Empowered Connections: Inside Talent Collective | Krista Tan
Jen Porter (00:00.546)
Hey, Lioness, welcome to the show, Lioness Conversations, where we help women be brave, to lead with confidence and joy, and to find your path to the most meaningful work of your life. I'm your host, Jen Porter, leadership and empowerment coach for ambitious and heart-centered women who are ready to change the world. If you want to find out more about the Lioness community and
Maybe you want to nominate a lioness for this podcast. You can find that information out at my website, jenportercoach.com. Our guest today is Krista Tan, the visionary co-founder of Talent Collective. Krista has been building a thriving global community that empowers and connects women in talent acquisition. Talent Collective is on a mission to advance career and recruiting networks through a robust mentorship program.
dynamic peer groups, a dedicated TA job board, and invaluable professional development like thought leader webinars. This is more than an organization. It's a movement building the future of female leadership and talent acquisition. Krista, welcome to the show.
Krista Tan (01:10.863)
Thanks, Jen. Appreciate you having me on today.
Jen Porter (01:13.358)
I'm so excited. So we got introduced through really William Tincup uh, because of our con you know, conversations about podcasting and, uh, and then it turns out we have a mutual friend, Mindy Honcoop. So amazing. And we had a great conversation. I was excited. Once we talked about everything that you're doing, I really wanted to have you on here to share more broadly about this community that you've developed. So tell us a little bit about.
Krista Tan (01:17.221)
Yes, that's right.
Jen Porter (01:41.07)
You know, your heart behind this, what are you focused on right now with Talent Collective?
Krista Tan (01:45.465)
Yeah, thank you. So Talent Collective is a membership community, just like you mentioned, for women and those who identify as women in the recruiting space. about two years ago, my co-founder and I were having a lot of conversations about just the state of the recruiting industry, the future of the recruiting industry. Especially two years ago, we were in kind of this moment of crisis where
AI was just coming to the forefront of being discussed and how is this going to change our roles as TA professionals? But then also there were tons and tons of layoffs in the recruiting industry. Not as much so today, but it still persists. And I think the roles haven't really come back like we expected them to. And so we started really coming together saying,
one, we want to talk about this and these themes with other people in our industry. But how can we support other women, right? How can we help empower them? You know, we're this idea of like, the whole is better than you know, any of us individually out there solo by ourselves. You know, a lot of people are working from home, they're lonely, there isn't a lot of connection happening nowadays. So
How can we support this community and how can we bring women together to be talking about these things? So that's kind of how Talent Collective came to be. And here we are two years in, it's been a very wild ride and super, super fun growing the community.
Jen Porter (03:24.302)
mean, how did you make that leap from conception, like desire, you recognize a need, to actually starting something?
Krista Tan (03:28.977)
Yeah
Krista Tan (03:33.935)
Yeah, yeah, great question. And I will say that this idea actually came years ago. back, I want to say maybe five, five plus years ago, I started seeing chief everywhere. And I think I even applied to be a chief member. And they responded by saying, we have, you know, thousands of people on our waitlist. And it was kind of like good luck, right?
Jen Porter (03:42.478)
Okay.
Krista Tan (04:00.017)
And I remember at the time going to my CEO and saying like, man, we need to do something for like this for talent acquisition women. So fast forward, then I was actually talking about doing something about it a couple of years ago. And we had all of these ideas and a lot of really big ideas. I was in a full time job at the role. I was head of people at a tech startup.
and knowing with a full-time job that this would probably just be kind of a passion project on the side that we did. So we just looked at each other and we said, let's just rip the bandaid off. Let's choose a date, choose a date and time, and plan an event in San Francisco, which is where we live, and invite every woman in recruiting that we know and ask them to invite all of their friends.
So that's really how it started. We just chose a date. We had a big launch event in San Francisco and we started small. thought initially that we would have maybe one to two in-person events in the Bay Area per quarter. We thought we'd start off with some mastermind peer groups where we'd get women together virtually and have them support one another on calls. And then, you know, maybe we'd have like a virtual workshop every month. So that's really where we started.
very quickly we saw a huge demand and tons of women finding out about our group and actually coming to us saying, how can we get involved? You know, like I live in New York or I live here. I live there. and really wanting, wanting to be a part of it. so I ended up quitting my day job and like, it was like two months in and I was like, this is a thing. Like there's demand for this. There's a need for it.
actually making an impact on the women that were already touching. And so I ended up quitting my day job. And that's really when I went full, you know, all in on growing the community and running it.
