4 Ways to Advance Your Career as a Talent Leader

Are you eyeing that next phase of your career but not sure how to get there? For many recruiters who have mastered the art (and science) of finding talent, working successfully with hiring managers, and getting top candidates to “yes,” the next step is to become a talent leader. 

You may want to shine. You may have resources that would help others thrive. You may know in your heart that you’re a leader. But you may not know how to make that next move. That’s why we’ve spoken to two talent leaders who recently moved up the ladder and have wisdom to share. (Hints: Be open to networking and sponsorship. Stay eager to learn. Take risks.)

One of the leaders we spoke with was Kristen Cross, of Waterloo, Ontario. Kristen started her career in learning and development, but jumped to talent in 2019, when she took a role at the financial services company Sun Life that bridged both fields. This talent leadership role opened new possibilities for Kristen, leading to her current role as director, human resources business partner. 

We also spoke with Mahdi Chab, a talent acquisition manager based in Windsor, England. The quadrilingual Brit started in a recruitment agency, moved to become a talent acquisition partner at the telecommunications company Mitel, and advanced to leadership there. In February, he started as the talent acquisition manager for global sales at the software company Scandit. 

Together, Mahdi and Kristen have learned a lot about what it takes to advance in your career. Here’s what they have to say: 

1. Find a mentor or sponsor who will help you advance

Very few people make it to the next level on hard work alone. Usually, they need someone to offer them guidance (a mentor) or actively advocate for them (a sponsor) to advance within the company. This is particularly true for women and people from underrepresented groups. According to a 2019 McKinsey and Lean In report, women are less likely than men to receive that first promotion to a management position. Black and Latina women are even less likely to advance. 

Kristen has regularly tapped into mentors — particularly at pivotal moments in her career, and was lucky to have found a sponsor in one of her leaders at Sun Life. “My leader made it a priority,” she says, “to connect with me regularly and discuss my career. She listened to what I wanted exposure to, and helped me get the experiences that I needed.” Her manager/sponsor also created opportunities for Kristen to present her work to senior leaders. This gave Kristen exposure to the C-suite and a chance to work directly with the chief human resources officer. That put her on the radar of senior leaders. 

“My leader gave me opportunities,” Kristen says, “and talked about me in spaces where I wasn’t normally present.” This is critical. As Carla Harris, the vice chair and managing director of Morgan Stanley, has shared: “If the only person who knows you’re doing a great job is your boss, you’re vulnerable. They may leave, they may lose their seat, they may lose their juice. Make sure as many people as possible know about you.”

An added bonus for Kristen: By working directly with higher-ups, she also honed her presentation and storytelling skills, which continue to serve her well in new roles. 

To learn more, you may want to check out the LinkedIn Learning course “Mentorship, Sponsorship, and Lifting Others as You Climb.”

2. Lean into your network and follow leaders whose careers you admire 

When Mahdi wanted to move up, both from his role at a recruitment agency and later at Mitel, he networked aggressively. 

He started first on LinkedIn, by following the talent leaders he admired. That included Melissa Thompson, now the global head of talent acquisition at Ford Motor Company; Tim Brown, the VP of talent acquisition at Peloton Interactive; and Blair Bennett, the SVP of talent acquisition at PepsiCo. “I would see a profile of this person,” Mahdi says, “and think, ‘Wow, that’s the job that I want in the future. How did this person get there?’” He pored over their histories, looking at the roles they’d held, and compared them to his own career trajectory to see if he was headed in the right direction.

By carefully studying these profiles, he was able to jump from life sciences and pharmaceuticals into tech, where he really wanted to be. He also got useful advice along the way. “I remember I even reached out to one of the leaders I follow,” he says, “to ask for help and pointers when I was applying for the promotion I got at Mitel, and it was this lovely woman, who was more than happy to help and to answer some questions.” 

