According to Gartner’s 2025 leadership outlook for recruiting, many HR leaders face mounting pressure from CEO-driven growth goals, limited resources and talent shortages. Steve Winkel, vice president of talent and engagement at digital platform Constant Contact, emphasizes that successful hiring in high-growth environments starts with key essentials.
“At Constant Contact, we’ve scaled our hiring without compromising quality by doubling down on a few fundamental elements,” says Winkel. “We’ve built a strong foundation with our robust applicant tracking system, heightened job-market awareness and well-prepared hiring managers who understand both our business needs and the talent landscape.”
He says this structure enables the organization to make fast, informed recruiting and hiring decisions for this 1,000-plus employee organization. The “strategic, technology-forward approach” focuses on “a mutually beneficial outcome for all involved, ensuring we’re hiring not just for today, but for long-term growth,” says Winkel.
As employees join the team, they tend to agree that their role is a good fit, with over 90% of workers reporting that their manager cares about their wellbeing, according to the org’s 2024 engagement survey.
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Effective sourcing at Constant Contact begins with well-defined roles and ideal candidate profiles. Winkel’s team applies data-driven strategies such as A/B testing outreach messages to engage candidates and improve targeting. “These efforts have significantly boosted engagement and increased our volume of passive hires,” according to Winkel.
He says HR technology supports employer branding, “using social media, digital marketing and targeted content to ensure we reach the right people, with the right message, at the right time.”
Delivering a top candidate experience
Despite the urgency of high-growth hiring, Constant Contact advocates for a consistent, positive candidate experience. Winkel highlights the importance of a people-first approach, integrating skill-based assessments early in the process to refine candidate pools and accelerate decision-making. He says these assessments not only identify top talent more quickly but also enhance the company’s employer brand.
Hiring for cultural fit supports retention and helps new employees embody organizational values from the start. “Our brand is truly intrinsic to who we are, and we ensure this is clearly and consistently reflected throughout the entire candidate experience, from initial communication to final interviews,” says Winkel.
Anyone speaking with a job seeker is trained to authentically represent the company’s values—such as adapting for impact and big thinking—ensuring consistency across the candidate journey.
Retention is further reinforced through investment in career development, says Winkel. Constant Contact’s commitment to employee growth earned Winkel and his team the 2025 ATD Best Award from the Association for Talent Development. Retained employees, in turn, act as cultural ambassadors—strengthening the company’s brand and reducing future hiring needs.
Recruiting for the future
According to Gartner, only 22% of recruiting executives have visibility into current-year hiring needs, while 78% expect stagnant or shrinking budgets. To balance these challenges, Winkel champions a consultative approach to workforce planning.
His team partners with business leaders to assess how shifting deliverables, evolving technologies—especially AI—and organizational needs impact hiring. Winkel says this proactive strategy improves role clarity and minimizes reactive hiring.
“This rigorous, forward-looking planning process minimizes guesswork, significantly sharpens role definition and, ultimately, amplifies the quality and impact of every hire,” says Winkel. He adds that when just-in-time hiring must occur, it’s often critical to pause and remind both the HR team and other stakeholders that briefly reflecting on fundamentals leads to better outcomes.
While traditional KPIs still matter, Constant Contact places a premium on real-time employee feedback. Stay interviews provide actionable insights that help refine strategies and boost engagement—offering more value than retrospective exit interviews. “This proactive strategy enables quick, timely adjustments that boost and sustain engagement,” Winkel says.
