Re-calibrating Your Talent Acquisition Teams

Chris Hoyt: I am delighted to have you on the show. It has been way too long since we’ve kind of pulled you back into the podcast. But Melissa, you’re dialed in from the road today, yeah?

Melissa Thompson: I am. I’m in Atlanta for NSBE, the National Society of Black Engineers. My counterpart, the Chief Diversity Officer, just called me and said, “We’re closing the booth.” We’ve seen 2,000 people in two days. All of our interview slots are full—we’re done. And I was like, you know what I call that? Success.

Gerry Crispin: Wow. Yeah, wow. Now, were all the people that you saw Black engineers or were there a bunch of white engineers also there?

Melissa Thompson: Actually, it was very colorful. There was very little non-diverse participation in the booth, and that is greatly appreciated.

Gerry Crispin: Was it Society of Women Engineers? Or was it Grace Hopper?

Chris Hoyt: That was last year. It was Grace Hopper.

Melissa Thompson: And Grace Hopper is working hard to fix that, so yeah.

Chris Hoyt: Good, good.

Melissa Thompson: Mm-hmm.

Chris Hoyt: Oh man. So what happens now? Everybody just heads to the bar and goes through the batch of resumes? What’s the plan?

Melissa Thompson: What they’ll do is close out the booth—target those who were scheduled for interviews but didn’t get one today. Then they’ll wrap up the interview spaces, determine who interviewed, who’s getting an offer, who needs to be declined, and off we go. We’re off to the races. It’s interesting because this is the first time we’ve successfully done both college and professional outreach at an event like this. We’ve got a bunch of professionals we’re following up with to move into the interview process next week. I’m super excited to see the ROI.

Gerry Crispin: I’m happy that NSBE has something going here. This is great.

Chris Hoyt: Yeah, I love it. Return of the events—everybody said this is the year, right?

Melissa Thompson: For sure.

Chris Hoyt: Very cool. Okay, we have a fun topic today. Are you ready to dive in?

Melissa Thompson: I’m ready if you are.

Chris Hoyt: Yeah? Let’s do it.

Announcer: Welcome to the CXR channel, our premier podcast for talent acquisition and talent management. Listen in as the CXR community discusses a wide range of topics focused on attracting, engaging, and retaining the best talent. We’re glad you’re here.

Chris Hoyt: All right. Welcome, everybody. If this is your first time joining us, this is the Recruiting Community Podcast. I’m Han Solo. This is my co-host, Jabba.

Gerry Crispin: Ah!

Chris Hoyt: Yeah, I knew I’d get that out of you. Good afternoon, Gerry. How are you?

Gerry Crispin: Pleasant good afternoon.

Chris Hoyt: I’m excited. We’ve got longtime CXR member and Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Ford Motor Company, Melissa Thompson. She’s going to share how she’s working to recalibrate her TA team on what they do and what they deliver to best meet the needs of the business.

But first, some housekeeping. We’re streaming on social channels—YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and this week, I believe, Instagram, Twitch, and TikTok. I’m not on TikTok. Gerry, where did you get Twitch from?

Gerry Crispin: Twitch?

Chris Hoyt: Twitch is a streaming service. Lots of technical people—gaming, programmers, developers. And someday maybe we’ll be on BlueSky. But we are not on Twitter—or X or whatever it’s called now.

Also, as a reminder, this is a labor of love. It’s ad-free. If you’re with us on LinkedIn, we encourage you to jump into the chat and say hello. We’ll answer anything that comes across. Say hi to our guest.

And if you’re watching us on a treadmill, stay focused. But also check out the little QR code in the corner. That’s part of the CXR Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We’re moving into our fourth year. Last year we raised almost $34,000—all of it goes toward programs and scholarships. The board just voted on this year’s scholarship recipient, and I’m super excited to announce that soon. We’ve got the CXR Inspire Scholarship and the Russ Mountain Scholarship, all focused on continuing education for TA professionals.

If you’d like to learn more or donate, scan the QR code. That’s why it’s there. Did I cover it all?

Gerry Crispin: Nailed it. Nothing to add.

Chris Hoyt: Perfect. All right, let’s bring in our guest. Melissa, how are you?

Melissa Thompson: I’m fantastic. How are you?

Chris Hoyt: Good, good. Excited to have you here. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of getting to know you, why don’t you give us a little elevator pitch—who is Melissa Thompson and why should we be paying attention?

Melissa Thompson: I’ve been the Head of Talent Acquisition at Ford for the last two and a half years. I joined Ford because of the opportunity to transform a Fortune 50 company in terms of how they do talent acquisition, end to end.

