In this week’s episode of Recruiting Trailblazers – Natasha Katoni, from prominent VC Firm Amplify Partners, shares her mindset, methods and magic during her journey from Agency Recruiter to her current role as Head of Talent.

Natasha explains the difference between the roles as a Talent Partner as opposed to her previous role as a Recruiter.

Marcus and Natasha discuss the climate inside the VC world – including the remote working paradigm and how it may “stick” as we move forward through the Covid crisis.

They touch upon the concept of a more distributed, remote workforce – and the opportunities for both Companies and Candidates.

Natasha talks about demand (in software engineering) outstripping supply – plus she comments on the most recent  and reactive layoffs in the Recruiter community – and ponders the structure of Recruiting departments moving forward.

Mindset – Natasha shares some her guiding principles on her fast journey to Head of Talent – including making her own luck and the choices she has made, moving from company to company – and the role that some of her mentors have had in her development as a Recruiter.

Marcus questions Natasha on how she convinced her early employers to take a chance on her as the first Recruiter hired. Natasha underlines the importance of working your network instead of just answering job ads.

At Segment, a milestone for Natasha, she talks about her need to impact the business as the first recruiter. She explains how she partnered with internal stakeholders to build robust systems and processes. They also talk numbers and growth of the engineering division during her tenure.

Natasha relates how she managed to build a closing strategy that helped them improve from a 40% to 80% close rate.

She also shares her “imposter syndrome” and how she worked her way through it, via therapy and internal coaching. (David Clemens)

They talk lessons learned, mistakes made – and things that Natasha might do differently.

Natasha drives home the importance of making a true impact on the business and properly understand the driving needs of the business as opposed to focussing solely on the human capital requirements.

They talk talent strategy and the cornerstones of implementing an early system to attract and process talent.

Natasha talks “GEM” messaging – and sourcing through LinkedIn. She stresses the importance of developing an early talent brand – and how to differentiate the brand.

Other topics they touch on are Covid hiring challenges, founders capping earnings, candidate messaging and candidate experience.

Natasha reveals what she looks for in a Recruiter and offers some sage advice in how in-house Recruiters might follow in her footsteps into the VC community.

They talk productivity, metrics and much more!

Connect with Marcus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusedwardes/

You can connect with Natasha here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-katoni-72440356/
email: natasha@amplifypartners.com