Embracing A New Direction In Talent Acquisition

As the landscape of Talent Acquisition (TA) evolves, it’s crucial for us at Spotify to continually reflect on our strategies and adapt to the dynamic needs of our business and workforce. Over the years, our recruitment approach has shifted dramatically—from a phase of rapid growth where external hiring was paramount, to today’s focus on nurturing and leveraging our internal talent pool. The recruitment landscape is buzzing with changes, and at Spotify, we’re embracing the changes and adapting our recruitment strategies to meet the challenges of today’s talent market.

From Service Oriented Hiring To Talent Partnership

Our previous TA strategy was matched to our business strategy – fast growth. It was largely driven by numbers and our focus was on filling roles quickly, while maintaining quality. With this as our objective, the TA team’s most effective approach was to hone in on each business unit, and concentrate on its distinct hiring goals. This was a service oriented strategy, as typically hiring managers outline their needs and the TA team would go to the external market to fulfil them. Internal candidates were encouraged to apply, however, for the most part, the mindset of sharing talent was missing and instead this could be perceived as ‘poaching’. And while we did track internal movements, these metrics weren’t the primary measure of our success and most internal moves were initiated by the individuals themself.

As the business landscape has changed, our current situation calls for a different talent approach. Internal mobility has become a key to developing both our business and our band members, and to embrace that, we needed to switch up our TA strategy. Our focus is now on an internal sourcing strategy, with a talent partnership approach. That means changing most TA tactics, and also nurturing a talent culture – where sharing talent is the norm and Spotifiers can expect to be able to make several internal moves to suit their individual career path, during their tenure.

The Importance Of Talent Intelligence

In crafting our internal sourcing strategy, Talent Intelligence has been an important tool to help us identify internal talent but also highlight tenure in role. Coupling key skills with tenure allows us to ensure we further our efforts to keep our talent engaged, particularly if someone has been in the same role for some time and may be ready for a new challenge (which could be non-linear) before they start considering options externally. With this intelligence we’re able to instigate ‘Future check-ins’ at the right time. Future check-ins allow us to connect with the right people in our organisation at the right time (before they choose to apply for a job outside of Spotify). The aim is to understand where they are in their career journey and what a future at Spotify could look like, and then of course, we aim to help them accomplish this future vision. And information should also be gathered when internal candidates apply for job openings when they are being interviewed.

By leveraging these kinds of talent insights, we are also able to look at potential successors for leadership roles more broadly across the company rather than by team only. Through this exercise we can uncover where our talent gaps lie within our organisation. This year we’re tying our TA Leads more closely to our succession planning process to foster a more robust talent strategy both internally and externally.

Our core function remains—matching exceptional talent with business needs—but the emphasis has shifted. We are no longer just filling positions; we are fostering a culture where internal mobility is celebrated and external hiring is more selective and strategic.

Our evolution involves shift in approach across many areas, such as:

From	→	To
Service oriented	→	Talent partners
Succession planning in silos	→	Proactive matchmaking across the organisation
Exit interviews to understand reasons employees choose to leave Spotify	→	Future check ins to unlock opportunities for future growth/retention at Spotify
Internal advertising	→	Internal advertising and sourcing
Broad talent sourcing	→	Insights driven talent sourcing

This shift is crucial not only because of reduced opportunities for external hiring but also due to the increasing importance of retaining and developing our existing workforce.

The Future of Spotify’s Talent Acquisition

Looking forward, Spotify’s TA strategy is set to be more dynamic than ever. We are moving towards being more than recruiters – instead, being talent partners who facilitate meaningful conversations about potential hiring avenues. This involves:

• Advising on internal talent opportunities, giving business leaders a clearer view of our internal talent landscape.
• Recognising talent gaps and knowing when to look externally.
• Encouraging proactive internal sourcing, which includes presenting opportunities to individuals before they even express interest.

Trials, Triumphs, And The Path Ahead

We are still experimenting with new approaches and learning as we go. The journey towards fully realising our vision of being strategic talent partners involves:

• Scaling and capturing talent insights effectively.
• Increasing forums for knowledge sharing between TA and HR business partners.
• Flexing our stakeholder management muscle appropriately, based on the nuanced needs of each role and situation.

By fostering a culture where internal mobility is the norm, we aim to move away from the traditional ‘poaching’ mentality and encourage a more fluid and inclusive approach to career growth within Spotify. As we continue to adapt and innovate in our recruitment practices, our goal remains clear: to not only fill positions but to build a robust, engaged, and versatile team that can thrive in the ever-changing landscape of the music and tech industries. We aim to embrace these changes and work towards a more strategic, insightful, and inclusive future in talent acquisition at Spotify.