Latest / Edan Haddock - Total Talent / You’re Not a Talent Leader. You’re a Product Manager.

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You’re Not a Talent Leader. You’re a Product Manager. · Edan Haddock - Total Talent

• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, welcome back to Eden Haddock Total Talent.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: No guests, no sponsors, no agenda.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Just me on the tools.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And this week, I've been sitting with something that I can't quite shake.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's been following me through conversations, through hiring meetings, through the way talent teams talk about themselves.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the thought is this.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Most talent teams think they're strategic.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: But if I'm honest, you're running a service desk.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I said it.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: A few things have led me to think about this this week.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And before you switch this off, before you go, nah, Eden, not us.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Just sit with it for a second.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm not having a go.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Believe me, I've been there.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I've built teams like that.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I've led teams like that.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: I've been in environments where I feel it creeping in.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: I've had conversations even recently where I feel it keeping creeping in.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: But the more I look at where the world is going, AI, candidate expectations, the speed of change in organizations, the more I realize this model doesn't hold anymore.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And what's replacing it?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's not another framework.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not another HR trend.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's a completely different way of thinking.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because what if hiring isn't a process?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: What if it's a product?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And what if you're not a talent leader?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're a product manager.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into it.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: All right, well, let's start with where we are today.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because this isn't about the future.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is about right now.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Most talent functions, whether we like it or not, are built like service functions.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it shows up everywhere.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Let's call it what it is.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: A role opens, a hiring manager reaches out, you book an intake, you take notes, you ask about competencies, experience, nice to have.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: You go away, you post the role, you source, you screen, you manage the end-to-end process, and you close.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then you do it all again.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And again, and again.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we've dressed this up over the years.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: We've added language, we've added frameworks, we've added dashboards.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: But at its core, it's ticket handling.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Intake meeting, that's ticket logging.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Hiring manager, that's your customer.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Recruiter, order taker.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Time to hire, speed of ticket resolution.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: And look, there's nothing wrong with being efficient.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: I love efficiency.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the problem.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: We've optimized the wrong thing.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: We've optimized for speed, not effectiveness.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: We've optimized fulfilling roles, not building something better.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where this starts to break.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because the world around us has changed.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: But this model, it hasn't.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: The cracks are showing, and you can feel it.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: You can feel it in candidate feedback.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: You may feel it in hiring manager frustration.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: You may feel it in talent teams burning out.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because no matter how fast you go, it's never enough.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the signal.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not that we need to go faster, but that we're playing the wrong game.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: So let's flip it.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Forget process for a second.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Forget frameworks.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Forget everything you've been told hiring is.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's look at it through a different lens.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Product.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you look at hiring as a product, everything changes.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Candidates, they're not applicants, they're users.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Hiring managers, they're not stakeholders, they're also users.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Your career site, that's your front-end experience.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Your interview process, that's your product journey.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Your employer brand, that's your marketing engine.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And now suddenly you're not running a process.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: You're building something.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Something people interact with.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Something people experience.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Something people judge.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: And right now, if we're honest, most of us wouldn't ship it.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Make it real.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this isn't theory.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is where it gets practical.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: The reality.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because product thinking isn't just a mindset, it's a way of working.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: So what does that actually look like in a talent team?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: First thing.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: User obsession.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean real user obsession.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Not surveys once a year.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Not candidate NPS slapped on a dashboard.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean understanding.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: What does it actually feel like to go through your hiring?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Where do people drop off?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Where do they get confused?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Where do they get frustrated?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Where do they get excited?
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because in reality, most talent teams don't actually know.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: We assume, we guess, we rely on hiring managers to tell us.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: But we don't sit in it.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: However, product teams do.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: They watch users, they test experiences, they obsess over small details.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the shift.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: From managing a process to designing an experience.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk iteration over perfection.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is the second stage.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Iteration.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is a big one.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because talent loves perfection.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: We love frameworks.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: We love sign-offs.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: We love getting everything right before we launch.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: But product doesn't work like that.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Product ships fast, then improves, then breaks, then fixes, then improves again.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And again, and again.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: But in talent, we may redesign our process once every two years, roll it out, look at a new tech stack, and we hope it works.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And look, that's not iteration, right?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's gambling.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: So what would it look like if you treated hiring like a live product?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Your job ads changing weekly, your interview formats evolving, your assessment methods tested in real time, not waiting for permission, just building, learning, improving.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where data comes in.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because we all talk about being data driven.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: We do.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: But most of the time, we're just reporting.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: And reporting isn't the same as learning.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: When I think about that.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because let's be honest, most TA dashboards, they're for show.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Time to hire, time to fill, source of hire, all packaged up nicely for a monthly report.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: But what does it actually change?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Very little.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because real product thinking uses data differently.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about reporting what happened.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's about understanding what to do next.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Where are candidates dropping out this week?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Which questions are failing?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Which hiring managers are slowing things down?
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Which roles are converting better with different approaches?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's signal.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's actionable.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's what drives change.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Not a slide in a deck.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the big one: ownership.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Ownership.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is where most talent teams fall apart.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Hiring is fragmented.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: TA owns sourcing.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Hiring managers own interviews.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: HR owns onboarding.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Brand can even own EVP.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: And no one owns the experience.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: No one owns the product.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: And when no one owns it, no one fixes it.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Product teams don't work like that.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's a product owner, someone accountable end to end.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Not just for delivery, but for quality, for experience, for outcomes.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the shift for talent leaders.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: You're not coordinating, you're owning.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before you go and try to do this, as I am, there are some traps.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because I see teams try to shift like this, including myself, and they get stuck fast.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: The first trap is waiting for permission.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: If we could just get leadership buy-in, if we could just redesign everything.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need permission to improve your product.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Start small, ship something bigger.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: And second, over-engineering.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: New frameworks, new models, new terminology.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: No, forget it.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Just make the experience better.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And third, as I always say, the third trap is copying others.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Best practice says this company does.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Comparing yourself to your competitors, your so-called competitors, which by the way, they aren't.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Best practice is just someone else's context.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Build your own.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And the fourth trap is this bizarre HR tech obsession.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: We need a new ATS.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: We need a new tool.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need new tech.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: You need better thinking.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Tech amplifies, but it doesn't fix.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, time to talk about the thing everyone's still dancing around.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: AI.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is where this is where this gets real.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: AI isn't a tool you bolt on.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually part of the product.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Screening, scheduling, engagement, communication already happening.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: And in my world, I've already seen this shift.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm driving it.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: At Movember, I have a team where one of my direct reports is an AI agent named Joel.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that changes how you think.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because now you're not just designing for humans, you're designing systems, workflows, interactions between humans and AI.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the best talent teams, they won't be bigger.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: They'll be better designed.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Leaner, sharper, more intentional.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because they're building products, not running processes.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: What does this actually mean for you?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in talent, leading a team, building something, it means this.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Stop reporting on activity.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Start owning outcomes.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Stop asking for more headcount.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Start redesigning the work.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Stop waiting to be invited into strategy.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Start building something worth being invited for.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because the truth is, if you're not shaping how hiring works, you're not leading it.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: So next time someone asks you what your talent team does, and they will, don't say you fill roles.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Don't say you support hiring.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Don't say you manage recruitment.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Say this.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: We build products.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Products that shape how people join this company.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Products that define the experience of work before someone even starts.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's the game now.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not building it, someone else will.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is Eden Haddock, Total Talent.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: No guests, no sponsors, no agenda.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Just real conversations from someone still on the tools.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll see you next week.