The best talent acquisition leaders don’t just get great people in the door—they motivate them to “think like owners”.
That’s been the mantra for Claire Berkley during her time as Head of Talent Acquisition at Poshmark–a leading fashion resale marketplace that’s navigated an IPO, acquisition, and major market shifts.
In this episode, Claire shares her journey from Division I soccer player to agency recruiter to people-first leader – and the lessons she’s learned along the way.
Claire also shares:
Connect with Claire on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-berkley/
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[00:00:00] Claire Berkley: How do we get really good at looking at our internal resources versus just always going to market? So our strategy has shifted, and I think to the best of my ability, it's just continuing to have that seat at the table, work very closely as talent partners with our executives so that we're actually able to build an effective strategy.
[00:00:18] Dave Travers: So what does it really take for your business to attract world-class talent today? I'm Dave Travers, president of ZipRecruiter and on Talent All-Stars, we shine a light on the people and the day-to-day processes behind recruitment and retention at some of the world's most influential businesses.
Today's Talent All-Star is Claire Berkley, the Head of Talent Acquisition at Poshmark, a leading fashion resale marketplace. Poshmark has seen a lot of change over the past few years, and they've had to scale hiring up and down to adapt. So in this episode, Claire and I talk about her transition from technical recruiter to manager to leader, her four S of mentorship, and how she instills a founder's mindset in her team.
So, let's bring her in. Claire Berkley, welcome to Talent All-Stars.
[00:01:04] Claire Berkley: Thank you so much for having me.
[00:01:05] Dave Travers: So excited to have you. So. You are a TA leader. But before we get to that, let's talk about your background and when you first even. Thought about recruiting and talent acquisition being a path. How did it initially catch your eye?
What did you think it would be? And then when did you know that like this could be something that's more than just a job, but a calling or a career?
[00:01:27] Claire Berkley: Yeah. It's so interesting. I think many of us fall into TA. This is not the path that we set out to be, and my first understanding of recruiting actually goes back to my time in college.
I played soccer at San Jose State. I thought recruiting just meant sports recruiting. Like, who are we gonna get onto our team? How are we gonna get them? Little did I know this was an actual career path until I went to a career fair. It was, it was actually structured for athletes, and at this booth was, uh, a recruiting agency called, uh, Tech Systems.
And they brought some of their former athletes of theirs, you know, to the table and. So they're kind of talking to you and, and chatting it up and, you know, they made that connection. They said, hey, you're familiar with how you recruit great players onto your team? Have you thought about doing that for a career?
Um, and I'm like, Hey, you know, I'm a I'm a people person. I think this is something I could get into, but. At the time, I wasn't ready to start a, a full-time job. I was just looking for an internship, and he said, no problem. Let's talk about an internship. We'll sort of give you three months of what it's like to actually do this for a career.
And if it's something you like, great, and if not, you know, no worries. You spend some time building yourself and gaining some skills. And so I took him up on it. I took him up on it. And, um. Essentially, what I learned there and and the path that I took was really becoming a technical recruiter, and I'm here in the Silicon Valley.
And so putting those two pieces together, uh, really makes sense for a lot of reasons. And it was so much of the buzz around San Jose State, you know, between engineering and what is it like to work in the Silicon Valley. And so I think being. Firsthand getting experience sounded really exciting. And so for three months, I sort of did the, the, the agency technical recruiting training, which was a great way to just embed myself and to really understanding. You know, I think what is it like to work with people is sort of the biggest takeaway that I took from that.
Um, and finding them a job at this really pivotal time in their life. And so after that, uh, three months, they had offered me a job to come back once I graduated. I took them up on it. And so for the first few years of my career, I really got to see two sides of the coins, which was working with candidates directly, uh, but also some of the big Fortune 500 companies.
So, you know, the Amazons, the Googles, a lot of semiconductor companies, which was really cool as well. Um, and then started to sell to them as the account manager to bring the business back. So. You know, initially growing up in, in sports and thinking of it like a, a recruiter to bring great talent onto your team, it was a really seamless transition to actually start to build this into a career.
[00:04:03] Dave Travers: So I've noticed you're not the only recruiter and TA leader I've ever talked to who's a competitive athlete. As well. What do you think are the carryovers or the reason why some people, before they go into recruiting, have that background and, as an outlet outside of work, sometimes embrace sports and athletic competition is something, you know, that's outside of work.
Why is that a fit do you think?
[00:04:25] Claire Berkley: It's a great question, and to your point, I do see a lot of athletes in this field. I think the way that it was positioned to me was, if you are someone who is ready to kind of hustle and grind and hit the phones and build connections with people, you're gonna be a great fit for this type of career.
And I think tha was sort of true for the, the agency recruiting world. And, and that resonated with me. You know, I, I had known how to balance school and how to balance soccer, and so I thought, you know, I could balance kind of the grittiness of this type of job. And so those characteristics were strong, but I also think it sort of led into.
