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.
Transcript
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
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 weekly episodes.
My name is Lydia, and our guest today is Shane Barnfield of Keywords Studios. Great to have you with us, Shane.
Shane: Thanks, Lydia. Great to be here. I'm really excited about the discussion today.
Diverse Background in Talent Acquisition
Lydia: So Shane, tell us a little bit about your experience in talent acquisition so far. What's kept you motivated in this role?
Shane: I’ve been working in talent acquisition for 20 years now. From my background, I’ve worked in many different industries. Over the years, I’ve done recruitment in construction, mining, oil and gas, the tech sector, gaming, biotech - you name it. I’ve worked in a number of different countries as well. I’m originally from Australia, which you can probably pick up from the accent.
I’ve worked in the Middle East and Canada. In fact, I’m now based in the Middle East, leading a global team. So, I feel like I’ve touched on a number of different areas and seen quite a few different things in my career.
When it comes to what keeps me motivated about the talent acquisition space, I think it comes down to the fact that we’re changing people’s lives. And I know that sounds corny, but it’s true. I’m a bit of a unique case in the recruitment space. Whereas many people come into recruitment as a stepping stone to move into an HR role, I actually took the opposite route.
I started in Human Resources many years ago and realized that it’s not where I wanted to be long term. Luckily enough, I was given the opportunity to join an internal talent acquisition team in Australia back in 2005, and really haven’t looked back since.
One of the things that attracted me to that role initially was getting to talk to people about something they were excited about. They were genuinely excited about making a new move in their career or looking at their first job post-university. It was exciting and I’ve never really lost that sense of excitement that comes from recruitment.
Even now, even though I’m not necessarily involved in the day-to-day recruitment activities as much as I once was, it’s something that I still really drive home to my team. At the end of the day, behind the CV and application is a human who is genuinely excited or really nervous, or apprehensive about this next move. So for me, it’s always been about being able to genuinely make a difference in people’s lives.
Building a Global Talent Acquisition Team
Lydia: Moving from industry to industry, you would have seen that some fundamentals probably have changed or have not changed. What's your observation of them?
Shane: That's a great question. For me, I always like to answer that question by saying recruitment is recruitment. There are definitely different approaches, there is high volume recruitment versus a very niche and targeted recruitment. But at the end of the day, it's the human touch that's always remained the same for me.
So, even though things have changed, technology's improved, at the end of the day, never losing sight of the human aspect is something that I've always tried to keep in mind.
Lydia: So, in Keywords Studios, you've been here for about two years or so, and these are very critical two years as we know. What are some areas that you've prioritized for TA?
Shane: The last few years have been a really interesting journey for both myself as an individual, but also for Keywords from a talent acquisition perspective. So, just to give you a little bit of context, I think it might help to maybe describe a little bit about Keywords. Keywords Studios is an organization that provides creative and technical solutions or services to clients in the gaming industry. Basically, what that means in layman's terms is that we help companies like EA, Ubisoft, and businesses worldwide build their games and bring them to market. That's what we do. So when they need help, it's at studios like us that they call. Keywords has been around for 25 years, a large organization, but their approach to growth in the industry has been very unique.
Keywords started out providing a particular service to the industry around quality assurance, localization, and translation services. But over the years, they've diversified into different areas that are now split into three main service lines. We have a globalized service line, which provides FQA and localization and translation services. We've moved into another service line called Engage, which is made up of our marketing studios. So think, if you're seeing a game trailer or a studio needs a marketing plan to release a new game, we help with that. Finally, the service line that I laid out from our talent acquisition perspective is called Create, and that is our 25 globally dispersed game development, co-development, and production studios.
When Keywords made the move into the Create service line, it took the approach of doing it exclusively through acquisition. So every studio under the Creative Umbrella was acquired to join the Keywords group. Rather than acquiring a studio and repackaging it as Keywords, they left it independent. All of the studios under our umbrella still have their original names, their own branding, their own websites, their own culture, and so on.
I think from a marketing perspective, it's really advantageous to us, and from a talent acquisition perspective, it's been advantageous as well because we have 25 different brands that we can promote. "Oh, you don't like brand A? Well, try brand B. We've got that studio over there." So that's definitely a unique approach. The studios still have a lot of independence; they decide which projects they take, which clients they work with, and so on. There's a lot of upside and plusses to the approach they've taken.
