In a ground breaking development for European road traffic, Vay has introduced remote-controlled electric cars in Hamburg, marking a remarkable milestone. For the first time on European roads, these vehicles operate without a safety driver within the car itself.
Instead, teledrivers take charge from a dedicated teledrive centre, equipped with a car steering wheel and pedals designed to meet automotive industry standards! These teledriven test drives, performed without the presence of a safety driver, follow predefined routes, revolutionising the future of transportation.
Who wouldn’t want to work at Vay? TALiNT International spoke to Connaire Wallace, Head of Talent Acquisition at Vay about how attracting the right talent affects company culture and how judging the TIARA Talent Solutions Awards shone a light on successful hiring practises across the industry.
TALiNT International: Interesting industry you’re in. How do you see the adoption of AI – which is happening at rapid pace – affecting how you hire people at Vay?
Connaire Wallace: In the short term I don’t see AI having a huge impact on our hiring strategy at Vay. From a granular level we have already begun using AI tools to support the generation of LinkedIn content, challenging the diversity of the language within our job descriptions, format interview feedback, uncovering more innovative ways to source niche talent; and these are effective strategies to make our daily operations more streamlined.
From a wider hiring strategy perspective, the human touch will continue to be critical for some time to come in my opinion. With an organisation the size of Vay, circa 150 people, it’s just as important we hire talent that will add to our culture as it is to find the right technical expertise. A mistake a lot of businesses can make is hiring extremely talented people to execute on the mission and vision but end up losing sight of the company values which can cause huge reputational damage in the long-term leading to higher employee turnover and increased difficulty attracting top talent to your organisation.
From a wider hiring strategy perspective, the human touch will continue to be critical for some time to come in my opinion.
TI: This is the first time you’ve judged the TIARA Talent Solutions Awards! What made you want to be a part of the TIARA Awards programme?
CW: As a person focused on self-development, I see it as a critical element of continuous improvement to have a visualisation of how the best in the business are operating and implementing world-class hiring strategies. This is also a great opportunity to have transparent and challenging discussions with some extremely talented people who are also on the judging panel. In our industry, your mind has to be open to conflicting viewpoints and this is a brilliant platform to challenge my own mindset and opinions.
TI: What trends did you see coming out of this year’s TIARA Talent Solutions award entries?
CW: From a positive perspective an increased focus on diversity, equity and inclusion strategies that are spread from C-Level within organisations rather than being Talent Acquisition/People/HR projects.
TI: What makes a good TIARA entry? In other words, what did you look for in the entries?
CW: It is worth noting every single entry I saw this year is what I would judge as “best in class” with some fantastic stories around long-term partnerships and eco-friendly initiatives. For me personally the three main focus attributes I judged entries on were metrics-driven impact, clear relationship evolution and human touch to stand out from the crowd.
TI: How did you find the judging process?
CW: It’s been super interesting, my fellow judges come from a wide range of cultures, working backgrounds and experience levels which has been a really interesting eye opener to see how perspectives vary between different styles and sizes of organisations. It has also been such an interesting exercise to reflect on the hiring practices I have implemented with my team here at Vay and in previous organisations and use these insights to begin contemplating how I scale the organisation exponentially in the coming years.
TI: What sets the TIARAs apart from other awards programmes?
CW: The diversity of the interview panel is certainly a huge positive, there were some really challenging discussions with the panel when reviewing entries and a clear passion from everyone to ensure those that had stood out from the crowd had their voices heard but also there were fair reflections on positive elements of all entries.
Personally I was made to feel incredibly welcome and like I had been part of the TIARA team for years. Thanks to all of the incredible people behind the awards and good luck to all of this year’s entrants, you’re all winners in my eyes!
