00:00 Shonna Dorsey: Welcome to Tech Talk. A podcast featuring employees and leaders discussing all things tech at Mutual of Omaha. Join us to learn what tech professionals can gain from a career with us. Let’s talk tech. Hi, I am Shonna Dorsey.
00:13 Brian Poppe: And I’m Brian Poppe. Welcome to another edition of Tech Talk. So, Shonna, how’s your week been?
00:20 Shonna Dorsey: So far, so good. Just getting ready for another 5K tomorrow. So, it will be number 15 for me I believe.
00:26 Brian Poppe: Fifteen 5K’s, that’s a lot of K’s.
00:30 Shonna Dorsey: Lot of K’s, lot of walking K’s, what is that like?
00:33 Brian Poppe: 75 K’s I think in fact.
00:36 Shonna Dorsey: 75 K’s, about 50 K’s walking
00:40 Brian Poppe: That’s a pretty good ratio, I think
00:43 Shonna Dorsey: It’s not too bad. I mean, not too bad.
00:44 Brian Poppe: There’s a rumor that you typically get key lime pie afterwards. Is that true?
00:51 Shonna Dorsey: I do, even when I don’t feel like I’ve earned it. I think there was a 5K where I walked the whole thing and I still had a slice of key lime. I’m like, you know, I got out there.
1:00 Brian Poppe: I got up, I walked 5K’s. I need a slice of key lime pie. I mean, that actually sounds pretty good. It is the middle of summer, key lime pie sounds pretty great right now.
1:11 Hunter Huggins: So, are the key lime pies better in Florida?
1:14 Shonna: I would say so but, you know, the funny thing is, I don’t know if you’re familiar with Edwards Key Lime pie in the freezer aisle? Amazing! You can get them anywhere.
1:23 Brian: Well, all right. I know what I’m doing this afternoon. Do I have to run a 5K to get a slice? Will they check for my ribbon when I get to the grocery store looking for an Edwards Key Lime pie?
1:37 Shonna: No, you have a 4K TV. I think as long as there’s a K involved somewhere; you can have it.
1:42 Brian: Love it. All right, our special guest today. We have Hunter Huggins joining us from HR. So, Hunter, thanks for joining us today.
1:51 Hunter: Yeah, thanks for having me. It’s great to be here.
1:53 Brian: We’ve got a few questions, but we’ll see where the conversation takes us. As an HR Recruiter for I/T positions, tell us about your day to day. What do you do here at Mutual of Omaha?
2:03 Hunter: Yeah, that’s a great question. So, you know, recruiters do a lot. We wear several different hats and it’s a little bit all over the place. But, you know, a lot of it’s partnering. So, partnering with hiring managers, understanding their roles. Candidates really appreciate when you can actually speak to the position and the roles and responsibilities versus just asking them about some buzzwords and also understanding the team dynamic.
2:31 I mean, Mutual of Omaha’s a big company. We have around 1,200 associates in our I/S department. And while we have a pretty consistent culture across the board, there are definitely teams that have a little bit of a different dynamic going on. Maybe they are doing happy hours, or they are doing some other kind of fun stuff. So just trying to stay on top of all that and then creating a value, so just kind of understanding the role and the value that adds to the organization.
2:59 We’re marketers, too! So, kind of creating a plan to best attract candidates to the best team through crafting the job description, going on socials but also through having an engaging outreach message. Building a lot of relationships. So that’s with the candidates being able to ask them good and meaningful questions.
3:22 Listening. Listening is a big part of what we do. Understanding their experience, their career interests so even if a specific position is not a match for them, you know we’re going to try and keep them in mind for future opportunities. Our company is continuing to grow. And, as we grow, we’re going to have a variety of needs that could align with that candidate’s experience.
3:43 And then, kind of through that conversation, we can become advocates for the candidate. The recruiter has an opportunity to talk to the candidate, understand their experience and career interests, and get to know them more than what’s on the resume. And so that can help us with reducing bias in later steps of the process, increasing diversity throughout the organization, and really helping us to represent candidates that are going to be an amazing fit for Mutual of Omaha.
4:12 And the other thing that we really do a lot of is being a brand and culture champion. So, there are a lot of times when a candidate’s first experience is going to be with the recruiter, and we really have a tight window to make a great impression. So, it’s important that we get that right! Our team meets regularly to talk about candidate experiences, ensuring that it’s a great process, ensuring that we’ve got a good value proposition that aligns with the culture of the organization. This can be a little bit difficult because I think each candidate has different expectations and it’s just rapidly changing.
