From payroll to CPO at 32, Stiaan Pienaar of Ocean Basket shares his groundbreaking 'Good Recipe' and 'Catch' system. Learn how this human-centric HR approach is uplifting talent across the industry.

Dive into a powerful and insightful conversation with Stiaan Pienaar, Chief People Officer at Ocean Basket, one of South Africa's most recognizable and beloved restaurant franchises. As one of the youngest CPOs in South Africa at just 32 years old, Stiaan's career trajectory is remarkable, having started at Ocean Basket as a payroll administrator about nine years ago. He now unveils a truly groundbreaking, human-first approach to talent acquisition and human resources management in the challenging hospitality sector.

Stiaan candidly discusses the unique and often difficult challenges prevalent in the restaurant industry in South Africa, characterizing the traditional hiring landscape as "desperation meets desperation". This environment is often marked by long hours (employees can work from 5 AM to 1 AM) and minimum wages , making talent attraction and retention incredibly difficult. To directly counter these deep-seated issues, Stiaan has championed a revolutionary and people-centric pipeline for talent development and workforce planning.

Discover the core pillars of Ocean Basket's innovative HR strategy:

• The "Good Recipe": Cultivating Internal Talent Ocean Basket's innovative framework defines precisely what "good" looks like for every single role within the organization. This unique employee development approach empowers individuals with a clear roadmap for their career progression and fosters significant internal growth. Every human in the business understands their own "recipe" and knows exactly what skills and knowledge they need to be "good".
  
  
• The "Catch" System: A Visionary Talent Acquisition Model Stiaan unveils "The Catch" , a multi-stage talent acquisition system often described using a powerful "house analogy". This process moves far beyond traditional CV drop-offs to efficiently identify and nurture suitable job candidates.
  
  
• HR's True Role: "Live in Your Business" Stiaan delivers a strong, unconventional message for all HR professionals and human capital leaders: "You have to live inside of your business". This means embracing the inherent chaos, being curious, asking tough questions, and not shying away from difficult conversations or conflict. He emphasizes the importance of immersing oneself in operations to deeply understand the business from top to bottom.
  
  

This episode offers essential insights for HR leaders, business strategists, and decision-makers looking to innovate their talent strategies, foster employee development, and make a real difference in the employment landscape of South Africa, contributing significantly to bringing down the country's unemployment percentage.

Inspired by Stiaan's insights? It's time to solve your people puzzle.

💡 Explore Wamly's innovative hiring solutions: https://linkly.link/2BK2g

Connect with Stiaan Pienaar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiaan-pienaar-22b05192/

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Join us on Solving the People Puzzle for a captivating conversation with Vuyo, a passionate expert in financial services, HR, and talent acquisition. In this episode, Vuyo shares his unique perspective on the critical role of candidate experience in today's competitive talent landscape.

Vuyo dives deep into how traditional HR information systems, often built with finance in mind, frequently fall short in delivering a truly positive candidate journey. He challenges the status quo, emphasizing that candidates should be treated as customers – a powerful shift in mindset that can revolutionize your hiring success.

Discover why speed and consistent communication are paramount for engaging both active and passive job seekers. Vuyo champions the use of innovative, experience-driven HR technology to provide crucial feedback loops and ongoing engagement, even suggesting leveraging widely used tools like WhatsApp for communication.

This episode is a must-watch for HR leaders and hiring professionals looking to:

• Understand the evolution of HR into a strategic business partner.
• Learn why current HR systems might be lacking flexibility and customization for candidate-centric needs.
• Gain insights into crafting a talent acquisition strategy that truly solves for "X" – putting the candidate at the center.
• Redefine their Employer Value Proposition (EVP) by honoring the promise made to potential and current employees.

Vuyo's "Nostradamus moments" offer fascinating predictions on the future of HR tech, advocating for bespoke solutions from niche providers over one-size-fits-all systems. He stresses that technology should be a vehicle to communicate your brand's DNA, not the promise itself.

Don't let the "war for talent" leave your organization behind. Learn how to attract and retain the best by creating an intentional, seamless, and engaging candidate experience.

Key Takeaways:

• Treat candidates as customers to improve hiring outcomes.
• Traditional HR tech often lacks flexibility for true candidate experience; look for bespoke solutions.
• Speed, feedback, and engagement throughout the hiring process are crucial.
• A clear, intentional talent acquisition strategy is essential before implementing tech.
• EVP is your promise; technology is the vehicle for its communication.

