Tell us your career path before you were in TA
My background has always been in small businesses and start-ups, where I have enjoyed wearing many hats and extending my remit beyond the traditional HR or TA role. I love working in smaller companies as I'm able to see the direct impact that good people strategies can have on the culture and the day to day running of an organisation.
From your personal experience what's the best thing about being in talent acquisition?
My role here is broad, but I love the talent acquisition side as I really feel as though I am playing a key part in shaping the future of 55. As a consultancy, people are our lifeblood and critical to everything that we do, so making a successful hire is incredibly important. We are also a small, close-knit team, and any employee turnover has a huge impact on culture, so I enjoy the challenge of making sure our hiring process is robust and that we make the right decisions first time.
Since you've been in TA, how have you seen it change?
Since Covid there have been so many changes within TA, with the job market sometimes incredibly buoyant and at other times very lean. I think the main thing I have learnt is that, whatever the market conditions, you need to build a strong culture and employer brand that people can relate to and feel an affinity with, as well as offering a great candidate experience. I am proud that many applicants come back to us as they had such a positive interview experience that resonated with them, and they are keen to re-apply once they have built out their skills!
How do you see AI impacting the future of talent acquisition?
Our Group CEO recently said: 'People didn't stop walking once the car was invented, they could just go much further. The same is true with AI.'
I couldn't agree with this more. AI is coming whether you are ready for it or not, so we need to be prepared to use it as a tool and not see it as a threat. In TA, it has so many great use cases but also some limitations, and its important that we don't lose the culture-first, human element of recruitment that we have worked so hard to build. It should free our TA leaders from the administrative side of recruitment and give them capacity to focus on the human side.
What advice would you give to job seekers today?
Be authentic. Recruiters and interviewers are getting savvy to interviewees that are reading transcripts from ChatGPT or have auto-generated a covering letter. We are moving towards more in-person interviews as we want to really see how someone thinks and performs on the spot. We don't expect perfection, but we would much rather see your authentic self than an AI-generated textbook response.
Tell us a little about the company you hire for and what makes it so great?
55 is a company that truly values and develops its people. We have a strong culture of training in-house and promoting internally, and it is rewarding to see so many new hires and colleagues flourish here. For a small company, we work with some big brands on cutting edge and exciting projects, and we give a lot of trust and ownership to our staff at all levels of seniority. We are also a very close team that like to have fun together!
Rosie Smith, HR Manager at Fifty Five