4:46 But you know, we do our best to get it right more than we get it wrong!
4:49 Brian: Yes, that sounds like a tough job. I mean, you just described, I think, five jobs in one! From marketer to sales to advocate to brand champion! You’ve got a whole bunch of stuff that you’ve got to do for the candidates. So, I appreciate the work.
5:04 Hunter: Thanks. Yea, maybe I’ll tell my boss, that way she will know that I’m doing five jobs! Maybe she’ll give me a raise.
5:09 Shonna: Just send her the link to this video when it’s ready! You know, in addition to the challenges and all the different things that you’re responsible for, the job market is also very competitive, right? Can you tell us what are your top recruiting challenges and some of the things your teams are doing to address them?
5:27 Hunter: Yes, absolutely. The challenges are changing a lot as well! But, you know, Mutual of Omaha is a great company with an amazing culture. And even though we’ve been around for a really long time and are as well-known as we are, there’s still a lot of people who haven’t heard of us or don’t really know what we do. And I hear, oh, you’re that insurance company and so we work really hard to get Mutual of Omaha’s brand out there on job postings and try to get it in the right spot at the right time. But you know, it’s a new market today, being in the right place or on LinkedIn is just really not enough anymore.
6:04 Hunter: The messaging really has to resonate. Our talent acquisition team works a lot on making sure of that! We’re meeting with managers, talking to new hires after they’ve come on to understand their experience and some of our other partners to ensure that we’ve got a great employment value proposition that keeps in line with the company culture.
6:25 Hunter: The other thing that’s really kind of a big challenge from the I/S recruiting standpoint, is that our I/T department is this constantly evolving. The company is heavily involved in tech and modernization and this rapid involvement of the technology just inherently is challenging to keep up with. There is this constant battle and not just the technology changing but there’s a lot of competition out there. All kind of chasing after the same candidates with these specialized skill sets. It’s really important for the talent acquisition team to stay on top of this tech. So, we are out there, we’re sitting in on all these I/S meetings to learn about what the business is doing. We’re going to tech conferences and sitting in to understand what the tech is so we can speak meaningfully to that technology! I think the candidates appreciate that when it’s not just, hey, do you have X number of years expertise in this technology? You get to know them a bit better.
7:24 Shonna: Have you received any feedback from some of the new efforts that your team is trying out to address the competition in the market?
7:30 Hunter: Well, I think over this last year, we’ve hired over 120 external resources into our I/S department. We’ve also helped over 60 current associates change jobs within the company. So, I think that what we’re doing is working but, we need to stay on top of it. And it is something that will continually be a challenge. We partner with a lot of different parts of the company, and we lean on them as much as they lean on us to make sure it’s all successful.
8:10 Brian: As one of the champions of tech mod, I certainly thank you for the work you’re doing both in finding the associates and making sure that our existing ones get the opportunities that they’re looking for. So, you were saying that you hired 120 associates last year. That’s a lot of folks to come in the door!
8:31 Tell me a little bit about the types of things that you look for in new candidates. How can a candidate stand out? And on a side note, I’ve had a longstanding theory that the cover letters that people write don’t even get read at all!
8:51 Hunter: Yeah, well, so you know, I think that if you are applying for a job, it seems so simple but it’s really helpful from the recruiter’s standpoint that you read the job description. There’s a lot of really good information in there that’s going to help you to craft your resume in a way in which you can adjust some of your experience to align more directly with what’s being requested in the job posting. I get it, you may be out there applying to a lot of job postings so maybe doing a deep dive on each of them doesn’t make sense but, it’s even making some of the little efforts can really go a long way.
I think, from a cover letter perspective, it’s not my go to. If I’m looking through a resume and I’m thinking, wow, this person is like 80% and they’ve got a cover letter then I jump into the cover letter to have a look to see if maybe they’re calling out a few things that they’re doing that you wouldn’t traditionally just put into your resume. And so, I think that the cover letter is a bygone era type of thing. I think that it’s something that maybe is not looked at anymore.
