How I Hire

Talent acquisition expert Heather Flynn joins Roy to discuss the ins and outs of successful recruitment strategy. Heather recently served as the SVP of Talent Acquisition for Aritzia, prior to which she led hiring efforts for other major brands like Nike and ASML. Roy and Heather dig into the essential role of talent strategy, the importance of strong employment branding and candidate engagement, the emerging application of AI in recruiting, and much more.Highlights from our conversation include:How holistic talent strategy informs a successful business strategy (5:52)Current trends, challenges, and opportunities facing top talent acquisition leaders (7:54)Key elements of a successful talent acquisition strategy (9:58)How Heather assesses an organization’s hiring bar (13:45)Ways that hiring leaders can step up their game (16:11)Heather’s approach to helping hiring teams make the best candidate decisions (17:45)What growing consumer brands look for in a leader and how it’s evolved recently (20:07)How she approached talent strategy at Aritzia (22:14)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

Coach, speaker, and author Patrick Galvin joins Roy to discuss the principles laid out in his recent book The Connector’s Way. Patrick’s work focuses on the essential role of personal connection and relationship building in our day to day life, our business practices, our sense of success, and more. As co-founder and partner of The Galvanizing Group and author of several books exploring the nuances of social connection and trust building, Patrick helps high-performing companies and individuals achieve greater levels of success in business by strengthening internal and external relationships. Patrick and Roy dig into the many ways to practice relationship building, the pitfalls of networking without connecting, why it pays to be “the keener,” and much more.Highlights from our conversation include:The important distinction between connecting and networking (5:02)Ways in which hybrid/remote work impact connection (7:11)Using Patrick’s methods to build trust, engagement, and performance (9:16)Embedding relationship building into company culture and leadership development practices (12:53)The intersection of connection and recruiting (18:52)Balancing work, life, and maintaining strong relationships (20:58)Metrics that leaders can use to track or improve their ability to foster connections (26:36)How Patrick sees technological advances impacting the formation and maintenance of relationships (29:59)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

Fred Miller and Judith Katz of The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group have spent the last few decades on the cutting edge of diversity and inclusion thought leadership and organizational development. For the last 50 years, KJCG has assisted organizations in creating inclusive, collaborative workplaces that leverage differences to achieve higher performance and engagement. Judith and Fred have co authored multiple books on diversity, inclusion, collaboration, trust, authenticity, and teamwork, and they join Roy to discuss their latest groundbreaking book, The Power of Agency: Cultivating Autonomy, Authority, and Leadership in Every Role.Highlights from our conversation include:The next crucial step beyond inclusion and diversity (2:30)How agency impacts organizational efficiency and performance (4:24)The key difference between empowerment and agency (7:18)A leader’s role in an agency-forward organization (8:50)How to evaluate a leader for their capacity to promote agency (10:00)What this leadership shift means for organizations (11:10)How the COVID 19 pandemic influenced changes around agency (12:28)Six critical factors that foster a culture of agency (16:00)How to avoid a “runaway train” when implementing this strategy (18:36)The first steps leaders can take toward unleashing agency (20:42)How to evaluate the level of agency in an organization (22:45)Common barriers in unleashing agency (23:30)The important distinction between being kind and being nice (24:55)How AI and other technologies might affect agency in the workplace (27:06)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode, and check out Roy’s past conversation with Fred and Judith on recruiting, supporting, and retaining a diverse workforce.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

Career coach and HR consultant Kate Sargent returns for the third installment of our series exploring tips, insights, and advice for job seekers. Kate is the founder of KJS Consulting, where she helps candidates prepare and polish all aspects of their job search strategy. Prior to starting her coaching business, she recruited for brands like The North Face, Allbirds, Method, and The Citizenry. In Part 3 of their deep dive, Kate and Roy discuss the art – and science – of negotiation. Together, they dig into the complexities of reaching agreeable compensation for a new role, the pros and cons of equity, how to leave a job graciously, and the importance of maintaining positivity through employment changes. Highlights from our conversation include:Negotiating compensation when fielding a job offer (1:43)Skillfully navigating and understanding equity, bonuses, and benefits (5:03)Other important variables to be aware of while negotiating a new role (7:16)How to quit and gracefully negotiate your exit (12:33)When, why, and where to get HR involved (14:27)The nuances of separation agreements (16:36)Contracting after leaving your role versus making a clean break (21:48)Dos and don’ts of posting on social media after leaving your job (23:02)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode, and check out Part 1 and Part 2 of Roy and Kate’s job search series, as well as our in-depth conversations about networking and interviewing.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