From a talent acquisition perspective, though, there were some gaps. The independence was a good thing in many ways, but when it came to recruitment, it was every studio for themselves. Every studio was doing recruitment their own way. Some had internal support and resources, most did not. Some were doing well in their ability to find and attract people, but most were struggling because there wasn't a unified approach. What we were realizing was that studios were competing against each other. We often got to points where one studio was making an offer to the same candidate as another studio. So we were competing against ourselves for talent.
At the end of 2021, we had a new CEO come on board. He took a look at the organization and identified a number of key areas that were inhibiting our ability to grow, and talent acquisition was at the top of his list. I was asked to look at and explore the option of bringing on board a centralized talent acquisition function to support our studios. It's genuinely support; it's not taking over or running things for them. Over the last few years, the journey has been one of planning and then implementing that plan.
The first three or four months were spent working with the studios. I went and asked, "What are you doing? What's working for you now? What's not working for you? How can we help you? What services would you like from us?" It was really just a data-gathering exercise to find out what the studios were doing now, what they potentially needed, and what were some of the gap areas that we could help with.
Once that information was gathered, it was then sitting down with the service line Managing Director and understanding what I think we needed, the services we needed to provide, and the budget I think we were going to need. The budget was drawn up based on looking at the number of roles that would need to be filled, how many people would need to be on the team to do that, what the team structure would look like, and so on. There was a six-month period of back and forth working with the managing director, working with the CEO, and the CFO to set out a budget. From Q4 of 2022 until now, we've been implementing that strategy. We've gone from me in the centralized talent acquisition function to a team of about 15 people spread across the globe.
Lydia: 15 people across the globe to support 25 businesses independent businesses.
Shane: Yes, that's correct. We are a very lean team. It's a new concept that we're bringing on board. One of the really interesting things about our approach is that they are independent businesses. So, unlike maybe Google or Meta, if you want to hire someone into your organization, you have to go through the HR or the recruitment team. We're different. We're effectively consultants to our own studios. So, there is no mandate that studios need to use us. But I'm very pleased to say that most have welcomed us with open arms. They were coming into an environment where they had nothing, and we were saying we can do X, Y, and Z for you. So, most have welcomed us very warmly. And we're engaging with them at that studio level, very uniquely, studio to studio.
Regional Leadership and Coordination
Lydia: So, in terms of your team members, the 15 people who work with you, how do they approach dealing with these 25 businesses? Do they act as account managers?
Shane: Probably helps to describe the structure that we've implemented; that might help explain that a little bit more.
Keywords Studios, in the Create service line, operates in three main regions: North America (with studios in Mexico, the US, and Canada), the Asia Pacific region (with studios in Australia, Manila, and China), and the UK, Europe (with studios in the UK, Romania, and Poland currently.)
In terms of the structure of the team, what we've implemented is regional heads. In each region, I have someone who leads the group, and their responsibility is to take that 10,000-foot view of the region. As I said, we have these independent businesses doing their own things, and the head of each region's role is to look for opportunities for coordination and ways for the group to work together instead of as individual businesses. We've been successful in areas like events that we attend, branding opportunities, job opportunities, and other collaborative efforts, pulling it together from that high-level view.
The next level down, we have our talent acquisition specialists. They are embedded at the studio level, with an average of one TA Specialist to two studios. Their job is to dive into the studios, get to know them intimately, work with the leadership to understand their current processes, identify potential opportunities for improvement, understand the personalities, and become the face of recruitment for that studio. They are ultimately responsible for filling the individual roles at that studio level.
The third tier of our model is our regional sourcing hubs, which is a new concept in the organization. It's 100% proactive recruitment, focused on outreach, and heavily centered on pipeline development. While they get involved in active roles, their main focus is on mapping out markets, identifying talent, reaching out to that talent, introducing Keywords, and building long-term relationships.
That's the model we have in place. When it comes to the 25 individual studios, the talent acquisition specialists are empowered and have a lot of freedom. Their ultimate responsibility is to deliver roles, and how they do that is up to them, working in conjunction with the studios. We give our talent acquisition specialists a lot of freedom to identify the pathway that will work best for the individual studio.
Some studios are very hands-on, with talent acquisition specialists deeply embedded in their operations, while others may need more of a consulting service or top-of-funnel support. We flexibly adapt to meet the studio's needs and work with them to understand how they want recruitment to be done, rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all approach.
Lydia: So, acting as a consultant and also a support for these businesses and also for the entire business as a whole, how do you go about justifying that foundational budget that you need?
