Nicole Cruz

Vice President, People (CRE Business Division)

(2017-2018)

Reporting to the Business Division General Manager, and serving on the executive leadership team, I led the entire HR and People ecosystem--Talent Acquisition, Operations, HRBP, L&D--for Ten-X's Commercial Real Estate business.

• Oversaw and played a hands-on role in the change management development, planning, and roll-out of two major organizational restructures.
• Built the business unit's first-ever People Analytics report which provided a 2017 look back, and data-driven recommendations for 2018 people program investments and priorities.
• Built the 2018 Talent and People Operations plan, with a focus on increased talent optimization.
• Spearheaded early efforts to create a compensation philosophy and model, as well as a career development architecture for both sales and non-sales roles.
• Oversaw the mapping of the 2018 talent development plan to support newly created roles and responsibilities.
• Partnered closely with marketing to develop a People communications plan that aligned with the HR operating calendar, ongoing organizational changes, and culture building initiatives.

Head of People Operations (Entire Company)

(2017)

I led the centralized team responsible for Ten-X's HR shared services; technology & reporting; and total rewards. We accomplished a lot as a team:

• Moved away from a tedious Microsoft Excel-based quarterly bonus and performance review process to a streamlined experience in Workday.
• Automated regular reporting and launched Workday HR dashboards, which provided easier access to people data.
• Built a scalable and repeatable HR service model and data capture through ticketing and a tiered support and coverage structure.
• Outsourced employment verifications and protected leave of absence, resulting in an average of 20+ HR hours saved per week.
• Transitioned to an employee-centric and cost-effective immigration management platform, resulting in 25+ HR hours saved per week.
• Successfully led 2018 benefit negotiations, resulting in $1M+ in annual savings, along with increased employee enhancements and provider-funded wellness allowances.

Head of Talent (Entire Company)

(2015-2017)

Hired shortly after CapitalG's investment, I rebuilt and led Ten-X's Talent organization consisting of geographically dispersed recruiting leaders; recruiters and talent sourcers of all levels; and recruiting coordinators who successfully ramped up Ten-X, leading up to a $1.6B majority stake by THL in September 2017.

• Rebuilt the engineering recruiting team and processes, which directly resulted in a 180 degree turnaround and the realization of aggressive quarter-over-quarter hiring targets for Ten-X's growing Technology organization.
• Participated in the content development and roll-out of new values & behaviors to drive company culture.
• Drove constructive assessment processes to foster the building of the company's engineering culture.
• Partnered with executive leaders to other key staff to realize improvements in talent acquisition and talent planning.
• Refined recruiting operations by adjusting the resourcing model; built standardized processes, including interview training and guides; and launched innovative assessment tools to assist scaling.
• Led efforts in building skill matrices to support appropriate talent leveling and assessment.
• Built the company's first university hiring program.
• Hiring Results: 419 hires in 2016, 343 hires for H1 2017 (hires include full-time professional roles and part-time field and auction support)

Q315 Corporate Shining Star Award for rapidly turning around the company's technology talent acquisition efforts.

I am grateful to have enjoyed a long and successful run at Microsoft, where I was afforded many opportunities to broaden my portfolio of experience and to work alongside various members of Microsoft's executive leadership team.

Director, Executive Talent Acquisition (Global Executive Recruiting)

(November 2014-July 2015)

• Worked with key cross-functional partners to define new critical talent needs, competencies, and talent pools to successfully support company transformation to a "mobile-first, cloud-first" model.
• Closely partnered with Silicon Valley site HR leader on executive level talent and regional talent strategy issues.

Director, Talent Acquisition (Silicon Valley Development Center)

(April 2013-November 2014)

• Assessed the global staffing model and its regional implications to inform future state planning.
• Led efforts in bringing together a large cross-business group staffing community-both locally and remotely based-to maximize recruiting representation of MSV roles.
• Owned regional workforce planning, inclusive of partnership with local leaders and HR partners to understand cross-regional talent demands to inform the creation of a localized integrated talent management strategy, as well as better awareness of external sourcing pipeline and resourcing needs.
• Oversaw localized value proposition messaging and the continued development of supporting assets.
• Led targeted Bay Area recruiting marketing campaign to extend Microsoft's employment brand and job openings to highly qualified talent.
• Worked with key leaders and HR partners to inform regional charter growth opportunities that align to local talent market availability.
• Partnered with key stakeholders-HR and engineering executive leadership-to drive planning to realize growth of MSV's university hiring program.

