A Very Good TA Convo #18 with Ben Lopez: Why More Is Less in Talent Acquisition

Why more is less

Ben's thesis is simple. Everyone in TA is feeling the squeeze: smaller budgets, fewer resources, bigger business goals. But the answer isn't grinding harder. It's working differently. AI and automation are changing how recruiters gather information, research companies, and engage with candidates. The ones who lean into that will multiply their impact. The ones who don't will fall behind.

"A big part of talent is research, and that's an incredibly manual process. AI and knowledge gathering is accelerated by technology. The smart folks are using that to learn faster, be more nimble, and break up their time more effectively."

Stop chasing shiny tools

When asked what he thinks is total bullshit in the recruitment world, Ben pointed at the obsession with new tools. Not every tool is a good tool. The industry gets excited about what's trendy and hip, but very few people put in the headspace to figure out what's actually going to move the needle.

"A lot of things are noisy. They're trendy. They're hip. Being able to really put in the headspace to think about what's actually going to have an impact and putting your energy there, that's what matters."

His advice: find the people on your team who are natural pioneers. The ones who will research, pilot, and innovate. Those people will multiply the power of leaders.

Workviva's culture of fearless innovation

At Workviva, one of the company values is "innovate fearlessly." It shows up in the product, in how they think about AI, and in how they approach talent. The company started as a groundbreaking SaaS platform for regulatory reporting in the US and has since scaled globally around three pillars: risk, financial reporting, and sustainability.

Ben's been with Workviva for eight years, and he credits the company's growth story as one of his biggest recruitment assets. "People feel the energy. They feel the excitement. They feel that consistent growth story and people want to be a part of that."

The people who thrive at Workviva

Smart, curious people. People who are comfortable with change, not change for the sake of it, but smart change. People who challenge the status quo, bring new ideas, and refuse to be complacent. At a company that's always looking for its next chapter, sitting still isn't an option.

"Being complacent is never a good thing because we're always looking for that next chapter, that next opportunity, and people that will challenge us and bring new ideas and experiences that we haven't had before."

Collaborative hiring with structure and trust

Workviva's hiring process blends structure with flexibility. They pull input from the right people across the organization, so a sales hire gets evaluated by pre-sales, marketing, and customer success. Product hires engage with engineering and product marketing. The process is grounded in skills and competencies, but there's room for teams to innovate in partnership with TA.

It's collaborative without being chaotic. The right voices at the right stages, focused on what actually matters for the role.

From California to Amsterdam

Ben moved to Amsterdam six years ago, right when COVID started. Not exactly ideal timing for making friends in a new country. But once the warming-up period passed, it became one of the best decisions of his life, both professionally and personally.

He sees real differences between the European and US offices. In Europe, there's more in-person interaction despite the company's flexible work policy. Geographic proximity and customer culture drive more face time compared to US counterparts. But at the core, the values stay the same everywhere: integrity, collaboration, trust, and putting customers and people at the center.

"With that as our anchor, it's a very powerful compass for us to evolve and change and become more scalable but not lose sight of who we are as a company."

Almost 20 years in recruitment and still passionate

Ben didn't plan to end up in recruitment. He started on the agency side, on the sales track, and realized he loved the recruiting side more. He moved in-house in 2011 in the software space and never looked back. Global recruitment became his particular passion: the complexity, the nuance, the cultural differences, figuring people out.

"It's kind of like sales but through a different lens. I don't think it's for everybody, but it's something I've been passionate about since I got into it."

The takeaway

Ben's message is one the entire TA industry needs to hear right now. Stop trying to do more of the same with fewer resources. Instead, rethink how you work. Use AI to accelerate research, not to replace judgment. Focus your energy and budget on the tools that actually move the needle, not the ones that look impressive in a demo. Find the pioneers on your team and give them room to experiment. And if your company has a strong culture and growth story, use it. That's your best recruiting tool, and no software can replicate it.