Career coach and HR consultant Kate Sargent is back for Part 2 of our three-part discussion series around strategies, guidance, and best practices for job seekers. Kate is the founder of KJS Consulting and has led extensive recruiting efforts for brands like The Citizenry, Method, The North Face, and Allbirds. In Part 2, Kate and Roy explore the ins and outs of interviewing. Together, they dig into important topics like recommendations for feeling and appearing prepared, ways to successfully frame competencies and experience, how to best approach challenging interview questions, and much more.   Highlights from our conversation include:Important things to research about a company before your interview (1:44)Preparing for difficult interview questions (3:47)How to clearly and accurately convey leadership experience (7:14)Going high level in answering interview questions vs. getting into the details (9:39)Cues to be aware of (11:24)How to communicate weaknesses or limited experience (17:24)The value of having good questions prepared as an interviewee (20:54)How to follow up after an interview (24:30)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

Career coach and HR consultant Kate Sargent returns to the podcast for a special, three-part deep-dive into advice, insights, and recommendations for job seekers. Kate is the founder of KJS Consulting and has an impressive track record in recruiting for major brands like The North Face, Allbirds, Method, and The Citizenry. At KJS Consulting, Kate helps job seekers contextualize, articulate, and organize their stories in order to land ideal opportunities. In Part 1 of this conversation series, Roy and Kate dig into the functions of different kinds of recruiters, best practices for candidates in cultivating relationships with search firms and consultants, major do’s and don’ts during the hiring process, and the long range perspective necessary to building a comprehensive job search strategy.Highlights from our conversation include:Ways in which Kate supports and coaches job seekers (3:12)Understanding the role of different recruiters and how they work (4:30)Why communication from recruiters might feel inconsistent or challenging at times (5:58)How candidates can evaluate whether or not a search firm is a good fit (10:18)What candidates should expect when reaching out to a recruiter (12:29)Effective ways for candidates to build relationships with search consultants (15:00)Respecting the recruiter during the hiring process (16:08)The importance of candidate honesty and accuracy in targeting opportunities (21:51)Leveraging your relationships for a long game strategy (23:43)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

Board recruiting advisor Kris Stred breaks down the role and impact of an effective board and how to find experienced directors. Kris has over 15 years of board search experience and is the founder of Stred Executive Search LLC. Before starting her own firm, Kris was a lawyer for publicly-traded and privately-held companies. Her first-hand involvement with the board’s fiduciary duties in high-stakes situations and the important dynamics of teams of business leaders propelled her to become a recruiter. She gained a deep understanding of what it takes to form a balanced and functional board of directors.Highlights from our conversation include:The role and common structure of a board (3:19)How boards are evolving (5:59)When companies should develop a board (7:20)Why companies might look for professional support when recruiting a board (9:28)Pitfalls of the traditional board recruiting process and how to avoid them (11:56)The biggest difference between board and executive recruiting (15:27)What to look for in a board candidate (17:42)Screening for mission and values (21:14)One vital lesson from successes and failures (22:40)Mitigating risk factors (24:00)Key advice for incoming directors (25:27)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

Noto Group’s team of principal search consultants break down key workforce and leadership trends they’re seeing for 2025 and beyond. Sara Spirko, Lena Knofler, and Tami Bumiller discuss predictions and actionable advice for those seeking top talent in the year ahead.Highlights from our conversation include:Challenges, opportunities, and reflections on 2024 (2:27)How client and candidate priorities are shifting (5:01)3 essential competencies for modern leaders (10:00)How boards and CEOs can leverage search firms for success in 2025 (13:00)What’s making employers competitive in the talent market today (17:46)Creative compensation packages (20:11)Smart solutions to persistent hybrid/remote/on-site challenges (22:35)Attracting top talent to outlying locations (22:58)Current factors to consider when asking candidates to relocate (25:12)Guidance for executives seeking new roles this year (26:29)Reasons to be optimistic in 2025 and beyond (29:29)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Listen to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

When the stakes are high, hiring the right leader can make or break your business. How I Hire dives into bold hiring strategies, historic market shifts, and heroic leadership stories from the best executives in the game.

