Hayley Smith
Hayley started her recruitment career in a large agency, Robert Walters, before making the move to in-house. She worked 5 years at Westpac and the latter 10 years at The Warehouse Group. Hayley has extensive recruitment experience initially specialising in finance, and then spanning to cover most head office functions.
Hayley has led teams for the last 4 years, and is currently the Head of Talent Acquisition at The Warehouse Group, managing a team of 8 and supporting the whole business of 10,000+ employees across all 3 of our Brands and the Support Office. As an Employee Experience certified designer she has a passion for design thinking, EVP, Employment Branding and the candidate/employee experience.
Kim Nicholas
Kim is an accomplished people and systems leader with over a decade at The Warehouse Group. Reporting to the CPO and as a member of TWG’s senior leadership team Kim is currently the GM – Talent Acquisition, HR Systems & Payroll where she leads a team of 27+ across TA, HR Systems, Data & Compliance and Payroll for 10,000+ employees.
Kim has implemented key platforms including Oracle HCM, SmartRecruiters ATS, Phenom CRM, and a Time & Attendance tool – driving continuous improvement in automations, payroll accuracy, data & insights, and an AI-first approach to recruiting at scale. Her leadership has also been central to large-scale org redesigns, business-wide change management, and employment brand.
Kim’s passion lies in building future-ready TA and HR functions that combine system innovation, process excellence, and people-first leadership. She is passionate about how technology supports recruitment strategy, candidate experience, and hiring manager capability by driving operational execution, stakeholder influence, and a digital transformation strategy.
Speaker Session
Main Stage - 3:05pm - 3:35pm
Pillars for Success - The Warehouse Group Case Study
In today’s competitive talent landscape, a well-rounded recruitment process goes far beyond filling roles - it’s about creating meaningful, consistent experiences that reflect your organisation’s values and future ambitions.
This presentation will explore key Talent Acquisition pillars that drive successful hiring outcomes: building a compelling employment brand that attracts the right talent, delivering a seamless and engaging candidate experience, partnering effectively with hiring managers to ensure alignment and efficiency, and designing onboarding processes that support long-term retention.
We’ll also look at how systems, technology and automation can elevate recruitment operations, enabling smarter, faster and more scalable hiring.
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