MNP

Kristy Haider

Kristy Haider has a wealth of experience in human capital and talent strategy, having worked for over 18 years at KPMG Canada and currently serving as the Director of Human Capital and Talent Strategy at MNP. At KPMG, she held various leadership roles, including National Leader of the Contract Labour Office (CLO) and National Talent Attraction Manager for TA Projects. She has a proven track record of developing program strategy and objectives, leading multifaceted teams, and managing critical vendor relationships.  

Can you tell us about your role as a director of talent strategy at MNP? What are some of your day-to-day tasks and responsibilities? 

It's important to emphasize that when managing personnel throughout the day, I apply a combination of strategic and leadership competencies. So from a strategic perspective, staying attuned to the business needs and what we require to meet our external client needs is paramount. At the same time, looking at the horizon of emerging technology and solution trends is crucial to building appropriate staffing pipelines.

I spend much of my time meeting with third parties to discuss emerging technology and human capital solution trends and assess how we engage talent beyond localized borders. I have a large team of 20 recruitment professionals centrally focused on engaging with every employee at the firm. Our hiring leaders and HR professionals work in a highly collaborative manner to ensure we get the right talent in the door.

Regarding the newer technology platforms entering the market, how do you perceive the changes they bring to recognizing opportunities and mitigating the challenges?

Personalization is a significant component of the changes technology adoption brings to the HR space. Numerous candidates often complain about how their interviewer spoke about the selling features but failed to ask them about the values important to them. Job seekers today are happy to rake an employer over the coals and tell everybody about their subpar interview experience. The other component is empathy and authenticity.

Numerous companies portray their unmatched diversity and ability to offer good work-life balance, but anyone interviewing for them can quickly deduce if that is true. So, people are looking under the hood and challenging these boilerplate statements. This perfectly aligns with the rising prominence of regulatory mandates, where ESG and audit standards evaluate an employer's mechanisms and ensure that their reporting processes can support their promises.

“We've gone from old-school recruitment that primarily utilized referrals to a modern methodology where desired staffing is achieved by considering the appropriate candidate skills.”

The other significant factor is the shift from role to skill, a trend that has matured in the gig economy. However, we're now starting to see the need to categorize internal teams based on their skill sets, driven by a mission to boost performance by compartmentalizing workflows. Doing so allows firms to tap into new pipelines and talent they may not have used before due to limited visibility into their professional services and technical skills. With this approach, organizations can balance their business continuum by replacing role-based talent with skill-based professionals.

What would be your piece of advice for fellow peers? In your opinion, what steps and processes can they adopt to ensure the attraction of top-quality talent? 

Switching from a typical full-time equivalent (FTE) that explicates the work to an approach where HR personnel assess what needs to be done can be a good jumping-off point. At MNP, we engage with our clients in the same way. It does not translate well into hiring processes; therefore, how you cost a job, even in commercial departments, is vital.

For instance, when you need software development or graphic designing skills for some hours, questions about the nature of their recruitment and whether they are offshore or nearshore can simplify the recruitment process and create a balanced portfolio devoid of cumbersome paper trails.

Today, people switch their preferred working status based on the opportunity's alignment with their lifestyle because everyone's starting to put their needs ahead of corporate demands. Recognizing this, we must build a recruitment infrastructure that supports fluidity while mitigating risks.

How do you see the future of talent management? What are some of the trends and innovations you see on the horizon?

Unlike many job recruiters who want to sell their position, we emphasize the candidates' skill set and help them match it to the role and its responsibilities. This makes them feel like they are part of a personalized recruitment process.

LinkedIn used to be the go-to spot, but we are now witnessing numerous firms deleting their profiles because they are bombarded with dedicated training programs unrelated to recruitment. In the current marketplace, HR and recruitment teams must take a more creative approach to find and attract the right talent. We've gone from old-school recruitment that primarily utilized referrals to a modern methodology where desired staffing is achieved by considering the appropriate candidate skills.

We utilize platforms beyond LinkedIn, leveraging AI-driven automation and candidate role-matching to connect with talent across borders and showcase our flexibility in offering remote hiring processes. Gen Z candidates expect the recruitment process to be more personalized and sophisticated, with a high level of virtual comfort and reach. The recruitment space is transforming talent management through solutions powered by Roblox and gamification technologies to adapt to this shift. This growth in technology adoption is enabling businesses to expand their geographical reach and seek talent beyond their existing footprint.