Talent Makers

Expert Insights: Shauna Geraghty

Shauna Geraghty is Senior Vice President, Head of Global People and Operations at Talkdesk, a company with a valuation over $3 billion. She was the first US employee at Talkdesk and has helped to scale the company to more than 1,200 employees. Shauna has a doctorate in clinical psychology and has applied foundational knowledge from the field of psychology to help propel Talkdesk along its hyper-growth trajectory.

Talkdesk is a high-growth company. How did you go about hiring your TA team for this type of growth?

In 2016, we had 120 people in the company but no talent acquisition (TA) team. I was asked by the then COO to transition from my position within marketing to be Head of Talent. During the first month, I created my talent plan, which serves as the framework for our TA process and strategy today. This included the standardized recruitment process, standardized talent workflow, optimization of the Greenhouse software, creation of training for recruiters and hiring managers, creation of a wiki that documented the process, a framework for metrics and reporting, and a talent-marketing plan.

During this time, I was the first and only recruiter. I didn't make my first hire until the middle of that first year, in the talent operations function. My second hire was a senior recruiter. We brought 74 people into the organization within that first year, most of whom were senior and strategic hires. So it wasn't easy.

You have created a culture where ...