Jen Porter (06:02.894)
So what was it about? I think what, what, the, you know, this podcast is about being brave and that was a significantly brave move that you made. And I want to kind of dig into that a little bit because it's one thing to say, and then I just quit my day job and now I'm doing this thing. And definitely I see the evolution, but what was going through your mind when you were making that decision about making that leap?
Krista Tan (06:11.505)
Hmm.
Krista Tan (06:32.089)
Yeah, there's a bigger context to all of this as well. that year, so it was 2023, and we started Talent Collective in June. In April of that year, March or April of that year, I actually separated from my husband. And so now I was in a new house, essentially like,
my kid, I three young children, they were three, five and seven or eight or seven or eight at the time. So I was already going through a lot of change in my life. I'm kind of an all or nothing kind of person, as you can imagine. So left my husband bought a new house, started Talent Collective all within a matter of months. And let me tell you, it was freeing there were parts of it that were
absolutely freeing and then there were parts of it that were absolutely terrifying and overwhelming. And once we started Talent Collective, and I started seeing the impact we were making, I just knew it was right. Like I went with my gut, it was a gut feeling and I went with it even though, yes, it was super scary and...
Jen Porter (07:49.955)
Yeah.
Krista Tan (07:54.715)
especially financially to leave a full-time position when I'm going through a divorce, like so much unknown. I think the bravery piece of it, one was I probably would have never done this, meaning talent collective, started talent collective if I had been alone. So my co-founder is someone that I've known for 15, 20 years. We actually went to grad school together. I know her very well. We're friends, but we've also been coworkers.
Jen Porter (07:58.988)
Yeah.
Krista Tan (08:24.717)
So I think the bravery was knowing who I was in partnership with and knowing that she and I could do this together. And yeah, just kind of going with my gut on it, I guess. There's probably a lot more to share, but that's it in a nutshell.
Jen Porter (08:45.198)
Well, when you said freeing, that was not the word I thought you were going to choose, but it made sense that it was both freeing but also terrifying. And I think most women who hold a mission inside of them, the thing that holds us back is the financial piece. It's like, yes, there's a lot of risk involved, but usually what people are talking about is money, right?
Krista Tan (08:50.832)
Okay.
Krista Tan (08:54.512)
Yes.
Krista Tan (09:12.261)
Yep. Yep.
Jen Porter (09:13.728)
So how did you think through that? I mean, yes, it was, was, and then I want to get to trusting yourself because there's something really important in there. But how are you thinking about the financial pieces at that point, especially since you were really building a new life for yourself and your kids?
Krista Tan (09:21.616)
Mm-hmm.
Krista Tan (09:31.257)
Yes, yeah. Here's, guess, what I'll say about that. I was at a recruiting firm for 13 years. That's where I started my recruiting career and was very, very fortunate to have just an amazingly successful tenure there. Very well paid. I was able to make and save a lot of money while I was there.
so I did have a financial cushion that said, you know, in a divorce in California, it's 50 50, right? So I knew like half of everything I had was basically going away. but knowing that I had at least some kind of financial cushion, knowing that, you know, the house I bought a lot of, I was able to put down a lot in equity, right? Like a lot of the, my loan wasn't, wasn't too crazy.
So living expenses aren't too crazy. But even today, now after two years of having started Talent Collective, we bootstrapped it, right? We have essentially been living off of our savings and it's been a very financially risky decision and
There's a reason that a lot of people say new businesses fail is because you know, you kind of get into these moments of like, wow, like, am I really doing this? And am I really like going through all of my savings? I think what still helps me like, have stability in this moment is knowing like, I have a backup plan, right? So like, I have a 401k, if
God forbid I need to cash out on that, I can cash out, right? Also, you mentioned trusting yourself and I'm sure we'll go down that road a little bit more, but I've always, I've been fortunate, but also like known when I'm passionate about something and I care about something, I'm going to succeed at it. And I've proven myself that I've been able to do that. So why would this be any different, right?
Krista Tan (11:50.789)
but yeah, the, financial piece definitely very scary and still is today. You know, two years later, it's, it's still a thing.
Jen Porter (11:56.046)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you had you and your co-founder sort of built out the business model. So you knew what the hope was, what the idea was for the revenue.
Krista Tan (12:12.045)
We did. Yes. So thank you for bringing that up. That was definitely a piece that I missed. We had and we pivoted really quickly once we got into the business because I think we overestimated how many people would pay for a membership like this, right? And we also were trying to figure out our pricing. Like, what is a membership worth to people? How much would they pay for this? Also,
Jen Porter (12:21.55)
Okay.