Connect with Wamly:

• Website: https://2ly.link/29JTs
• Learn more about solving your hiring challenges: https://2ly.link/29JU7

#CandidateExperience #HRTech #TalentAcquisition #HiringStrategy #EVP #FutureOfHR #DigitalHiring #Wamly #SouthAfricaHR #PeoplePuzzle

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Is your current hiring process built for the future? The world of recruitment is transforming rapidly, and leveraging the right HR technology is no longer optional—it's essential for success.

This episode is a must-listen for HR professionals, business leaders, and anyone involved in talent acquisition who wants to stay ahead of the curve and stop losing candidates.

Learn how to move beyond chaotic spreadsheets and build a smarter, faster, and fairer hiring funnel.

🔥 Inside this episode, you'll explore:

• Theme 1: Structure for Peak Performance & Fairness - Discover how a well-defined, structured hiring process doesn't kill optimization but actually enables fairness and more accurate selection.
• Theme 2: Automation That Empowers Humans - Learn how automation can free up your HR team from repetitive administrative tasks.
• Theme 3: Candidate Experience as a Non-Negotiable Deal Breaker - Understand why a seamless, engaging, and communicative candidate experience is crucial in today's attention economy and how technology can help you keep top talent informed.
• Theme 4: Hiring as a True Team Sport - Explore why collaborative hiring, involving multiple touchpoints and data points from various team members, is the new norm and how your tech stack should facilitate this collective engagement and decision-making.
• Theme 5: Data Intelligence for Your Competitive Edge - Uncover the power of leveraging the thousands of data points in your hiring journey—from source effectiveness to bottleneck identification—to gain actionable insights, measure ROI, and continuously optimize your recruitment strategy

🚀 Ready to transform your hiring process and hire better people, faster? Wamly offers an award-winning, all-in-one, end-to-end hiring platform designed to help you attract, screen, interview, assess, and manage all your candidates in a single system. Visit Wamly today to learn more and book a demo: ➡️https://2ly.link/289Rp

👍 If you found this episode valuable, please LIKE, SHARE, and COMMENT below with your biggest takeaway or any questions you have! Don't forget to follow the Wamly channel and hit the notification bell 🔔 so you never miss an update on solving your people puzzles.

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Is your HR approach truly cultivating success from the ground up? 🌱 In a world dominated by digital processes, how do you ensure the "human" in Human Resources not only survives but thrives?

Learn valuable talent and culture strategies from the Executive Head of Human Capital at VKB Group. Discover how to enhance candidate experience, improve employer branding, and build a strong talent pipeline. This video is a must-watch for HR professionals!

Dive deep into the heart of purpose-driven HR with Francois Sieberhagen, one of South Africa's leading agricultural enterprises. In this insightful episode of "Solving the People Puzzle," Francois shares the unique strategies VKB employs to attract, nurture, and retain top talent, proving that HR can be both profoundly human and exceptionally effective.

If you're an HR professional, business leader, or anyone passionate about building people-first organisations that yield incredible results, this episode is packed with wisdom, real-world examples, and practical inspiration.

Don't miss out on these game-changing insights!
👍 Like this episode if you find it valuable.
💬 Comment below with your biggest "human touch" win in HR!
🔔 Follow to "Solving the People Puzzle" for more expert conversations.

Ready to transform your hiring process with smart HR technology designed to help you focus on what truly matters – your people?

Visit Wamly.io to discover how our innovative solutions, including fully integrated psychometric assessments, can help you hire better people, faster.

Website: https://2ly.link/27Zyx

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In Episode 57 of Solving the People Puzzle, we sit down with Penny Adams, a seasoned Industrial Psychologist and Human Capital leader.

Looking to improve your hiring process? In this Episode, Penny Adams shares her expert advice on fixing your hiring process from job design to onboarding. Learn about talent acquisition, employee value proposition (EVP), and valuable tips and tricks to attract and retain top talent for your organization.

Penny maps out a comprehensive blueprint, emphasizing the need to move beyond processes and embrace empathy. Discover actionable insights on:

👉Strategic Job Design: Why it's the critical first step and how to get it right (linking to strategy, involving key players, avoiding common pitfalls).
👉Crafting & Living Your EVP: Moving beyond theory to operationalize your Employer Value Proposition and Brand authentically.
👉 Elevating Candidate Experience: Understanding modern candidate expectations and avoiding damaging communication gaps.
👉Leveraging HR Tech & AI Wisely: Automating effectively while retaining the essential human touch.
👉 Using Assessments Effectively: Adding depth with psychometrics without falling into common traps.
👉Intentional Onboarding: Setting new hires up for success from day one with a structured plan.