Prior to Ford, I’ve been with companies like Dell, Bank of America, and more recently, smaller companies like McGraw Hill and Nielsen. Over my career—30+ years—I’ve really focused on how talent acquisition can drive business success. When TA is done well, it helps the business win. That’s why I’m here, and why this year is a big transformation year for us.

Chris Hoyt: Love it. You did a tremendous presentation at our leadership event last fall, talking about the Kaizen approach—really flipping things on their heads. So let’s talk about this recalibration strategy. What was the core reason behind the decision to recalibrate the team at Ford?

Melissa Thompson: It actually came to me as a result of the Kaizen discussion. My peers said, “You’ve identified the core pieces—what’s next?” Flying home, I thought: Rethink. Redesign. Reimagine. How can we take the foundation we built and level up?

My team was saying, “Do we have to do all this change?” So I structured it around three pillars: redesign, reimagine, and rethink. We categorized core TA components under those pillars and focused on two or three things per area that would really move the needle—like clarifying sourcing, leveraging data from Visier, or engaging stakeholders to better forecast needs.

Chris Hoyt: You were crushing Kaizen last fall and now you’ve taken it up a notch.

Melissa Thompson: Yes. Last year was Kaizen. This year is redesign. We’re using customer experience and design thinking—starting with university recruiting. We Kaizened it last year. This year, we’re mapping the customer journey for candidates, hiring managers, and recruiters. We’re asking, “What are the pain points? Where are the batons being dropped?”

Gerry Crispin: So all three are customers?

Melissa Thompson: Yes, I think of it that way. Technically, recruiters aren’t customers, but they’re critical to the journey, so we’re mapping their experience, too.

Chris Hoyt: I know it’s early, but has that recalibration shown impact yet? Any feedback?

Melissa Thompson: I was in Dearborn recently and shared the plan with a senior leader. She lit up. She said, “Doing this will change how we bring talent into Ford.” These tools—Kaizen, design thinking—are familiar to Ford, but applying them in TA is new and exciting for the business.

Chris Hoyt: At a legacy org like Ford, where things can be set in their ways, does this help resistant folks get on board?

Melissa Thompson: Absolutely. Concepts like “Gemba”—go and see where the work happens—are incredibly powerful. We’re at NSBE right now, and hiring managers are talking through new ideas for interviews and selection on the spot. One said, “I only have one internship spot, but I saw three great people.” I said, “Why not hire all three?” Her face lit up. Telling those stories and showing possibilities opens minds.

Chris Hoyt: What’s been the biggest challenge in recalibration? Any key lessons for others?

Melissa Thompson: Do it in bite-sized pieces. Big sweeping changes won’t land. We said: “Let’s do 12 things this quarter—three per pillar.” Track weekly. If we only hit 80%, that’s okay. Some may slip into the next quarter. The point is steady, visible progress. Be willing to flex.

Chris Hoyt: That’s powerful. So what’s next? Any trends or innovations you’re excited to bring in?

Melissa Thompson: Long-term, I want the team to move up the TA maturity model. We’ve gone from Level 1 to 2. The leap to Level 4 is big. Whether it’s implementing AI, launching our CRM, or stabilizing our ATS to reduce manual work—these are critical. It’s big and small things, tackled bite by bite.

Chris Hoyt: Love that. You’ve got a vision, and you’re pacing the journey. That’s huge.

Melissa Thompson: And we’re getting business and HR leaders to understand that real change takes time. Come with us on the journey and you’ll see those little successes add up.

Chris Hoyt: All right—our final question. If you wrote a book about this experience, what would the title be?

Melissa Thompson: Change Doesn’t Happen Quickly. I want people to understand that change is hard. It takes time. Patience is key.

Chris Hoyt: So who gets the first signed copy?

Melissa Thompson: My sister—definitely. Otherwise, I’d be in trouble. But then probably Danielle Moynihan, Brad Cook (even though he’s retired), and Ryan Cook. They’d all want one.

Chris Hoyt: I met your sister recently—she was lovely!

Melissa Thompson: Yes, she’s in the TA space too.

Chris Hoyt: Well, Melissa, thank you so much. I know how busy you are. We’re so grateful you took time out from NSBE to chat with us.

Melissa Thompson: And thank you both. You’ve always picked up the phone when I’ve needed help.

Chris Hoyt: Always will. That’s a wrap, everybody. Check out cxr.org/podcast to catch past and upcoming episodes. We’ll see you next week!

Announcer: Thanks for listening to the CXR channel. Please subscribe to CXR on your favorite podcast resource, and leave us a review while you’re at it. Learn more at cxr.works, facebook.com and twitter.com/careercrossroads, and on Instagram at CareerXRoads. We’ll catch you next time.