Krista Tan (12:41.423)
you know, calling out that this is a really rough job market for TA professionals. A lot of the people that we are quote unquote, selling into for our membership are out of work right now. So people that are out of work, this is seen as like an extra right and extra expense. When you're trying to put food on the table for your family or keep you know, the lights on like, you're not going to pay for a networking group, right? So
Jen Porter (12:52.556)
Hmm.
Krista Tan (13:09.143)
We've done a lot of pivoting on pricing. also, as I mentioned, the business model. So day one, our business model was the memberships, right? So like women paying for the membership. And we quickly realized, okay, this is not going to scale quickly enough. We're never going to be able to pay ourselves if we continue with this model. And so quickly we realized, all of these events that we're hosting,
Jen Porter (13:32.056)
Yeah.
Krista Tan (13:39.121)
could be sponsored by a company that wants to get in front of a room of TA professionals, right? The people selling into TA, right? So a lot of like recruiting technology companies, et cetera. we started basically going after sponsors, right? So how can we get companies to sponsor the events that we're running? So now that's basically our two business lines. And with those two combined, I feel like we have a really healthy business model, like you mentioned.
Jen Porter (13:54.594)
Yeah.
Jen Porter (14:08.128)
Yeah, it sounds like you had some things in place, some of which were backup plans, right? But it's nice to have that cushion just in case, you it doesn't work out. But you also had a, not only the financial backup plan, but also the job backup plan that, you know, you have a skill set that's really in demand, that's valuable, you have a proven track record. And so there's other things that you could fall back on if you needed to. I think
Krista Tan (14:14.993)
No.
Krista Tan (14:26.789)
Yes. Yes.
Krista Tan (14:32.815)
Mm-hmm.
Jen Porter (14:34.316)
So the reason I'm asking those things is because a lot of the women that are listening are mission minded and they have a dream, but it feels impossible. It's like, I could never do that because a lot of these women are breadwinners for their families. And so these are weighty decisions. This isn't like, let me try something new. But you were really thoughtful about what are your circumstances and how can you support yourself and your family, but also what is the business model?
Krista Tan (14:43.13)
Hmm.
Krista Tan (14:48.293)
Yes. Yep. Yes.
Yep.
Jen Porter (15:02.342)
And then, like you said, to pivot when you realized, there's actually a different way to bring in some revenue, which is really smart. You talked a lot about impact. What are you seeing is the impact that Talent Collective is having?
Krista Tan (15:07.58)
huh.
Krista Tan (15:19.897)
Yeah, a few things. one, I mentioned the loneliness that can come with working from home, being isolated, obviously post COVID. I think there was a lot of that. And still even today, I think a lot of people are seeking out those relationships, whether it's in person or over Zoom. mean, I think a lot of people are
trying to get away from zoom now, but some may be in locations that are, you know, not well suited for any of our in person events. So the connection piece is really, really huge within our community. We have like peer mastermind groups and a mentorship program so that women, regardless of their location, can connect with other women in the industry. And so, for example, we have a peer group that's
for heads of talent that are basically a team of one, right? So they don't have colleagues to go to to ask all of these questions to, they don't have anyone to say like, am I doing this right? Or am I on the right track? Or, I'm having this issue with, you know, a hiring manager or my boss, like, how would you handle this? So that peer group really, you know, provides a lot of support to other women. It's almost like an extended team for them.
Jen Porter (16:38.382)
Interesting. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Krista Tan (16:43.363)
Yeah, I gonna say that the connection piece and which you know, is then a long term relationship that gets built, right? Like these women are now now have friends for life, which has been really, really neat to see. And then I would say a second to that are like, outcomes that are more tangible, I would say like women getting a new position through a connection they made at Talent Collective. So they either, you know,
see something posted in, we have like a job board, so they might see something posted and apply and get the job or just get connected through another person. jobs are coming out of it. And we have a lot of entrepreneurs in our group as well. So they're new business owners and so some partnerships. like, you know, I'm running this search and
My client gave me a creative role, like a design role. I have no idea how to recruit for a designer. Can someone help me? And, you know, they might do like a split fee or something like that. So we've seen a lot of really great outcomes from and results and impact.
Jen Porter (17:41.463)
Yeah.
Jen Porter (17:53.902)
mean, huge value. I'm thinking back to the women who may be laid off right now and having to make those tough decisions about what do they invest in and what do they hold off on, the values there, right? It's so clear, but it's probably hard to make those investments all the time, but it would benefit them so much, especially the job board and the networking and having those relationships because that is, I mean, it's, you
Krista Tan (18:14.981)
Yes. Yes.
