Q&A With New Guild Talent Partner Wendy Taylor

We’re so happy to welcome a new partner to Guild Talent, Wendy Taylor. Wendy will lead Product, Engineering, and G&A Executive Searches. We sat down with her to pick her brain on her passion.


 

Q: What got you into the recruiting industry?

A: I stumbled into recruiting as a result of my husband having trouble finding Oracle consultants for his software implementations. I started sourcing on LinkedIn one night and never really stopped

 

Q: How have you evolved since you first started in people/recruiting?

A: I started my first company in my very early 20’s and learned a lot about retaining great people over the years. I started recruiting at the IC level and now work at the leadership level. The common thread of success has always been to be kind and provide value. It’s the secret sauce.

 

Q: What about working with startups excites you the most?

A: I love the hustle, innovation and inherent risk. There is no room for bench warmers in a start up environment. I like to play when everyone is in the game and we leave it all out on the field.

 

Q: Korn Ferry is quite big! What are the biggest differences between working there versus a more boutique firm?

A: Volume and pace. I prefer to have fewer clients and give them more dedicated time. Boutique recruiting is a better fit for me, personally.

 

Q: What excited you the most to come work with us here at Guild Talent?

A: Joining a niche firm was very appealing to me. I enjoy working on fewer roles at a time and giving them my full attention. It’s one of the great things that sets a firm like Guild Talent apart from large agencies

 

Q: What are your short and long-term goals with Guild?

A: In the short term, I’m focused on being a great partner to my team and hunting unicorns in a heavily candidate driven market. Long term, I’d love to help GT scale and grow so we can continue to create great hiring experiences for our clients and expand our footprint.

 

Q: How would you define culture-first recruiting, and why is it important?

A: Cultures come in all shapes and sizes and aligning candidates to culture is one of the key ways we ensure a good match. Not everyone is meant to thrive in a fast paced, start up environment. Culture first means making a good match between the existing culture of a company and the human design of the candidate with the goal of improving the overall culture of the company through that key hire. Leveling up the entire team and contributing to a great working environment

 

Q: What’s the most memorable placement/hire you made?

A: The most memorable are also the most fun. I’ve become great friends with a few people I’ve hired and they have since become leaders in their organizations and relied on me to help grow their teams. It’s rewarding to be an intricate part of a company’s growth and even better when you feel you’ve really made an impact on another person and contributed to their success.

 

Q: Knowing what you know now, what would you have told your younger self when you first started in people/recruiting?

A: Don’t sweat the tough days, for there will be many of them. You have to have very thick skin to survive over 2 decades in this industry. Remembering to laugh and learn to enjoy the high’s and appreciate the lessons learned in the low’s.

 

Q: And just for fun, what are two things no one would ever guess are true about you?

A: Our family traveled full time for over 7 years, homeschooling our kids and working full time. It was a great adventure and I’m so fortunate they experienced this type of childhood. We also have FOUR 19 yr olds. We built our family through birth, foster care and adoption. They are the same age but so very different from each other. Our kids are the strongest and coolest people we know.

 


 

Welcome to the team, Wendy!

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