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Talent Acquisition Leaders Podcast - Recruiting, Staffing, Human ResourcesAuthor: Ryan Dull
On the Talent Acquisition Leaders Podcast, your host Ryan Dull of SageMark HR interviews todays industry leaders in talent acquisition to discuss challenges, best practices, and what the future holds. If you are working in talent acquisition and have always wanted to sit down with your peers at other companies and pick their brain, this show is the next best thing. Topics for the show will include: recruiting, talent acquisition, recruiting technology, HR tech, and recruiting innovation.. Join us each week as we bring you a new talent acquisition interview and extract their expertise. Language: en Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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Turning Candidate Care Into a Competitive Edge: The TA Shift with Stef Nikitas of Ace Hardware Corporation
Tuesday, 6 January, 2026
The journey into talent acquisition is rarely linear, and this episode brings that to life as host Ryan Dull sits down with Stef Nikitas, Director of TA at Ace Hardware Corporation, to explore her global career path and the transformation of TA at one of the most recognized brands in retail. They discuss the unique recruiting challenges created by Ace Hardware’s cooperative store model, the evolution of TA operations over the past decade and how Stef has driven major initiatives in process design, technology, data and candidate experience. She also reflects on how COVID accelerated change, why quality must replace quantity in hiring and how AI and automation continue to reshape the TA landscape.Key Takeaways:00:00 Introduction.02:34 Stef fell into TA after a three-year HR apprenticeship in Germany.07:01 Ace Hardware stores are independently owned and operated.09:53 Hiring was siloed, driving the need to centralize TA.11:56 Peak season becomes “speed dating” to hit staffing levels fast.15:16 Grace, their chatbot, automates candidate care and keeps applicants engaged.18:17 TA shifted from volume metrics to a deeper focus on quality of hire.22:07 The career site was relaunched, and AI helped realign recruiter levels.25:43 Be a sponge, say yes often and own your development.Resources Mentioned:Stef Nikitashttps://www.linkedin.com/in/snikitas/Ace Hardware Corporation | LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/acehardwarecorp/Ace Hardware Corporation | Websitehttp://www.acehardware.comThis episode is brought to you by Sagemark HR.Sagemark HR can help you:✔ Improve your talent practices and make better, more informed people decisions.After 20+ years of experience leading Recruiting and Talent Acquisition across a wide variety of industries, I've seen enough hires (over 100,000 to date) to know that hiring decisions truly can make or break an organization.✔ Identify opportunities to not only improve your talent practices, but also delivering tangible business results.We understand every organization is different, and there’s no one-size-fits-all magic solution. So we listen first and identify the gaps and sticking points in your current process before ever recommending a solution.✔ Bridge the gap from “traditional” to modern recruiting, without the painful learning curve.We believe recruiting, talent, and HR technology is a deep well of untapped business potential, and our mission is to help you identify and implement those hiring tools in a way that works for you.If you’re interested in learning more, you can reach me at:www.sagemarkhr.com✉ ryan.dull@sagemarkhr.com#Talent #Recruiting #HRTech