Jen Porter (18:21.76)
It's still how people get jobs is through relationships, believe it or not.
Krista Tan (18:23.535)
Yes.
Yep. And I think even more so now, honestly, like I'm seeing this shift with AI and with candidates using AI to mass apply. So then the recruiters are getting on paper what looks like even more perfectly qualified candidates. So it's even harder for recruiters to do their job well. So I'm seeing now even more people really relying on those personal connections and networks.
Jen Porter (18:29.773)
Yeah.
Jen Porter (18:37.549)
Yes.
Jen Porter (18:54.797)
Hmm.
Krista Tan (18:55.437)
to find their next opportunity and to get in front of the recruiter on the role. It's a very interesting and tricky time to be job searching for sure.
Jen Porter (19:05.272)
Well, that's the other thing that I'm thinking about is that a benefit can be just understanding the trends that are happening in the marketplace. recently things have changed so much so fast.
Krista Tan (19:11.077)
Yes. Yep. Yes.
Yes. Yep. And we'll continue to. Yeah. We do a lot of like workshops and fireside chats where we bring in thought leaders to talk about all of these things as well. So yeah, that was something I was going to mention and didn't, but the kind of best practices, the trends, like all of those things we're talking about in our community as well.
Jen Porter (19:40.264)
So, you know, I was in talent acquisition for, I guess, about 20 years. I don't remember how the pressure cooker that it could be. I mean, because there's the demands are there, the needs, like they need somebody yesterday and, you know, doing all the work, things don't always work well with the, making those connections of, you know, human to need. And so I can, I didn't have something like that when I was
Krista Tan (19:45.018)
Yeah.
Krista Tan (19:48.551)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Krista Tan (20:03.461)
Right, right.
Jen Porter (20:08.53)
in the world of recruiting. And so I can imagine how important that would have been to be connected with those that could help. And especially you get a new job, you have no idea. Like you've never done anything like this before. You don't even know the questions to ask yet. And so to have that group of people would be huge.
Krista Tan (20:13.104)
Yeah.
Krista Tan (20:22.363)
Yep.
Krista Tan (20:26.341)
Yeah, yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah.
Jen Porter (20:29.322)
So let's talk a little bit more about the trusting self because that's a theme. It's a theme in my coaching work. I think so many of us women need to develop that muscle of trusting ourselves because sometimes it's never been there, I find. And in other cases, it's there. It just needs to be kind of brought back to life because a lot of self-doubt can come in. you know, it's interesting that I work with a lot of women who
You know, they may have a couple decades of experience and yet there's something that's happened where their confidence has taken a hit And it's usually like you could point to you know one or two things that have really been like a dagger to their self-confidence and so trusting self is like this rediscovery relearning of how to find the wisdom within ourselves and be able to stand firm on that and take risks from that place
Krista Tan (21:04.272)
Hmm.
Krista Tan (21:11.077)
Right. Right.
Jen Porter (21:25.206)
So what's that been like for you? trusting yourself, has that always been a part of your life, like even as a child?
Krista Tan (21:36.913)
good question. I feel like my answer is yes and no. I've always been pretty confident in my abilities, but there have definitely been things I've struggled with with regards to confidence and identity. I would say one of the most impactful things in my gosh late.
Jen Porter (21:46.69)
Mm-hmm.
Krista Tan (22:03.697)
20s or so was actually working with a life coach. And it had less to do with professional, my professional capabilities and more to do with like, just kind of like some mind body awareness, you know, like even like body image stuff and eating and food and all of these themes that
I really struggled with and, you know, it, working with that life coach, it really helped me to, I think, get out of my head and more into my body. So, and it's still something I really struggle with today. Like, I think I had completely disassociated from my body in a lot of ways, and this was probably growing up and I'm sure there's some childhood traumas in there in some, you know, in a bunch of different ways.
but like it was a concept that I never had even known about or thought about, but like, had no idea what was going on inside my body and how to listen to those cues, right? Like, my heart rate is faster now, or I'm, you know, nervous or I'm really hot right now. Like all of these things that like, I just completely like shut off from my body and
was really living in my head all of the time. So I think that process of meeting with a life coach and doing that kind of like self exploration really helped me in my then thirties and now forties to be more present and at one with myself. And that includes my body and what's going on with me physiologically and listening to those things.
Jen Porter (23:54.423)
Yes.
Krista Tan (23:59.427)
Even now I try to meditate a couple of times a week and I constantly have to kind of bring myself back into my body to go like, okay, what's actually going on with me right now? So yeah, so I think that's probably my biggest learning with regards to trusting myself and just even knowing and understanding what's going on in my body.
