When Kenvue spun off from Johnson & Johnson, the TA team deliberately avoided copying over legacy systems, choosing a minimal technology footprint on day one so they weren't locked into tools that didn't fit the new organization. That restraint bought them time to properly assess needs before committing to a future-state stack.
The Hiring Excellence Podcast · Episode 244
Kenvue's TA Transformation: Rebuilding Strategy, Tech and AI
Nick Vitale explains how Kenvue rebuilt its TA function after splitting from J&J - RPO, new tech, and AI, plus hard lessons on strategy, not just the tools.
Johnny CampbellHost · Co-founder & CEO, SocialTalent
What you'll learn
Pilot new AI tools on your hardest stakeholder group first
Apply the human-centered and digital-unlocked framework to redesign recruiting
Automate recruiter admin tasks like interview note-taking with Copilot
Design headless recruiting workflows that eliminate app switching for recruiters
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Episode notes
Episode key takeaways
To make sense of constant change, the team split priorities into three buckets: the stable mission of hiring the right people, the things they could influence like skills and technology, and the things that were genuinely uncertain, such as geopolitical shifts. The point was to pour energy only into the first two and build an adaptable team for the third.
Rather than rushing to insource recruiting after the spin-off, the organization kept a significant chunk of work outsourced for roughly a year to eighteen months. That bought flexibility to absorb hiring ramps and ramp-downs without damaging the candidate or hiring manager experience while the operating model was still being designed.
One of the earliest and most telling hires into the rebuilt function wasn't a recruiter but a dedicated TA trainer - a role that didn't exist in the legacy organization. It signaled that upskilling and process discipline had to precede any move to bring outsourced work back in-house.
As agentic AI becomes easier for anyone to spin up, there's a real risk teams build agents that don't connect to a shared operating model or organizational intent. The danger isn't just inefficiency - it's that failures become invisible because no one is watching a silo of disconnected agents.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
The quick answers behind this episode.
How did Kenvue rebuild its TA tech stack after spinning off from Johnson & Johnson? +
Kenvue kept day-one technology minimal rather than copying J&J’s legacy systems, then ran a large-scale RFP to select a harmonized stack combining an HRIS, a candidate-matching tool, and a candidate-facing scheduling tool. The team redesigned organizational structure and processes first, then layered in technology, going live with the new stack in July of last year.
When should a TA team move recruiting work from RPO back in-house? +
Kenvue outsourced a chunk of recruiting for roughly a year to eighteen months to stay flexible while standing up its new organization. They only began insourcing once processes, SLAs, KPIs, and a dedicated TA trainer role were in place, ensuring new hires had the skills and capacity to support the business without disrupting candidates or hiring managers.
What is headless recruiting and why does it matter for TA? +
Headless recruiting means recruiters getting answers – bench status, time-to-offer, SLA performance – directly through an AI assistant without switching between the ATS, CRM, matching tool, and scheduling platform. The goal is cutting down app-switching so recruiters spend more time on talent advisory work instead of pulling reports manually.
What risk does agentic AI pose for talent acquisition teams? +
If every team builds its own agents without aligning to a shared organizational operating model, companies end up with agents that don’t talk to each other – and when they silently fail, nobody notices. The fix is intentionality: treat agentic AI as a capacity builder for recruiters, not adoption for its own sake.
What framework helps TA leaders prioritize during constant transformation? +
Nick Vitale splits priorities into three buckets: what’s stable (the non-negotiable mission of hiring the right people), what you can influence (skills, operating model, technology), and what’s uncertain (geopolitical or macro shifts) that you can’t control. Leaders should focus energy on the first two and build flexible teams for the third.