Tell us your career path before you were in TA
I worked in various Sales roles before finding my feet in recruitment. If you ever had a cold call from someone trying to sell you insurance back in 2012, it was probably me.
I initially worked in Recruitment agencies for 7 or 8 years before moving in-house with Paramount, which was then NBC Universal.
From your personal experience what's the best thing about being in talent acquisition?
You get to work with some super talented hiring teams and gain a front-row seat into the innovations they are pushing within their teams. Having an industry-leading expert explain the cool things they are doing and the impact that will have on our customers is awesome; it makes the roles so easy to sell when you hear the passion and drive coming from the hiring teams.
When you help identify and hire a candidate who goes on to do something monumental within the business, like winning an important pitch, or designing a piece of copy or creative that is then seen by millions of people, it gives you a massive sense of job satisfaction that you played a massive part, even indirectly, in making that happen.
Since you've been in TA, how have you seen it change?
Thanks to advancements in technology, changing market conditions, and a greater focus on work-life balance, we've seen a significant shift in the last 3-5 years: clients are moving away from relying on third-party recruitment agencies for their talent acquisition (TA) strategy and are instead scaling their own in-house TA functions. These in-house teams can champion the company's brand and become true experts. Recruitment used to be seen as purely a sales role, judged solely on sales figures. Now, it's recognised as a crucial support function, enabling TA to offer genuine business partnering, independent of external agencies. Clients now understand that building their own in-house TA teams allows them to develop their own brand experts and save on recruitment fees for the majority of their hires. While there will always be a need for specialist recruitment agencies that provide a high-quality, market-specific service, the overall reliance on them for recruitment has decreased dramatically.
How do you see AI impacting the future of talent acquisition?
AI will have a massive impact on TA in the medium- to long-term future, but I think we are still a way off having to worry about Arnold Schwarzenegger taking our jobs.
What's more important now is to learn and embrace AI and new technology, ensuring you're always in a position to implement AI into your work. AI can't take your job, but someone who knows how to use AI effectively can. The most important thing to remember is that we should all be embracing AI now and upskilling our knowledge, rather than being scared of what the future might hold.
What advice would you give to job seekers today?
Even if you don't get offered the role you were dead-set on, or get the interview that you were so excited about, it's okay; there will always be another option. Persistence and individuality will always shine through. Be yourself, and don't be afraid of showing that in interviews.
Greg Lewis, Senior Talent Lead at GroupM