Thanks for reading! This series is designed to shine a spotlight on Talent Acquisition professionals and highlight their career journeys and learnings so far. Today, we're joined by Raj Ghir. If you'd like to be next, please reach out to a TTC Community Manager.
Introduce yourself:
I’m a highly experienced, Senior Talent Acquisition Partner/Lead with a strong track record establishing greenfield TA infrastructures, and process improvement/optimisation in rapid scaling companies and enterprise organisations through effective TA strategies.
Can you walk us through the key milestones in your career in the talent acquisition space? What were some pivotal moments or decisions that shaped your journey?
Starting off working in agency recruitment, I soon realised my passion was around creating great candidate experiences and partnering with hiring managers to create optimised hiring processes. I didn’t get the opportunity to really fulfil this, so decided to move internally into talent acquisition. Throughout my TA career, I’ve had experiences working with start-ups, supporting their growth from the ground up to large enterprises helping them to optimise how they recruit effectively. Also, the feedback I received from candidates helped me to learn what was important when creating amazing candidate experiences.
In this rapidly evolving industry, what strategies or practices have you adopted to continuously enhance your skills and stay ahead of the curve? Do you have any resources or learning methods you'd recommend to others?
I’ve taken to being a lot more active on LinkedIn. Aside from me being able to put across my points of view and ideas, it has been a game changer for me to learn from my peers and experts in the TA field. It’s given me great ideas that I’ve been able to use in my day to day role, especially with how to effectively implement technology into our recruitment processes.
I also started reading more relevant books to help me hone my skillset - particular ones I recommend are “Full Stack Recruiter” by Jan Tegze, and “Talent Makers” by Chait Stross. I’ve also read non-TA books that are focussed on continuous learning such as “You Coach You” by Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis.
What has been the most challenging aspect of your career in talent acquisition, especially when you were actively seeking work? How did you overcome it, and what advice would you offer to others facing similar hurdles?
The most challenging aspect of my career is seeing such a lack of candidate experience in contrast to what is so often talked about online. Your CV seemingly goes into an abyss and never gets any tangible feedback.
My way of overcoming it has been to bring the personal touch from the jobseeker's side. By this, I mean reaching out to the recruiter or hiring manager advertising the role you apply for with a personalised message.
Also, I decided to be a lot more specific with my job search and not just apply for 100’s of positions. By taking the time to target companies that align with your values, and reaching out to the relevant people, you should get a much stronger response rate.
The recruiting world can be fast-paced and demanding. How do you strike a balance between your professional commitments and personal life? Are there specific routines or rituals you follow?
Especially since I’ve been pretty much fully remote, setting boundaries between work and personal life is so important.
I have one dedicated room in my house which I solely use for work. When I take a break, lunch, and end work for the day, I leave the room and close the door. It helps me compartmentalise work and personal life, and also helps me to not think about work too much when I’m not in my “work” room.
Even if a dedicated room isn’t possible, setting time boundaries and putting away your laptop at the end of the day can have a similar effect.
I also think it’s really important to make the most of your free time, whether it’s going out with family, friends, or taking up a hobby. Basically, anything that will not get you thinking about work when you’re not working. I’ve found that just sitting at home in front of the TV in the evenings makes it easier for your mind to wander to work issues.
As someone involved in talent acquisition, you've likely witnessed various technology and trend shifts. Which technologies or trends do you believe have had the most significant impact on the industry, and how have they influenced your role?
With the rise to more remote working over the past few years, advancements in video interviewing have had the biggest impact on the industry. It’s forced TA professionals to develop their interviewing skills, while also being able to assess candidates who aren’t actually sitting in front of them.
Leading on from this, the rise of AI in recruitment is going to have a massive impact, especially when it comes to video interviews. AI tools can now take notes for you so you can focus on building relationships with your candidates, and interview technology supports you through the interview with live prompts, and the ability to collate more detailed feedback.
It’s influenced me in a way that I have focussed more on the personal touch and allowed these tools take take on the more mundane aspects of my role, which is always a bonus for me!
For those entering the talent acquisition space or those looking to pivot within it, what's the one piece of practical advice you'd give to help them thrive, especially if they are actively job-seeking?
I think the answer is quite different from what it might have been 4 to 5 years ago. With the emergence of recruitment technology and the vast amount of data now available at our fingertips, people who want to enter the TA space need to be more than just good recruiters.
You need to show great adaptability as well as strategic thinking. How do you react to change and can you demonstrate how pro-active you can be? Gone are the days when you can just sit around waiting for a role to recruit for. You can use data to help optimise your processes and candidate experience, and partner strategically with stakeholders to workforce plan and talent pool.
Talent Acquisition is definitely more than just recruitment (though of course it is a big part of the role).
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