Kristopher Clelland is the Director of Talent Acquisition at Wipro Limited, a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company.
Looking for your dream start-up role? Sign up for global career opportunities with The Nudge Group!
1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I have overall 18+ years of professional experience, predominantly gained within the IT sector.
Luckily I have had the chance to build a very successful career in Global/Senior Talent Acquisition Leadership, IT Specialist Recruitment and IT Sales Leadership & Management, building Talent Acquisition and Recruitment teams for organisations like Amazon Web Services, Planit, Zip Co and now Wipro.
I am highly passionate about truly leading, (not managing) teams with particular focus on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), Eliminating Bias & Discrimination, Early Career/Graduate hiring, Digital Transformation & Talent Process Automation, Employer Branding, Organisational Agility, Candidate Experience and Recruiter-Tailored Technology, Remote Working & Virtual Recruiting.
Right now I manage, lead and drive all recruitment and hiring activities in Australia, New Zealand and near-shore across APMEA to adequately resource for Wipro’s clients. I have onshore and offshore teams within Talent Acquisition (31 members currently) and constantly growing.
2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
A typical day in my working life involves:
- Developing and implementing effective TA marketing activities, sourcing GTM strategies and initiatives for the function in the desired, and wider geographical regions (APMEA).
- Managing both onshore and offshore teams in all hiring activities across all Global Business Lines (GBLs) + Strategic Market Units (SMUs) for Wipro.
- Being a lead member of the Global DE&I (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) Council an initiating, assisting and driving efforts and projects in the diversity space.
- Forecasting hiring needs based on business budgets and operational growth plans daily.
- Growing, leading, training, progressing and evaluating my team of highly skilled Senior TA Managers, TA Managers, Recruiters & TA Admin staff.
- Regional / Geo Talent Acquisition budget management.
- Managing key relationships with Executive leadership, HR leadership, business unit heads, partners & vendors.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
Yes, in 7 months I have been into our Sydney office 4 times. Talent Acquisition is not a function you need to have a butt on a seat, and I am a firm believer of empowering my staff and teams to work flexibly from wherever makes them comfortable.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
I encourage my teams to take breaks, have walking meetings, switch off outside of core working hours and not to even switch on laptops at weekends – unfortunately as the teams are almost brand new, and my position is new to being onshore in Australia, I quite often forget to take my own advice, and that is something that I am working hard to stop.
5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
Sitting down every Sunday to pinpoint which meetings every day, I can do as a walking meeting, where I do not have to present or take lots of notes.
I have also started running again, and doing artwork which I haven’t done either in over 2 years. This has made me appreciate time away from my desk and allowed me to relax mentally.
6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
- Marie Forleo
- Tim Ferriss
- Tina Su
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Be an advocate and champion of all things work-life balance, as re-energising your workforce will only allow them to be more productive, not less.
Yes, work is a place you spend more time than anything else for 30/40/50 years of your life, but mental health is the key to success – do not overwork, stress or burn out your teams, or those around you. Show and train techniques that will allow us to “work to Live”, not “Live to Work”
Before you go…
If you’d like to sponsor or advertise with Balance the Grind, let’s talk here.
Join our community and never miss a conversation about work, life & balance – subscribe to our newsletter.
