This TA pro will never forget a name and brings ‘concierge service’ to the candidate experience

Here’s this week’s edition of our Coworking series. Each week, we chat 1:1 with an HR Brew reader. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

It’s not every day a flash mob changes the trajectory of a career, but that’s exactly what happened to Kate Smiley. Smiley started as a teller at Park National Bank, but after she organized a flash mob with bank employees at a local arts festival, leadership noticed her creativity and willingness to go the extra mile. Smiley moved from teller into a role where her creative side could flourish, organizing the bank’s travel program. She then joined National Park’s HR team in 2019, bringing a “mentality of…white-glove service and concierge to HR” before being hand-selected as one of its core four in-house recruiters.

“Over 13 years, I’ve had this organic journey where I’ve never actually been qualified for the job, it’s people [who] have taken a chance on me and I’ve proven them right,” she said.

On the recruiting team, Smiley is “obsessed with good communication,” being “quick and efficient” and “as transparent as possible.” She says she has practiced over the course of her career remembering names. It’s one of her “superpowers.” Her approach to the candidate experience is simple: “I’m going to meet you at the door. I’m going to tell you about Park. I’m going to tell you about the department, who the people are, what benefits come along, the total rewards package, and I’m going to tell you that in the first conversation.”

What’s the best change you’ve made at work?

I communicate as quickly and authentically as possible with every candidate that interviews. If you interviewed on Monday morning, my goal is to have feedback and recommendations or your next interview scheduled by Monday afternoon. It takes time management, detail recall, and setting expectations with the manager...It baffles me that the industry standard is possibly no response at all, but it does make it easy to exceed people’s expectations.

What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?

The biggest misconception is that hiring using only a third-party recruiting firm will result in better candidates. I am a part of a five-person in-house recruitment team that not only saves the company [over] $350,000 on fees annually, but our candidates come in knowing the company from an employee perspective. They fully understand the expectations and they already have a connection to someone at the company prior to starting. The ROI for hiring managers that let us fill the roles is very positive in many ways.

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

I build relationships with the candidates throughout the process and it is so exciting when I have the opportunity to call and make them an offer that changes their life. It is so impactful to find the right coworker and make a department team whole with the best people.

What trend in HR are you most optimistic about? Why?

Pay transparency is long overdue to be the norm.

What trend in HR are you least optimistic about? Why?

The decline in visibility of DE&I positions available and efforts to continue that important work in the US. That is why I love recruiting so much, for the fact that my choices directly impact those efforts. The support my team receives from our DE&I taskforce to lead change in department diversity keeps us going.