#52: David and Goliath – How Non-Technical Companies Can Compete with Tech Titans for Talent

This week we welcome Heather Dunn to the podcast. Passionate about HR from an early age (16!), Heather brings more than 15 years of experience has an HR leader in technology companies, having held senior roles at Microsoft and Dropbox before joining Gem, where she currently serves at Chief People Officer. Topics include: how HR can be a “lonely” role in an organization, the similarities between HR and therapy, the importance of having “truth tellers,” the prevalence of open technical roles in non-technical companies, how non-technical companies can leverage their talent brands to compete with tech juggernauts like Amazon and Meta, the importance of career pathing to tech talent, how to foster efficiency within the recruiting process, the value of transparency to tech workers, how to leverage employee “personas” in talent attraction, the delta between employer messaging and employee perceptions, employee engagement scores, candidate nurturing, the interaction between remote work and “belonging”, and the role and value of employee resource groups (ERG’s). Heather DunnChief People Officer, GemLinkedIn Chief Chat: Heather DunnMy company pays ERG leaders $10K in equity per year. Here’s whyHow startups and non-tech firms can better attract laid-off Big Tech talent