Strong ego. I reviewed this feedback from 3 people I trusted and compared it to the high rating I gave. I decided not to move forward and sent a nice personalized email sharing we decided not to progress. What happened next blew my mind. The person wrote a screaming, aggressive email back. Criticized my team members, saying he was the best person for the job hands down. Then said I should reconsider since clearly he was better than anyone else who could have applied. Well that sealed it. Sent a thank you for your counter but we will hold to our decision. Wrote me an even more scathing note. And know what that did? Made me exhale a sign of relief that we didn't move forward. That I had my team to provide context for things I might have missed. And that I could trust them. We all have blind spots. Sometimes we have great days. But always look for the data points within. They are there. #hiring #diverseperspectives

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Building a Foundational tech team from the ground up is a challenge at the best of times. This qtr already though Allyssa has done just this and more multiple times over. As our Partner that leads our embedded function - Allyssa brings so much talent expertise directly to Founders who are needing to scale and launch rapidly, with no pre-established talent function, No real talent strategy and typically not more than a handful of employees and a V1 of a product. Thankfully the rest of us in the crew can lend our support and expertise across our verticals (Design for me!) and help scale up these founding teams of Head of Product, Head of Engineering, Head of Design, Head of Finance and more. Founders are busy building their products, raising capital, acquiring customer and more. Embedding Allyssa as a 'Head of Talent' to scale as needed and then roll off once done has been a game changer for our customers. NYC is a hot bed for tech companies launching (especially as more global companies want to establish in the US) but they need on the ground, local guidance and support. #bamboocrowd #embeddedrecruitment #startups #startuptalent #coffeewiththecrowd

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TEN MONTHS ago today, a large percentage of my colleagues and I were RIF'ed by our former employer. A few months later, another large chunk of former colleagues were also laid off. Over 250 of us ex-Flexies found each other in a private Slack group created by Stephanie Chapagain, PMP and have been supporting one another through difficult times, and helping one another find our next roles. I'm beyond relieved to say that I recently signed a job offer with Remote and will be starting there on Monday, August 5th, which would have been my 5th anniversary with Flexe. My role - Senior Specialist, Benefit Solutions - will be like that of a US Benefits Program Manager, meaning that I'll be focused on benchmarking benefits against larger competitors in the tech space and looking for opportunities to augment the US benefit package while reducing costs. The benefits I'll be working to improve will largely be available for internal Remote employees in the US, and many of them will also be options for thousands of employees who are employed by Remote as an Employer of Record (EOR) or Professional Employer Organization (PEO) for companies hiring in the US, so there is the potential to have a strong positive impact on the lives of all of these employees and their families. While unemployment is beyond difficult and 10 months is an incredibly long time to be looking for work, I know many, many, many stories of talented individuals who have been on the market for far longer, so I feel quite lucky indeed to have found ANY opportunity. But THIS opportunity in particular is exciting to me, and feels a bit like it was waiting for me. Remote has no physical presence, their product fits squarely in the HR/Benefits space in the global marketplace, and Remote employees can generally work from anywhere in the world. My new manager lives in Nigeria, and his manager lives in London. My recruiter is in Dublin. I'm in Seattle, but have plans to emigrate to Italy in the 2030s with my husband, and have been hoping against hope that I might find a company with a superb culture, where I might be able to work for the remainder of my career, even beyond my move to Italy - and this company seems to fit the bill! To my friends and former colleagues who are still looking: check out Remote.com/openings to see if any positions look good to you. APPLY, and let's see how many of us can take our past experience in a remote workforce with a strongly positive culture and move forward together with Remote! ...and to all the dozens of former colleagues and friends who have bent over backward to help me find this role: THANK YOU. Your support has been invaluable in ways you may never know, but I will always remember and cherish. 🧡

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The Stark Reality of Startup Recruiting: Why Experience Matters I've been in technical recruiting for over a decade. Recruiting for startups and early-stage companies is a whole different ballgame compared to big tech and Fortune 500. Yet time and again, I see people trying to make a quick transition from one to the other. Spoiler alert: it rarely works out. Why? Because time in the arena matters. A lot. Picture this: You're a founder of a promising startup. You need "cracked" engineers, and you need them yesterday. You hire a recruiting firm that's great at placing senior devs at Big Tech. Sounds good, right? Wrong. That firm might know the big tech landscape like the back of their hand, but the early-stage engineering world? It's a different beast entirely. The skills, the mindset, the culture fit - it's all unique to the startup ecosystem. I remember working with a startup founder who initially went with a big-name recruiting firm. Three months and zero successful placements later, they came to us frustrated and behind schedule. Within a week, we had multiple ideal candidates lined up. The difference? We knew the startup scene inside out. So, founders, here's my advice: when you're looking for a recruiting partner, don't just go for the big names. Look for a firm with a strong foothold in the early engineering landscape. One that understands the unique challenges and opportunities of startup life. Because let's face it - in the fast-paced world of startups, you can't afford to waste time with a recruiting strategy that doesn't work. You need a partner who speaks your language, understands your needs, and can hit the ground running. Remember, in startup recruiting, experience isn't just nice to have - it's essential. Choose wisely, and watch your dream team come together. What are your thoughts? Have you experienced the difference between big tech and startup recruiting?

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I recently came across Recruit CRM, and this agency-centric ATS + CRM is really something else, external recruiters in my network this one is worth a look! I've had recruiting friends complain about Bullhorns manual inputs and updates - Recruit CRM was built early on with AI in mind in ways that actually make sense for agency use-cases. My personal favorite - the smart candidate matching is spot-on; able to break down candidate skills and profiles into the relevant reqs. It integrates smoothly with all your go-to apps and features a robust Boolean search to pinpoint top candidates. You can also filter candidates by skill or location and get real-time insights with custom dashboards. If you're looking beyond legacy solutions and have needs that've evolved beyond a spreadsheet; definitely worth seeing a demo with them: https://lnkd.in/gRrtVGkf #recruitcrm #recruiters #recruitmentsoftware #applicanttrackingsystem

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