Organizational psychologists Dr. Ted Freeman and Dr. Stacey Philpot return to the podcast with a deep dive into their approach to working with teams. Ted is the founder of Ted Freeman Advisory, where he applies his decades of experience in organizational knowledge and strategy to help companies function more smoothly. His clients include major brands like Arcteryx, Eileen Fisher, Bristol Myers Squibb, Wüsthof.Stacey is a managing partner at Executive Development Consulting, where she utilizes over two decades of leadership development, executive coaching, and high-performance succession planning. Stacey’s clients include Apple, General Mills, Harley Davidson, Johnson & Johnson, and Nike.Ted and Stacey often collaborate on their advisory work, leveraging their combined experience in organizational effectiveness and culture and brand development to help increase the competitive edge of some of the world’s largest companies. Both are longtime friends and colleagues of Noto Group and How I Hire.In this episode, Ted, Stacey, and Roy delve into the complex dynamics inherent to working with teams. They discuss challenges they consistently hear from leaders, how to enhance a sense of inter-team competency, the necessity of translating and communicating context between leaders and teams, as well as commonly accepted myths about what constitutes a high-performing team.Highlights from our conversation include:How leaders and team members struggle with team dynamics in different ways (5:35)Common concerns expressed by leaders about teams (9:21) How to diffuse and rectify a lack of trust between leaders and teams (11:29)Important guidelines for Ted & Stacey’s approach (14:17)What high-performing teams really look like (18:33)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

Jackson Jeyanayagam is an accomplished executive leader whose work has spanned across many industry sectors and a wide range of organizations. He began his career on the agency side, where he worked for 15 years before pivoting into digital marketing, P&L management, and DTC growth for top brands like Chipotle, Clorox, and AB InBev. Jackson also has experience on the startup side, having served as CMO for Boxed, a DTC startup. Most recently, Jackson was responsible for founding and scaling RTD brand Hey, Hei for AB InBev, helping to incubate the brand and develop a startup mentality under AB InBev’s larger corporate umbrella. Jackson and Roy discuss the parallels between agency work and developing a startup, the necessity for widening the hiring funnel to better include outside strategies and perspectives, and the ways in which conventional interviewing methods are keeping brands from attracting and securing top tier talent.Highlights from our conversation include:Jackson’s experiences at startups vs. more established brands (2:07)How he builds teams when coming into new organizations (5:11)Jackson’s process for determining opportunities for change (and what not to mess with when starting a new role) (8:19)Gauging intentional and unintentional toxicity within one’s team (13:21)The intersection between curiosity, vulnerability, learning, and hiring (16:07)How Jackson is intentional about influencing and shaping culture (21:58)His process for making executive-level hiring decisions and who’s involved (23:18)Ensuring the hiring process is equitable and attractive to a diverse range of talent (24:06)Talent market trends Jackson’s noticed from both the candidate and hiring sides (25:26)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

Ben Steele is a seasoned marketing and brand development leader, having most recently served as REI’s inaugural chief customer officer. Prior to carving out this new role at the Co-op, Ben began at REI in 2014 as chief creative officer. Over more than ten years at one of the country’s largest and most preeminent outdoor retailers, Ben has led brand stewardship and strategy, shepherded large-scale marketing initiatives, engaged and grown REI’s 24.5 million-strong worldwide membership, and connected essential merchandising, digital, and physical assets – amongst many other functions at the Co-op – all with the goal of sharing and facilitating a deep passion for the outdoors.Ben and Roy discuss the inspiration for creating the chief customer officer role (as well as the challenges of being the first to occupy the position), navigating the ever-changing context of customer experience, and vital competencies he’s learned to nurture and develop within his teams.Highlights from our conversation include:His initial action items upon joining REI (3:57)How Ben translated REI’s brand and culture through its employee base (6:07)The functions reporting into the chief customer officer role and the structure of Ben’s former team (9:55)Opportunities he’s had to bring the REI brand life for customers and members (12:35)Necessary adaptations and evolutions at REI in the past five years  (17:42)The ways in which being a part of a co-op influenced Ben’s approach to leadership and collaboration (20:40)How to determine whether or not a company is serving their customers well (26:58)Ben’s predictions for the future of retail (32:03)Recommended resources for professional development, news, and networking (35:48)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

