Recursion Director of Talent Daniel Benavides

06/30/23 • 30 min

“You are never too busy to be innovative!” These are the wise words of today’s guest, Daniel Benavides, Director of Recruitment at Recursion. Daniel joins us for this episode of Talk Talent to Me to tell us about his background, what made him become a recruiter, what he loves most about it, and why he believes there should be some sort of school for potential recruiters. We delve into Recursion's incredible inclusion model and strategy and where it came from before Daniel tells us about their employee resource groups, why they are a real community, and so much more! Our guest also shares the best career advice he has ever been given and reminds us to stay innovative throughout our careers.

Key Points From This Episode:

How Recursion integrates inclusive policies based on its company culture into the business.
Where its inclusion strategy came from and how an employee resource group (ERG) assists.
Daniel shares his approach to making an ERG an actual community of diversity.
How to include everyone in Pride Month and turn employees into allies.
Daniel tells us about his background, why he went into recruiting, and what he loves about it.
The importance of trying different things to see what works.
Why there should be a recruiting school of sorts to help potential recruiters in their careers.
The best career advice Daniel has ever received from someone.

Tweetables:

“I can only speak to my lived experience – I can’t speak to the experience that our [Latinx or Black employees] have – so being able to have an ERG that is focused on that pillar or that marginalized group is key so we can ensure our policies are more inclusive.” — @benavidesdaniel [0:05:47]

“There is an incredibly important piece of having an executive sponsor that believes in the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion and that it makes us stronger.” — @benavidesdaniel [0:09:02]

“You change the world [and] make an impact [by bringing] everybody along the journey. It’s not just on the backs of one underprivileged or marginalized group; we are all working towards the same goal and making the world a better place.” — @benavidesdaniel [0:15:02]

“The only way we’re going to find out if something works is if we try it.” — @benavidesdaniel [0:18:32]

“Be innovative [and] question the status quo!” — @benavidesdaniel [0:30:16]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Daniel Benavides on LinkedIn

Daniel Benavides on Twitter

Recursion

Talk Talent to Me

Hired

Key Points From This Episode:

How Recursion integrates inclusive policies based on its company culture into the business.
Where its inclusion strategy came from and how an employee resource group (ERG) assists.
Daniel shares his approach to making an ERG an actual community of diversity.
How to include everyone in Pride Month and turn employees into allies.
Daniel tells us about his background, why he went into recruiting, and what he loves about it.
The importance of trying different things to see what works.
Why there should be a recruiting school of sorts to help potential recruiters in their careers.
The best career advice Daniel has ever received from someone.

Tweetables:

“The only way we’re going to find out if something works is if we try it.” — @benavidesdaniel [0:18:32]

“Be innovative [and] question the status quo!” — @benavidesdaniel [0:30:16]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Daniel Benavides on LinkedIn

Daniel Benavides on Twitter

Recursion

Talk Talent to Me

Hired

Previous Episode

LIVE IN SF: José Cong & Justin Ghio Demonstrate AI Tools

The recent radical improvement of AI has shaken up the world, and as more AI tools become available and easily accessible, the concerns surrounding the implications of AI on our future grow stronger by the day. But AI should be embraced and not feared, and to help us explain why, we are joined by two talent specialists who are using AI to improve their daily operations. We kick off the show with the Director of Talent Sourcing at Activision Blizzard, Justin Ghio. Justin shares how he ended up in his current role before explaining how he and his team use AI with a practical demonstration for the live audience. After Justin shows us how to use AI to its full potential in recruiting, we welcome José Cong to the show. José is the VP of Talent and Culture at Humane, and his impressive resume includes being part of the team who brought the iPhone 1 to market (working under Steve Jobs!). José came out of retirement to join Humane and after explaining why he made this decision, he reiterates why AI is the future, why it should be embraced and not feared, how AI has improved his recruitment process, and how he and his team are using AI responsibly. At the end of the day, AI is there to support people rather than replace them, and to find out how AI can be used to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at the office, press play now!

Key Points From This Episode:

Introducing Justin Ghio as he explains his chance encounter with Dennis Rodman.
Justin’s background and his role as the Director of Talent Sourcing at Activision Blizzard.
How the Activision Blizzard recruiting team is using AI.
Why AI cannot and will not take over jobs in recruitment.
Demonstrating how Justin uses freely available AI technology for interviews and onboarding.
He explains how to use AI to its full potential.
Welcoming today’s second guest, the VP of Talent and Culture at Humane, José Cong.
José’s background and the work he did for Apple for the iPhone 1.
Why he chose to come out of retirement to work at Humane; realizing that AI is the future.
How José and his talent team are implementing AI tools.
His reasons for why AI should not be feared.
A look at how AI is improving Humane’s interview and assessment process.
What José looks for in new team members.
How he still creates great candidate experiences in today’s remote work landscape.
The way he ensures that he and his team are using AI in a responsible way.
How AI can help to eliminate unconscious biases to systematically improve DEI in the office.