Shane: It was an interesting conversation. I was going into the business and asking for X millions of dollars for a function they've never had before. So, one of the things we had to do was start speaking the language of the C-suite from day one. How did we do that? I created a dashboard that
I present at every MBR and every QBR, where the C-suite is present, and I speak their language. Instead of just saying, "Hey, we've built this many roles, and this is how many days it took us to do it," we convert that to revenue. Yes, we do mention how many roles we've filled, but instead of saying, "Hey, we filled 100 roles this quarter," we turn around and say, "Well, we've actually contributed 8 million in additional revenue to the organization."
In that sense, we're future-proofing ourselves as a team because I can then explain, "If we need to reduce headcount or our budget, we can do that. But here's what it's going to look like in terms of revenue loss to the organization." I achieved this by working closely with our operations director for the service line, who's our numbers guy. We worked on aspects like work gross margins and how they equate to man-hours and revenue perspectives. It took a lot of work, but the payoff has been amazing.
When you can say that over the last nine months, we've contributed $8 million in additional revenue that the organization wouldn't have had if our team wasn't here, it's a powerful statement. Especially when you look at our budget and compare it to revenue growth. We've quadrupled our budget so far this year. As we're going into budgeting discussions for next year, it gives me a lot of freedom to say, "I need X, Y, and Z now because I've shown what we can do with this much. Imagine what we can do with double that."
Lydia: And with that kind of budget, what were the first things that you've looked into, apart from resources people?
Shane: Great question. Obviously, as you mentioned, we have 15 people to cover 25 studios, making us a very lean team. So we've heavily relied on technology to help us streamline the talent acquisition process in any way possible. Initially, a significant portion of the budget went into getting our studios onto an ATS. Keywords corporately had an ATS, but as I mentioned, every studio had its website and branding. Therefore, we needed each studio to have its ATS. We were able to secure an umbrella agreement under the corporate one and have now rolled it out to 15 out of the 25 studios.
This approach allows us to efficiently manage recruitment processes across multiple studios, ensuring a cohesive and standardized experience for both candidates and our team. The use of technology has been instrumental in optimizing our operations, given the lean nature of our team and the diverse requirements of our studios.
Lydia: In the span of how long?
Shane: We started that process in January, and I think the last one was signed up about last month. It's taken us a while to convert some of the studios because some had legacy agreements with other platforms. However, we've now centralized most of that to a large degree. This was a significant focus for the team and me for the first six or so months of the year. It was definitely an element that we had to budget for.
When it came to doing more with less, we explored certain tools that could help us on the proactive sourcing front. These tools automate finding candidates and reaching out to candidates. We also evaluated many tools that assist us in the front end of sourcing while automating outreach. Additionally, we considered tools to automate some of the more time-consuming tasks of a recruiter, such as interview note-taking.
For example, we now have an AI tool that allows us to record interviews and summarize them at the end. My team uses ChatGPT on a daily basis to help summarize candidate profiles when presenting them to hiring managers.
From day one, we've had to learn to do more with less, and that philosophy is deeply embedded in our approach. We are very lean for the number of people we have. When I looked at some of our competitors recently, some of their studios, of equivalent size, have teams of five or six people just for one studio. Therefore, we've had to be extremely efficient in what we do, and we've incorporated that efficiency from the beginning. A significant portion of the budget was allocated to those tools and technologies that enable us to operate efficiently and effectively.
Enhancing Candidate Experience with Data
Lydia: And what was the approach towards using data to sort of devise that overall strategy from the beginning?
Shane: From day one, I've had to rely on data to justify my budgetary requests. Going forward, once it was approved and signed off, we've integrated data into nearly every aspect of our function. In my role, I utilize data to calculate the revenue impacts on the business resulting from our team's efforts. Even at the sourcing team level, we're in the process of data collection. We're already using data through A/B tests. For instance, we run A/B tests on our outreach for Unreal engineers to understand what's effective and what's not.
We've already made significant improvements. When we started, our average response rate to outreach was around 15%, and now we've increased it closer to 30-35% by running a series of A/B tests and fine-tuning our approach based on data.
Here's a great example from one of my talent acquisition specialists. She analyzed the use of online assessments for our program or Ross, which tests candidates' programming abilities. She conducted a deep dive to determine how many candidates need to take the assessment to move on to the interview stage and, subsequently, how many interviews are needed to make a hire. Based on her analysis, we concluded that we need 145 people at the top of the funnel to fill one role. This insight guides our actions and activities to ensure we can meet that number and make successful hires.
