Career Journeys in Talent Acquisition: Tom Brown

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 Tom Brown. If you'd like to be next, please reach out to a TTC Community Manager.

Introduce yourself:

Hello! I’m Tom, an experienced Talent Acquisition Partner with a passion for process, delivery and recruiting great talent! I am a contractor and very hands on when it comes to partnering with businesses. I can be flexible in my approach and offer a fractional service as well as full time.

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?

My TA journey started about 15 years ago in the Oil and Gas industry and I have been part of TA teams in huge corporates such as Lloyds Register, Barclays Wealth, Vodafone and World Wide Technology.

I often reflect on how my personal TA journey has evolved from sticking out like a sore thumb in the HR department as the “Lone Wolf Internal Recruiter”, to being part of a dedicated “Crack Team of TA superstars” that most businesses have separate to HR these days.

I have always had a passion for TA and in particular RPO / Embedded Talent.

After working for three of the big RPO companies I decided to set up my own boutique Embedded Talent business “DigiSource Group” which I sold to Join Talent who use my brand to this day (mega proud!).

Even as an MD of my own brand with a small team I was still very hands-on with my clients and enjoyed rolling up my sleeves and recruiting.

Since exiting from DigiSource I’ve been helping companies save £100,000s in agency fees offering contract TA partnering services as a day rate and FTC contractor.

I love to absorb myself into the culture of my clients which enables me to offer an unrivalled candidate experience when headhunting.

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?

Over the years I’ve learned something new and different from every single role or contract I’ve been in.

I love to absorb what others around me are doing successfully and try new things myself. I learnt loads from being in the Join Talent family as their TA partners deliver TA really well.

I’m a strong believer in adapting to survive as TA has changed massively in the last five, 10, 15 years!

My core values of providing an excellent candidate and hiring manager experience will always stay the same whilst my methods will evolve for the better.

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?

Quite simply - personal brand. I’m terrible at it! Which is why I love groups like TTC. Sean sent me this to complete the first time around at the end of last year and I struggled with it back then and have finally decided to give it another go!

I’m very much an introvert who has had to feign being an extrovert the last 20 years to get ahead, so the thought of working on my personal brand fills me with dread. But I’ll do it!

I have no issue selling myself in interviews, or carrying out a textbook hiring manager brief - because these are within my comfort zone and I can talk about / answer questions about TA all day long.

But throw a camera and ring light in my face and say “action” people will be asking “what in the GCSE drama is going on here?”. Trust me, I had to record a DILO video during COVID and it was cringeworthy to say the least! (Can share on request).

My advice to others struggling with this would be to lean into it and get out of your comfort zone for the sake of standing out above the rest. It’s a competitive TA market right now.

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?

I primarily work from home, but love to make an appearance in my clients offices on a regular basis. I have an amazing set up at home which allows me to shut my office door and get in the zone when I need to.

I have two kids, Max and Millie, and a standard poodle Frank who do need attention (especially Frank), but they respect my work (Frank not so much), and leave me to get on.

I sometimes miss the 9 - 5 routine of office work, but would never go back to Monday to Friday. I definitely don’t miss the Jubilee Line at 5pm!

If I’ve had a particularly busy back to back morning, I love the freedom of being able to go for a run at lunchtime and clear my head!

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?

Automation is definitely a big one in my world - especially for high volume roles where you can’t personally reply to every single candidate to provide that gold candidate experience.

ATS’ have evolved really well since the days of OG Taleo (I still have nightmares) and the likes of Team Tailor, Pinpoint, Greenhouse etc, whilst not perfect, make life amazingly easy for us TA folk!

There are loads of podcasts popping up all over the place which is great and I love listening to them to feel validated in the world of TA. I’d love to take part in one, but not sure I would have anything of value to say - see previous comment about personal brand!

I’m super excited to see how AI can make our life in TA easier - I’d imagine it would help with automation, but as long as the AI can provide the same platinum level of candidate / hiring manager experience that I have been providing for all these years ;-)

I’d like to personally thank ChatGPT who wrote this whole thing for me. Just kidding.

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?

Don’t do it. But if you do decide to go for the plunge in to the world of TA, make sure you have candidate experience at the heart of everything you do. Even if you decided to join the dark side and go in to agency first.