Recruiting teams earn influence when they understand what the business is trying to build.

Mike Bettley, VP of Talent Acquisition at StackAdapt, joins Shannon to share how he rebuilt a TA function that was stretched, fragmented, and operating without a clear hiring plan. Before changing systems or metrics, Mike focused on the team’s confidence. He created space for honest feedback, reset expectations, and helped recruiters move from asking for permission to making informed recommendations.

Mike also explains how his team became more involved in workforce planning, compensation conversations, and FP&A partnership as StackAdapt scaled from 170 to 1,800 people. He shares why every intake should start with the business problem, how recruiters can challenge unrealistic profiles, and where AI can support better planning before a role ever reaches TA.

Key takeaways:

1. Start with business needs: Define what the role must accomplish before writing the job description.
2. Context beats pedigree: A great background does not always match the company’s current stage.
3. Alignment prevents drift: Shared definitions help interviewers evaluate candidates against the same bar.
4. Process builds confidence: Strong hiring systems reduce overreliance on back channels and outside validation.

Timestamps: 

(00:00) Introduction

(00:35) Meet Mike Bettley

(01:30) Why recruiter confidence drives business impact

(03:33) Rebuilding a fragmented talent acquisition team

(06:11) Creating trust through vulnerability and transparency

(11:00) Earning hiring manager trust across the organization

(12:00) Shifting from job descriptions to business problems

(15:30) Teaching stakeholders what great TA partnership looks like

(18:30) Fixing operational bottlenecks through TA Ops investment

(21:00) Lessons learned from launching recruiting KPIs

(24:00) Measuring success through consistency and hiring quality

(28:00) Using AI to improve hiring planning and intake processes

(30:05) Where to connect with Mike