Phil, Talent Acquisition Specialist

A newborn no more, Tic:Toc is a growing company. Once a budding start-up, and now over three years old, we’ve quickly matured into an energetic toddler, with the ambition of a full life left ahead of us. To help us become the fintech we aspire to be, we’ve welcomed many members into our Tic:Toc family and continue to do so. One such member is Phil Williams, our Talent Acquisition Specialist, who scouts high and low for the perfect candidates to join us. We sat down to acquaint ourselves with Phil by way of a quick-fire round of questions.

What was your first impression of Tic:Toc?

I knew Tic:Toc from the beginning, having recruited for us from the outside. My first impression of the company was “wow, this is a start-up that’s doing some incredibly exciting things in an industry that’s been waiting out for disruption, and all being delivered out of Adelaide!”. And now three and a half years down the line, we’ve turned start-up into scale-up. That first impression hasn’t changed as we continue to innovate and further disrupt the industry, but now with a headcount of 75 rather than 7. How exciting!

What are your thoughts on Tic:Toc’s company values?

Our values are: We make time. To be transparent. We make time. To build good bonds. We make time. To be human. We make time. To take responsibility.

Consistent throughout our four values is the expectation for collaboration, which I love! We can only be transparent, build good bonds, be human and take responsibility by collaborating with each other, which is something I think we have done incredibly well at Tic:Toc. Sometimes things aren’t perfect, but that’s ok — we learn from it and we aim to do better as we scale.

What were your thoughts when you first stepped out of the lift and into the Tic:Toc office?

My first impression out the lift… Tic:Toc has a buzz! We certainly have some very nice office space with a very modern, industrial feel. But, alongside that we have the culture feel to go with it. The minute you step into Tic:Toc, you can feel that it’s a company that’s kicking goals.

Can you explain your current role?

My day-to-day role as a Talent Acquisition Specialist involves seeking out, attracting and onboarding the best talent to join the Tic:Toc Team, and to make them into TicTockers! My role also involves employer branding and developing our EVP (employee value proposition), making sure that we are telling our story to the world outside of Tic:Toc, so they can come and find us and see what a great place this is to work. Alongside that, I’m a key member of the People & Culture team and work proactively with the business on the development of talent.

What problem are you here to solve?

Lots…maybe not problems, but more challenges. The first one, of course: we need more people! And hiring people takes time. But also, as we grow, we continue to onboard more people, and with that comes the need for updating our recruitment processes, systems and procedures which are the projects I am working on at the moment.

What do you look for when trying to match a person to a role?

Over everything, we hire based on cultural fit at Tic:Toc. We also hire heavily on soft skills, and that matters to us because we are collaborative. I think that accounts for any role we recruit here across the board.

What do you find most rewarding about your role?

I find it both incredibly rewarding and fulfilling to hire new people into our business and seeing them grow. Also seeing the impact they have or they will have on the growth of our business and how they align to our strategy going forward. All of this is really important to me.

What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

Getting up every day knowing I contribute towards the growth of our business motivates me ultimately.

You can invite any four people to dinner. Who are you inviting?

Elon Musk. Jacinda Ardern. Steve Jobs. Margot Robbie.

You win $10 million playing Powerball. Do you keep working?

I would definitely keep working, I’d need to keep my mind active. I love travelling so I’d make sure I got my travel bug fix, but being entrepreneurial I would still very much have an appetite for business and would want to invest in companies like us!

Interested in a career at Tic:Toc?