Jen Porter (24:12.482)
Hmm.
Jen Porter (24:15.905)
So.
Jen Porter (24:22.318)
So deep, so deep what you're talking about. So, you know, there's a saying that we live from here up, like we experience the world from here up. And where many of us, I don't know if it's, I haven't really thought about globally, but you know, US certainly is this disconnection from our bodies in really weird, wacky ways. I don't know how all that happens. Somebody does, but.
Krista Tan (24:27.545)
Yes.
Krista Tan (24:43.558)
Yes.
Jen Porter (24:49.326)
to we have to rediscover how to integrate and connect with our bodies. It's just a really weird thing that we have to it's like learning how to breathe. You know, it's like, why, why do we not know this? But I was just talking with a friend about this that she asked me how you know, how do I make I'm a processor, like I reflect on things, my deep thinking comes over time. And she said, How do you do it when you have to make a quick decision, like there's a risk or decision in front of you and you have to make like a
Krista Tan (25:00.667)
Totally.
Jen Porter (25:18.838)
game time decision right away. And I said, you know what, I am listening to my body in those cases. I'm tapping into what am I feeling usually in my gut area? Am I feeling a sense of peace or maybe butterflies? Or am I feeling a constriction? Like I'm sort of closing in on myself.
Krista Tan (25:24.944)
Yes.
Krista Tan (25:32.666)
Hmm.
Krista Tan (25:44.997)
Yes.
Jen Porter (25:45.518)
and it's signaling I'm in danger or this is not good, stay away, steer clear of this. So in those moments, that's what I'm doing is connecting my brain with my body and making the best decision. And we talked also about trusting self, that when we do that over the course of time, then we're able to have a track record.
Krista Tan (25:51.631)
Yes.
Krista Tan (26:00.315)
Mm-hmm.
Jen Porter (26:13.85)
of, that went well, we can reflect back after the decisions made and say, you know what, that actually went well. That was the right call. And the more we do that, the more we learn and can do that more easily without a ton of stress, just like I trust myself. I can, I can trust myself.
Krista Tan (26:25.413)
Yeah. Yep.
Krista Tan (26:30.757)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's, I think, a perfect way to say it and exactly what I've experienced as well. Like I said, I still have to remind myself to come back to a lot of those principles. even sometimes I'll go back and look through emails that I had with my coach of like,
you know, she would send me different exercises to do. And sometimes when I'm feeling just really like, uncentered or just struggling and not lost and not, not knowing what to do with a certain topic or just in general, sometimes like, I just have an unsettling feeling and I don't even know why, like what is going on? Sometimes I'll pull some of those, exercises back out and you know, it's just simple things that you might take for granted, like journaling, right? Like,
journaling, like doing that for every day for a week, or like I said, meditating and trying to, you know, really quiet, quiet my mind. And sometimes it's just going back to some of those basics can really help with that. And then it kind of resets me and I go, okay, I know what I'm doing or okay, I like feel better about whatever that uncertainty was.
Jen Porter (27:45.666)
Yes.
Jen Porter (27:50.614)
It's so true. so journaling, what I find, I love that some of those tools are timeless. Like they're still helping you. But what I have found with journaling is that it actually gets things out that are spinning and creating anxiety in our mind. once I put it on paper, it loses power because I make...
Krista Tan (27:57.872)
Yeah.
Krista Tan (28:07.824)
Yes.
Jen Porter (28:15.892)
instead of it swirling and spinning and feeling really, really big, if I put it on paper, then suddenly it feels more manageable. Or at least I'm able to crystallize, this is what I need to solve for. Okay, I can solve for this. What do I need? Who do I need to reach out to? It's just a method that gets it out of that anxiety producing energy inside and puts it.
Krista Tan (28:18.459)
Yes.
Krista Tan (28:25.115)
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Krista Tan (28:30.351)
Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Krista Tan (28:42.321)
Mm-hmm.
Jen Porter (28:44.618)
in a format that actually just reshapes it.
Krista Tan (28:47.921)
Yeah. One of the things, one of the tools that I use over and over again is there have been periods of time at different times in my life that I've struggled to sleep well, right? It's either I can't fall asleep or I wake up in the middle of the night and then I have a million things going on in my head and I just can't quiet my brain down. And it's exactly that. It's writing down, it might be a to-do list. It might be my worries, whatever the case may be. And just like,
you know, taking out my phone and making a note or sending myself an email just to remember to do these things tomorrow. Or I used to have a pen and paper beside my bed to do it. And just getting it out of my head, nine times out of 10 would do the trick, right? So I think that's just an incredibly powerful tool that everyone could use.