When he applied for his current role, he leaned on his LinkedIn network again, reaching out to someone he had almost hired at Mitel and who had gone on to work at Scandit. Mahdi wanted to get an honest opinion of the company. The former candidate was happy to chat and reassured him he was making the right decision. 

Mahdi has also leaned into the global network he created while attending LinkedIn’s Paths Program, which helps propel emerging talent acquisition leaders to the next level of their career. “I’ve asked the other people in the program for advice,” he says, “because many of them were a lot more seasoned in talent acquisition than I was.” 

To learn how to be a better networker, take a look at the LinkedIn Learning course “Professional Networking.”

3. Keep learning with formal courses and on-the-job training

Kristen and Mahdi both love to learn and are continually adding to their skills base. They’ve done this through on-the-job training and formal learning, including the Paths program, where they each earned a certificate in Advanced Talent Strategy. 

The nine-week course, which LinkedIn launched last year in partnership with The Wharton School, included a live lecture series with teachers such as Mauro Guillén, author of 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything, and Amrita Subramanian, former vice president of global strategic talent development at HSBC. It also featured self-paced learning outside the classroom and collaborative projects with fellow students, who were spread across the globe. 

“It was a really motivating, if intense, experience,” Kristen says. “It felt like I was doing a mini-MBA alongside my day job.” The biggest plus for her: Paths took a broad, strategic approach to talent, well beyond the nuts-and-bolts of recruiting. It gave her an extensive view of talent issues, which she relies on in her job now. 

Mahdi had just been promoted to a leadership position when he started Paths. He liked the global perspective he gained in the program and also the day-to-day advice, such as how to develop confidence and excel as a leader. 

“These were really important to me because I was fairly new to a corporate environment,” he says, “and my career at Mitel really blossomed because I had something like this to lean on at the very beginning.”

Mahdi has also turned to training sessions offered by the Association of Talent Acquisition Professionals to advance his skills, taking courses on marketing and branding and another on improving conversion rates when using LinkedIn InMail.

This year’s LinkedIn’s Paths program starts on May 10 and runs to July 7. The program is open to full-time talent acquisition professionals who work for a LinkedIn customer and, ideally, are at the senior manager level. Applications are due by April 4, 2022. 

4. Step outside your comfort zone to develop new skills, competencies, and connections

Both Kristen and Mahdi found that one of the best ways to climb the ladder was to take risks and volunteer for projects for which they weren’t fully qualified, but which would stretch their skills. 

“Stepping outside my comfort zone,” Mahdi says, “is really the essence of who I am as a person.” He demonstrated this at Mitel by taking on a project to help the company make better use of its LinkedIn package. 

Mahdi didn’t have all the skills for the task, but that didn’t stop him. He worked with the branding team to design graphics and LinkedIn banners for cover art. He created several new company landing pages and launched a campaign called “10 Questions with Mitel” that was based on Vogue magazine’s “73 Questions” video series. It became a huge hit and caught the attention of higher-ups in the company. 

While doing this, Mahdi gained new skills — such as stakeholder management and project management — and increased his confidence. But he also had to work through that awful, uncomfortable sense that he didn’t entirely know what he was doing. “I had to feel those feelings,” he says, “because that’s the only way we excel.”

For advice on how to venture outside your comfort zone, check out the LinkedIn Learning course “Risk Taking for Leaders.”

Final thoughts: Patience and persistence are critical when climbing the career ladder

Overnight success usually doesn’t happen . . . overnight. Mahdi points out that it’s easier to advance if you truly enjoy the process of your career growth and are passionate about your roles. But the path up usually also demands patience and persistence. 

“It’s important to realize that with things that are new, there’s a learning curve,” Kristen says. “You have to be willing to wrestle through that, not give up, and surround yourself with great people who are in your corner. There can be challenging periods. But if you persist through those, you’ve learned something about your work and yourself, and that will only serve you well in your next role.”

*Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash

To receive blog posts like this one straight in your inbox, subscribe to the blog newsletter.