Meet the Team: Nancy Wood (VP, People)
Each of the leaders within our organization seem to have an interesting story of how they got into recruiting. In our “Meet the Team '' series, we share how our team found their way here, how they approach their craft and some other fun facts. In this interview with Nancy Wood, our VP of People, we’ll see how Nancy found her way to people operations and HR, and her goals for the Flawless team in 2023.
How did you get into talent acquisition and people operations?
My early career had nothing to do with recruiting. I was an event planner and then went to law school. After finishing school, I found myself uncertain about my next step and took on a temporary sourcing role. That temp opportunity turned into an almost 9-year tenure with Binc and the start of my career in talent acquisition and people operations. During that time, I progressed to leading a sourcing team and doing full-cycle recruiting myself. Over time, I also got involved in creating and refining recruiting processes, training others on those processes, and eventually expanded my role to include HR/People Operations. As my career progressed, my horizons broadened.
Why did you choose Flawless and how did you get here?
After my tenure at Binc, I was doing some contract work at a Series-A startup, when a former coworker called me about a role at Flawless. It sounded similar to what I had been doing at Binc, which was work that had a soft spot in my heart. I was drawn not only by my familiarity with the Flawless business model, but Flawless was at a similar stage of opportunity and growth that Binc had been at when I joined them. It was an opportunity to do things better and apply what I had learned the first time around. It’s not everyday an opportunity you thought you had one chance at comes back around.
There were unique personalities, great people, and I loved the eagerness of people here at Flawless. I wanted to be a part of it, and I knew I could bring and use expertise to the table that I couldn’t anywhere else; that was attractive!
What have you achieved so far at Flawless?
I’m really proud of our Flawless Webinars; they’re unique in the sense that they’re open conversations with other talent acquisition professionals. It’s a chance to help bring interesting topics to the table and moderate some great discussions. They expand our reach in the TA community wider than just our clients, and are a great way for people to connect with others professionally, beyond our usual day-to-day transactions. I’m also working on a Career Fair in April to help intro candidates with some of the great companies we know. This has been a rough year for candidates and employers both, so we’re not charging anyone to participate. It’s one of those chances to “pay it forward”, so we are! I’m proud of these and other ways we’ve embraced and practiced our company value of building community.
How does Flawless differentiate itself from other players in the market?
In everything we do at Flawless. We’re very relationship and partnership focused. We are a business delivering quality services to clients, but we lead with the desire to help, and to be great at it.
I like that we differentiate ourselves this way because I do see and feel that some recruiting firms get a reputation of being too transactional and being “all about business.” Of course we’re also a business, but we are just as invested in building great teams for our clients, as they are. Their success is our success and vice versa.
What are some of your goals here at Flawless in 2023?
I’m really focusing internally this year on fastening more “puzzle pieces” together that help ensure every employee at Flawless is growing and developing in their career, not just delivering performance results and metrics. I want to make sure everyone feels like we are helping them achieve some of their bigger-picture, career aspirations, too.
How would you describe your leadership style?
First, I am my own worst critic, so it is difficult to describe my leadership style. I’ll call it a style that is style developing. When I think about my leadership style, I am reminded of the leaders who I admire and aspire to be in the future. I hope to have adopted some of the great parts of all of them, and recognize that I have room to learn. We’re all on our own journeys, and there is no perfect person or leader. I feel that kind of honesty shows up in my leadership.
That’s all for now, but come back again next time to meet more Flawless leadership.