Name: William Tincup

Your current role/title: President, RecruitingDaily

Favorite book: Animal Farm by George Orwell

Favorite place you’ve visited: It’s a tie between the Taj Mahal and Machu Picchu.

Tell us about your background and what led you to your current role.

I’ve been in the industry for 20 years, studying HR and technology from four different vantage points (ad agency, consultant, researcher and media). While tech has always played a role in HR and TA, we’re seeing an explosion of newer technologies—we’re living in exciting times.

In terms of my latest role, I joined RecruitingDaily three years ago. I love covering the industry from a media perspective, I enjoy interacting with our vibrant audience and I love the folks I work with.

What will attendees learn from your presentation?

I have four goals for my time at STRIVE, (1) entertain: we all need to laugh a bit more, (2) inspire: by the stories I tell, I hope folks leave happier and more inspired by spending time with me, (3) educate:we’re all taking time off away from work. We need to learn something specific that we can use in our daily lives, (4) listen: as a speaker, my job is to speak however, great speakers listen as well. I’ll have my ears open just as much as my mouth. Suffice to say, I’m learning just like everyone else.

If you had to pick one piece of advice to give to recruitment/talent acquisition professionals, what would it be?

Relax. Go slow to go fast. The game is simple, right person, right job, right time—everything else is cannon fodder. So, relax and focus on what is truly important.

What inspires you about your work?

Reading and/or hearing practitioners talk about how they’ve innovated something—a process, use of tech and/or structurally with their people. Innovation is inspiring.

What will you STRIVE for in 5-10 years?

I want to work directly with more practitioners, I want to get closer to the work rather than farther away. I have a real disdain for futurism so as I age I don’t want to fall into that comfortable wisdom trap that states the longer you’ve walked on the planet the more you know about what’s next. In my opinion, that’s a lie we tell ourselves. So, the next few years are about being more in the moment with practitioners doing innovative work. Sounds granular, because it is and it’s purposeful.

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing talent acquisition/recruitment?

Fear of change. The only constant is change and we all hate change. Some more than others. We have to find a way to embrace change, get motivated by it and harness it rather than fear change. It’s like losing weight. We all know how to lose weight (eat the right foods, eat at the right times, eat the right amounts, exercise, drink plenty of water, get eight hours of sleep, etc.), yet many of us don’t (myself included). So we know change is coming and will continue to come. The question is: how will we react?

Fun fact about you people may not know:

I’m a numismatist.