Career Journeys in Talent Acquisition: Bert Wareham

Thanks for reading! This series is designed to shine a spotlight on Talent Acquisition professionals and highlight their career journeys and learnings so far. Today, we're joined by Career Journeys in Talent Acquisition: Bert Wareham. If you'd like to be next, please reach out to a TTC Community Manager.

Introduce yourself in one sentence: 

Bert Wareham has been working in Talent Acquisition for 10 years as an individual contributor and leading teams in the technology consulting space. He has experience in scale up and enterprise organisations predominantly in the Microsoft Partner network.

Can you walk us through the key milestones in your career in the talent acquisition space? What were some pivotal moments or decisions that shaped your journey?

My first Talent Acquisition role was in a small Microsoft Partner consultancy, I was the first internal recruiter and it was very much a standalone role. I learnt the basics of TA in this role, being a small company, I had the opportunity to get involved in a bit of everything including some HR initiatives.

After 3 years I was approached to join Quantiq, the fastest growing MS Partner, once again I was the only Recruiter in the TA team the company was scaling massively so my network in the D365 market came in handy to get me up to speed and making an early impact on hiring. The company scaled from 160 to 350 people, during this time we hired 2 more recruiters and I eventually led the team. At this point Quantiq was acquired by Avanade, one of the largest Microsoft Partners globally, going through the acquisition I was asked to Lead TA for Business Applications for UK and Ireland this role was a mix of hands on and team management, I enjoyed being part of a larger TA function that was supportive and solving problems together.

After 12 months with Avanade the TA team went through a re-org and I was asked to lead a transformation project to increase the use of the TA support teams based offshore, initially I focused on Europe before taking responsibility for the global project, this was a really varied role which included training the TA Support teams on best practice, managing Early Talent hiring and working with the Global TA Leadership team to support their teams in using the TA Services available across sourcing, recruitment coordination and admin support. This role gave me insight into the workings of a enterprise organisation and a greater appreciation for change management, recruiter capacity and TA Operations.

In this rapidly evolving industry, what strategies or practices have you adopted to continuously enhance your skills and stay ahead of the curve? Do you have any resources or learning methods you'd recommend to others?

I’m the guy in the team who is always sharing links to reports or ‘how to’ documents (along with the occasional meme or funny LinkedIn post). I have really benefitted from being part of online communities like TTC, and Hung Lee’s Recruiting Brainfood is a great source to keep up to date with market trends. I also like to attend TA/HR events where I can. Although it’s a bit of a minefield there are some great content creators on platforms like TikTok for quick tips and career advice.

What has been the most challenging aspect of your career in talent acquisition, especially when you were actively seeking work? How did you overcome it, and what advice would you offer to others facing similar hurdles?

The current market is challenging, I’m looking for my next opportunity right now. I would suggest to anyone in a similar situation to actively grow your network, it might seem a bit uncomfortable at times but people genuinely want to help. I decided to attend RecFest earlier this year on my own which was a bit daunting at first but meeting up with people from TTC made the whole day enjoyable, and there was always someone around to meet up with between talks. I’ve also enrolled in a some online AI training courses to keep my skills up date.

The recruiting world can be fast-paced and demanding. How do you strike a balance between your professional commitments and personal life? Are there specific routines or rituals you follow?

I have to set boundaries, not just for others but for myself. At times I have been guilty of responding to emails at 10pm at night. I must set boundaries for myself to ensure I have the right balance.

As someone involved in talent acquisition, you've likely witnessed various technology and trend shifts. Which technologies or trends do you believe have had the most significant impact on the industry, and how have they influenced your role?

I guess this is the part where we talk about AI? Following the hiring surge of 2019/2020 we are now implementing and using AI every day, not just at work but in our personal lives and, candidates are also embracing AI to support their job search. We will see TA adapt even more over the next couple of years but the use of AI has allowed me to focus more on the relationship side of recruitment, as I can save time on writing job descriptions, analysing data or building boolean strings allwoing me to focus on my stakeholders and candidates.

For those entering the talent acquisition space or those looking to pivot within it, what's the one piece of practical advice you'd give to help them thrive, especially if they are actively job-seeking?

In Talent Acquisition there is nowhere to hide, so be prepared to be visible to the business. For those job seeking I would say stay positive, keep networking and make sure you’re taking time out from the job search as it can be draining and time out to recharge is a must.