Working on a team because the way recruiting, and I still firmly believe this is true today, it is not a one man show. It is definitely a collective of people who are able to make hiring top talent a reality. And that really resonated as an athlete, right? All I've known is how to be on a team and effectively work with other people towards an outcome.
And so that's something that stood out to me and I think just nature of playing sports, you sort of have to put yourself out there. You have to be uncomfortable, you have to forge new paths and and that was really a lot of my time, at least being in soccer in college and I think other athletes as well.
Yeah, and I think that tenacity and, and team aspect.
[00:05:44] Dave Travers: So in terms of putting yourself out there, obviously you started out in technical recruiting as you saw, and then you made it to now being at Poshmark, the head of TA. So in terms of putting yourself out there, tell me about the moment when someone saw in you and when you saw in yourself the ability to not just be the person who's grinding and making calls and recruiting yourself, but being a leader of a function.
Did you see it in yourself first, or did someone else see it in you first?
[00:06:11] Claire Berkley: Yeah, I think someone else saw it in me first, and this is kind of building that confidence muscle over time. It, it takes a lot of time as a practice, but I learned early on that strong leadership isn't just about giving direction, it's actually about setting the standard through example.
And I think going back to sports, I couldn't expect my teammates to push harder or be better if I wasn't actually embodying those same principles myself. So the real turning point when I saw that actually providing empathetic leadership, so understanding what my teammates needed to thrive and allowing them to actually outperform themselves, is when I realized that like, oh, the leadership path is something I'm really interested in.
I realized too that it wasn't just about being an individual contributor was actually about creating an environment where others could see themselves to be their best, and so. That mindset started to carry over in my career, and I think naturally when you play in sports, like you were saying before, these competencies start to kind of come up and I think good, my good managers at that time just really continued to build skills around that and continued to help me build that confidence, which ultimately led me to going down the leadership path, and I'm so happy that I had people like them in my life, as we all do to push us towards that. But I think it was always in there. I just needed someone to continue helping me light that flame to realize it.
[00:07:32] Dave Travers: Ooh, I love that lighting that flame. I love that. So I think that you talked about, you know, having managers who helped you build skills and light that flame.
I think a lot of the way you describe that is so clear. Your attitude toward that was to embrace somebody seeing more than you. But I think it would also be easy to be like, ah, my boss is on me, wants me to develop all these new skills. Why am I not doing good enough? Versus for already, you know, that could be a hassle or that could be an opportunity.
How do you frame that or think about that as a person who's like motivated and interested in moving up in TA as a career, but like, how do I identify. When someone's not just hassling me, but is actually seeing the ability to light a flame in me to be even more,
[00:08:16] Claire Berkley: yeah. If I think about some of the best leaders that I've had, it's those who have really got to understand me and know me for who I am, and so when you start to build that relationship, it becomes clear that.
The intentions are good, the motivations are there. I could discern that this was coming out of a place of, they knew I could be better, and I've had many coaches in my life too who've also done that. I. And I think that's what was needed for me to help understand like, this wasn't a nag or a, a pressure or, you know, kind of a force fit into this area.
This was, they're seeing this kind of organic competency that I have and they're gonna continue to help shape that. And they put me in uncomfortable situations, you know, they. I can think back to many times early in my career where they wanted me to lead a meeting with this director of engineering at Nvidia, for example, and I'm like, lead a meeting.
You know, how do you even do that? Right? How you conduct yourself in a meeting and structure it in such a way to gain something out of it. And a lot of it too was just being able to receive that feedback afterwards and that continued to push me and, and put me in those uncomfortable situations. But they knew I could do it.
It wasn't a, I'm gonna throw you out into the water and you'll figure out to swim. It's, I'll be next to you with a life vest if you need it, but I. You do know how to swim and, and you can keep going. So building that relationship was definitely key to knowing who I am and, and what made me tick.
[00:09:39] Dave Travers: So now as you think back, like to the earlier part of your career, before you stepped into this leadership role, is there any advice you wish you could go back and give yourself that you would do differently or focus even more on to think about being more prepared for when the flame is passed to you?
[00:09:56] Claire Berkley: I should probably spend more time reflecting on these moments, but I think it's probably, you know. Don't be afraid to ask for help. I think there was sort of this notion that for me, as people were starting to see my confidence build, I didn't wanna sort of be as vulnerable as I could to sort of ask for more or more support or what that looked like for me.
And so I think, um, the sooner I could have done that. The faster I would be on a path that would lead me towards the right direction or the right information as opposed to trying to figure everything out by myself. And so it's actually leveraging and harnessing the power of your community and other people to push you down that path.
So that's probably a highlight for me.
[00:10:43] Dave Travers: First of all, I love your answer. Like I think it's very counterintuitive. For a young leader to think asking for help like that could be viewed as a sign of, or feels like it's a sign of weakness, when in fact it's a sign of strength. 'cause no one realistically expects you to know everything, regardless of how experienced you are.
And so the fact that you are thinking that way and modeling that behavior for your own team because you want them to come to you now that you're a leader when they're struggling and you can tell them, Hey, if you have. An issue come to me, but it's way more effective to have them watch you like, oh wow.
You know, when Claire is struggling with something, she, she just raises her hand and asks for help. Like, that's obviously a safe and cool thing to do. Um, so I love that. It's funny, I had dinner with a mentor of mine last night, and she was talking about how she still uses mentors and develops mentors and seeks help and growth.
She's 70 years old. That is like such a lifelong learning. There's always people out there to learn from and to ask help from that. I love that. You know, constant, lifelong learner mentality and leadership is such an ever-evolving ever. Changing thing that that is such a powerful framework to not just take for yourself, but to model for others as you're a leader.
[00:12:06] Claire Berkley: Yeah. And actually I love that you mentioned the mentor model because, and, and I don't know if you feel this way, but I'd be curious to learn is there's sort of like this four M model or four mentor model that I had learned early on. I think this goes back to the question you just asked me of like what would I do differently?
I would implement this sooner and it is the four mentor model is. You have four mentors at different stages of their life. So if I take where I'm at today, the first mentor I wanna have is somebody younger than me. Somebody who's maybe just starting their career can bring really fresh perspectives and kind of keep you attuned to like what's happening in that world.
Someone at your sort of time in life, whether that's from your career, whether that's from a personal perspective, maybe if it's you have kids or just getting married, for example. Somebody who's sort of going through similar things, whether you wanna commiserate or you really just kind of wanna learn how are you going through this right now?
And then the other two are somebody who's maybe a bit. Further along in their career, but in a completely different career path as you. And this is really helpful because while there might be similar competencies or skill sets, they're applying it in a vastly different way. And there's a lot to be learned from that and to, to further your perspective.
And then somebody who is much, much more like further on in their career, maybe they're 70 years old and you know, they're looking for, uh, mentorship opportunities to sort of pass along their wisdom. That's just it. It's wisdom, right? And having this four-mentor model is something that I have carried along with me for the past several years.
And I think out of any conference or webinar or education that I've had, this has been the most helpful in so many ways. And that also builds your network over time. But mentors are just such an incredible life hack.
[00:13:52] Dave Travers: Couldn't agree more. The four M's. I like that. I'm gonna steal that one. I, I love it. Okay, so now you are a leader. You're at Poshmark, this super cool company that consumers love and, um, gives people access to, um, all this great stuff they wouldn't otherwise afford or be able to rotate, um, as quickly. So now as the, as the leader of an organization, how do you think about developing and being a mentor yourself, how do you think about, you know, bringing people along now that you're in that position to not just be the peer mentor to a young person, but now you're mentoring people on your team and across your organization.
How do you approach that now?
[00:14:32] Claire Berkley: Yeah, this is a great question and what I'm really passionate about, and I think it actually goes back to distilling like. What a manager is and what a leader is, and managing people is not leading people. I actually realized my biggest leverage was when I actually wasn't in doing the work myself but in, but actually building other leaders to be able to do that work.
And I think that impact is measured by how well I can empower my team to make decisions, take ownership, and drive results my team, but also for the rest of the company. And. This actually aligns really directly with our strategy of we don't just want great recruiters, we want each team member to think like a leader to approach their work as if they're running their own business.
And it's a philosophy that I love building, which is the founder's mindset. Um, I see you shaking your head. Maybe this resonates with you two, but. The founder's mindset for me is really empowering those team members, like I said, to think like a founder and fostering that sense of ownership as if it's their own book of business or their own performance.
And I think this mindset shift actually positions it more from focusing simply on executing tasks that making more strategic decisions that drive impact. And so when people feel like owners, they're naturally prioritizing quality and efficiency and long-term success. Beyond the business outcomes. I think that my underlying goal in this is to actually build confidence.
Um, and this, you know, goes back to you were asking me and early in my career, but confidence shapes how you move and how you speak and how you carry yourself. So it's about moving with your intention, trusting your instincts, speaking with clarity, and having that conviction. So when you operate from a place of this confidence, my team operates from this place.
If they're more decisive, more innovative, and they'll actually push their own boundaries of growth. And so I feel like having this discernment really will help build confidence over time and, and that's how I look at leadership, and that's how some of the best leaders that I've worked with have helped shaped me too.
