Summit Interview with Dave Watson

Dave Watson

1. Give us a short description of your job, scope and team:  I lead Field Management Recruiting for both Walmart US and Sam’s Club US.  I have a wonderful team of 14 recruiters spread-out across the US, divided into 2 teams (East & West).  We handle all the market level & above positions, and we assist with interns, management trainees and developmental store/club management sourcing.

2. Tell us about you (home town, residence, family, education, etc.): I am an Air Force brat, so we moved every 2 years growing up…but finally settled in the Phoenix, AZ area for about 20 years.  My wife and I are about to hit our 20^th anniversary and we have 5 children (3 in High School!)

3. How did you get into recruiting? I was a territory sales rep for cell phone and pagers in 1998, and one of my clients was an IT recruiting firm. The owner offered me a job and the rest is history.

4. What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? When I’m not at work in corporate attire, my hands and clothes are usually quite dirty at home working on an old car or remodeling something on my house.

Walmart & Sam's Club Field Management Recruiting Team

 5. What are your top 3 goals you hope you and your team accomplish in the next year? 1). through historical data, establish demographic profiles of retail managers that retain and perform the best. 2). Use that data to adjust who we source. 3). Show a measurable impact on retention and performance of store/club management.

6. What do you like most about your current job? What do you dislike? I love my team!!!  Even though we’re spread out and we don’t see each other daily, we have a lot of fun connecting online and we support each other.  Also, my boss gives me a tremendous amount

Dave Watson at a Foreigner concert with daughter Rachel

of autonomy.  At the moment, there’s nothing I dislike…knock on wood. ;-)

7. Do you have a work pet peeve in yourself or others?  Long term associates who are afraid to take a chance again just because they have seen something fail in the past.

8. What is the best thing for you about working for Walmart? So many things to choose from and to fix…I never get bored.  I have been a bit of a job-hopper in my career because I like learning new things and fixing things.

9. When does the day start for you? I work from home 2-3 days per week.  I log-in typically around 7am and answer a few emails, then take my younger kids to school.

10. When you are off work how you do relax? Anything with power tools or power sports…about the only thing that keeps me sitting still would be good college football on TV.

11. Can you give us a few unchecked items on your Life’s Bucket List:  Get back to Portugal and tour my old stomping grounds; then tour Europe by train. We also want to do the same in Hong Kong and Thailand where my wife lived as an ex-pat growing up.

12. If you could have dinner with some notable person dead or alive – who would it be and why? This is one of those trick questions; right??? I should say Jesus. ;-)  But aside from him, probably George Washington so I could hear him tell his own account of the night crossing the Potomac.

13. If you had a Magic Genie and one wish; what one project on your plate would you ask for help on? Becoming a leader in leveraging Big Data.

14. Fill in the blank: “I’ve been fortunate to _____": advance to this point in my career while having the time with a wonderful family.”

15. Where do I spend most of my disposable income: Date nights with my wife, and restoring a ’68 Mustang with my son.

16. What 1 book would you recommend colleagues read? It’s My Ship

17. What is your biggest productivity challenge? Procrastinating over the big stuff.  I do much better when I tackle the big things early.

18. Do you have one internet tool / smart-phone app that you cannot do without? YouTube…it contains how-to videos for everything…critical for a DIY guy/gal.

19. One word to sum me up: Stress-free

Summit Interview with Rich Rothman

Rich Rothman

1. Give us a short description of your job, scope and team: I have the privilege of leading the Talent Acquisition & Campus Relations team for Health & Wellness supporting both Walmart and Sam’s Club US.  My team is responsible for campus relations, professional affairs and for recruiting over 2000 external hires per year which includes pharmacists, optometrists and pharmacy interns.  The team is unique in that everyone is either a licensed pharmacist or optometrist, as we leverage that license to recruit other medical professionals, within academia and in professional organizations.  The Talent Acquisition team serves as the brand ambassadors for Health & Wellness, and we support campus relations at 75 pharmacy schools and 21 optometry schools nationwide.
2. Tell us about you (home town, residence, family, education, etc.):  I am originally from New York City, born in Brooklyn, NY.  My family moved to the Princeton suburbs of New Jersey in the late 70s, which is where I grew up.  I am the only person in my immediate family without a crazy, thick New York accent as I was a small child when we moved out of NYC.  I loved growing up in New Jersey (Jersey gets a bad rap and I promise it is nothing like what you see on TV) and continued my education at Rutgers University College of Pharmacy where I graduated with honors in 1998.  I currently reside in Lumberton, NJ, which is about 30 minutes east of Philadelphia, PA, with my 16-year-old son Jonathan, and our dog Luke (Scottie) and work out of the Walmart Divisional Office in Horsham, PA. 

