Aaron K. Heltsmith 🏳️‍🌈 Email & Phone Number

Austin, Texas, Us

Hired to establish a formal HR function during a pivotal period of company growth and diversification, ensuring scalable processes and strong employee support to align with the organization's evolving needs.

Talent Consultant - Retained Search - Successfully placed senior-level executives with clients across diverse industries, delivering tailored solutions to meet strategic talent needs.- Leveraged deep market insights and a consultative approach to build strong relationships with both clients and candidates.- Ensured long-term success by aligning leadership hires with company culture and business goals.

Chicago, Il, Us

VSA’s purpose is to design for a better human experience. As a strategy and design agency, we blend consumer insights and data with human-centered design to activate meaningful, motivating & measurable experiences in an increasingly noisy world. As Vice President of Talent Experience, I oversee Recruiting Strategy and Delivery, Resource Management, Onboarding, Employee Branding, Administration, DEI & Recruiting Technology to bring the best talent to VSA and utilize that talent to its utmost capacity.SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS- Manage and mentor a team of Recruiters and Resource Managers, reducing time to fill by 75% while maintaining consistently high billable utilization - Implemented Greenhouse in 2021, creating a user-friendly application and internal engagement experience; competency-based interviewing implemented across the agency for more objective hiring - Redesigned the VSA onboarding experience, moving beyond just compliance into company, team & cultural onboarding to set new hires up for optimal success- Lead DEI function across VSA, focusing on removing bias from our systems - hiring, onboarding, performance management, rewards, etc.Implemented language augmentation tool Textio in recruiting and sourcing technology to validate inclusive language- Partnered with Technology Practice Lead to build a team of Creative Technologists, Designers, Content Strategists, etc.- Develop content for and host monthly All Company Meetings, driving culture in a hybrid structure- Manage the Administrative team as an extension of the overall VSA experience, implementing a hospitality-focused approach to managing our Chicago, New York & San Francisco offices while supporting remote employees. - Currently working with our private equity partners to implement a consistent ATS and hiring process across multiple creative agency holdings

Miniat Holdings – Recruiting Strategy Consultant• Optimizing the candidate experience in Taleo and elevating recruiting to incorporate data analytics and reporting; focusing on process workflow and data capture for metrics accuracy; creating custom reports to illustrate recruiting performance and RIO of external HR investment• Building a proactive recruiting team through new hires and training of existing staff• Partnering with internal communications and marketing to craft Employment Brand and voice of the company Accenture – North American Technology Leadership Recruiting Lead• Manage Technology Leadership Recruiting for North America, focusing on Sales and Delivery of Application Services, Cloud and “NewIT” technologies at the Managing Director level• Identify opportunities to streamline and optimize the recruiting, reporting and documentation functions VSA Partners – Talent Acquisition Consultant• Statistical Analysis, Data Mining and Data Presentation of relevant recruiting metrics• Optimize iCIMS applicant tracking technology and develop a streamlined recruiting processSapientRazorfish; Chicago, IL – Capacity & Staffing Partner • Managed 100-person Los Angeles and San Francisco based team; increasing overall billable utilization by 30% in the first 30 days• Managed 130-person Chicago-based staff; increasing overall billable utilization by 15% in first 90 days• Developed effective strategies for acquiring, managing and developing talent at all levels across agency disciplines; collaborated with executive leadership, People Strategists (HR) and Domain Leads to support and lead people initiatives as they relate to corporate strategy, culture, career betterment and staff retention• Created org dev and growth plans to help our employees stretch and grow based on company needs and personal goals and served as our employees’ advocate, ensuring they are taking on new challenges to diversify experience and have access to strong agency mentorship

Des Plaines, Illinois, Us

SGK is a leading global brand development, activation and deployment company that drives brand performance. By creating brands, selling brands, producing brand assets and protecting brand equities, we help our clients achieve higher brand performance. SGK's global footprint spans 26 countries.Recruited to build and develop a centralized internal talent acquisition team of 10+ global employees across the Americas, Europe and APAC in support of diversified business needs. Responsibilities include administration of a Master Vendor Program for all external search partners; management of global talent acquisition delivery model; management of recruiter technologies/tools; and delivery of data/metrics to track the success of talent acquisition program. Provide direct management to a team of six TA specific colleagues while serving as mentor to regional TA partners around the globe. Selected Accomplishments:• Negotiated contracts and manage vendor relationships with local, regional and international partners to maintain a master vendor list to be used across the business; resulting in a $5M+ reduction of cost in first year• 20% of leadership’s “high potentials” were recruited within the last four years by internal talent team; over 60% of placements made rate above average in performance management process • Manage social media presence for global Talent Acquisition team; partnered with Corporate Marketing team in our 2013 rebranding to develop an employment brand in line with our new corporate identity; increasing our reach by over 50%• Participated in implementation of new global Applicant Tracking System, Kenexa/Brassring (Fall 2013) • Partner with Global HR Service Center to streamline the onboarding process resulting in an overall better candidate experience

Chicago, Il, Us

The LaSalle Network is Chicago's leading provider of professional staffing and recruiting services. Specializing in accounting and finance, technology services, office services, call center, human resources and executive search, LaSalle proudly serves companies of all sizes and across all industries. Since our inception in 1998, LaSalle Network has served over 2,000 clients and placed over 15,000 candidates in Project, Project-to-Hire and Direct Hire positions. With 600 percent growth since 2001, and five percent growth in 2009, LaSalle was ranked on the Inc. 500/5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America List in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Recruiter (1.2010 – 9.2010) • Manage the recruitment process for all senior level human resources, marketing a specialized direct hire placements• Lead all specialized searches that require collaboration across units (Office Services, Accounting and Finance, Technology and Customer Service)Project Manager (10.2005 – 12.2009)• Manage full-cycle recruiting, including advising and interviewing candidates for up to 25 executive level requisitions • Provide resume critique and interview preparation for candidates from entry to senior level in the fields of human resources, marketing and general office services • Write and post job descriptions, using online forums, networking and social media tools to recruit top talent• Manage up to 75 contract employees including coaching, disciplinary action, terminations and general employee relations issues • Negotiate permanent salaries, hourly rates and benefits packages for direct hire and contract placements • Conduct new hire orientation for new contract employees to review terms of employment, payroll process, state and federal compliance and benefits • Asked to partner with the vice president to open and grow a new branch office• Recognized as Producer of the Quarter (Q4 2006) for managing the largest contract client account of 50+ employees

Bachelor Of Arts, Communication Public Relations

Intermediate Spanish

International Business

High School Diploma