Using Storytelling To Level Up Your Employer Brand with Marsha Shandur - Storytelling & Keynote Speaker Coach

I sit across from the latest marvel in AI, the voice chat version GPT-4, developed by OpenAI. We talk about how AI can assist HR and Recruitment professionals, the risks associated and I go full blown hard hitting journalist and ask it some questions about the drama at OpenAI this weekend.

This podcast and The People People Group is made possible by our sponsors, if you're not a member, check out Canada's most engaged HR/Recruitment/Operations community by heading over to www.thepeoplepeoplegroup.com.

• The Leadership Agency is one of North America and the UK's best boutique startup recruitment agencies
• Level up your employee recognition with Chocolate Soup's awesome custom mini-figurines and more
• Singer Steinberg Group Benefits Specialists, if they can't help you they'll intro you to someone awesome who will
• SpringLaw is Canada's first (and best) virtual employment law firm
• Wavy is a culture management platform for flexible teams

This episode format doesn't have a name yet, but they're short, sweet and mini interviews with interesting people who are looking for their next thing.

Meet Vincent Loris! He's looking for interesting Senior Product Designer positions. He's an ex-Founder of a music / e-comm marketplace.

This podcast and The People People Group is made possible by our sponsors, if you're not a member, check out Canada's most engaged HR/Recruitment/Operations community by heading over to www.thepeoplepeoplegroup.com.

- The Leadership Agency is one of North America and the UK's best boutique startup recruitment agencies
- SpringLaw is Canada's first (and best) virtual employment law firm
- Wavy is a culture management platform for flexible teams

Melissa Nightingale and Johnathan Nightingale are the founders of Raw Signal Group, literal and figurative owners of http://worldsbestnewsletter.com/ and beyond knowing too much about coffee and kale, they also know too much about building the leadership culture and connections most founders are striving towards. We talk about why it's so elusive, and a bunch of other really random yet insightful stuff. You're here to listen not read so dive on in.

Key Moments: 

(1:00) – Icebreakers!

(12:06) – Describing themselves to the uninitiated

(13:16) – You don’t leave exec roles just for money

(15:00) – Building better bosses!

(19:55) – Stories that remind why

(29:20) – Sticker Culture, ‘R.A.C.I’ acronym

(32:00) – Martin’s time as a…Free Mason?!?!

(34:45) – Building culture not a cult

(41:20) – The most frustrating part

(48:30) – Coherence is important

(1:01:00) – ‘Thank you note Applicants,’ having preferences in your hiring process

(1:16:00) – Managers don’t want to hate their work/life

(1:20:30) – Asking “what happens if we don’t do X?"

(1:26:20) – Everyone wants a cheat code...

(1:34:08) – Closing Remarks

This podcast and The People People Group is made possible by our sponsors, if you're not a member, check out Canada's most engaged HR/Recruitment/Operations community by heading over to www.thepeoplepeoplegroup.com.

- The Leadership Agency is one of North America and the UK's best boutique startup recruitment agencies
- SpringLaw is Canada's first (and best) virtual employment law firm
- Wavy is a culture management platform for flexible teams

Shannon Ogborn shares her career journey with us, from being an assistant to jumping into tech and making her way into the world of recruitment operations at Hired, moving onto and away from Google and now leading community and RecOps at Ashby. Shannon shares a ton of amazing takes on the space and shares some key points on ensuring your recruitment practices are inclusive by design.

This podcast and The People People Group is made possible by our sponsors, if you're not a member, check out Canada's most engaged HR/Recruitment/Operations community by heading over to www.thepeoplepeoplegroup.com.

- The Leadership Agency is one of North America and the UK's best boutique startup recruitment agencies
- SpringLaw is Canada's first (and best) virtual employment law firm
- Wavy is a culture management platform for flexible teams

(1:00) – Introduction

(2:22) – Should we really call it an ATS!?

(4:50) – Icebreakers

(12:00) – Takeaways from learning photography as a hobby

(14:00) – History of Shannon’s journey in HR/Recruitment

(21:18) – Meaningful people along Shannon’s journey

(25:50) – Shannon’s POV on anonymizing profiles of candidates

(31:00) – Best part of being a recruiter; changing status quo around hiring practices

(35:00) – Shannon’s experience and tips for folks looking to work at larger companies

(42:00) – Diversity hiring, how to be intentional in hiring

(53:21) – Who Shannon modelled her practices after, influences, etc 

(59:41) – What’s most exciting about working for Ashby

(65:46) – What Shannon is most excited about with the market and Ashby’s role in addressing problems

(74:10) – Closing remarks

Alysha M. Campbell didn't start out in People Ops, she went from multiple roles in business analytics to recruitment, to HR. Carving a path for herself and landing at notable companies like The Economist as their Senior Global HR Business Partner before starting CultureShift HR a company borne of an unrelenting need that now fills her cup.

