The reason your best candidates aren’t getting hired is because your team isn’t aligned.

Maria Fernanda, Senior Technical Recruiter, with past experience at Twilio and Brunel, joins Shannon to talk about the hidden costs of misalignment between recruiters and hiring managers. With experience leading global teams and building internal tools, Maria breaks down how trust and clarity change hiring outcomes.

She shares how to coach two distinct types of hiring managers and why both need different forms of support. The conversation explores how to set expectations, use internal data, and guide decisions when processes vary across cultures and company sizes.

Maria also reflects on the power of being human in high-pressure roles and why weekly syncs need clear goals to stay valuable.

Key takeaways:

1. Alignment drives results: Without shared criteria, even top candidates can get passed over.
2. Context is everything: Understanding your hiring manager’s background helps shape better communication and trust.
3. Recruiters are partners: Building influence starts with showing up as an advisor, not a task-runner.
4. Processes need explaining: Success depends on making sure hiring managers understand the why behind every stage.

Timestamps:
(00:00) What hiring excellence really means

(00:09) Introductions

(00:35) Guest profile: Maria Fernanda

(02:16) Why strong recruiter–hiring manager relationships matter

(04:25) Aligning multiple perspectives across a hiring team

(07:39) Two types of new hiring managers and how they differ

(10:12) Coaching seasoned managers new to the company

(13:38) Using real candidate examples to clarify alignment

(17:20) Building buy-in for unfamiliar hiring processes

(22:42) Helping new managers navigate ATS tools

(29:33) Adapting communication style to influence hiring decisions