To kick off a new series of special episodes here at How I Hire, we’re taking a close look at the chief digital officer role. Throughout this series, we’ll hear from different C-level executives about their unique functions, responsibilities, and skill sets in order to learn just what it takes to successfully hire – or be hired as – top tier talent. Jamaliya Cobine is an accomplished chief digital officer and digital marketing expert, having spent the past decade plus helping businesses develop their user experience, e-commerce platforms, and strategic digital initiatives. Jamaliya has an impressive track record, working for major brands like Urban Outfitters, Burton Snowboards, Wüsthof, and Topshop. She is currently the CDO of Omorovicza Cosmetics, where she continues her legacy of implementing consumer-centric business strategy, omni-channel technology, and transformative approaches to digital marketing. With in-depth experience across the apparel, outdoor, beauty, home goods, and fashion industries, Jamaliya is the perfect leader to help us learn everything there is to know about the chief digital officer role.Jamaliya and Roy discuss the key functions of a CDO (and how they vary, depending on business structure), how competitive the market is for hiring CDOs, important trends affecting CDOs’ work, and much more.Highlights from our conversation include:The scope and primary accountabilities of the CDO role (2:13)Strategy and goal-setting when starting at a new company (4:44)Challenges and opportunities facing CDOs today (6:30)How company structure affects a CDO’s functions and responsibilities (12:03)The structure of Jamaliya’s team (13:08)Competencies and capabilities necessary to be a successful CDO (17:15)What boards, investors, or CEOs should be aware of when initiating a CDO search (20:00)Common hurdles or barriers to success faced by incoming CDOs (21:28)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

Nadine Hall is a cross-functional business leader, having spent decades innovating in apparel and consumer products at companies like HanesBrands and Sara Lee. At both the president and SVP levels, Nadine oversaw billions of dollars of retail value, built and developed successful teams, and established high-growth business models across a variety of product lines and business units. Nadine’s leadership style includes a collaborative approach to innovative business strategy, data-driven analytics, and breakthrough models for brand growth and development. She’s also a board member, consultant, and advisor for companies in and outside the apparel industry. Nadine and Roy discuss how she developed her approach to leadership, what she looks for when interviewing potential candidates, the importance of a forward-thinking hiring strategy, and much more.Highlights from our conversation include:Experiences that shaped Nadine’s approach to leadership and hiring (3:20)Development internal teams vs. recruiting external candidates (10:34)What Nadine looked for when hiring for her leadership team (12:28)Evaluating a candidate’s ability to navigate a large corporate matrix (19:14)Supporting her team when they were making high stakes hires (25:37)Lessons learned from hiring successes and failures (27:43)What Nadine wishes she knew earlier in her career (31:16)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

International business leader Hans Melotte has over 30 years of experience that combines global P&L accountability with functional leadership expertise across supply chain, procurement, technology, and sustainability. Hans is originally from Belgium, where he began his career in CPG at Procter & Gamble. Hans then spent over 20 years at Johnson & Johnson in the United States where he ultimately served as the Chief Procurement Officer before moving into food and beverage retail at Starbucks. Hans retired from his role as President of Global Channel Development at Starbucks in 2022 and is now focused on giving back as an adviser and mentor. Hans and Roy discuss what it takes to be a modern supply chain leader, the lessons Hans learned working with some of the largest brands in the world, the differences between North American and European business cultures, and much more.Highlights from our conversation include:Factors that influenced Hans’s approach to leadership (5:07)CPG experience at P&G and J&J versus retail experience at Starbucks (6:48)Differences between American and European business cultures (11:38)His motivation to change industries and roles (15:09)Assessing and developing the capabilities of teams (18:06)The value of authentic leadership (21:06)Hans’s hiring strategy (22:40)Qualities that Hans looks for in fellow leaders and teammates (24:51)Incorporating stakeholders/partner perspectives into the recruitment process (27:42)Authentic interviewing and talent evaluation (29:02)Essential qualities of a successful supply chain leader (32:26)The importance of being in the moment (38:15)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon