Hiring Happy Hour

Some companies rushed to be first with AI. Continental is taking its time to get it right. In this episode of Hiring Happy Hour, Nicole sits down with Alexandra Gaillard, Chief Marketing Officer, and Pia Stender, Strategic Lead of Global Talent Acquisition, at Continental, to discuss how brand and hiring work the same problem from opposite ends. The conversation moves through Continental's glocal approach to recruiting, how they're building AI into hiring with intention rather than urgency, and why human judgment still anchors their process. It's a candid look at what responsible AI adoption looks like inside a 150-year-old company that's still evolving.
 
Takeaways:
  •  Don't rush AI into your hiring stack just to keep pace. Build the compliance, data protection, and security review into your timeline before any tool touches a candidate's file.
  • Keep AI in an assistant role, not a decision-making one. Your recruiters' judgment should still own the final call, especially in screening.
  • Audit your AI tools for bias as rigorously as you'd question a recruiter's gut instinct. Neither is automatically fair just because it feels efficient.
  • Resist the pressure to be first to market with new hiring tech. Being right earns more trust with candidates and employees than being early.
  • If you're operating across regions, standardize what you can and localize what you can't. A single rigid process won't hold up against real cultural and legal differences.
  • Loop your business leaders into recruiting strategy instead of building it in a silo. Skills are shifting too fast for TA to define hiring criteria alone.
  • Protect face-to-face moments in your process even as you scale AI tools around it. That's still where you'll learn the most about a candidate.

Quote of the Show:
  • "We are not first movers, but we are quite dedicated to doing it right and on a global scale." - Pia Stender 

Links:

Ways to Tune In:

Creators and Guests

Host
Nicole Hammond
Producer
Erica Weser

What is Hiring Happy Hour?

Welcome to Hiring Happy Hour, where we celebrate the human side of hiring. Join host, Nicole Hammond, and as she pulls back the curtain on the people shaping the future of work- the innovators, dreamers, and change makers behind today’s hiring technology experience.

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[00:00:00]

Audio: Hi, everyone. Very, very excited as today we have something a little different. Today's episode, we've got two guests joining from the same company, and it's not just any company. Continental is one of the world's largest tire manufacturers, delivering top performance for more than 150 years. [00:01:00] Continental Tires currently employs around 53,000 people worldwide, 19 production sites hiring people in 43 countries.

First, we are joined by Alexandra Gaillard, Chief Marketing Officer at Continental. Alex leads a global team of more than 900 marketing and communication experts. She is on a mission to turn insight into business growth and to build teams where people of every background get an equal shot at success.

Pia Stender, Strategic Lead Global Talent Acquisition. Pia leads at the intersection of talent, strategy, business needs, and regional differences. Throughout her career, Pia has helped organizations navigate evolving talent markets, changing candidate expectations, and the growing impact of technology on recruitment.

She is known for translating complex challenges into actionable initiatives that deliver measurable results. Today, we expect she'll share insights from the front line of global talent acquisition. Put these two together and you've got a full loop of how this [00:02:00] company actually grows. One shapes the story the world hears about Continental, the other makes sure the right people hear it and want it.

This episode is all about brand and talent working the same problem from opposite ends. Welcome to the show, ladies. Thank you. What a nice intro. Thank you. It is so great to have you both, and it has been so much fun. I have learned so much about Continental. And as I shared with you, my husband is a big fan and says you guys make cool shit as it relates to bike tires.

So I think the world needs to hear about the coolness of this brand, and who better but you two to share the story. So we're gonna jump right in, as I know we have a lot to share with all of our listeners about Continental, and more so about you two and your amazing impact at the company. Um, so ladies, I just wanna open it up if you can share with us what your hiring happy hour is.

What is the impact that you are proud of that you've done here at Continental? , if I look back, I'm actually less proud of [00:03:00] individual hires I've made, but more proud of the recruiting processes, programs, technical solutions we've tried to tailor exactly to our specific needs that we have in Continental Tires.