She is a 4x award-winning, best-selling author and a highly respected Strategic Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leader with a decade of experience encompassing all facets of Human Resource Management and DEI. From executing successful multi-million dollar workforce diversity and optimization projects to spearheading inclusive employee culture initiatives, Alysha has truly seen and done it all in the DEI space.

Alysha and I dive into the behind the scenes of the self, the journey of self discovery and what sparked her starting her own firm.

This podcast and The People People Group is made possible by our sponsors, if you're not a member, check out Canada's most engaged HR/Recruitment/Operations community by heading over to www.thepeoplepeoplegroup.com.

- The Leadership Agency is one of North America and the UK's best boutique startup recruitment agencies
- SpringLaw is Canada's first (and best) virtual employment law firm
- Wavy is a culture management platform for flexible teams

Shownotes
(00:56) – Introduction

(03:05) – Icebreakers

(07:40) – Magic behind Alysha’s social media 

(09:40) – the story of Alysha career history; birthing CultureShift HR
(21:20) – how Alysha worked towards carving her own path

(26:00) – What are the most impactful resources Alysha has used?

(32:44) – What did and didn’t work for Alysha during the discovery period

(37:04)– Understanding what freedom looks like from yourself before sharing with others

(40:00) – People who supported Alysha along the way

(47:14) – Intentions around who Alysha wants to work with
(52:40) – Reactions to divestment from DEI initiatives

(1:00:45) – Importance of investing in people/equity in the workplace

(1:06:15) – Finding balance amidst the intensity of working in DEI

(1:13:00) – What’s on Alysha’s vision board

(1:17:00) – How to stay in touch with Alysha!

(1:18:40) – Closing remarks

Elsawy Yehia is a curious soul and seasoned product and design leader in tech. With career adventures spanning over 20 years, 6 countries, 7 industries, 13 brands, and over a dozen public speaking engagements. He is most fulfilled when helping people grow to become better thinkers and makers.

We covers how Elsawy came into the world of product, design, leadership and how to apply design principles to your candidate and employee experiences.

From A People Perspective and The People People Group is made possible by our sponsors, if you're not a member, check out Canada's most engaged HR/Recruitment/Operations community.

• The Leadership Agency is one of North America and the UK's best boutique startup recruitment agencies
• Wavy is the culture management platform for flexible teams
• Wealthsimple For Work has group RRSPs for your employees that looks and feels like a modern day RRSP program
• SpringLaw is Canada's first (and best) virtual employment law firm

Shownotes:

00:00 – Introduction

(3:20) – How many companies are doing a good job of designing the employee/candidate experience?

(5:30) – Icebreaker question

(9:10) – Reflection on past work, leading to where he is today

(13:25) – Refining your character, learning more about yourself

(14:50) – How Elsawy got to where he is today

(20:35) – “You have to have been a player to become a coach”

(24:40) - “Building people who love building great products”

(33:20)– Elsawy’s Manifesto

(37:25) – Origin of why Manifesto was created, how can People Ops folks apply this practise for themselves?

(45:10) – Coming to interviews with a framework on leadership

(47:00) – The importance of trust building with products

(57:40) – ‘Pre-totyping’

(1:07:05) – Elsawy’s upcomingbBook; Product People: A Journal of Laughter and Tears

(1:10:20) – Closing remarks

Regina Gerbeaux is the tactical, operations-driven coach for top-tier CEOs, operators, and investors. She is also a founder in interested in food tech, and an operator obsessed with putting structure to chaos. Previously, she was the COO at Mochary Method, Head of Operations at On Deck, and founder of a profitably-bootstrapped startup (sold in 2019).

Regina is passionate about helping people of the highest integrity build successful companies and solve some of the world’s most challenging problems. Her interests are in startups, sustainable company culture, stoicism, and using tech for positive social impact.

Regina open-sources all of her write-ups and templates online at https://www.coachingfounder.com/. Her tactical templates and operational write-ups have been referenced and used by fast-scaling companies including dYdX, BioRender, StageGlass, and many more.

For more reading, please visit https://www.coachingfounder.com/ and follow Regina on LinkedIn and Twitter.

From A People Perspective and The People People Group is made possible by our sponsors, if you're not a member, check out Canada's most engaged HR/Recruitment/Operations community.

