Meet the Dubber – Aasha Anam

About You

Give us an overview of your career to date.

I studied Neuroscience at Edinburgh University and prior to moving into a Talent Acquisition role I spent for 14 years in Gastronomy and 4.5 years as a 360 recruiter and manager predominantly placing mid to senior candidates into Sales, HR, Marketing roles across the B2C sector

I started my Talent Acquisition (TA) journey in London in April 2018 and in that role, I built and trained a successful team of TA’s who were responsible for 150+ hires alongside the 100 hires I made personally into that business across the globe.

I was then seconded to Berlin in April 2019 and made the permanent move there 6 months later, tasked with setting up the function from scratch and adapting the process to the German market as well as providing additional Ops Support.

I joined JCW as a Global Head of and am excited to build out the process, team, and strategy to get to our 2025 vision

What has been the biggest challenge in your career so far?

The move to Germany by myself, not speaking the language and working in a market where there were large cultural differences even between cities was a real challenge and one, I relished!

What advice would you give to individuals starting out in their careers?

Think about what you genuinely enjoy doing not just what you are good at.  Don’t be rushed into making a decision.  The people you surround yourself with at the beginning of your career will have a huge impact on not just your professional life but you as a person- meet as many people as possible at all levels!

What is the best advice you have received in business?

Control the controllable- understanding what you can control, what you can influence and what you can’t and adapting accordingly- will make you happier and less stressed both in business and life

What or who has been your greatest influence in business and why?

I have had several Managers that have shaped me into the person I am today.  I couldn’t name one as each person added another string to my bow.  That in itself is an important lesson you can always learn something from every person.

What are you most proud of in your career?

Having the courage to make a massive career change in my early 30s

Being an advocate for change regarding E, D & I in every recruitment company I have worked in and physically seeing that change and the commercial success that has come from it.

What do you want to achieve next?

Being an integral part of JCW Group hitting their 2025 vision, not just in terms of Headcount but also in terms of trying to build and implement a process that is as Bias free and encourages Diversity in every aspect

About your specialist area

Why is talent acquisition so important in a recruitment business?

Recruitment is a human capital business; we literally wouldn’t be anything without our people!  We also play an integral part in shaping the culture, diversity, and equality within an organisation

What are the biggest challenges within talent acquisition right now?

Specifically in recruitment it’s trying to get the right balance between the in office, support training and culture VS the generational and post-Covid shift in attitude towards remote, flexible and WFH models of working.

How do you see talent acquisition evolving over the next 5 years?

I think more and more companies will bring their core hiring in house and separate it out from an HR function, using external Recruiters for specialised, in demand and senior roles.  We will follow the same model as externals and be specialised in our core markets- a change you already see in a lot of tech business who have bought highly specialised external recruiters In house.  I also think that Talent Acquisition will become synonymous with a company’s ED&I function as is has to start at grass roots if we ever hope to overcome the “Broken Rung” phenomenon.