10:00 So, you’re not wrong Brian but, it’s probably what I would call the back letter, not the cover letter. And then I think the other thing maybe to dispel if is we’re talking about what’s happening in talent acquisition, what’s being done and what’s not being done, by and large it is AI, it’s still a growing technology that most companies aren’t using. And so, if you are getting a response back from someone in our talent acquisition department, it’s not because some bot said that you’re not a good fit. Someone from the talent acquisition team is actually taking the time to review your resume and make a determination based on your qualifications. So, there is no over-lord robot making these decisions.
10:48 Also, on a side note, if we’re talking about weird things like cover letters, it is the resume length. I’m not an advocate for the one pager anymore. I know that was kind of the norm for a while. But, when you start getting into like five, seven or nine pages, I think that it becomes a bit of a challenge for the recruiter to understand the scope of your experience. Maybe it’s too much information.
11:12 Brian: But Hunter, I really need you to know that I was the 50-meter dash champion at my elementary school! That’s a true story, by the way. I’m the 50-meter dash champion holder at Watson Elementary in Hastings, Nebraska.
11:25 Hunter: You’ll have to start with the trophies.
11:29 Brian: Last I knew, I actually got to go back there as a senior in high school and my name was still up on the wall. So as far as I know, I’m still the 50-meter dash holder.
11:43 Shonna: That’s great but, I do have a question for you Brian. You’ve been with the company for over ten years?
Brian: Thirteen years.
Shonna: Thirteen years. OK, Chief Data Officer how long would your resume be?
11:52 Brian: For me, I’m down to like a page and a half and I would love to get it down to the one page that Hunter describes. I mean, I simplify with bullets and try to hit just the highlights.
12:07 Shonna: Good advice.
12:08 Hunter: You’re hired Brian!
12:09 Brian: I get to keep my job, so I appreciate it Hunter.
12:12 Shonna: Hunter, outside of job specific skills, what core qualities do you look for?
12:22 Hunter: So, I think on the resume you can obviously list a lot of your skills and experiences. I wouldn’t necessarily include your high school sprint record or anything like that. But obviously, if you’re involved with some activities outside of what your normal job would be, special professional activities, those can be nice to see. Also, when you get on the phone with a recruiter, it’s always a good opportunity to just be yourself and be the best representation of yourself. Just being genuine on the call, building a relationship with the recruiter. The recruiter can be an advocate on your side as I said before.
13:04 Just really having that honest and open discussion about your experiences and career interests. The last thing we want to do is put somebody who has the skills in the wrong job with the wrong team. So as a recruiter, we want to listen to you, not just what’s on the resume but also, where do you want to go with your career?
13:24 What do you want to do? What are your next steps? Not a five-year plan not a long-term plan. What do you see here over the next year to two? And that way we can make sure as we present you to our managers, we’re putting you on the right team, or the right opening to be considered for.
13:43 Shonna: That makes sense. And I know, at Mutual, we really think about those ideal team player qualities. Can you tell us a little bit about that as well?
13:51 Hunter: Yes absolutely. I’m glad you brought that up Shonna. So, at Mutual of Omaha, especially I/S but also, in a lot of other areas of the organization we really focus on people that are humble, hungry, and smart and so, really looking for a collaborative team players or ideal team players who can work well with each other, who can, maybe work through some challenging conversations or disagreements and come to a resolution. Those that, maybe they saw a process improvement that wasn’t part of their normal job, but they saw the benefit that it would create for the company or their team. So, they’ve gone out of the way to kind of resolve that or to add value. Having that hunger to continue to grow, maybe laterally, but also vertically in terms of the value that you add to the organization. And then obviously, being smart. So Mutual of Omaha hires a lot of really smart and talented individuals.
14:53 I think that in this instance where we’re talking about, it’s more of that EQ, that intelligence smarts. So, it’s kind of knowing how and when to talk to people. And, if you need to adjust your communication style of where your communication is with them, I think it’s an important part of being a professional and part of the reason why Mutual of Omaha has such a great culture.
15:13 We remain curious. We ask good questions and assume positive intent. So, I think those are some of the kinds of key tenants of things that we look for when we’re talking with candidates.
15:25 Shonna: That’s great. Thank you.
15:26 Brian: All right, well, thanks for joining us today Hunter. I’m Brian Poppe.
15:33 Shonna: And I’m Shonna Dorsey.
15:36 Hunter: Thanks. Glad to be here.
15:38 Brian: This has been another addition of Tech Talk. So we will see you all next time.