Episode 159
Rebuilding Recruiting Culture with John Vlastelica & Danielle Monaghan
Expedia’s new SVP of Global TA shares how to embed a recruiting culture across a mature organization—starting with hiring principles, manager accountability, and grassroots change. Learn where to begin if you lack executive buy-in.
Episode Key Takeaways
Hiring manager engagement is the non-negotiable foundation. Even exceptional recruiters paired with disengaged managers underperform compared to average TA teams paired with great hiring managers—which means the recruiter’s job is to elevate the manager, not replace them.
Danielle Monaghan’s approach at Expedia starts with defining shared hiring principles—not copying practices from previous employers. These principles articulate who the company hires, how it hires, and what it values, then get embedded into interview training, onboarding, and recruiter kickoff conversations.
The recruiter role shifts from order-taker to business partner and talent advisor. This requires recruiters to advise on current state, help synthesize competing beliefs across business units into one coherent approach, and hold hiring managers accountable to new standards.
Change management happens at recruiter level, not just from the C-suite. Top-down CEO and CHRO alignment accelerates adoption, but real culture change lives in one-to-one conversations between recruiters and hiring managers, reinforced through HR business partners and repeated expectation-setting.
Start grassroots if executive buy-in is absent. Work with HR partners to articulate what the company values in hiring, develop lightweight principles, equip recruiters to discuss them in intake meetings, and weave them into onboarding—no heavy-lift training required to begin shifting mindset.
Frequently
Asked
Questions
How do you shift hiring managers from viewing TA as a service to owning recruitment?
Set clear expectations through one-to-one conversations with recruiters and HR business partners, then reinforce repeatedly. Address both will and skill issues—some managers say ‘not my job,’ others want to help but don’t know how. Upskilling through lightweight programs like ‘license to hire’ helps, but framing hiring as part of the day job, not extra work, is essential.
What should hiring principles include?
Principles should define who you hire (e.g., global diverse talent), how you hire (e.g., interview for inclusive mindset, not just teach it post-hire), and what you value. They should reflect company maturity and beliefs, not copy-paste from other organizations. Once defined, embed them into interview loops, onboarding, and recruiter conversations.
Can you build a recruiting culture without top-down CEO support?
Yes, but it’s slower. Start by working with HR partners to articulate hiring values, develop lightweight principles, and have recruiters introduce them at intake meetings and new employee onboarding. CEO and CHRO alignment accelerates adoption significantly, but grassroots recruiter-to-hiring-manager conversations can begin the shift independently.
How do you handle hiring managers who resist new recruiting expectations?
Anticipate pushback and plan your launch, rollout, and communications carefully. Use HR business partners to reinforce expectations. Eventually, set a hard line—you won’t provide support for managers who refuse to engage—but do so after genuine change management effort, not immediately.
What's the role of a 'bar raiser' or 'talent champion' in rebuilding recruiting culture?
Some organizations use a bar raiser or talent champion to embed quality standards, but speed concerns exist—these roles can create bottlenecks. More important is CEO and senior leader modeling: talking about hiring and diverse talent at all-hands meetings, then actually demonstrating the behavior in their own hiring decisions.