EP109: Sonos - How Company Culture Influences TA Strategies

All-In Recruitment is a podcast by Manatal focusing on all things related to the recruitment industry’s missions and trends. Join us in our weekly conversations with leaders in the recruitment space and learn their best practices to transform the way you hire.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

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Lydia: Welcome to the All-In Recruitment podcast by Manatal, where we explore best practices, learnings, and trends with leaders in the recruitment space. If you like our content, please subscribe to our channels on YouTube and Spotify to stay tuned for our weekly episodes.

I'm your host, Lydia, and this week we have Gibson Placide of Sonos. Great to have you with us, Gibson. Good morning.

Gibson: Good morning. It's a pleasure to be here, Lydia.

From Learning to Leading

Lydia: So, Gibson, you've had extensive experience in this field particularly in the global talent space. What are some pivotal moments in your career so far? The transformative phases you've seen in different companies of various sizes. So, what might be some of those moments that you can share?

Gibson: Well, I would say here at Sonos, one of the most pivotal moments for me has been playing a role in scaling our department—hiring successful people; people that are coming in and influencing our strategy. So, as a recruiter and an advisor, there's nothing more powerful than seeing the personnel that you bring on impact the products that we launch, and that we use every day.

Lydia: And in this role, as a Senior Talent Advisor, how is this role different from or unique from the other talent roles that you've had so far?

Gibson: So, this is alluded to the first question in terms of impacting lives and our business. For me, this has been one of the, I would say, smaller companies I've worked for in terms of company size of about 1800 employees. I get to work a bit more intimately, where I can see the impacts in terms of the people that I bring onboard and we get to collaborate in real, organic ways.

You're not just a cog in the machine of a bigger company, but you're you. You really have time to breathe within those processes and the conversations that you're having within the company. So, I've enjoyed that.

Lydia: So, you've been in this role for three years. What might be some of the areas that you've prioritized, say, the first year, or maybe in the past year?

Gibson: So, coming into Sonos, especially on the hardware product side, that was new. I came in from Starbucks. That was a totally different industry. Personally, in terms of the company, we’re pretty much the same in terms of both cultures.

However, my first year coming in supporting more of the hardware products was a new business for me, and so having to learn, get acclimated, and build my acumen there was the majority of my first year, and second year really able to take off in terms of working with our VPs, influencing a bit more, and hiring and building their teams.

So, the second year was building that equity with them and so now into my third year to spending pretty great partnerships and collaborations.

Pay Transparency and Social Responsibility: Key Trends in Candidate Priorities

Lydia: We're looking at a multi-generational workforce right now and everyone's connected by technology, obviously, and we're working in a global, or rather boundary-less environment.

So, in your experience so far and all these years, how have candidate expectations changed, let's say, in the past five years, or even, maybe even in the past decade?

Gibson: Oh, this is a fantastic question. I've been in recruiting for almost 25 years now. Time has flown. In the last five years, the difference I've seen is more focus on work-life balance. You think about working either hybrid or remote. Remote after the pandemic was the big thing and candidates are looking for remote opportunities. Now that scaled down a bit overall where everyone's trying to strike that balance. So, the hybrid has been now the popular balance, I would say, from what employees want and what candidates are willing to accept in terms of employment and I love seeing this.

The more equitable pay transparency theme plays out across job openings and conversations, employers are more willing to talk about salaries and the total range which I think helps diverse talent receive equitable pay for roles. So, I love seeing that.

Then I think the last thing, and I love that this has come about the social consciousness of companies. I've seen companies be more caring about what you do in the community if you're coming on board. I've also seen employees care about knowing the history of what this company has done in certain communities and overall for the environment. So, they want to see that the company is socially conscious and environmentally conscious as well.

Lydia: And it's purpose-driven, in other words.

Gibson: That's right.

Lydia: So, in this regard, bringing all these factors together, you've got different types of work arrangements, and making the necessary changes within your policies to be able to accommodate that.

How does Sonos, perhaps, look into fostering innovation or creativity in this workforce if it's fragmented and everyone's decentralized? How do you bring that together to create a creative workforce, something that looks into innovation?

