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Live Conference Recap BY Jessica Swenson | May 22, 2025

How Talent Acquisition Leaders Can Navigate the Peaks and Valleys of Hiring Cycles

By 2030, four in ten workers will have moved on from the jobs they hold today, according to a recent World Economic Forum report, underscoring just how rapidly the world of work is transforming.Paul Phillips, global head of business HR, talent acquisition, and onboarding for Avanade, believes that one of the biggest talent acquisition (TA) issues in his industry is attempting to hire for immediate performance rather than potential. To maximize longevity and value, it’s important to prioritize learning agility, adaptability, and courage to take calculated risks. These nuanced soft skills can be more challenging and time-consuming to teach than technical skills, so prioritizing them in the hiring process is key to building a resilient workforce, he says. In a business environment marked by economic and political uncertainty, growth for many companies has plateaued following significant post-Covid peaks. Avanade alone has seen a 50% global drop in hiring, with the U.S. market slowing more significantly than others. Phillips’ TA team has halved within the last 18–24 months, he said during a fireside chat moderated by Business Insider senior correspondent Emily Stewart at From Day One’s NYC half-day TA conference.“It’s the hardest part of being a leader,” said Phillips. “It’s really easy to be a leader when everything’s growing. The hardest part [of being a leader] is when you have to make some of those tougher decisions around the size and shape of the team.” He has since adopted more strategic hiring practices to better navigate these changes in demand. He keeps a core recruitment team in place to handle forecasted annual growth, and hiring needs beyond that are supported through scalable recruiting partnerships grounded in an on-demand recruiting model.Emily Stewart of Business Insider interviewed Paul Phillips of Avanade To effectively use TA team resources during those lower-demand periods, he redirects the team’s focus to increase billable hours by supporting client-facing teams through CV reviews, scheduling, and workforce planning. It is imperative to stay ahead of the curve and be positioned for future growth, says Phillips.While many organizations are being more prudent about their direct investments in technology and internal transformation, this leads them to partner with third-party companies like Avanade. To prepare for those peaks, his team embraces what he calls opportunistic conversations, which connect prospective candidates with recruiters and business leaders to discuss speculative roles. This proactively gauges mutual interest and capability, and creates an internal candidate pipeline to fuel future business growth.Phillips has established a team of talent pool managers to facilitate a regular communication cadence and cultivate relationships with external candidates. This helps eliminate candidate frustration and accelerates conversion once demand increases. “I always say ‘Clarity is kindness.’ I think it’s really important that you, up front, are very clear and set expectations about what this is and what it isn’t.” he said. Supporting relationships with around 2,000 candidates, this team helps create those ground rules and keeps both parties informed about progress until hiring ramps back up. Once it does, Phillips estimates that 30% of this pool will be interested in working with Avanade, greatly reducing the company’s time-to-hire.Fluctuations in economic and political conditions impact the candidate side of the labor market as well. While compensation pressure has eased for employers, he says, it can be harder to attract the talent they need or want because of reduced attrition and mobility.Additional coaching for TA teams may be needed to offset candidate uncertainty and job security concerns, and companies should look at any differentiators they can offer. For example, Phillips shared that since Avanade is a joint venture between Microsoft and Accenture, the company can offer technologists early access to emerging Microsoft technologies as well as exposure to interesting, complex projects at Fortune 500 organizations.Adaptability is always top of mind when managing a large global TA portfolio, says Phillips. Avanade offers multiple routes into the organization, as well as flexible, culturally sensitive hiring models. Its internal Avanade Academy invests in non-traditional talent to reskill them for the technology workforce, and then adjusts their exact entry path based on the customs and norms of their specific country or region.The company also embraces the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for its annual recruiting portfolio of nearly 300,000 candidates. Prospects can opt in or out of an AI-assisted experience, and Phillips says that nearly 80% of them opt in. Recruiters use AI to rate candidates on a letter-based system; humans still review the files and make the decisions, but AI insights help them prioritize candidates who may be better suited for specific roles. This platform has accelerated the recruiting process and freed up valuable time for the TA team, ensuring timely communication and an award-winning candidate experience.Jessica Swenson is a freelance writer based in the Midwest. Learn more about her at https://www.jmswensonllc.com.(Photo by Hason Castell for From Day One)