Tune in to gain practical tools and frameworks from Penny Adams to refine your hiring process, attract top talent, and ultimately, build stronger teams by remembering the human element.

🔗Guest: Penny Adams is a registered Industrial Psychologist and experienced Human Capital executive with a career spanning HR roles to strategic leadership. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pennelopeadams/

🔗Looking to hire better people faster? Head over to wamly.io to learn how our all-in-one solution can supercharge your recruiting process.

Website: www.wamly.io
Email: hello@wamly.io
Tel: +27(0) 10 447 8860

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Reaching every employee isn’t just about great messaging—it’s about accessibility.

Learn how SMS can improve employee engagement! Grant Langton shares insights on employee engagement metrics and internal communications strategies for internal comms managers.

In this episode of Solving the People Puzzle, we sit down with Grant Langton, from Connexa, to explore how SMS is quietly becoming one of the most effective tools in HR communication, especially in data-limited environments like South Africa.

Looking to hire better people faster? Head over to wamly.io to learn how our all-in-one solution can supercharge your recruiting process.

💡 Here’s what you’ll learn:

Why traditional tools like email and WhatsApp often miss the mark

How SMS is bridging the gap across different income levels and roles

How companies are using SMS for training, onboarding, compliance, and internal newsletters

The surprising psychology behind why SMS still works in 2024

📲 Whether you’re in HR, internal comms, or leading a tech-driven organization, this episode will change the way you think about reaching your people.

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Dive deep into the transformative world of talent acquisition with Thembi Manyike, a passionate TA professional from Santam.

In this eye-opening episode, Thembi reframes talent acquisition as more than just recruitment—it's a calling that changes lives.

Discover how modern talent acquisition specialists have evolved from administrative recruiters to strategic business partners who understand workforce planning and drive organizational success.

Thembi reveals what makes an exceptional talent acquisition strategy in today's competitive market: combining salesmanship, marketing expertise, and authentic employer branding to attract top talent. Learn why personal brand has become an extension of employer brand, and how successful TA professionals must deeply understand their organization's culture to match candidates perfectly.

The conversation explores how data-driven recruiting is revolutionizing the human resources function, with Thembi sharing practical insights on leveraging technology while maintaining the crucial human connection in the hiring process.

Whether you're an HR professional or talent acquisition manager looking to enhance your recruitment approach, this episode offers invaluable wisdom on building a strategic talent acquisition process that aligns with business objectives while creating meaningful career opportunities.

Looking to hire better people faster? Head over to wamly.io to learn how our all-in-one solution can supercharge your recruiting process.

Connect with Thembi Manyike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thembi-manyike-33284320/

#TalentAcquisition #Recruitment #HR #TalentAcquisitionSpecialist #HumanResources #TalentAcquisitionStrategy #Recruiting #Hiring #TalentAcquisitionProcess #WorkforcePlanning #EmployerBrand #TalentAcquisitionManager #EmployerBranding #DataDrivenRecruiting #santamissa






















Discover Santam's bold blueprint for modern talent acquisition in this Talent Visionary series. Learn about employer brand strategy, recruitment marketing, and how to differentiate between recruitment and talent acquisition. Get insights on building a strong employer brand and finding the right staffing solutions for your organization.

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Hey there, hiring fans and startup lovers! This latest Solving the People Puzzle episode brings Louis Neil from Bookt to the table, and it’s packed with insights. Learn about the latest trends in talent acquisition and how AI-driven recruitment is revolutionizing the hiring process.

Picture this: AI turning small teams into powerhouses, curiosity sparking the best hires, and Silicon Valley dropping game-changing lessons for South African founders. Louis even shares how VCs are all about speed these days—talk about a wake-up call!

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👍 Like, comment, and share if this episode resonated with you!
📩 Drop your thoughts in the comments: We can't wait to hear from you.

Did you know that Wamly can help you hire better people faster? Click the link below to learn more and book a free demo today.

Website: www.wamly.io
Email: hello@wamly.io
Tel: +27(0) 10 447 8860

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