Career Journeys in Talent Acquisition: Tom Ratcliffe

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 Tom Ratcliffe. If you'd like to be next, please reach out to a TTC Community Manager.

Introduce yourself in one sentence:

Tom Ratcliffe is an experienced Talent Acquisition professional with recruiting expertise in industries ranging from Ad-Tech/Mar-Tech to Defense and Engineering. Tom is an honest, dedicated and no-nonsense TA Specialist.

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 journey in talent acquisition officially began over 3 years ago when joining VIOOH and since then has been a whirlwind adventure. From scaling the business headcount rapidly almost 50% year-on-year, to delivering key projects and initiatives such as internship programmes for all candidates regardless of background and experience to apply.

During my tenure, I quickly improved the existing TA metrics which were serious blockers for business growth. Time-to-hire was averaging at 80+ days which after 6 months I had successfully improved down to 30 days (62% difference), and really partnered with key stakeholders to further improve how we attract, retain and develop talent.

Within the first year of working in VIOOH, the TA team (myself and one other) had delivered 50+ hires to the business, been awarded Talent Acquisition Strategy of the Year 2023 and personally been recognised as a Rising Star of the Year for TA also.

I was hooked within the first few months of being in TA, and through each achievement and each hire made it never cease to excite me!

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?

When joining VIOOH and during my tenure, the freedom to choose which way I wanted to head within my TA career. I put myself through courses in strategic talent acquisition, people/HR fundamentals, and data analytics/reporting which was directly used for SLT and Board-level decision-making at VIOOH.

During my L&D, this information was put into practice daily whether working in cohesion with the people team to go through benefits initiative discussions, career framework development, or from a TA perspective being able to workforce plan, capability map with hiring managers/stakeholders and even driving forward how internship and level 1 hiring can bring so many benefits to the existing team.

I would always recommend upskilling in the wider area of People and not just sticking to TA courses. It gave me a broader approach to business needs!

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 most challenging part of my TA career was also the defining moment of why I knew I made the right decision moving from agency to in-house. It was being chucked in the deep end during my first 2/3 months when the existing team I was due to be joining all had decided to move on to new ventures.

I overcame this challenge by communicating closely with my new manager, Liz Dowling (CPO) to understand how I can effectively continue to deliver TA operations to the business in a timely manner and what support I would need to make that happen. In a way, I tried not to let this phase my day-to-day work – basically, I just cracked on as normal and if anything because of having more work to do I felt locked in all day and got more done. 

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?

As we all know in TA, things can rapidly change in business on a day-to-day basis – I’ve had a few times being dialed into project work due to roles being scarce from previous intense hiring rounds and not expecting anything for a while longer, to suddenly being made aware of now 5/6 new positions that are business critical.

I keep myself level-headed, adaptable and always… ALWAYS make sure to get out for fresh air during the day even if it is for 30 minutes. You need to separate sometimes to perform your best work.

Personally, I have always been quite fortunate that once I finish work whether that be an hour or two later than predicted, as soon as the laptop screen is closed I have no thoughts about work. Think of it like you’re leaving the office, and the doors get locked so you physically can’t get back into the room even if you wanted to.

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?

AI, AI and AI. I know I’m being cliché but the evolvement of how we can get our jobs done better even just by taking some time to learn basic prompting during our day-to-day work is astonishing.

We are fortunate to be in a time during our careers where this is just beginning in ways, and we can evolve with the tech as it evolves.

I used AI to give me inspiration for project work, assisting with fully understanding regulations / GDPR bits when doing an ATS migration, to helping me create some better-looking JD’s when needed for our internship programme.

If we can make our jobs and lives somewhat easier, I’m fully onboard!

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?

I would say the best thing you can do is connect with anyone and everyone in this industry regardless of level.

Just connect via these channels/communities, connect with people on LinkedIn, and don’t be afraid to drop them a message.

Everyone plays a part in this industry and we each learn from each other. Converse, meet up, share your learnings or pain points. It goes a long way with some people and indirectly sometimes feels like counseling sessions.