Tales of Traction

Hosted by Kugan Sakthikugan

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May 2025

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Tales of Traction

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15 recent

May 19, 20251 hr 11 min

Reflections on a career in TA with David Moore

I sat down with David Moore on Episode 15, VP of Talent at Box whose career has taken him across the globe from London to Hong Kong to Singapore and San Francisco, working at companies at the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Google, and now Box.This was a very enjoyable chat where we unpacked some of David’s reflections on a career in TA as well as touching on the hot topic of AI amongst other things that include:How life was as a recruiter before LinkedInSome of the people that have had the biggest impact throughout David's careerHow to effectively qualify a job brief with the hiring managerHow Box competes for talent with the likes of Apple, Google, Meta, Uber and LinkedIn Give it a listen, you'll enjoy this one. It's a unique blend of personal stories, thoughtful insights and career reflections from someone who's seen it all in the world of TA.

March 25, 202557 min

Navigating the pitfalls of early-stage hiring

Episode 14 is the first video podcast of Tales of Tales featuring the Chris Marty, Head of Talent at Augment Code.Hiring at the early-stage of a startup is very, very hard as there are lots of inherent risk, no brand reputation and it is hard to find the right people that truly align with your vision and mission.So how should early-stage companies approach hiring and what are some of the common hiring pitfalls to avoid? This is why I had to get Chris Marty on the show, Head of Talent at Augment.Chris was in the zone from the get-go, sharing unique insights and providing incredible value on key hiring topics that include: Fundamental differences in startup hiring vs big company hiring How to think about your first 10 hires as a startup (composition of the team, how to source talent etc) Red flags to be mindful of when interviewing people for your startup Importance of defining your compensation philosophyFor any recruiters working in the startup space, this episode is a goldmine of valuable insights on hiring and if you're a founder, it's an absolute must watch, you won't want to miss the takeaways in this one!

February 27, 20251 hr 16 min

The 'why' behind the words with Jim Miller

Episode 13 is the first video podcast of Tales of Tales featuring the legendary Jim Miller, VP of People & Talent at Ashby.Prior to joining Ashby, Jim was VP of Recruitment at FullStory and before that, Jim held a number of global roles at Google over 15 years which included being the Head of EMEA Talent Channels and Global Head of Online Talent Channels amongst others.This was an absolutely fire discussion!If you work in the people & talent space, you need to find time somehow to listen to this one, you can thank me later.Jim drops gems after gems on topics that include:How to optimize the job description to attract higher calibre and better fit applicantsThe part of the requisition qualification process that is so important but gets overlookedHow to craft the technical assessment stage to help identify the best talent for the roleWhy TA should take an outcomes led approach to workforce planning

October 10, 202429 min

How incident.io ship authentic content strategically

Episode 12 features Dani Unsworth, Head of Talent at incident.io.Dani was one of the very first hires at incident.io and has been instrumental in shaping the culture, brand and identity of the company.In this episode, Dani shares with us practical strategies to help talent teams harness the power of content creation to attract and retain great talent.If the below topics pique your interest then this episode is an absolute must listen! Being strategic yet authentic in content creation to appeal to the talent you want to attract The power of measuring content analytics to optimise engagement Leveraging technical expertise within the business to build powerful analytics and dashboards Creating great content on a budget

September 26, 202433 min

Leverage data to avoid stress and burnout as a recruiter

Episode 11 features Luke Eaton, a highly regarded TA Leader who has advised some of the most exciting scaleups and is a thought leader on all things recruitment data.In this episode, Luke shares with us practical strategies to help recruiters leverage data to jump off the hamster wheel and get your time back whilst increasing productivity.If you’re interested in the below topics, this episode is an absolute must listen! How to harness data insights to feel less stressed and avoid burnout How to use data to do more with less Learn the power of continuous sourcing Bonus topic on what Luke did for 10 years prior to a career in recruitment

August 12, 202433 min

Beyond the investment - the role VC's can play in talent

Episode 10 features Harriet Ball, Head of Talent at Superseed, a venture capital firm that backs European B2B AI/SaaS startups. Started in 2018 by Partners Dan Bowyer and Mads Jensen, both ex-founders with multiple exits, who passionately believe that venture capital investors need to better support early stage entrepreneurs. Harriet has an impressive profile having helped the likes of L’Oreal, Uber, Getir and On attract and retain exceptional talent. In this episode, Harriet shares with us learnings, practical strategies and unique insights to help early stage founders avoid some hiring pitfalls and attract great talent. Whether you’re an experienced founder, a first time founder, an investor or work in talent, this episode is a cracker! If you’re interested in the below topics, you’ll for sure enjoy this one: How VC’s can support founders with hiring Importance of shaping culture early on How to interview for culture Practical strategies to help founders navigate the world of hiring

July 23, 202438 min

Shining the light on candidate experience

Episode 9 features Raj Ghir, Senior TA Partner Eviden, a next-gen technology leader in data-driven digital transformation. With a strong portfolio of patented technologies and worldwide leading positions in advanced computing, security, AI, cloud and digital platforms, it provides deep expertise for all industries in more than 47 countries. In this episode, Raj and I do a deep dive into all things candidate experience. Raj shares with us practical tips and strategies to boost your candidate experience, build a scalable process to enable consistency as well as some quick wins you can start implementing right away.

June 26, 202438 min

The subtle yet beautiful art of talent sourcing

Episode 8 features Marco Duarte, Head of Talent at Aspire, an all-in-one finance software for growing businesses. Headquartered in Singapore, Aspire has over 500 employees across four countries and is backed by global top tier VCs, including Sequoia, Lightspeed, Tencent, Paypal and Y-Combinator. In this episode, Marco and I do a deep dive into the art of talent sourcing and discuss how AI is having an impact on the recruitment industry. This episode is full of golden nuggets and unique insights from someone who has built and led talent teams at the likes of Google and Stripe to name a couple.

March 28, 202436 min

Decoding company culture: what is it and how do you measure it?

Episode 7 features Thomas Forstner, VP People & Talent at Juro, a legal tech scale up, backed with $32m in venture capital from Fidelity, USV and the founders of Indeed, Wise and Gumtree. Juro's AI contract collaboration platform empowers businesses to create, agree and manage contracts up to 90% faster than traditional tools. In this episode, Thomas shares with us his unconventional and unique thinking to all things company culture and building a people centric organisation, covering topics that include the following: What does culture actually mean? How can we quantify and measure culture? What is a 'people as a product' approach to building people projects? What are some of the limitations of a 'people as a product' approach? Regardless of what growth stage your company is at, the practical strategies and tools Thomas shares on this episode will no doubt help you build a high performance culture and a people focussed company.

March 5, 202438 min

Unlocking success: DEI strategies for scaleup companies

Episode 6 features Kathrin Holzfurtner, Global Director Talent Acquisition at iDeals, a rapidly growing global Saas scale up with 400+ employees across 30 countries. Kathrin has worked across the EMEA region, Asia and has led high performing talent teams at companies that include Microsoft and Google. In this episode, we discuss the power of DEI for fast growing companies. Everyone is clear on the value of hiring for diversity, but in the age of economic downturn and layoffs, few organisations are truly succeeding. Kathrin shares with us: Actionable strategies to enable and up-level talent teams to drive meaningful change towards your organisation’s talent and DEI strategy. Insights and examples on how to set up DEI hiring strategies and programs which are fit for scale at global level. How to define DEI metrics which matter, empowering you to measure the success of your strategies. Regardless of what growth stage your company is at, this episode provides invaluable practical DEI strategies so that your company stays competitive, resilient and hire the best talent to deliver bottom line results.