Jen Porter (29:28.45)
Mm-hmm.
Jen Porter (29:39.342)
Yes, yes. What do you desire for the women who are in your community? you could sort of have the ideal scenario of how they're flourishing and benefiting and if they're fully leveraging what it is that's available to them, what would that be?
Krista Tan (30:04.537)
Yeah, you brought up a couple of things in there that made me think about a lot of the receiving that women do in our community has a, there's a direct correlation with how much they're giving to the community, right? So the give and receive, there are people that I meet that
you know, sometimes we talk to our members before they join and sometimes we don't, but a couple of people in particular that I've talked to before they joined that were very much so like, well, I don't want to join unless I know I'm going to be able to get a job from this, or I don't want to join unless I'm going to receive XYZ. you know, those types of members end up not being ideal community members because I think just like in life, right? So like,
just to have this expectation that I'm gonna get something and that like I'm a consumer of this is I don't think really the best approach, right? Like if you come in with an open heart and you come in wanting to support other women and give back into other women's lives, like naturally you're just gonna receive from that. But then I think you come with like an energy that people are more willing to and open to wanting to give to you, right?
Jen Porter (31:30.125)
Yeah.
Krista Tan (31:31.471)
So that's kind of one of the first things I think about is like joining with the intention of giving and you know, what you put in is what you're gonna get out of it. The second thing I think of is what I find really unfortunate is that especially when women come in, they already have a full-time job, like especially if they're internal recruiters or maybe a head of talent internally.
they are so busy, right? They're usually coming in and they don't have time to attend the groups or attend the workshops. And unfortunately, then you're really not receiving the benefits of the community. And we hear so often that, you know,
Jen Porter (32:16.173)
Right.
Krista Tan (32:22.221)
I was too busy when I had my full-time job to engage and to network and to be a part of the community. And now that I don't have, like maybe I got laid off or left my company, I wish I would have been investing in this, right? I hear that just so, so often. So what I really hope for is...
that women would make the time, right? Make the time to invest in maybe it's just one of our peer groups and it's once a month, an hour, right? Like that seems very manageable from a time perspective. And I think that there's just a really big payoff in the long run.
Jen Porter (32:45.877)
is a
Jen Porter (33:01.098)
Yeah, yeah, there's so much there about what we choose to create space for and how empowered we feel about our schedule. I'm also thinking about, back in 2009, I got laid off from Microsoft. And I remember, because Microsoft was such a large organization, all of the relationships that I had formed,
Krista Tan (33:10.193)
Mm-hmm.
Jen Porter (33:30.158)
because I'd moved to Seattle for the job, was within this huge enterprise of Microsoft. And so then there are no jobs available within the company. All HR and recruiting just was like not happening. And I found myself really disconnected. I thought I was connected. It felt like I was connected, but I had no relationships.
intentional professional relationships outside of the company. And I swore to myself, I would never let that happen again, because we're vulnerable when when something like that happens and anything can happen, right? Where there's, mean, there's, there's really not job security in this day and age. And so I the value of having those relationships so that when if and when something happens, you've already got this network.
Krista Tan (34:05.467)
Yes, yep.
Krista Tan (34:15.405)
Anywhere. Yep. Right.
Jen Porter (34:27.234)
that you can just immediately reach out to your known and people can support in so many different ways. And because there's a relationship, they're gonna give their time. And it's what you're talking about too is what I call the cycle of generosity. It's where we're in this constant state of giving and receiving, because we have a lot to offer, but we also have a lot of needs. And to be in that...
Krista Tan (34:38.257)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Krista Tan (34:44.026)
Hmm.
Krista Tan (34:49.787)
Yep. Yes. Yep.
Jen Porter (34:54.126)
place of showing up in that way, always willing to receive what is available, but also giving freely because usually what the ways that we're giving come quite naturally to us. So it's, it's pretty effortless. Yeah.
Krista Tan (35:07.565)
Yes, yeah, exactly. Yeah, the topic of being in a company and kind of just getting really siloed into your network there, that exact same thing happened to me. The company I mentioned, it was a small boutique staffing agency, so it wasn't a large organization by any means. But I was there for 13 years and really the only network that I had when I left was
former colleagues, right? People that had left and now are at different companies. But I was just so in my little bubble there. And I find that that's definitely a theme that we hear a lot of with like, you know, I'm siloed within my own company. don't know what's going on with the broader TA community and trends, like best practices, all of those things, but then it ties into the network too.
Jen Porter (35:35.758)
Mm-hmm.