Um, we follow a glocal approach, and to me this is a pretty powerful and joyful approach To build on what you say, Pia, I think for me being, uh, still new in the, in the company three years ago now, it's bringing people from external that fits the culture of Continental, especially when you come from a non-tire industry background as it was my, uh, experience, but as well, uh, some people that have joined us.

It's a challenge and, uh, I'm very happy that it did work at the end. This is really exciting to hear because I think there are a lot of global organizations out there that may do things a bit differently or haven't really cracked the code on what can be effective when you think about a global organization [00:04:00] supporting with regional nuances.

Uh, so Pia, can you share more about how you've cracked the code on this? What has made Continental successful in this regard? Yeah. I wouldn't consider it cracking the code because every company, um, is different and chooses also a different TA strategy. Um, but we really chose, um, to go for this glocal approach because this is also how our org- organization evolves, um, in marketing but also in other functions.

We go more and more working in global hubs and as, uh, talent acquisitions, we also adapt to this, so we serve the business. Um, and so, uh, yeah, the glocal approach, uh, fits this best. That's the same for marketing. I think the global organization should play the role of being an enabler, and if something can be developed once and deployed multiple, [00:05:00] that's the win, that's an acceleration for everyone.

So we need to keep this good balance betw- between the local nuances, the brand consistency that we need to bring across the globe, and this is where you have the best of the two worlds.

we constantly try to hit this sweet spot between, um, globalization, standardization, you name it, and the individual approaches that are, um, needed from cultural perspective, from a legal perspective.

We ha- There are so many circumstances in the hubs that we want and need to consider. Um, at the same time, of course, we wanna be efficient, so this is the game we play, and we always try to, yeah, to really find this, uh, best spot in between. And I think it's important as we think about Continental, right? Y- you're a brand and you want to attract the right people, and to your point, Alex, it's not always necessarily people from the same [00:06:00] industry.

So as we think about brand and attracting the right candidates, what are some of the things that come to mind for both of you?

Well,

I think one of the greatest opportunity when you join the marketing organization is that you work with a brand that has already an equity. It's not a brand to be built, it's a brand to, uh, keep, uh, evolving.

So it's 150 years old and young at the same time. So I think this is also a, a unique, uh, challenge that you have as a, as a marketer. And as we becoming a pure play, uh, tire company, then way more opportunities and freedom, uh, will rise ahead of us. So I think this is the type of challenge that people that are into the marketing organization, that they are long into the organization or, or, or new talent, uh, uh, like, uh, going ahead.

Pia, how does that come into play- Yeah ... when you, when you work with your candidates through the hiring process? Yeah. So, uh, the candidates, of course, [00:07:00] come with different depths of knowledge about our company. Uh, some are curious about the tasks, but they consider the tire a

background

thing

and,

uh, what's exciting about it.

So in the recruitment process, we can share our excitement, uh, because it's not boring at all. And others, um, already come with big expertise in, in rubber, in chemicals, or whatever, um, the, the job requires. So we really, um, we cannot adapt a one size fits all, um, along the recruiting process, uh, because it's not only that we ask the candidate to share his or her, um, experience and what, um, he or she can bring to the company, but we always, um, emphasize what we bring to the candidate.

Um, that's very important, and that's, depending on the level, a different story that we have to adapt to what's, uh, considered [00:08:00] interesting. For those that are listening and don't know too much about Continental, I want you to share the cool. I want you to share what gets you excited, and you made a great sentence, Alex, where you said, while it's a 150-year-old company, it's still modern and cool.

Share with us some of that so that the audience listening truly gets it. I think what is interesting is that you have the chance to work with customers and consumers, so not only on the B2C environment like many company and many marketing teams, but also with, uh, distributors, with retail shops, and so on.

And that's where there is, uh, also this indirect relationship with, with consumers. So that's having this B2B2C, uh, uh, dynamic, which is very interesting and also giving you a full perspective versus many other, uh, uh, organization. And at the end, uh, many of the, um, marketing, uh, features have been designed for other industry, for instance on the food industry.

Uh, but [00:09:00] there is a lot of improvement to be done in the tire manufacturing, uh, domain. So if you bring as well talent that come from external, uh, um, but tire industry, you're mixing, uh, something very interesting. So, yes Love it. Love it. Pia, can you share with us more about how you're successful and impactful with the onboarding process?

Meaning from, you know, attraction to hire and onboarding while you have this global hub but these regional nuances. What are some of the significant points within that process that truly make it, you know, successful as you think about an audience where ... or sorry, a group where recruiters can be anywhere, um, supporting any country?

we have recruiters, um, in the locations for the locations. Um, and in the, in the global team we try to make it, make life as easy as possible for the recruiter on site. So we try to take away [00:10:00] everything that we can, uh, standardize, that we can do for them. Um, so which unites everyone. Uh, so they get their hands free, uh, to really focus, um, on the candidate and not worry about data protection, um, yeah, legal things, uh, technical things, that it keeps

that everything is working fine. Uh, so we try to put that on our shoulders, um, yeah, to really enable the recruiters to do their best, um, with, yeah, the human-facing part of our job. And, um, yeah, it seems we are doing quite the good job. We are always on a journey to make it better and better each day. We still have tons of ideas, um, to do it even better, um, along the way.

Um, but yeah, this is our approach, um, to really use our resources wisely, um, [00:11:00] which are not endless I bet. And I have to ask, as we think about where the world is going with AI and agents, how does that come into your talent acquisition or hiring strategy? We are on our way. Uh, so as with all bigger projects, uh, we do it on a global we- level.

We take a deep cost benefit, um, look across all countries, and we really wanna do it right. So for us, um, this is not really a quick win. We are very strict company on data protection, uh, cybersecurity and other compliance areas. And, um, with ... Given that, uh, we chose a step-by-step implementation. Of course, we use, uh, Copilot, for example, for our job ads, or we use AI generated role plays to teach the recruiters, uh, certain interactions with candidates.[00:12:00]

But we are only on our way, um, still to implement, uh, what the lawyers call a high-risk AI. So to really implement an AI feature into the core, uh, yeah, in SmartRecruiters it's called Winston, and there we are, uh, on our way of implementation. So we are not first mover, but we are quite dedicated to do it right and on a glo- global scale , to build on what you say, Pia, we need to be careful of one thing.

Because today with AI, uh, people could build a CV based on your job description, and you could also have tools that are screening and selecting. And for me, I love, as a business person, going and reading the CVs myself. And this is also where we have great collaboration be- between the talent acquisition team and the, the, the business, is that we go through the CV.

We look at the, [00:13:00] uh, uh motivation letter. And clearly today you see the ones who are authentic and the ones that are written with AI. It doesn't mean that they will make or will not make the cut, but at least we're receiving all the CVs in that tool, and that's what I appreciate. And then we could pick and choose.

Of course, that could help you to select, but the human is super critical. Also, in the interview process, I already been exposed to people that used AI tool during the interview. You feel it, you smell it. So for me, the best moment is when we meet face to face, when we discuss about a business topic and I see how the person will present a, a proposition.

So for me, this is really important to be careful on how those tool could potentially help us, but sometimes to slow down as well. Yeah. So I appreciate that, uh, Pia was also reflecting we need to have a certain prudent approach. I feel like I've heard from both of you three different angles to AI, right?

One is for [00:14:00] efficiency with, uh, I would call administrative tasks within the hiring process. The other, Pia, that I loved is that you use it for training your hiring managers for how to properly interview, which I think is fabulous, and I don't think enough companies do that. Hint, hint. And third, Alex, I love that you spoke to kind of the candidate side and how they use it, but to understand when it's appropriate and when authenticity and the human connection is most important, right?

I think in a world today, we hear about the human side of hiring. And this goes for not only, you know, the hiring team, but also the candidate as well, and being themselves, right? And not forgetting those moments of authenticity just to apply to 100 jobs and get through. Yeah, you are absolutely right. And, um, it's, it...

When, when I sometimes read articles or listen to others, it always sounds so easy. And it would be easy. We can simply push the button and we have it [00:15:00] implemented. So it's not this kind of project where it's technically, uh, so difficult to- Yeah ... um, to, to get it. You can, you can buy it from the market. But, uh, what takes time is really to, to think it through, to think through all the use cases, to think through how, uh, do we make it completely transparent to the applicants, um, what we are doing.

Yeah. And we don't want the AI to take any decision. We want the AI to be like, um, every recruiter's, um, little buddy, assistant, um, in, in our case, in first step in the screening process. But we don't want the AI to take over the screening or, um, or to decide on, on the screening. And with these, um, little differences that we wanna make the AI fit our culture, uh, what we stand [00:16:00] for, how we wanna be, and at the same time, yeah, bring in some further efficiency and maybe get rid of, uh, certain biases, um, in high volume, uh, recruits.

So that's, this is what we aim for and what

we're working towards, um, in the use of AI in recruiting. I appreciate that. I think everyone has their own journey when it comes to AI, whether it's individually as an organization. And to be cautious and careful, and Pia, I'm a person that likes to think through all the what-ifs and scenarios as well.

So I think you're doing a great job of, of being mindful and thoughtful, and I know candidates and users of that will be appreciative of that as well. All right. We are going to switch subjects, but before we do, any closing thoughts, any final moments that you can share with our listeners as they think about possibly going to this type of strategy for hiring, or as they think about marketing their brand that has been around for the test of time, but making [00:17:00] it cool and fun.

Any final thoughts for our candidates? Any final thoughts?

, for the practitioners, um, in recruiting, I can only highly recommend if it's not done yet to develop things more together with the business or to consult more the business, um, on the needs and ideas and not to, to think inside their own silo on recruiting expertise, but to, to open the doors and develop things together with the business.

Yeah, I fully support that because I think the, uh, skills are evolving so fast that even as marketer, uh, sometimes you need to be always, uh, uh, looking after the right, uh, uh, technical skills. Soft skills could be slightly the same across the next generation of profile you're looking after. But that's where, uh, adding talent acquisition and marketing in that case working at sync is very important because it's not just about [00:18:00] keywords, it's about what's the person have effectively, uh, been doing.

And the more we work together, the more you have this fluidity of knowledge. And then over time, um, I, I, I've seen that's the recommendation of the talent acquisition team in terms of shortlist were very spot on. So I think this investment, this collaboration from the beginning really worth it down the road.

Love it. Love it. All right. Um, personal happy hour. So outside of work, yes, you both have lives outside of work . Um- ... what is your happy hour? What brings you joy?

, it's, um, many things. I could not decide. So I like to do sports, for example, running. I like creative things, for example, uh, painting or cooking challenging recipes. Um, and of course, I also enjoy spending time

with family and

friends. So, um, I could not decide for one.

I, I mean, like you, I have a diverse number of activities, but there [00:19:00] is one that I

like especially

lately is my two teenage boys, because they are entering into a total new world where I don't have the recipe. I can't tell them, "You should be doing X, Y, Z," in terms of study.

Everything is reset. So I feel that we are more together in this journey, but I'm not the mom telling them, "Oh, you should be doing this and that," because I don't have that, um, knowledge right now. So I love the fact that with their exposure to AI and other tools, social media, they have a capability those days to challenge you as an adult more than maybe we were as a teenager.

So I enjoy being challenged, not always. But it's very, very interesting because they come with very different opinion, uh, exposure, and, and ideas. So it's, it's very interesting to see as well how AI is developing this entrepreneur mindset across those generations. So that's impressive.