We're still in the early stages of this process. The team has only been running since the beginning of the year, so we're still in the process of data collection. We're gathering information about top-of-funnel requirements for hiring, and identifying the most effective outreach strategies, and we're about to launch a new candidate experience platform. This platform will enable us to collect surveys and feedback at every step of the candidate process. With this data, we'll be able to identify areas where candidates might be dropping off, where we're not meeting their expectations, and how we can make improvements.
Because we are such a lean organization, we have to use data to pinpoint the areas that need attention because we don't have the capacity to tackle everything simultaneously. Data is essential to help us focus our efforts effectively.
The Power of Relationship Building
Lydia: In gaming, you have talent that everyone wants, and as you said, their business units are competing with each other for the same candidate. So when it comes to attracting passive candidates, what are some strategies or best practices that you find particularly effective in this case?
Shane: I'd love to say there's a silver bullet that really works, but for us, the focus is on relationship building. The gaming industry is unique, as you said, very challenging in many ways, yet also very rewarding. While it's part of the tech industry, it's separate and distinct, presenting unique challenges. Early in my career in gaming, I quickly learned that everyone seems to know everyone in the industry, just two or three degrees of separation. So, it became clear that we need to identify these individuals. It's a relatively small pool compared to the broader tech sector, so we need to introduce ourselves.
One of the real challenges we face is that everyone knows companies like Ubisoft and EA, the big studios producing games. But when we talk to candidates on behalf of Keywords, we often get responses like, "Who are you again?" I often joke that we're the industry's best-kept secret. We have 12,000 people and nearly 80 studios worldwide, yet we still encounter this response. So for us, when it comes to passive candidates, it's all about relationship building. I've tasked our sourcing team with spending most of their time not just reaching out to candidates for specific roles, although that's important, but primarily building these relationships and pipelines. This approach is reflected in how we evaluate their metrics.
I'm not solely interested in knowing how many roles my sourcing team filled; instead, what matters to me is how many people they added to the pipeline this week and, of those individuals, how many are now actively engaged with us.
Our success in the passive candidate realm is defined by finding a candidate, introducing them to Keywords initially, acquainting them with our various studios in the region, and eventually, perhaps converting them into one of our active acquisitions. I often tell my sources that while they might be focused on filling immediate roles, a more substantial accomplishment, in my view, is adding someone to the pipeline who we'll hire two years from now. That, to me, is a more significant win than filling an immediate role. Our sourcing team is truly dedicated to reaching out to candidates who may not know who we are, educating them about our organization, and potentially bringing them on board in the future.
Lydia: So as you said, Keywords Studios being introduced, it's one of those things that people are not completely aware of, at this point, especially the small pool of candidates that you're looking into. You've also got 25 different brands to introduce them in that conversational stage. How do you position Keywords when you approach them?
Shane: Like I said, our initial outreach for passive candidates is, “Hey, you know what Keywords is?” We introduce Keywords Studios with some basic information about us. Then, we begin segmenting our approach based on regions. For instance, when reaching out to someone in the North American region, we might say, "Did you know that these studios are part of our umbrella?" Quite often, candidates respond with, "Oh, I know that studio, but I had no idea they were part of Keywords." This is how we break it down - regionally and by discipline and interest areas.
We also take into account that our various studios have unique service offerings. Some studios specialize in strategy games, while others are known for their work in first-person shooters or with clients in that space. So, we begin to narrow the focus. If a candidate meets our basic criteria and expresses interest in a particular genre, like RPG games, we'll guide them to the studios within our network that align with their interests.
As you mentioned, this is one of the unique selling points of Keywords Studios. We don't offer a one-size-fits-all approach. If a candidate is passionate about gaming and considering a move, we can almost certainly find a studio within our network that matches their interests. This flexibility gives us a competitive advantage. We're not limited to a single option; we can tailor our approach to suit the individual preferences of the candidates we engage with.
Supporting Studios, Not Competing
Lydia: So, in terms of going to the market and promoting a job that needs to be filled, let's say it goes out there as Keywords Studios. Does that work against you to have a brand that may not resonate with others?
Shane: It's an interesting balance that we take. When we're going to market for an active role, it's generally led by talent acquisition specialists. They will go to market under the brand of the studio they're recruiting for. That's typically our approach. We bring in the Keywords element when working with my heads of regions and our sources.
