Christine shares how her background has enabled her to treat with the most technical talent in the market, and details her approach of developing young talent as well as luring niche talent away from academia.

Key Points From This Episode:

• A bit about Christine’s career and how she landed at Quantum Motion.

• Christine tells us about the engineering company she was part of.

• Her opinion on being a generalist versus specializing in something.

• A breakdown of Quantum Motion, what they do, and their hardware search.

• Christine tells us about the kinds of people they hire at Quantum Motion.

• The two very different ways of hiring for a startup (academia and industry).

• How they develop the talent that they need on their own as well.

• Christine tells us how she can tell if someone has used ChatGPT.

• Some advice for anyone wanting to apply for a role in quantum.

• What they are looking for when recruiting at Quantum Motion.

Quotes:

“The reality is, if there’s no hardware, there is no quantum computing.” — @xtine08 [0:20:28]

“It’s tricky to hire because we do get a lot of interest.” — @xtine08 [0:31:06]

“Stay tuned! I think in the next two or three years there will be a lot more opportunities in the [quantum] space.” — @xtine08 [0:32:06]

“If you’re applying for a role in quantum, really think about what about quantum that excites you because there’s so much hype around this area as well.” — @xtine08 [0:33:09]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Christine Ng on LinkedIn

Christine Ng on X

Quantum Motion

Local recruiting for a global brand is not always as synchronous as it could or should be. Joining us with the solutions to this problem is the Head of Talent Acquisition for Europe and Latin America at Munich Re, Nuria Munoz. We discuss the importance of large company gatherings and how to maximize that time before unpacking the value of building both internal and external work relationships. Nuria then describes the efforts of her team in merging local hires with the company’s global vision, the many hats she has to wear in her current role, how she plans on improving the traditional way of making hires in insurance, and the undeniable importance of building a talent pipeline for your business. We end with Nuria’s protocol for cultivating interest in the insurance industry, Munich Re’s approach to succession and workforce planning, the ins and outs of what our guest has dubbed “the skills economy”, and her final words of wisdom for those hoping to follow a similar career path.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Nuria Munoz unpacks the global Munich Re team after the company’s recent conference.

• Making the most of large company gatherings and the importance of building relationships.

• How Nuria and her team merge local hires with the company’s global vision.

• The many hats she wears as the Head of Talent Acquisition for Europe and Latin America.

• Why the traditional way of making hires in insurance is unsustainable.

• Exploring Munich Re’s approach to its relationships with talent agencies.

• Industry branding: how Nuria cultivates interest in insurance.

• The ins and outs of succession and workforce planning at Munich Re.

• Unpacking the skills economy: skills matching and transferable skills.

• Nuria’s parting words of wisdom and advice.

Quotes:

“I’m trying [to get] the [talent] agencies [to] change their business models so that they bring me something that is different; that is more sustainable long-term.” — @NuriaLorMun [0:12:05]

“When you start looking at ‘what’s next, what’s next, what’s next,’ sometimes you miss the ‘right now.’” — @NuriaLorMun [0:28:47]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Nuria Munoz on LinkedIn

Nuria Munoz on X

Munich Re

It is a leader’s responsibility to create the best possible environment for their team and there’s no better way to get insight into how to do that than leveraging employee engagement. Tuning in to this episode of Talk Talent to Me, you’ll hear all about our guest, CPO of Gentrack, Fran Caldwell, why she has such a positive attitude towards her work, the responsibilities she has at her company, and the impact she has made at Gentrack. We delve into the critical nature of employee engagement before discussing the importance of building trust among employees in order to gain these insights from employee engagement. Our guest goes on to talk about key motivators for an engaged workforce and how that varies between generations. Fran even shares the metrics she uses at Gentrack to measure the success of employee engagement and how to evaluate them. Finally, hear how you can handle negative engagement survey results and get some incredible advice about creating a career as a CPO.

Key Points From This Episode:

• The importance of being proud of your role in HR

• Fran shares how she sees her responsibility at Gentrack

• How Fran makes sure employees trust the organization

• The key motivators for an engaged workforce

• How messaging needs to be adjusted for different generations

• Fran shares her strategy for measuring employee engagement success

• Fran tells us how she handles negative results from surveys

• Our guest gives advice for listeners wanting to forge a career like her own

Quotes:

“If you work in the people space, every day is an opportunity. And if you focus on it being challenging and in a negative way, well then frankly, how do you get out of bed every day?” — Fran Caldwell [0:02:31]

“When you come into a new business or when you’re in these roles, you absolutely need to be led by insights and the only way you’re going to get these insights is by asking a lot of questions but importantly, listening to the answers.” — Fran Caldwell [0:10:00]

“Engagement and productivity metrics are intrinsically linked.” — Fran Caldwell [0:17:15]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Frances Caldwell

Gentrack