Tom Kenward

Talent Acquisition Lead, Microsoft

In Tom’s 20 years in TA, he has experience in People Leadership, Mentoring, Leadership/Exec Hiring, AI in TA, Data & Storytelling, Inclusive Hiring, Diversity Hiring, Hybrid Work. Outside of work, Tom is sports mad and a keen golfer. He is also the coach of his son’s U8s football team and loves travel and great music gigs.

What’s a professional achievement of yours from 2024 that you are proud of?

Launched a Military leavers hiring program for Microsoft in the UK. A new talent channel for us that diversifies the company’s employee base and helps some of the most deserving people at the same time.

How has the RL Community helped you this year?

Got a huge amount from the summit in Stratford in March, particularly learning from others on inclusion, personal growth and AI usage. Struck up a partnership with Flexa via an RL100 recommendation – really helping us with reaching further into a more diverse UK market.

Finally, what is your prediction for the TA industry for 2025?

TA teams that truly embrace what AI can do (vs just asking it to summarise mails and record calls) will take a massive step ahead of other who don’t. We are only just starting to realise its capability and value.

I also hope the market for TA jobs improves – there are so many great people struggling to find work and/or being underpaid and undervalued.