For example, if we're attending a big gaming event, we'll go as Keywords. We'll have a Keywords booth and promote Keywords. When talking to people, we educate them about the different studios. We invite people from the different studios to come and talk about them. Recently, I was at an event in Brighton, UK, a couple of weeks ago, with three of our studios. Keywords was present but in a smaller capacity to educate more about these three studios. We also have three other studios in the UK that couldn't make it that day.
Our goal is to supplement and support our studios, not compete against them. By having our own unique budget, we can attend events that some studios might not be able to. We go as Keywords but invite them to join us and promote their individual studios at those events too.
We're always looking for ways to supplement the brands of our individual studios and educate the gaming public. When people know one studio, we want to tell them, "They're great, but they're part of Keywords. Let us tell you about the rest of our studios." That's the opportunity we see, and that's how we approach it. We certainly don't want to take away from our local studios, but we do want to ensure we educate the broader public about the other opportunities within our network as well.
Agile Talent Acquisition in a Fast-Paced Industry
Lydia: So, the video game industry itself is known for being fast-paced and dynamic. How do your talent acquisition strategies keep up with these changing demands and trends?
Shane: So, this was a key factor in the original setup of our team. One unique aspect of my talent acquisition team is that we operate outside of HR, and I was adamant about this from day one. While I have a great appreciation for HR and have worked in that department, I understand that it can sometimes be more bureaucratic than the talent acquisition space, where speed is often the primary focus.
Another advantage of this setup is that it provides us with an independent budget. I report directly to the Managing Director of our service line, not to anyone in HR, and I have control over my budget. This autonomy allows us to pivot quickly when needed. If we identify a new platform or event that requires attention, we can move without the need for multiple layers of approval.
From a strategic perspective, reporting directly to the Managing Director of the service line is also beneficial. I participate in all strategy discussions, including quarterly business reviews. This enables me to share information with my teams in advance. For instance, if we are considering expansion into a new game's adjacent area, I can inform my teams and start preparations early. I collaborate with my sourcing team to build pipelines for potential new roles and discuss acquisition opportunities with my regional heads.
Even though we are primarily a talent acquisition function, we explore avenues like acquisitions and Aqua hire opportunities. This close connection with the leadership team at the service line allows us to pivot and adapt swiftly to changing needs and opportunities.
Lydia: That makes a huge difference in terms of input and also value?
Shane: 100%. There are no filters that we have to go through, no scrambling to get a seat at the table. We're trusted advisers to the business, and we already have that trust. A big part of this comes from the approach we took from day one, which was to speak their language. Right from the beginning, we asked, "What's important to you? What do you want to see?" We tailored our entire approach around these insights, and it's paying dividends.
We have the opportunity to have discussions with the C-suite and the leadership at the service line level. We also get to provide input at the individual studio level through our TA team. It's been very refreshing. I've worked in many organizations and industries over the years, and this model has allowed us to have the most direct impact on the business.
Lydia: Is this the first time you’ve executed a model like this?
Shane: It’s the first time I’ve executed a model sitting outside of HR. So where we've had this complete autonomy and independence, to operate hand in glove with the business, and I don't think I could go back, to be perfectly honest, the ability to sit down with the CFO, to sit down with CEO, to sit down with the MD and have these discussions. It's invaluable.
Top-Down Support for Meaningful Change
Lydia: In terms of diversity and inclusion especially in the gaming industry, what's the approach for Keyword Studios?
Shane: Yes, so from an overall diversity and inclusion perspective, I can't fault Keywords. We are doing everything we possibly can to become a more inclusive organization. I'm very thankful that it's not solely a talent acquisition-driven initiative; it's coming from the top of the organization. And I think that's essential.
Talent acquisition teams can take many steps to be more inclusive and source candidates from diverse backgrounds. However, if the support isn't there from the organization and the business, it's merely window dressing. We can put as many diverse candidates into the pipeline as possible, but without support and structures from the business, it won't lead to meaningful change.
I'm very grateful that we have an organization that fully supports DE&I activities. A couple of initiatives that come to mind are Keywords' support for the Women in Games organization. In fact, we are the key sponsors and drivers behind the Global Ambassador program. All of my team members who identify as female have gone through the ambassador training and are actively promoting gaming as an industry for women.