Gibson: So, really investing in R&D we explore new technologies, improve our existing technologies, and explore new product opportunities within the industry. These investment opportunities provide employees with resources and provide support to help them innovate. That really, I think, even as an advisor on the recruitment side, the investments Sonos has made for me in this role, I've been, again, I've been in companies that have more employees, where we haven't invested as much in tools, and so this has been a company that has, along with our products that we sell, we actually also implement some of that innovation internally in terms of the support and products that we provide to our teammates.

Sonos’ Unique Strategy for Employee Development

Lydia: Going back to candidate expectations, how do they look at growth within Sonos after coming in and looking at their position, or expanding their knowledge? In this regard, looking at innovation as one of the best propositions for them to develop their careers, what is the outlook like for roles in Sonos?

Gibson: In terms of opportunities, because we collaborate, and we're always meeting with our hiring managers, we're always meeting cross-functioning with other teammates, just in terms of your projects that you're on. So, this is a highly collaborative company where everyone speaks their ideas, if you will, a lot here.

When you're in grade school, your teacher would say, “No dumb questions.” Does that mean you really cannot ask a question that people won't respect and consider? It puts some ideas around that I think foster opportunities like creativity and people wanting to grow and see what else is happening in a different department, and managers are willing to give you that opportunity to grow. I've, for one, moved and transferred more employees this year than I've ever had here at Sonos. Because we're just looking at more of our internal talent to grow and move into our new positions. That has been a push for us to try to grow our employees bottom up into leadership opportunities.

Lydia: You’ve probably already answered my next question about company culture influencing Talent Acquisition and retention strategies, obviously, as you have said. But, are there other ways in which Sonos company cultures influence your Talent Acquisition strategies? I mean, I would presume that organically show itself in your TA strategies, or even in your employer branding. So, is there anything else you'd like to share about that?

Gibson: So, from a career development standpoint, in terms of your manager conversations, your promotions, and opportunities, are all employees-led.

So, we incentivize employees to actually take the lead in terms of their careers and all opportunities that you notice. Share that with your hiring manager or your manager, I should say, speak to recruiters directly. Employees reach out to me directly. We have casual conversations or coffee chats as we call them, to hear about their opportunities.

We also promote diversity and inclusion. So, within some of the different silos, different groups, you're speaking openly when you get a chance to be yourself, your true, authentic self, within these rooms. I felt it myself, where opportunities open up because you have leaders and across the board in those groups that get to hear you be yourself. That is a voice and I love promoting that when I talk to candidates as well about our diversity, and inclusion goals and how we prioritize well-being and satisfaction overall as a company for our employees.

Lydia: I understand that community, or creating that sense of community is also a big push within Sonos. So, I'm curious how Sonos uses technology in the sense to maintain that sense of community, not just inside, but also with those who are looking for talent looking to come in.

Gibson: I guess, like most, we leverage virtual collaboration tools like Slack. We leverage video conferencing and virtual meeting tools like Zoom. So, a lot of our conversations are remote conversations with candidates across the world. Zoom has been a pivotal tool for us to have wellness and employee engagement apps that we all leverage as employees.

I talk about that with candidates, external candidates, and internally as well. That's where we come together. We talk about wellness and there are a lot of feedback tools that we leverage to send out to our employees, to get a sense of how they feel about a particular program, even a new product that we may launch internally. We’ll get some feedback on their thoughts before it's put out there to the general public. So, we leverage tools a lot, internally and externally.

Lydia: Now, how do you use the data that comes from that? Let's say it is a problem or a challenge that you're facing now. What is the process around that? When you get that information that comes in from feedback.

Gibson: So, feedback if it's an employee engagement, we're looking at improving employee satisfaction, I would say. We gather the information and pick out the points where there are pain points within the feedback, we will address it within our next talent hall, talk through it, and ask questions of the employees. Our senior leadership will use that as a talking point to address some of the issues that were brought up. Again, because of the size [of the company] that’s the advantage we can do. We can really get granular, like at other companies, where we couldn't get that granular we can and so employees feel heard.

So, that's what fosters a sense of transparency here as well. You feel that there's a survey that comes out, you make your voices heard through that survey, and then those pain points, if you will, are addressed during our next town hall conversations. Then you're able to verbally ask questions of our leaders there as well.

Using Cultural Alignment to Find the Perfect Fit

Lydia: Now, going back to what you said at the beginning, about the rewards that come from this job of being in this particular field. My next question is about your favorite or most memorable story. There must be so many that you've had in recruitment and Talent Acquisition, Gibson.

So, what might be one of those stories that stand out for you or that you can't forget?