[00:16:32] Dave Travers: That is so powerful, having the confidence as you talk about it, to continually be learning and thinking about, thinking through, um, how you're learning and evolving and thinking about your different role as a manager and a leader. So powerful. Okay, so now that you are a leader of Poshmark. Tell me about in a world where talent acquisition, the tools are changing, the labor market is changing, the talent needs of your company is changing, how do you think about laying out an agenda and a strategy for your team?
Like, what do you need to accomplish? How do you even think about talent is so critical to a company like Poshmark? How do you think about laying out an agenda? What's your plan? What do you need to change? What do you need to reinforce? What do you need to keep doing? How do you think about that as a leader?
[00:17:17] Claire Berkley: Yeah, it's ever evolving. Um, I think the ability to be agile is really important here. I think it's also really understanding like what phase of the business, uh, are we in or, or the business growth phase. Because at my time at Poshmark, we're roughly, you know, just under 900 employees, but we've experienced incredible milestones in my time here.
So from unicorn status to IPO to being acquired and back private. I think that constant change is embedded into our culture. So my role as a leader is to make sure that talent continues to have a seat at the executive table, to better understand A, what is our role in sort of this business cycle that we're in and how can we best support you?
But also as a talent leader, you know, here's what we are seeing in the market, and here's how we might need to think about that talent density being one of them. So it's sort of being this ear to the business and bridging that gap to the team, but also bridging that from the team and our market understanding and our insights back to the business. So it's a constant evolving nature of my role here. Even if you think about a few years ago where the market was significantly different and at that time, Poshmark, right after the pandemic, we had a huge boom because everybody was home. They wanted to resell their items, they had the time to do so.
We saw significant growth, which means we were hiring in a time that not many companies were, and we were very small, so we had to scale rather quickly, and our hiring went from how can we scale as fast and efficiently as possible, which is very different if we fast forward until today where it's much more of a methodical approach where dealing with more backfills than we are incremental or planned hires, which is more of a reactive than proactive phase.
And so how do we get really good at looking at our internal resources versus just always going to market? So our strategy has shifted, and I think to the best of my ability, it's just continuing to have that seat at the table, work very closely as talent partners with our executives so that we're actually able to build an effective strategy.
Which could change
[00:19:19] Dave Travers: totally. The bet. Staying nimble is so critical, but I love how, as you described that, how multiple times you came back to the business, not just talent acquisition as an island unto itself, uh, where there's plenty going on in the industry and with labor markets, et cetera, but you continually come back.
To what's going on with the business and how do we need to evolve so that our goals are the company's goals. I think that is incredibly, as an executive overseeing, you know, multiple parts of a business hearing, when anybody in the business is aligned to, how do I understand overall company strategy so that I can align my department to, that is always an unlock and a reassurance to any executive thinking about, you know, do I have everybody swimming in the same direction or rowing in the same direction as it were?
Okay, so now I wanna move to the rapid-fire section of, um, what we usually do. So imagine the CEO of Poshmark is making a cup of coffee, um, next to you in the kitchen and says, oh, hey Claire, how's it going in, in talent acquisition? And, you know, you just have the 60 seconds while the cup of coffee is being made to give a, a quick answer.
If I'm the CEO and I say, Claire. I spend a ton of time interviewing. Give me like your best tip. How do I become a better interviewer?
[00:20:30] Claire Berkley: First of all, I love that the CEO is involved in interviewing. That's great. And a good sign. I think the obvious answer would be quality of hire, but I think because the nature of that is we're all trying to define it still.
I would say a pre-hire metric would be a candidate engagement score. So this measures how candidates actually feel about their interactions with us as a company and throughout the hiring practice, which means that this is all in our control. So regardless of hire or the outcome, they walk away as brand advocates for us.
Um, so this is one thing I would say is. Really, really important pre-hire. But then post-hire metric would be time to productivity in role. So how quickly can someone actually ramp up and integrate into their role and meaningfully contribute to the business? Because this pulls from all angles of not just talent.
Our people operations, so our onboarding team, our HR operations, and technology, how well are they being inclusive, um, and how are we giving them access to information? So we have a big hand in that, in bringing them in and onboarding. So I think both of those two really are gonna actually differentiate you as a talent team.
Um, you could focus on the hard-coded metrics, but these are the two areas that I would say are gonna differentiate you as well as the company.
[00:21:47] Dave Travers: Awesome. Claire Berkley. It's so clear why you're a talent all-star. Thanks so much for taking the time today.
[00:21:53] Claire Berkley: Thank you so much for having me.
[00:21:58] Dave Travers: That's Claire Berkley, the Head of Talent Acquisition at Poshmark. We'll put a LinkedIn profile in the notes below. And just a reminder, we put the video versions of these conversations on YouTube too, on the official ZipRecruiter channel. And if you have feedback for us or ideas for future episodes, send us an email at talentallstars@ziprecruiter.com.
I'm Dave Traver. Thanks for listening to Talent All-Stars. See you next time.