I feel like we need to have a totally separate [00:20:00] podcast about that because it's so true, and I love that you're embracing it as, as a positive, but also learning from it. I, I think we're all on those journeys, but that's exciting. That's exciting. Oh, and Pia, I feel like I need to come over, and we need to go on a run and then cook, and I- Mm-hmm I don't know, you can teach me how to, how to have art inside Why not? Only a few thousand kilometers. No problem. I'm on my way. Next will be transporting. I'm, I'm determined that the Star Trek days of transporting us from one country to another will be the click of a finger, right?

all right, our final area, which is my favorite, um, we were going to play a game of this or that. So I will give you two options. You can choose one, you could choose both, you can choose neither. , so here's one related to hiring. Performance or personality?

it

starts,

starts with a, a difficult one, but if I have to choose, uh, between one of them, I go for personality as well. Okay, a [00:21:00] marketing one. Safety story or adventure story? Adventure story I go for the same All right.

Hiring related. Centralized strategy or regional autonomy? I go more for the centralized story

Yeah, me too. I think you need a, a, a common strategy. The execution could take different paths, but the strategy is very important. That's the focus. Love it. All right, marketing. Global brand or local relevance? Both. You don't choose. You need both. You need a global brand that is appealing locally.

So you make some trade-offs, you make some adjustment, nuances, but a strong brand, I mean, look at the value of the strongest brands. They stand for very strong meaning across the globe. and they look the same all over the world. True. Good. One message or many stories?

Brand-wise, I would say one message. 'Cause the many stories could lead to different conclusion, blur the message that you want [00:22:00] to, uh, pass to customers and consumers, and then you could, uh, have a, a different perspective and perception, and then you are not building effectively a brand Yeah, in recruiting it would be also more one message, but it can be translated into multiple stories.

So you can also tell, tell many stories within Continental that, that all follow the same, um, the, the same path. I like that twist. It's a this and then that. And that. All right. Uh, hiring related. Speed or precision?

again, both, um, precision maybe not to 100%, uh, but speed is important to not lose the candidates and also for the, you know, for the candidate experience speed is crucial. You need the speed in the recruitment process, but you should not hide because of this [00:23:00] window of opportunity that you need to recruit.

So for me, you need to really build a pipeline of talent. As a woman, for instance, when talent acquisition come to me when they have no job, I appreciate it because we have a calm down conversation. We get to know each other. I get to know their company. Not when they have all of a sudden a job to offer.

So I think it's helped to develop this relationship with the future talent you want to, uh, engage at a certain point in time. . AI screening or recruiter instinct?

I, uh, for many reasons I cannot, uh, go for the instinct- ... because the instinct triggers this, that it's very biased and, uh, we don't want that. We consider this unfair. If it's, uh, just about gut feeling, it's not a fair process. Even though the recruiters have quite a good feeling with their experience- ... um, uh, but our process looks a [00:24:00] little different.

I agree with Pia. I think we need to be mindful as well that AI has bias as well, especially when it comes to, uh, women. So you could check on internet, but there is a lot of bias that is, uh, that is a, a gender bias on AI. So I think we need to be mindful of this as well. But, uh, the just the gut feeling or instinct of a recruiter is neither the good option.

Love it. All right. Um, great people or great technology? Easy one. Great people are the most important, of course

When you don't have the right technology, that is, uh, really, really painful to work as an individual in a, in a company. So, and I think that's also a reason if you want your people to stay into your organization, you need to afford them, you need to provide them with the most modern tools.

Of course, uh, uh, taking into, to consideration the safety, the governance, and of y- of your company. So I think that's, that's important, but if you have the great people, they will be asking for [00:25:00] the good technology. They keep challenging you for the good technology as well, so both come together. Again, I'm loving these twists, but I also love that these aren't easy, right?

It's very thoughtful and mindful. All right, a few more related to work. Uh, internal mobility or external talent?

In Continental, we try to be very good at internal mobility to offer chances, learning opportunities, um, cross moves mentorings, m- m- many different programs go into the direction and, um, the retention rates we have in the company speak for themselves. I think both, but I would put a, I would say a balance.