Gibson: One of my favorite recruitment stories involves a candidate who initially seemed like an unconventional fit for a technical role that I had here at Sonos, and the position required really deep technical experience. The candidate's background was primarily in a different industry, with limited direct experience in a specific technology, I would say.

So, during my initial conversation, it became clear the candidate possessed a remarkable ability to learn quickly and had a genuine passion for technology. Despite lacking direct experience, they demonstrated a strong grasp of fundamental concepts. With that, I felt that the energy the person had made them feel like a really good cultural fit. I decided to push this person through, have them meet with other team members, and advocate for them pretty strongly. As this person went through the technical conversations with the team, they saw what I saw. So, it was rewarding to see that a person coming out of a different industry, with a non-typical profile, got looked at, was considered, and then eventually got the job. So, that was the reward. He and I speak to this day about just the uniqueness of his profile.

That story, I usually leverage that when convincing and advising hiring managers on atypical profiles, like, giving people a chance. I even talk to candidates about that as well, even if you read the job description and your skill set is somewhat atypical. Maybe you don't hit all the bullet points. You should still apply and maybe that is not what most recruiters would say, but I’d say you should still apply.

It depends on whether you have the technical expertise and a lot of the technical specifics. If you have some of that, please apply. We can consider those along with your passion and your knowledge of the company. This person showed a really strong interest in Sonos and for us, for our products, and so that spoke a lot to me as well.

Lydia: So, what made you look at this profile from the get-go? I mean, what attracted you to this profile, considering the fact that it wasn't really a perfect fit, or it wasn't even a close fit to the job description?

Gibson: Yes, great question. So, on our applications, when you apply for positions at Sonos, we ask you why Sonos. Some candidates will answer that question generically. They'll list generic statements in there.

I look for people who will really tell me are a fan of the product, a fan of the company for a few years, have been keenly interested and followed us, and gave me some history about some of the products they've used, and how it applied to their lives and then the excitement about working in this industry, moving into a new industry, being honest as well.

So, it was a really good balance of great career opportunity for this person, and being a fan of the company. I would tell candidates, don't be afraid to show that you're a fan of the company. That’s really what we want to hear, as well, as much as you are a technical fit. That builds some equity with the recruiter and whoever you're going to be speaking with for those next conversations.

Lydia: Gibson, final question. What advice would you give someone who is starting out in recruitment today?

Gibson: I would say, don't pigeonhole yourself into saying or thinking you're a technical recruiter, you're a hospitality recruiter. Be very curious as a recruiter. I think my curiosity as a recruiter, from the beginning, in supporting any industry has helped me so much. It doesn't matter the profile; it doesn't matter the industry. I feel like with recruiting, you really have to be a people person. It's really about meeting people and matching them up with the best opportunities. I don't look at it as an arduous role. You will hear from different recruiters like, "Oh, my God, it's a tough industry to be in or a tough profession." However, when you look at it from the standpoint of marrying people into really great companies—strong candidates, strong talent into great companies—it's just the best thing to see people happy and grow.

If I may, this is a short story. I went on a trip. My wife and I went on a trip to Florida. We were vacationing, and someone I hired maybe 20 years ago—I ran into her. Her kids are adults now, and I barely remember her, but she came up like, "Gibson, do you remember me? You hired me way back 20 years ago. These are my kids; they were babies at the time." Now, she's saying this, telling a story with her kids next to her, my wife's like, "Whoa," to see the impact. Now she's a director and just having a really great career. So, it pays dividends. There are so many stories like that; random people on LinkedIn as well. So, this career has been—it’s fed me emotionally as well. That's the most important thing if you're looking for something you can be passionate about. I think recruiting, to me, is one of the best fields to be in.

Lydia: Thank you so much, Gibson, for your time and these valuable stories and insights. Really, it's nice to hear it. It really reminds those in the profession of its true meaning. So, thanks again for your time and these insights.

If someone's listening and wants to pick up a conversation, or may have been placed by you in the past, and wants to say hello to you and they're listening, where can they find you?

Gibson: They can definitely find me on LinkedIn. It's Gibson Placide. I think I'm the only one on there.

Lydia: Thanks again, Gibson. We have been in conversation with Gibson Placide of Sonos. Thank you for joining us, and remember to subscribe to stay tuned for more weekly episodes from All-In Recruitment.