In this episode of Talk Talent To Me, we are joined by Paul Humphreys, J.P. Morgan’s Technology Recruitment Manager for all of EMEA. Paul has truly done it all, from studying politics to starting his own recruitment agency, to heading up jobs at Sky and Amazon, and finally settling on a prestigious position at J.P. Morgan. In our conversation, we discuss the pros and cons of working for a global company with larger resources, what cohort hiring is, and why it’s such a big focus for Paul, as well as what he believes the standard industry practice should be when dishing out application rejections. 

Key Points From This Episode:

 

• Paul Humphrey details his career trajectory from studying politics to working for J.P.Morgan.
• What appealed to Paul about working for J.P. Morgan despite having no experience in finance.
• What he is responsible for within the company.
• The pros and cons of working for a global company with resources versus a startup.
• What cohort hiring is and why it’s currently number one on Paul’s agenda.
• Paul’s intentions for the future of recruitment within J.P.Morgan.
• Why hiring managers should be educated to screen candidacy in, rather than screening out.
• The opportunity for internal mobility at J.P. Morgan and how they look at both the internal and external market.
• The process by which existing J.P. Morgan employees are considered for other roles.
• Where Paul feels the firm could improve in terms of recruitment.
• Which kinds of mobility are the most and least common within J.P. Morgan.
• Why Paul believes that giving detailed and honest feedback when a candidate’s application is rejected should be standard industry practice.

 

Tweetables:

“As a recruiter, what’s always been the most interesting part of the career is trying to wrap my head around, firstly, technology, and then secondly, the business, and to understand how technology is valuable to that business and the role that it plays.” — Paul Humphreys [0:07:27]

 

“Speed is important in talent acquisition. The speed with which you can bring a candidate through a process [and] the speed with which you can respond to your client’s needs.” — Paul Humphreys [0:11:29]

 

“There is no such thing as a bad candidate. It’s about matching candidates with your requirements and also the reverse, whether your opportunity matches what a candidate is looking for.” — Paul Humphreys [0:16:16]

 

“Our role as recruiters is to try and ask challenging questions to the clients and make sure that they’re really assessing internal and external candidates in a similar way.” — Paul Humphreys [0:21:48]

 

“To shift that focus away from one-off interactions with candidates to a more open and constructive dialogue, that would be a great achievement.” — Paul Humphreys [0:29:23]

 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

 

Talk Talent to Me

Paul Humphreys on LinkedIn

J.P. Morgan

Hired