I had the opportunity to interview Will Sims a Talent Acquisition Manager from Plural Strategy. He runs a very active group on Facebook called: UnRecruitment (Recruitment Hacks, Productivity, Automation). Overall, I’ve been really impressed by what Will has been sharing on sourcing in recent months and I was excited that he was open to getting interviewed for my blog.
1. 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?
I started my journey in recruitment just before the economic crash back in 2008. You could say it was a pretty tough start to my career in recruitment. Still in agency, I went looking for ‘other’ ways to find talent. That’s when I stumbled across a small group of recruiters practicing the dark art of internet sourcing. Through my own trial and error (heavily weighted on the errors!) I discovered ways of finding hard to find talent online.
Right now, I’m still in recruitment but I have moved in-house. More specifically, I’m in talent acquisition working as a contractor. I love it! I get to work on short and long-term projects.
2. What are the unique talents you bring to the field?
Technology and automation is my sweet spot – I’m a geek! I have been able to tie recruitment processes together with technology to optimize my own and other recruitment teams productivity. For example, I have developed systems using a combination of technologies to automate recruitment workflows that have saved me on average 12 hours a week.
3. Share your biggest success story in recruiting so far
Back in 2016, I built a Facebook Messenger chatbot called ‘Simbot.’ That was a great experience, not only demonstrating how chat-bots could play a role in the industry but it helped introduce me to people I had admired for years back when I discovered the internet sourcing.
4. What is the best advice you’ve received during your career path, and from whom?
I’ll give you a favorite quote of mine I read once from Emerson…
“All of life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
I love experimenting and looking for other ways to do something. I guess this quote sums that up for me.
5. What’s your favorite recruiting tech tool?
AmazingHiring is pretty cool!
6. As a recruiting professional, how do you handle recruiting to achieve the best results?
I think communication is the key to deliver better people-focused experiences and outcomes. And whilst technology is great, I always try to remember to be human.
7. What do you hope to achieve in 2020?
I would say to share more of what I know and my experiences so that other recruiters can develop themselves and inspire them to experiment too.
8. What’s your favorite Boolean String?
intitle:”about me” “recruitment” contact | call | phone | email | gmail.com
Just swap out “recruitment” for whatever you want.
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