Open Role Triage with Gynger Head of Talent Jonathan Graber
Talk Talent To Me
Summary In this episode, Rob interviews Jonathan Graber, the head of talent at Gynger, discussing his journey from agency recruiting to in-house talent acquisition. They explore the challenges and rewards of transitioning roles, the importance of setting deadlines in hiring, and the diverse responsibilities that come with working in a startup environment. Jonathan shares insights on managing priorities, the significance of people operations, and how to navigate the complexities of talent acquisition in a fast-paced setting. Takeaways The 10 80 10 rule illustrates how people respond to...
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Betting On Yourself with Metropolis CPO John-Paul Sukkar
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JP, Chief People Officer at Metropolis, emphasizes the need to reframe the return to office narrative, highlighting the irreplaceable value of human connection and collaboration that cannot be replicated through remote work alone. He shares insights on fostering a culture of access and the responsibilities that come with managing a large workforce post-acquisition. In this conversation, John-Paul Sukkar discusses the challenges and strategies involved in integrating a large organization after a significant acquisition. He emphasizes the importance of cultural shifts, change management, and the...
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Endless Insight via Succession Planning with Elizabeth Egan
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Elizabeth explains how succession planning reveals far-reaching insights about the state of talent in an organization. As Director of Talent Management and Organizational Development at Cerence AI, Elizabeth has prioritized generating individual development plans (IDPs) for all employees. Elizabeth emphasizes that employees should take ownership of their careers and seek out opportunities for growth, while companies must create supportive environments to retain top talent. The conversation highlights the need for open communication, feedback mechanisms, and the role of managers in...
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Detecting Interview Cheaters with Mike Mroczka
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Mike Mroczka is an interview coach, author, software engineer, and consultant specializing in helping hiring organizations eliminate cheating in their interview processes. Mike shares the challenges posed by AI tools in coding interviews, the distinction between using resources and cheating, and the necessity of evaluating candidates' foundational knowledge. Mike shares insights on how organizations can design interviews to deter cheating and the tools available for monitoring candidates. The discussion concludes with a hopeful outlook on the future of technology in hiring, emphasizing the...
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AI-Proof Your Interviews with Replicate's Lia Economos
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Lia Economos discusses the evolution of interview processes, particularly in the context of integrating AI tools and adapting to the changing landscape of technical interviews. She emphasizes the importance of structured interviews as companies grow and the need to design interview questions that challenge candidates beyond the capabilities of AI. The discussion also touches on the ethical implications of over-employment and the necessity for candidates to network effectively during their job search. Key Points From This Episode: A brief overview of her background and what...
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Leadership & Career Growth with Pernod Ricard Chief People Officer Lani Montoya
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In today’s fast-paced world where candidates are always looking for the next opportunity, it’s rare to find someone dedicated to growing within one organization. As today’s guest Lani Montoya demonstrates, internal growth may be the best way to develop exceptional people leaders. Lani is the Chief People Officer at Pernod Ricard, the world leader in premium international wines and spirits, and she begins by explaining her path to joining the company and why she chose to grow in it instead of seeking opportunities elsewhere. We discuss how to rise above workplace complacency, the value...
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Runway Head of People Anna Chalon
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What does it take to build a people-first hiring culture from the ground up, without sacrificing speed or scale? In this episode of Talk Talent to Me, returning guest Anna Chalon, Head of People at Runway, shares how she intentionally navigated her career from startup to acquisition and back again, fueled by a love for building and a clear sense of purpose. She unpacks her criteria for choosing the right company, the power of gut instinct balanced with measurable data, and how candidate experience can be both human and scalable. Anna also offers insights into how she assesses founders during...
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Director of TA & Employer Brand for Manscaped Molly Minczeski
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What do the Sunday scaries have to do with how happy you are at work? Today we sit down with Molly Minczeski, the Director of Talent Acquisition & Employer Brand at MANSCAPED, the global men’s lifestyle consumer brand and male grooming category creator trusted by over 12 million men worldwide. Molly unpacks what the Sunday scaries really mean and why work-life balance looks different for everyone. She takes us inside MANSCAPED’s thriving remote culture, shares her journey into talent acquisition, and explains how she positions herself as a strategic business partner. Plus, she offers...
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AssemblyAI's Senior Talent Pro Kenzie Hoelscher
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Kenzie discusses her tansition from big tech to an AI startup, and how positive hiring manager relationships are more important than specific AI upskilling. Key Points From This Episode: Welcoming Kenzie (Keller) Hoelscher to the show. Kenzie tells us about herself and how she got into recruitment. A little bit about Kenzie’s fascinating career. The importance of building relationships with your hiring managers. The role AI is going to play in recruiting in the future. How she landed up at AssemblyAI and what it’s like working there. ...
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GM Financial VP of Global TA Neeti Upreti
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Referrals are an active, internal marketing campaign that recruitment leaders need to leverage alongside their external marketing campaigns. Today, global talent leader Neeti Upreti joins the show to discuss the power and importance of referrals in the recruitment industry. Hear all about Neeti’s incredible career, why recruiting isn’t only a push but also a pull, the importance of senior leadership roles in recruitment, handling referrals, and so much more! Neeti’s experience in various industries has helped her identify the dos and don’ts of recruiting and in this conversation, she...
info_outlineWhat does it take to build a people-first hiring culture from the ground up, without sacrificing speed or scale? In this episode of Talk Talent to Me, returning guest Anna Chalon, Head of People at Runway, shares how she intentionally navigated her career from startup to acquisition and back again, fueled by a love for building and a clear sense of purpose. She unpacks her criteria for choosing the right company, the power of gut instinct balanced with measurable data, and how candidate experience can be both human and scalable. Anna also offers insights into how she assesses founders during interviews and why speed and thoughtfulness in hiring are good indicators of long-term cultural alignment. Tune in to learn how to build resilient, high-trust recruiting processes and make smarter career decisions rooted in self-awareness and intention!
Key Points From This Episode:
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An overview of Anna’s journey from Frame.io to Adobe to Runway.
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How she used Adobe’s acquisition of Frame.io as a career checkpoint.
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The importance of being clear about the size and pace of the company you want.
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Values over industry: the creative culture and visionary founders that drew Anna to Runway.
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Founder responsiveness as a hiring signal (and what to look for in the first interview).
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Reflecting on hiring wins and misses as opportunities to learn and improve.
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Blending data and intuition to ensure that a role truly excites you.
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Building scalable, human-centered hiring from scratch with speed, structure, and soul.
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The impact of timely check-ins, personal touches, and radical hiring transparency.
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Starting lean but thinking long-term: balancing agility with a premium candidate experience.
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The power of seeking out quick wins to add value in the short term.
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A simple strengths-enjoyment framework for informed career decisions.
Quotes:
“Even though I'm not going to be using the product every day, the company culture is still shaped by the type of tool you create.” — Anna Chalon [08:15]
“[Hiring] is not a perfect science. All these things are still human-based decisions at the end of the day. You do the best with the information you have.” — Anna Chalon [14:44]
“My goal when I'm building these foundations is: how do we have enough structure and repeatability that we could hire 100 people – if we need to but every single candidate [also feels] like they're alone in the process?” — Anna Chalon [19:14]
“Any kind of communication is better than ghosting. – When people are looking for a job, anxiously waiting to get a response, it's just not the right thing to do.” — Anna Chalon [26:24]
“What am I good at? What do I like? What is the overlap? And how does that apply to work?” — Anna Chalon [37:52]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: