Senior Talent Acquisition Partner (Sociology, BA)

David Fagioli, CIBC

By: Nicole De Sousa, Outreach & Support Peer 

Like many students, David Fagioli felt uncertain about his career path after earning a degree in sociology. While working in an hourly-wage position with limited opportunities for growth, he longed for a more fulfilling and challenging career. One day, he met a woman working in human resources who shared insights about her role and encouraged him to consider the field. Inspired by their conversation, David began researching HR and the credentials required to break into the profession. This exploration ultimately led him to pursue a post-graduate certificate in Human Resource Management, which included an internship with Intact Insurance. The hands-on internship experience opened David’s eyes to various positions within the HR landscape, including coordinator and talent acquisition roles. Following his graduate certificate, David found himself working with a manufacturing recruitment company, but felt he was not necessarily passionate about the manufacturing sector. He decided to take a leap of faith by applying for a short-term contract position with CIBC, which eventually opened doors to various roles that paved the way to his current position as a Senior Talent Acquisition Partner supporting the technology department.

David’s role primarily entails setting up consultations with Hiring Managers to discuss the type of roles they are looking to fill. Through these consultations, he gains a deeper understanding of the skills and requirements of a role, what the team is like, and the team’s scope and objectives He likes to take a hands-on approach with candidates, describing his role as painting a picture of the role for candidates so they gain a better sense of what the company is like, and what they will be doing. David’s days consists of many calls and touchpoints with both hiring managers and candidates. He also gets the opportunity to take on projects such as campus recruitment, where he assists in recruiting young talent for the company. Internally, David spends his time educating colleagues and managers on recruitment processes or related topics such as LinkedIn and market intel. For instance, in speaking with a wide variety of candidates, David and his colleagues gain valuable information about recruitment trends within the industry and relay this to managers to make more informed hiring decisions.

David thrives on working with candidates to streamline the recruitment process and minimize stress, while also finding great satisfaction in helping new hires get adjusted to their roles. He finds fulfillment seeing new staff hires grow and move up in the company, knowing he played a part in finding a great fit for the various CIBC teams.

To be successful in a talent acquisition/recruiting role, you need to be a great communicator. You will be speaking with many different people throughout your day and must be able to ask probing questions and have the ability to negotiate. Additionally, you need to be organized and able to effectively manage your time, since the role entails supporting many different lines of business. However, David notes that this skill is often understated. You must also be skilled in building relationships with people as you will be required to work with different Managers, Directors, and VPs who all have their own ways of working. You need to know what works best for each one, and which can take some trial and error. Finally, it is important to be open to criticism and understand your strengths and weaknesses. This is important as you need to understand where you can build, learn from the mistakes you make along the way, and learn what questions to ask to help you succeed.

If you are looking into specialized fields in HR, David suggests that a one-year post-graduate certificate is a great option. This allows you to understand all areas of HR and recruitment, giving you a full scope of the types of HR jobs available. Many of these programs offer co-op as a requirement of completion and can help you get your foot in the door if you do not have much work experience in the field. If you wish to specialize even further, he states that you can do your Masters in HR Management, however many of these programs may be more research-oriented versus offering you direct work experience.

Many aspects of David’s background allowed him to succeed in his role. For instance, through his volunteer role as an O-Week volunteer, he learned that he had a natural ability to break the ice with new people and enjoyed helping people adjust to university life. Since then, he has maintained and nurtured the connections he made through his experience. To this day, he works with individuals he met at Laurier, a reminder of the value in maintaining relationships. You never know who you’ll end up working with and having a familiar face can make a difference.

For current students considering HR, David places a great deal of importance on networking and suggests that LinkedIn is the best place to start. You can begin by following companies you are interested in and reach out for a career coffee chat with people in roles you are eager to learn more about. While this can be intimidating, he states that you miss 100% of the opportunities you do not take. In other words, get yourself out of your comfort zone as you never know what it could lead to. He also referenced certain networking initiatives such as Black Professionals in Technology (aimed at helping young Black talent network) and Lime Connect (aimed at helping those with disabilities find compassionate and accommodating employers). Both are specialized networking systems designed to help people network with like-minded individuals. Additionally, David encourages students to apply to short-term contracts when launching their career paths. This will allow you to dabble in HR roles across different industries, acquire new skills, network with different teams, and build your HR expertise in diverse settings.