At the regional level, we participate in initiatives like the Black Youth Initiative Action Plan in Canada to identify talent from that area. We are also very active in promoting and adapting our processes for neurodiverse talent. I have neurodiverse individuals on my team, and most of our studios have people from neurodiverse backgrounds as well. We're open and inclusive about it.
When it comes down to it, our commitment to diversity and inclusion has been embedded in our approach from day one. I've tried to ensure that my team reflects the type of people we want to bring into the organization, and that's been important. Additionally, our individual studios are incredibly open and welcoming. They don't care who someone is or what their background is; if they can do the job, they want them to be part of the team. This approach is largely driven by the highly competitive market we're in. As a talent acquisition team, we're very conscious about reaching out to underrepresented groups whenever possible. But as I mentioned earlier, our success in this endeavor wouldn't be possible without the broad support we receive from the entire organization.
Navigating the Changing Landscape
Lydia: The role of a Talent Acquisition professional has likely evolved over the past decade or as long as you've been in the field. So, what qualities and skills does a TA specialist or professional need to possess in order to achieve success?
Shane: I would even say it's changed remarkably in the last 12 months, with the advent of generative AI and the emergence of tools that are transforming many of the tasks that used to be core responsibilities for recruiters. I remember back when I was a day-to-day recruiter, a significant part of my role involved finding candidates, scheduling interviews, setting up phone screens, and coordinating interviews with hiring managers. It was time-consuming.
However, there are now tools that are rapidly making these activities obsolete. The role of a recruiter, as it was when I first started, was someone who could manage multiple priorities, handle administrative tasks, and essentially act as an order taker who executed tasks as assigned. This traditional approach is no longer viable, and we are already witnessing significant changes in the field.
In my view, the talent acquisition role is evolving into that of a talent advisor. By this, I mean that simply taking orders from hiring managers is not the future of recruiting. What Talent Acquisition professionals need to do moving forward is to bring data to their discussions and be prepared to challenge hiring managers when necessary. They should be able to say, "I understand your request, but in this region, there are limited candidates available, and the average salary doesn't align with our compensation structure."
These professionals must engage in more in-depth conversations and leverage new technologies to support their roles effectively. Those who shy away from embracing generative AI and fail to explore how it can enhance their day-to-day tasks may find it challenging to adapt to the evolving landscape.
For me, the role is shifting towards that of an advisor to the business. Talent acquisition professionals need to approach discussions armed with facts and data, and they must be willing to push back when something appears unreasonable or doesn't align with the broader strategy.
Lydia: And on that note, this might be something that you've already covered in this particular question, what advice would you give someone who's starting out in TA?
Shane: Well, the first thing I would say is, go for it. I mean, I love this job, I love this industry. I know many people stumble into it, but I'd love to see it become a deliberate career choice for more individuals. I genuinely believe it's a fantastic industry. Personally, it has allowed me to work on three different continents and across a multitude of industries. So, my first piece of advice would be, if you're considering it, don't hesitate. Go for it.
The second piece of advice would be to become more familiar with these tools; make them your bread and butter. Learn how to leverage these tools to enhance your day-to-day activities, freeing up more time for value-added tasks. These value-added tasks include examining data on where candidates are found and how they can be engaged. Additionally, consider using talent intelligence tools to identify hubs of talent. Developing the ability to engage in meaningful business discussions, moving beyond recruitment-specific topics to broader operational discussions, is crucial.
I don't foresee the role of a talent acquisition professional disappearing. Instead, it's evolving. I see a future where we become advisors, valued consultants to the business. For me, this evolution makes the role even more exciting. When I first began, it involved tasks like pulling CVs from fax machines and making phone calls. Those aspects are fading away. I believe the role is becoming more enjoyable for those who can adapt and pivot to meet its evolving demands.
Lydia: Well, thank you very much for your time and your insights. You've been generous in sharing this unique model that you oversee for a global talent acquisition team. So thank you very much, Shane, for your time and insights. Please share your contact details so that the audience can connect with you and engage in further conversations.
Shane: Absolutely. Thank you for inviting me on board, Lydia. I've really enjoyed the discussion. And for anyone out there who wants to connect with me, the best way is on LinkedIn. You can find me as Shane Barnfield over there. Please do drop me a line. I love talking about talent acquisition and strategy. So I'd be more than happy to connect with anyone who wants to have that kind of discussion.
Lydia: Thank you, Shane. We've been in conversation with Shane Barnfield of Keywords Studios. Thank you for joining us, and remember to subscribe to stay tuned for more weekly episodes from All-In Recruitment.
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