Michelle Randall-Berry leads the global talent team at Teradyne and is responsible for developing and executing the company’s global talent strategy. One of Teradyne’s key hiring principles is to ensure consistent and equitable hiring and talent acquisition practices that reflect their strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. As a data-driven leader, Michelle and Teradyne utilize data to evaluate the team’s global performance, assess the experience of candidates and hiring managers, and leverage talent insights to gauge Teradyne’s progress against goals relative to its competitors. Michelle’s passion lies in creating innovative approaches to attract and retain talent that align with the evolving needs of the business.
Michelle joined Teradyne in 2022, coming from the gaming and entertainment company IGT, where she held the position of Global Head of Talent Acquisition. Her career journey also includes roles as the Head of Global Talent Acquisition for Cabot Corporation and Head of Executive Recruiting for Iron Mountain, a major storage and information management services company. Prior to that, she spent nine years at Fidelity Investments, where she served as the Director of Global Talent Acquisition Program Management for the Asset Management business.
In addition to her professional accomplishments, Michelle actively participates in various organizations and initiatives. She serves on the Alumni Board of Directors for Anna Maria College and is a leadership coach with Braven, an organization dedicated to empowering promising, underrepresented young individuals to transition from college to strong initial job placements. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from Anna Maria College, a Master of Science in Management from Lesley University, and she is a graduate of the Yale School of Management’s Fostering Diversity and Inclusion Program.
Below are highlights of the interview:
Tell us about Teradyne Inc. and its mission.
Teradyne’s test and robotics solutions are fundamental to the growth of many industries. We respect this global influence and realize that we have the opportunity and the responsibility to not just comply with regulations but maintain high standards of ethical behavior and social responsibility. We work to integrate quality, safety, and sustainability into every aspect of our business, with the goal of engineering a better future. We strongly believe that who we are and how we behave matter a great deal.
How did you initially get involved in the industry, and what motivated you to pursue a career in this field?
I started my career in social work, then made the move to sales. I was then hired to sell recruiting services, which required me to learn more about the end-to-end recruitment process. I fell in love with recruitment! It’s what motivates me and what gets me up in the morning and I have never looked back.
How do you foster a culture of innovation and adaptability within your organization, considering the rapidly changing landscape of the business industry?
My role is to focus on the talent acquisition process and standardizing practices globally across the organization, while leveraging global best practices and thinking about what are the leading practices when it comes to recruitment. My role involves thinking about our sourcing capabilities, but more importantly, looking at ways to build connections to different talent pools to support our businesses in terms of building capability for the future.
How do you prioritize customer satisfaction and ensure that the company provides exceptional service to its clients?
Leveraging our core competencies and our company values as an organization is a great way to dazzle and delight my team’s customers, our managers and candidates. In addition, this is how we assess our talent in terms of how well they are going to operate within our structure and within our culture. What makes someone successful at Teradyne is feeling empowered to share ideas and experience, maintain honesty and integrity in everything we do, and know our customers count on us. We are always looking for the best talent, but talent that can embrace these values
The talent acquisition model is constantly evolving, and when I look to the future, my thoughts turn to building great experiences for both managers and candidates. In addition, we focus on workplace partnerships and pools, where we foster a culture of continuous recruiting.
What steps do you take to attract and retain top talent in the industry, and how do you encourage professional growth and development within your organization?
I firmly believe as a talent leader that our long-term success depends on recruiting, developing, motivating, and retaining talented colleagues who share our passion for excellence. Talent acquisition, talent management, and training and development are essential to supporting both attracting and retaining talented colleagues and the professional and personal growth of employees and prospective candidates. Community engagement is critical to our employer brand and promotes our work within the communities where our facilities are located. We have a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and are constantly working to support all employees and candidates in reaching their full potential.
How do you address the increasing importance of digitalization and technology in the sector, and how does it influence the company’s operations and customer experience?
Technology is key to creating a great experience, and this is why I am looking at automation to enhance experiences. As we think about the future and flexible work, digitalization to allow for great collaboration and communication enables better employee experiences from a data and analytics perspective. We will be measuring our manager and candidate experiences to ensure we are providing the best experience we can. Something we are very passionate about is telling the Teradyne talent story and championing that in a way that’s meaningful—highlighting successes and accomplishments and making that more visible. We are a humble company in a lot of respects, but there are a lot of great stories we can tell.
As Head of Global Talent for the company, what is your overall vision for the company’s future, and how do you plan to achieve it?
The vision is that the Global Talent team is a trusted partner and strategic enabler of our test and robotics businesses. We use an integrated approach to maximize the potential of our greatest asset, our employees. We are committed to attracting and diversifying our talent pipeline, fostering a sense of belonging and purpose, developing employees that excel, motivating our teams to succeed, and retaining our global workforce. My plan to get there is to focus on a people strategy that raises performance. And I identified strategic objectives for diversity, equity, and inclusion; learning and organization development; performance management; leadership talent and succession management; and talent acquisition to make it happen over the course of the next 3–5 years.
What advice would you give to aspiring leaders or individuals looking to join the industry?
For my own team, I look for people who are not only passionate about talent acquisition but can also handle the roller-coaster ride of the job. You must love the life cycle of being a recruiter, because while there are lots of ups, there are lots and lots of downs too. You may get very excited when you think you’re close to an offer, but if something goes wonky, you could end up having to go back and start your whole search over again. You need to be resilient yet flexible to stay focused and positive about great outcomes.
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