The finalists for WashingtonExec’s 2024 Pinnacle Awards were announced Sept. 20, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person Nov. 21.
Next is Alison Paris, senior vice president of talent acquisition & workforce planning at Peraton, and finalist in the HR Executive of the Year, Private Company, category. Here, she talks about recent achievements, shares career advice and more.
What key achievements did you have in 2024?
My senior leaders and I implemented a new organizational model at the start of 2024 that included: splitting the traditional recruiter role in to two: Recruiters and talent advisors, in order to provide strategic direction to our program leaders and hiring managers throughout the hiring process; creating a quality assurance role focused on improving our job descriptions and data accuracy for our open positions and subsequent offers, expanding our recruiting coordinator role to focus on pre-hire engagement, and doubling down on our programs (employee referrals, veteran recruiting) and recruitment marketing efforts.
The results of these changes have led to a decrease in time to fill, a reduction in data integrity issues, a significant increase in applicant flow and an increase in our business leaders satisfaction with the Talent Acquisition organization.
What are your primary focus areas going forward, and why are those so important to the mission?
- Hiring with speed and accuracy.
- Talent Attraction: Increasing Peraton brand awareness and creating candidate pipelines; improving candidate and new hire experiences; and continuing to elevate our function to act as talent advisors to the internal and external customers we partner with.
What is your best career advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?
- Work hard – go beyond the standard expectations, it will help you stand out in the crowd.
- Don’t give up on something you want even when things get hard.
- Build relationships and stay true to who you are.
- Adapt to change – learn quick, fail fast, and don’t ever settle for good enough.