Health & Wellness Talent Acquisition and Campus Team

3. How did you get into recruiting? Great question, as I never thought I would have landed in recruiting or HR, and I have Walmart to thank for countless opportunities and my career progression.  My career began as a community pharmacist, and it was very rewarding as I truly loved my patients and staff.  As a pharmacist, I always had a passion for teaching and training pharmacy students, and I also served as a preceptor for Rutgers University.  (As a preceptor, I was often matched with final year pharmacy students as part of their experiential education, where they would spend 4 to 6 weeks in the pharmacy.)   One late evening in early 2007, right before closing the pharmacy, I noticed a job opportunity on the Wire for a Regional Talent Specialist.  I had no idea what that meant, as to me it sounded like a job on “American Idol”.  When I read the job description, the Home Office was looking for pharmacists to support H&W campus relations and recruiting.  Since I had a passion for working with students I immediately applied.  I was then promoted out of the pharmacy to Regional Talent Specialist for H&W in the Northeastern US, followed a few years later to Sr Mgr Talent Acquisition H&W for the Eastern US and Puerto Rico, and then was asked to lead the entire team in May 2013.  Years ago, if people asked me what I do for a living, I would answer, “pharmacist”.  Now when I get asked that question, I can answer that I am an HR professional, who can view the business through the lens of a pharmacist and have the privilege of leading the best H&W recruiting team in the business.

4. What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? People would be surprised to learn that I have my motorcycle license.

5. What are your top 3 goals you hope you and your team accomplish in the next year?  First and foremost, I would like my team to continue with their professional development and celebrate their success as they promote into new roles within HR or the business.  My second goal is to ensure that the hundreds of new small format stores open with a pharmacist staff.  Lastly, I would like to introduce new recruiting tools and a new intern program to the optical side of the business in order to strengthen our optometrist pipeline.

6. What do you like most about your current job? What do you dislike? I love the fact that we are providing the talent needed to make healthcare more affordable and accessible nationwide.  There is also quite a bit of travel in my role due to the professional relations and campus side of my business.  As a single dad of now a teenager, the amount of travel can become stressful, and every now and then I miss an event in my son’s life.  I am thankful for the support I receive from my immediate family, appreciative of the flexibility from Walmart, and I try never to miss a “big” event in my son’s life.

7. Do you have a work pet peeve in yourself or others? My work pet peeve centers around meeting and conference call etiquette and those who double and triple book themselves in their calendar, or who attend meetings but are not “present” and spend their time replying to emails or texting.

8. What is the best thing for you about working for Walmart? The people I get to work with!  I truly feel that I am surrounded by the best in the business.

9. When does the day start for you? Typically on calls by 7:30am during my commute, hands free of course.

10.  When you are off work how you do relax? I enjoy going out for a great meal, spending time with my son Jonathan, traveling into New York City for a show, shopping or museum, spending time on my deck with a cup of coffee or nice glass of wine playing with my dog, photography, or binge watching a few TV shows on my dvr when time allows.

11. Can you give us a few unchecked items on your Life’s Bucket List?  Attend the Summer and Winter Olympics, travel to Paris and visit the Eifel Tower, find a good parking space at the Walmart Home Office.

12. If you had a Magic Genie and one wish; what one project on your plate would you ask for help on? Create efficiencies and decrease the length of time for Professional License Credentialing

13. Fill in the blank: “I’ve been fortunate to___________” I have an incredible teenage son who keeps me on my toes and always makes me laugh, even through the hardest times.  I am also fortunate that people often mistake me for his brother!”

14. Where do I spend most of my disposable income? My son, eating meals out, clothes, travel, Broadway shows

15.  What 1 book would you recommend colleagues read? “Work’s A We Thing” by Danny McCall

16.  What is your biggest productivity challenge? Becoming more disciplined blocking off time in my calendar daily just to think, and to not let my calendar run my day.

17. Do you have one internet tool / smart-phone app that you cannot do without? I enjoy reading the news and politics, so I cannot do without out my CNN and Politico apps.

18. One word to sum me up: Analytical