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Virtual Conference Recap BY Ade Akin | May 20, 2025

The Importance of Family and Wellness Benefits in a Highly Disrupted Industry

Lucy Avsharyan, the vice president of benefits at United Talent Agency, knows firsthand how life’s biggest plot twists, like parenting twins, often overlap with your most pivotal career moments. At From Day One’s April virtual conference, she walked attendees through how UTA has transformed family support benefits into strategic tools for employee attraction, retention, and well-being. Avsharyan traced her journey as an employee back to the moment her twins were born. “During those first years, I was exhausted at work and home,” she said. That personal pinch point catalyzed UTA’s early experiments with gender-neutral parental leave and on-demand backup childcare. What started as a way to make life easier for working parents quickly became a competitive advantage for UTA: “When families are cared for, they can show up as their best selves,” Avsharyan said.While benefits served chiefly as a retention level a decade ago, they’re now non-negotiables for many prospective employees. Many now log into benefits portals with the same enthusiasm that was once reserved for salary benchmarks, she says.Employees Asking Harder Questions“Candidates now come armed with benefits spreadsheets,” said moderator Nicole Smith, editorial audience director at Harvard Business Review. “And they know exactly what they want,” Avsharyan added. “They’re asking, ‘What’s your global parental-leave policy? Do you offer mental-health stipends? How many hours of backup care are included each year?’”These changes in attitudes toward employee benefits inspired a portal overhaul at UTA, complete with personalized dashboards that show accrued leave, dependent care allotment, and wellness stipend balances in real-time. UTA also promoted closer partnerships between benefits, talent, and finance teams. “We needed to move beyond headcount metrics. Talent acquisition wanted enrollment rates. Finance wanted utilization and ROI,” she said. UTA now tracks which offerings drive applications, boost tenure, and reduce unplanned absences by developing a simple data analytics framework.Designing for a Global WorkforceThe conversation turned global when Nicole asked about benefits in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets. Avsharyan says a one-size-fits-all model doesn’t work in all regions. “In Europe, statutory parental leave can exceed 16 weeks, but mental-health coverage lags. In parts of Asia, it’s the reverse.” Avsharyan said.UTA solves this problem with a modular benefits platform that combines a core U.S.  package (paid leave, backup childcare, and a wellness stipend) with region-specific add-ons, from fertility treatments in the U.K. to financial-wellness workshops in Singapore. Lucy Avsharyan of UTA spoke with Nicole Smith of Harvard Business Review during the fireside chat (photo by From Day One)“That approach lets us maintain equity—everyone gets a baseline of care—while respecting local norms and regulations,” Avsharyan said. Her advice to organizations struggling to find that balance is to “Listen first, then pilot fast.”The Baseline BenefitsMental health continues to be an essential part of a benefits package. “Well-being isn’t a perk, it’s a productivity imperative,” she said. Utilization of wellness benefits rose by 40% after UTA recently added no-cost therapy sessions, virtual mindfulness programs, and emergency financial planning services to its Employee Assistance Program. Job flexibility is also redefining work-life balance. “We trust our agents and creatives to deliver results,” Avsharyan said. “Where and when they work is secondary.” UTA’s hybrid model grants employees “deep-focus days” in the office and fully remote weeks. “Every team defines its norms, when to collaborate in person, when to block off a remote day, so people aren’t guessing,” Avsharyan said. But even with baseline benefits in place, Avsharyan continues to look out for trends and changes in the industry. “We’ll never be ‘done’—our people’s needs evolve too fast,” she said. She envisions next-generation benefits marketplaces, where employees can easily swap stipend dollars among categories, like shifting funds from gym memberships to backup childcare. The guiding principle remains constant: continuous listening. “We survey twice a year, but the real insights come from casual check-ins and manager hurdles,” Avsharyan said. “That feedback loop lets us iterate benefits in near real time, so when the next personal earthquake hits, our people know we’ve got them.”Ade Akin covers workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photo by Jacob Wackerhausen/iStock)