I think you should maybe have 80, 90% of internal promotion and here and there or at a certain moment of your transformation you bring this external talent for a blend of competencies, for an certain acceleration, for bringing a little bit o- o- of challenging, if you [00:26:00] want, the statu quo. Um, but I'm a strong believer that any knowledge, any, uh, um, outside perspective can be acquired.

So you also need to have your employees that develop their career to keeping outward-looking, and that's what you need to offer as an organization. And that was my biggest question when I raised, when I reached, um, and started at Continental c- because I've seen people being long into, into the organization.

But when you have an organization that support your development, offer you development, personal coaching, uh, access to, uh, learnings, I mean, you have the best combination because then people keeping engaged. They know the company, they know the how to navigate into a company, and they bring this, this knowledge internally.

I remember in our prep call both of you speaking t- and being so proud of the programs that you offer for career development and career pathing. Um, and I speak with many companies, and it really stood out to me just the [00:27:00] pride, but also just the passion behind this because this is a differentiator in today's market.

Alex, I think you spoke to it, right? Sometimes it's the first thing that organizations are cutting, and it shouldn't be. Um, and I think, I just want to say to both of you ladies, like the passion that you have and the pride that you have speaks through, and that is also part of th- your brand, right? And I'm sure there are many more that amplify this across your organization.

Um, so- Yeah ... we've still got some more this and that's, but I just wanted to take a moment to thank you both for that. . It's very true, Nicole, because at Continental you have m- HR experts. So not that you have a narrow-down team that is the Swiss knife that do everything. No. You have learning expert, you have talent acquisition team, you have employee branding team.

So... And, uh, and, and so on and so forth. So to me, this is what is critical is that you talk to the expert, they have time to support you and the employees and everyone that develop into the organization. And indeed, coming from multiple [00:28:00] other companies, many company have cut their HR resources, and that was a very wrong decision.

Okay, final one on the company side, reward or recognition.

I would go for, um, recognition. I'm not so sure if my non-native tongue really gets the, the difference enough, but, um, I think it's a reward, um, might be too much related to, to money, and the recognition can be in small things, big things, team things, individual things. And, um, yeah, all the, the feedback culture, um, that we try to keep alive within, uh, Continental is quite important to have this rec- recognition in, on every level, and also not just the boss to the employees, but among each other, um, so that we have this, this constant, [00:29:00] um, feedback, big and small, which I really like a lot.

I do it a lot. I receive it, and this is really, um, motivating. I'm also a strong believer that, uh, uh, the more regular are the recognition, the better it is. Because sometimes we... if you wait, wait for the big things, the big project, the big turnout that the team have been through, yes, uh, but that's more the more, the most classical.

Sometimes just on a weekly basis when you think that somebody have been doing the extra miles or, um, made, made a lot of things to help the, the, the, the team, I think for me this is what works, is this regular recognition, being grateful, and a thank you costs nothing, but it's definitely something that you appreciate when you receive it because it means that the person have acknowledged that you did something different.

Agreed. Okay, fun ones. Vacation or [00:30:00] staycation? Vacation. Vacation. Traveling the world. Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise. I'm early bird. Sunset for me. mountains or beaches? Beaches. I go more often to the mountain. I love this isolation. Something is very special about it. Okay. Uh, beer, wine, or a cocktail?

Beer. I'm French. Wine. And I'm German, so we go with the cliche. I'll take the cocktail. There we go. See?

And,

and there's our happy hour. Look at that. Um, I just wanna thank both of you ladies. This has been really insightful for me as well on many things, both the brand of Continental, as well as just effectiveness from a recruitment and hiring strategy, but also just your passion.

I, I think that is [00:31:00] what stands out to me, and I know that Continental is very lucky to have both of you. Uh, for our listeners, I hope you learned something. I hope that you reach out to these lovely ladies if you have questions or are going through something where they can provide insight, as they are two brilliant women, um, that truly bring a lot of value and impact to both the industry as well as this organization.

Uh, stay tuned for more hiring happy hours, and thank you ladies for being on the show. Thank you, Nicole. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thanks, Nicole, for having us.

[00:32:00]