On the latest episode of The Debrief, Lars Schmidt joins Teddy Chestnut to chat about lessons learned from his career, from working at top organizations (like Ticketmaster, Magento, and NPR), consulting with fast-growing tech companies, and launching his own company, Amplify Talent.
In the episode, Lars and Teddy discuss:
- The two unlocks for success: learning agility and network equity
- Lars’ perspective on AI’s impact on recruiting
- How to make the leap from talent acquisition leader to HR leader
- Lars’ predictions on the future of HR
- And much more
Check out our highlights from the conversation:
Unlocking recruiting success. Lars’ career has taught him that there are two keys to success: learning agility and network equity.
- Learning agility – The first key is to stay curious and invest time in learning new things. Lars says, “Whether you’re a recruiter, CPO, or HR leader, the demands of the role are massive, and there will always be things for you to do. If you’re not proactively and intentionally setting aside time for your own personal growth and development, you’re going to be doing yourself and your business a disservice.”
- Network equity – Lars believes it’s important to be intentional about how you build your network. Instead of focusing on networking within your core discipline, Lars promotes the idea of network equity, which means to intentionally build a network of people with collective intellect that you can tap into to help you solve problems and overcome challenges.
What the best interview processes share in common. Lars has consulted with top organizations like SpaceX, Hootsuite, Duo Security, Plaid, and Dashlane, helping the teams level up their hiring processes. Through these experiences, he’s observed that the best interview processes share one thing in common. They ensure that the hiring team is super aligned from the get-go.
According to Lars, it’s critical to align all of your stakeholders – hiring managers, recruiters, and interviewers – and get clarity upfront about how the interview process is going to unfold and what the expectations are.
AI’s impact on recruiting. Lars says AI “isn’t hype; it’s substance, and it will fundamentally change a lot of how we work in recruiting.” From sourcing to scheduling, Lars breaks down some of the top use cases for AI in recruiting.
The keys to building trust. Trust is everything in recruiting. Lars encourages recruiters to build strong relationships with other stakeholders by “making sure you prioritize embedding yourself within those teams, be visible, be understood, and be curious. When you do that, you build trust.”
Taking the leap from TA to HR leader. After his time leading talent acquisition teams, Lars became curious to explore the HR side of things. To pursue this new path, Lars began by sitting in on peers’ meetings and asking questions like, “How are we developing employees? How are we training them? What do their career paths look like?”
Listen to Lars’ podcast episode or watch the entire conversation below:
