Susan Burns

Current

• Executive Director at The Future of Talent
• Founder and Chief Talent Strategist at Talent Synchronicity

Past

• Worldwide Talent Acquisition Leader at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
• Operating Vice President, Employment Initiatives & College Relations at Federated Department Stores (Macy's Inc)
• Store Manager at Robinsons-May

• Assistant Store Manager at The Broadway

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Education

• Simmons College - Simmons School of Management
• Stanford Graduate School of Business

Recommended

17 people have recommended Susan

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Retail

Websites

• My Website

Susan Burns’s Summary

Transformational talent strategies delivering sustainable results.

As Founder and Chief Talent Strategist of Talent Synchronicity, I apply front-line business and talent function leadership experience to define and deliver adaptive, competitive, resourceful, and successful talent solutions for your company.

Aligning the talent and business functions to deliver value, competitiveness and stability to your corporate talent strategies is at the core of my practice. Developing solutions for you that are value-added, differentiated and sustainable has been cultivated through experiences with businesses of varying size, structure and industry.

Consulting services include:
• Integrated Recruitment and Talent Management Strategy Development
• Employment Brand Differentiation
• Social Media Strategy
• Workforce/Talent Planning
• University Recruitment and Relations Strategy
• Recruitment Leader Development
• Recruitment Team Structure and Processes

Susan Burns’s Specialties:

LEADERSHIP shifting culture to advance talent strategies. Architecting recruitment functions and strategies to support sustainable, growth and expansion.

DEVELOPMENT of a workforce planning models and sourcing strategies that deliver increased predictability.

DESIGNING adaptive techniques and a future-focused path fostering improvements in efficiencies and effectiveness.

RESULTS through strategic alignment of business and talent to advantage companies competitive positioning.

Susan Burns’s Experience

• Executive Director

  The Future of Talent

  (Staffing and Recruiting industry)

  March 2008 — Present (1 year 9 months)

  The Future of Talent is a growing community of influential talent leaders. Our research is grounded in the work of Kevin Wheeler and techniques developed at the Institute for the Future, where Kevin was a researcher for more than a decade.
  
  Our cornerstone event is an annual retreat where we come together to design strategies through differentiated view points, share best practices and ideas, and engage informally with leading thinkers in the areas of talent acquisition, branding, knowledge management, employee development, and leadership.
  
  Benefits of membership include:
  • Architecting a strategic picture of your organization’s competitive positioning as a basis for leading change;
  • Positioning yourself on the edge of emerging technologies and trends in the world of talent;
  • Replenishing and nurturing your mind while crafting a strategic vision.
  
  Please contact me directly to learn more about our work and how you can explore becoming a member.

• Founder and Chief Talent Strategist

  Talent Synchronicity

  (Human Resources industry)

  July 2007 — Present (2 years 5 months)

  • Expertise in integrated recruitment and talent management strategy development and implementation; employment brand differentiation; recruitment leader development; workforce/talent planning; university recruitment and relations strategy; and, recruitment team structure and processes.
  
  • Partnering with clients to further enable success by enhancing the essential relationship between business and talent to advantage and differentiate each company.
  
  • Embedded P & L experience facilitates a focused alignment with strategic business directives to create intrinsic value in recruitment and talent initiatives.
  
  • Clients experience a creative and resourceful approach to planning, development, and implementation.

• Worldwide Talent Acquisition Leader

  Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

  (Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Public Relations and Communications industry)

  February 2006 — June 2007 (1 year 5 months)

  Responsibilities included developing a global talent attraction and acquisition function. Susan provided guidance to the Agency Executive Board, resulting in improved time-to-fill and a more strategic approach to talent planning.
  
  Workforce Planning and Sourcing:
  • Architected a workforce planning strategy and developed a forecasting tool to guide agency advisory board with headcount growth.
  • Expanded sourcing channels to expand talent reach and global brand.
  
  Team Development and Structure:
  • Designed and implemented staffing team development and planning workshop.
  • Restructured staffing team to improve alignment with business needs.
  • Promoted 3 staffing team members and recruited three new members including Europe and APAC.
  
  Results:
  • Increased external hires by 37% and applicant flow by 28% in 2006.
  • Improved time-to-fill across agency through strategic sourcing and planning.

• Operating Vice President, Employment Initiatives & College Relations

  Federated Department Stores (Macy's Inc)

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; M; Retail industry)

  September 1998 — January 2006 (7 years 5 months)

  Improved brand positioning, rate of recruitment technology adoption and corresponding talent initiatives.
  
  • Designed and implemented talent attraction strategy for entry-level through experienced hires for hourly and salaried employment.
  • Developed and expanded Retailology.com, award winning recruitment website and Federated employment brand.
  • Researched, assessed, selected, and managed all aspects of recruitment technology systems and vendor relationships.
  • Led initial development, implementation and advanced curriculum of Recruitment Leaders Conference, resulting in significant talent mindset shift.
  • Responsible for developing, leading and executing college relations strategy.
  • Led multiple high-performance, cross-divisional teams.
  • Developed performance metrics for brand value, candidate relationship management, productivity, and source effectiveness.
  • Achieved solution goal of 38,000 annual hires; database utilization rate increases; and conversion rates.

• Store Manager

  Robinsons-May

  (Public Company; Retail industry)

  October 1993 — July 1997 (3 years 10 months)

  • Delivered annual sales volumes of $30 and $40 million through consistent and effective planning.
  • Designed and implemented associate recognition programs leading to significant service improvements.
  • Developed five holiday cosmetic events generating $395K in sales volume, an increase of over 20%.
  • Increased fall earnings performance by 30% through effective planning and cost saving systems.
  • Increased customer service scores by 11%, achieving 2nd best improvement company-wide.

• Assistant Store Manager

  The Broadway

  (Retail industry)

  September 1986 — October 1993 (7 years 2 months)

  • Gained diverse management and strategic planning experience during three unique store assignments.
  • Developed and piloted selling specialist program leading to company-wide rollout.

Susan Burns’s Education

• Simmons College - Simmons School of Management

  MBA , 1997 — 1998

  Graduated with highest honors-top five percent. Dean’s Merit Scholar

• Stanford Graduate School of Business

  Human Resource Executive Program: Leveraging Human Resources for Competitive Advantage September 2002

Additional Information

Susan Burns’s Websites:

• My Website

Susan Burns’s Interests:

Business: Collaboration on social networking and how it impacts the way in which companies attract and engage talent. Collaboration around the impact social will have on the future of the corporation, structures and work environments. Personal: Hiking and Yoga. Completed 100 mile trek through Patagonia wilderness and trekked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Completed 200 hour power vinyassa yoga teacher training.

Susan Burns’s Groups:

Electronic Recruiting Exchange, Human Capital Institute, Link to Your World, Retail Industry Experts, E-biz, SourceCon, Social Media Club, Facebook Fan site and Twitter follower, Facebook Fan site and Twitter follower, Twitter

•    Human Capital Institute
•    Executive Suite
•    Federated / May Career Center
•    SourceCon2010
•    ERE.net
•    InternetRetailing - for leaders in e-commerce and multichannel retail
•    e-BIZ
•    Simmons School of Management (SOM) Network
•    Design Thinking
•    RecruitingBlogs
•    Jewish Professionals
•    Retail Industry Experts
•    Starbucks' Enthusiasts
•    Australasian Talent Conference - Sydney
•    Recruitment Consultants and Staffing Professionals (30.000+)
•    Accelerate The Cluetrain Manifesto
•    Retail Industry Professionals Group
•    Strategic Workforce Planning
•    Future of Talent
•    RETAIL EXECS
•    The Talent Buzz
•    RecruitingBlogs.com Group
•    Arbita
•    Greater Portland Recruiters
•    Macy's Alumni Group
•    NorthWest Recruiters Association (NWRA)
•    The World Café
•    Pacific Northwest Networking
•    Social Media Pros
•    Linked Las Vegas
•    JobAngels
•    MyRetailCareer
•    TwitterJobSearch.com
•    Espo's HR Group
•    RecruitChute
•    JobsDirectUSA
•    University Recruiting
•    Stylesight Trendscope for Fashion, Design & Retail Professionals

Susan Burns’s Honors:

• Electronic Recruiting Exchange. 2005 ER Excellence Award for Best Corporate Careers Website. Honorable mentions received for Most Strategic Use of Recruiting Technology and Recruiter of the Year.

• Federated Department Stores. Newness 2000 Award. Recognized for development and deployment of Retailology recruitment site as brand differentiator.

• NACE. Employer Contribution in Technical Innovation. Awarded for development of the Retailology.com/college recruitment site as an employment outreach platform.

• Simmons Graduate School of Management. Susan Bulkeley Butler Award. Academic achievement in accounting.

• Broadway Department Stores. Customer Service Contribution. Selling specialist program development.

Susan Burns’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• getting back in touch