Octav Buzoianu
Talent Lead – Global Talent Enablement, Strategy & Growth
1. Do you remember a time when you were happiest as a child? Where were you, who were you with and what were you doing?
Early highschool was probably the best time in my childhood. It was a fantastic mixture of great family memories, lots of good friends to explore our little world more: the mountains on our doorsteps, the seaside just a few hours away, travelling by bicycle / train / hitchhiking, feel new feelings, go crazy on polyphonic ringtones and just enjoy being out all day on a long summer’s day. A perfect sum up would be: cold drinks, melting ice creams, laughter and feel good sounds like Weezer – Island In The Sun! Core Memories made!
2. What seemed like an inconsequential decision at the time, but in hindsight turned out to fundamentally reshape your life?
Taking on a Recruitment Consultant internship must be the biggest plot twist in my life so far. I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to work in recruitment, but I needed a job. 10+ years later I couldn’t be happier that I have made that decision. The people I’ve met, the places I’ve seen…
3. What are the three books that you would unhesitatingly recommend to others? Why?
Tough one to summarise but here it is:
Counting as one, all the “Lord of the Rings” books, from The Silmarilian to the actual LOTR series. They have pretty much kept me entertained & fascinated almost endlessly in my youth. I remember I was reading Harry Potter 4 when I first picked up LOTR and, from that moment on, Harry Potter collected dust. An insanely better written series – I said what I said!
“12 Rules for Life” by Jordan Peterson – disregarding the author’s shenanigans with the press and his personal life, the book itself is a brilliant psychological guide that really resonated with me around common sense, responsibility, self help and asking for help and much more.
There are a few important DE&I books that should be read by everyone in the TA space (and not only). My favourite has been “What Works” by Iris Bohnet with its focus on gender equality by design. This is very closely followed by “DEI Deconstructed” by Lily Zheng.
A cheeky 4th – “Britannica Encyclopedia” – This one is on the list because it developed my curiosity from a very early age and it should be part of everyone’s library! YES YES there’s the internet – but when you want to foster curiosity & common knowledge (especially for the little ones) and enjoy time disconnected, this is probably one of the best books to pick up.
4. Name a well-known person you admire and explain why you hold them high esteem?
I don’t really follow the Simon Sineks of the world anymore – something has stopped resonating with me with those kinds of speakers, perhaps all the noise in this space. I never really cared for following celebrities either but there are a few that have inspired me along the way.
My all time favourite is the chef & author Anthony Bourdain. When I first saw his shows I was all into cooking but then I fell in love with his emphasis that human connection is probably the most important ingredient to a great dish.. He had a typically cynical (and sometimes dark) view but ultimately his focus was on living the moment, discovery & connecting with others.
Keanu Reeves is also a favourite of mine – awesome actor but more importantly, absolutely fantastic human. He has shown the world a lot about humility, generosity and kindness – he also builds & rides bikes..All of this resonates a lot with me!
5. If you wrote a ‘user manual’ for how people should interact with you, what would be the most important point in the manual?
I’m easy going, love a coffee chat but I’m easily startled (must be the coffee). When time is scarce (and it mostly is) then I like having a clear agenda – I’ve learned this from several fantastic leaders I’ve had the fortune of working with. To me it’s important to have a high level of transparency, respect and eliminate second guessing. I also believe in creating a psychological safe space and making people feel that they belong – it fosters better working relationships and efficiency.
6. What is your untrainable superpower?
Curiosity has always been my main drive ever since my early childhood. I was always curious about stuff. When we were little, my sister and I even had a makeshift “Dexter’s lab” and loved logic & puzzle games like the infamous “Escape from Monkey Island”. With time, I became more curious about people, about different cultures, about different perspectives. As I fell into recruitment (as many recruiters do), I felt this career fit me like a glove! Nowadays I love learning how companies work, the architecture of a product and how it all ties together.
7. In current industry conversation, what is an example of ‘making a mountain out of a molehill’?
In my view, I think transparency is the biggest unnecessary mountain companies choose to climb. It’s not that tough to set better expectations & be clearer on offering in a JD. It’s also not that difficult to create a role matrix that gives new joiners a clear path to success and what it takes to get there. And there are so many more issues around transparency that could be fixed relatively quickly. Yes, some would argue that something like this would break the current status quo in a company, but shouldn’t we all strive for fairness, equity & equality?
8. When was the last time you felt like an outsider in a group? What/How did you learn?
This is the story of my life since starting university in the UK. It was such a culture shock that I didn’t feel I belonged anywhere. As you get to meet people and understand culture, things become a bit easier but the feeling never really goes away. Joining the right community changed my entire perspective – you feel that you connect, feel more at ease, relationships become more natural. Even to this day, when I join a new company, I always get this feeling to a degree but I have learned to embrace it. I changed tact and now I actively seek my community, my belonging.
9. What’s the last image on your camera roll? Care to explain?
I mostly have thousands of pics of my beautiful & cheeky daughter Lily who’s now a little toddler. Redundancy has given me the most precious gift – time spent with my baby girl and my amazing wife. Seeing the little one grow so quickly and being there 24/7 has been the best experience of my life.
10. What is your most prized possession? What’s the story behind it?
My most prized possession are my vinyls and my motorbike – an old Kawasaki Versys. There’s a long story behind it and I “bought” it for the price of a bottle of whiskey. The bike was going into forced retirement after a long life as a commuter and somehow we randomly crossed paths at the perfect time. It cost me heaps to get it running but you don’t put a price on passion. More than that, I convinced my (initially sceptical) wife to join me on quite a few trips and she’s now loving it!! WIN!!
11. If you were to own a bar, and you could design it how you wanted, what would it look like?
Ohhh, I’d love to have a super chilled beach bar with lots of cosy places and a massive fig tree in the middle (free figs!!). I’d love this to be somewhere like Madeira or Hawaii, surrounded by lush green all year long and access to a beach & turquoise waters. I’d like it to be hidden away from the main roads – I’d like my visitors to make it a mission to get there rather than just driving up, and then to be rewarded with an oasis of chill out & great food.
12. If you were a giant mega Monster what city would you rampage first? Why?
This is a good one – don’t all monsters rampage Tokyo or New York??? Also, they seem to have survived quite a few monsters so I’d stay clear of them…I’d probably take on Bucharest – mostly because this would really really catch everyone off guard. Being Romanian, and knowing how things go here, it would take them at least a week to decide how to react so it’s a very safe bet. That would give me plenty of time to roam around, explore, maybe pick on some fictive Tranylvanian monsters. From there I’d move down to Athens because I’d need a beach holiday.
13. What’s the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received? Who gave it and when?
Take a step back; if you need perspective, if you need to clear the air, if things are overwhelming – always, take a step back (and a deep breath). Sometimes all we need is some (mental) distance in order to recalibrate, find the solution or understand where things are. This has worked for me time and time again. This came from a talent leader very early on in my career.
14. What role do you find yourself playing when you join a newly formed team? Can you explain why this happens?
I normally take on two missions – analyse the environment and deliver early impact where I can without needing too much context. I stopped running head first and started observing and asking annoying questions, talking to people, getting the general vibe.
I also try to support ongoing efforts either with referrals, jumping as a “pair sourcer” and generally seeing where people would need an immediate helping hand. That way I get to learn a good deal more about the environment I’m in. I normally give it a while until I put my clown hat on.
15. What’s the one bad quality you wouldn’t mind in a colleague? Why?
This isn’t a quality but sometimes you just can’t bring yourself to work fully. Sometimes life happens; we have 100 other dynamics outside of work which influence us on a daily basis. Sometimes it’s ok not to be ok, not to feel friendly or interested in work because there are other burdening thoughts and, without support, it’s easy to feel things slide for a day or a week or even more. The quality to be able to recognise that things haven’t been ok and that you need help.
16. What hiring heuristic do you generally go with?
My favourite one is “follow up – follow up – follow up”. This one especially applies to approaching candidates but it works great with internal stakeholders as well. It’s important to get the right message across and sometimes you may not do that on the first go for many reasons. With internal stakeholders, it’s all about keeping people in the loop & being transparent.
17. When it comes to our work and industry: what scares you most?
The impact of the recent economic instability has brought to the talent industry and the perception that Talent is a disposable function, only needed in times of growth. The switch to temporary solutions will probably create a strategy gap in the long run for many businesses.
18. What’s one industry challenge you don’t actually think will ever get solved?
Racism & Ageism – I think the world has made leaps and bounds on this subject but ultimately, the journey has just begun. There is so much more to be done around mobility & migration, introducing sustained efforts to integrate people as part of society (not to mention a business) and, sadly, it’s all tied up with geo-political red tape. Not only that but there’s also mindsets to be changed and educated. Opening up the mind to giving a genuine fighting chance to people outside the typical territory is a must.
19. If you could add a question for the next person to answer, what would it be?
What is the legacy you are most proud of?”
20. Who would you recommend to do the next 20 Questions With … ?
Dave Smith, CPO @ Darktrace – I had the pleasure to work with him at Trainline. He’s a fantastic leader who has inspired me a lot early on in my career & even now I look back to that time. I also admire Dani Unsworth – Head of Talent @ Incident.io – I think she has brought a refreshing air to Talent, lots of ideas & energy.
Thank you to Octav Buzoianu for taking 20 Questions for The Brainfood Tribune. Make sure to follow Octav on LinkedIn