• Wavy is a culture management platform for flexible teams
• The Leadership Agency is one of North America and the UK's best boutique startup recruitment agencies
• SpringLaw is Canada's first (and best) virtual employment law firm

Shownotes:
(0:32) - Intro

(3:25) - Icebreakers

(7:50) - Finding Strength In Difficult Times

(13:10) - From Music To Teaching

(14:53) - Building A Business

(16:50) - Discovering Tech

(17:37) - Understanding Scaling

(18:51) - Starting A Company To Get Into School

(22:23) - Learning To Code

(23:54) - Life At OnDeck

(30:54) - OnDeck Fellowship

(41:53) - Success Contributors

(45:50) - What's Next

(48:30) - Misunderstanding People Ops

(55:08) - Fixing Culture

(57:25) - From A CEO's Perspective

(1:00:00) - Tightening Up Ops

(1:07:00) - RIFs With Compassion

(1:11:00) - Finding Good Leaders

(1:13:43) - Closing Remarks

Julian D'Angelo, the founder of Talin joins me on the podcast and we dive into his scrappy beginnings as an entrepreneur, the impact of mentorship, how recruitment is missing the boat on growth marketing and then go down the AI rabbit hole and it's impacts into recruitment.

From A People Perspective and The People People Group is made possible by our sponsors, if you're not a member, check out Canada's most engaged HR/Recruitment/Operations community.

• Wavy is a culture management platform for flexible teams
• The Leadership Agency is one of North America and the UK's best boutique startup recruitment agencies
• SpringLaw is Canada's first (and best) virtual employment law firm

Shownotes:

(1:39) – Icebreakers
(5:38) – Teenage Side Hustles

(10:32) – Julian then and now

(16:37) – “ I do not believe in the concept of being self made…”

(18:27) – Mentorship received from Brent Stirling & the significance of mentorship

(24:28) – Founding Julian’s company, Talon

(31:17) – Growth marketing tools & the importance of personalization

(40:20) – Opportunity costs for Recruiters

(42:47) – AI, Chat GPT, benefits of AI use for Recruiters

(53:45) – Consequences of pessimistic outlook towards AI

(57:09) – Julian’s closing remarks

The HR Podcast and startup veteran, Alison Kaizer graced the podcast with her knowledge on all things recruitment, leadership and figuring yourself out to figure everything else out. While she's no stranger to these conversations, she did save a few good stories and lots of wisdom for this episode.

From A People Perspective and The People People Group is made possible by our sponsors, if you're not a member, check out Canada's most engaged HR/Recruitment/Operations community.

• Wavy is a culture management platform for flexible teams
• The Leadership Agency is one of North America and the UK's best boutique startup recruitment agencies
• SpringLaw is Canada's first (and best) virtual employment law firm

Shownotes:

(1:15) – Intro

(3:45) – Icebreakers!

(8:50) – The Journey Into Recruiting

(16:00) – Going International

(21:40) – Knowing Your Role

(23:30) – From Player To Coach

(26:35) – Getting Into VC

(31:25) – What's Next?
 
 From A People Perspective is humbly hosted by Martin Hauck and perfectly produced by Krish Dineshkumar.

The energetic Aly Harji joined me on the podcast to LITERALLY INVITE YOU ON A CANADIAN ROCKETSHIP (almost literally) and while I had him on the line, we talked about how he broke into recruitment in tech and the lessons he learned from helping Shopify scale from 2,000 people to over 14,000 while he was the Talent Sourcing Manager for Commercial and Executive Search at Shopify.

From A People Perspective and The People People Group is made possible by our sponsors, if you're not a member, check out Canada's most engaged HR/Recruitment/Operations community.

• Wavy is a culture management platform for flexible teams
• The Leadership Agency is one of North America and the UK's best boutique startup recruitment agencies
• SpringLaw is Canada's first (and best) virtual employment law firm

Here's the timestamps for the episode:
(2:15) – How they met.

(7:26) – What is SpaceRyde?

(13:00) – What talent is SpaceRyde looking for?

(15:00) – Is Spaceryde’s similar to SpaceX?

(17:15) – Aren’t you getting bored of Earth?

(19:30) – What is Spaceryde looking for in terms of talent?

(22:50) – How to get in touch with Aly! Email: Aly@spaceryde.com

(24:00) – Aly's origin story

(28:00) – Hospitality is a gateway to recruiting?!?!

(30:00) – Getting the opportunity

(32:30) – Transferrable skills

(35:25) – Value of experience from retail/hospitality; experiential learning

(36:55) – Aly’s journey to working for Shopify

(49:50) – Helping growing teams at different stages; startups, scale ups, enterprises…

(53:50) – Does hiring someone who interviews great for the position always translate to someone who performs incredibly well?

(58:05) – Importance of seeing how someone approaches their ‘craft’

(1:04:00) – Lessons from scaling up

(1:06:15) – Scaling vs. Flailing?

(1:07:50) – Aly's final thoughts... :heart:
 
 From A People Perspective is humbly hosted by Martin Hauck and perfectly produced by Krish Dineshkumar.