Tweetables:

“We are constantly leveraging a lot of the new, latest, and greatest technologies to ensure [that] we’re not getting left behind” — @Just_in_Games [07:20]

“[AI] is not going to take your job; it’s just going to let you do things quicker.” — @Just_in_Games [09:53]

“That’s the power of ChatGPT and some of this AI technology: It’s not output-based, it’s input-based. We are always going to be the input — don’t be scared that it’s going to take your job; you are the key that unlocks its potential.” — @Just_in_Games [15:57]

“[Steve Jobs] was my direct boss, but the people underneath him were equally as impatient. There was a tremendous amount of pressure [at Apple] in terms of yielding results; we were literally racing the clock to get [the iPhone 1] out.” — @Jose_Cong [31:39]

“Unretiring was not an easy decision — life was pretty good, it was really good actually. But, the feeling that there was a paradigm shift potentially happening is what perked my interest — and I started to look into what AI was.” — @Jose_Cong [34:29]

“I hate the terminology ‘artificial intelligence’; it’s augmented intelligence. If we think about it from that perspective, we’re going to be less intimidated by it and we’re going to be more open-minded.” — @Jose_Cong [41:01]

“It’s not about hiring someone that can do the job; it’s about finding someone who is going to buy into what we’re doing, and who’s going to be passionate about participating and building what we have.” — @Jose_Cong [45:45]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Justin Ghio on LinkedIn

Justin Ghio on Twitter

Activision Blizzard

ChatGPT

J...

Next Episode

Sibros VP of People Christina Pinheiro

Our guest on the show today holds to the saying that the secret sauce to any company’s success is the people! Here with us on Talk Talent to Me today is Christina Pinheiro, Vice President of People and Talent at Sibros. In our conversation with Christina, we hear about her background and what sparked her passion for helping people and creating a positive employee experience, which ultimately led to a career in HR. She shares her thoughts and views on the impact of learning and development, and what that looks like at Sibros through their Lunch and Learn sessions. She tells listeners about her favorite session on Interview Bias, and what she thinks about anonymizing parts of the interviewing process. Finally, we discover why she wound up as a guest on the show and hear about how Christina and her team approach the use of AI tools in their recruiting stack.

Key Points From This Episode:

We chat about her love for ChatGPT and AI in general.
She shares her background and how she wound up in her current role.
Her goals and objectives as VP of People and Talent at Sibros.
Her thoughts and views on learning and development (L&D) and what it looks like at Sibros.
What she does with the feedback from their employees regarding L&D.
Lunch and Learn: some examples and details from the sessions they do at Sibros.
Her favorite Lunch and Learn session: Interview Bias.
Her drive-home points from her Interview Bias learning session.
Christina’s thoughts on anonymizing resumes and other parts of the interview process.
AI and recruiting; Christina’s approach to using these tools in Sibro’s recruiting stack.
Christina leaves listeners with the best career advice she’s received so far.

Tweetables:

“I believe that we all get into this build because of a strong passion for really helping people or creating a positive employee experience.” — Christina Pinheiro [0:02:58]

“I had noticed pretty early on — that there is a large, significant gap, in many companies where employees lacked a voice or guidance for their own personal growth.” — Christina Pinheiro [0:03:31]

“I always have this motto, saying, ‘The secret sauce to every company is the people.’” — Christina Pinheiro [0:04:21]

“I really emphasize on the benefits of continuous learning and [how] attending these sessions contributes to personal and professional growth.” — Christina Pinheiro [0:10:22]

“How does bias occur? It occurs when you unintentionally introduce certain errors or [you] project these during the interview process, leading to an unfair bias for candidates. These biases can stem from various factors, such as personal beliefs, stereotypes, implicate biases and subjective judgments.” — Christina Pinheiro [0:19:34] {Longer Quote}

“I am a big fan of the AI tools, however, I do strongly share as well, do not allow that AI tool to take away from the own original content of what you may have written. Use it as an additional resource, use it as another opportunity to enhance some of your skills, but do not be reliant on it. We don’t want to take away from the natural human being.” — Christina Pinheiro [0:24:33] {Longer Quote}

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Christina Pinheiro on LinkedIn

Sibros

Talk Talent to Me

Hired