Want a Stronger Hiring Function? Start With These 6 Elements: Interview with Minoo Ayat, VP of Global Talent Acquisition at Juniper Networks
About the Author
With over two decades of experience in Talent Acquisition, Minoo Ayat has led global recruiting teams across organizations of all sizes, including industry leaders such as Yahoo, Amazon, and Juniper Networks, as well as high-growth startups like OneLogin and OneMedical. Her career has been dedicated to building high-performing teams, and her track record proves she knows what she’s doing. As an advisor to ModelExpand since its inception, Minoo has been instrumental in shaping strategies that drive effective hiring at scale.In this guest blog, Minoo shares her insights on what she sees as critical factors to effective recruiting teams.
I began my journey in recruiting three decades ago—back when success meant smiling and dialing, faxing resumes, and having a well-organized Rolodex (which, for the Gen Z crowd, was basically LinkedIn but in paper form). Recruiting has evolved tremendously since then—thankfully, no more fax machines.
We’ve gone from making gut-based hiring decisions to leveraging data to ensure businesses meet their hiring goals with quality and efficiency. Over time, I’ve come to identify five pillars critical to a talent acquisition team’s success.
#1: Collaboration and Communication: Building strong relationships with business leaders is a key part of the job.
Recruiting shouldn’t happen in a silo. Success depends on strong partnership between the TA team and hiring stakeholders, ensuring everyone shares a clear understanding of hiring goals. A transparent, consistent recruitment process not only strengthens internal collaboration within TA but also fosters seamless coordination with hiring managers, HR, and other departments, which is a must-have to manage high volume.
What does this look like in practice? Regular weekly meetings with business leaders, clear expectations, and shared goals between recruiters and their hiring teams. It also means open lines of communication and feedback loops that foster deeper alignment. Success hinges on recruiters and business leaders moving beyond a transactional dynamic to operate as strategic talent partners.
#2: Recruiter Performance Metrics: Give your teams a clear picture of their performance.
It is critical for your individual recruiters to have a strong understanding of their productivity goals and effectiveness. Define clear performance metrics for recruiters that align with company goals. Track KPIs like conversion rates, candidate experience, and quality of hire to drive improvement and accountability. We cannot improve what we do not measure.
#3: Candidate Pipeline Health: Proactive sourcing and lead generation prevents scrambling.
The talent pipeline’s size, diversity, and quality demonstrate the TA team's preparedness to consistently fill roles with qualified candidates in the most efficient way. A strong, balanced pool of leads for current and future roles obtained through proactive lead generation moves a TA team from reactive to proactive.
#4: Training and Development: In this fast-moving environment, recruiters cannot stay stagnant.
Continuous learning and skill development opportunities provided to the TA team are critical, including training in sourcing, interviewing, and generating diverse, balanced teams. A well-trained TA team is more effective, adaptable, and better able to keep up with changing technologies, trends, and best practices. Regular training programs, mentorship, and professional development opportunities ensure teams stay current with recruitment practices and tools, which helps give the business a competitive advantage in recruiting the best candidates. For example, staying ahead by leveraging AI-driven platforms and innovative sourcing initiatives is essential for enhancing recruitment effectiveness in today's competitive environment.
#5: Employee Engagement and Satisfaction: Happy recruiters build winning teams.
Do not overlook the level of engagement and satisfaction within the TA team itself, including job satisfaction, morale, and alignment with the organization’s goals. This can be measured using an employee net promoter score in pulse surveys or engagement surveys. A motivated, engaged TA team is more likely to recruit high-quality candidates, positively influence the employer brand, and bring in new ideas.
#6: AI Roadmap: Don’t wait to understand it—start planning now.
TA teams don’t need to master AI overnight, but they do need a clear roadmap. Start by identifying repetitive workflows to automate (like scheduling or sourcing), pilot tools with clear ROI, and build internal guidance to ensure ethical, effective use.
About ModelExpand
ModelExpand is a talent advisory firm that transforms your recruiting function into a strategic advantage. We work alongside your team to design and implement scalable infrastructure to help growing companies hire better, faster, and more inclusively. Contact us to learn more.