Group Manager, Talent Market Insights (Office of the EVP, HR)

(January 2012-April 2013)

This was a very unique opportunity and honor where Microsoft's Executive Vice President of Human Resources asked me to develop and lead a global initiative focused on providing detailed talent-focused insights, analysis and consulting to her, along with quarterly reporting for the CEO's review.

• Prepared and delivered a three-tier resourcing and delivery model to inform EVP's decision on initial and longer-term investment. 
• Led the design, development, and deployment of a market intelligence portal.
• Closely managed multiple key stakeholders, including CVPs and GMs, to realize successful rollout and hand-off.
• Developed launch communications plan and user training materials for global HR and TA audiences and key cross-functional partners.
• The portal not only allowed for global centralization of market intelligence across Microsoft HR, it also provided needed process efficiencies for Microsoft's Compensation organization.
• Led v-team to ensure quarterly reporting outcomes for EVP and CEO.
• While managing this project, I remained closely aligned to issues related to Microsoft Silicon Valley central HR and talent acquisition.

Received Microsoft HR Excellence in Execution award for this body of work.

Sr. Manager, Staffing Programs (Silicon Valley Development Center)

(June 2010-January 2012)

• Developed and executed upon plan to create localized value proposition messaging, which included development of a local visual identity for MSV, and socialization of our development site, businesses, and people stories through an external website, a social media strategy, event strategy, print collateral and various other promotional channels.
• Identified opportunity gaps and built offerings to enable staffing readiness.
• Served as interim MSV site HR leader from June 2011-October 2011, where I was responsible for orchestration of an executive visit/site all-hands, management of the local leadership forum, and day-to-day management of regional HR team.

A few other things I managed:

• Regional workforce planning
• Local compensation efforts
• Local talent and opportunity landscape work
• University Recruiting partnership (California focused)
• Ensuring regional inclusion for HQ-based programs and tools
• Data analysis and forecasting
• Critical projects that were highly confidential in nature
• Developed and managed budget to align with business objectives and priorities

FY12 recipient of Microsoft HR Award for Excellence in Execution.

Talent Acquisition Consultant (Legal & Corporate Affairs; Corporate Finance)

(November 2006-June 2010)

• Recruited for Microsoft's Legal and Corporate Affairs (LCA) group. Supported all groups within LCA during tenure, with primary focus on Antitrust, Litigation, and Corporate and Regulatory Affairs.
• On boarded and mentored new staff.
• In partnership with L&D, developed a hiring manager training curriculum that consists of 14 on-demand podcasts.
• Partnered with Staffing Center of Excellence (COE) team to create and deliver new internal candidate staffing procedures across US staffing. Additionally, led LCA efforts with COE to develop standardized, competency-based interview questions to be used across the LCA organization.
• Partnered with UW Statistics program students to test assumptions of key characteristics of successful hires.
• As of January 2010, I also supported Microsoft's Corporate Finance Groups: Treasury, Tax, RE&F, Business Excellence, Financial Planning & Analysis, and Corporate Strategy.

Recipient of two Microsoft HR Awards--Excellence in Collaboration and Excellence in Execution--as well as two Microsoft Gold Star Awards for exceptional execution-one of which was awarded by a CVP within the Corporate Finance organization.

Senior, Talent Acquisition

• Recruited senior and management staff for Ernst & Young's AABS, BRS, TAS service lines.
• Built and launched a nationwide internal marketing campaign to promote the firm's employee referral program.
• Partnered with West Coast recruiting leader to operationalize an international recruiting pilot that evolved into a larger program for the firm.
• Served on project team responsible for the customization and rollout of Taleo applicant tracking system and new internal recruitment processes.
• Developed junior staff.

After spending a successful year in an agency recruiting environment, I provided recruiting and human resources management services to a variety of Silicon Valley companies, including early stage startups. Industries covered: Internet technology, wireless technology, and architecture.

Responsibilities varied by client, but included:

• Full life-cycle recruiting
• HR auditing
• Benefit plan creation and management
• Authoring employment policies
• Immigration
• Employee relations
• 401(k) and retirement plan management
• Multi-state payroll
• HRIS implementation
• Terminations/RIFs

Companies included:

• ConsultNet (Acquired by TekSystems)
• UltraDNS (acquired by Neustar)
• Group4 Architecture
• PNS Communications
• Arraycomm