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What Our Attendees are Saying

Jordan Baker(Attendee) profile picture

“The panels were phenomenal. The breakout sessions were incredibly insightful. I got the opportunity to speak with countless HR leaders who are dedicated to improving people’s lives. I walked away feeling excited about my own future in the business world, knowing that many of today’s people leaders are striving for a more diverse, engaged, and inclusive workforce.”

– Jordan Baker, Emplify
Desiree Booker(Attendee) profile picture

“Thank you, From Day One, for such an important conversation on diversity and inclusion, employee engagement and social impact.”

– Desiree Booker, ColorVizion Lab
Kim Vu(Attendee) profile picture

“Timely and much needed convo about the importance of removing the stigma and providing accessible mental health resources for all employees.”

– Kim Vu, Remitly
Florangela Davila(Attendee) profile picture

“Great discussion about leadership, accountability, transparency and equity. Thanks for having me, From Day One.”

– Florangela Davila, KNKX 88.5 FM
Cory Hewett(Attendee) profile picture

“De-stigmatizing mental health illnesses, engaging stakeholders, arriving at mutually defined definitions for equity, and preventing burnout—these are important topics that I’m delighted are being discussed at the From Day One conference.”

– Cory Hewett, Gimme Vending Inc.
Trisha Stezzi(Attendee) profile picture

“Thank you for bringing speakers and influencers into one space so we can all continue our work scaling up the impact we make in our organizations and in the world!”

– Trisha Stezzi, Significance LLC
Vivian Greentree(Attendee) profile picture

“From Day One provided a full day of phenomenal learning opportunities and best practices in creating & nurturing corporate values while building purposeful relationships with employees, clients, & communities.”

– Vivian Greentree, Fiserv
Chip Maxwell(Attendee) profile picture

“We always enjoy and are impressed by your events, and this was no exception.”

– Chip Maxwell, Emplify
Katy Romero(Attendee) profile picture

“We really enjoyed the event yesterday— such an engaged group of attendees and the content was excellent. I'm feeling great about our decision to partner with FD1 this year.”

– Katy Romero, One Medical
Kayleen Perkins(Attendee) profile picture

“The From Day One Conference in Seattle was filled with people who want to make a positive impact in their company, and build an inclusive culture around diversity and inclusion. Thank you to all the panelists and speakers for sharing their expertise and insights. I'm looking forward to next year's event!”

– Kayleen Perkins, Seattle Children's
Michaela Ayers(Attendee) profile picture

“I had the pleasure of attending From Day One. My favorite session, Getting Bias Out of Our Systems, was such a powerful conversation between local thought leaders.”

– Michaela Ayers, Nourish Events
Sarah J. Rodehorst(Attendee) profile picture

“Inspiring speakers and powerful conversations. Loved meeting so many talented people driving change in their organizations. Thank you From Day One! I look forward to next year’s event!”

– Sarah J. Rodehorst, ePerkz
Angela Prater(Attendee) profile picture

“I had the distinct pleasure of attending From Day One Seattle. The Getting Bias Out of Our Systems discussion was inspirational and eye-opening.”

– Angela Prater, Confluence Health
Joel Stupka(Attendee) profile picture

“From Day One did an amazing job of providing an exceptional experience for both the attendees and vendors. I mean, we had whale sharks and giant manta rays gracefully swimming by on the other side of the hall from our booth!”

– Joel Stupka, SkillCycle
Alexis Hauk(Attendee) profile picture

“Last week I had the honor of moderating a panel on healthy work environments at the From Day One conference in Atlanta. I was so inspired by what these experts had to say about the timely and important topics of mental health in the workplace and the value of nurturing a culture of psychological safety.”

– Alexis Hauk, Emory University