3Sixty Insights

3Sixty Insights


#HRTechChat with Debbie Tuel, Chief Joy Officer at Symphony Talent

September 07, 2021

This one has been in the queue for a while. Earlier this summer, I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with Debbie Tuel. It was the day ahead of Symphony Talent's annual user conference. Fittingly, Debbie found herself doing this episode of #HRTechChat from a very cool brewery adjacent to event preparations.

In February 2021, Debbie became chief joy officer at Symphony Talent. When I first spoke with Debbie, not long after she'd landed the new position, I assumed hers was a job in the vein of chief people officer or chief culture officer. As it turns outs, this is not an HR role. Debbie's charter is to advocate for Symphony's core message, the idea that talent acquisition should be joyful.

Talent acquisition should indeed be joyful. Plenty of clunky, legacy applicant tracking systems populate the landscape, sure, and this is one of the greatest impediments. But the caliber of technology exists today to take most of the frustration out of talent acquisition for practitioners and job candidates alike. For the latter, all that's left is the potential sting of not getting the job. And this should be more than enough frustration for anyone in the job search, really. Fortunately, the technology available has become more than good enough. Debbie explains how so and just what, exactly, it means for talent acquisition to be joyful. I thoroughly enjoyed our chat and encourage everyone reading this to give it a listen.