Krista Tan (36:02.833)
and lack of relationships outside of it, right? And not having it be a transactional thing, right? Like you want an actual real relationship with the people that you're reaching out to for help once you do have a need, right? So yeah, a community like Talent Collective or any membership community that someone joins, it doesn't have to be in recruiting, can really help facilitate that and help you build those connections.
Jen Porter (36:13.666)
Yeah.
Jen Porter (36:29.43)
So how did you handle that situation when after 13 years you're looking for something else?
Krista Tan (36:36.067)
Yeah, well, luckily, I was able to go to all those people that, you know, I had, I had previously worked with. And another thing that I did was asking, well, so one, and I always say this to people, but like, try to hop on a call with that person, right? If you're going to reach out and say, Hey, I'm looking for a new job, like,
Jen Porter (36:57.166)
Yeah.
Krista Tan (37:01.891)
If you just ping them on LinkedIn or shoot them a text or email, the likelihood of them remembering that when they hear of something is pretty slim to none, especially as time goes by. So try to actually hop on a call with them so that they remember the conversation. They have more context on what you're looking for and kind of the bigger picture. And you can just say, and what I would do is, Hey, I'm in a career pivot. Like, would you be willing to hop on a call with me and tell me what you're seeing in the market? Right? Like that's a really easy one.
Jen Porter (37:09.858)
Right.
Krista Tan (37:31.717)
You're not asking for something from them in particular, like them specifically, but you're more asking for like trends, the market, what's going on out there? What are they seeing? And then I will always ask them, who else should I talk to? Right? Like that's another big one is, okay, we've had this conversation, but do you have any suggestions on anyone you know that might be able to help with my search? And so getting warm introductions or, you know, being able to just reach out to someone and say, so-and-so.
Jen Porter (37:45.997)
Yeah.
Krista Tan (38:01.871)
suggested I reach out to you, right? So that's kind of how I was able to snowball the effect of my job search after 13 years is asking for referrals, right?
Jen Porter (38:10.307)
Yeah.
Yes, that's such great advice to get the call with somebody. I am thinking about a couple of things. Number one, that's a little bit of a lost art because we're so used to texting or pinging, right? But I'm also thinking about how the brain works and the brain can only hold on to so many notifications, you know.
Krista Tan (38:18.353)
Mm-hmm
Krista Tan (38:25.967)
Yes.
Krista Tan (38:38.161)
100%.
Jen Porter (38:39.562)
And yet a conversation is very human to human. We see each other more clearly. We feel each other. We have a chance to, you know, feedback what we're hearing them say so that we understand more fully and we can ask the follow-up questions of how can I help you and how are you thinking through this? So important. And the other thing, you know, when I was going through my job search,
Krista Tan (38:57.893)
Yep.
Krista Tan (39:02.929)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Jen Porter (39:08.392)
what I found is that every time I had a coffee date with somebody, I was asking for their time in that way, and I always left every conversation feeling more encouraged. And I felt and knew that I had an advocate, another advocate who was gonna be on my side helping me every time. So I always encouraged.
people to do that in a search because it's even if they don't end up being the person that's going to get you the job, it's just you're building like an army of people around you that can help. And that is so encouraging to the human spirit when we're in a difficult situation, which it is really scary when we're out of a job. That's a really hard hit that that we can take, especially if we're in that place of not getting the jobs that we're applying for. And, you know, it starts like, hey,
Krista Tan (39:44.805)
Yes. Yep. Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Krista Tan (39:53.413)
Yes. Yep.
Krista Tan (40:01.969)
Yep. Yeah. just sending your resume, know, the abyss of the thousands of other resumes that have been sent. Yeah. That human connection, I mean, it just, you know, speaks to our just need to connect with people, right? And that feeling of encouragement in a tough time is a real thing.
Jen Porter (40:12.173)
Yeah.
Jen Porter (40:19.278)
Yes.
Jen Porter (40:26.282)
Yeah, yeah. What do you see for the future of Talent Collective? What are your other dreams around this beautiful community?
Krista Tan (40:35.025)
Yeah. You know, I mean, we've talked a lot about like, right now what we have is working. Like we have a really great model. There's things that we can of course improve and tweak and get better. But you know, to just keep adding on more programs or services,
doesn't really end like the like growth, right? Like everyone always says growth, growth, growth, growth, growth. Like those things don't seem super authentic to us because like I mentioned, what we have going on right now is working and it's working really well. and so I almost hesitate to say like, we want to add a bunch of new things. so I think it's like, at least for the foreseeable future, it's.
Jen Porter (41:26.732)
Yeah.
