Meet William Uranga, Director, Talent Acquisition at TiVo: “Talent alchemist & Curious Currator”

Posted on June 30, 2008
Filed Under Interviews |

By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, Affiliate Partner, JobMachine.Inc.

Article reprint, courtesy of RecruitingBlogs.com

STAY TUNED for PART 2 - William will share details on talent acquisition efforts at Tivo

William Uranga, Director, Talent Acquisition at TiVo & Co-founder at Recruiting Leadership Forum

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“It has been a great pleasure working for and closely with William. He is a great mentor with his knowledge of the industry and the company - I have learned so much from him! One important trait for a manager/director to have is to be approachable and he always has an open door for any questions or concerns we may have. He is the “glue” that holds our team together!”
Melissa Stebbins (Swimm)

It is something to be appreciated by your peers, it is meaningful to be appreciated among your co-workers. William Uranga has achieved veneration among both peers in the recruitment industry over the last fifteen years and within the teamwork environment he manages at Tivo.

I first met William at ERE San Diego this past spring at an evening reception as we circled around and shared war stories and we exchanged emails thereafter until we met again at Kennedy Las Vegas the month after. William is passionate about talent acquisition, and has provided access to JobMachine workshops to his team. He lives and breathes social media, be it Linkedin, Facebook, or Twitter. William is all of these things, and it has been my pleasure to have called him a friend and colleague.

William was kind enough to share his home world and his wealth of talent acquisition expertise with us:

Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world, William.

William: Married to Tracy (17 years). I have 2 two-legged kids: Emily (6 years old), Mason (4) and 2 four-legged ones, Chaps (Dalmation/choc lab mix) Maggie (Aussie shepherd)

I am regularly wrestled by my kids (WWF-style), paintball, enjoy alpine backpacking – especially climbing 14ers (14,000 ft peaks). We’re involved in small community group through our church and just moved into a 59 yo home – so I’m coming to terms with tons of “to do” projects.

Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter?

William: At a high-level, I “fell” into it. I had taken a temporary role with a not-for-profit while waiting to go overseas for work. When the latter didn’t pan out, I was offered a full-time role recruiting interns for the organization. It was a blast and eventually grew to include recruiting volunteers. That was tough. It’s much easier getting people to part with their money than their time it seemed.

My “flip” into the professional arena started when I was standing in line at a Starbucks. Not being shy, I paid the fellow behind me a sincere compliment about his tie. I had no idea I was talking to Bob Concannon of the then Bridgegate Group (a big deal in the Bay Area for retained search). He gave me his card and said “If you ever think about getting into search, call me”

The possibilities intrigued me (as did Bob) so I called. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any marketing or engineering experience, but I did have HR. Bob connected me one fateful day with Jeanne Palmer (a big name in HR in the Bay Area) and soon I joined her, conducting retained searches for HR executives. This shaped my approach to recruiting for all subsequent roles.

Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career?

William: Just one event? I can’t name just one. Outside of getting started (as mentioned above, I would say there are two:
1. Being laid off not once, but twice. It was business, but I was (and remain) optimistic. It’s grown my empathy for others who are either starting their career or are unemployed.
2. Leading others. My success or failure is based in large part on the people I pick coach, train, and inspire. It is humbling when I fail them, encouraging the organization becomes better because of their personality and contribution and thrilling to know I’d gladly face any challenge with them.

With respect to mentorship, I’ve learned tremendously while working with my manager, Nancy Kato, SVP Human Resources. In particular, in embodying the CEO’s vision while executing your respective business operations.

Six Degrees: Detail your position, responsibilities, size of your staffing organization:

William: Right now I lead the Talent Acquisition Team at TiVo. We work on all employee and contingent hires, related programs, tools and vendors for the organization. The team handles all hiring below the CXO level and across all skill sets. I’ve been busy and having fun here since March 2005.

Six Degrees: List/detail speaking events, awards, publications, where you have you represented your company:

William: ERE Conference and Expo, Kennedy Information’s Conference and Expo

View my profile on RecruitingBlogs.com

LinkedIn | Bio | MSN | Skype

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