Posted by Jonathan Kidder on February 25, 2023February 27, 2023

I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to interview Maisha Cannon for my blog. I have been fortunate enough to know her for several years and have seen her speak at SourceCon. Maisha is a passionate, innovative, and respected leader in our community, and it takes a combination of expertise and dedication to excel in the recruitment journey.

As a sourcing leader who values learning and sharing, Maisha strikes a balance between creativity and practicality. With years of experience recruiting for top companies like Google, LinkedIn, and GitHub, she brings a unique approach to identifying, engaging, and assessing talent.

Maisha’s expertise has earned her international recognition as a top sourcer, ranking in the top three globally in 2015 and in the top 10 in the 2018 SourceCon Grandmaster Challenge. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola Marymount University and a Master of Arts from the University of Southern California.

For more insights and updates from Maisha, be sure to follow her on Twitter at @talentgenie←

Meet Maisha Cannon⚡

Hello, my name is Maisha. I have witnessed the evolution of the recruitment industry from traditional classified ads and faxed resumes to modern sourcing automation and real-time analytics. Although originally from the City of Angels, I now reside in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where I am learning to love ice hockey and adjusting to life without Trader Joe’s.

As for my work, I specialize in developing dynamic and hands-on workshops that leave participants feeling motivated and excited to apply what they have learned. I offer my services to both individual professionals seeking to grow their skills and talent acquisition leaders looking to enhance their teams and ultimately grow their business.

I am proud of some notable accomplishments, including designing and implementing a 12-week, hands-on curriculum for a groundbreaking early talent program, conceptualizing and executing a four-week hybrid onboarding program that helped to build connections and create brand champions among a group of 17 associate sourcers, and spearheading a scalable sourcing model that led to an increase in sourced hires to 32% during Q3 of 2021.

Lastly, I live by the following quote: “Speak in such a way that others love to listen to you. Listen in such a way that others love to speak to you.” – Unknown. I am an active member of the sourcing community and have had the pleasure of speaking at SourceCon.

Maisha Cannon | Jonathan Kidder Interview Spotlight – Watch Video

View the Interview Transcript Below

Tell us about your work experience in recruiting – how did you get your start, how did you progress, where are you at this point in time?

Thank you so much for this opportunity, Jonathan. I got my start in recruiting as a Human Resources intern in high school, if you can believe that. I began working part-time during the summer of 10th grade for a company in Beverly Hills, California called Castle Rock Entertainment.

That first summer, I was an IT help desk intern. The second summer they invited me back to work as a floater. That meant I would work in any department that had a need that day.

I temped in every department – from marketing, to covering the front desk as a receptionist, to going out with producers in the field and scouting locations.

I ended up working in the Human Resources department that summer. They kept calling me back and I kept loving to go in and help them with reviewing resumes, communicating with candidates, and doing all the things, including passing out paychecks on payday as an HR intern. That was the start of my career in recruiting.

What are the unique talents you bring to the field?

I bring my curiosity, a positive attitude, and a thoughtful approach to solving everyday problems.

Share your biggest success story in recruiting so far?

There have been so many different ways that I’ve defined success for myself over the years.

I think a pivotal moment in my career that I saw myself as successful was getting into tech recruiting coming from non-tech outside of Silicon Valley.

I had been working as an entertainment recruiter in Southern California and had been wondering about how to become a tech recruiter.

I got that opportunity when I received an offer from Google back in 2013. That was 10 years ago. It was a real highlight for me because it marks the transition from non-tech to tech, also from Southern California to Northern California. That set me on a new path of both learning and sharing.

What is the best advice you’ve received during your career path, and from whom?

I don’t recall who shared this, but they said, “Even if you love your job, you should interview at least three times a year.” If for no other reason to see how your worth is being measured on the market and to network.

What’s your favorite recruiting tech tool?

Favorite recruiting tech tools? Carmen Hudson’s website, RecruiterHunt is a great place to get lost if you’re a tools addict.

My favorite recruiting tech tool of the past couple of years has been Gem, which started as Zensourcer. Gem is a fantastic sourcing workflow analytics tool and so much more now.

There are so many tech tools that I love that are not specifically for recruiters that are part of my everyday workflow.

Like Loom, which I’m using now. Mentimeter and Gatheround are go-tos now that I’m a facilitator.

Tools Mentioned:

What do you hope to achieve in 2023?

It’s all about me in 2023. That is my mantra. I am doing everything with intention and with ease. This year, one of the things I’m hoping to achieve is launching my new business, The Collab Lab, Inc.™ and delivering innovative learning and development to talent teams.

Any future predictions on talent sourcing?

Predictions on talent sourcing. Wow, I’ve never wanted to step into that prediction space. But I do think that artificial intelligence is going to elevate the sourcing game for those of us who are very curious and tech savvy. Perhaps it will redefine sourcing for those that are less receptive to the technology. I have found value in AI tools like ChatGPT, WordTune and even some of the advanced automation features in Calendly.

I’m just excited about the future of tech and how it’ll make talent sourcing even more efficient and enjoyable.

What’s your favorite Boolean String?

I don’t have a favorite Boolean string since I like to create my strings custom. I think the site search advanced feature is one that I talked about years ago.

Tell me about your current role? How’s that going?

I am currently Founder and Chief Learner at The Collab Lab, Inc. and it’s going swimmingly well. I’m really excited. It’s such an interesting dynamic exiting over 20 years in corporate spaces and now being able to do it my way and in my timing.

So the ideas keep flowing. I use GitHub issues to track all these middle of the night ideas I wake up with on how I want to do things this year.: https://github.com/features/issues

Essentially, I want to deliver innovative and engaging learning experiences to talent acquisition teams, and help talent professionals grow the skills that grow their careers.

Anything else that I would like to add?

Thank you for this opportunity. We had an opportunity to collaborate a couple years ago and the timing wasn’t right, so I’m so glad that the timing is better this time.

You’ve done so much over the years with WizardSourcer. Often, when people in our community contribute their time and talents, it makes it look easy. I know firsthand it’s not easy to continue to share what you know – what’s working and what isn’t – and manage that with your full-time job, your personal life, etc. So, thank you!

“Maisha, your words carry great significance and I am deeply grateful. There have been numerous occasions where I contemplated abandoning the blog. It requires a significant amount of time and energy, in addition to my regular job, to publish these articles.” — Jonathan

Thank you for all that you’re doing in contributing to our space and our community!

I hope to see you in one of The Collab Lab, Inc.™ Learning Labs really soon.

We meet on the last Monday of the month at 12 p.m. Pacific for 45 minutes. It’s called the Connection Lab⚡

I hope that you’ll stop by and participate in some social learning with your colleagues across industries. Thank you so much.

I am consistently impressed by Maisha and her exceptional ability to source information. It was an honor for me that she dedicated her time to be interviewed by me. I hope you enjoyed our discussions.

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Jonathan Kidder

With more than 12 years of recruitment experience, Jonathan has helped startups and small businesses find the talent they need. He runs the blog WizardSourcer, which explores the latest trends in talent sourcing, provides reviews of recruitment tools, and features interviews with prominent figures in the industry.