Krista Tan (41:33.529)
If it's not broke, don't fix it, right? Like keeping what we have. Yes, growing the community, but like very intentional growth with the right kind of people being, you know, coming into the community where we don't want to just grow just for the sake of numbers. We really want members who are engaged and as I mentioned earlier, giving back because that's really how other members are going to get an impact on it. So kind of feel like what we have.
Jen Porter (41:43.374)
you
Jen Porter (41:59.906)
and
Krista Tan (42:03.345)
is working and I think one area is that is just naturally happening without us really even trying is the physical locations that we host in-person events in. We have, think, 18 different locations now where we have members that are in those locations and running events on behalf of Talent Collective. So naturally, I think as new women hear about the community and get involved,
Jen Porter (42:04.941)
Yeah.
Krista Tan (42:32.473)
And there's not a local chapter there. There's women that start to raise their hand and go like, hey, I want this in my town, right? So that will, I think, continue to happen. And even globally, like we did have an event in London in May, and we just happened to be there. And we had a partner that wanted to do, sponsor an event. But I think we could continue to see, like in Europe, we have some members, you know, maybe some traction there.
Jen Porter (42:38.817)
Yes.
Krista Tan (43:01.809)
So yeah, we'll see. Yeah, we're open to new ideas, but I think what we have going right now is working.
Jen Porter (43:08.226)
And are those your community leaders that are on your website, the ones that are in these different regions and hosting some of these events?
Krista Tan (43:14.465)
Yes. Yes, exactly. So it's essentially kind of, I guess, a volunteer position, right? They are they have risen, raised their hand to say, like, I would love to host, you know, community events in my local town. And they host at minimum one event per quarter, which can be super low lift, you know, they might be just
coordinating a happy hour or a coffee meetup or something like that, anywhere to larger events that could be like a fireside chat event with speakers and a sponsor. So yeah, those are the community leaders that we have. Yeah.
Jen Porter (43:56.312)
There's a lot of them, it's amazing, amazing. So if someone's listening and they wanna learn more about Talent Collective, how do they find out more about you and what's offered, but also what do you recommend as they explore it?
Krista Tan (44:11.587)
Yeah. Well, you can go to, you know, any of our social media, we obviously have a LinkedIn presence, just searching Talent Collective. Our website has a ton of information. It's talentcollectiveco.com. And those are two great ways to just start researching. You can reach out to me on LinkedIn. We do have a Q &A session, a question and answer session about our membership every Tuesday at
10am pacific time. One of our community members leads that her name is Candice. And so that's a really great place to learn more before you sign up. We do have an application process as well. So you can just apply to get more information. So yeah, so there's a lot of ways to learn more. We also like keep an eye on our LinkedIn page because we have tons of events going on.
We have a newsletter that you can be kept in in the loop of our events on to even if you're not interested in membership but want to attend some of our events in one of our local chapters. You can do that without being a member.
Jen Porter (45:15.522)
And I'm assuming membership could, know, and individuals obviously pay for that, but their company could sponsor them as well to be part of it, right?
Krista Tan (45:23.557)
Definitely. Yeah, we have a lot of our members that are employed that have their like maybe it's a learning and development stipend or something like that. So their company covers it. We also like have a letter that I can send you that has some verbiage on like, what are the benefits of this community and how would they make you do your job better, right? Because that's ultimately what the company wants to know is, is there going to be an ROI on this expense? So I have that that I can send to anyone who might be interested.
Jen Porter (45:42.254)
right? Totally.
Jen Porter (45:48.717)
Yeah.
Jen Porter (45:52.214)
Amazing. So anybody in talent acquisition, recruiting, check this out because being a part of the collective is, mean, like you said, we're better together than individually and isolated. And I do know from experience, it can be very stressful to be in these jobs when you're trying to recruit humans for these, you know, jobs that are often like they're written to be
more than realistic. It's like, okay, let me go find the person that has all these desperate characteristics and wants this job for this pay. So it could be really challenging and to be held in a community where other people are experiencing those same challenges and have made it through and can add not just value but mentorship for that I think would be incredibly valuable.
Krista Tan (46:22.385)
Yeah.
Krista Tan (46:28.111)
Right, right.
Jen Porter (46:50.424)
Check out talentcollectiveco.com and Krista Tan on LinkedIn. I just love what you're doing. I think it's an amazing community and I just love the brave steps that you've taken to get there.
Krista Tan (47:02.939)
Thanks Jen, I appreciate that.
Jen Porter (47:04.534)
It's very inspiring. All right, until the next episode, the lioness in me sees the lioness in you.
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